Ep. 223: Alan Thompson on Building a Sustainable Real Estate Business

Selling the Dream: A Podcast for Resort & 2nd Home Real Estate Agents

What if you never got another lead again?

What would that do to your business? How would your business change without cold prospecting?

Would your warm market be able to sustain you? More than that, can you imagine experiencing an upward trajectory in your business, when only working with your warm market?

Most of us spend time capturing leads, building systems to manage the prospects that come to us. We don’t know how serious they are about buying (yet), so we’ve got our work cut out for us.

What if there was a different way, in which leads came to us, ready to buy? That already know, like, and trust us, and are ready to buy a home?

Alan and Betsy Thompson took a break from real estate, and when they decided to come back, they revamped their approach and strategy. Instead of chasing leads, they decided to focus their efforts on developing relationships.

That strategy has paid off, as their business has grown exponentially.

This week on the podcast, I’m talking to Alan. I’ve asked him to share his story, and the strategies that he used to build a thriving business working with their warm market. Instead of chasing leads and cold-calling people, they’re able to build relationships that have created not just a sustainable business, but one that continues to grow year after year.

Highlights of this episode:

• Tom introduces Alan and how he got into the real estate business.

• After 6 years in the business, Alan decided that he wanted a break, and took several years off.

• When he came back to Chesapeake, he and Betsy decided to get back into real estate, and have been working it for 20+ years!

• Alan and Betsy operate with a very small staff.

• Ad spend goes down a LOT when focusing on relationships, and you still get results!

• In the first half of 2019, they closed on more deals than they did in all 2018.

• Key: build your database, and KNOW it! Know birthdays, favorite sports teams, pets! When you have this data, you can make sure that you are memorable. Did a person’s favorite sports team win? Send them an email and say “hey, I bet you’re really happy today!” Take treats for their pets when you visit!

• “We don’t call them clients, we call them relationships.”

• Alan and Betsy have approximately 1100 relationships in their database.

• Every person in their database is sorted by relationship: some people are more likely to give referrals than others.

• Use social media, but with a personal touch. Did Facebook tell you it was someone’s birthday? Send them a card in the mail!

• They can track more than $250,000 in commissions just from Facebook - and they’ve never spent a dime on ads!

• Know your community - are you in a military community? Take people flags for Memorial Day, the 4th of July, and Veteran’s Day.

• Do local events: have a barbeque, give away pies on Thanksgiving. Do activities that connect you with your community, and be visible! Greet people and get to know them. Socialize the whole time.

• Give away door prizes at your events, and use it to get their contact info. You can ask people if they would like an estimation on the value of their house, or if they know someone who would be interested in buying or selling real estate.

• We work with people who know, like, and trust us. They see us around town living life, not dressed in a fancy suit and tie.

• The more you invest in relationships, the more your true social network grows.

• Alan and Betsy clean through their database at least twice a year, ensure that people are classified correctly, and update any information.

• Don’t take it personally when people you have relationship don’t buy or sell with you. You don’t know what other people they are connected to, and if there was social pressure to use another realtor, like maybe their sibling, or the wife of their boss.

• If Alan could start over now, he would START his business, focused on building relationships, instead of focusing on just completing transactions.

Hey everybody, thank you so much for spending time with us today: would you do me a giant favor and share this podcast with fellow realtors, and leave a review. Your reviews help this podcast get shared with more people.

Connect with Alan and Betsy:

• Lucky Homes website

Connect with me (Tom):

• 2nd Home Agents website

• Facebook

• Instagram

• YouTube

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As always, thanks for listening. Don’t forget, you’re not selling a home: you’re selling the dream.

See you next time!