Real estate agents are constantly looking for new ways to gain leads and build business. This is necessary for those who plan to make a living as a realtor. Overall, there are two types of leads: paid and earned. Paid leads are exactly as they sound – you pay another person or online resource to find leads on your behalf. Although this saves an enormous amount of time and energy on the realtor’s part, these lead generation sources can end up costing a fortune.

Earned leads, on the other hand, are also highly effective and much less expensive than the paid ones. However, you will be paying for these leads, not with money, but with your time, energy, and dedication. How much effort you put into gaining your own leads generally corresponds to how much you will get in return.

Tom Ferry, a highly-ranked real estate educator, noted that in 2014, NAR reported 87 percent of real estate agents fail or quit within the first five years. We don’t want that to happen to you! We hope that with some of these tricks to earn your leads, our realtor followers will be in the 13 percent that are successful.

There are plenty of creative ways you can earn leads for free, but we’re going to focus on six to get you started: special events, networking, email newsletters, social media, taking advantage of resources already available to you, and thinking outside the box.

Through these six avenues, you should be able to expand your sphere of influence by a large margin. Your continuous goal should be to make new ‘touches’ every week and expand your influence in a way that makes people remember you.

Special Events
What is something you are passionate about? Take that and turn it into party! Begin hosting special events at your house, a local bar, in the park, or wherever you feel comfortable where the main attraction is something you’re really interested in. Regularly invite your family, friends, former colleagues, neighbors, members of your church or country club, and acquaintances.

For example, someone who truly has a taste for wine can have a Wine Share. He or she can invite their friends and family to bring one bottle of their favorite wine and everyone tastes and shares each other’s. They can discuss which ones they like, which ones they don’t like, flavors, texture, and notes they’re palate is sensing. Also, this is a way to save money as you only provide your one favorite bottle and maybe some cheese and crackers.

Special events are amazing opportunities to simply start conversations with those in your community. Host your events regularly enough that keeps people coming back and, hopefully, bring their friends to the next one. Eventually, you’ll get to the topic of real estate as you are consistently reminding these folks what you do: helping others buy and sell their homes. Always, always, always have information about yourself and your listings on hand to give out when the opportunity arises (and it will).

Networking
Strive to make new touches every single week by attending networking groups and other social events (that you’re not hosting). This can include art shows, charity events, book talks, happy hours, craft fairs, and networking groups that meet regularly. Network with both the general public and other real estate professionals.

Having a difficult time finding a networking group? Simply get on Google, Eventbrite, or Meetup and search for “real estate networking” or “real estate classes”. The amount of classes and events available to realtors is very encouraging. Seriously. Go look it up now!

Again, always have your information on hand and be ready to take others’ information as well.

Email Newsletters
Begin an email database, whether you use Excel or an online tool such as Constant Contact, where you can keep track of everyone’s email address that you come into contact with. Send out a weekly or bi-weekly email newsletter to these emails you have collected over time. This keeps you in the forefront of their minds as they see your name constantly pop up in their email.

Highlight your listings, upcoming open houses, your special events, recent testimonials or success stories from past clients, and anything else happening in your market or area. Try not to send out a newsletter more than once a week or else risk overwhelming your followers. But really, who has time for that anyways?

Social Media
Everyone talks about social media because of one reason: it works! By now, you should already have a Facebook page, whether it is a personal one or professional business page. You know the importance of being on social media, so we’re here to encourage you to engage your followers.

Simply having a page is not enough. Again, you want your followers to remember you. Do this by asking them to comment on your posts, promoting your special events, posting Facebook live videos, and asking them to share your content. You could even do a photo contest where the best photo wins a gift card or have your followers like and share a post to win a random giveaway. The possibilities are endless.

Take Advantage of Your Resources
There are countless resources already available to you simply for being a real estate agent. You could not even have made one sale yet, however, classes, events, mobile apps, and other software are there for you! It’s up to you to seek out these opportunities.

First International Title offers real estate courses every month and other various events. Seek out your local office for upcoming classes and other resources available to you!

Think Outside the Box
It’s time to get creative. Ask yourself some questions. What are some local businesses you could potentially partner up with? Is there a divorce lawyer nearby who could refer their clients selling a home to you? Are the local banks willing to work with you with buyers applying for a home loan? What are some other ways you can get creative with the opportunities at your doorstep?

Leave Your Fear at the Door
Don’t be afraid to go looking for new ways to gain leads and don’t be scared to ask others for help. Every First Western/International Title office has a business developer dedicated to helping you find ways to grow your business. Reach out to us with any questions and we would be happy to help you brainstorm!

Use a variety of these tactics and others that you come up with to grow your business. Don’t focus on one idea because it can only get you so far. Your earned leads can be highly effective but will take a large amount of time, energy, creativity, and your dedication. Are you dedicated?

Questions? Comments? Email shannonw@firstwesterntitle.com