Do you want to gain new clients out of every listing? Then you’re going to want to pay extra close attention to this article! We’re going to show you step-by-step how you can get five new clients out of every single listing.
You probably know listings are uber-important for successful real estate agents. Working with sellers has several advantages over working with buyers:
- They typically require less of your time.
- You generally have more control over when you complete the work on behalf of your sellers (as opposed to working with buyers, when you really need to work around their schedule).
- Buyers may or may not ever actually buy; but when a seller lists with you, they are committed to selling.
- You have a signed contract with sellers; if the house closes, you get paid. In many states, the same assurances don’t exist when working with buyers.
So there are compelling reasons to build your business around listings. But of course, most of us enjoy working with buyers. It’s incredibly satisfying to help someone land their dream home! So I’m not proposing that you only work with sellers. I’m proposing that you focus your prospecting and advertising on sellers…then you use each listing to land five new clients (buyers and sellers). Make sense?
Good! Let’s get to the how-to!
Quick note: this article was first published in 2019. This is the new, improved version.
How to Get 5 New Clients Out of Every Listing
Here is a simple five-step plan to help you land five new clients out of every listing.
1. Meet the Neighbors
A new listing is a perfect excuse to meet new people in your geo farm: you’re holding an open house, so you want to invite the neighbors to the open house (and uncover potential new clients in the process!).
Door knocking for this specific purpose still works in most markets. Visit 5-10 houses on each side of your listing, 10-20 houses across the street, and 10-20 houses on the road behind your listing.
Knock, knock, knock
Hi, I’m Michelle with Hummingbird Real Estate. I just wanted to drop by to invite you to an open house for the Sanders over at 145 Maple Dr. We’ll be there from 3:00-6:00 this Sunday with the best homemade cookie bars you’ve ever tasted! *hand them the flyer with the details*.
Also, I wondered if you might know of someone looking to move into this neighborhood?
And how about you? When do you think you might be looking to make a move?
It’s been a pleasure chatting with you! We’re expecting a big turnout at this open house and would love to see you there!
In addition to personally contacting those close neighbors, you can door hangers or send mailers inviting neighbors to the open house. As well as posting open invites online.
Another great tip for meeting the neighbors: Instead of using “just listed” in your local marketing materials, try “Help me find your new neighbor!” Asking for help finding a buyer might just bring you some leads!
2. Crush the Open House
It’s an open industry secret: open houses are more for the listing agents than for the sellers. Open houses rarely result in a contract to purchase the home, but they often result in new buyer leads for the agent hosting the open house.
Here are a few tips to generate more leads from your open houses:
- Make sure you invite the neighbors as we talked about in Step 1. Sure, they probably won’t buy this house. But they might be selling in the next year or two, and this open house is your chance to wow them with your listing agent prowess.
- Promote the open house with social media posts, personal invites to key buyers, and lots of directional signage.
- Stage the home. Even if you don’t fully stage the home, the open house should be staged to some degree:
- Extra furniture and clutter should be removed.
- Personal photos should also be removed to help buyers feel more at home.
- Place a bowl of fresh fruit on the kitchen counter and place fresh flowers around the home to liven it up.
- Open all the windows to get as much light in as possible.
- Make sure the temp is just right.
- Bake some cookies or cinnamon rolls. Seriously. There’s nothing more inviting than the smell of fresh-baked anything. And you can serve your goodies to visitors as they arrive.
- These little touches don’t take much time or money, but they make a world of difference.
- Have a sign-in sheet. You want to be capturing contact info from everyone that comes through the home so you can follow up with them. You can always put this on the owner (ie. “The sellers would like to know who was able to view their home today; can you please complete this quick sign-in sheet for me?”).
- Be present with each visitor. Take the time to talk about them: their family, career, and living situation.
Of course the leads from the open house do nothing for you unless you actually follow up on them. Log all your new leads in your CRM immediately. The next day, contact the visitors to thank them for stopping by and to offer your services, specific to the needs they expressed at the open house.
Here’s an example of a follow-up script:
Hi Mark and Sarah,
Thank you so much for dropping by the open house at 123 Main Street yesterday. It was such a pleasure to meet you both!
You had mentioned that you were looking specifically for a 3 bed, 2 bath in this zip code, under $600,000. Well, a new home meeting your criteria just came on the market over the weekend, and I’m so excited to share the details with you! Here’s a link to the listing: [link].
As you know, properties in that price range are moving fast right now. If you’re serious about moving into this neighborhood, we should make an appointment to see it as soon as you have a moment. I checked with the listing agent, and they can squeeze us in at 6:00 this evening or 7:00 tomorrow evening. Which would work better for you?
Looking forward to finding you the perfect home!
Michelle
When you capture your open house leads and actually follow up with them, you’re going to grow your client base!
3. Make a Show of the Closing
Do you know how most real estate agents celebrate a closing with their sellers? They present a closing gift to the sellers in the privacy of the seller’s home or the agent’s office. Good, not great.
Here’s a better way, a way that will help you earn five new clients out of every listing…
You send a bouquet (flowers, balloons, cookies, or fruit!) to your seller at work. Because workdays tend to be monotonous, and workers get excited about any little disruption to the day. Every one of your seller’s coworkers are going to see the delivery come in and want to know 1) who it’s for, 2) who it’s from, and 3) what they’re celebrating. This gives your client the perfect opportunity to say, “Oh, I just closed on my house today, and these are from my Realtor”. Even if your seller doesn’t say your name at that point, you can bet that anyone remotely interested in buying or selling is going to ask for your name!
The $30-$60 you spend on the delivery is a solid investment in your business. And you might be able to get a deal with a local florist or baker if you make them your exclusive provider.
4. Give a Lasting Closing Gift
In addition to the showy office delivery, I recommend getting a special, personal closing gift for your seller. Ideally, something with a long shelf-life so your sellers will be reminded of you every time they look at the gift for years to come. Because Lord knows the delivery to the office isn’t going to last more than a few days!
Bonus points if your closing gifts will be seen by the client’s friends and family. If people are asking, “Wow, where did you get that?!”, and your client answers, “My real estate agent got that for me when we sold our house!”, you’re getting more free promotion!
Check out 20 Affordable Closing Gifts Guaranteed to Impress Your Clients for some brilliant ideas.
5. Ask for Referrals
You’ve certainly earned a referral thanks to your diligent service and guidance. Now you just need to ask for the referral.
Here’s what you say:
I’m so happy for you, and so excited for you to take on this new chapter of your life. This is the most rewarding part of my job! I’m always looking to help great people like you make big life changes like this. Who do you know that might be looking to make a move like you just did?
Notice I didn’t say, “Do you know anyone who might be looking to make a move?”
That would be a yes or no question, and when an immediate answer doesn’t come to mind, people default to no. Don’t let your clients default out of your referral! Make them really think about it. You might even help them along, by suggesting groups of people they can pull from. Family? Friends? Colleagues? People at church? Other parents from your kid’s school?
Make sure you get the contact info along with the name so you can reach out to these potential new clients. Then add them to your CRM and reach out right away.
And just like that, you’re getting five new clients out of every listing!
Get a Small Win
Great victories come from small wins. Before you move on with the rest of your day, get a small win!
Today’s Small Win Challenge is to take action on any of the five steps we covered (depending on where you are with your sellers).
If you have a brand new listing, set a date and time for the open house, print your fliers, and commit to just one hour of door-knocking today.
If you recently closed, order a bouquet to be delivered to your client’s workplace. By the way, that works just as well for buyers as for sellers!
What if you don’t currently have any listings? No problem! You can still take action to boost your future client roster. Your Small Win Challenge for today is to document these activities in your real estate business plan so you don’t forget to follow these steps each time you get a new listing. It will only take a few minutes, and before you know it, you’ll be landing five new clients out of every listing!
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