While everyone else competes online, the agents who win listings will be the ones who go old school, pick up the phone and show up in person, new contributor John Angelopoulos writes.
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When was the last time a seller chose you over another agent who is a top advertiser on the real estate portals? Here’s what probably made the difference: you called, you visited, you built a relationship.
While the other agents were optimizing their online presence, you chose to go old-school, and it worked.
I’m a firm believer that old-school methods are best at winning listings in today’s competitive market.
Good old-fashioned conversations, relationships and referrals are more powerful than online lead gen for many reasons, but most especially because so few agents use them anymore.
When social media marketing was new, the agents who used it stood out. Today, anything online is relatively automated and accessible to every agent, so you no longer stand out.
What’s unusual now is picking up the phone and calling someone or making an in-person visit.
You probably already know this intuitively, but the data confirms it: 85 percent of businesspeople believe that having more in-person meetings would significantly boost their revenue, according to Accor, a global leader in hospitality.
As a legendary salesman once said, “The high touch will always win. People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”
So how do you actually implement this? Here I’ll describe some old-school techniques you can use to win listings in this market. (By “old school,” I mean nothing that wasn’t already in widespread use in 1990. We’re talking about the phone, the in-person meeting, the door knock and events.)
Your database is your gold mine
One of the most obvious old-school methods is simply staying in touch with the buyers and sellers you’ve previously worked with, and not just via an occasional email or text message.
That’s why your database is your biggest resource. At my company, we make tens of thousands of calls to agents’ database contacts per month, and we have learned that the best results come from calls to anyone who has previously engaged with you. It’s even better if they have transacted with you. There is no better lead than that.
Second best is someone who has met you and will remember you when you call.
Less effective but still worth engaging is everyone else, even if they won’t at first remember your name.
Use the phone to check in with all these groups at regular intervals and on important anniversaries.
One of the best agents I’ve ever known scheduled an hour every single day just to have casual phone calls with people in his network. He wasn’t angling to get their business on those calls, but just being friendly and a helpful advisor.
The fact that he would love to work with them is left unstated. When you stay in contact with your database like that, your name will always be on the tip of their tongues.
To put this into practice, I’m going to ask you to pull up five past clients you haven’t spoken to in 90-plus days. Call them, not to ask for business, but to share something valuable like a market update or even just to check in.
Do this daily, and when you run out of past clients, work your way through the rest of your database. After 60 days, track how many referrals have come from these calls.
Lets get physical
But staying in touch is just the beginning. When you do meet face-to-face, make it memorable.
Back in 1990, agents didn’t carry around iPads. They showed up with heavy leather-bound presentation books. Believe it or not, that still works today.
Bring a high-quality track record book that includes physical copies of handwritten thank-you notes from past sellers, as well as images of other properties you have sold. The physical weight and tangibility of your portfolio will create a subconscious sense of weight in the seller’s mind. That physical proof of your successes makes your authority tangible to them.
Another reason physical presentation booklets work so well is because they’ve become relatively unusual.
A tactic that is just as rare is giving small physical gifts.
Just before the Christmas holiday, I went in person to each of my clients and hand-gifted them hampers with chocolates, wine and some branded merchandise. The response was tremendous, and it turned January into a very busy month.
Every agent should scale their budget for these gifts appropriately given their business. You don’t have to overspend to make an impression.
The million-dollar letter
A few years ago, I was working with a developer who hoped to buy one or more of the lots around the land he already owned. With more land, he’d be able to build a bigger and more profitable project.
I handwrote three letters on luxurious, quality paper, one for each of the neighboring owners.
None of the recipients were at home when I dropped the letters off, but one was impressed enough to call me back, and I was able to help the developer acquire their property.
That handwritten letter boosted my client’s profits by over $1 million. I don’t believe an email would have had the same impact.
The patience paradox
Here’s where most agents sabotage their old-school efforts: being too aggressive.
The biggest mistake you can make when talking (on the phone or in person) with a potential seller is pushing too hard. I know the famous phrase “always be closing,” but the truth is, I don’t agree with it. When you try to force your prospects to take some an action, it’s usually counterproductive.
Instead, what you should aim for is discovering their next action point. Instead of asking “Are you ready to list?” ask about their jobs, their families, the sports they play.
When a prospect says, “We may move back to Florida when my daughter graduates in June,” you call them in May and don’t badger them every week until then. Discover the next possible time they might consider selling and keep them in your system for follow-up.
Your unfair advantage
All of this is to say that old-school isn’t outdated; it’s just underused. That makes it your unfair advantage.
While your competitors burn their budgets on Facebook ads that look like every other agent’s Facebook ads, you’ll be the one who did something unexpected and made a human connection.
While everyone else competes online, the agents who win listings will be the ones who go old school, pick up the phone and show up in person.
I encourage you to schedule this practice into your week on an ongoing basis. That’s how you build a business that doesn’t depend on paid advertising and will win listings in even the tightest market.
John Angelopoulos is a former luxury real estate agent and the Founder and Director of East Coast call centre service Meson Agency. Connect with him on LinkedIn and Instagram.
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