Want to find more prospects, but can’t find leads? Then, stop cold calling and start interview prospecting in your neighbourhood!
Finding new home buyers and sellers in your neighbourhood is an on-going task, but it should be your first priority every day. Yes, prospecting for new business is difficult in any industry, but you can be 100 per cent more effective by mastering the art of interview prospecting.
What Is The Prospect Interview?
Interviewing business owners in your neighbourhood opens the door to potential leads while offering immediate value to your prospects. The purpose of the interview is to produce a feature article that can be hosted on your website, shared, and promoted through social media.
The interview provides you with an opportunity to learn about your prospect, candidly probe for their needs, and generate word of mouth that will drive more leads your way.
By showing an interest in local business owners and providing them with a tool for generating more online exposure, you become a champion of your community, as well as a helpful resource for the community. Your articles can be shared multiple times by anyone looking for relevant, local information about a neighbourhood business. Search engines will index your articles because of their relevance to local searches.
Online ads aren’t cutting it anymore…
Let’s face it: online advertising is increasingly becoming more challenging for small business owners, including realtors. Online Services like Spotify, Netflix, and YouTube offer consumers ad-free, customized online experiences, and a wide range of options for their entertainment.
Anti-spam legislation has also made it more difficult to prospect new business by email, while recent updates to Google’s algorithm, reward websites that make limited use of display advertising with higher visibility in search results.
As digital technology continues to rapidly evolve, an increasing number of devices and tools are now available, making it more difficult to reach decision makers by phone. Instant messaging, email, live chat, and social networks empower users to communicate instantly and share ideas instantly across the globe, but that hasn’t made prospecting easier.
Why Do Interviewing Prospects work?
Interview prospecting removes the digital layers of communication between you and your prospects. By combining the power of interview-prospecting and social networking, the interviews you conduct will help establish you as a local leader in your neighbourhood, for much less than the cost of print, radio, or TV advertising.
Instead of awkwardly soliciting prospects and investing in merchandising to promote your brand, interviews offer prospects a free item of value in exchange for their contact information. The beauty lies in the exchange. Your interview has value and relevance for your prospect because every business owner wants more brand exposure.
Key Advantages of Interview-prospecting for Realtors
Time-Efficient: By scheduling 30 mn interviews strategically each week, you can methodically build relationships with all the local businesses in your neighbourhood, region, or territory.
Generates word of mouth: By the time you hit your third or fourth consecutive interview, don’t be surprised if local business owners start catching on and contacting you for an interview!
Customer-centric: Interviews shift the focus from you to your potential client. Your interview is perceived as an item of value that will generate more online exposure for their business. Business owners will appreciate the opportunity to share their story, and your interest in them will earn you some serious gratitude.
Non-Intrusive: Pop-up ads, in-app ads, banners, click-bait – you hate them as much as everyone else, yet thousands of business owners invest in annoying online ad campaigns. Interview-prospecting is way more personal and leaves a deeper impression on potential clients. When you send a follow-up thank you email, you won’t just be another email address in their inbox.
Informative: During your conversation, you’ll uncover valuable insights about your prospect that will make it easier for you to build a relationship. You’ll be able to target your email communications more effectively by delivering timely messages that resonate with their specific needs. If most of your prospects are new homeowners starting a family, perhaps they would benefit from information about a local child care service, or community programs for youths.
Conclusion
So don’t waste another second on cold-calling and PPC campaigns. Interview prospect as many businesses as you can! Make a schedule, and work every street in your region systematically. You can become a local leader if you’re willing to spend the time learning about the community you serve!
Over the next few weeks, expect more helpful tips, tools, and suggestions to help you kick-start your way to becoming a local leader! Now get out there and start interviewing!