5 Ways to Generate Listings NOW

The market does not determine whether or not we are successful.  

It just tells us how to be successful.

Listings are the name of the game right now.  You already know that.  

The longer we stay in a sellers’ market, the more important listings will become.  

We’re likely going to be in a sellers’ market for a long time.  

For more on that, check out our recent article on Market Conditions.

Here are 5 Ways to Generate Listings NOW:

1. The Would Sell List
2. Playing Matchmaker
3. Valuation Tools (i.e. HomeBot)
4. Improved Buyer Lead Conversion Scripts
5. Geographic Farming

Before we dig into each strategy, I think it is important to quickly address our 3 Keys to Success.  

1. Mindset/Attitude
2. Effort
3. Skills

RELATED: Read our recent article Creating Your Own Market, which covers many ways to apply the 3 Keys to Success to your business

Mindset

The way that we think about things often shapes our outcomes.  If we think the market is difficult, then it will be.  If we think a strategy is a waste of time, then it will be.

Conversely, if we believe the market offers unique opportunities for us, that’s what we’ll find.  If we think a strategy has the potential to produce additional business, then it likely will.  Before you put in the effort, get your mind right.

Effort

Effort is binary.  We either do it, or we don’t. 

Strangely, I’ve rarely met someone who would say they aren’t making the effort (even if they aren’t).  As a self-reflection, there are two questions to ask about effort:

• Am I really putting forth the effort I know is needed to produce my desired results?
• Am I putting forth the effort on the right things to produce my desired results?

Skills

In skill-based businesses (like real estate), effort is not enough.  Once your mindset/attitude is right, and your effort is sufficient, skills separate the Top 5% from everyone else. 

Skills improvement is about deciding which Growth Curve to be on and picking the best possible training model(s).  

Take the next step in developing your Listing Skills with our List to Last Virtual Skills Course.

Here are the strategies:

• The Would Sell List

I would sell my house, except I worried that I wouldn’t be able to find a house to buy.

You’ve heard this dozens of times (maybe more) over the past few months.  Now it’s time to take it to the next level.  Start with the top group of your database.  Find out if they would sell, at what price, and under what conditions. 

– Maybe they would sell if they could do a seller leaseback?  

– Maybe they would sell if you could find them their dream home?   

The magic to the Would Sell strategy is to build out a list (or spreadsheet) of everyone who is a potential seller.  On that same spreadsheet, also track your coming soon listings and your active buyers.

Recently, one of our Clients set a goal to have 50 people on his Would Sell List.  As he was building the list he was able to line up dominoes for 3 transaction sides and an outbound referral… all off-market deals.

→  Would Sell Seller’s home was purchased by an active buyer.

→  Seller bought another home on the Would Sell list.

→  That Seller is moving out of the area and the Agent got an outbound referral.

Voila!… 3 transactions and a referral fee.

Action Item: 

Create and build the Would Sell list as quickly and extensively as possible.

• Playing Matchmaker

My Buyers can’t find what they’re looking for, or when they do they’re missing out in multiple offers.

First, let’s discuss the mindset of working with buyers at the highest level.  When a Buyer hires us as their agent, we believe that they think we’ll do everything in our power to help them find the right house.  The unfortunate truth is that many agents put most of their eggs in the basket of the MLS.  They look at new listings as they hit the market, alert the buyer (or often the buyer alerts the agent), and off to the races we go.  

Jumping up.  Running out.  Missing out.  The pattern continues and devolves into frustration for all parties.

Enter the Matchmaker.

The Matchmaker Exercise can be done via a phone call, a direct mail piece into a neighborhood/area, or off of your Would Sell list.

Here’s a script you can use:

Hi Bob, thanks for taking my call!

The reason for my call is that I’m working with Suzy from Charlotte. She’d really like to live in Pine Forest or Oak Ridge. We’ve looked at everything on the market and she can’t find what she’s looking for. And, I need your help.

She’s looking for something around $300k that has an open floor plan, big backyard for her Golden Retriever, and is on a relatively quiet street.

Who do you know who has a house like that who might be interested in

selling? I’d really like to help Suzy find a house.

You’ll notice that the script focuses on the specifics of the Buyer.  The more specific you can be, the less likely the recipient of your call/letter is to think you’re bluffing.

Action Item:

Make Matchmaker phone calls and/or send Matchmaker letters on behalf of your most serious buyers.  

• Home Valuation Tools (i.e. HomeBot)

I knew the market was good.  I had no idea my home is worth that much.

We’re in the real estate market every day.  Most people are not.  And, while they read the headlines about how hot the market is, the general public usually doesn’t know exactly what that means for the value of their home.

Worth noting, according to the Case-Shiller Home Price Index, home values are:

• Up 5.45% per year over the past 10 years (annualized)
• Up 6.18% per year over the past 5 years (annualized)

One of the best ways we’ve found to tell that story is by plugging your past clients and sphere into a tool like HomeBot.  While there are pros and cons to automatic home valuation tools, our Clients have found that the user-friendliness and the consistent email drips from the platform have created excess engagement and more listings.  

In fact, it’s common for our Clients to report a 50%+ open rate and 20%+ click-through rate on HomeBot emails to their sphere.

Action Item:

Consider adding a home valuation drip sequence to your past client/sphere follow-up.

• Improved Buyer Lead Conversion Scripts

Many buyers have to sell their homes first before they can buy.

A few interesting facts to support this, according to highlights from the NAR Profile of Buyers and Sellers

• 38% of buyers report using proceeds from the sale of another home as the source of their down payment
• 43% of buyers said the first step they took in the process was looking at homes online
• Buyers who used the internet as part of their search hit an all-time high at 97%

Intuitively, you already know this.  Yet, we find most agents don’t ask a VERY important question to their buyer leads:

Do you have a home you need to sell first in order to buy?

Statistically, somewhere around 40% of the time, the answer to that question is YES.  If you’re not asking that question now, when you do, you’ll see a huge spike in listing opportunities (or opportunities to grow your Would Sell List).  If you’re sporadically asking this question now, add it to your buyer lead sheet and ask it every time.

For more strategies on Buyer Lead Conversion, check out our Working With Buyers Virtual Skills Course.

Action Item:

Ask every buyer lead: Do you have a home you need to sell first in order to buy?

• Geographic Farming

We’re seeing a renaissance in geographic farming.  As mentioned above, most homeowners are not aware of how much their home value has appreciated recently.  

Sellers’ markets naturally favor a marketing-based approach, enhanced by prospecting.  Said another way, effective marketing works for you while you sleep (or do other things).

The ideal farm area has:

• 10%+ annual turnover rate
• A price range that’s in the sweet spot of your market
• Not currently dominated by another listing agent (20%+ list side market share)
• Is small enough that you can afford to consistently farm it with your budget

You’ll want to saturate your farm area with 8 touches in the first 8 weeks.  Then, once every 21 days after that.  

For more on how to do traditional and digital farming, check out this video.

Action Item:

Consider starting a purposeful farm area.  If you already have a farm, focus on being more consistent with your touches and make sure your messaging is focused on home values with a specific call to action.

We think our downloadable guide ‘How To Generate More Listings’ may be a valuable resource to you.

A Final Thought…

Each day, we’re building more of a foundation for the future of our business.  

Do you need to implement any of the above tactics to win today?  Maybe not. 

A year from now, will you be glad you did?  Definitely.

If you’re not sure, ask yourself – what if I’d done these things a year ago?  

Let’s get to work!

Be Elite!

Bill

P.S. 

Now is your chance to take your business to the next level.  

Schedule your complimentary exploratory call with Debbie or me today.  

Do it here.