There are hundreds of types of businesses who want to sell to real estate agents. Some of them are GREAT and really would provide a value and some are just trying to pick “low hanging fruit”. Your success with converting this coveted profession will probably depend on your motivation and how much value you can provide them!
How I Know
Just to give you a little back story, I talk with real estate agents on a daily basis because of my real estate blog posts and newsletter. Two of my three besties are real estate agents and I myself had a real estate license in Florida from about 2007-2019!
My website ranks really highly for Real Estate Marketing since I have talked about that topic for years and provide great information about how they can grow and build their businesses. I have written three books for real estate agents and have courses and training for them too.
All that said, I do not feel entitled to have real estate agents use my services. Just like the old saying, you can only lead a horse to water, you can't make it drink. It would probably help to remember that as you go through this post!
Who Wants To Work With Real Estate Agents
Let's start by getting this out of the way. Since you are reading this you are probably in a profession wants to sell to Real Estate Agents on some level. So are about a million other people like:
- Home Stagers
- Mortgage Bankers
- Remodelers
- Website Designers
- Social Media “Experts”
- SEO Providers
- Database Companies
- Insurance Agents
- House Painters
- Plumbers
- Electricians
- Title COmpanies
- Home Inspectors
- Carpet Cleaners
- Landscapers
- Coaches
- Authors
Why Does Everyone Want To Sell To Real Estate Agents?
- Because they are a homogenous group with an association
- There is a centralized governing body so lists can be bought and advertising done
- They “make big commissions” so they can afford to spend loads of money (that is sarcasm)
- It is easy to find them, they have to advertise!
- There are lots of new agents coming into the profession daily
Why They Don't Want To Work With You
The main reason that Real Estate Agents ignore 99% of the marketing pitches that come their way is that there is just a flood of “buy my stuff, buy my stuff” coming at them. I have not been an active agent for almost 7 years and still get 3-4 calls a week from someone trying to sell me something.
Active agents are getting A LOT of calls, emails and pitches every day.
If you are approaching them directly with just a sales pitch, you may make some sales, but you are going to miss a lot more.
And those “big commissions”… Real Estate Agents work harder for no money than any other group of people I have met. If they spend days, weeks or months working on a deal and it falls through, they get 0% commission. If a buyer changes their mind or decides to buy new construction or a FSBO without them, oftentimes there is no pay for that either.
I actually left the profession because I was not cut out for the high-highs and low-lows that come with real estate sales. For every period of “feast” there is a comparable period of “famine”. Stop looking at them with dollar signs in your eyes and start treating them like the hard working professionals they are.
How To Get Them To WANT To Work With You!
There are lots of ways to attract the attention of Real Estate Agents that don't involve shoving your product or service down their throat. Fair warning, these do take more work than “dialing for dollars” or just sending out an eflyer to the local MLS database, but I promise they work! They are listed in order from the most passive and least expensive to actual marketing campaigns and strategies.
- Pinterest Boards – set up Pinterest boards that have content they can repin and share on their boards.
- Blog Posts – write blog posts that help them or provide information they can use on their blogs.
- Newsletter Content – hire a writer to do a monthly article that agents can send out in their newsletters.
- Lead Generate For Them – you can provide signs and call prospects, co-produce postcards and help pay for mailings.
- Open Houses – Real Estate Agents sit alone in vacant buildings, go visit them.
- Sponsor Brokers Open Houses – help with the planning and implementation of their brokers opens (bonus points if it is a progressive).
- Speak At Their Team Meeting – this gets you access to the agents in one office, great for building relationships.
- Sponsor A Speaker – agents from lots of offices might attend and you can get a mix of different agencies.
- Help Them Farm – this is more than passively sending postcards…get out there and door knock with them, set up yard sales, AND co-brand mailings.
Selling To Realtors Wrapup
Please, please, please stop thinking that you have a magical product that all real estate agents will love. They hear about these every day and mostly you are noise in the background.
First you have to help them and then they might listen or be willing to try your product!
Additional Resource: Selling to Real Estate Agents Part 2
Please note: I can give you a great reference to a consultant who can brainstorm marketing ideas for your product with you. Shoot me an email at [email protected] and I will give you her contact info. She does charge for her time.