There are a lot of buyer’s agent tips out there. How do you know what actually works? I curated this list from Workman Success Systems’ Buyer’s Agent Mastery program—known as BAM—and it’s been proven by hundreds of successful buyer’s agents. These are the buyer’s agent tips you need—get out your notebook and pencil and get ready for three things you can start doing right now to get ahead in real estate in 2023.
Buyer’s Agent Tip #1: Work Your SOI
Your Sphere of Influence (or SOI) is the most important source of clients that are ready to buy or sell in short order. How someone works their SOI will change the kind of lead generation given through their network. Here are 4 best practices for working your SOI that have been proven to generate more leads year over year.
1 – Record Everything
Every touch with someone in your SOI needs to be written down. Use a CRM and track everything. This will ensure your memory is up-to-date at any future touch, helping improve your relationship with members of your sphere. Writing everything down in a central place will make certain that your relationships with your sphere deepen, helping you earn their trust and build sincere connections.
2 – Schedule It Out
Intentionally keeping in touch with your entire SOI requires you to schedule it out. You should have a touch with every member of your SOI every month—a text message, a phone call, meeting up for coffee or a meal, whatever you can best manage. This isn’t to ask them for business every time—it’s to keep yourself top-of-mind and build good relationships with your network.
3 – Earn The Right To Ask
If your monthly touches are quality, you’ll earn the right to ask for your sphere’s business—or, really, the right to ask for leads from them. Who do they know that’s getting ready to buy or sell? If they know you’re the kind of agent who will take care of their friends and family and you’ve made sure to build a connection that keeps you top-of-mind, they’ll respond positively to your ask.
4 – Update, Replace, Renew
It’s right to expect that your SOI will give you a lead every year. We think of our SOI as a sort of Top 50—50 people who will be willing to give you a lead on business during a calendar year. If it starts to become apparent that a member of your sphere isn’t going to help produce leads, be ready to prune your list and seek new connections. Your time is valuable and your monthly touches could be better spent on someone who will help support your business.
Buyer’s Agent Tip #2: Nurture Your Leads
This buyer’s agent tip reminds you that there are no bad leads in real estate, just leads that are closer to, or further from, making a buying or selling decision. Leads fall into one of three categories: A, B, or C. Here’s what that means and what it looks like in practice:
- A leads are ready to buy or sell right now. You should always have an appointment set with these leads.
- B leads aren’t ready to buy or sell yet, but will be in the next 30-90 days. B leads should receive two touches per month on a set day, two weeks apart. I recommend calling during the first and third weeks.
- C leads won’t be ready to sell for longer than 90 days. They should receive a touch once per month. I recommend calling them during the second week of the month.
On top of using the ABC’s of Lead Management, I recommend revisiting the way you first interact with new leads. Here are two dialogue tools you can start using right now to help convert new leads into closed transactions:
LPMAAM
The first time you make personal contact with a lead, there are certain questions you should ask them before you know if they’re a serious buyer or seller. That’s why Workman Success Systems developed LPMAAM—a powerful real estate script that guides your qualifying process through the six key points you need to cover before you can move the prospect forward as a client.
- L – Location: understand where they want to buy or where they are selling.
- P – Price: ask about and set expectations surrounding their price range.
- M – Motivation: understand their reasons for wanting to buy or sell a home.
- A – Agent: confirm that they are not already working with another agent.
- A – Appointment: set an appointment based on their needs.
- M – Mortgage: establish whether or not they have a lender already, whether they’ve received preapproval, etc.
LPMAAM is meant to provide structure to your dialogue to make sure that you gather the right information while maintaining a natural, conversational flow. You want to avoid sounding stiff or setting the conversation up to sound like an interrogation. Show your personality and attention to detail as you gather information on each point, listening and allowing them to speak. LPMAAM lets you turn the act of qualifying a lead into a comfortable conversation. If you would like a copy of the full Workman Success Systems LPMAAM script, click here.
FORD Dialogue
The FORD Dialogue works well for regularly scheduled touches with your SOI, your B and C leads, or anyone you haven’t spoken with for a while.
- F – Family: How are your kids? Didn’t so-and-so just graduate?
- O – Occupation: How is work? Did you get that promotion?
- R – Recreation: What are you doing in your free time?
- D – Dreams: What’s next for you?
Whatever conversation these questions generate, write down what you learn. This is where a good CRM shines—let your systems remember for you and you’ll never forget what you should know again.
Buyer’s Agent Tip #3: Lead With Revenue
You have the same amount of time in your day as any other agent. Why, then, do some agents make so much more money than others? It all comes down to how you spend the time you have—are you leading with revenue? This buyer’s agent tip reminds you to focus on activities that generate income. How you spend your time will dictate how you can spend your money.
Avoid Fake Work
Being busy is awesome. It feels valuable to have things to do and check them off your list. Still, if the activities you’re completing don’t align with the values of your business—and help prop up your bottom line by making you money—you’re just doing a bunch of fake work. Leading with revenue means you prioritize the activities that actually make you money.
Make Your Time Valuable
Every hour of your day can be a dollar in your pocket or a wasted opportunity. Plan well, schedule carefully, and be ready to pivot to money-making activities as quickly as possible when other things fall through the cracks.
With these three buyer’s agent tips in mind, go forth and close two extra deals next month. Then do it again the next month—and the next. These tips were made to create operational excellence in your real estate business and build habits and mindsets that will serve you for years to come. Your success flows from how you do the small things. Adopt these tips into your business and you’ll see the same results that hundreds of agents before you have seen.
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