The high cost of business building | A post for Realtors

The real estate industry is much tougher than it looks from the outside. To the public it might seem a glamorous high-paying way to make a living with little effort. Those of us on the inside know the reality is different.

Lots of things about the industry are tough but one of the greatest challenges for real estate professionals is business-building, often called prospecting. Prospecting is so difficult that a whole cottage industry of real estate sales trainers and coaches thrives because prospecting is so daunting and demoralizing for most Realtors to do successfully. Another mini-industry supports agent personal branding and promotion in order to further support their prospecting efforts.

What is it that’s so tough about meeting more clients? Let’s look at the traditional methods of farming for new business — the methods agents usually thinking of as free, such as door-knocking, cold-calling, and holding open houses. The first thing you’re probably thinking is that Covid-19 has put a stop to two of those and that ‘Do Not Call’ legislation has stopped the other and that’s largely true. In the past agents often spent a lot of time attempting to connect with buyers and sellers through hosting open houses, going door-to-door or dialling through call-lists hoping to meet the right person at the right time. These methods are free in terms of dollar outlay but very expensive in terms of time - and time, as we all know, is money. They’re also methods that are difficult from a personal standpoint. Agents are people too and the continual rejection inherent in these methods wears agents down. Eventually most agents just stop and shift to focusing on repeat and referral business, but this is also a grind to generate and therefore the result is usually the same. Agents mostly give up or are uneven in their efforts to generate business this way.

What else can agents do to increase their business? Because “free” methods of prospecting are so ineffective agents usually try to supplement them with advertising: bus and bench back advertising, slickly produced mail drops in farm areas, pop-bys of little gifts to their former clients and personal websites. There’s little evidence to suggest any of this works but often agents will make what they hope are “investments” laying out large sums of money in hopes that they’ll attract new business.

What’s a better answer? Technology has changed everything, and it’s had a little push from Covid-19. The easiest way to connect with buyers and sellers is to let them see you and choose you online, from the comfort of their homes and with all the information they need. A bench-back ad doesn’t let a potential buyer know how many transactions you’ve handled in the area where she’s looking. Cold-calling never let a potential seller client see what your former clients have to say about you. Letting people see your experience, reviews from your clients and then having them actively select you is a smart way to work with more clients, clients who actively choose you. Let technology work for you so you can do what you do best, work for your clients.