Networking for Real Estate Leads

Networking for Real Estate Leads; Walking and Talking Your Way To More Leads

Networking For Real Estate Leads. Ever wonder how successful agents manage to get where they are? How they're so successful? How they

seemingly have more listings, prospects and leads than they can handle?

I can assure you that its not by blind luck. Finding and sustaining leads is a process, not an event.

Successful agents embrace the understanding that generating real estate leads is something that occurs over time and requires daily action to sustain their success.

Of course, being a natural born salesperson who can sell ice cream in the North Pole helps, but networking for real estate leads and successfully cultivating multiple streams of warm, responsive leads is within reach of most agents - once they understand how to get them.

Real Estate Leads Generation is simply a matter of opening your mind to the possibilities and networking your way to more leads.

The Importance of Networking for Real Estate Leads

Some experts note that 50% of new real estate agents give up within a year of starting and change careers, citing frustration despite all their efforts as one of the reasons for quitting.

This high turnover of new agents and the rate they quit right after starting says a lot. You may not necessarily want to quit. But the thought of wanting to make things easier as far as finding leads are concerned must have certainly crossed your mind.

If someone could make the tedious task of finding leads a simple and easy task, you'd go for it, wouldn't you? If someone would package and sell it I'd buy it, which is exactly what I did - but more on that later.

Real Estate Leads Generation ideas are all around you, from networking for leads, working contractor and home builder shows, farming expired listings, generating leads via real estate web site content articles and reports, etc.

There's simply no limit to the ways in which you can generate leads.

Successful agents succeed because they've built and maintain an extensive network that ensures him/her that business will come in no matter what.

Sounds easy...right? Yes and no.

It is easy in that the act of networking is simply making a connection to a person who can lead you to several others. Also, you have to be the kind of person everyone wants to refer to his or her friends and acquaintances..and that part takes work.

But once you establish that kind of network, you will find that the leads are reliable and are very likely to keep doing business with you. They may even throw more business your way.

They will also be the most cost-effective leads because all it takes to generate a lead is only as much as you would spend on a personal phone call or well-written email/letter.

How to Build a Network

That said, how do you start building a network that will work for you and give you leads you need? For one thing, it does NOT begin with printing out fancy business cards.

It begins by working hard on building on a credible reputation for yourself and/or your agency. Be the kind of person that walks the talk. Think about it, would you rather work with a shady agent (you can spot them a mile away) or with someone who is genuine about what they say and do?

People pick up not only the words you say but more importantly on the way you say things. If they feel that your underlying motive is to profit from a transaction with them you'll most likely lose the deal before you can negotiate it.

Compare this with someone who shows a real concern for helping find the best deal possible and you'll see why this kind of agent lasts longer than the hard-sell kind.

Active Listening

Probing for usable information and leads is an art. If you don't already have the skill of fishing out lead generating information from every conversation you take part in you need to develop it.

Getting the information requires discipline on your part - so, learn to listen more and talk less.

However, that's NOT to say you should keep your words to a minimum, but rather, give your contact more opportunities to talk about themselves. If you need to speak, it is more to encourage the person to share rather than you interjecting a word to dominate the conversation.

How To Use Your Business Cards

Letting people know how they can reach you is an important part of doing business in real estate (or with any business for that matter). But it is more important for you to be asking for that information. After you build an initial rapport, politely ask for his/her contact information.

Don't even think of handing out your card when its not asked for. At least, ask permission if you could give them your card just in case they need to inquire about anything regarding real estate.

Thrusting out your card to a person who's not asking for it is pretty much like saying, "Call me." In dating, we find that pretty presumptuous. The idea doesn't change when it comes to networking for real estate leads.

Now that you've built a genuine and likeable persona and now that you have the information you need and the contacts to pursue the information with, you need to work on mining this information for leads.

Effective Follow up

Follow up with friendly correspondences. It helps to refer to your last conversation to open up your letters/calls. It is here where the benefits of listening come in. Your contact realizes you took the effort to remember what they said, and that speaks a lot about you.

Another plus in guiding the conversation towards something related to your business is that there is a logical take-off point for you to introduce your services and what you can do to help the person with their real estate concerns.

I almost forget - the best lead generating strategies I know of include farming expired listing systems, using web site content to generate leads, and other real estate lead generating ideas. Click on the links to read more about them...

Summarily, when Networking for Real Estate Leads it's all about walking the walk, talking the talk, and being a great listener with good follow-up skills. These attributes will play an important role in your ability generate quality leads that close.