leads

Going door to door. No, this is not a blog post from the 1970s. Did you know the going door to door is actually remarkably effective, especially for local real estate agents? While this might be old school, it still works. Real estate is based on relationships and connections and that is difficult to achieve over an email, postcard, or website.

Nothing beats face-to-face contact. But, like most of us, the idea of cold calling or knocking on a door is somewhat terrifying. Is there a way to do it that is actually effective? Does anyone do it anymore? Can you actually get a lead by door-knocking? This article is gonna talk about 10 effective ways real estate agents can utilize door-knocking it to get a lead and to build relationships.

Door-Knocking to Get the Lead – 10 Effective Ways

#1. Do your research.

Before you start knocking on random doors, you have to know where you want to start your marketing. Is there a neighborhood in which you live where you might actually know a lot of the people there? Do you want to start somewhere you really know and then branch out? Do you have an open house in an area and can knock on everyone’s doors in the area telling them about the open house and introducing yourself? This is a great way to get involved in the neighborhood, be presentable, hospitable, polite, and, get your name out there as well as your face. It all starts somewhere and the best way is to go face-to-face.

#2. Consider gifts.

A small gift is a good way to smooth things over and introduce yourself in a non-threatening manner. Perhaps it’s simply a back scratcher with your name on it, a candle, soaps, lotions, a prepackaged cookie from the local bakery, or something inexpensive, small, and memorable. Items that people use every day such as a pen, notepad, or magnet (one that’s useful rather than a big placard of your face on their fridge) are things that can be used daily and remind people who gave them the gift. When the time comes to buy or sell, you might come to mind, especially if you keep yourself top of mind.

#3. Know what you’re going to say ahead of time.

Work on your script and understand what you’re going to say before you knock on the door. Do you have a polite way of handling rejection? Consider how someone might answer the door and have a respectable response for each of those encounters. Remember, you may come across mothers that have sleeping children and a doorbell or hard knock on the door might be the irritating thing that wakes up the child, ruining her day. You certainly don’t want to be remembered as being “that guy”.

You might be dealing with elderly folks that can even hear the front door, teenagers home alone, housesitter’s, babysitters, heads of households, and everyone in between. Run a script through your mind on what you would say to just about any type of person that answers the door. Try to connect with them immediately without sounding too “salesy”.

#4. Be clear and concise.

Be quick, clear, and concise. Think of this as your elevator conversation. Tell people what you do, how you do it, why you do it, and how you can solve their problem in 10 seconds or less. That definitely takes some practice. Don’t go on and on about yourself because even though you are selling yourself, people want to know that they are in charge and you are solving their problems, not being a rescue for them or that they need you.

If you have an open house in the area, quickly let them know where the open houses and that you’d love to see them, perhaps promise them cookies and coffee or even a glass of wine should they stop by. This will give you a better chance to get to know them and talk about their interests and needs a little bit more.

#5. Understand rejection.

Learn how to gracefully take no as an answer. Remember, even if someone says no, it’s better than slamming the door in your face. Not everybody is ready to buy or sell a house but if you are polite, let them be on their way, and give them a no-pressure out, they may be more inclined to remember you next time. Y

ou’re not necessarily trying to sell anything but simply introduce yourself. A successful real estate agent doesn’t have to convert everyone at the doorstep. This is a process and just one step to a potential lead.

#6. Consider timing.

You certainly don’t want to bother a busy family first thing in the morning when everybody’s trying to get out to school or work. But you also don’t want to bother them right at dinnertime. Most people come home from work between 4:30 and 6:30 and maybe have dinner between 5:30 and 6:30 or seven.

You certainly don’t want to go too late but consider your audience. If it’s a retirement community or after, earlier is definitely better. Consider the day as well. Sunday afternoons, as long as you’re not interrupting a popular sports game, most people will probably answer the door. It’s a more lazy afternoon and they might have more time to chat.

#7. Consider it your target audience.

As previously mentioned, if your target audience is seniors, make sure you have a story of connection that they can relate to. Talk to them during different times of the day or ask if you can come back. A lot of these folks are happy to chat with anyone so make sure that you’re not also wasting your own time. If you’re looking for families, be considerate of afterschool sports, school times, moms with small children, or parents that work. If you’re looking for young professionals, later in the evening might be more appropriate.

#8. Be prepared for unanswered doors.

Not everyone is going to answer the door or they might just not be home so be prepared with door hangers, flyers, or even a unique little gift that will set you apart. You’ll want to have the proper information such as your contact info, social media accounts, and of course, the call to action.

You might even include testimonials or reviews from people they may know such as their own neighbors. People are more likely to choose a real estate agent when they have some reference and relatability.

#9. Target specific homes.

Blanket the neighborhood ahead of time to find expired listings or maybe a home that is ‘for sale by owner’. Obviously, there was a need or is currently and need to sell a house so make sure that you have a really good response on why someone should use you rather than another real estate agent or simply sell it themselves.

You don’t want to overpromise and underdeliver, but offering something they may not be able to get with another agent or by themselves is definitely the key to attracting new business.

#10. Keep records.

There’s nothing more frustrating than having someone knock on your door two weeks after they’ve already knocked on your door acting like they’ve never seen you before. This turns people off and they definitely won’t call you back if you didn’t even remember them. Keep a record of where you’ve been, who you are able to talk to, unanswered doors, and who you might read target in the future.

Nothing shows more validation than remembering that you’ve met someone previously. It makes them feel like you care and that you’ve really paid attention… Which you have.

Door-knocking is not just an old-school tactic. This truly can work for a lot of real estate agents if you put into practice these 10 simple steps. Stay organized, be considerate, be genuine, be realistic, and be respectful. You might be surprised at how many leads you actually get.

If you’d like more information about joining a real estate team with eXp Realty to gain the resources, support, and experience of other team members, contact my office at any time.

More tips for agents and brokers:

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100 Things I Wish I’d Known Before Getting Into Real Estate

9 Reasons Your Business Should Relocate to Florida

How to Be the Builder’s Agent

How to be a Luxury Agent

7 Reasons Why Joining a Real Estate Team is Beneficial

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Leads…. all agents want them and just about everyone pays for them. A lead is like gold and a solid lead is even more valuable than that. So, it makes sense that agents and brokers would pay for an actual, real lead. I mean, at the very least this is a few thousand dollars, and that’s nothing to sneeze at.

Where do leads come from?

When you start off in real estate a lot of the leads will come directly from your brokerage. Your managing broker may allow you to take a couple of the leads that are cold calls, or those that just simply call into the office looking for information about the property and are not currently working with an agent. However, this is not the most reliable source and because most of us are working from home anyway, no one’s going to be sitting at the desk in a vacant office anyway. This is where agents need to get a little bit more creative.

Friends and family.

New agents are likely to get some of their first listings from friends and family. Even if you, as a new agent, don’t have a lot of experience, these are the folks that are likely to give you your first shot at the business. But from here, you can build your book of business through referrals, friends of friends, and if you’re good enough, your reputation will proceed you and you’ll naturally get referrals.

I have one agent that doesn’t have a website and has never advertised online a day in her life, yet being in the business for nearly 30 years, she has a steady flow of referrals and leads that come in every month making her at least $250,000 each year.

Now, I don’t necessarily recommend that for everyone. Remember, she’s been doing this for three decades. For those that are either new in the business or have been in it for a few years, you may not have built out your book of business just yet and therefore are looking for leads wherever you can.

If you’ve been in the real estate industry for any amount of time, you’ve probably already received spam phone calls, emails, and cold calls telling you that they have leads to give you hand over fist. But, those necessarily aren’t that reliable either. Good leads, solid leads, ones from people that have actually given you legitimate name, phone number, and email, are like gold and this is why a lot of places like Realtor.com and Zillow.com choose to sell these to potential agents.

But, which is better? It can be a crapshoot throwing money at a potential lead funnel not knowing whether or not those leads are actually going to close. And of course, you need to buy the lead first and as you know in real estate, you may not be able to collect on that lead for at least a month or more.

How Leads Work

Zillow.com has a service called Premier Agent that agents and brokers can sign up for that allows them to have an ad placement on property listings in particular ZIP Codes that they choose, top placement on agent finders, exposure across other affiliated sites and highlight reviews on your agent profile.

All of this allows for clients and consumers to visually see you and your services more often and more prominent eventually inciting a lead. When an interested buyer clicks on a listing, they will see that agent’s name beside it regardless of who the actual listing agent is. The buyer would then reach out to that agent to see the property.

Zillow has a variety of payment options either month-to-month or within a certain month contract and the cost of each lead depends on the average price of homes in the ZIP Code and location the agent chooses. Most agents pay anywhere from $30-$75 per 1000 impressions, meaning the number of times their contact information is presented to a buyer or client.

They also recommend paying for at least 5000 impressions per month to get the most bang for your marketing bucks. Even if just 1% of folks that see your impression contact you, that could give you a return of about $100 per lead, clearly an effective and appropriate return.

Realtor.com has a program called Connections Plus and sends out a lead to all the agents in a specific area. Whichever agent contacts the lead first has the best chance of getting the deal. Those that sign up for this type of program get automated email and text responses to their potential lead, they are allowed to track data from up to 150 different lead sources in their CRM system, they can add agents from a team into the database and share the leads with the team, and there provided all information about the lead including contact information and their recent searches.

Both companies highly recommend each agent qualifies their own lead as they cannot guarantee that this will be an actual lead that will follow through to completion.

Realtors Connection Plus is slightly less expensive than Zillow but it will also depend on the location in which you are farming and whether you’re paying extra for additional leads or more surefire leads versus colder ones. Realtor.com sends all of these cooler leads or nonexclusive leads to all the agents in a particular ZIP Code based on a first-come, first-served situation. These nonexclusive leads are also less expensive but exclusive leads, allow agents to pay to be the only agent in a specific ZIP Code.

If you’re the only agent a client is reaching out to, chances are you’re the one that’s going to get the deal. Most of these nonexclusive leads start at about $200 a month while exclusive leads cost $1000 a month. (These fees can change so it’s important to check with current listings and fee structures.)

Which is better?

Naturally, Realtor.com has more monthly users than Zillow based on the fees. However, both websites receive a lot of traffic and can be a great source of leads regardless. Just about everybody under the sun knows about Zillow.com with Realtor.com being a close second and of course, the site that gets the most traffic will naturally get the most leads. However, Zillow.com also allows for sale by owner or FSBO listings and Realtor.com does not so you’re likely to have even more potential options for clients.

The key in real estate is to find what works for you. Not everything will work for everyone. It’s important to throw a whole bunch of rocks into the pond and see what works. Find a social media that works for you, a marketing outlet, and a lead generation tool. And of course, for the best service, support, and future in real estate, join eXp Realty. Regardless of whether you get your leads, the support and backup you need to be a successful agent really comes from a fantastic brokerage.