Bernice Ross

Would you like to generate leads without spending a lot of money, cold calling, or door-knocking and have the person you’re contacting willingly give you the names of other potential leads? It’s easier than you may think. 

The Bait House 

I recently interviewed Fafie Moore, executive vice president, ERA Brokers Consolidated in Las Vegas. One of Moore’s most creative prospecting ideas is what she calls the “bait house.” 

The concept is simple: Pick an enticing house on MLS, reach out to your clients and sphere, either by phone, text or via social media direct messaging and say: “I just saw this house in the MLS – I know it’s not for you, but do you know anyone who would be interested?” 

Another version of this approach is to feature a “listing of the week” on your blog, website, Facebook business page or Instagram (or all four). The house doesn’t have to be a showcase; it could be a great bargain, an unusual architectural style or a house on a large lot that has zoning to add another unit. 

Contacting your warm database generates substantially better leads than cold-calling or buying Internet leads. 

The LinkedIn Coffee Meeting 

The purpose of your meeting will be to exchange five LinkedIn contacts with someone in your LinkedIn database. Ideally, each contact you share will be able to help the other person personally or with their business. By using your LinkedIn list, you’re more likely to reach business people who can help you with your business. Here are the steps to follow:

• Review your LinkedIn contacts and identify five people who might benefit from one of your other LinkedIn contacts. 

• List the people you would like to take to coffee. For each person you plan on taking to coffee, prepare a list of the five contacts you will share at that meeting, including how those individuals could help your coffee date. By using your LinkedIn list, you’re more likely to reach business people who can help you with your business. 
• Invite your contact to coffee. Explain that you’re working on growing your business and would like to help that person grow their business and/or help with a cause or charity that is important to them. 
• Repeat this process at least once or twice a week to generate a steady stream of 20 to 40 fresh introductions every month.
  

Generate Video Referrals and Listing Leads 

This lead generation strategy is worth its weight in gold. Everyone knows that having client testimonials is one of the most important ways to build your business, and search engine algorithms show testimonials (and complaints) very high on most searches. 

To leverage the video “testimonials” you will be collecting, post them on your Facebook business page for your market area, Instagram and YouTube. Here’s what to do. 

Contact your past clients or owners of any of your current listings and say, “I’m collecting video testimonials for what’s great about living in our community. Would you mind sharing at least one thing you love about living in our community? It can be almost anything from recreational activities, your best picks for your favorite food, little known secrets or facts that people don’t know.” 

If the person says, yes, shoot the video. Do the lead in: “Hi, I’m Sally Agent of ABC Realty with Mary Homeowner who recently relocated here from St. Louis, Missouri. Mary, would you mind sharing what you have especially enjoyed since moving to our community?” 

Keep the length to about 60 to 90 seconds. Depending upon what Mary says she likes, you can ask her to “say a little bit more about XYZ” or “Tell me, what makes that new Italian restaurant around the corner from you so special?” The idea is to get the person to elaborate on what matters most to them. 

Now here’s how to put this approach on steroids by asking: ask Mary if she knows any other friends or neighbors who might be willing to do a similar testimonial. 

What makes this approach so powerful is that you now have a warm introduction to other people who can become future clients. 

While you may feel uncomfortable asking for a testimonial from people in sphere of influence who haven’t done business with you or from these strangers your clients introduce you to, many of these individuals will be more than willing to share what they love about their local community. 

When you post their testimonial on your social media and then tag them, their post will also appear on their timelines, which means you are now reaching their contacts as well. 

Their testimonials for the area help you to build your credibility as the go-to expert for your market area, as well as continuously allowing you to create fresh content as you attract new clients and conduct additional area testimonials. 

And this approach builds your search engine optimization because each “testimonial” provides fresh, local content on video – all things that Google loves. 

Generating leads and establishing yourself as to the go-to expert in the area only takes a bit of time, creativity and a mobile device to capture video testimonials – no cold-calling, door-knocking or paying for leads required.

Bernice Ross, CEO of RealEstateCoach.com, is a national speaker, trainer and author. She may be reached at Bernice@RealEstateCoach.com.