Starting out as a new agent can feel overwhelming. The more you learn, the more you realize just how much you don’t know yet. One of the biggest questions new agents face has to do with how much they should spend on self-promotion when they first start out. There is the popular adage, “You need to spend money to make money,” but is that necessary? The answer is no.
Beginning With a Budget
Self-promotion and marketing don’t have to cost a lot. In fact, there are plenty of ways to promote yourself without spending a dime. But when it comes to spending money, I’m a firm believer that your business should fund your promotions out of your overhead. In other words, you shouldn’t be using your credit card or dipping into your personal savings.
Running ads, doing mailings and hosting events cost money, and you shouldn’t be spending on these things if your business can’t support it. You should have a business where you are generating $X every month before you start taking a percentage of your real estate cash flow (your listings and sales) to fund your expansion and promotion.
Until you get to that point, the no-cost way of promoting yourself includes door-knocking, calling FSBOs and expireds, phoning past clients or people in your sphere of influence and hosting open houses. These things will generate leads for you. You want to spend 5¢ to get $5 back. If you do nothing else for self-promotion on any given day, commit to having two conversations with people you meet about real estate. That’s 60 conversations a month!
Where to Start When You Do Have Funds
If you have the money to start investing in self-promotion and marketing, stay local. You’re a local business, so you don’t need to spend money to go “big.” Stick to mailings, farming closed Facebook groups and other strategies that are going to give you the biggest bang for your buck.
Facebook often has groups dedicated to local communities where people can interact with those who live in their area. Participating in these online groups, interacting and offering help—as well as your expertise—will help you establish your brand and start the process of getting people to know, like and trust you. That’s the trifecta of marketing.
Need more help? Reach out to us. That’s what we’re here for.
Darryl Davis has trained and coached more than 100,000 agents globally. He is the best-selling author of “How to Become a Power Agent® in Real Estate,” which tops Amazon’s charts for most-sold book to real estate agents. Davis hosts a weekly webinar to help agents succeed in changing times. Visit www.darrylspeaks.com/Online-Training.
