Cold-calling may be a good way to get a listing, but it isn’t the only way. Yet that is the belief of many real estate agents, who also believe that cold-calling is personal contact, according to LeadsandLeverage.com founder Christina Ethridge.

In response to a member of a real estate Facebook group who said, “It takes about 300 calls per day to get a listing, but if you don’t do that you get no listings. In any case, personal contact always is the best way to go,” Ethridge adamantly disagreed.

“I just have to shake my head when real estate agents start spouting this nonsense,” Ethridge wrote in an article for Inman.com. “The irony in this is that they think cold-calling is personal contact and that it builds know, like, and trust relationships.”

Not so, according to Ethridge. Instead, real estate agents must get out of the mindset that personal relationships only take place face-to-face or over the phone, she noted. In addition, Ethridge advised readers to rethink what personal contact is and use it to build their real estate businesses. Here are a few platforms she suggested using to build know, like, and trust relationships:

Email — Have a conversation with the prospects on your list. Using email marketing software to schedule them is fine, as long as the conversations are genuine and unique to you. These conversations should take place at least once a week, twice a week is better.

Blog posts — These work great to build know, like, and trust relationships, according to Ethridge. However, to ensure prospects hear the real you, she suggested avoiding posting ghost-written or regurgitated pieces. Also, don’t get too caught up in the analytics. “We focus on keywords and SEO traffic, and that’s it. Flip that around and focus solely on solving the problems and giving value to your prospects,” she wrote.

Video — Simply live streaming of open houses is not going to help you build relationships. Instead, use the platform to help showcase your talent for solving problems for your prospects. “When you start showing your expertise, you become the expert,” Ethridge wrote. “And most importantly, you become trusted, approachable, and relied upon.”

Repurpose — Ethridge offered this example for repurposing using all three platforms:
1. Create a live stream video that offers some form of help for your prospects.
2. Run that live stream replay as a Facebook ad to your page fans.
3. Get the live stream transcribed, edit the transcription, and use it as a written blog post.
4. Share the topic with your list via email, driving them to your blog post. “Offer a ‘content upgrade’ that allows them to download a checklist, template, or something that congruent with what you just helped them with,” Ethridge suggested.
5. Next, run another Facebook to everyone who viewed your blog post and share the live stream with them so they can get additional information on the topic through a different medium.
6. Last, run Facebook ads to cold, highly targeted prospects driving them to the blog post where everything is repeated. “…in essence, while you are creating the content, you are simultaneously leveraging the content,” Ethridge wrote.

Source: “Want to scale your real estate business? Stop making phone calls,” Inman.com (Jul. 13, 2016)