How to generate business from your sphere of influence
How to use your sphere of influence to generate millions of dollars as a real estate agent.
Who belongs in your sphere?
Grab a notebook or excel spreadsheet and jot down all the names you can think of, including:
- Past coworkers
- Your friends (yes, even the high school friend you haven’t seen in 20 years)
- Your spouse’s or partner’s coworkers
- Your spouse’s or partner’s friends
- Your kids’ friends or their parents
- Your kids’ teachers and school workers
- Your extended family
- Your neighbours
- Friends and acquaintances from any social groups such as Neighborhood Association, Rotary, PTA, etc.
- Anyone you interact with regularly (even if that just means once every couple of months), hair stylist, accountant, doctor, dentist, bank teller etc.
Sort your list.
One way to ensure that the content and communication you send are always meaningful, relevant, and engaging is by segmenting your sphere of influence. You may want to segment your list in a variety of ways, including the following:
- Personal vs. Professional Contacts
- Local vs. Out-of-town Contacts
- Leads vs. Current Clients vs. Past Clients
- Close contacts vs. Acquaintances
- Online vs. IRL Friends
Focus on what you can do for your sphere – not the other way around!!!
If there’s one SOI pro tip to live by, it’s this: NEVER ASSUME
- Never assume your friends and family don’t want to hear about your real estate business
- Never assume your acquaintances already have a Realtor (85%of people don’t even know how to contact their Realtor)
- Never assume a member of your sphere won’t refer you business
Just never, ever assume. It could literally lose you millions.
How to Introduce Yourself on Social as a New Agent
The first thing we’ll tackle is, “Does everybody know you’re an agent now?”
First:
Share a professional headshot OR professional-looking photo branded to you as an agent with a compelling message – talk about WHY you got into real estate, how you’re passionate about helping people, the education and training you’re focused on, and/or why you aligned yourself with the team/brokerage.
Second:
Start Posting about Real Estate Content
Consistency is the key to all real estate marketing. You might not have tons of experience helping people buy/sell, but you do have experience living in your city.
- Homes
- Real Estate Tips
- Personal Branding
- Community & Lifestyle
How to use Facebook Messenger to get Contacts
Send a quick message sharing a recent win, funny story, or revelation about the market. Try to do this for each and every person on your list. And remember, you are NOT selling.
If it helps you to have a framework when you C-A-L-L someone in your sphere:
- Check-in: Show you care with a genuine interest in their life.
- Ask: frankly ask, “How can I be of support to you?”
- Listen: Their answer might not be related to real estate, but it will help them know you’re there (and ready to help when real estate needs arise).
- List: When they ask how things are going for you, start by listing the positive things you’re experiencing in real estate before discussing other areas of your life.
Following these steps will help show you care while also subtly establishing you as a trusted real estate professional that your connections can count on.
Simple Messenger Script
- Agent: “Hi George, it’s been too long. What’s new in your life?”
- SOI: “ Hey Matt, great to hear from you. [Highlights what’s new in their life]. What’s new with you?”
- Agent: “I’ve recently started in real estate with EXP REALTY/The Move Faster Team and loving it! It’s such a fulfilling career and I’m loving helping buyers and sellers.
- Continue the conversation with genuine curiosity and interest.
- CTA: If you ever need anything on the real estate front, don’t hesitate to reach out”
Shame on me Script:
“Hey George, I was thinking about you, and shame on me for not reaching out earlier. But, I thought, no better time than right now. I just want to check in with you and see how you’re doing.”
Ask to add them to an email list Script:
Hey George!
How are you?! You’re someone I always think of whenever I see amazing landscaping, the house I showed yesterday had a jaw-dropping garden! (It’s just around the corner from you in Cameron Heights.) I’m kicking off an email newsletter with home and garden how-to’s (and maybe a few insider tips on the market) and I’d love to get an expert like you on my list.
Can I go ahead and include you?
or
Hey George, I’m new in real estate and putting together a list of fantastic contacts. Would it be alright if I grabbed your address/phone number/email so I can stay in touch with you?”
or
Hey George, I’m new in real estate and putting together a list of fantastic contacts. I’m creating a monthly newsletter with insider information on the local real estate market, would that be something that would be of value to you? I can add you to our VIP list. Don’t worry we won’t spam you, this is just valuable information that truly interests our our clients.
Ask for a referral Script:
Hi George, I hope all is well! Looking forward to catching up with you soon!
Because we worked together, if anyone comes up in your network that may need real estate advice, I’m always happy to help. We work almost exclusively on referrals, so we always make a point of asking our great clients if they know anyone.
No need to respond – we are just huge on referrals so if anyone comes up, we are always happy to help.
Chat soon!
or
Hey, would you do me a favour, George? If you know anyone who’s thinking of moving any time soon, would you just keep us in mind? The bulk of our business comes from referrals so we’d really appreciate it if you’d keep us in mind.
Ask for a review Script
Hi George, it’s Matt. It was great working with you and helping you find the right home. Would you write a 5-star review I can share with prospective buyers and sellers?
How to Nurture Your SOI
If the thought of nurturing every contact in your SOI from your 3rd grade teacher to your great grandma gives you anxiety, never fear. It won’t be like that for long.
Once everyone in your SOI knows you sell real estate, you’ll start seeing the referrals coming in. And once you start seeing where the bulk of the referral business is coming from, you can prioritize the members of your SOI who are the best at sending you business, and set these contacts up on a priority list.
40 Contact Plan | That’s 40 contacts per year by any medium
Cultivate the relationships:
- Client Appreciation Events
- Monthly Newsletters
- Quarterly Call to EVERYONE
- Participate in Community Events
- Give Personalized and Thoughtful Gifts or Cards.
- Share Content on Social Media
- Face-to-Face Meetings
- Email Drip Campaign Full of Value
- Facebook Messenger
- Send Links to Your Website | https://movefaster.ca/thinking-about-selling/
What do I say?
This is where you can start.
One of the best ways to discover topics of conversation with these people is to follow the HEFE Model
- H: Hobbies – What hobbies or interests do they have?
- E: Entertainment – What are they doing/watching for entertainment?
- F: Food – What restaurants or food are they enjoying?
- E: Environment – What’s around them, such as locations, their house, or work?
Another common strategy is the FORD Model
- F: Family – What’s new with their family?
- O: Occupation – What’s happening in their work life?
- R: Recreation – What are they doing for fun?
- D: Dreams – What upcoming plans do they have?
So, we need a way to stimulate the conversation about real estate. Luckily we have a hack for this. All you have to do is use one of these three opportunities to bring up real estate.
- Ask them how work is going: They will naturally want to ask about your work.
- When they ask “How are you?” respond with something real estate related.
- Ask them if they’ve been following the real estate market lately
Remember, you are not selling. You are cultivating relationships for future business. Trust the process, don’t chase commission cheques.
