The Top Places to Find Listing Leads
Every market has one or two agents who just seem to get every listing.
Wouldn’t you love to approach those heavy hitters in your area and find out how they do it?
To ask them point blank, “How are you getting so much business?”
Well, lucky for me, I have access to lots of heavy hitters.
And they didn’t mind when I asked them, so I did.
Now I’m sharing what I learned about real estate lead generation with you.
Take It Up a Notch. Explore Our Real Estate Agent Tools, Resources, and Case Studies!
At Tom Ferry, our team has decades of experience helping realtors grow their businesses. Discover invaluable insights, customized strategies, and expert guidance to supercharge your lead generation, marketing, and more!
Earlier this year, I asked our thousands of coaching members who average 10X the industry average GCI one simple question:
“How are you generating listings?”
This is what they told me. (And they only know because they track their numbers. Do you?)
The Top Sources for Real Estate Listing Leads
Listing Lead Source No. 1: Database
The number one listing source for agents in our coaching programs was people in their own database, including:
- Sphere who decided to sell
- Past clients who decided to sell
- Referrals from sphere or past clients
- Older leads nurtured over time
In our ever-present quest to generate more and more leads, this proves that oftentimes the very best prospects are already in your orbit… and right under your nose.
Are you touching base with your database frequently enough?
Are you nurturing the old leads in your database or giving up on them?
Listing Lead Source No. 2: Geographic or Niche Farming
Geographic farming and targeting a specific audience – either geographic or niche-based – and delivering value to them consistently over and over again is the second most effective listing lead source among our coaching members.
Direct mail, email, geographic-based ads, and more will keep your brand in front of people and establish you as the knowledge broker for your market.
If I asked you to tell me about your target farm, can you identify it? Or are you taking a scattershot approach in hopes of rolling the dice and hitting the jackpot?
Listing Lead Source No. 3: Video
If you’re still underestimating the power of video marketing, let this serve as your wake-up call…
Sellers who called agents as a direct result of watching their video(s) were the third most effective listing lead strategy for our agents.
Today’s consumers are most definitely operating with a video-first mindset.
Are you?
Listing Lead Source No. 4: Google Business Profile
Where do people turn when they need answers?
Google.
So it’s no real surprise that your Google Business Profile can help generate new listing leads.
Far too many agents are behind the curve and either haven’t set up or maximized their GBP page.
Here’s the good news: You can improve yours yourself and we can help with six steps to help set you apart and improve your Google search ranking.
Listing Lead Source No. 5: Open Houses
Open Houses typically attract buyers, so how do they generate listing leads?
Well, a couple ways…
One, buyers often need to sell, right?
And second, Open Houses are a great excuse to go talk to the homeowners who live near your listing. You can invite them to the Open House, ask them about their current living situation, and make a strong first impression by proactively showing them the lengths you go to for your sellers.
Here's the open house script to make these conversations productive.
Listing Lead Source No. 6: Expireds
Even in today’s market where the majority of properties garner multiple offers and sell in an instant, there are plenty of Expireds to keep agents busy.
And I can hear you now… “Expireds are a pain. They’re not worth the trouble.”
Well, if they’re good enough to be the sixth most effective listing lead source for top agents, maybe they’re worth another look.
Check out this helpful blog for 7 tips to capitalize on this opportunity.
Listing Lead Source No. 7: Paid Digital Ads
Facebook and Google Local Services ads are the seventh most effective listing lead source among our coaching members.
Are you running paid ads? Because that’s how you achieve that “I see you everywhere” recognizability.
If you’re new to paid ads, watch this excellent primer from our resident marketing guru Jason Pantana to explain all.
Listing Lead Source No. 8: Reviews
Today’s consumer has access to virtually unlimited information…
…Including reviews of you and every one of your competitors.
So when they’re making that important decision of who to trust with their most expensive asset, you can bet they’re going to read some reviews.
That’s why calls direct from reading online reviews – primarily on Google or Zillow – is the eighth most effective listing lead source.
And it begs the question: Are you making it easy enough for people to provide a glowing review of your services?
Listing Lead Source No. 9: Circle Dialing
In a frenzied real estate market like today’s, everyone wants to know what’s happening with their home price. And more importantly, what the value of their home means for their future.
In other words, they might just be ready to cash out… if the price is right.
But you’ll only know that and discover that prospect if you’re making the calls.
It might sound old-school, but I strongly suggest circle-dialing to all the homeowners near any home you sell today.
Take a listen to Byron Lazine’s advice at 36:28 of this video for how easy it can be to inform people and win more business with this approach.
Listing Lead Source No. 10: Just Sold “Yikes” Mailers
Yes, the infamous “Yikes!” letter is still going strong, coming in at 10th place among our coaching members for generating listing leads.
The name “Yikes” comes from the letter or postcard headline many agents have successfully used with this approach: “Yikes, there are no homes on the market!”
Here’s an example:
“Dear Mr. & Mrs. Homeowner. I’m currently representing a wonderful family (describe them in detail) who desperately want to raise their kids in (specific community or type of property), and as you might know, there are none available. I’m writing because I’m just wondering… Have you had any thoughts of selling?”
Hopefully, this blog gave you some insight into what’s working right now for top agents around the globe. If you want even more outside-the-box ideas for listing lead sources or even lead conversion, be sure to download 33 Ways to Attract More Listings, a free resource full of innovative tactics to get yourself noticed and take more listings!
We’ve helped scale the businesses of tens of thousands of real estate agents.
When you start with a free real estate coaching consultation, chances are we can help scale yours as well. Schedule yours today!