Where to start as a real estate agent?

Know your local market

One of the ingredients for finding new sales mandates is an in-depth knowledge of your local market and your prospects. As an estate agent or realtor, it is essential to identify trends in your local market, supply and demand, and the factors that determine prices :

What price did the house next door sell for?
Are there any renovations planned in the neighbourhood?
Will a grocery shop be opening soon on this corner?

This preparation will allow you to:

Establish prospecting strategies with realistic objectives.
Highlight the right arguments to set your real estate business apart from competitors.
Inspire trust in potential sellers with your expert advice.

So invest the time and effort needed to deepen your knowledge of the market. It will become a major asset in your real estate career.

Pro tips

7 prospecting strategies for lead generation

1 - Door-to-door

As you know, being a real estate agent is about human contact. Take advantage of this to go out and meet the residents of the areas you are targeting. Give preference to face-to-face meetings, or drop your brochures in letterboxes. Distributing leaflets and business cards is a timeless activity.
As well as winning sales mandates, you'll gather valuable information about the market and the potential of the properties for sale. It's an excellent way of developing your local network.
Our pro tips:

Target a specific prospecting area, concentrate your efforts there and become a local expert.
Show curiosity and enthusiasm when you meet your potential customers. A positive approach will make you more convincing and encourage a lasting relationship.
Adapt your approach to the people you meet (young family, retired person, etc.). Respect their limits if they're not interested.
Meet the local business owners, who can act as intermediaries by recommending you or distributing your leaflets.

2 - Cold calling

Cold calling is a well-known outreach technique, but one that is sometimes neglected by real estate agents. Yet it remains a powerful method for establishing direct communication with property owners and cultivating lasting relationships.
Our advice for telephone conversations that lead to appointments:

Call owners with a targeted and authentic approach: show them that you know their property and their needs. Ask them questions and, above all, listen to the answers before reacting.
Make sure you have a complete, up-to-date and organised contact database. This way, you can strategically target the sales projects that interest you and increase your chances of closing deals.
Phone from a place free of background noise, which can damage your professional reputation.
Prepare a script. For example, you could print it and stick it on your wall. This way, you'll have a convincing argument to build on.

Prospecting by SMS is also an effective way of making direct contact with your future clients.

💡 Be careful to comply with your country's regulations. In the UK, there are precise rules regarding cold calling.

3 - Good network development

Expanding your professional network is essential in the real estate industry. A solid network expands your opportunities, improves your visibility and acts as a catalyst for collaborations, referrals and access to exclusive mandates.
How can you harness the power of your network?

Review your contacts: draw on your existing network (past clients or colleagues, for example).
Attend local events and join professional groups (such as agent networks). It's the ideal opportunity to meet new people and land exclusive mandates!
Maintain your relationships with peers in the sector and don't hesitate to go beyond superficial contacts.

4 - Referrals

Setting up a referral programme is one way of creating business opportunities. It encourages your existing customers to recommend your company to their friends and family. In practical terms, you reward your customers for each successful recommendation, for example with discounts or material rewards. It's a good way of finding sales mandates and strengthening your customer relationships.

5 - Real estate marketing ideas

In the digital age, having an online presence is a must. And estate agents are no exception! Communicating on social media can put you in touch with potential customers and promote your portfolio of properties. You can establish your brand and boost your credibility.
Think of well-known platforms such as Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn and Facebook.

The golden rule is to create authentic and engaging content. Don't be afraid to go behind the scenes of your business, to demonstrate your expertise and to show your personality. This will help you make a name for yourself in the sector and set you apart from the competition.

Your listings also need to be attractive and representative in order to drive sales. Aside from pictures, you can incorporate videos, floor plans or virtual visits. Our all-in-one marketing platform helps you create stunning visuals and attract buyers online, simply and effortlessly.

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6 - Direct mail

Whatever people say, direct mail communication is timeless. As long as you target your potential clients properly. A copy-and-pasted email doesn't appeal to anyone, isn't it? Take the time to gather key information about your prospect and personalise your message accordingly. In the end, it's just like cold calling!

7 - Strategic partnerships

Working with key partners such as bank advisers, family lawyers and skilled tradespeople creates new opportunities. Working with professionals from complementary sectors can :

Lead to cross-referrals.
Open up access to exclusive mandates.
Broaden your customer base and find qualified leads.

In this way, you can offer a complete service and bring added value to your real estate clients. You also demonstrate that you have a solid network and are trustworthy.

Prospecting ideas

Where to find buyers online?

💡Whatever the medium, remember to personalise your communications. Highlight your expertise, your experience in real estate or your methods for selling properties. For example, you can emphasise your core values or quote key figures, whether on social media or on your website.

Create a website

If you are an independent estate agent, you can create a website including the essential elements for getting to know you: your services, your history, your property valuation offers, links to your ads and sale prices, your telephone number, quotes from satisfied clients, etc. Discover our pro tips for optimising the photos on your website.

Post your listings on property portals

A property portal is the ideal place to put your ads online. However, simply publishing on a portal is not enough: you need to be proactive in disseminating your ads. This is where your communication on social networks comes in. Sharing your property ads on social networks means opening up to a wide audience and a maximum number of customers.

Build a social media strategy

Take a moment to draw up a content marketing strategy. Here, you can play with innovative strategies! But to generate leads effectively, ask yourself a few essential questions:

Your target audience: Who is your ideal client and what's your target market? This could be sellers of luxury properties, for example, or from a particular region.
Your content: On top of sharing your listings, you can provide real estate tips or show behind-the-scenes content. Base your marketing content on your audience: if you're targeting property sellers in a particular area, you could mention 5 good reasons to move there! Here are 5 post ideas to help you start.
Vary the types of content: Video is the format that captures the most attention online. It's an excellent way of making your properties visible. You can use a simplified editor to create professional property videos.
Stay regular: It's essential to communicate regularly on social media. To get organised, you can set yourself a realistic target. For example, publish one advert and one tip a week on Instagram.

In summary

How to find clients in the real estate business?

Combine methods and try out the ones that suit you best. Real estate prospecting requires a multi-faceted approach: market knowledge, networking, online presence, effective communication and strong relationships with various stakeholders, etc.

And remember, prospecting is a state of mind. Every opportunity in your day can contribute to your real estate prospecting: meeting a former colleague and talking to him or her about your business, taking part in a local event, asking questions of your next-door neighbour, etc. Make yourself known and be proactive!

With achievable prospecting goals, perseverance and regularity, you can achieve long-term growth in your business and advertising portfolio. Don't forget to adapt your approach to the specific needs of each owner.

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What's next?

Maintain your business relationships

Closed new deals? Congratulations! But keep the good work going by nurturing your relationships.

Investing in reliable real estate CRM software can improve your contact management and customer follow-up. In practical terms, you can track interactions with prospects, leads and clients, set reminders for follow-up and obtain valuable information for developing your relationships.

Organised information about your customers allows you to :

Increase conversions and optimise your sales processes.
Guarantee a high level of customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Personalise and rationalise your real estate prospecting efforts.

You can have a look at software like Whise or Apimo for example.

Whether you're looking for new ways to prospect in real estate or ways to strengthen your existing strategy, we hope that this article has given you some effective ways to advance your real estate career.