Circle Prospecting For The Win

In a generation that is consumed with digital advancements, undoubtedly this has shifted how the real estate agent works their marketing into the equation.  

There are so many options, so many promises made, so much money spent, so much time invested ($), so many things to implement… Are you often left wondering what direction to go? 

Lead generation is always the name of the game.  

I think most would agree with that. The leads could revolve around your sphere of influence, driving traffic to your website to capture leads, ad creative through Facebook, direct mail to a farming area or niche market, cold calling expired listings, etc.  

The challenge with many leads generated online is having the proper follow-up systems in place to work (nurture) the leads effectively. It boils down to responding to online leads consistently, quickly, and most importantly getting the fruit from the tree (ready to go leads) and putting the seeds (infant leads) into your automation to nurture. 

What is Circle Prospecting?

Leads are the lifeline of new business and such a beautiful thing to work, especially when the lead comes off your personal sales. Many listing agents will circle prospect their listings to get the fire started and continue to plug away to the point their market share is up. This is how many will find their perfect “farm.” What’s the best part about this strategy? Well… that’s quite simple to answer because these leads usually do not take as long to convert as a traditional online lead. 

By creating a “Coming soon” video or informational email blast about the listing is usually the best way to spark interest from your past leads in your database. 

Circle prospecting your personal inventory is a great way to leverage new business and if done correctly, yield more listings. There are many things that can be done in this regard, it really depends how intricate you are willing to go. 

Some of the best results come from a strategy something along the lines of this: 

1. Send out a “Coming Soon” or “Neighbor’s Only Open House” postcard. Depending on the market and price point dictates the size of the card. Higher ended markets should try to use a jumbo card (6×11.5 or similar) 
2. Pair the postcard with a coming soon Facebook ad. If you are looking for a seller, target the audience to homeowners. Generally speaking, an ad spend of $150 should yield you about 30 – 50 leads if done nicely. 
3. Obtain email and phone numbers to connect with the neighborhood where your listing is. Being prepared with your scripts are super important.  
4. Consider ordering a listing sign. Instead of your name and information, showcase the property to entice neighbor interest. 
5. Flyer drop some information about the listing to doorsteps the morning of the open house. Sure you’ve sent the postcard, but now we want to create top of mind awareness. 
6. Upload any phone numbers into a system like SlyBroadcast or any other voicemail program and blast the waves the evening before or morning of event. If there is no open house, some sort of message is still effective. Remember, we want them to feel like they know us! 
7. Make the actual Open House awesome and something to remember. For example, perhaps bring in a new local restaurant to cater finger food and pair that with some cold beer from a local brewery.  
8. Once the home goes under contract / in escrow send out a postcard with the updated news.  
9. Repeat 3, be creative here. Maybe something along the lines of, “The open house went so great, we have the home under contract, but it left us with 4-5 potential buyers looking for a home in this area. Do you or know of anyone who has talked or wants to list their home in the near future?” 
10. Repeat 5. Short and sweet. 
11. Final touch either send just sold with market report information or door knock the piece. 

It’s understood that it may be difficult to do all 10 of these steps, but the more you do, the better position you are putting yourself in to list more homes. Mastering even 4-5 of these should go a long way for your business. 

With everything all digital in today’s day and age, if you have the ability to synergize any of this with retargeting and advanced marketing, do it! It will only make your marketing that much stronger. 

If you haven’t tried this strategy, give it a shot on one of your higher price point homes you list or sell. Remember, you can use the bulk of this strategy if you brought the buyer too, that’s the super cool part about it!