I am new to the Real Estate business and am trying to find better ways to get new clients and listings in an area that is very small

Welcome to the forum,
My first question is better than what?

What is it that your are doing consistently at the moment? Tell me a bit about your longterm marketing plan and I'll see if I can up with a though or 2.

First suggestion is to get the home search fixed on your site as a search for property of any kind returns an error

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Rich
Search Engine Optimization,Advertising & Marketing

Heres the thing I work in a remote area but I also work in a larger city for a real estate company. The city I work out of mostly is smaller and I have to come up with ideas to get new listings due to a overwhelming fsbo's in the town

To be honest with you... Work with the FSBO's... You would be very surprised at how well you can turn FSBO's into clients... One thing I used to use when I worked as a new agent is to make a deal with them to advertise their home for sale and host an open house on it... BUT you have to make it very clear to them in writing that if the house sells through result of your work, you receive the commission...

Or make a deal with them to list the house for just a month or two... Make sure that you tell them that if they are unsatisfied with the results that they can get out of the listing at any time... The one thing that you have to do in an agreement like this is customer service... Keep in contact with them, host open houses, put some newspaper ads in, etc. etc... You will be surprised to find out how many of these "short term", "trial" listings actually become longer term and/or sales...

Also try to get in the door by offering them a free CMA... Sounds old, but it does still work and when you get in, make sure that you don't "hard sell" them... Instead outline all of the steps that they must do in addition to their normal duties to seel their own house.... I.E. Open houses, cleaning, upkeep, advertising, signs, phone calls at all hours of the day, etc. etc. Make sure they also realize how strict real estate laws are also and make sure they have all the forms that they need... If their is some obscure little form they need, one will find that the "generic" FSBO packets don't contain them... It is a soft sell and once you get it down, you will have the key into the door for alot more listings and alot more success...

Keep in mind these are just a couple of hints...

Good Luck..

Duane

Working a small town can be tough, especially if there are number of agents who already own a large portion of the market share. You have got to create a Unique Selling Proposition to stand out of the crowd.

I found a free marketing course that is delivered to your email inbox twice a week that gives a lot of tips in getting listings, converting fsbos's, and more.
www.27Leadsaday.com

I changed my ad layout, as suggested by the course and my calls have went from 10 or so a month to 12-15 per day from 1 half page ad.

Also, 1 of every 4 callers has a home to sell. Great opportunity to increase your listing inventory....even in a small community.

My other suggestion would be to find an agent working in a similar demographic area that is getting the type of results that you desire. Watch what they do. Ask them to coach or mentor you. Success leaves clues. Follow them.

Best wishes,
Jamie

Hey Jamie -- You missed a huge opportunity to put your proquest affiliate link in that last post. You need to go back and sign up so you can edit your link }:>

As far as cracking a small town market goes, I love the idea of chasing down and bird dogging the already successful agents.

Cash is the all time enabler in this business and if you don't have cash the next best thing is sweat. You need to identify your niche in this market, 2000 unique properties. A niche implies that these properties all have the same features or value drivers. Identify this niche, become the expert and prospect. Of these 2000 homes 14% are going to sell. If you own this niche then you should be on top of and identify at least 10% or 22 sellers before they contact your competition.

If you can master that the buyers will come, make sure you work them earnestly. After you get 3 deals done contact Rich Shaw on this forum and ask him to help you grow your internet portal.

If you need more details follow the link in my signature. We make Top 2% earners happen in this industry!


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Tim Leffler
Support and Services www.beyondsales.com

[This message has been edited by timleffler (edited 06-03-2004).]

Definitely work with the FSBOs. We built a feature just for that purpose. The FSBO signs up as a member and puts uploads his own listings and photos for free. However, you can set the preference to have YOUR contact info show instead of the owner's. Therefore, the inquiry will go to you.

You get contact info and potential sales, plus content for your site. The FSBO gets free advertising and perhaps a sale before he expects it.

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CCD Realty One