The Best Way To Get Real Estate Leads Without Cold Calling

A common misconception in the sales industry is that you have to do a fair amount of cold calling in order to build up your prospects and client database. If you are wondering how to be successful in real estate without cold calling, this post is for you. 

I will give you solid, proven techniques that will allow you to put your phone down and build your business without ever having to cold call.

Prospecting Based vs. Attraction Based Business

To understand how to be successful in real estate without cold calling, you’ll first need to learn the difference between a prospecting based business and an attraction based business.

Building a business based on either of these strategies takes a massive amount of time and action on your part. There’s rarely a shortcut to wealth. 

Whichever route you choose, it’s important to go all in and dedicate your efforts to getting better and better. It will take time and practice to master your strategy.

Prospecting Based Business

A prospecting based real estate business relies heavily on either “cold” or “warm” calling all the leads you generate.

This is essentially a numbers game. The more leads you can call or prospect, the higher your conversion ratio will be.

If you like getting on the phone and aren’t intimidated by the monotony and potential rejection cold calling can bring, a prospecting based business can be advantageous for you since it can generate faster results.

Again, to be successful at it, you’ll have to invest yourself completely and constantly make phone calls in order to get enough clients to build a sustainable and scalable real estate business.

A good prospecting strategy can mean more out of your pocket, especially if your lead generation is coming from Facebook or Google ads.

Attraction Based Business

An attraction based real estate business involves providing the content that your target audience is already searching for.

In this way, an attraction based business is less focused on you finding the client, and instead is designed to have the client find you. 

This strategy is more of an investment over time, with the focus on generating high quality content that creates value and builds trust among your audience. 

But it’s not enough to simply create content. To be successful, you’ll have to build funnels that guide your potential clients to find your content organically, consume enough of it, and eventually set up meetings or phone calls with you.

When you build your business based on attraction, the amount of money you’ll need to spend on ads will be significantly lower. This is because you’re building a library of content that will keep generating results for your business years into the future.

Once established, an attraction based business won’t need to supplement leads through cold calling. 

However, since it takes time to create content and build a trusting audience, newer agents may need to hit the phones for a while as their attraction business is in the works.

Creating Valuable Content

If you are wondering how to be successful in real estate without cold calling, the answer is to make it your mission statement to provide value to your prospective clients. 

A few ways to provide value is through blog posts, YouTube videos, and podcasts.

You may be wondering, what about email blasts? Since email newsletters are transitory and unsearchable, they are generally an ineffective way to deliver content.

When you are ready to get started on your journey of content creation, take some time to evaluate your skills and preferences. For example, are you comfortable on video? Or do you prefer the written word?

In my opinion, generating video content on YouTube is truly the best bang for your buck and the fastest way to generate leads.

Four Types of Content to Create for YouTube, Blogs, & Podcasts

Zip Code & Neighborhood Analysis

Identify some of the top neighborhoods and zip codes in the market that you serve and talk about:

• Average price points, ie what you can expect to pay for a home in the area
• Different neighborhoods that stand out in a particular zip code
• What to look for in a home in that area
• General information about the area and its proximity to the rest of the city
• The school district and taxes

Break Down The Buying Process

It’s important to break down the buying process as simply as you can. While some buyers will have general knowledge already from buying a previous home, you’ll be zeroing in on more detailed aspects of the process in your area.

Your videos should cover:

• Setting proper expectations for what a buyer can expect in your locality
• How multiple offers are affecting your market and what the multiple offer process is
• Any particular intricacies about buying a home in your area

Be sure to Include facts and statistics in your videos, and share your screen to show exactly what is happening on the MLS for that area. This will bring value and create trust between you and your potential client.

Breaking Down The Seller Process

When it comes to the seller process, the most valuable types of videos you can make relate to:

• How the listing process works
• Top upgrades to make on your home for maximum resale value
• How to stage your home

Financial Advice

You don’t have to be a finance or credit expert to talk about how to get your finances in order for buying a home. 

You can talk about:

• How to calculate a mortgage
• Pros and Cons of buying versus renting
• Power of appreciation and equity in your home

Just be sure not to give any legal advice. If you are unsure, you could always include a disclaimer at the beginning or end of the video to check with your CPA if you have any questions.

Marketing and Advertising

The question of how to be successful in real estate without cold calling can’t be fully answered without mentioning the incredible power of marketing and advertising.

When you’re building an attraction based business, your marketing will primarily be through Search Engine Optimization. SEO is hugely beneficial for both blogging for real estate and YouTube videos, so you’ll definitely want to take the time to learn it.

If your budget allows, you may look to advertising as another way to boost your attraction based business. This may include promoting your posts on social media to get your content in front of a cold audience.

Once you start getting more traffic to your site, a form of advertising called Facebook retargeting ads will be an incredibly valuable tool to use.

Retargeting is a form of advertising that involves installing a Facebook pixel on your website, which will then allow you to send advertisements directly to a lead using the Facebook platform.

Essentially, with Facebook retargeting, you are able to maximize the traffic that’s already shown interest by visiting your website.

Retargeting ads are some of the lowest cost ads you can invest in for your business, and have the highest return on investment.

To make your ads generate leads and not just visits to your page, you’ll want to use a call to action asking for the person’s email address. This allows you to build your email list and alert your audience as soon as you publish new content.

Another call to action would be to ask your audience to reach out to you if they, or anyone they know, is in the market to buy or sell a home. Provide your phone number or a Calendly link so they can easily get in touch with you or set up a time to meet.

Tools and Systems You’ll Need

Another answer to the question on how to be successful in real estate without cold calling is to use tools and systems to stay organized and automate your content creation process.

Email Marketing System

As you generate leads and collect emails, you will need a platform to keep your data organized. AWeber, Active Campaign, and MailChimp are all great options to manage your email list.

Website

When it comes to hosting platforms, WordPress is one of the best options available, with an array of built-in themes to choose from. Thrive Themes is a theme that can help you generate leads and promote your services.

A hosting platform allows you to take charge of your own web design without having to hire an expensive web developer. 

YouTube Channel

As far as online search engines go, YouTube is second only to Google. Simply posting your videos to your business website is doing your content a disservice; your business will grow exponentially faster with a YouTube channel.

Calendly

Calendly is a great tool for real estate, specifically the pro version. For about $15 a month, your audience and prospective clients can set up appointment events that are integrated with your actual calendar.

Zoom Pro Account

For many realtors, Zoom has become such an integral part of the way we do business.

While Zoom’s basic platform offers unlimited time for one-to-one meetings, group meetings are limited to 40 minute sessions. 

This means that you could be on a Zoom call with a husband and wife seller, and have your call drop prematurely.

A Zoom pro account costs about $15 a month, which is worth it in my opinion, so that you don’t look unprofessional if your meetings keep getting interrupted.

Keyword Research Tool

Keyword research tools will show you how many people are searching the keywords you are going to use in your posts or videos. 

Some of the best options are KWFinder, Ubersuggest, Ahrefs, and SemRush.      

Canva

Canva is similar to Adobe Photoshop and is great for creating high-quality YouTube thumbnails or featured images for your blog post.

Places You’ll Need To Show Up

Focus on building a good online presence on the platforms below, with an emphasis on obtaining positive reviews and thus building your social proof.

Google My Business Listing

A Google My Business listing will ensure that your business and reviews show up on page one of Google anytime someone searches for your name or brand. It’s free to set up, and it’s a good place to start generating reviews for your real estate business.

Yelp

You don’t have to be the number one agent on Yelp, just make sure you have a positive presence there. Create a Yelp listing and ask for reviews from past or present clients.

Realtor.com and Zillow

Chances are, if someone Googles your name they will see your Zillow or Realtor.com profile first. These two sites have great domain rankings and are very powerful in the real estate industry. 

Make sure you’ve got a profile on both of them, along with reviews and recommendations.

Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin

One thing to note about social media is that creating an online business on social media is not the same as creating a content related business on a blog or YouTube channel. Social media is best used to promote your content, not provide it.

This is because social media channels push your content for a day or two, but it’s not searchable long term. This will force you to constantly push out new posts just to stay in front of your audience.

On the other hand, if you build your content business on Google and YouTube, your efforts will stack up over time. People will be able to find your content for years down the road.

Final Thoughts On How To Be Successful in Real Estate Without Cold Calling

Whether you decide to build a prospecting based business, attraction based business, or a mix of the two is entirely up to you.

Ultimately, the most important thing is to make sure you’re happy with whatever you’re doing. Because if you’re not, then you’ll eventually become burnt out and won’t achieve any success in the industry.

Whatever option you choose, be patient and stick with it, and you will eventually see your efforts pay off.