Are you making the most of prospecting?

Real estate prospecting is one of the most important skills an estate agent can master. Finding new contacts and turning them into leads is a sure-fire way to grow your business and get ahead of the competition. Put simply, effective prospecting ensures you always have a steady stream of clients.

Agents that have a clear and refined prospecting strategy are far more likely to be successful in generating leads than those without. With organised prospecting, you can be methodical with who you contact, and create personal and targeted outreach - meaning you’ll never leave a stone (or a lead) unturned.

Types of real estate prospecting

There are many different real estate prospecting methods to take advantage of - and the most successful agents are the ones who use every tool in their tool kit.

Prospecting letters and postcards

A foolproof way for agents to manually generate leads is to send letters to homeowners - persuading them to instruct your agency. There are several ways you can do this through 20/20 or ‘sold on your road’ campaigns, time-triggered on-market letters, or direct mail after a change in circumstance - all these are great ways to spread brand awareness and win potential leads.

As well as letters, prospecting postcards have also recently seen a surge in popularity. Less formal than a standard letter but with still enough space to include your agency’s most important details, prospecting postcards are a modern twist on a traditional art.

Past clients

Did you know that 83% of homeowners don’t remember the name of their estate agent they last sold through? By keeping in touch with clients after you sell their home, it’s far more likely they’ll use your agency again - and also recommend you to family and friends. Reaching out on anniversaries with meaningful and useful marketing will keep your agency at the forefront of their mind, ready for when they want to sell again.

Withdrawn listings

On top of sending letters at regular time points on the market, reaching out to homeowners or landlords whose property listings have recently been withdrawn is a highly effective prospecting method. By keeping in touch at regular points after a withdrawal, the next time a homeowner decides to return to the market, you’ll be first in line to win a new instruction - helping you gain the competitive edge needed to dominate your share of the local area.

Manual Prospecting vs Automated Prospecting

Now is a perfect time to get a brand awareness campaign out to the public, letting them know you are still operating strongly in your local area and are still managing to achieve good results. You might find that you have reached out to a homeowner who needs to relocate but is left with a house they currently own and has not yet considered the possibilities of renting.

While many estate agents still rely on manual prospecting to generate leads, others are switching to automated lead generation. Automated prospecting is a lot less time consuming than manual outreach, and the right software will help you follow up any crucial leads you may have missed or forgotten about. Automated prospecting is also easier to build into your routine, meaning you can make prospecting a year-round priority - at just the click of a button.

Instruction generation tools like Spectre make sure you’re making the most of every prospecting opportunity available, all while staying competitive and at the top of your game. We can help you target specific neighbourhoods with prospecting letters and postcards, create personalised anniversary content to check in with past purchasers, reach out to homeowners whose listings have recently been withdrawn, and so much more - all to help you grow your agency faster than ever before