The following strategies for generating leads are all pretty low-tech and don't require you to have a fancy website or be an expert in Facebook ads but they do flat out work.
As long as you can follow instructions and aren't afraid to put in work, you can start generating quality leads with real people and not just email addresses.
1. FSBOs: The Low Hanging Fruit
Over 90% of sellers who attempt to sell their own property aren’t able to get the deal done. This is usually due to a combination of inexperience, limited resources, poor marketing and overpricing.
We know that trying to sell a home is extremely stressful and complicated, especially when you don’t have a background in real estate – presenting a great opportunity for you to come in and save the day!
The reality is that most FSBOs have the wrong data and will actually end up working with the first agent who genuinely tries to help.
Turn some FSBOs into listings with our 5 Step FSBO Follow Up Method, which is a complete and non-threatening approach to working with for sale by owners.
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2. Host a Happy Hour
Real estate is a people business and hosting a happy hour is another old-school technique that is making a comeback. If you have a substantial amount of past clients, you should consider holding a Client Appreciation Party.
The idea is the same. You'll partner with your lender or any one or two of your vendors and get them to pay for the first 2 drinks for your happy hour or client appreciation party. There will be co-branding making it a win-win for your vendors too.
Once you've chosen the location, stop by and talk to the manager and try to work out a discounted deal for your event, like the first $250 is covered for example.
Then invite all of your past clients, current clients anyone in your database who you could introduce to each other and have your partners do the same.
You'll end up with great opportunities to have some real conversations with past and future potential clients.
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3. Hold an Open House
After personally holding hundreds of open houses, I’ve found that people who stop by an open house usually fall under 1 of 3 categories.
- Real Buyers w/No Agent – Exactly what we’re looking for.
- Real Buyers w/a Bad Agent – Who sends buyers to open houses?
- The Nosy Neighbor – Can be your best friend or your worst enemy.
All three of those can be direct sources of business for you.
If you don't have a listing to hold an open house at or, the only listings you do have are not ideal for open houses (which is OK) then you'll need to find a listing to hold open.
Don't worry, there are a few ways to accomplish this.
Remember those FSBOs we talked about earlier? Well, FSBO listings are some of the best possible listings to hold open that you can ask for one simple reason.
FSBOs don't know how to market and therefore their property has limited online exposure. This is your chance to really go the extra mile on marketing the open house and if you, your turn out will be huge because it will be a ‘fresh new' listing as far as the internet is concerned.
For a complete guide to holding open houses, check out our post The Modern Agent's Guide to Open Houses That Work.
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4. Shoot a Facebook Video Ad
One of the most successful ads we've run in a long time was a simple video that talked about a few popular loan options with a mortgage partner, and that mortgage guy paid for the $250 boost budget in return for a simple shoutout.
We had our agent shoot a basic selfie video on their iPhone and post it straight to Facebook with the call-to-action being to comment for more information. When they commented a messenger bot would automatically ask them the pre-qualifying questions that they normally asked.
We boosted it to a custom audience we built that might be interested in the loan products and that was it.
The results were pretty crazy.
All that engagement resulted in a total of 36 actual walk-in appointments, 14 pre-approved buyers, and 5 contracts for a total of over $105,000 in potential commissions.
New to video marketing for real estate? Check out The Beginners Guide to Video Marketing for Real Estate.
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5. Door Knocking w/Twist
Door knocking is an old school strategy and there's something funny about most old-school strategies… They down right work and door knocking is no exception.
Real estate is a people business and door knocking is extremely effective at getting face time with your ideal client.
In fact, I wanted to mention a recent Harvard Business School Study that found that, “A face-to-face interaction results in 13 times the brand recall compared to a message delivered via a marketing piece.”
“A face-to-face interaction results in 13 times the brand recall compared to a message delivered via a marketing piece.”
13 times the brand recall!!
What that tells me is that I'll take one 5 minute face-to-face chat over 13 online leads, but that's just me.
The trick to door knocking is to have a reason to knock. Now, if you don't have a reason then you'll have to create one for yourself and the perfect reason to door knock is to invite the neighbors to your open house that you're holding soon. ????
Ready to hit the ground running? Try this intro door knocking script:
“Hi, my name is Adam Yera, your local Realtor. I just wanted to stop by, introduce myself and let you know that if you ever have any questions about real estate, or would ever like a professional analysis of your home, I would love to help. No strings attached. Here is my card. Thanks. Have a great day.”
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6. Send Handwritten Notes
The long forgotten art of handwritten notes still delivers one of the best ROI on impact vs your time invested. Just spending 10 minutes per day writing a few handwritten notes to your sphere can result in hundreds of organic phone calls and interactions over 12 months.
People will actually reach out to you to thank you for the card and to set up a time to catch up. I promise it works, you just have to be legitimately genuine about it.
Don't get caught up in who to write to and what to say, just keep it short and sweet.
Here are a few ideas for handwritten notes:
- Just thinking about you
- Past clients closing anniversary
- After website sign up
- After listing appointment
- After contract acceptance
- After anything…
There is no wrong time to send a handwritten note as long as it's thoughtful and not salesy. So go write a few handwritten notes today and come back and let us know your results in the comments below!
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7. Call Past Clients & SOI
Calling past clients on their birthdays or special days can make a great personal touch and help you stay top of mind.
For more instant results, you should always finish with:
“If there's anything I can do to help you or anyone you know please don't hesitate to call me.”
You can keep an eye on them through social media to look for opportunities to reach out to them with a phone call.
For example, if you see that they just got a new puppy or just announced that they're expecting, that's a great opportunity to call them, send a handwritten note and even buy them a relevant gift. And you should do all of those things…
But how about if your client isn’t really a phone person (like most millennials) but you still want that personal touch that hearing someone's voice gives?
You're in luck, there happens to be a sweet little app called SlyDial that allows you to basically leave someone a voicemail without their phone ever ringing. So they just see that “New Voicemail” notification and assume that they just missed your call.
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Wrapping Up
There are a million ways to generate new business and every day that number seems to grow but I hope I showed you that old school techniques still work, and they work well.
In a highly connected world like the one we live in today, people yearn for the nostalgia of a simpler time and the companies and businesses that recognize that sooner than later are gonna be head and shoulders above the competition.
Be sure to come back and let us know your results in the comments below and thanks for reading!
Cheers!
