When everyone else is Zigging, You Should Be Zagging!
I find it odd that many real estate salespeople do everything in their power to avoid selling themselves. It's almost like they truly believe that sales will naturally fall into their lap, and some people will actually starve before realizing that approach is a recipe for disaster.
In our industry, a lack of action equals starvation.
No sales = no money and yet, many realtors avoid selling. Go figure.
Let me share with you a proven activity that once followed, will provide many fruits.
Believe me and you shell become fruitful.
Prepare a flyer. The size should not exceed a jumbo postcard (I ordered mine on vista print).
On the flyer you should have some sort of an upward arrow indicating increase in value. Include your company name, your name, your cell phone and Website or social media sites. The design doesn't matter, as a matter of fact the uglier the better (there is a reason for that).
Don't over analyze this. Just do it. And make sure you follow your local real estate advertising rules/laws.
The secret here is to understand the numbers game ratios and how branding works.
Prepare yourself for door knocking.
Depending on the weather, get dressed accordingly, but make sure to always look professional but not intimidating. For example, if its snowing outside, wear your snow shoes with your suite, scarf, gloves & hat. If its a super hot/humid summer day, wear your summer suite. Dress to impress yourself, make sure you look as you would want a salesman at your door to look like, what should they wear to impress you?...common sense applies here. But under no circumstance wear flip flops & shorts even if you're door knocking in Miami beach during the month of August (I've seen people do that).
Prepare your flyers according to the amount of contacts you need to make. For example, if you need to make 40 contacts, take 40 flyers. This will assure you're not just putting out flyers on vacant homes.
The flyer is not the reason you door knock, It is not the purpose of the door knocking. It's just a tool to help you be/stay on point.
Focus on promoting yourself in a specific area you wish to dominate, as the market expert. To do that you must really know what you are talking about. So for those of you that don't know your market inside out, make sure you follow my "Get to know your market inside out" post.
A market expert is someone who knows every active listing in the area. For example if you're in a condominium townhouse market, know every active listing, price per sq feet, floor plans, complex amenities, the doorman, the super, where is the gym/pool etc. You must know the past 6-12 months sold listings (price per sq feet, size of units etc) as well as expired listing ratios (how many actives actually expired in the last 6 months).
As a local expert you must also know the tax rates, school system, local politics, local attorneys, contractors, location of post office, banks etc.
Assuming you're a market expert, you'll now need to promote yourself as such and meet every property owner in the area at least once every 6 months (face to face). Fortunately the only way to assure that is happening, you must go door knocking.
Choose the specific streets before going out (have a specific plan to cover your area every quarter). Start early (not later than 7:45am) and continue until you meet your daily target (40, 50, 60 contacts etc). When you door knock, take 2 steps back (to reduce intimidation) and make sure to face the door and smile.
Here is my script: "Hi, my name is Ran Biderman, I am a local real estate expert with Circle100 real estate brokerage, how are you today? As a professional real estate expert, I study homes and prices everyday and if you wish to discover how much your home is worth in todays market, I'm offering a complimentary home evaluation study ". At this stage I hand them the flyer and say: "If you decide to use my invitation, all you'll need to do next is call or email me and I will prepare a home evaluation study for you. I provide you this service for free and no commitment is needed from you whatsoever...By the way, do you know anyone else in the neighborhood that is contemplating selling at this time?".
Thats it! This very activity (if you make 40 contacts per day) can get you (within 3-6 months of consistent action) about 1-2 listings per week. Do the math and you'll shortly count the money as well.
Now, go to work!
Good luck.