27 Ways to Get Listings

27WAY TOGETLISTING HOWTOCOMPILE, BUY, GENERATE, EARN, SCRUB, ANDQUALIFYLEADS

Table of Contents Introduction Page 1 Sphere of Influence STEP #1 Page 2 Competitive Sources STEPS #2-6 Page 6 Geographic Farming STEP #7 Page 10 Less Competitive Sources STEPS #8-15 Page 13 Earned Lead Sources STEPS #16-27 Page 18 Exclusive Books Page 31

Introduction Hi, guys. It's Calvin Curry here. In this guide, we're going to talk about 27 Ways to Get Listings . The first thing to keep in mind as you go out and generate new leads and go after new lead sources is to be aware of spreading yourself too thin. I call it chasing too many rabbits. There's an old proverb that says, “He who chases two rabbits catches none.” So that’s something to keep in mind as you go out and establish new sources of leads or new sources of business. Think about yourself as a specialist rather than a generalist. Try not to be

a victim of “shiny object syndrome.” The person who's out there chasing one shiny object after the next — and not getting good at anything — isn’t working smart. We've all heard the phrase, “Jack of all trades, master of none.” Keep that in mind. As I go through the list of all these ways to generate business, I hope to offer you valuable advice and inspire your brain to think of ways you can implement these strategies in your own business. Even if these ideas are things you're already aware of or strategies you may have tried in the past, I want you to look at them with a fresh perspective and consider new ways you could approach them in the future. Some of the ideas I cover are going to be really obvious, while some you may not have considered before. I hope you can take one or two ideas from this guide and start testing and implementing them in your own business. Let's get started.

Sphere of Influence

#1: Referrals The first of the 27 ways is probably the most obvious: referrals from your sphere of influence . But it’s not enough to just say, “Go get referrals.” Let's talk about some ways to stay in touch with your sphere of influence, to communicate with them, to build relationships and prevent them from going dormant. When I was a new agent, I would go out and work really hard for a client. I would earn their business, and then, I would help them buy or sell a home. Then I would disappear and never talk to them again — and that was a big rookie mistake. If you don’t stay in touch after you’ve successfully helped someone buy or sell a home, you’re missing out on a major opportunity. So let's talk about some ways to stay in touch with them — to stay at the top of their mind, so to speak, without spending a fortune and without driving yourself crazy. ● Interact on Social Media . Social media is probably the easiest and fastest way to connect with your clients. Chances are, most, if not all, of your clients use social media, so the groundwork is already there. However, no one — including your former clients — wants to be constantly bombarded with personal messages asking them for referrals. Social media is all about casual interactions. You can comment and “like” content your former clients post, but don’t go overboard. Try to maintain friendly, engaged, yet low-pressure interactions. You can message former clients once or twice a year to see how things are going and offer to help them resolve any issues or answer any questions they may have about their new homes. There are many times that a personal update is appropriate and very much appreciated. For instance, if a former client finds out she’s having a baby, you can message her your congratulations. ● Mail a Monthly Postcard, Letter, Newsletter, or Magazine. When you're expecting a package, you can’t wait for the mailman to drop it off so you can tear up the box and get to the contents, right?

Your clients are also part of the 79% of consumers who act on direct mail immediately , compared with 45% who act on email communication. Mailing your former clients a monthly newsletter of some kind is a great way to maintain contact. Depending on what kind of newsletter you send, it doesn’t even have to be that expensive. You can send a monthly letter for pennies. ● Email Useful Resources, Information, or Tips. Statistics show that 91% of people check their emails daily. That’s why email presents a huge opportunity to maintain engagement with former clients and offer them entertaining and potentially valuable content. However, a great email blast isn’t as simple as writing a message and hitting “send.” Here are just a few pointers when you’re creating or sharing content with former clients: ○ Connect on a local level. People want to know about upcoming events, unique places to visit, and general happenings in their town. If a former client happens to attend a great event you recommended, they’ll remember you for recommending it and remember you if a friend asks for a referral. ○ Offer low-pressure real estate advice. Home improvement ideas, gardening and lawn tips, and decorating advice are great topics that are relevant to the services you offer but won’t come across as an attempt at a sales pitch. ○ Include photo and video content. People love to look at photos and watch videos. Spruce up what you share with multimedia content or link to existing content. ● Blog and Promote It to Your Sphere The beauty of creating a blog is that you can create an awesome post and then use that content in multiple ways. You can create a post with similar information — like the topics suggested above (home tips, photos, advice, etc.). Once posted, you can then email your blog posts to your former clients and promote them on social media. You could even print them out and mail them. The bottom line is that you can create helpful content once and redistribute it in multiple ways. It’s a great way to get value out of any work you do. When you're running a blog, an editorial calendar can help you keep track of your posts. Publishing your posts on a schedule helps you stay organized and can help former and potential clients keep up.

Writing and publishing your real estate blog content may be an effective strategy in the short term. But if you’re not tracking the topics you cover and the types of articles you produce, along with the frequency at which you publish these posts, you won’t manage to provide the greatest value to your audience. ● Use Facebook Custom Audience Tools Another method a lot of people don’t know or think about is creating a Facebook custom audience. If you set up an advertiser account with Facebook, you can even go in and import your leads using their email address or phone number. Here is how to do it: ● Go to your business page and click at the top where it says “Ad Center.” ● Click on where it says “Audiences” on the left side. ● Once you’re under Audiences, you can edit “Audience Details” to suit your preferences, narrowing items such as age, location, and even interests. Once you have it all set up, you can spend a really small amount of money to boost your content to those leads. The content you boost doesn’t have to be anything extravagant — stuff to stay in touch, information about a new listing, or even a new review you received. By paying that small amount of cash, your name and business are constantly in front of people whom you've already done business with. It's a fast and simple method that ensures they don't forget about you. ● Call and Have a Conversation Another really old-school method that is still effective is calling and having a phone conversation. Once a quarter, for example, you could call all the people in your database who are likely to refer you and just touch base with them to see how they're doing. This doesn't have to be a complicated script — it's all about being natural and keeping it personal. Conversation examples could be: “How are you enjoying your new home?” or “Do you need any help with things around the house? I can put you in touch with a good local contractor.” You can also reference things you previously discussed or that you recently saw on social media, such as a new employment opportunity or recent graduation. Chances are, they won’t ask for any assistance from you, but the communication lets them know you care and are available, which is what you’re going for.

● Drop By to Deliver a Gift or Helpful Resource This is another old-school method a lot of people don’t do as much anymore, but it’s still a powerful gesture. Maybe once every six months or so, stop by a former client’s house and deliver a pumpkin for Thanksgiving or Halloween, or drop off sweets for Valentine's Day. There are so many holidays and so many cool ways you could do this. You could buy flowers, some succulents, or even teddy bears. You could get them all in bulk, drop by the former client’s home, and then deliver the gifts and tell them to stay in touch. Little gifts like these could go a long way, and they don’t have to be expensive. If your budget is really small, you could forego the gift route and instead just deliver resources. One idea would be to find a reputable florist in the area and get a bunch of their business cards. Stop by your former clients’ homes and speak well of the florist and give out the business card. The florist will certainly appreciate the potential business and could hook you up with discounts or freebies in the future — and you’ve spent no money at all. Something to keep in mind with this method is that you shouldn’t do this with every client you’ve ever had. When you're going after referrals, you should set up some kind of grading system for your clients: Which clients are very likely to refer you, and which ones are likely never going to refer you? Obviously, you should spend your time and money on the ones who are going to give you the most business and send you the most referrals. ● Parties, Events, Networking & social functions Most everyone enjoys parties and gatherings, so go ahead and throw an event and invite your former clients. You could even do this at one of your open houses. If you belong to a local club, that’s an easy way to get your clients into a social gathering. If you’re a golfer, have a golf outing. Even if your former clients don’t attend your event, the invitation is what counts. ● Break Bread Over Coffee or a Meal Events and parties described in the previous point might be too extravagant or large for your business. That’s OK — you can throw a dinner party instead. This won’t cost you much and can be done in your own home, or even a friend’s home, if needed. Even if that’s too much for you, you can always offer to catch up with former clients over coffee, breakfast, lunch, or dinner. The core idea here is to involve your clients in no-pressure gathering that will show you care about them as people and not just as clients.

Competitive Sources

#2: FSBOs It’s fairly obvious that For Sale By Owners are good lead sources. In a hot market, there might be a lot more FSBOs than there are expired listings. A lot of them don't even make it to sites like Zillow. For example, a FSBO popped up across from our office recently. I saw tons of people driving by looking at the sign. However, the home wasn’t on Zillow, and I didn't see it on any other websites at that time either. So don’t be afraid to drive through the neighborhood looking for FSBOs that might not be online. When you drive home from work, take a different route every single day, if possible — depending on how far away your office is from your home — and look for new FSBO signs. If you see somebody out in the yard or just getting home, stop in and offer to help or drop off a resource. If you have a business card or a brochure — or if you're using a book like one of our Authorify customers — drop it off. That's a really good way to get in front of them and offer them value. In a survey asking FSBO sellers to list the "Most Important Reason for Selling FSBO," 48% replied that they “Did not want to pay an agent's commission or fee." The median age of FSBO owner is 56. Simply put, these owners have lived a little. They are not stupid. They just need your help. Take time to share stories and stats. Educate them on the benefits of listing with an agent. If you think their property is underpriced, use this to your advantage to validate your commission. The most important thing is to approach them in a hands-off, helpful way. We recommend offering to take listing photos for them just so they can get a taste of the quality service you offer. While you’re there taking pictures, tell them about some of the other top-notch marketing techniques you can provide that they wouldn’t be able to do on their own. #3: Old FSBOs Old FSBOs are another lead category I think lots of people forget about. Old FSBOs are homes that didn't sell and also didn't end up listing.

As an example, when my wife and I were looking for a home, we ended up driving through all sorts of neighborhoods. There wasn't much inventory in our price range in the area, so we were driving all over the place. We were stopping at people's houses and asking if they or their neighbors wanted to sell. We didn’t have any luck with this method, but a person who lived in the same condominium complex as us ended up buying one of the homes we were going to check out. It turns out, the home had been up for sale on Zillow as a FSBO two years earlier. So this person knocked on the homeowner’s door and said, "Hey, we noticed you tried to sell your home a while ago. Would you still be interested in selling it?" The homeowners said yes, and they sold it just

like that, at what I believe was the price from two years earlier. They simply had no luck selling it, but they were ready to sell the moment this person knocked on their door. That's a great reason to go after old FSBOs. To land leads in the two aforementioned niches, consider using one of our FSBO books, which show FSBOs how much work goes into selling on their own and shows them the benefits of working with a licensed real estate agent. Visit authorify.com to learn more. #4: Expired Listings Another obvious lead generator is expired listings. If you're not going after expired listings, you definitely should be — they are some of the best leads out there. Call them up or mail them your promotional packet. I like mailing a book because it makes me stand out from all the other agents who are calling them. Afterward, I follow up with them and try to offer valuable resources and just be there to help in general. You’ll likely find that expired owners are sick and tired of answering phone calls from eager agents. You’ll also quickly realize they have been hearing the same thing over, and over, and over again — oftentimes about how their listing was overpriced. The good news is that with so many agents going after expireds in the same way, it’s easy to stand out from the crowd! The first step is to find a way to be different from everyone else. How can you do that? In real estate, you don’t have a consumable product to offer. What you do have is yourself. Nobody else is you, or ever can be.

You’ve just got to take time to find out what you do better or differently than others, and bring it to light. Keeping your ideal lead in mind, remember this question: “What’s in it for me?” Answer that question in a unique way. Put a twist on your point of difference that can benefit the seller. For instance, if you have a large team, just pointing out that fact doesn’t provide any value to the seller. Instead, focus on the availability and access a large team can provide: Calls and questions will be answered quickly, a whole team of people will work to make the transaction a success, etc.

See how you make it about them?

#5: Old Expired Listings Old expireds are similar to old FSBOs in that they didn’t sell, but old expireds actually previously listed with an agent. These are a really good source of new business. They're older, but chances are good that they're just waiting to relist down the road.

Maybe they were unrealistic about the price originally, or maybe the market improved and they’re now ready to sell. A lot of the time, the agent who listed their home didn't stay in touch after the listing expired. Maybe they had other issues with their previous agent. Who knows? But you can contact those type of leads and perhaps do what other agents couldn’t do.

The best part about old expired leads is that no one else is likely going after them. You can approach them casually, offer to evaluate their homes, and suggest any improvements that may help them sell in the future. Again, show them what you can offer that’s different from every other agent on the block. But be cautious not to badmouth their previous agent, even if they seem eager to do so themselves. Keep the conversation focused on what you can offer rather than what their previous agent couldn’t . To land leads in the two aforementioned niches, consider using one of our expired books, which offer helpful advice to homeowners whose homes previously didn’t sell. Visit authorify.com to learn more.

#6: Make Me Move Leads on Zillow Another great source for leads are Make Me Move listings on Zillow. This feature allows homeowners to say they’ll move if they can get the right price for their home. Inherently, someone who creates a Make Me Move listing is thinking of selling in the near future, but something is preventing them. Maybe something's going on in their personal life, or there are some health problems holding them back. Maybe they are simply waiting for the right kind of market to list. In the meantime, they'll throw it up there, thinking to themselves, “Hey, if I get lucky and someone makes a great offer, I'll sell.” I've seen so many of those homes sell, so they're a really good source for listings. Most agents aren’t chasing Make Me Move listers because they think of them as dream sellers who won’t budge on their unrealistic prices. However, they're likely going to eventually list when the time is right, and you could be their agent if you make the right connection at the right time.

Geographic Farming Geographical farming — or geographical marketing — is the practice of making yourself well-known in a local area. There are a few ways to go about doing this. Before we get into this, you want to keep in mind that you should go after neighborhoods that have a high turnover rate. You don't want to be trying to farm an area that only has a 4% turnover rate unless the listing commissions are huge. If that’s the case, it might make sense. It's all about the math. What are you spending to get the lead and get the listing? What is the commission you're going to earn? If that math doesn't make sense, you're not going to be profitable. Always run the math before you go into a geographical farm to ensure you’re making a wise move. Additionally, make sure the area you’re going to farm is close to your office or your home so it's convenient for you. You should also check to see if there is any pre-existing competition. If there's already a well-established, go-to agent in the area, are you willing to spend the money and expend the energy to knock them off their pedestal, so to speak? If the answer is no, find a less competitive area to get business. Once you've established where you want to do some geographical farming, there are a lot of ways to pursue it. If you live in the neighborhood, you are already a few steps ahead because you can go to things like HOA meetings, community events, block parties, etc. I know a real estate agent who lives three doors down from me, and she hustles the crap out of my street. She is out there networking even when she’s doing simple things like walking her dog. Since she is around all the time, I’m sure when people in the neighborhood think about real estate, they probably think of her. So if you do live in the neighborhood you’re hoping to work, you have a huge advantage over somebody who does not. Regardless, if you’re looking to do some geographical farming, there are a few things you can do to make your efforts as effective as possible. #7: Geographic Farming and Marketing ● EDDM Postcards Every Door Direct Mail, or EDDM for short, is a wholesale way to mail postcards. They don’t even have to be postcards — you can send out flat mail or even magazines. The cool

part is that you don’t pay the normal rate for those mailings. For example, I’ve done bulk mailings of a 24-page magazine for about $0.18 each. This is a great method to farm an area. You can print postcards in bulk, or you can print a flyer, a magazine, or a newsletter filled with information specifically catered to that neighborhood. It's a really good way to get in front of people in your neighborhood or in your farm area. ● Ads Online Like Facebook or Google Geo-Targeted Ads If you prefer online methods, running geographically targeted ads on platforms like Facebook or Google is a great idea. Just like you would connect with potential clients using postcards, you can hit them with ads on Facebook and Google. If you have listings in the neighborhood, run an ad and present your open house as a really big deal. Include a photo of the house with lots of balloons and a big “For Sale” sign in the front yard. That’s just one example of what you could do. ● Calls and Door-Knocking *** When you get a listing in a farm area, you should be knocking on all of the neighbors' doors. Introduce yourself and say, "Hey, I'm selling this home over here. Do you know anyone who's looking to buy in this neighborhood? I'd love to introduce them to this home." Ask them if they have any questions about the home or have any questions about the value of their own home. This is a great way to get in front of people. ***Due to many new changes in laws around the country, you need to be careful with things like cold-calls, door-knocking, and door hangers. Check with your local government to ensure you are legally able to use these methods. ● Voicemail Drops *** One of our book members, David, recently told us about a marketing strategy he uses. He loads phone numbers of FSBO prospects into a database, which sends selected prospects a message that goes directly to their voicemail at whatever time David schedules. The whole process only takes about 15 minutes to set up each morning, and he says it’s absolutely worth the time and effort: "The response has been phenomenal. People are calling back. I’m right at about 55 percent call back right now. It’s amazing!"

The software he uses is through a company called SlyBroadcast, though there are lots of other companies that offer similar products. The message he leaves is conversational and compelling. In it, he mentions that he has a free book he’d like to give out. When people call him back, sometimes they ask about the book, but often, they forget. So, as a final measure at the end of the conversation, David asks if they’d like him to send them a copy, and they enthusiastically say yes. *** The Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991, otherwise known as the TCPA, protects consumers from automated dialing systems, fax machines, SMS messages, and voicemails. There is contention at the Federal level about whether ringless voicemails fall under this protection. Many states, including Florida, have declared them an illegal practice. The state courts have consistently ruled that voicemail messages are in fact calls, and subject to the same TCPA restrictions as automated dialers or other pre-recorded messages.

Less Competitive Sources #8: Vacant Homes or Land Another really good source of business is vacant leads — not just vacant homes but vacant land, as well. In the community where I live, people are buying up vacant lots like crazy and then building homes on them.

I live on the beach in Jacksonville. A lot of homes are beach shacks, and investors will come in, buy homes, tear them to the ground, and then build two or even three homes in their place. Sometimes, I've seen them build as many as four homes on a lot. If you see a vacant home in your farm area, pull it up on the property appraiser’s website and give the owner a call. Another thing to keep in mind is that if you're in a vacation community, there could be people who bought their home as a vacation home and plan to rent it out on Airbnb or something similar. However, they may have never pulled it together to make that happen.

They could be sitting on a home that they're frustrated with since it was a bad investment and they want to get rid of it. This is why staying aware of all the vacant homes in your neighborhood is a really good place to start. You can look at teardowns, you can look at lots, you can look at abandoned homes, vacation homes — just pay attention. That's a really good source of leads. When I was a new agent, vacant homes were one of my best listing sources. I would find vacant lots and homes that the seller wasn't living in. I’d call up the homeowner, or I'd mail them a letter, and I got some good listings from this method. It's a really effective and simple strategy. To land leads in this niche, consider using our vacant book, which shows homeowners the benefits of selling vs. renting out their homes. Visit authorify.com to learn more. #9: Inherited homes Inherited homes are another terrific lead source, and you don’t need to do that much to make them work for you. Last year alone, over 1.1 million homes were sold in this niche!

When you're driving around and you see estate sales, that’s a perfect opportunity to distribute some business cards or resources. If you know somebody is going to be retiring soon or moving to a retirement community, those are also really good leads.

I've also heard of real estate agents visiting retirement communities and leaving a book or multiple books on topics such as how to sell their home or how to downsize. As new residents move in, they might take a book and get some tips on how to deal with their home. They’ll think of you if they want to pursue that.

Because of the “windfall” nature of inheritances, investors heavily target this niche. Unfortunately, many of these homeowners are eager to sell, and their impatience causes them to make under-informed decisions. As real estate agents, it’s our chance to help these folks. Help them through a tough time in life. Help them get a fair price for their home. To land leads in this niche, consider using our inherited book, which takes a sensitive approach to helping people sell at a difficult time. Visit authorify.com to learn more. #10: Real Estate Investors Another really good source of leads that a lot of agents overlook is investment homes. Because real estate is a huge place for people to invest their money, there are a lot of different types of investors out there who do things like fix and flip, buy and hold, and invest in vacant lots. There are a lot of ways to tap into those communities. You can go on a meetup app, like Meetup.com, for example, where you can find local investor communities. You can join those communities and attend their events. If they're doing a meetup at a hotel or at a convention center, you can go there and network with all of the people who are looking to invest their money into real estate properties. As you learn more about investors and the homes they are looking for, you’ll only get better. If you know how to spot investment homes and evaluate them, you’ll stay one step ahead of the investors. In that case, you can go out and find people who already own investment homes, then contact them and say, "Hey, are you looking to buy any more investments at the beach, or in your community? I only ask because I have seen this terrific property...” This can potentially be a really good source of business. I've seen a lot of agents tap into that industry in many different ways. We're actually in the middle of writing a book that real estate agents can give to real estate investors to educate them about the benefits of working with an agent. Visit authorify.com to learn more.

#11: Foreclosures Foreclosures can be tough because the situation inherently involves people facing hardships. However, foreclosures can still be a great lead source. You just need to keep some important things in mind. Obviously, anyone who's facing hardship is in a sensitive spot. They're going through hard times. If you come into that situation from an insensitive place, you're going to make a lot of people angry and tarnish your reputation. So you need to have a big heart, and you need to go in with an intention to serve. You need to be kind and compassionate to the people you're dealing with. If you're not prepared to do that, don't get into these lead sources because they're not for you. Don’t let that disclaimer deter you, though, because foreclosures can be a really good source of leads. It’s just that they're also very different from your standard clients who are selling for other reasons. Just keep that in mind if you are going after any leads in which hard times are involved. If you look at the stats, a lot of people in foreclosure situations fell onto hard times because they lost a job or had some sort of health issue come up. In most cases, some sort of catastrophic event happened in their life. The best way to approach folks facing foreclosure is to explain their options and to educate them on things they need to know. Then, if they do decide to list, they’ll probably use you as their real estate agent because you built that trust with them. Unfortunately, people in these situations get a lot of people harassing them, so if you approach them in that same vein, it's likely not to end well. #12: REO / Bank-Owned Homes Real estate-owned homes (or REO homes) and bank-owned homes are properties that have been foreclosed upon and are now owned by the bank or another company. When this happens, you're obviously not dealing with someone in hardship anymore. At this point, it's all about the bank or company and building a relationship with the employee selling that home. A member of our team works right now for a bank selling REO homes, so she knows a lot about this. She tells us that the agents who have their paperwork and processes together and are ready to serve the bank the best deal are usually the ones who get the listings. The great thing about REO homes is that if you can establish a solid relationship with the bank, you can nab tons of repeat business. It's a really good niche. I know there are agents out there absolutely crushing it.

The market has shifted over the past few years, and most people are able to get out of their homes — unlike in the recession — so REO leads are a bit softer than they used to be. But there are still opportunities out there. #13: Delinquent Taxes Another way to find sellers is by finding people who are delinquent on their taxes. That information is in the public record, and it is a sign of somebody potentially facing hard times or asleep at the wheel.

There are a lot of investors out there who buy out these tax deeds. They'll get houses for pennies on the dollar by paying off the home and paying off the lapsed taxes. I've heard about people actually losing their home over being delinquent on their taxes due to these situations. Maybe they didn't understand what was happening or maybe they moved out of the area and someone else was supposed to pay the taxes, but they missed it and someone else bought the deed. So delinquent taxes are not always a sign that somebody needs to sell, but it's definitely a sign that somebody could be facing hard times and might need to sell their home to get out from under the debt. That’s why going after delinquent taxes is another great potential source of leads.

Another niche that could be lucrative but requires a gentle touch is finding people going through a divorce. Obviously, this is a very sensitive topic. Once again, if you go after people facing divorce incorrectly, you're going to make a lot of people angry, and that's not going to serve you well at all. There are a few ways you can approach people facing divorce. Many times, when a couple gets a divorce, the real estate is liquidated in order to split the assets. With that in mind, one method we've seen is real estate agents going to divorce attorneys and giving them resources to share with divorcing couples who might benefit from that information.

To land leads in this niche, consider using our delinquent tax book, which takes a sensitive approach to helping people sell at a difficult time. Visit authorify.com to learn more. #15: Rentals A great source for listing leads is rentals, believe it or not. If you think about it, rentals are almost like vacant homes. As an example, imagine somebody has rented their home and they get “the tenant from hell,” so to speak. That situation could cause them to want to be done with leasing, especially if that rental isn’t their main source of income. By stepping in and offering resources and support to a person in that situation, you set yourself up for a good chance at a new client. Rentals can be a goldmine in situations like those, where the seller is not really doing it full time or they're not trying to create a sophisticated portfolio. As a bonus tip, if you want to find really good buyers, you can mail luxury rentals. If you know of a luxury apartment complex, luxury condos, or even luxury homes, you can mail them with Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM) postcards. Alternatively, you can mail specific properties letters and offer to help them find a home instead of renting. Here's how to find rentals in your area. Pull up closed rentals in your MLS. Look for all the homes that got rented out 6-10 months ago. These are the owners you want to target. Of course, that won't give you the address where the actual owners live. Then, you need to research the owner's name and address on the public records. You can get that information from your county’s website. Just Google, “county name property search or appraiser." On your county's site, there'll be an option to search for a property. Search the rented property address you got from the MLS. There, you'll find the owners name. You can get the owner’s phone number on WhitePages.com or Intelius.com. If you want to get some disgruntled owners and landlords, look up eviction filings over the last few years. For this, you'll have to go to your county's courthouse website. There you can find the evictions over the last few years and the owner of the home.

Earned Lead Sources When you go out to earn a new client’s business by doing some legwork, you’re getting what I refer to as earned leads. In a way, all leads involve some work on the agent’s part, but earned leads are a bit different. The 15 previous methods we talked about were compiled leads, such as searching for FSBOs or expired listings. Earned leads require you to directly work with other businesses or people to gain clients. #16: Online Sphere The first way to earn leads is by using your sphere of influence through social media. Social media is a really good way to tap into a lot of leads quickly and stay perpetually in front of them. If you want to build up a community on social media, there are a few things to keep in mind. ● The first is to work your sphere of influence as it already stands by communicating with them, engaging with them, and in general, just staying in front of them. Social media is probably one of the most effective ways to strengthen and build that personal relationship between you and your prospects. ● Another tip is to use the social media platforms you love and enjoy. Make sure you are accessible (as in, don’t make your accounts private). You're in the business of communicating with people and building a relationship, so be public with your accounts on Instagram, Facebook, etc. With those boxes ticked off, it’s time to go out and find your past clients on social media. If you have their phone numbers or email addresses, most of the time, you can pop them into Facebook, for example, and easily connect with them. You can friend them or follow them and engage them by doing things like commenting on their posts. Hopefully, they'll follow you back. Once you are connected with your sphere of influence on social media, you want to engage with them as much as possible: Post comments, like their photos, send them messages, etc. Let's say they post a sunset photo: You can comment something like, “Oh, that looks so cool!” — you know, a natural comment you would probably leave on any other friend’s post. If you start pushing your brand or sounding like a troll, you’ll get unfriended. Be genuine, and use common sense.

#17: Facebook Facebook is a great tool you can use to not only stay in touch with your sphere of influence and everybody you know, but it's also a really good way to bring in new leads. There are a lot of different ways to do this. You can join local Facebook groups, comment on posts from local stories or local businesses, or you can engage with people you know are in your community. Let’s say, for example, that you know wealthy people are eating at Ruth's Chris Steak House and they all live at the beach. You can go to that Ruth's Chris's Facebook page, and you can start engaging with all of the people who are commenting. You can start trying to build a relationship with individual posters. It can be a little weird if you approach this the wrong way, so make sure you comment naturally and don’t jump into promoting yourself. When you're posting content to your own Facebook account, you can integrate your business into that content. You can post information about your listings, reviews from customers, pictures with you and other agents in your brokerage, or pictures with clients getting their keys. When you post a picture, tag the people in the photo so their friends and family know to come to you when they want to buy or sell a home. This is a really good way to not only show the people with whom you're working that your business is thriving but to also show their friends and family that you're making things happen. If you get a review from somebody on Zillow, Yelp, Google, etc., you can post that, as well. You can post helpful resources like housing stats. If you have a flyer with listings, a book, or a brochure, you can post that there and offer it out for free. A lot of the real estate agents who use the books from Authorify post their book covers on social media and say, "Hey, do you know anyone who could use a book about selling their home for top dollar? If so, message me, and I'll happily give them one." There are a lot of different ways you can engage with people on social media and get more business. Here are some key pointers: ● Keep your page up to date. Make sure your contact information (including your website) are all relevant. ● Keep fresh photos in your albums, as newcomers to your page will want to see photos. Offer photos of recent listings, as well as recent homes sold, if you have them. ● Don’t be afraid to ask clients if you can post a happy photo of them in front of their new home.

● Come up with a posting schedule. Yes, Facebook will allow you to schedule posts for the future, but many agents still prefer using programs such as HootSuite, SproutSocial or Buffer to manage multiple accounts. ● Make sure your posts are varied. Instead of always sharing a motivational meme, for example, opt for several kinds of content, including survey questions, photos, links to your own blog or website and links to articles about the real estate industry. ● Give shout-outs to other businesses when you can. Not only does this help you build relationships, but it gives you more visibility. Did you recently have lunch at a local taco spot with a client? Tag that establishment. Did you stage a home recently and borrow furniture from a friendly business? Give them a mention on your page. #18: Instagram Instagram is simpler than Facebook, but there are still multiple ways to use the platform to your advantage. Obviously, you can take anything that you're doing on Facebook and simply repurpose it for Instagram — or vice versa. In fact, most of the things I just talked about for Facebook, you can replicate on Instagram. Additionally, Instagram Stories are really popular, and there are a lot of different ways to get conversations started and engage with people. Using the right hashtags in your posts is a great way to connect with other people who are interested in the same topics. Here are some key pointers: ● First, opt for an actual business account, rather than a personal account — they’re slightly different. Your business account should be focused on real estate, so keep your family and travel photos on another feed. Make sure your bio and profile picture are related to your business, as well, and most definitely include your website! ● Since Instagram is visual, it doesn’t hurt to have a color scheme, “style” of posting and “mood” that suits your business. Are you coastal and casual? Luxurious? Bohemian? Let that shine through your posts. ● What should you post? Decide ahead of time what content will work best. Attractive photos of listings or homes you recently sold are an obvious choice, as are “Stories” (short videos you can post to run on your profile for a set amount of time). You can show clips of home tours or record short videos inviting people to your open houses. Always use the best photos you have — nothing blurry, grainy or dull. Try out the built-in filters to enhance photos, but don’t go overboard. Your “Story” should drive viewers to your feed as much as possible and make them curious about you.

● Aim for a few photo posts a week, and try to post as late in the day as possible, or even in the evening, when more people are scrolling through and likely to see your post. Stories can be posted more often, and should be, since they last only 24 hours. ● Use the “Insights” feature to gain knowledge about your followers, such as their ages, locations, genders and times of day they visit your feed. ● “Regram” posts from influential people in the industry — or anyone you think is worth a follow — and give them a shout-out in your caption. People will likely return the favor. ● Talk to your followers as much as possible. Ask questions and invite comments to photo threads. ● Contests are a great way to engage with followers. Come up with a catchy hashtag for your followers to use and ask them to repost your content for the chance to win. Or ask people to comment on a photo and pick a winner from comments. When someone wins, share their profile on your feed and let your followers know. ● Use Instagram’s fun filters and effects when you post a story. Add music, locations, hashtags and even ask questions to encourage your followers to engage. #19: YouTube and Video Creation You might not think of YouTube as social media, but there are multiple ways to use YouTube as that kind of platform. Videos can be cross posted on other platforms, as well. For example, if you record a video for your listings, you can easily post that on Zillow and Facebook and YouTube. Once your video is on a platform, you can tag the local area, or you could put “Home for sale in [neighborhood name]” as the title of the video and get some local people to visit the page. If you're optimizing the video for the right keywords, chances are good that local residents will find it, especially if there's not much competition in that area. The best part is that you can create great video content on your phone. We use a smartphone gimbal for our Facebook Live videos. It has a little light and microphone and stabilizes our video shots. It only costs between $100-$200 and makes our videos much more professional. This is a great option if the home isn’t expensive enough to justify hiring a professional videographer. With the gimbal setup, you can just do it yourself. It's easy to carry it in the car — it fits right in the glove compartment. Just get in the habit of doubling back through the house filming as you go when you’re done taking listing photos. Here are some key pointers: ● Once you’ve uploaded video, you should tag it with all sorts of local information. This can be as simple as mentioning an event that's happening in the neighborhood. If you properly

optimize your keywords for that local community, you will catch the attention of a lot of people in that area. You can start building relationships that way, especially if you do a subtle pitch at the end of the video. ● Your YouTube channel shouldn’t just be home listings or tours. If you're out attending a local event, make a video about it. “Hey, this is Calvin from Authorify, and I’m at the air show today. I wanted to show you all these awesome planes that are flying over my head.” Anything like that will work because it will get people to connect with your channel even if they’re not searching specifically for real estate content. #20: LinkedIn Let's talk a little bit about LinkedIn. I’ll be the first to admit that I haven't done a great job with it. However, I've heard from a lot of real estate agents and other people in the business that LinkedIn is really powerful. Obviously, it's hard for anyone to be the best at everything, so pick the social networking platforms you gravitate toward, or at least pick only the ones you think you'll be best at or the most excited about. LinkedIn is a really good way to connect with local influencers because it's viewed more like a business platform. Let's say you're dealing with an affluent home seller: you can connect with him on LinkedIn and then potentially get him to recommend you in your industry and then possibly earn other recommendations. While a lot less people are active on the platform than on Facebook, 77 percent of users are 30 years old or older and make household choices. In fact, studies show that 90 percent of users on LinkedIn make household choices. According to the NAR®, the median age of first-time buyers is 32 years, and the typical homeowner is 55 years old. Even though only 29 percent of people use the platform weekly, that 29 percent is likely to be made up of people who will be interested in your services. Here are some key pointers: ● Join real estate groups and real estate referral groups on LinkedIn. LinkedIn has incredibly valuable groups that every agent on the platform should join. Here are a few of the best ones. ● Optimize your personal page and keep it up to date. This is where you show off your real estate expertise. It doesn’t have to just be a formal resume of your accomplishments. Add some personal information, as well, just like you would on your website.

● Make your profile a custom URL. There’s an option to the right of the banner on your profile to do this. If you don’t, you’ll have a long drawn out string of characters for your profile’s URL. ● Reach out for skill endorsements and recommendations. When you list your skills, people can endorse them to give you more clout. Reach out to your colleagues and past clients for these endorsements. Also, ask for recommendations from past clients — there’s a section for this, as well. ● Add local content or repost it from other sources. Keep your profile active by posting relevant content that doesn't necessarily have to do with real estate. It can be something you created or shared from another source. Keep it local if you can, or keep it relevant to the connections you've made. This is a good way to ensure no one unfollows you for flooding them with strictly real estate content. ● Make local connections. You should send 10 or so connections a day. Use the “suggested connections” feature. Once you’re connected, users will be subscribed to your feed and you’ll have the ability to message them. #21: Online Reviews Another great way to get listings is online reviews. I read somewhere recently that reviews are almost as powerful as referrals, and people look at reviews as much as they look for referrals. So if you get great reviews online, that's almost as powerful as somebody recommending you. If you don’t have any reviews yet, don’t worry. There are a few things you can do to up your chances of getting an online review. Here’s one thing you should definitely do: Once you close a home, either with a buyer or a seller, ask them what they thought of your services. The sooner you do this after you close, the better, especially if you have an idea that they will give you a good review. Chances are, they're going to have more positive things to say about you right after the sale versus if you follow up three, four, five, six weeks later. So be quick about it. This is what I do: First, I follow up and make sure they're happy. I ask them something like, "Hey, Mr. Seller, thank you so much for using me to sell your home. I get a lot of my business from reviews and referrals, and I just wanted to check with you to make sure I did a good job. If you’re up for it, I have two questions I’d love for you to answer. Number one: what did I do really well that I should continue to do? And number two: what could I have done better?"

With this short-and-sweet message, it’s likely they will respond, and it’s also likely they're not going to be dishonest with you. Whatever response they give, you can use that to learn, but you can also use the response as a gauge to see if you should ask for a review. Obviously, if somebody wasn’t happy with your services and lets you know that in this private message, you don't really want to ask for an online review from them. On the positive side, though, a negative response to the private message gives you an opportunity to fix something that may have made them unhappy. That's why I recommend first leading with, "Hey, what did I do well that I can do better or that I should continue doing? And what could I have done better?" Once you’re certain they're enthusiastic on all levels, you should ask for an online review. However, you should be specific about which site they should go to based on your own preferences or previous success. For example, if you're getting a lot of good response on Zillow, ask them to leave their review on Zillow. Obviously, you want more reviews on the site which is bringing you the most business. If you don’t have many reviews yet, do some research on which sites your local competition is using, then request your former client use that platform. And, if they are just so overwhelmed with how great a job you’ve done and would be willing to leave you multiple reviews, definitely try to get them to give you reviews on other sites. There’s no such thing as too many good online reviews. The more the better. Let's recap: ● Follow up with a personal message to make sure they're happy and ask them what you could have done better. ● Once they're enthusiastic, ask for the review (or multiple reviews if they’re really thrilled with you). ● Here’s a bonus tip: Once they provide a review, ask for a referral. This is the law of commitment and consistency. Once somebody makes a commitment, they want to stay consistent with the commitments they’ve made. So if they give you a good review, they are very likely to also give you a referral. #22: Open Houses I know when most people think about open houses, they think they are a lot of work or they think they draw nothing but “tire kickers” — buyers who are driving through the neighborhood and are stopping in just to stop in.

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