As a real estate professional, sometimes you get lucky with a very responsive prospect, and other times, you have to do a little probing and a lot of chasing—which can often make you lose focus. Fortunately, there are some prospecting strategies that are incredibly powerful, and bring plenty more value than saying, “just calling to touch base.” Use the following tips to keep your prospects consistently moving forward within the buying cycle:

1. Know Your Prospect

Understanding your prospect is one component that is often overlooked. In order to captivate their attention with your pitch, you need to know some information about them. In fact, you should never call a new prospect without doing your research first; you can’t establish trust when they think you don’t care. For example, calling a brand-new homeowner to ask them if they’re ready to sell instantly shows that you didn’t do your homework.

Determine factors such as age group and preferred method for receiving information, whether Internet, direct mail or other. Figure out their personality type, goals and desires, and know what is important to them so you can show how they’ll benefit from your services.

2. Use Real Estate Contact Management Software

What is worse than calling a brand-new homeowner and asking if they’d like to sell their house? Doing it more than once. If you are constantly writing prospects’ information on sticky notes or whatever scrap paper you can find, you will lose or forget leads.

Start by recording the following information whenever you reach out to a prospect:

• Full name
• Home address
• Email address
• Phone number

Then, take advantage of a real estate contact management software system to organize your leads, track effort and contact made, and spend your time more effectively.

3. Focus on Quality and Not Quantity

Real estate prospecting has a lot more to do with quality than quantity. In other words, the effectiveness of your strategies depends on what you’re doing and with whom, as opposed to how many times you’re doing it. Focus your efforts on qualified prospects and consistency to use your time efficiently.

4. Share Success Stories

Share stories about how you’ve helped other customers to highlight your expertise and passion for real estate. Consider creating a section on your website for clients to share their experiences with others, and use the best to share across your social media accounts to engage prospects.

5. Encourage Customer Testimonials

Word of mouth is an excellent way to generate more leads and engage prospects. When your clients send you letters of praise or emails, ask for permission to use it within your marketing or to share on your social media accounts. Doing so allows you to provide a targeted testimonial when you run into a prospect that has similar needs.

6. Be a Resource

Some of the best prospect strategies are often overlooked, and this is one of them. Subscribe to newsletters and industry publications to stay current with the latest news and information. When you find an article that pertains to a specific prospect’s situation, send them a copy. Then, follow up with a call. This shows your prospect that their needs, concerns, and desires are of priority, which creates customer loyalty.

Effective prospecting strategies can make or break your business. Implement these strategies and invest your time more efficiently, while generating more leads.