I have recently started an estate agency.
I am also working on a system of how to guarantee or at least give my agents the best chance of achieving success.

As I mentioned above.
I send out a newsletter to my farming area.
I have been doing it for 5 weeks and received more than 10 listings and 3 sales.

Good luck

Don’t give up! It takes time.

Floor time, I guess, depends on the dynamics of your local market. In our neck of the woods, all of the listing agents brand their signs and ads, including their own number, so all calls go directly to them. Floor time, here, is all but history. If you have an office with a good location which might generate walk-in traffic, it is of course an excellent way to get the introduction. I suspect over time floor time will become antiquated everywhere, simply because the information is now available to the consumer online. No longer is there a need to waltz into the office to find an agent or get that “free list of homes.”

As an aside, one of the first important business decisions I made when starting out was to quit looking at the office “board.” The success of others does not diminish your own, and while seeing those “top producers” can tend to inspire, it can also tend to distract (or, as you put it, “overwhelm”). Better to forget about what they are doing and worry about what you can do, I think.

P.S. I am running to a meeting, but check your inbox later today.

Steve and I chat often about how difficult it would be to become established if we were new to the business today. I am by no means the final authority on any of this (there are as many ways to approach building your business as there are agents), but I’ll share a couple of my thoughts:

1. Your marketing should be consistent and continuous. Give any effort at least a year before you expect to see measurable results.
2. What works for one agent is not necessarily what will work for you. Find what you excel at and, mostly, what you enjoy. If you loathe the task, you less likely to follow through.
3. You might guess that I am a big proponent of blogging, but see #1. It is a process, not an event, and it requires much time and effort. On this note, we have enjoyed much more success by marketing our blog locally than by being overly concerned with SEO. It is the customer in our neighborhood that we are ultimately trying to reach out to.
4. There are a lot of great companies that will help you set up your blog (for $$). But, setting up your own isn’t all that difficult. I Googled my way through it at the beginning and at a point where my first search was along the lines of “what is a blog?”
5. Read, investigate, and learn, and, with commitment and hard work, you will find a way to build your business. If you are asking about blogging, then you are on the right track, because you are already willing to consider “pull” versus “push” as a marketing strategy. Again, think like a consumer, and deliver your message in a way that you, as a consumer, would be most receptive.

Good luck!

I’m pretty sure Steve would mind if I went in for the Hug and Kiss on Kris. I’d have to distract him first. “Hey Steve, look over there. It’s a fully qualified and motivated buyer!”

Great blog keep it up

I tried the expired route for a bit, and even had a little success, but I just don’t like the ‘blood in the water’ feeling I get from these types of approaches.

I let a listing expire the other day because I am changing brokerages and the seller wants to re-list with me at the new place. His quote was - “I haven’t had room in my mailbox for anything else for three days!” I kinda felt bad. I warned him, but it was inevitable and the barrage of crap he received surprised even me! One more reason why some don’t hold our profession in the highest regard.