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Hey everyone, I was licensed about two weeks ago and started working for a Century 21 office here in Dearborn Heights MI. We have strong market share in the area and a great reputation and I am really glad to be working for this company.
I feel fortunate to have gotten a referral from another agent from out of the area who is a friend, without a fee and also to have generated a lead or two already from people in my sphere, only two weeks into it. However I hear lots of ideas how to get leads and ultimately business but I am still not sure what to do. My office is VERY insistent on Mike Ferry and the cold calling ideas. I have watched people do this on Youtube calling expired listings, FSBOs and those make sense to me, but the calling of people in the area of a just listed or just sold seem strange to me, and ALL of them seem to be met with a great deal of difficulty. Lets face it, who really wants to get phone calls from people in this day and age. And with the do not call list, we are really doing this at a risk. These ways do not seem to be met with that much success overall, and ultimately a lot of negativity and rejection. I have heard from others that open houses are the way to go and from people in the Mike Ferry belief system that they are useless. I am very interested in pursuing a "farm" type taking of the business as I would like to concentrate on a small suburb here in the area that does not seem to have any particular agent or company that concentrates on it and it is the town where I live.
I would also feel like I would not have a lot of confidence, especially in cold calling. I don't have much experience....at all, and I find myself not really not knowing what to say in most situations with customers/clients.
So I would like to here your stories. How did you get started and how were you met with the most success?
If I may. If your office is presenting Tom Ferry. Take it! Follow it as nearly perfectly as you can. Get going to the bank and then you can be critical of whether you are doing it right or wrong. You can win with Ferry. There is absolutely no doubt.
My first year I met most of my clients by hosting open houses at other agent's listings. I'm much better in person than on the phone and I do not like cold calling. It worked for me to get me started. Once I showed success in the business, I starting getting referrals from friends and others around me...and of courses former clients.
If I may. If your office is presenting Tom Ferry. Take it! Follow it as nearly perfectly as you can. Get going to the bank and then you can be critical of whether you are doing it right or wrong. You can win with Ferry. There is absolutely no doubt.
The OP said Mike not Tom. Tom split from him a few years ago. Tom is more social media oriented than Mike.
Location: Mokelumne Hill, CA & El Pescadero, BCS MX.
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Cold calling is still legal?
I got started in 1979 by knowing nothing but the answers on the exam. Made tons of mistakes. Left the business, came back to the business older and hopefully a bit wiser. The jury might still be out on that one.
Cold calling...yuck. Congrats on your leads. I'd suggest the following instead of cold calls:
1-Call/door knock on the expired listings. (grow a thick skin, don't get your feelings hurt. It's business)
2-FSBO's
3-Start a database with all your friends/family/former or current co-workers). Send them a handwritten card letting them know you have your RE License. Then monthly send each person a postcard or newsletter. Every time one of them sends you a referral, send them a handwritten thank you card. When their referral closes send them another thank you card, this time with a gift card for a local restaurant or movie tix.
4-Host open houses for agents, great way to get buyer leads.
5-Get a website for yourself
Don't waste money on: print media, billboards or like advertising, lead generation companies. Pick an area and focus on excelling at it, don't just go with the shotgun approach.
From day one get organized with something like Outlook for your contacts and Excel to keep your books and expenses. Every time you meet someone, get a referral or close a home write personal thank you notes and reward people with small tokens when they send you business.
I have done many of the things mentioned by others above but as the business is built I still do a small personal newsletter that goes out 6-8 times a year. Stay in contact with your previous clients or they will forget about you in a few years.
Build your client and referral database and work it regularly. Let them know how good you are, your awards, your sales. You want their referrals and repeat business.
I have done many of the things mentioned by others above but as the business is built I still do a small personal newsletter that goes out 6-8 times a year. Stay in contact with your previous clients or they will forget about you in a few years.
I send out a newsletter every single month. I consider it to be my most important and most effective piece of marketing/prospecting. I have ~375 people in my database.
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