Many wedding planners start out with the most obvious gig: their own wedding. A bride spends months orchestrating the largest, most expensive event she has ever managed, and after it is all over, she has these skills she never had before. She reaches out to friends and family to plan birthday parties, graduation open houses, and then weddings. All of a sudden, she has a growing small business.
For many of us in the real estate community, our journey started similarly: selling Grandma’s house, helping mom and dad relocate to a retirement community, or protecting an aunt or uncle’s property investment. It’s close and personal, but it gives you the bug.
Then come the classes, the tests and the license. Like that, you’re a shiny new real estate agent.
Unfortunately, the reality is that 87 percent of new agents fail in the first five years.*
They hound their friends on Facebook. They hand out business cards at baby showers and weddings, but business is slow, if it comes in at all.
Let’s face it: Your social circle might be big enough to sell makeup, shampoo or essential oils that all run out in a month or two, but it’s not big enough to keep a steady stream of home sales coming your way. People are staying in their homes longer than they used to—almost nine years, according to recent data—so you’d need hundreds or thousands of friends to survive off of your social circle’s sales alone.**
So how do you break outside of your social circle?
Prospecting.
Don’t let all the research you just did on a neighborhood go to waste just because the sale is complete. Use that data to let neighbors know what houses in their neighborhood are going for. Look up the neighbors of your most recent seller, and let them know how you can help them!
Or, if you have trouble finding inventory for your buyers in a popular neighborhood, reach out to that neighborhood and surrounding areas to let them know people are looking.
Using cell phone and email data, also available from Cole, you can plug that info into Facebook or programs such as Slydial to let those neighbors get to know you.
Social circles are good for trying to get rid of an old couch or selling nutritional supplements, but they’re too small to pin your real estate career hopes on. Start prospecting today and make your whole city your circle!
*Sellers, Dana. “Why working part time as a real estate agent does not fly.” LinkedIn. Feb. 13, 2017. www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-working-part-time-real-estate-agent-does-fly-dana-sellers
**National Association of REALTORS®
For more information, please call Cole Realty Resource at 888-231-0732, or visit www.coleinformation.com/real-estate/.
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