Being a Real Estate Agent can still be quite profitable.
According to Forbes, the mean income greatly varies depending on the state the agent works at, with New York, Texas, and Hawaii having the highest mean annual wages in the country.
The job title Real Estate Agent has come to signify a lot of different things. If you ask the regular person, they will tell you that it is someone that helps buy, sell, or rent some sort of property.
While this is true, a real estate agent does much more than that.
The key to getting new leads in Real Estate with no effort lies in knowing the specificities of the job, knowing the market (especially in the area you plan to operate), and use them to your advantage.
The formula to get leads for Real Estate can be split into two parts:
- Specialization – do not try to be a generalist real estate agent, the best way to have people coming to you and not you to them is to specialize.
- Trustworthiness – there are several things you can do in terms of your marketing and communication efforts, as well as during a deal to build a reputation of trust.
The sum of these two will mean that the segment of the market that you are specializing in will be able to identify you as the aptest person for their business and also as someone that they can trust to take care of their investments.
These steps both require time and effort, but they are the most effective strategy to generate leads.
When you manage this successfully you will not be running around looking to find new leads, but the leads will come to you.
In what follows you will find a guide of steps to tackle the formula to get leads for Real Estate, with some useful guides or tools to help you further.
#1 Decide what type of agent you want to be
The first type of specialization that you will need is deciding what type of agent you want to be.
Your decision should be made considering your skills, your capital, and the needs of the market in the area that you will be working.
Here a brief list of the most important types of agents:
Real Estate Agent – is a person that has gone through prelicensing training (with the number of hours varying according to states) and helps people to sell, buy, or rent some property.
Realtor – A licensed Real Estate Agent can become part of the National Association of Realtors which holds higher standards and therefore having this title provides the agent with higher trustworthiness.
Broker – A broker is a Real Estate agent that undergoes further education and licensing to be allowed to have more responsibilities. For example, they are allowed to own their own firms and have teams of agents that they manage. States require them to pass exams where they can prove knowledge on taxes, insurance policies, and contracts.
#2 Choose the type of property or client you want to specialize in
This is a fundamental decision because it will directly decide the niche of the market that you will be working for. Take the time to assess the necessities in your geographical area.
Are people mainly looking for residential homes, offices, or places to start a company? Is there a large group of people from another country that is looking to invest there?
This step also implies asking yourself what you shine at. Do you prefer helping people find new properties to live/invest in? Or are you better at selling or renting them?
Although none of these categories have to be 100 percent fixed, specializing in terms of the type of property and clients will give you deeper practical experience in one area that will eventually result in a reputation of expertise.
#3 Customize your communication to emphasize your specialization
Specializing has the practical advantage that it allows you to tailor your communication strategies to directly connect with the people you are trying to reach.
You should position yourself as an expert in that area. Build an online presence that reflects this. This should include a professional-looking website and a wise choice of social media channels where you commit to remain active (both by regularly posting relevant content and reacting to questions or comments).
For the more tech affine, a great idea would be to start a YouTube channel where you give advice to people about the more obscure things on Real Estate.
Think of all these channels as an addition to your portfolio. Whenever you meet or contact a potential lead, you will be able to prove your expertise with more than your stories and words.
#4 Generate trust in your clients
After taking all the necessary steps to build your niche in the Real Estate market, it is necessary to build a reputation of trustworthiness.
Of course, the way you advertise yourself should sound honest and grounded, but the most effective way is to generate an air of transparency and safety in your deals.
Since this type of deal implies a very big capital, for a lot of people this implies their whole savings or even get into debt, people are comprehensibly wary. Make sure that every party understands all the bureaucratic steps and all the costs that the deal implies.
A great way to generate trust is to do background checks.
Nuwber offers detailed reports that include criminal records and eviction history. Nothing will speak more of your trustworthiness than preventing fraud or something similar.
Be transparent about this as well, background checks are a regular procedure, but people should be informed about them.
To wrap-up
Being a successful Real Estate Agent requires effort and time. A lot of agents get frustrated because they spend their time chasing leads.
The right strategy is to create all of the conditions for people to seek you and not the other way around. This is only possible if you have something special that other agents do not have.
Specialization into a particular niche where you concentrate on just some types of properties and clients will allow you to develop expertise and reputation in this area. You should use this to your advantage in your communication.
Together with expertise, you want to build a reputation that is based on trustworthiness.
The best way to do this is to be very meticulous in your deals and make sure that any concern or question from your clients is addressed. People that have experience with your services will serve as witnesses of your services.
