How To Get Real Estate Clients [14 Effective Strategies]

So, how to get real estate clients? If you’re asking this question, you’ve come to the right place.

At Carrot, we work with thousands of agents and investors — pros and newbies — who are working to grow their businesses.

And here’s the good news: there is a clear path to growing your business.

In fact, doing so is really just a matter of following some tried-and-proven methods…

…things that other agents have done with great success.

And from our experience, the below 14 strategies are effective… pretty much every single time.

Here they are!

How To Get Real Estate Clients | 14 Tried-and-true Strategies

1. Get a High Converting Website

Your website is the most important part of your online marketing efforts.

And without a website that actually converts traffic into leads, you’re probably going to struggle.

To be fair, many real estate agents focus on offline marketing tactics… and they do well for themselves.

In fact, we’re going to discuss some of the most effective offline marketing strategies in this article.

But here’s the thing: online marketing is still the best way to find clients and grow your business in today’s world.

Just consider some of this cold hard data…

But before you start driving traffic to your website, you need to optimize your website to actually convert that traffic.

That way, the phone is ringing and you’re collecting clients left and right.

Well, that’s what we specialize in at Carrot.

We’ve created (and tested) real estate agent website templates that convert like crazy. Here’s a little preview of what they look like…

There are a few things we do that most websites don’t.

And these differences are critical.

First, we put your phone number in the upper right corner, so that visitors are encouraged to pick up the phone and call.

Second, we shamlessly prompt people to give you their contact information whenever they click on the “Search Properties” button…

That way, even if they don’t call you, you can follow up with them.

We even provide text message notifications so that you get immediately notified when your website receives a new lead.

That’s just a quick overview of why Carrot websites convert better than any other websites in the industry.

(We have a ton of other included features to help your business grow!)

If you want to try us out risk-free for 30 days, go here to start building your high-converting website!

2. Optimize Your Website For Search Engines

Search engine optimization — commonly known as SEO — is one of the best ways to collect leads and find clients over the long term.

You probably won’t find clients overnight using this strategy.

But after weeks, months, and years, SEO is one common factor of real estate businesses that stand the test of time.

Why?

To explain what we mean, you first have to understand how SEO works…

92% of all home buyers use the internet at some point in their home search. And the websites that they find help to determine the house that they buy and, more importantly, the realtor that they work with.

This is also true of home sellers when they type things like “realtors in my city” into Google when looking for a real estate agent to work with.

The goal of SEO is to get these people — your target market — to find your website.

Because if they find your website, then they might call you and they might become a client.

In fact, most of our members claim that SEO leads are far higher quality than leads they get from paid advertisements.

The best part is that once you’re ranking on page one for a high-value keyword phrase, you’ll start generating leads on autopilot, without any additional marketing.

And websites that make it to page one usually stay there for quite a while.

Which is why SEO is such a great long-term marketing strategy.

So… how do you optimize your website to rank in Google?

You can check out our full guide over here.

But the basics are…

1. Research and find high-value keyword phrases.
2. Create content to rank for those phrases.
3. Track your results.

Our Carrot sites are built to help you tackle this process.

We provide all of our AgentCarrot members with monthly optimized content for their blog, tools for tracking rankings, and more.

Click the link to learn more.

3. Real Estate Facebook Ads

Facebook ads are great because you can turn them on to generate leads and find clients whenever you want… but turn them off when you already have plenty of work coming in.

Our most successful members use SEO for their longterm lead generation, but paid advertisements and mailers (which we’ll talk about next) for faster results.

Especially if you’re just getting started, Facebook ads are a great way to find clients.

Even simple advertisements of your listings, like the below example, can do really well…

4. Send Mailers

Direct mail is one of the most powerful client-finding tools for real estate agents.

It feels more personal than email, you can send a lot of it at once, and if you do it correctly, it’ll almost always get the phone ringing.

But naturally, you don’t want to waste money.

And direct mail can certainly be a little expensive.

So how can you ensure that your mailers are going to get responses before you send them?

Here’s some advice…

Know Who You’re Targeting — What are the demographics of your mailing list? Are you sending to homeowner who might be interested in selling? Or are you sending to renters who might be interested in buying? Your mailers should speak directly to the people you’re targeting.

Make It Personal — When people choose a real estate agent, it’s primarily an emotional decision. That is, they have to like the person that they’re going to work with. And making your mailers a little more personal with photos can go a long way toward helping them make a favorable decision.

Be Friendly — Most people will choose to work with you because they like you and they trust you. And creating direct mail that feels friendly is a great way to build credibility and increase your response rate. This can be as simple as sending “Merry Christmas!” mailers during the holidays.

Send Enough Mailers — Direct mail is mostly a numbers game. So long as your mail is friendly and appealing to your recipients, getting a response is simply a matter of sending enough mail. According to most stats, the average response rate for real estate direct mail is between 2% and 4%. So you should be sending several hundred mailers at a time.

Learn more about how to send effective real estate direct mail.

5. Social Media Marketing for Real Estate Agents

There’s no question: social media is a very powerful marketing platform for darn-near every industry… your real estate business is no exception.

How quickly you find new clients through social media will largely depend on how much of a following you already have and how much people in the community trust you.

So if you’re new to social media, don’t expect overnight success.

Building trust on Facebook, Instagram, and other platforms isn’t something that should be sporadic — it works best if you create a content schedule and then stick to it… posting at least a few times per weepk.

The Farr Group — a husband-and-wife owned real estate company — is great at using Instagram to build brand awareness and even generate leads.

And when we spoke with Aaron and Krista Farr, one interesting things that they mentioned was how engagement on social media only means so much when it comes to actual lead generation.

They said they’ve met a lot of people who knew them from social media or who even became clients because of their Instagram profile, but who never actually commented on or “liked” their content.

In other words, your content is probably reaching more people than you think.

Don’t take your engagement metrics at face value.

Be consistent, follow the process, and you might be surprised at how social media helps you to grow a thriving business.

Check out our full interview with Aaron and Krista over here!

6. Find FSBO Sellers On Craigslist

It might not be the first method you choose for finding new clients, but looking through for-sale-by-owner listings on Craigslist — especially ones that have been around for a while — can be a helpful strategy.

Just go to Craigslist and click on “real estate for sale”.

Then, you can filter the listings as for sale by owner…

Browse through the listings and look for indications that the seller is having trouble closing on the home — a long time has passed since it was originally listed, for example, or the sellers sound desperate in their description.

These might not make the best clients in the world… and some people will probably get mad at you for calling them and offering your services.

But you might just stumble across someone who’s glad you called.

And it’s the victories you have to fight for that are often the sweetest, anyways.

So why not give it a shot? You’ve got nothing to lose!

7. Network, Network, Network

When it comes to finding your first clients, building trust in your community, and growing your business organically, there’s nothing quite as powerful as networking.

And we’re talking about networking with other business owners, local politicians, and anyone else with sway in the community.

The fact is, everyone needs a home to live in… so there’s really no one who you shouldn’t network with.

Everyone probably knows someone who wants to buy or sell a home in the near future and so networking is always a benefit to your business.

Real estate is one of those industries where just getting to know people can grow your business.

And the more people you get to know — more importantly, the more people who get to know you — the more clients you’re going to get through friendly referrals.

So go to business meetups, attend community celebrations, and join in on charitable events.

Meetup.com is a great place to find local groups of people with different interests.

With enough time, you’ll become an icon of the community and people will start to automatically think of you when they think of buying or selling a home.

And that’s exactly what you want.

8. Door Knocking

It’s not the prettiest or flashiest (or even the most time effective) way to find clients for your real estate business, but door knocking can certainly help!

Here’s something to keep in mind: when you’re just getting started as a real estate agent, you’ll have to work harder to find clients.

You’re just starting to build trust and become an icon in the community… but that takes time.

And a simple stroll through the neighborhood where you knock on a few doors and introduce yourself can go a long way toward building meaningful relationships.

It can even help you generate leads and referrals.

You might be surprised at how willing people are to help when you ask nicely.

This is something you can even do on your daily walk around the neighborhood — just commit to knocking on 5 new doors every day and see what happens!

Two FREE Real Estate Scripts for Door Knocking

Script 1

Hey!

Sorry to bother you. My name is [name] and I just had a quick question. Do you know of anyone who is thinking of selling their home in the area?

I’m new to the area and I’m just trying to get my real estate business off the ground, so I’m looking for some folks who need help selling their home or buying their next home.

[Wait for response]

That sounds great. I really appreciate the help… just thought I’d knock on a few doors as I’m going for my evening stroll.

Here’s my business card, by the way.

Feel free to contact me at any time if you or someone you know wants help with a real estate transaction.

Have a great day!

Script 2

Hey there,

My name is [name] and I’m a new real estate agent in the area. Are you or someone you know trying to buy or sell a home?

I’m just trying to get my real estate business off the ground.

[Wait for response]

Great! I appreciate your help.

Here’s my business card — feel free to contact me anytime to chat about all things real estate.

Have a great day!

9. Brochures & Posters

How many people visit your local coffee shop every single day?

What about your local bakery or your local gym?

In many communities (especially smaller ones), local businesses want to support other local businesses.

And one great way to leverage that fact is by getting to know local business owners and asking them if you can put up a poster in their window or lay some free brochures on their counter.

Many of them will be more than happy to help.

As for what your poster or brochure should look like, just think of it as a compelling piece of direct mail — people you’ve never met before are going to see it and, in an instant, they’re going to decide whether to call you or not.

So put your best foot forward.

Here’s a great example…

10. Get Some Local Press

You might not know it, but your local newspapers, magazines, and other media outlets are constantly looking for interesting stories to tell.

How about they tell a story about your new business?

Just give the editors a call and tell them about what you have going on — if you have a particularly interesting angle, then be sure to mention that as well.

Alternatively, you could pitch a letter-to-the-editor article that updates people on the local real estate market, further establishing your expertise.

Here’s a general idea of what you might say (via email or phone call)…

Hey there!

My name is Mike and I just started my real estate business in the area.

This is a big undertaking for me but I’m very excited about it.

If you’re up for it, I’d love to talk with you about what it takes to start a new business in the community and how amazing our city really is — maybe we could even include some other local businesses owners in the project?

Maybe I’m wrong… but it seems like we could create a great article on that topic!

Let me know if this catches your interest :)

Mike

You might be suprised at how people respond!

Shemeika Fox, one of our awesome members, actually flips the script. Instead of seeking out press, she creates the press. She interviews local business owners, publishes their stories on her website and asks them to share it on social media.

This generates additional traffic to her website and builds her local authority — not a bad idea!

11. YouTube for Real Estate Agents

In terms of marketing, real estate is highly visual.

People want to see the homes that you’re trying to sell, they want to get to know you as a person, and they want to learn about how you can help them.

YouTube is a wonderful platform for accomplishing those goals.

You can easily upload house-showing videos…

And you can upload educational videos…

Posting content like this will help you build credibility and generate leads for your business.

But how do you get people to see your content once it’s live?

The first step is to share your video on all of your social channels and email it out to your subscribers — take advantage of the audience you already have.

Then you might also consider trying to get your video ranking in YouTube for a high-value keyword phrase.

And if you’re a Carrot member, then you can transcribe your video with a single click using our VideoPost feature, turning it into a long-form blog post that can also rank in Google.

12. Drip Marketing

Whenever you collect leads, you should put those people on an email list.

This allows you to contact those leads all at once in a semi-personal manner. Over time, your email list will become one of your most valuable assets.

Because the more that you provide those people with free value, the more that they’re going to trust you and the more likely it is that they’ll reach out to when they’re trying to buy or sell a home.

For your email marketing, you can use a tool like Mailchimp or Active Campaign.

But what should you email your leads?

Well, the first thing you’ll want to do is set-up an automatic 5- to 7-email drip sequence that sends to everyone after they subscribe.

This sequence should build your credibility and work to drive them toward taking the action you want them to take.

But it doesn’t need to be super complicated.

Here’s an idea for topics you can focus on with each email…

• Day 1 – Get To Know Eachother — Tell the new lead about yourself and ask them to do the same by replying to your email and telling them a little bit about why they joined your email list.
• Day 2 – Testimonial/Case Study — Talk about a past experience where you helped a buyer or seller to accomplish their goals. Use this to build credibility.
• Day 3 – Why Are You a Realtor? — Tell people why you decided to become a realtor in the first place. This gives them an idea of who you are and what makes you tick, which helps them to build a meaningful relationship with you.
• Day 4 – Free Value — Provide some sort of free value for the lead. Teach them something new or point them toward a blog post that you recently wrote or a video that you recently recorded.
• Day 5 – Ask — Tell them you’re going to start emailing them just once a week, but that if they ever want to sell their home or buy a new home, you’re ready to roll.

Setting this drip sequence up will do a lot for making the most of the leads that you’re already generating.

Plus, once it’s set up, you don’t need to think about it again for a while because it’ll run on autopilot.

13. Open Houses

If you’re looking for homebuyers, then running open houses is certainly a great way to find leads.

Just make sure to announce your upcoming open house to as many people in the community as possible.

The more people who know about it, the better turnout you’re going to have.

But here’s the other opportunity that many real estate agents don’t think about… all of the people who come to your open house are also probably thinking of selling their home. This is a great chance to not just get to know people in the community and generate buyer leads, but also to find some sellers you can work with.

Don’t be pushy, of course.

But do collect contact information, hand out business cards, and gently converse with anyone who attends.

14. Get Real Estate Referrals

Especially when you’re starting out, referrals are one of the quickest and easiest ways to find clients.

If you’re still trying to find your very first client, then reach out to friends and family and ask them for referrals.

If you have a few happy clients under your belt, reach out and ask them for referrals.

You will probably be surprised at how many people are willing to help you out.

Just take a look at the stats…

Real Estate Agents: Ready To Find Your First Clients?

You now have everything you need to find your first clients… and to find clients well into the future.

These strategies are simple, straight-forward, and relatively easy to execute. But they are also very effective.

It might take time for you to build momentum and grow your business to where you want it, but stay the course, trust the process, and keep going.

The real estate agents who win are the ones who keep going even when the going gets tough.

The above 14 strategies work for other agents and they’ll work for you, too.

Let us know how it goes!