Getting Leads: In a Tough Market, Agents Get Creative

The life of a real estate agent is never dull. Either you’re busy, busy, busy with clients, or you’re working hard to find new ones.

So what do seasoned agents do when business is slow? We turned to the Zillow Premier Agent community to share their tactics for consistently getting — and converting — leads in a tough market.

Pursue leads you thought were dead ends

“Waiting for the phone to ring is a recipe for disaster,” says Zillow Premier Agent Erik Hatch of Fargo, North Dakota. Rather than hoping leads will find you or busting your budget going after new ones, agents should systematize and go after leads they’ve already invested in.

“We don't always need more business,” Hatch says. “We need to be better with the stuff we already have.”

Bring neighbors news they can use

Use new listings, sales and open houses as an opportunity to knock on doors, says Justen Martin, a Zillow Premier Agent in Westminster, Colorado. “Introduce yourself as a Zillow Premier Agent in your location, and hand them the MLS sheet,” he says. As home values are likely to be impacted by nearby sales, ask owners if they’d like an update on their home values. “Eight out of 10 will say yes,” Martin says, at which point you can ask them for their email address to follow up. January and February are great months to do this, so start knocking.

Seek out expired or canceled listings

In a slowing market, Robby Trefethren of Hatch Realty in Fargo, North Dakota, advises agents to go after expired and canceled listings. “This is because the amount of frustrated sellers rises as we shift towards a balanced or buyer’s market,” he explains. That is, more homes are overlooked when buyers have more choices, and sellers of those overlooked homes need your help.

Go old school and get on the phone

When the going gets tough, 'spend two to four hours a day getting on the phone and actually calling people,” says Michelle Yoo, a Zillow Premier Agent in Middleton, Wisconsin. She advises a blanket approach of calling people in your sphere of influence, past clients and, most importantly, old leads.

If you don’t have enough people in your database, Yoo says, try taking things geographically. “Circle prospecting still works,” she says, suggesting agents get an auto dialer and just start calling.

A market slowdown doesn’t have to mean that your business suffers. Hop on the phone, go door to door or dive deeper into the leads in your database, and your creativity and resourcefulness are sure to pay off.