With the market improving, it’s imperative that every agent take as many shots as possible to expand their sphere of influence. It’s difficult to build a database if you’re focusing your shots exclusively on people that are interested in buying or selling because only 5-10% of the population is in the position to move at any given time.
A better approach is to take the shots by offering to provide data to everyone about local market trends. Keep in mind that everyone you know has been impacted by the housing bubble because of the following:
- Homes values have dropped dramatically, impacting every homeowner’s net worth.
- Many homeowners owe more than their homes are worth.
- The average person’s job security and income has been impacted by the downturn.
- Most businesses won’t see an improvement until the economy recovers.
How does real estate impact all of the issues above? It’s simple. Real estate is the “Bellwether” for the economic recovery. In other words, the economy won’t recover until real estate recovers. Take unemployment, for example. We lost over 8 million jobs during the recession, with 2.5 million of those jobs being lost in the construction field. Construction work is just now beginning to pick back up as we once again start building homes. If we recover the lost construction jobs alone, the unemployment could drop from the present 8% level, down to 5.5%. New jobs also lead to more spending, which also leads to more jobs and even more spending, reducing the unemployment rate even further. Get the picture? When Real Estate and housing recover, the economy recovers.
Do you see why it’s so critical for everyone to track real estate trends? You’ve got the data on the trends, the information everyone else should have. Now, how do you present it?
Try the following:
- Identify a group of professionals or business entrepreneurs you want to contact.
- Using an online or hard copy directory, make a list of all of the professionals in your town within an industry. This could be estate planning or divorce attorneys, or, it could be doctors, or financial advisors. It could even be boutique retailers or manufacturer’s.
- Once you have the list and the phone numbers, call or stop-by (Take the Shots) using the following script:
- Good morning, my name is Seymour Prospects, I’m with the Trusted Real Estate Company.
- I have a quick question. Have you been impacted by the real estate market crash and the recession?
- The reason I’m asking, I’ve been doing extensive research on trends in the real estate market.
- There’s finally some exciting things to report about the market.
- I’ve put together an analysis of the trends in the market so local residents and businesses will be able to anticipate a recovery. With your permission, I would like to share the information with you.
- I update these trends on a monthly basis and share it with my clients. If you’d like, I’d be happy to send you the updates as well? What’s your best e-mail address?
Offer to mail your data, or just give them a copy. Remember, this is your inch-wide and mile-deep. If they’re good at their business, it’s unlikely they have time to research trends themselves. But, it’s still important for them to be aware of those trends. This is especially true with financial advisors, estate planners and accountants. In most cases, their clients will ask their advise before they decide to buy or sell real estate. A recommendation from this source could mean a steady stream of business for years to come.
Congratulations, you can now add dozens of influential people to your database, IF YOU TAKE THE SHOTS!