The state of real estate lead generation is constantly evolving. What brought in great leads at an affordable rate just a few months ago might not work today.
Since Zillow introduced its iBuyer program, Facebook advertising, and more, many agents are looking for new and innovative real estate lead generation strategies.
To help you think outside the box, here are 37 underrated real estate lead generation ideas to keep your phone ringing off the hook in 2021.
1. Increase Response Rates With Facebook Messenger Ads
Beverly Ruffner, Real Estate Coach
“While tons of agents are advertising on Facebook and Instagram these days, many skip over one of the best lead generation opportunities: Facebook Messenger ads. Sending ads to Messenger can get you open rates that are 242% higher than email, and offer much higher response rates than traditional Facebook ads.
“You can use Messenger to advertise hotlists of niche listings like waterfront homes, fixer-uppers, or hot new underpriced listings. One of my coaching clients even uses Messenger ads for old expireds with great results.”
[Related article: This Strategy Gets Open Rates 242% Higher Than Email]
2. Buy Exclusive Seller Leads From Market Leader
Susan Isaac, Agent at Houlihan Lawrence, Greenwich, Connecticut
“Market Leader owns one of the largest and best home valuation sites online: housevalues.com. Homeowners use the site to check the value of properties they’re interested in selling. Market Leader then sends those exclusive leads out to agents who claim their ZIP code. This is one of the best ways to generate seller leads at the beginning of their buyer journey before other agents have a chance to pitch them.
“If you want to check if Market Leader has exclusive seller leads for you, check availability in your ZIP code here.”
3. Work Divorce Leads
Kelly Lise Murray, J.D. Co-founder & CEO, Divorcethishouse.com
“OK, let’s stop beating around the bush here. Competition for the low-hanging fruit leads in pretty much any farm area is usually fierce.
“If you want to get and close more leads, sometimes it can help to think outside the box. Do you want genuinely motivated leads? How about leads that have a court order to sell their home? How about leads who really, really, really want to move?
“If you’ve got reserves of patience and empathy, then working divorce leads might be the perfect lead-generation strategy to close a few more deals this year. There’s even a designation—RCS-D (Real Estate Collaboration Specialist – Divorce)—that you can get to show potential divorce clients that you know your stuff and mean business.”
4. Use BoldLeads’ New Platform to Generate Exclusive Buyer & Seller Leads
The Close Editorial Team
As far as underrated real estate lead generation goes, BoldLeads’ advanced new platform is hiding in plain sight. Gone are the days of merely handing out leads. Today, BoldLeads offers a cutting-edge platform that generates exclusive buyer and seller leads, advanced targeting, marketing, and nurturing tools, and expert training to help you close more of the leads you get.
BoldLeads’ platform is so powerful that they now offer agents 5x the return on investment (ROI) of direct mail. Click below for a free tour of BoldLeads’ game-changing new platform.
5. Use Slydial Broadcast to Circle Prospect Just Sold & Open Houses
Christina Griffin, Tampa Bay Realtor & Team Leader
Circle prospecting is one of the best ways to stake out your claim in your farm area. If you want to become the real estate agent in a neighborhood, you’re going to have to get in front of the neighbors as often as possible.
The only problem is that some neighborhoods are already blanketed with door hangers, flyers, and postcards from your competition. With a little creativity, you can beat the competition to the chase before they get their flyers printed.
Working with real estate coach Tom Ferry, Tampa Bay Realtor Christina Griffin came up with an ingenious strategy to reach homeowners in her farm area.
She bought lists of homeowners’ cell numbers, then, after cross-checking with the DNC, used a clever new app called Slydial Broadcast to leave them all voicemails advertising her next open house automatically.
The response was immediate and massive. She got 200 leads on her first day.
[Related article: Case Study: How One Tampa Realtor Got 200 Leads in ONE DAY]
6. Use a Smart CRM to Generate Leads While You Sleep
Sean Moudry, Real Estate Coach, Speaker & Author
“Most people think getting started is the hardest thing to do in real estate. But most people have never tried to scale a successful real estate business. Trust me, it’s much, much harder. I should know. Ten years ago, I scaled a brokerage to 100 people, but it didn’t last. The problem was that there were only so many hours in a day, and our leads and clients needed us ASAP, 24/7. Mere mortals couldn’t keep up … then the recession hit.
“Luckily, now it’s 2021, so we have apps like Zurple that use patent-pending software to analyze a lead’s behavior to figure out when they’re ready to transact, BEFORE they’re ready to transact. Even better, they generate those leads for you so you can actually focus on closing and generate leads while you sleep. It’s the software I wish I had 10 years ago.”
7. Pick Up the Phone & Make Outbound Phone Calls Without Even Using Slydial
Leigh Brown, Realtor, CEO, Author, Coach & Speaker, Leigh Brown
“Calls to whom? The contacts in your phone. The people you actually know. Statistics show that an estimated one-third of the public does something related to real estate annually―renovations, updates, repairs, refinancing, buying, or selling―and savvy Realtors are there for all of those steps in the work of being the trusted Realtor adviser over time.
“Costs nothing. How to make it happen? Set a doable goal of one call per day. It will get done—and once you do one, you’re likely to make two.”
[Related article: Long-term Lead Nurturing: Tips & Scripts to Avoid Overtasking]
8. Connect With Pet-loving Leads by Sponsoring a Local Adoption Event
Alisa Cunningham, Realtor, Douglas Elliman
“A great opportunity is to approach local animal shelters or rescue groups and offer to sponsor an adoption event. You give them money to pay for renting a space, tables, and canopy shelters, maybe hire food trucks to be there, do advertising for them, and then show up and work the event. People love their pets—most people consider them members of the family.
“Being of service and finding a home for those abandoned pets is critical work and usually appreciated, plus you get to talk to people. Pet lovers bond with other pet lovers. ‘Creating home for you and your pets’ or ‘Finding homes for you and your pets’ or something like that. But you have to be a pet lover yourself.”
[Related article: Dear Real Estate Agents: Your Local Community Needs You Now More Than Ever]
9. Use Predictive Analytics to Get Leads & Farm Your Local Area
Chris Linsell, Real Estate Coach & Staff Writer, The Close
“Predictive analytics has been waiting in the wings of real estate marketing for a couple of years now, but it stormed the stage and grabbed the spotlight with the emergence of SmartZip. SmartZip uses artificial intelligence (AI) to parse hundreds of data points from across the internet and from your local MLS to determine which property owners in your targeted geographic area are most likely to sell this year.
“That means rather than trying to market to an entire community, you can focus only on property owners who are most likely to sell and ensure you’re the first real estate agent they talk to. Lock down your territory with SmartZip here.”
10. Meet Your Top 50 Contacts in Person Once per Quarter
Nate Martinez, Owner, RE/MAX Professionals
“Lead generation is about personal connection. At our office, we have created our ‘Top 50 program,’ where we designate the top people in our network who have the greatest potential to bring in one piece of business. From there, we look to meet with our contacts once a quarter face-to-face to learn more about their lives and develop a deeper relationship with them. We also host exclusive parties and events, which we invite our ‘Top 50’ to, including movie nights, parties, and so on. Leveraging your network is a great way to generate leads and in order to get those, you need to build strong personal relationships with them.”
[Related article: 10 Unique Client Appreciation Event Ideas: Lead Gen With Cocktails?]
11. Build the Local Connections That Lead to the Best Referrals
Any experienced agent will tell you that referrals are the best source of new leads. The only problem is that referrals can be hard to come by, especially for newer agents. That’s where Parkbench comes in.
Parkbench offers agents a way to generate referrals from local business owners and influencers. They build you a hyper-local website and offer expert training to help you use it to generate the referrals that lead to deals and MORE referrals.
The best part? Parkbench only allows a limited number of agents per local area. Click below to find out if your farm area is still available.
12. Sign Up to Do BPOs, Then Market to the Owners of Distressed Homes
Sebastian Frey, Broker & Owner, Realty World Virtuoso
“When a borrower starts to miss payments on a mortgage, a lender or loan servicer will often order a ‘broker price opinion’ (BPO) on a property in case they end up having to foreclose, do a loan modification, or short sale. They may do this before it is reported as a late payment to a credit agency, and well before they file a notice of default. This is an early indicator of a homeowner who may need to sell sooner rather than later.”
13. Host a First-time Buyer’s Seminar
Sean Moudry, Real Estate Coach, Speaker & Author
“Even though the information is freely available online, many new buyers still have questions about buying a home … lots and lots of questions. Offering them a low-pressure space to get their questions about buying answered can be a great way to generate some leads.
“The trick is to choose five or so common questions to answer in your seminar, and then include a few more not-so-common questions you can use in your marketing to draw people in. For example, you can talk about how to find hidden listing inventory or buy foreclosure listings to get people through the door.”
14. Pitch Your Listing (or Expertise) to News Outlets
Christian Petterson, Vice President of Marketing & Business Development & Realtor, iSella.com
“Most people do not think about pitching their listings to news outlets, but it has surprisingly proven to be one of the best strategies for getting a lot of leads extremely quickly. One of my listings was featured in a New York Times article last week, and I have been receiving at least five calls a day since publication—I had three showings just today. It’s amazing to see the response you get when backed by a reputable publication. Not only can I sell a property extremely quickly through the publicity, but I gain a lot of new clients for other listings as well. The response from media coverage has blown me away every time.”
15. Build & Advertise a Real Estate Brand Instead of Your Personal Brand
Kristina McCann, Founder, Off Market Homes
One of the most common misconceptions with online advertising is that you need to push your “personal” brand constantly. In reality, of course, most people are not looking for you. Many of them might not want an agent at all. Instead, build a brand that offers buyers and sellers in your area something they want.
That might mean IDX listings or, in East Bay San Francisco Realtor and entrepreneur Kristina McCann’s case, discovering that what buyers in her area wanted most was off-market homes.
After building and launching her site, she generated $40 million in buyer leads in her first month.
[Related article: The Best Real Estate Branding of 2021 + Tips From the Pros]
16. Send Sales Letters to Absentee Owners
Jason Pantana, Tom Ferry Master Coach, Speaker
“Good old-fashioned sales letters. There’s a difference between direct mail and drip mail. Most of the time in real estate, we call drip mail ‘direct mail.’ For instance, sending postcards twice a month to a geographic farm isn’t direct mail—despite calling it that—because it usually isn’t angling for a ‘direct response.’
“To the contrary, it’s more about creating top-of-mind awareness and branding. Direct mail has more to do with organizing a vetted and scrubbed list of ideal recipients and then delivering a calibrated letter—or a few letters in a row—that are designed to get the recipients to take action within a relatively short time frame.
“Given that the market is adjusting pretty much everywhere, we’re having some clients who are sending out kindhearted and well-reasoned letters to absentee owners in communities and areas where appreciation has been favorable and where it looks like selling now may be the best play in the foreseeable future.”
[Related article: 15 Best Real Estate Prospecting Letter Templates for 2021]
17. Use Deep Insight From Zillow My Agent to Convert More Leads
Lily Stern, Digital Marketing Manager, The Close
“Did you know that even after a buyer contacts an agent, they go back to Zillow an average of 27 times and look at 77 more listing pages in 30 days? That means that even if you answered your phone right away and wowed them, there’s still a huge chance they’ll wind up working with someone else. Even worse, you’ll never even know it. They’ll just stop returning your calls.
“So if you want to 3x your lead conversion, then Zillow Premier Agent’s new feature, My Agent, is for you. It puts only your contact information on every single listing your lead looks at after they contact you.
“Even better, My Agent provides agents with deep insight on which properties they’re viewing, saving, and searching for on Zillow.”
18. Master Cold Calling
Beverly Ruffner, Real Estate Coach
“While your competition is sitting back waiting for leads to roll in from Instagram or Pinterest, take the bold route, and pick up the phone.
“Sure, it’s a little intimidating to get hung up on, but there is no better way to build the thick skin you’ll need to become a top-producing real estate agent.”
[Related article: 24 Real Estate Cold Calling Scripts and Tips to Conquer Your Fears]
19. Hand Out Free Seasonal Treats With Your Business Card
Nelene Gibbs, Broker & Owner, Nelene Gibbs Real Estate
“One suggestion I offered my newer agents was to go to the mall or shopping center during the holiday shopping season and hand out business cards attached to a candy cane to everyone walking by. No need to wait in line to see Santa to get a candy cane. Spread a little Christmas cheer with the candy canes and, hopefully, pick up a new client or two for the new year. Everyone loves a candy cane at Christmas.
“One other suggestion I had was to print water bottle labels, go to the shopping areas where the crowds line up waiting for the big Black Friday sales events, and pass out water bottles with your brand—business card—on them to the crowds waiting in line.”
20. Get 97% Open Rates Using Automated Text Marketing
Jeff Manson, Founding Partner & CEO, Real Geeks
“Did you know that text messages have a whopping 97% open rate compared to 20% even for the best emails? The only problem is that tapping out individual texts to your leads takes up way too much time you could be spending cold calling.
“Using the advanced text messaging platform you get with Real Geeks CRM that comes bundled with its IDX websites, you can automate your text marketing and start filling your calendar with showings tomorrow.”
21. Use Seasonal Leave-behinds
Nick Slocum, Partner, Realtor, The Nick Slocum Team
“Far and away, our two best unique leave-behinds are when we had place an American flag on each lawn just prior to the Fourth of July and when we place a pumpkin on each doorstep around Halloween. The response is incredible and the connection to the community is even better. In fact, over the years, the neighbors have come to expect it and often refer to us as ‘The Pumpkin Guys’ or ‘The Flag Guys.’”
22. Make a Plan & Work the Holidays
Courtney Poulos, Broker & Owner, Acme Realty
Since most of your fellow agents will head for the hills during the holidays, staying in the office can mean easy real estate lead generation. Here are a few tips from Los Angeles’ Acme Realty Founder, Courtney Poulos, on generating leads during the holidays.
“My advice to newer agents who are looking to work through the holidays would be to use the fact that you are present and available during the holiday season as the dominant messaging in your marketing. If you have listings that you are going to be showing during the holidays, have holiday-themed events, such as a holiday-themed broker’s open with spiced cider, or at your Sunday open house, have a jazz musician playing holiday music. You can also take new pictures of the property with some holiday decorations to use in your social media posts.”
23. Pitch Older Expired Listings
Dan Prud’homme, Owner, Carolina Realty Group
“I don’t just reach out to listings that are newly expired like everyone does, but I dig deeper and pay special attention to the ones that expired a year or more ago that never relisted. I figure that at some point these potential clients wanted to sell, so why not reach out to them to see what their plans are, how they may have changed, and how I could help them meet their objective. If their plan is to sell sometime in the future, I offer to assist them with a strategy so they’re ready to hit the ground running when the timing is perfect.”
[Related article: 15 Best Expired Listing Scripts & Objection Handlers 2021]
24. Become a ‘Coffee House Consultant’
Justin Potier, Broker, Carrington Real Estate Services
Since you’re going to spend a ton of time in coffee shops anyway, why not advertise your services for free?
Justin Potier of Carrington Real Estate Services had an agent who set up their laptop to work, then put up a little sign, saying, “Free real estate advice.”
25. Network at More Non-Real Estate-related Events
Eseosa “Sosa” Eke, Marketing Consultant & Brand Strategist
“If you’re going to events where everyone else is just like you, your odds of meeting quality leads are slim to none.
“Instead of going to the same old real estate mixers or networking events, think outside the box and join some non-real estate-related local events. Your next client can be found at a community yoga workshop, a sip-and-paint night, a book reading, or even at a concert.
“Just be careful of trying to ‘sell’ to people you meet.
“Instead, go to an event you’ll truly enjoy, engage in the flow of conversation, and when you get the ‘what do you do?’ question, give them an answer that truly makes your real estate services shine. Even if you don’t get any new leads, you’ll spend time doing things you love. How can you go wrong?”
26. Try Ranking Articles on Google for Luxury or Historic Listings
Tristan Roberts, Lake Tahoe Realtor
“Too many people believe that the time has passed to rank organically on Google successfully—specifically targeting ranking opinion articles for individual property addresses and then providing ‘the rest of the story’ so the potential buyers can read your opinions of the property’s strengths and weaknesses. This works extremely well with very high-end or historic properties. The buyer gets to hear your tone and gets a feel for your personality as well as some honest insight about the property they’re considering buying.”
27. Get Some Fresh Air: Start Door Knocking
Emile L’eplattenier, Managing Editor, The Close
“While everyone else in your office is busy with the latest social media fad (TikTok, anyone?), why not head out into the fresh air and fill your customer relationship manager (CRM) the old-fashioned way? Go knock on some doors! It’s actually a lot easier than you might think, and is also a fantastic way to hone your elevator pitch and actually flex your sales muscles.”
[Related article: Door Knocking for Real Estate in 2021: Will It Still Work? (+ Tips & Scripts)]
28. Join Your Local Chamber of Commerce
Cynthia Emerling, Associate Broker, Finger Lakes Premier Properties
If you join your local chamber of commerce, you can get your name and business listed in newsletters and websites and get referrals and make valuable connections who are well established in your area.
“You can become members of the town and county chambers that your office is in, as well as nearby areas or counties that you serve or have offices in. Similarly, you can look into becoming a member of a destination marketing organization (DMO) or convention and visitors bureau (CVB). Sometimes these are the same as the Chamber and other times they are a separate entity.”
29. Learn to Rank Your Website on Google by Building Quality Backlinks
Shawn Breyer, Owner, Breyer Home Buyers
“When doing search engine optimization (SEO), focus on building links back to your site from sites that are relevant to your business. If you’re selling houses, then getting a link to your website from a blog on Realtor.com is going to drive your site up in the Google search rankings. Whatever you do, don’t perform shady backlink building practices, such as buying 500 backlinks for $20 on Fiverr. SEO won’t produce leads for your business immediately but, over time, your organic lead flow will increase, which will improve your ROI on your business drastically.”
[Related article: How to Use Real Estate Keywords to Get More Leads From Google]
30. Help Your Buyers Find an Investment, Not Just a Home
Rebecca Saenz, Realtor, RE/MAX Estate Properties Los Angeles
“I have found through the years that agents do not have enough knowledge of how to guide their clients through real estate investing from their primary residence. I work with business managers and accountants to share business and guide our clients together to gain wealth through real estate. Most people think you buy a house and live in it, sell it, and buy another one, but what if they kept that first house and bought another one, and gained passive income from the first? I have clients for life because they trust I’m guiding them on the right path of when and what to sell based on their needs and income desires in the future.”
31. Schedule Outreach With Your Sphere Every Day
Akos Straub, Top-producing Chicago Realtor
“In my opinion, the best underrated lead-generating technique is accessing and utilizing your current network. After all, unlike cold internet leads, these are people who probably already know and trust you. So, carve out time every day to reach out to your sphere and just ask for business. Lead generation doesn’t get much simpler or more effective than this.”
32. Become a Reliable Source of Real Estate Expertise in Facebook Groups
Bryan Bowles, Founder & CEO, Transactly
“You don’t need to create one, but get involved. For example, create a survey to find out ‘What’s stopping you from buying a home?’ and then engage people individually in a very casual manner. The key is coming up with creative content that makes people want to participate, remaining consistent, and measuring the results. I see too many agents who let these things go if they don’t see immediate results or start getting busy.”
33. Host a First-time Buyer’s Workshop
Cindy Bowman, Listing & Marketing Manager, The Ramsey Group
“A great, underrated lead generation technique for real estate agents? One word: Altruism. Do good for others without expecting anything in return. Get involved with a charity or civic organizations and do so with the sole intention of helping. A side effect of doing good is that it gets your name in front of others and, more importantly, it gives those people an opportunity to learn something about you outside of real estate. When a real estate need finally arises, you’ll be top of mind and thought of more as a ‘real person’ as opposed to ‘just another agent.’ In addition, it feels nice to help others.”
34. Create an Avatar of Your Ideal Client & Then Target Them on Social Media
Kyle Alfriend, REMAX Hall of Fame Agent
“Create an ‘avatar’ of your ideal client—their income, interests, personality, age, family size, and hobbies. Then, post a steady stream of videos and blogs on all social media outlets—all about those things. If they are active, start running and biking, and posting updates on your activities. If they have school-age children, attend school sporting events, concerts, and plays, and post about them. Restaurants, wine enthusiasts, religious events, sporting events, hiking, swimming, and charitable causes—identify your ideal client, then post yourself being involved in the things they do.”
35. Reward Your Referral Sources With a Handwritten Note & Gift Card
Heidi Sutter, Sutter-Smith Group, Coldwell Banker
Even if they already love you, everyone loves getting presents, even small ones. That’s why Coldwell Banker agent Heidi Sutter’s system of rewarding referral sources helps keep a steady stream of referrals in her inbox:
“For me, one of the best lead generating tools has been to reward my referrals with a handwritten note and gift card. Doing so has been key for my business and proven to be one of the best ways to connect with clients, friends, and family who are kind enough to refer my services. Here’s my formula:
- $5 gift card and thank you note at introduction to the referral
- $10 gift card for gas, along with a handwritten note thanking them for the referral again and providing a quick update on the progress, once buyer or seller signs a contract or lists
- Hand-delivered $50 gift card to a local restaurant once the client closes
“This helps make and maintain a personal connection.”
36. Help Clients Work Through Non-Real Estate Financial Needs
Dane Galden, Coldwell Banker
As long as you have the expertise and steer clear of violating fiduciary laws, offering to help your clients with other financial needs can be a great way to stay top of mind and increase referrals. Here’s Coldwell Banker agent Dane Galden on how he offers other financial services to his clients.
“In addition to working with buyers and sellers, I have a background in helping clients work through their financial needs—anything from showing them how to save for a child’s college education to planning for retirement tax-free. This gives me a reason to talk to my clients every year to check in and update their goals as needed while building lasting relationships. The value that I bring to my clients allows me to be top of mind when they’re ready to buy or sell, and it works great for referrals as well.”
37. Call People in Your Sphere to Mark Milestones & Birthdays
Gina Guajardo, Sterling Johnson & Associates, a Leverage Global Partners’ Brokerage
“I do not cold call but I do call people in my sphere to congratulate them about their milestones—and that brings results, guaranteed. It’s a great way to stay connected and top of mind. Take birthdays, for example. Every day, Facebook will tell you whose birthday it is, so you just have to pick up the phone and call them. [Almost all] of the people you call will appreciate it, and guess who they will recommend or work with when the time is right? Same goes for milestones like a new job or pregnancy news. How awesome to get a call from your friend who happens to be a Realtor?”
Bonus Tip: Stop Screening Your Calls!
Emile L’Eplattenier, Managing Editor, The Close
“We all know agents who have a separate Google Voice or Grasshopper number for leads that they answer right away, no matter what. That’s great, but what about your clients? Shouldn’t they get your immediate attention too?
“Too many agents wait until they’re ‘ready’ to return that client call. Instead, why not pick up the phone with a warm hello, tell them that you’re in the middle of a showing, and then schedule a time to call them back?
“If you want to avoid spam calls at showings, just dump your clients, online leads, and website leads into one separate number as soon as they come in. This way, you don’t have to worry about screening calls anymore.”
Next Steps: How to Create a Real Estate Lead Generation Plan That Works for You
Now that you hopefully have some inspiration after reading our list of real estate lead generation ideas, let’s take a look at what the experts say about choosing which ones work for you. After all, not all lead generation strategies are created equal. Some work great for certain types of agents, while others fail miserably.
The trick is to choose which methods to spend your hard-earned time, money, and effort on strategically. Let’s take a look at a few general strategies that will help you choose a plan that works for you.
[Related article: How to Create a Custom Real Estate Lead Generation Plan + Template]
Understand How Pareto Distributions Work
Vilfredo Pareto was a 19th-century Italian civil engineer, economist, and sociologist who came up with a mathematical formula to explain power distributions in nature, society, and business. He discovered that in many cases, 20% of most systems produce 80% of the results. You might know this as the 80/20 rule.
You might notice this already in your business. For example, many agents find that roughly 20% of their customers might produce 80% of their gross commission income (GCI). When it comes to lead generation, you will likely find that 20% of your efforts produce 80% of your results. This is why choosing the real estate lead generation strategies that work for you is so important.
Make a Plan That Gets You a Mix of Top of Funnel & Bottom of Funnel Leads
While getting customers early on in their home search is important, very few agents have the time to nurture leads forever without generating any income. Quick wins that bring in revenue are crucial for any business. So make sure you have a healthy mix of strategies that get you customers who need to move yesterday and customers who might not move for a year or more.
For example, home valuation landing pages are more likely to attract sellers who are close to pulling the trigger, while cold calling landlords of distressed properties might get you leads that might sell six months from now.
So when choosing a new real estate lead generation strategy, make sure to ask yourself if it will generate more top of funnel or bottom of funnel leads. If you’re busy, then top-of-funnel leads are great. If you’re struggling to pay your mortgage, then you should focus on quick wins instead.
Create a Plan That Fits Your Unique Personality
One mistake that many agents make is trying to push themselves to generate leads using techniques that don’t fit their personality. For example, if you’re an introvert, cold calling FSBOs will probably only leave you frustrated and broke.
Close contributor and real estate coach, Sean Moudry, has developed a unique system that tests agents for their personality type using a variation of the Myers-Briggs test to help them find the perfect real estate lead generation strategy for them.
If you want to learn more about Sean’s system or sign up as a coaching client, check out his website: 16 Strategies.
Useful Resources
Are you a new agent or an experienced agent who is trying to shake things up a bit? If so, check out some of our deep-dive resources to learn more about filling your pipeline with leads:
- Get More Real Estate Buyer Leads With These 11 Proven Strategies
- How to Get Listings: 18 Luxury Listing Agents Spill Their Secrets
- 11 Savvy Ways to Generate More Real Estate Referrals From Your Sphere
- 13 Clever Real Estate Prospecting Ideas to Boost Your GCI
- 5 Smart Ways to Buy Real Estate Leads
Over to You
What real estate lead generation techniques are you using for 2021? Still sticking with Zillow or have you discovered something new? Let us know in the comments.
Well researched article!! I used to door knock before Covid. I gets hot here in South Florida but I managed to knock on 20 doors a day, that was my goal. But since Covid I had to learn social media and alternative ways to generate leads. I personally have much success with Facebook to generate buyer leads and with ziptitan.com to generate seller leads. I’m 55 but still adapting to the new era.
Awesome! Never stop learning.
Read your site. Curious about what you have to say about more leads.
Hey Tony, we have a lot to say about more leads… What are you curious about specifically?
How did your 2020 go? I’m a new agent btw.
naturally like your web-site however you need to check the spelling on quite a few of your posts. A number of them are rife with spelling problems and I find it very troublesome to tell the truth however I’ll certainly come back again.
*Naturally -or- **I naturally
And…
A number of them are rife with spelling problems and I find it very troublesome to tell the truth; however, I’ll certainly come back again. (fixed!)
Noted, thanks for reaching out!
Yikes! Jaxon, if you do see any typos on the site can you please send them to info@theclose.com?
Great article, I was looking to diversify my lead gen sources and it helped me a lot. I’m having success with ZipTitan and I’m getting a good return from their affiliate program as well, to the extent that the seller leads I’m getting are almost free. Bold leads is also a good choice although could be a little pricey for new realtors, but worth the try.
Hey Stephanie, diversifying your lead sources is probably the best thing that most Realtors don’t do enough of.
Powerful and very useful site. Helps to keep all Agents and all Realstate professionals up-to-date.
Thanks Ann. If you’re an agent best of luck this season!
The being a hyper local expert for my community has been excellent in getting my name and brand out there to meet new clients.
100% this. With so many other agents to choose from buyers and sellers are going to expect to work with a specialist. Best of luck in 2020!
Thanks for compiling this list. There is definitely room for improved lead gen in my business for 2020 and I’ll be implementing a few of these easily. Kudos for the good blend of paid options and free options that may just require work on your part. I’ll be revisiting this page to refresh.
Hell yeah! The only way to get better is to keep learning and keep grinding! You sound like you’re ready to crush it in 2020, but best of luck anyway! Also make sure to sign up for our email list so you never miss a new article.
Hello Emile,
It was a pleasant surprise to be included in 37 Underrated Real Estate Lead Gen for 2020. Thank you for the mention. DivorceThis House is a consumer protection company dedicated to preserving home ownership eligibility for both divorcing spouses.
Our trained RCS-D Lenders/REALTORS are involved early in the divorce process pre mediation that results in a REFI or creating a LISTING for RCS-D REALTORS when the house needs to SELL… with one or both spouses buying a “right sized” residence. (NLO) that can add up to 3 transactions per divorce.
RCS-D’s work directly with family lawyers, mediators and clients as trusted real estate resources offering Professor Murray’s SYSTEM of Enhanced House Due Diligence. It’s a much kinder, faster and more rewarding process for all involved as we work to preserve homeownership eligibility for divorcing families.
Hey Wendy,
No worries, the article is about underrated lead generation ideas and I think a system for working divorces definitely fits the bill.
I have to keep this list and remember to give it to the next agent that complains to me about business being slow.
Love Shawn Breyer’s SEO tip. I can’t believe more agents aren’t taking advantage of blogging to boost their SEO and engagement. I get about 5K visitors to my site every month just by publishing one post per week and sharing it on social media. Easy and inexpensive lead-gen!
Thank you for this very informative article. I am a brand new agent and am looking for the best way to get my feet on the ground and move forward! Several good ideas here to get me started.
Hey Bill, there is a ton of information here, so make sure to take your time choosing lead gen ideas that work for you and your market.
Hey Michelle,
The issue here is not will to work but starting, getting no traction, then giving up. It can take a long time to rank on Google or get anyone to read your posts.