New Realtors, Set Some Prospect Traps And Put Some Bait In Them

     Every new real estate agent hates to look for prospects.  I did it for years.  I taught it for years.  I still do it.  I still teach it.  Aggressive prospecting is tough.  Cold calling, calling for sale by owners, calling expired listings and foreclosure victims is tough.  It is tough by any standard.  It works but the overdose of rejection is tough for a lot of folks.  You will learn things from these activities that you just can't learn any other way.  There is another way.

     If we were pioneers in America three hundred years ago, how would we get food?  We could go out and hunt down food with a rifle or we could set some traps.  Either way, we would have food.

     Selling real estate is the same deal.  You can go hunt down prospects by cold calling and calling expireds and for sale by owners.   There is nothing wrong with this.  Aggressive prospecting works very well.  Most folks can not handle the rejection.  What is the solution?  Set some prospect traps.  Anything you do to make your phone ring instead of you dialing it is a prospect trap.

     Fifteen years experience is the best  prospect trap.  I once had a young rookie trainee tell me that he was going to follow Suzy Superstar around for a week.  See what she was doing and do that.  He discovered that what Suzy did was answer the phone.  Mr. Rookie's phone was not ringing.  Suzy had been setting prospect traps for fifteen years.

      The best prospect trap is a listing.  If you have one listing with your name rider on the yard sign, your phone will ring a little bit. If a listing is a prospect trap, a listing in a very desirable neighborhood is a better prospect trap.  A well priced listing in a very desirable neighborhood is an even better prospect trap.  Forty listings is a forty times better prospect trap.  Listings will make your phone ring.  Remember that when you are deciding whether you should spend your time looking for listings or showing houses to a lukewarm buyer prospect.

     Listings attract buyers.  They also attract more sellers.  There is your two week old, well priced listing in that very desirable neighborhood with a SOLD sign on it.  There is a prospect trap extraordinaire.  Concentrate your efforts on getting listings.

     A listing farm is a prospect trap.  This is labor intensive up front.  Does it work?  Wow! Does it work?  You pick a neighborhood that you like.  You go knock on all three hundred doors  in the neighborhood in January.  You give the owner a free magnetic calendar with your picture on it.  You go back in February with a magnetic valentine with your picture on it.  In March you bring them a shamrock refrigerator magnet.  You come back in April with some income tax forms, just in case you need them.  In May you drop by a bouquet of flowers .  In June you bring a flag for Flag Day, a box of firecrackers for July.  Stop by with a hurricane tracking map in August and a pencil for back to school in September.  Drop off a pumpkin for Halloween.  When you bring that turkey in November, you will be a hero.   OK, maybe I am getting a little carried away.  You get the gist.

     Start a neighborhood news letter on line.  Ask for their email address and ask for news.  News would stuff like we have our canoe for sale or we are having a garage sale.  Post some videos on You Tube about the neighborhood. Post a video about the local high school.  Video an interview with the local elementary school principal.  Post it on You Tube.  Interview a couple of local businessmen and post that on You Tube.  Create a neighborhood website.  When someone Googles XYZ Estates there is the official XYZ website just chock full of information about XYZ Estates.  Who decides what information goes on that website?  You do.  You own the website. . 

     This is a long range project but I think it was Confucius that said," A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."  After a while, depending on how hard you work at it, this is a super prospect trap. 

      A real estate newsletter is a great prospect trap.  Start a newsletter and write news that would be interesting to anyone. Ask anyone you meet to subscribe to it.  Put some good content in it.  Write about new projects like Sun Rail.  Write about housing trends.  Write about things that almost anyone would be interested in.  Put a couple of jokes in it.  It doesn't have to be huge.  It does have to be interesting.  After some time, your newsletter will become a prospect trap. 

     A You Tube channel is a very good prospect trap.  Create one if you don't have one.  You Tube is the second largest search engine in the world.  When people want to know how to do something, they go to You Tube.  " How to right an overturned kayak"  would be an example.  Go to You Tube and watch the video.  Some kayak instructor just got a little publicity.  Go post a video about " How to get top dollar for your house in Altamonte Springs, Florida"   There you are with a few tips about ways to fix up your house, turn on the lights, be open to negotiate etc.  Can you do that?  Yes you can.  When people start thinking about moving, what are some questions they may have?  Be there on You Tube with the answer to those questions.  Go make a ten minute video about something that you know a person about to move would want to know.  Post it on You Tube.  How many videos should you post?  If you want to attract one prospect, post one.  If you want to attract one hundred prospects, post a hundred.  Does this work?  Is the pope Catholic? 

     When you post videos on You Tube, don't be offended or aggravated when other people, your competitors, steal your videos and post them on their website.  Go to You Tube and look at one of my videos.  Do you have any problem knowing that that is MY video?  My name and my phone number is all over that video.  Put your real estate sign in the background.   Put your name rider in the background.  Look at the picture in this article.  That is what you want you You Tube video to look like.  Don't be shy. Get yourself a T shirt with your name and phone number on it.  Wear it in the video.   If your competitors want to steal your video, make sure you get the credit. 

Ron Climer , Real Estate Mentor

     Another wonderful prospect trap is a blog (like this one).  Write articles that your  prospects would be interested in reading and post them on the internet.  There are plenty of blogs that are free or cheap.  Start one and start writing articles.  This is a super prospect trap.  Let's say you wrote an article," Five Mistakes You Don't Want To Make When You Sell Your House".  You write the article and post it on your blog.  Six months later or six years later, you are at a little league baseball game wearing your Realtor baseball cap.  When a fellow parent mentions that his house is for sale, you ask for his email and send him a link to your blogpost article.  Does this help establish your credibility? Yes it does.  You write the article one time.  You send a link to it a hundred times before an appointment.  That is called leverage.  That is another article.

     Set prospect traps.  You can go hunt prospects down with aggressive prospecting.  or you can set prospect traps that will make your phone ring.  That is; you can make your phone ring or you can dial the phone.

      Here is an easy to implement prospect trap.  Be a walking, talking prospect trap.  Wear your Realtor pin on your lapel all the time.  Buy wearing apparel like T-shirts and baseball caps with Realtor or your company logo on it.  Wear it when you are at the soccer game or the running errands.  You know how it goes.  There you are at the boat ramp wearing your Century 21 baseball cap. Some guy starts asking you about home values in XYZ Estates.  Don't cancel your fishing trip.  Give him a business card and a link to your blog.  This is zero effort.  This is high reward.  This is the easiest prospect trap available .

     Almost any basic sales training class will suggest that you join some sort of service club and attend Chamber of Commerce type meetings.  Certainly, this is a great place to prospect.  You don't have to go out and look for clubs to join.  Just let this happen naturally.  Your hobbies and interests will make this happen.  You don't need to be obnoxious and aggressive.  You also don't need to be a secret agent.  Let you club members know what you do for a living.  Wear your Realtor T shirt to the meetings. 

     You need prospects to talk to.  If your phone is not ringing, set some prospect traps and put some bait in them to make it ring.  If the phone is not ringing, you better be dialing it.  www.RonClimer.com