The 4 Most Effective Tactics to Close More Real Estate Business

Being a top producer means using every tool of the trade to identify prospects, and then interacting constantly and consistently with them to successfully convert leads into clients and, ultimately, into sales. Taken one step further, those sales will generate glowing reviews and referrals, which lead to… more leads. See how that works? The key is prospecting. Without new leads populating your funnel, your closing output is zero, and your real estate business simply won’t grow.

Here are the four most effective tactics to generate and close more business.

1. Build your sphere of influence (SOI) and work it. Your SOI is anyone you are connected with, be it personal, professional, or peripheral — for example, the barista who makes your latte every day. One way you can build and work your SOI is to increase your local community involvement: volunteer at a homeless shelter, organize a clothes drive, sponsor a little league team, or join your local Chamber of Commerce or Rotary Club. How about mining past clients for referrals and while you’re at it, asking them for reviews? Believe it or not, some agents don’t consider past clients — an often-overlooked source of referrals — as part of their SOI. Past clients have worked with you and know you as an agent, so why not reconnect and remind them you're still here? You should also attend industry tradeshows and conferences as these events are great for generating agent-to-agent referrals.

1. Use a free service/advertising platform like Zillow. Buyers and sellers see a complete profile that positions you as the local neighborhood expert, and displays your listings, past sales and reviews. You also get tools for sharing your Zillow information on your own website and social media networks, and advice forums help keep you informed about what’s going on in your local community. And that’s just what you get for free. To get maximum exposure to Zillow home shoppers, consider becoming a Premier Agent.
2. Employ cold calling, door knocking, list buying, and farming. Yes, these old-school methods are still around — because they work. Here’s an exercise: Imagine it’s a year from now and you had picked just one of these methods and worked at it a little every day. Can you picture how much bigger your business is now and how many more leads are in your funnel? By all means, pursue 21st century digital methods that were designed for speedy and efficient communication — email marketing, advertising platforms like Zillow, websites, social media, IDXs, online videos — but diversify your toolbox by leveraging the proven classic methods as well.
3. Find and use a CRM. Whichever product you choose, the benefits of using a CRM are prolific and significant. Once you get your leads, a CRM will help you store, view, annotate, organize, prioritize, forward and distribute contacts, as well as provide you with tools for following up with contacts. Now that’s a multitasker.

To close more real estate business, you've got to get more business. Profound, but obvious. So how do you get more business? It’s really just feet on the street, literally and figuratively: By incorporating a mix of tried and true pavement-pounding techniques, technology-based solutions and imaginative networking into your daily repertoire, your list of leads can increase by leaps and bounds.