Above, Carrie Little, left and Justin Letheby share lead-gen strategies in the session, “Maximizing What You Already Have: Cost-Effective Lead Generation for Real Estate Professionals,” during the recent NAR NXT conference in Houston.
HOUSTON—At the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) recent NAR NXT conference, real estate industry leaders Carrie Little and Justin Letheby delivered a treasure trove of knowledge to agents—knowledge that they are already sitting on, but need a bit of guidance as far as how to unlock it to help them reach their goals.
Their session, “Maximizing What You Already Have: Cost-Effective Lead Generation for Real Estate Professionals,” laid out specific strategies that are working right now. Here are some of the top tips they shared.
Renter-to-owner conversion
In Northern Illinois alone, there are over 20,000 renters in the MLS that “need to make a decision to move in the next, maybe 30 days,” shared Little.
Since a lease is typically 12 months long, the idea is to go back nine months from today’s date and pull back data on anyone who’s rented during this time and send one targeted mailer with a simple message about homeownership opportunities and a landing page where they can get more information.
Little then shared a story of an agent who became a top producer within two months using just this strategy.
“If you did this for the rest of your career, you would always have a lead,” Little told the room full of attendees.
Activate your free landing pages that you didn’t know you had
Most agents pay for tools with built-in landing pages and a lot of agents don’t even know they exist.
On Remine, which a lot of agents from boutique brokerages use, adds Little, all you need to do to activate your landing page is click your name on the bottom left corner and update your settings. You get a free landing page full of social media integrations, “Make Me an Offer” functionality and full branding customization.
“You can add most of your social media profiles. You can brand it to your brokerage. You can add your information, and you have options,” Little told the room.
Target current expired and canceled listings with a soft-sell approach
Contact sellers either the day their listing expires or wait one to two months when other agents have given up and you’ll be the only voice in their inbox. Little puts expired listings into a favorites folder and then writes out a handwritten note card that says: “Dear (Name), I see your home is no longer being actively marketed. When you decide to interview new agents, I would love to be considered. Call me, text me or email.”
Her voicemail script is also a soft sell: “Hey (Name), I see your home is no longer being actively marketed. I’m so sorry I missed you today. I would love to have a conversation about getting your home back on the market. Maybe I have some new strategies. If I don’t hear from you today, I’ll give you a call back tomorrow. Feel free to text me.”
Letheby emphasized that consistency matters more than being first.
“Consistency is the trick to expired/canceled (listings),” Letheby told the audience. “Traditionally speaking, the last person talking to them wins.”
