4 Ways to Build Your Client List as a Real Estate Agent
As a real estate agent, building up your client list can be a daunting task, particularly for the untrained marketer, someone new in a particular market, and someone who might not be the most comfortable networker. However, success in this business requires the courage to take risks, think outside the box and to step out of your comfort zone. Luckily none of the 4 ways to build your client list that we will share in this article are unnatural and can really help you to see that marketing can actually be an enjoyable process.
1. The Business Card Approach
Not only should a business professional give away their business cards to potential prospects clients and vendors in their way, they should also be collecting the cards of other entrepreneurs. Business cards are a free source of contact information. Besides, most entrepreneurs welcome phone calls from “solicitors” because it’s also a networking opportunity for them. When you visit your local gym, neighborhood coffee shop or deli, or local businesses, or networking events, make sure to grab as many different business cards as you possibly can. Choose one or two days a week to sit down and call the professionals on the cards, introduce yourself, create a casual conversation about their business, share information about your business, and then discuss ways that the two of you can build together. Be as much a value to their business as you would like them to be for yours. These entrepreneurs can become some of your greatest allies and sources of referrals.
2. Direct Mail Marketing
Direct mailers are an incredible source of business. When you canvass a neighborhood with an offer that can’t be refused by someone who is on the hunt for your services, your snail mail content might be right on time for them. Overall, creating a letter or flyer, or even a small educational tool can be a very cost effective way to communicate to a broad audience, build some awareness of your business, and build a momentum of call backs to the phone number that you provide them. But be advised that one letter will not do. It takes a person between 5 and 12 interactions with a brand before they make a buying decision. Develop a direct mail campaign that includes repeat, yet consistent, and also relevant information that they can use to make a decision to become your client.
3. Email marketing
Of all online marketing platforms, email marketing continues to outperform them all. Email marketing outperforms social media engagement significantly, 50% more than Instagram and a whopping 120% more than Facebook. And most online marketing gurus say as a creed that “If you don’t have an email marketing strategy, you don’t have a business online”. By building a strong email list of contacts, you have the opportunity to communicate with your audience on a consistent basis while presenting your narrative to your targeted audience. It’s a great platform for sharing a newsletter, which is a staple to any business. It’s a great way to share news, properties on the market, and positive community mentions about your brand. It’s also an awesome way to give calls to action and to persuade people to do what you want them to, like call you, click a link, answer a questionnaire, or join your event. It’s also another cost effective marketing strategy to use with a powerful return on investment potential.
4. Social Media Marketing
Social media is an incredible place to market your products and services and to give credence to your brand as a real estate agent. It’s the space where you now have the power and potential reach to do what old school marketers did on television and radio, build brand recognition through media. The best way to begin your journey as an entrepreneur is to define your target or preferred audience and then brand yourself as the professional that this audience would resonate with. Let’s be clear, it’s not about being sales-y and pitchy on your social media accounts. It’s about positioning yourself as the optimistic expert.
People buy from those that they know, like and trust. By presenting them with valuable information such as relevant blog articles, digital educational tools (like an ebook), informative videos and podcasts, and relevant infographics, while presenting the highest, best and most positive version of yourself, you set yourself apart from the fast talking, “look at me” sales reps who care less about giving you value and more about filling their pockets. You set yourself apart as the compassionate, knowledgeable, and consistent professional that they can tune in to on regular basis. Besides that, posting on your social media platforms costs you nothing! And any marketing dollars dished out for social media ads are grossly underpriced today. By providing high quality content, to the right audience, with the right authoritative branding, you are taking benefiting from a potential reach of nearly 2 billion people that operate online. How can you lose?
