Prospecting for Realtors

What is Prospecting for Realtors?

Prospecting is crucial to your real estate business. But what is it exactly?

Prospecting is the first step in the sales process. You are essentially reaching out to people you do not know and asking them if they (or anyone they know) is looking to buy, sell or invest in real estate. The goal of prospecting is to fill your sales pipeline with potential clients who will consider using you as their real estate agent. In the real estate business prospecting is a must if you want to grow your business.

Prospecting for Realtor’s can consist of a variety of different activities. Here are the main activities and a brief description of what they consist of.

 Door Knocking

Door Knocking is going door to door and asking seller if they are looking to sell their house. You literally knock on their door (or ring the doorbell) and talk to them when they open the door. In today’s world you might even talk to them through their doorbell. Door knocking is one of the ways to establish yourself in a geographic farming area. On occasion there might be a restriction to door knock. Check with local rules to make sure you are on the safe side of things.

Circle Prospecting

Circle prospecting is when you get on the phone and call a geographic area and ask who is looking to sell their house. This can be done simply by using your cell phone and calling, or you can use a dialing service. A dialing service can provide phone numbers, names and addresses for prospects in addition to providing a software that can dial up to three (3) phone numbers at a time. Using a dialing software, you can greatly increase your efficiencies and call more numbers in less time. Typically, you will circle prospect to tell about a new listing, a sold listing, or an open house. Some people circle prospect without any of the previous reasons mentioned and just call and ask if home owners are looking to sell. Circle prospecting is another way to establish yourself in a geographic farming area. *A word of caution* There are legal restrictions such as “Do Not Call” lists and other rules. Know the rules before you call.

Expired Listings

An expired listing is a listing that didn’t sell the first time on market. You can subscribe to services that provide lists of expired. The services that have dialing software also sell the lists. They will have the name, hone number and address of the person with the expired listing. Another option is you can get the lists from the MLS and you can go knock on the doors of the expired listings.

FSBO

FSBO or “For Sale By Owners” are a great source of business. They are people who are trying to sell their house but are trying to do it themselves. The great thing about FSBO’s are that the majority of them list their house with a realtor within 2-6 weeks of trying to sell the house themselves. FSBO’s are often referred to as the “Fastest Source of Business Opportunity” because they have identified themselves as a seller. You can buy lists of FSBO’s from the dialing services or you can just knock on their doors when you see one in a neighborhood.

 These are the primary ways to prospect. There are other ways such as community events, networking and similar activities. Try a few ways out and see which work best for you.