The real estate investing business is all about consistency. You want to get to the point where you have consistency in team building, networking, lead generation and every aspect of your business. If you consistent in these areas, things have a way of falling in place. Every investor wants the opportunity to do more deals. The main driver of deals is lead generation. It is not enough to send a few hundred mailings and wait for the phone to ring. You need to do something almost daily to get your name and your business to the masses. The minute you take your foot off the pedal your phone will stop ringing and your pipeline will drive up. Here are five things that any investor can do daily to almost instantly generate more deals.
- Find a marketing niche. There are truly dozens of ways to find new business. With the explosion in technology it is easier to reach more people than ever before. It is tempting to try your hand at everything, but this isn’t always practical. Not only do most investors have a strict marketing budget but you run the risk of being a jack of all trades and master of none. You are much better off finding one marketing niche and making it your own. This could be anything from social media ads to videos to blogs. Whatever you do well and feel in your personality you should focus on. Stick with your niche every week, regardless of the progress. Eventually, you will start to get a response and things will accelerate rapidly. If you stop because you don’t see immediate results you will never reach your lead generation potential. Find your niche and commit to it for four solid months.
- Bandit signs. There are plenty of lead generation ideas you can do that won’t break the bank. One of the most cost efficient are bandit signs. There is a good chance you saw a bandit sign today without realizing exactly what it is. These are the signs that are predominant usually around election time. They are typically placed in the front yard in support of a particular candidate. They can also be used to promote your services. Your bandit sign can say anything from “we buy houses” to “dealing with probate?” Given the generally small marketing space you need to be able to say what you want in just a few words. Your message, a phone number and possibly an email is all you have room for. What makes bandit signs so appealing is you can buy a bulk number of signs for just a few hundred dollars. This allows you to blanket a market or a specific neighborhood. You just have to be careful of specific town rules. Some towns allow you to post signs anywhere, others are very strict on where, when and how. Other than that, bandit signs are an inexpensive way to promote your services.
- Social media. Social media has truly changed the way we live. It has become part of our everyday routine, for some people much more than others. For business purposes, social media allows us to reach more people in a shorter amount of time than ever before. If you don’t have a significant social media presence you need to establish one. Most everybody have a personal social media account but start by setting up dedicated business ones on every platform you use. From there, make it a point to actively contribute daily. Something as simple as making a real estate related post every day will slowly improve your profile. From there you can add in pictures, videos and links to your website to further improve your recognition. As is the common theme with all these strategies, the key is to stay consistent and do something every day. For the ten minutes it takes to like, share or retweet a post if you are consistent you will see an impact in your business.
- Expired listings. Every real estate investor should have a reliable real estate agent they work with hand in hand. They will help grow your business and you should return the favor by giving them the listing of any deal you have. Once you build a rapport and establish a relationship, you can ask them for favors. A great niche is reaching out to any seller who recently had an expired listing. A listing expires for several reasons, but the main takeaway is that the property has not sold. By reaching out you can find out if they may be willing to take a discounted cash offer. You may have to contact twenty listings to get two meetings. However, if you can close one of those two it will all be worth it.
- FSBOs. Another way to get leads is by reaching out to FSBO properties. These are listings from a property owner without the aid of a real estate agent. For a variety of reasons, they opt not to use a real estate agent. What generally happens is a few weeks, or months, after the listing they realize they may be in over their heads. At this point they may want, or need, to sell and move on. As is the case with expired listings, you will have to make a few phone calls to get a handful of meetings. But as you will see, investing is a numbers game and the more calls you make the more opportunities you will receive.
These are just five of the many things you can do to give your pipeline a boost. Whatever you do, make sure you do something. Leads will not just fall on your lap.
