If talking about generating leads makes you nervous, I have good news: you do not have to do it alone, and you are probably already doing it well without knowing it, especially if you have a great network. Using your network well is one of the best ways to generate leads, so let’s talk about it.

Keep in touch with past clients

This is important for many reasons. In a business this relational, you do not want to just conduct business with your clients and then drop off the face of the earth. You want to continue the relationship and show your clients that you genuinely care about them, even after the closing is done. You never know when a past client may need to move again, and you want to be the first one they call if they are thinking about doing so.

You also want to keep in touch because you want to be their top recommendation when their friend or colleague is thinking about moving. Staying at the forefront of your past client’s mind by fostering genuine relationship is hugely important.

Be involved in the community

In order to speak well about an area, you should have some kind of involvement in it. Find out what community service organizations or intramural sports teams exist within some of the main neighborhoods that you focus on. Meet people from the community and let them know about your profession. Be someone who is consistently involved so that when people in that community need a Realtor or know someone who needs a Realtor, your name will be the first that comes to mind.

Stay Active on Social Media

You can refer back to our Social Strategy blog series for more in depth tips about this, but the gist is that you need to be consistently interacting with past, current, and potential clients on your social media; because social media is just that, a place for you to be social and build up your network. Engage in meaningful conversation, both about realty-related subjects and about the things that people in your network are involved in. This is one of the easiest ways to build your network and gain leads.

Good places to engage in conversation on social media would be in Facebook event groups for things happening around the community, LinkedIn groups about subjects which you are knowledgeable about, and Instagram posts from past clients. You want to friend/follow all past and present clients and be active in commenting on their posts so that your name consistently appears to their friends and stays at the forefront of their minds (but “active” does not mean annoying, don’t spam them with meaningless comments).

Post past client testimonials

When it comes to looking for a Realtor, people are going to trust the recommendations of their peers more than they will trust you talking about how great of a Realtor you are. So, ask your past clients to either write or film testimonials and then post them to your chosen platforms. This will establish greater credibility and you can even ask those clients to also share the testimonial on their social media to gain even more leads. When asking your clients to give a testimonial, make it very easy for them to do. If you want filmed testimonials, provide a camera and a space and a time to film their testimonial. If you want a written testimonial, go ahead and provide questions or topics that you want them to cover.

Give frequent updates

Whether this is through email or social media, you are going to want to keep your friends, family, and clients updated on what you are involved in and what upcoming developments you are excited about. Not only do these people want to know what is going on with you, but you will also want them to be able to speak about who you are and what you are doing currently.

It wouldn’t be a bad idea to send out some kind of newsletter or to have a blog where you can share your expertise, talk about the things you are involved in, and open up discussion for people to reach out to you and talk about the things you are involved in and learning about.