8 examples of winning strategies for successful property prospecting

The day-to-day life of an estate agent is a hectic one. Between the numerous visits and appointments at the agency, it's rare to get bored! However, some periods are quieter than others. These times are generally good for prospecting 🔍.

Maintaining your address book takes time. As a people business par excellence, increasing the number of contacts you make is essential if you want to win more business and keep your shop running. There are a number of techniques you can use to help you do this 👍.

In this article co-written with Driss Bouharrou, property expert and trainer, discover the tips you need to remember to make yourself the queen or king of property prospecting 👑.

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#1. Create and nurture your partnerships

Developing a network of partners helps make your agency more attractive. Naturally, there are certain business sectors to focus on. As an estate agent, for example, you can approach:

• banking institutions (to facilitate a property loan, etc.);
• property advisers
• insurance companies (owning a home is great, but insuring it is even better!). 🏠) ;
• specialist renovation contractors (you're interested in this property, but you're not a fan of the kitchen? Don't worry, I know a great guy who can fix it just right! 👷‍♂) ;
• companies specialising in furniture (you've got to fill that empty house!), etc.

In short, any service that can help you settle into your new home is welcome. What's more, you can go even further and form partnerships with other brands. Do you want to give your agency a warm and welcoming image? Just the thing, there's a bakery just a few metres away. Offering pastries and a good cup of coffee to a prospect who comes to you for information is sure to make a good impression. Is that enough to win you more business and increase your sales? We'll let you be the judge! 😁

#2. Make a name for yourself in the neighbourhood

To be successful, an estate agent must necessarily know how to be personable and convincing. The more confidence they gain from a prospect, the greater the chances of closing a sale. So it's important that you're recognised as a reliable and competent professional 👌.

With this in mind, it's essential to maintain a good relationship with your neighbours and local shopkeepers. Rather than discussing contracts inside your agency, why not opt for a friendlier venue such as a café or restaurant? By systematically taking your prospects to the same bistro, you're bound to become a local celebrity. Even though it may seem harmless, it helps to convey a reassuring image to your customers 😇.

What's more, it can even bring you new customers without you even having to lift a finger! By multiplying your presence in these meeting and discussion places, your advertising will come naturally. And what's more, if the coffee is on the house, why deprive yourself? ☕😏

#3. Don't neglect your shop window

Does this advice seem obvious to you? Yet many property professionals tend to forget it. Your shop window is the first image a prospect has of you, so try to make a good impression!

While it's highly advisable to highlight the most attractive properties, you can also be a little original. Most estate agents are content to display adverts by the dozen. Why not try to stand out from the crowd a little? 🤔

For example, you could:

• post reviews from clients who have enjoyed working with you ;
• invite owners who are looking to sell to come and meet you;
• disseminate information on the current state of the property market.

In short, it's up to you to be inventive and highlight the content you feel is most likely to grab the attention of passers-by.

#4. Keep in touch with former customers

That's it, you've just closed a sale. The new owners are delighted and so are you. Time to say goodbye and move on? Not at all! ❌

An estate agent's job doesn't end with the sale. Maintaining a relationship with your former clients can be very beneficial. You can even cultivate this relationship as soon as you hand over the keys 🔑.

When you're moving in, you're having a house-warming party. As you're a very studious student, you've already applied our previous tips and will be able to put them to good use. By offering the new buyers the services of a caterer with whom you have a deal, for example. What's more, because you're so nice, you've been invited to the house-warming party. A chance to introduce yourself to family and friends and hand out your card to anyone who's interested 🤝.

Today, customer experience is at the heart of business strategies. Indeed, word-of-mouth and customer reviews are highly effective levers for dispelling doubts. The more satisfied a customer is, the more likely they are to recommend your services. To maintain this special relationship with your "old" customers, you can :

• check up on them by telephone ;
• Take advantage of a visit to the neighbourhood to say hello;
• send them a letter on special occasions (New Year, birthday, etc.).

#5. Cultivate your website

We sometimes tend to think of estate agents as clones of each other. If you want to stand out from the crowd, you have to be able to stand out from the crowd. There are various ways of doing this. In this case, we're going to be looking at your website 🧐.

Like your agency's shop window, your website serves to showcase your ads and attract potential prospects. But that's not all! To arouse interest and win the trust of visitors, your site must have real added value. This means, for example, publishing reviews from former customers or sharing news about the world of real estate 🏘.

What's more, real estate is an area that can be frightening for newcomers. It's up to you to reassure them. Keeping a blog section where you write articles for the general public is an excellent practice to adopt.

• What is the role of an estate agent?
• Tips for negotiating the best deal for your property ;
• What notaire's fees really represent ;
• Hidden defects: how to avoid them;
• New or old: the advantages and disadvantages of each, etc.

What's more, it helps boost your search engine ranking. So it would be a shame to miss out 🤷‍♂️.

Finally, try as far as possible to gather information about your visitors. Why not offer to download a white paper in exchange for registering on the contact form? This information is extremely valuable for winning more business and prospecting effectively. With a name, e-mail address and telephone number in your database, this is a very good base to work on.

#6. Use real estate prospecting software

Today's world is ruled by new technologies. You might as well make the most of it! Gathering information about your leads, sorting them, creating content tailored to each one, following up, monitoring and assessing the maturity of prospects... The list of tasks to be carried out when it comes to commercial prospecting is endless. To help you, the use of software is highly recommended 👈.

Among the many features offered by property prospecting software, we can mention:

• data collection ;
• data segmentation (lead scoring, etc.);
• automation of time-consuming and repetitive tasks (property prospecting, updating the reminder calendar, scheduling content mailings, etc.);
• performance monitoring (conversion rate, average time spent on the phone, etc.);
• organising work and sharing information between teams (allocating mandates, etc.);
• automatic prospecting for properties according to your established criteria (geographical area, size, etc.).

In short, there is a clear parallel between property prospecting software and a marketing automation solution.

In short, there is an obvious parallel between property prospecting software and a marketing automation solution.

🛠 An example of a tool that combines these features: Néo Sphè;re, a real estate software package for independent estate agencies, which combines CRM, real estate transaction software and an automation solution for tracking your customers and prospects using predefined, customisable scenarios. A real ally to help you save time, assist you in your prospecting, and lead you to obtain more mandates.

#7. Assert your presence on social networks

On an average day, people spend 2h30 consulting their social networks. To increase your chances of winning new leads - and therefore new mandates - these networks should not be neglected.

An Instagram account, for example, is ideal for showcasing properties for sale in their best light. In just a few moments, it's easy for a user to identify the type of property you're offering. It's also a great opportunity for you to break away from traditional advertising. In particular, we're seeing more and more professionals offering virtual tours from Instagram 🏡🤳.

As well as being the ideal place to promote yourself, social networks allow you to find tailored leads. Facebook groups dealing with real estate news are legion. Similarly, there are many local groups based on mutual support. For example, there are groups for people who are urgently looking for somewhere to live or who are moving to a new town for work. So many potential customers to identify and approach.

LinkedIn is also a great tool for raising your profile and prospecting. As a BtoB network par excellence, it's an opportunity for you to share your expertise with your community. What's more, you also have the opportunity to join groups where your services could find takers. Here, we're thinking in particular of those devoted to property investment.

#8. Adapt your message to your target audience

Depending on a lead's degree of maturity, you will not address them in the same way. The idea is to always send the right message at the right time. To do this, using a lead scoring tool is very useful. Depending on the actions taken by a lead and the interest they show in your services, they are given a score. The higher the score, the greater your chances of converting them into customers and signing a contract 🤞.

Just imagine. You've been put in touch with a couple who can't manage to sell their house. Initially reticent about the idea of working with an agency, they're now thinking more and more about it. Your aim is to remove any remaining obstacles to obtaining a mandate. For example, you can try to win their confidence by :

• sharing documentation on the latest trends in the local property market ;
• offering to show them their property to help them understand it;
• inviting them to a seminar you are organising on the estate agency profession;
• putting them in touch with a former client of yours who was in the same situation.

Staying on the subject of targeting, you should also know that you can limit the distribution of your advertising content to a certain audience. If you decide to run a campaign on Facebook to promote your agency, you can define your target according to different criteria (age, gender, geographical location, etc.). The more personalised and tailored your content is to a certain audience, the more effective its reach will be 💪.

A word from the expert

To adapt your message to your target audience, why not use the DISC method?

This is a model for assessing behaviour and personality based on four main types of traits:

• D - Dominance: this profile is results- and action-oriented.
• I - Influence: the I profile is characterised by marked sociability and a desire to persuade and influence others .
• S - Steadiness: people with an "S" profile are known for their patience, reliability and consistency .
• C - Conscientiousness: individuals with the "C" profile are methodical, precise and analytical.

This method will enable us to detail how to adapt communication according to behavioural profiles and thus optimise the impact of exchanges with prospects.

See all software Real Estate Agency

Property prospecting: what can we learn from all these examples?

There are many techniques you can use to raise your agency's profile and win more mandates. While the eternal door-to-door approach can still be very useful, digital tools have made a major contribution to improving sales prospecting.

Between segmenting your leads, automating time-consuming and repetitive tasks and promising a higher conversion rate, property software makes your life a whole lot easier. There are even CRMs specially designed for the property sector, so why not give them a try?