With innovative lead-generating technology coming out every year, real estate marketing is trending more toward the digital realm than traditional methods like cold calling. Many real estate agents would be happy to see cold calling become obsolete, considering how tedious it can be to call strangers and face seemingly endless rejections. So, does cold calling work in real estate, or is it a waste of time?
The answer depends on the effectiveness of your cold calling strategy, including your script and how you prospect leads. Agents who perfect cold calls will have a significant advantage over those who ignore the approach entirely.
To help you get more leads, our team at Local Leader® developed a cold calling script that real estate agents can use to improve their strategy.
How Does Cold Calling Help Real Estate Agents?
Like any marketing initiative, the goal of cold calling is to find leads. As a real estate agent, you might be looking to win listings or find buyers for properties. While cold calling typically has a negative connotation, consistently reaching out to prospects can help you form relationships with leads you might never have found otherwise.
A study on real estate cold calling found that it takes around 208 calls to get an appointment. While that is a low success rate when you take it at face value, you should consider the actual return on investment (ROI) with those numbers. If you make 208 calls in one week over 12 hours and only convert one lead for a commission of $4,000, that’s around $330 per hour you spent calling.
Is Cold Calling Worth the Time and Effort?
We’ve established it’s possible to get a decent ROI with cold calling, but what other benefits do real estate agents get from this traditional marketing method? The following are a few of the advantages you can enjoy with an effective cold calling strategy:
- Generate leads without an established network. This benefit is particularly helpful for agents just getting started in the real estate industry, providing a way to find clients without needing connections.
- Spend less on marketing—another advantage for new agents who don’t have the resources for more sophisticated marketing techniques.
- Reach a wider audience. Cold calling is a simple, inexpensive way to reach your target audience without limiting your options to the people you know.
- Get feedback from prospects. You’ll instantly receive feedback on your marketing skills through cold calls, allowing you to tweak your strategies to find what works.
How To Succeed When Cold Calling
Almost all real estate professionals dread making cold calls, but with practice and determination, you can make the process less stressful and more fulfilling. You’re a real estate agent, so you’re more than likely a people person. Since cold calling aims to form connections with people rather than making sales over the phone, you can put your social skills to use.
Successful cold calls require plenty of preparation to help you confidently talk to your prospects and respond to their objections. If you sound upbeat and assured on the phone, you’re much more likely to pique your prospect’s interest.
The following are a few tips you can follow to get better cold calling results:
Improve Your Prospecting Techniques
Before you can start calling, you’ll need to build a list of prospects. You can find potential leads in several ways, including:
- Expired listings
- For Sale by Owners (FSBOs)
- Geographic farming
- Lead generation software
Expired listings are one of the easiest sources for prospects since they’ve already demonstrated their desire to sell their property. The prospect has likely already worked with a real estate agent, so you’ll need a solid pitch to persuade them to meet with you.
Prospecting is one area of cold calling where you can utilize the latest technology for generating leads. Instead of spending hours going through property records, you can get a long list of prospects in seconds.
Create a Solid Script
It might seem like having a script would make you sound too robotic, but that’s only if you mechanically read it line by line during the call. The true purpose of a script is to help you prepare before the call. You should practice reading through it until you can talk through the stages effortlessly.
The key points of a cold calling script include the following:
- Introduction: Keep it short and direct, use your prospect’s name, and ask permission to continue the conversation. Giving them the option of whether to continue or not sets a polite and friendly tone.
- Pitch: If they give you the go-ahead, it’s time to give your pitch. This part should be well-rehearsed but sound natural, and it should reveal your purpose for calling. The goal is to capture the interest of your prospects.
- Objections: When prospects object, you should respond with empathy and ask questions to understand their reasoning. Instead of convincing them of your expertise, offer them solutions.
- Closing: When confirming an appointment with a prospect, provide clear details, such as the date, time, and location of the meeting. It’s best to have an appointment time in mind before calling.
- Reaffirmation: Before you end the call, reaffirm that the prospect made a great decision by agreeing to meet with you.
Focus On Getting the Appointment
Sales talk can turn people away instantly, so it’s important to tone down promoting your services and expertise. Remember that your goal is to schedule a meeting with your prospects, and the best way to get a potential lead interested is to pitch solutions to their problems.
To accomplish this, you’ll need to know as much as possible about your prospects, either through prior research or by asking questions during the call.
Learn How To Get More Qualified Leads
At Local Leader®, we offer detailed answers to questions like “Does cold calling work in real estate?” and provide free online guides and resources to help real estate professionals grow their businesses. If you’re looking for more ways to improve your cold calling, check out our guide to writing a cold calling script. Subscribe to our newsletter today!