Real Estate Prospecting Techniques to Win More Clients as a New Agent

In real estate, quantity often beats quality because commissions add up. The more you know, the more opportunity you have to make a sale. Adding more names to your Rolodex must be high on your agenda as a new real estate agent, for it’s the key to generating leads, serving more clients and increasing your gross commission income. You can achieve these objectives through these 12 real estate prospecting techniques.

1. Think What Value You Can Offer

Prospecting is a two-way street — you want business, they want value. Although only a few people you reach out to plan to sell, rent or buy properties soon, they may eventually enter the real estate market or know someone who does.

Demonstrate your utility before they need you to stand out from the competition. You don’t have to tie your usefulness to your profession — just be a friendly neighbor willing to serve those who need it.

Identify an issue residents deal with and think of a solution. You can partner with local businesses to explore ways to establish a likable brand.

For example, collaborating with a lawn care company that mows unkempt yards for free for its vlogs can work wonders. You can find the properties to feature, pitch the idea to the homeowners and take these time-consuming tasks off your partner’s plate. It’s an excellent alibi to knock door-to-door, introduce yourself as a real estate agent and offer tantalizing value to prospective contacts.

2. Create Free Resources

Freebies are unfailing marketing tools. They scream tremendous value and get your name out there in a low-key manner.

Regarding tangible free resources, you can curate and print local property market reports, catalogs of credentialed professionals, and home ownership checklists.

When it comes to online resources, you can:

• Blog on your site or other publications.
• Write e-books.
• Create newsletters.
• Produce social media content, including TikTok videos, Instagram and Facebook Reels, and YouTube Shorts.
• Offer expert advice on forums such as Reddit and Quora.
• Join thought-provoking LinkedIn discussions.
• Host webinars and podcasts.

If you decide on a niche, develop resources that apply to your target audience. Regardless of the promotional materials you create, don’t forget to include your brand identity elements.

3. Prioritize Your Sphere of Influence

Look no further than your friends, relatives, co-workers and acquaintances. Let them know what you do professionally. Real estate transactions center around trust — they’re more likely to hire you than a stranger since you already have relationships with them.

4. Seek Referrals From Your Network

Prospecting can be resource-intensive, so leverage your existing connections to help you find leads. When word-of-mouth recommendations come from trusted sources, most view being referred as having been vetted.

Your prospective clients are more likely to hire you since they think the people who referred you already screened you. This phenomenon makes sense because 58% of consumers recommend a trusted company to their loved ones. People’s word is often good enough to trigger a purchase.

5. Create a Site

A professional website is an efficient lead generator. Although making it compelling requires hard work, it can grow your contacts around the clock once you nail its design and functionality. You only need basic features — such as a photo gallery, blog page and contact form — to make your site work for you while you sleep.

6. Invest in Retargeting

Ad retargeting is one of the most promising real estate prospecting techniques for someone who lives off the internet. It lets you touch base with leads who didn’t move down the sales funnel. These prospects discovered your service, expressed interest or reached out to you but haven’t gone any further.

Using a digital marketing firm, you can remember your site visitors and email newsletter subscribers and show them relevant ads when they go elsewhere on the internet, nudging them in your direction.

7. Be Active on Social Media

Social networking sites level the playing field for new agents, empowering you to engage with prospective clients as effectively as your seasoned peers. If you use these mediums to prospect leads, reply to everyone. Your responsiveness on social media can reflect your approachability in real life. A reputation for being a snub is the last thing you want when prospecting.

8. Write Prospecting Letters

Handwritten, personalized letters get read more often than generic mail marketing collateral.  Although working on your penmanship goes without saying, expressing your authenticity and professionalism through the written word is your primary goal.

Writing dozens of prospecting letters can be time-consuming and tough on your hands and wrists. Use customizable templates to avoid thinking about everything from scratch. Tell them what you do, how excited you are to represent them and mention the last transaction you handled as social proof.

9. Do Geography-Based Outreach

Focus on a specific area. You can find new contacts within the circular radius of a property you recently listed or sold. Alternatively, you can concentrate on a particular community, a street or a multifamily housing complex. These real estate prospecting techniques can help raise brand awareness, penetrate an underserved location or strengthen your presence in your turf.

10. Target FSBOers

FSBO sellers intentionally avoid agents to keep more proceeds from the sale. However, not paying a commission is only a winning strategy when they can sell properties for higher prices like licensed real estate professionals can.

In reality, many FSBOers struggle in this respect. About 15% of them admit difficulty getting the price right, resulting in selling homes $95,000 less than those sold with agent assistance.

Plus, most of them personally know the buyer. They have limited marketing capability because they generally lack access to MLS sites.

Use these pain points to your advantage. Capitalize on home sales data to highlight your value and make solid cases for hiring you.

11. Reach Out to Expired Listing Sellers

Like FSBOers, these sellers are low-hanging fruit. After failing to find a buyer with a previous agent, they’re more likely to take a chance on a different one — this is where you come in.

Use all resources available to obtain these qualified leads. Cold-call them with an autodialer to contact more than you can do.

12. Attend Community Events

Residents gravitate toward local events — such as donation drives, charity concerts, marathons, heritage celebrations, food festivals, talent shows, outdoor movie nights and sports tournaments — to socialize and feel a sense of community. They’re fantastic opportunities to network. Better yet, sponsor an event and market yourself as an active and positive community member.

Which Real Estate Prospecting Techniques Do You Like Most?

Whatever method you employ, be consistent and put a premium on face-to-face interactions. Most importantly, nurture the prospects you have. Although you should never stop acquiring new contacts, avoid letting it distract you from fostering positive relationships with existing connections to convert your prospecting effort into income more quickly.