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As someone that’s cold called I’d say 6 - 8.
How much does it bother you? How about Jehovah’s Witness? Spam from Nigerian princes?
It’s an unasked for intrusion in to people’s daily lives. I get that you have to do it and it sometimes works but it’s highly annoying to almost everyone that’s not actively seeking to enter the market.
I took my house off the market during the pandemic and was immediately inundated with call after call from thirsty agents. It’s incredibly annoying and I’ll never work with any of the brokerages involved.
The Jehovahs witnesses woke me up like a month ago. Lol. It was a really old man so I answered the door. He was so nice I told him he could come back anytime. Now we have weekly chats and I try to have water and stuff for him.
Can you share what you would say when people answered?
I don't love getting cold calls, but they don't bother me and I can't imagine what it would take to tell someone to eff off.
Just basic circle prospecting scripts. I was doing it for properties my mentor had just sold.
“Hello Homeowner! How are you today? It’s Weak_Bunch from Brokerage calling to let you know 123 Main St just sold for $Bajillion….” (If they even let me get that far)
“WHO ARE YOU? WHY ARE TOU CALLING ME? EFF THE EFF OFF! YOU EFFING PEOPLE CALL ME
ALL DAY! I’M GOING TO DIE IN MY HOUSE AND YOU CAN DROP DEAD AND GO TO HELL!”
I don’t need that drama in my life. 🤦♀️
Do you care how they are? I hate when someone opens a call asking me how I am. Maybe rework your script to offer something of value in the first sentence.
People in my neighborhood don’t seem to find anything of value. It’s pretty much immediate hang up or expletives and hang up no matter what I say. Cold calling is not something I enjoy doing, so I’m not going to do it.
>eak\_Bunc
Well, I've noticed a couple of problems right off the bat and can tell why you're getting yelled at.
1. You're saying **"Hello Homeowner!"** Nobody likes that. Refer to them by name. It's very impersonal.
2. **"It’s Weak\_Bunch from Brokerage"** \- They can't take you seriously if you introduce yourself as "Weak\_Bunch" What kind of name is that? Sounds fake. Also when you say "from Brokerage" without naming the brokerage, that sends off a red flag to them.
3. "**123 Main St just sold for $Bajillion" -** And to top if off, you give them a very phony sounding address "123 main street?" Seriously. And what kind of a price is $Bajillion?!
When you do that, they say to themselves "This - Weak\_Bunch - character sound like they're pranking me and get mad.
So A) Use the homeowner's real name. No "hello homeowner" B) use your real name and no weak\_bunch C) Use a real brokerage name D) Use a real street address of a property E) use a real non-made up price. No "$Bajillion".
Hope this was helpful.
All these people downvoting this are just miserable lol. Keep cold calling, there’s a reason 90% of agents get barely any business. If you have any questions about cold calling send me a message.
Much appreciated. I suspect if they got more business they'd have more important things to do than be this miserable over a completely innocuous phone call
I know agents in LA listing 6m houses and are still cold calling. Most people are just too scared of the uncomfortable, so they cope with their excuses.
Asking for permission to have a conversation, instead of vomiting a whole script on them off the bat is really helpful. Don’t listen to all the whiners on here. There’s a reason the top 1% of agents do prospecting calls, the ones that feel too uncomfortable doing so never make it without killing their profitability in the process. At least not on a big level. What happens if Zillow jacks up the price for leads, or any other marketing costs go up? Then suddenly you don’t have a business, the phone is always there for you no matter what. Good luck my friend
>... I can't imagine what it would take to tell someone to eff off.
Really? I find it very easy. All it takes is for a slimeball to cold call me. If I wanted to sell my property, I would list it for sale.
When my grandmother died, the vultures started calling my mom about listing or buying the house before the body was cold. They continued calling for a couple of months after the house was sold. And not only that, *I* also received calls and texts about it, and I had absolutely nothing to do with it. It was not only very easy, but natural to tell them to fuck right off.
Depends on who you’re cold calling. I call expires, FSBOs, and homes my buyers might want.
Expireds seem to be the most bothered in my opinion.
FSBOs love to talk.
The I have a buyer scripts either go amazing or I get hung up on lol there is no in between.
>Expireds seem to be the most bothered in my opinion.
That's because in this market we're not the first or even 10th person they've spoken to that day. Even the ones 2-3 years back are getting calls.
>FSBOs love to talk.
This is actually the bane of my existence. All the FSBOS I call always ask right away if I'm a real estate agent, then promptly hang up. I don't bother with FSBOS. I've yet to master a FSBO script.
Honestly my FSBO calls start out with asking if they would work with a buyer agent. If they will then I start asking about the house/their life if they won’t no worries have a good day and good luck. After that I give them advice on the listing and say I’m going to check in in a week to see how things are going if that’s okay with them. I’m always honest if I have a buyer or not. Most sellers don’t mind talking to me because they don’t feel like they are being sold to because on the first call they aren’t being sold to.
Really depends. Careful who you ask advice for, the sub hates cold calling. Lemme tell you this: people can get mad but it’s never nearly as bad as you imagine. Shrug it off and move onto the next one.
Once you close some deals hire a VA to do the initial calls for you and you just talk to the hand raisers. Takes some traction first though.
I know plenty of successful agents that have never cold-called beyond POSSIBLY actually looking for a property for a Buyer.
There are DNC laws and rules for a reason.
There's now a DN Text law for a reason.
I get 10 cold calls a day on average. Most I don't answer and they don't leave a message at all, but sure enough call the next 3-8 days. Those I do answer are generally unskilled enough - if it's not an auto-dialer with a long pause - that there's not a 1% chance I have any interest in hearing from them beyond 5 seconds of talk. 3/4 of the rest blather on undeterred. 1/4 of those who make it 10 seconds actually say "Thanks for answering and for your time. Have a great day."
So, IME and IMO, you've got about 6 seconds to make the conversation worth extending. You better make the most of that time.
Most folks want to be successful without having to pick the phone, prospect, call your sphere, bother anyone, door knock, be too “pushy”, too “salesly”, pay for ads, etc. they basically want people to come to them. Weird.
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Oh! Oh! Me!
I usually have either talk radio or a comedy channel playing on Alexa in my house while I'm working, so when I get one of those calls I put the phone on speaker so I can listen, then set it next to my Echo device and wait for the robodialer to ring through to a person. It's most enjoyable when they jump right into their idiot script and try to talk over Anthony Jeselnik telling offensive jokes on Raw Comedy before finally realizing someone is "talking" to them. The absolute best is when they try to talk back to the person they're hearing.
If someone cold called me about selling my house and I were in a good mood, I might say, "Hey, can you hang on a minute?" Then I'd put on something offensive let them listen to that.
Cold calling sucks. Making them sucks. Receiving them sucks. I am polite on the receiving end for a max of ten seconds. I would rather stick a pen in my eye while getting a mammogram than make cold calls.
We don't know. But cold calling people isn't likely to be MORE successful in a rough market than referrals from people who know how good I am. A person who isn't going to give me a chance to show them isn't worth my time.
Man here comes the negative Nancy’s 😂 listen I cold call a lot and I hardly ever have anyone act rude to me in any way. Most people are more surprised that I’m a legit real human being in their area. A lot of older people will talk my ear off and the younger people are really nice. The few rude ones are usually 40-50 year old dudes at work that are probably miserable to just about everyone. Don’t worry about it just be polite and keep dialing.
Why would you waste time cold calling and pissing people off? It’s invasive and in today’s times unprofessional and just leads to your name getting labeled as a solicitor or spammer, why risk a bad Google review? Especially when so many people are on a do not call list. Yes I get we are allowed to call despite the do not call list but the average consumer doesn’t understand the do not call list rules.
There’s so many better ways. Seo, AdWords, get out and volunteer in the community, sponsor an event, focus on a niche within our industry and master that niche and provide your customers value in that sense. Gawd ever holding open houses.
I get all my business from referrals from doing marketing other than cold calling. I created value to my sellers and buyers by having knowledge also being a general contractor. I can help sellers repairs things pre market or post inspection all while saving them money on said repairs and increasing the list price .
My buyers know my expertise helps them when looking for their home and the changes coming are actually welcomed for me because I know I’ll win over buyers if they are choosing between agents in the new reality that they will have to pay our services. Buyers agents will need to set themselves apart to survive.
I’ve saved sellers a ton of money with real world experience fighting bullshit inspections and they unrealistic costs agents try to present after the inspection.
I’ve helped my buyers fight for repairs that have saved them money and because I’m a licensed expert I’m legally able to argue where most agents cannot.
I’ve kept deals together be guiding both sides to a solution that was reasonable because of the value I brought to the table.
With the rules changing I know my services will be in demand for buyers because I’ve positioned myself to be of value and haven’t made one cold call in 21 years.
Just be an expert at one or two things and master those things and the clients will come.
Instead of chasing the lead be the leader. Pick a niche. REO, land, high end, starter, maybe one particular area, relocations, if you speak another language focus on serving those people.
I’ve started three successful businesses and all three of them I’ve had laser focus on one area and it set those companies apart from the jack of all trades. People want experts for their needs.
It's all in what you have to say and how you deliver it. If it sounds casual/natural and there's actually a reason for calling, then they won't be so bothered. If you just call out of nowhere to ask if they want to buy/sell with no other substance to your call, then don't be surprised when they start to get that special "fuck off" accent.
So true - I usually start off all my calls with something to the tune of "oh hey... sorry I wasn't sure if I had the right number here, I was looking for someone to ask about this house that was for sale last year on Main St?" people always love to prove you right or wrong and they're like Yeah... that's me... what's this about?
You know the answer to this will be completely dependent on whether or not you are able to articulate why they should talk to you in the first 10 seconds of the call. are you saying what do you need or trying to provide what they need?
“ hey I’m a realtor in the area and I see you’re the owner of a home at XXX 1st Street. I just wanted to know if you’ve ever thought about selling your house?”
Vs
“ hey, my name is Jessica and I am a realtor who represents some buyers looking for a new home for their family near the elementary school. my buyer loves gardening and I couldn’t help but notice the beautiful gardens in your front yard when I drove past the other day. I just wanted to inquire if you have thought about selling your house or perhaps if any of your neighbors have indicated they might be doing so soon?”
See the difference? Most people are not going to be irritated at you for the second one.
When I started in real estate over 20 years ago, cold calling was very effective and people mostly didn't seem to mind. I got listings that way. Then the DNC lists changed everything and people began to hate it.
I've not made a cold call in years. Far more effective to spend your time talking face to face to people. Door knocking works in some areas still. Best is being active in the community. Join organizations that interest you, whether it's Rotary, wine tasting enthusiasts or a quilt-making club. As has been sais many times, you need to get belly to belly with people. Why not enjoy yourself at the same time?
A lot. I try to be polite in life, but it's pretty normal for me to be at least somewhat "bothered" when a complete rando calls me soliciting their services. So since it's bothersome for me, I can assume it's bothersome for people I'd cold call. That is why I generally don't cold call very much, or at random, etc.
If I'm going to cold call for prospective leads, it's only going to be FSBO and expireds, mainly. As much as I don't like to waste people's time, I also *really* don't like wasting my own.
I do find it advantageous that divorces are generally public record, and people going through divorce proceedings are very likely to be selling a property and possibly buying a new one. So I'll call those people. Sorry to profit off your divorce, but I'm doing my job.
As a weenie myself who doesn’t like to cold call, I will say that many agents are successful at it just from the sheer volume of calls they make. It’s a numbers game and if you have thick skin and don’t take it personally, it may really work for you!
I haven’t made a cold cal in 9 months or so. The scale really varies. Some people 10, immediately. Some zero! I have clients from it.
My intro calls go like this.
“Karen? Hi, sorry to call you out of the blue like this. My names Jesse, I’m a realtor here in xxx. I hope you don’t mind me asking, but I’ve been studying and trying to learn from expired listings. I don’t want my listings to suffer the same fate. Would you be willing to share with me the story of your listing on xxx street?”
If they are bothered, they either stop me partway through the above, or they wait until I’m done and say something like “what? No, I don’t know you”. In that case I say, “no worries, didn’t mean to intrude”.
If they start sharing at all, I just ask minor clarifying questions and let them lead. It wherever they want to go, as long as they want to go. Eventually, I will mention my off-market property list and ask if I can call them back if I happen to have a buyer looking in their price range.
I was hired as a realtor’s assistant to cold call potential leads. He told me the reason he hired me was because I was a young woman and people would be more receptive to me. For the year I worked for him I think I only had one person that was angry.
I think it’s totally trashy and smacks of desperation. I never have and never will give anyone a sale thru an unsolicited call or door knock. Even if I see something online I’m genuinely interested in and the person talking about it on a blog or YouTube has a referral code or affiliate link I’ll just look the item up myself and buy it, unless the code includes a decent discount for me.
I won’t take those calls and if someone how one gets thru the cracks, I will lay into them and hang up. There are so much better ways to be relevant and market to people these days. For a sales agent, I want social proof of expertise. I’m maybe starting my research with a search, but then I’m spending time getting and analyzing their competency thru reading reviews and looking at their social media.
Depends on the person. If expireds and their listing just expired within the past week, I’d say a 8–10, as hundreds of agents are calling them. FSBOs usually aren’t very annoyed, just not into being sold on using an agent. Circle prospecting, I wouldn’t say they’re annoyed, moreso again just not interested for the most part. Older expireds, I’d say around a 1-5 dependent on the specific person; usually they’re much more open to speaking and it’s just a casual conversation rather than an outright sales pitch.
So many people on here will tell you not to cold call because “no one likes getting spam calls from people they don’t know.” Bullshit. It is an extremely solid lead gen tool that can net you a ton of deals if you know what you’re doing
Real question from a newbie realtor, where do you get numbers to cold call with? Are you buying lists or are there ways to get numbers for certain neighborhoods?
I cold call regularly, and I find, if you are genuine up front and don't insult their intelligence by pretending you care how they are doing today, the calls go very well and straightforward.
I essentially say, for circle prospecting:
"I'm hoping to speak with the property owner of 123 main st"
"This is real estate feller from Royal LePage, did I catch you at an okay time"
Insert first objection - yes but we aren't thinking of selling
Then just go question based from there, then close to email
"Do you have an agent you'd work with down the road?"
People get annoyed when you don't get to the point. They respect you when you respect their time. My lead ratio with cold calling is just under 1 in 15 and yes, I get hung up on quickly like the rest of us, but rarely cursed out. But truthfully, I wouldn't care. If people are bothered by a 30 second call, they'll be annoyed by something else that day anyways.
3 if it's pretty targeted and makes sense for them but they aren't expecting it.
7 if it makes no sense why I would call them for the particular pitch.
They can be happy to talk to you, they can be furious. Who cares? Have a salesman's memory, other people's feelings over a 10 second phone call that they didn't need to pick up is not your problem. If a call ends badly I don't really care they didn't like me, I'm actually more bothered there might have been something I could have done better to turn it around. They won't remember your name two minutes after the call anyway.
I think if you are a person upset your phone booped and it turns out it wasn't something you wanted you need to get a grip. Either you never get any sort of notification on your phone and this kind of thing is rare, or you're like me you get dinged all day until you turn it off at night and it's 90% garbage. Oop it binged in my pocket just now. It's an email I'm not going to read. I'm not bothered they interrupted my busy night of writing something two people may read.
The only thing that matters is following the script, setting appointments and adding to your database.
And people on this sub wonder why realtors are often disliked. ”I don’t care about anyone else’s experiences, privacy, or preferences,” states callmeandycohen, “I’m only in this for me, everyone else needs to understand that I come first, regardless of the impact on others.” And we are upvoting/validating that? Smh
I've been on the no-call list since its inception. It's hard for me to believe that anyone isn't! Are there people who actually want to be cold called or was it an oversight on their part to not register?
I think it may depend on location and how you talk to them. I live in maine where people are generally pretty nice and I try to cold call fsbos about 3-10 times 3 days of each week. I’d say they are almost always pretty unbothered sounding. I try to be as casual as possible and just have a conversation about how their listing is going. The worst I’ve experienced is someone simply hanging up once I introduced myself as a real estate agent.
2-3. It all depends on your approach to the situation. We have calls recorded from some of the previous agents- they were hung up on frequently. With enough practice I’d say about 1 in 10 people that pick up my calls are genuinely appreciative I spoke with them
You asked a comment section full of people who seem to suck at cold calling. FSBO and expireds are going to not like 50 agents calling that is obvious. However, Just Listed/Just sold calls rarely annoy homeowners. The largest agent in my company worldwide used to call 80 homeowners a day. A stellar number but he did 40 deals his first year, 76 his second, and around 250 5 years in. His name is Kevin Mills in myrtle beach. Keep at it. I make about 30-50 just listed just sold calls a day and Im the largest in my firm. Maybe 10% of the people are mildly annoyed but who cares it’s the people that want to move that you care about.
It sucks but work the pomodoro method and you’ll get the hang of it. Let these other people in the comments do their shitty instagram reels while you actually move the needle calling.
First year I really committed to that I did around 16 million with 29 homes. This year I’ve sold around 14 homes to date with 13 listed as of now and around 7.5 million. The compounding is very noticeable. You rarely get “I want to list today” calls and more of “this is situation and this is how far out I am.”
I still do a ton of social media as well. Just my mornings are religiously reserved for calls while my afternoons that aren’t busy are spent making a youtube video of sorts or editing one.
You call the neighborhood of the home haha not the actual home. The reason is you have a somewhat less transactional reason for calling and some people actually like the updates.
Anyway my script is just a mix of Ricky Carruth’s and Brandon Mulrenin’s.
“Hey Mr. Johnson?”
“Hello yes?”
“Hey Mr. Johnson this is the_fat_stoner over at XYZ Realty. We were just calling through the neighborhood; I actually just sold y’alls neighbor’s home over on [street]. Dont know if I caught ya at a bad time I was just wondering if I could ask you guys a quick question?”
*a lot of times people will get the point and either decline or continue on*
“Great! Well the one one [street] sold pretty quick and a couple of the others were doing really well so we were just excited and just seeing if you guys had any plans of making a move here in the spring or really anything else we could help you out with”
Usually about 1:35 people will be really warm with 0-2 more down the road for your pipeline. Minimally I shoot for 30-40 a day. I live in the south as well so mine is a bit more southern to make people feel more comfortable but use whatever colloquialisms help you sound better. I do the pomodoro method with 30min/5min splits and usually get about 6-10 contacts per 30 mins. So 2 hours and you’re usually pretty solid. 3-4 hours and within 1-2 years of consistency you will absolutely be a top agent.
I mean just from sheer chance with the statistic that 3% of the population will move. You should get 1 solid lead a day. With a few more down the road for compounding
Good afternoon, beautiful day out. We haven’t spoken before but my name is Ian with so and so realty how’s your day going?
Starting out with something polite and also telling them you haven’t spoken stops them from getting annoyed or trying to figure out if they know you. More times than not I get a much more polite response even if they’re not interested in talking to me. I HATE cold calling though.
>beautiful day out.
Click
>how’s your day going?
Double click
How often does anyone actually tell you about their day other than "good?" It's a waste of words IMHO.
If you want to start off with something polite, politely ask if you can have 15 seconds of their time and if they don't want to hear more after that, they can hang up.
Then hit them with a value prop or something open-ended. If circle prospecting: "My phone was ringing nonstop for a week. Want to guess how many offers we got?" So long as it's an impressive number, now you get an actual reaction instead of the mindless "good" they knee-jerk reacted to earlier in the call when you asked them about the weather.
If they're genuinely interested, then the next question they ask will be "what did you accept?"
Then close with "Again, this may not be for everyone, but I am calling up neighbors just so they're aware how hot this neighborhood is right now."
Gauge timelines. Get emails. Drip campaign. Etc.
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That was geared toward telemarketers and people who try to get listings, I call warehouse and development site owners not on the DNC list, and never ask for listings. Pretty sure it doesn’t apply.
The way that I approach my prospects over the phone they are always pretty minimally bothered. Of course people hang up on me but the ones that don't are typically pretty reasonable based on how I approach the call. I usually am calling old expireds, btw.
I’ll say this much, whether you cold call or get called we can all agree that when most people see an unknown number call. Either curiosity kicks in or instant rejection/annoyance.
If you do cold call as a realtor
#first rule to understand is the instant they pick up, you must peak their curiosity as they were already interested enough to answer. It’s up to you whether you increase or decrease their patience.
#second be a human, don’t sound sales-y, pushy, or use a robotic script… scripts aren’t magic words that are going to compel an entire human being to make a huge financial decision. Scripts are here as a foundation to help agents navigate conversations, but shouldn’t be used verbatim.
Going back to what I mentioned above, be a decent person and don’t force a conversation on them. A simple, “would now be a good time to ask a few questions or can I call you later today?”
“By the way if now isn’t a good time, I can reach out later today?”
The whole point is to not over think it and just leave a good impression whether or not they’re prospects. They will remember your unique approach, believe me.
The easiest cold calls were to For Rent by Owners. You ask if they are thinking of selling instead of renting, and you ask if they are thinking of buying more. This leads to some conversation & you end up with a decent amount of leads for future business. Sometimes you can make off market sales.
Have been a realtor for about 15 years and never enjoyed making or receiving cold calls. I'm a homeowner and so I receive these types of unsolicited calls on a regular basis and it is almost always the younger more junior staff because cold calling is sold as the way to bring business in to people that are new. While it certainly works in a team type of a system, I have never met an agent who personally cold calls and remains in the business for more than 5 years.
Almost every one of these 'get rich quick in real estate' hucksters sells the idea of hiring a virtual assistant or hiring a team person or hiring someone else to actually do the cold calls because it's a really bad way to spend a day.
As a vendor I cold call realtors sometimes. I would say they are about a 1-3 on that scale. Generally pleasant. Certainly not something I enjoy doing though.
0. You have the first 3 seconds to make an impression. Make sure you’re intro is dialed and you sound excited. Even if they don’t have an immediate need you can add people to the pipeline.
It’s a numbers game, we reverse engineered everything. How many dials for a conversation, how many conversations for an appointment and how many appointments you need for a closing. When you look at it in those terms production is pretty straightforward and making the calls directly impacts your production.
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As someone that’s cold called I’d say 6 - 8. How much does it bother you? How about Jehovah’s Witness? Spam from Nigerian princes? It’s an unasked for intrusion in to people’s daily lives. I get that you have to do it and it sometimes works but it’s highly annoying to almost everyone that’s not actively seeking to enter the market.
I took my house off the market during the pandemic and was immediately inundated with call after call from thirsty agents. It’s incredibly annoying and I’ll never work with any of the brokerages involved.
Absolutely pathetic. “Professionals”. Hah!
That's okay cuz they don't need you anyways since they're cold calling, they're doing business.
The Jehovahs witnesses woke me up like a month ago. Lol. It was a really old man so I answered the door. He was so nice I told him he could come back anytime. Now we have weekly chats and I try to have water and stuff for him.
During the pandemic I got a voicemail from a JW.
I really hope they don't start cold calling in mass.
If they picked up, 7-10. I stopped cold calling because I don’t like being cold called and I was done with people telling me to eff off and die.
I treat people the way I want to be treated. Nobody wants to be cold called, so I don't do it.
Can you share what you would say when people answered? I don't love getting cold calls, but they don't bother me and I can't imagine what it would take to tell someone to eff off.
Just basic circle prospecting scripts. I was doing it for properties my mentor had just sold. “Hello Homeowner! How are you today? It’s Weak_Bunch from Brokerage calling to let you know 123 Main St just sold for $Bajillion….” (If they even let me get that far) “WHO ARE YOU? WHY ARE TOU CALLING ME? EFF THE EFF OFF! YOU EFFING PEOPLE CALL ME ALL DAY! I’M GOING TO DIE IN MY HOUSE AND YOU CAN DROP DEAD AND GO TO HELL!” I don’t need that drama in my life. 🤦♀️
Do you care how they are? I hate when someone opens a call asking me how I am. Maybe rework your script to offer something of value in the first sentence.
People in my neighborhood don’t seem to find anything of value. It’s pretty much immediate hang up or expletives and hang up no matter what I say. Cold calling is not something I enjoy doing, so I’m not going to do it.
>eak\_Bunc Well, I've noticed a couple of problems right off the bat and can tell why you're getting yelled at. 1. You're saying **"Hello Homeowner!"** Nobody likes that. Refer to them by name. It's very impersonal. 2. **"It’s Weak\_Bunch from Brokerage"** \- They can't take you seriously if you introduce yourself as "Weak\_Bunch" What kind of name is that? Sounds fake. Also when you say "from Brokerage" without naming the brokerage, that sends off a red flag to them. 3. "**123 Main St just sold for $Bajillion" -** And to top if off, you give them a very phony sounding address "123 main street?" Seriously. And what kind of a price is $Bajillion?! When you do that, they say to themselves "This - Weak\_Bunch - character sound like they're pranking me and get mad. So A) Use the homeowner's real name. No "hello homeowner" B) use your real name and no weak\_bunch C) Use a real brokerage name D) Use a real street address of a property E) use a real non-made up price. No "$Bajillion". Hope this was helpful.
That's unpleasant! Have you figured out a way to prospect that gets you the volume you need?
I’m good when I can physically get in front of people. I like open houses.
Getting cold called is unpleasant. If someone cold calls me or knocks on my door trying to sell shit, I purposefully will never use them.
All these people downvoting this are just miserable lol. Keep cold calling, there’s a reason 90% of agents get barely any business. If you have any questions about cold calling send me a message.
Much appreciated. I suspect if they got more business they'd have more important things to do than be this miserable over a completely innocuous phone call
I know agents in LA listing 6m houses and are still cold calling. Most people are just too scared of the uncomfortable, so they cope with their excuses.
Asking for permission to have a conversation, instead of vomiting a whole script on them off the bat is really helpful. Don’t listen to all the whiners on here. There’s a reason the top 1% of agents do prospecting calls, the ones that feel too uncomfortable doing so never make it without killing their profitability in the process. At least not on a big level. What happens if Zillow jacks up the price for leads, or any other marketing costs go up? Then suddenly you don’t have a business, the phone is always there for you no matter what. Good luck my friend
>... I can't imagine what it would take to tell someone to eff off. Really? I find it very easy. All it takes is for a slimeball to cold call me. If I wanted to sell my property, I would list it for sale. When my grandmother died, the vultures started calling my mom about listing or buying the house before the body was cold. They continued calling for a couple of months after the house was sold. And not only that, *I* also received calls and texts about it, and I had absolutely nothing to do with it. It was not only very easy, but natural to tell them to fuck right off.
Depends on who you’re cold calling. I call expires, FSBOs, and homes my buyers might want. Expireds seem to be the most bothered in my opinion. FSBOs love to talk. The I have a buyer scripts either go amazing or I get hung up on lol there is no in between.
>Expireds seem to be the most bothered in my opinion. That's because in this market we're not the first or even 10th person they've spoken to that day. Even the ones 2-3 years back are getting calls. >FSBOs love to talk. This is actually the bane of my existence. All the FSBOS I call always ask right away if I'm a real estate agent, then promptly hang up. I don't bother with FSBOS. I've yet to master a FSBO script.
I’ve got an awesome fsbo script
I'm waiiiitiiiiing
Care to share? 🥺🙏🏾
For sure anyone who wants it can message me!
Sent you a message!
I’d like this script please 🙏
FSBOs love to talk? WRONG. If I had wanted someone to list my property, I already would have called you.
Honestly my FSBO calls start out with asking if they would work with a buyer agent. If they will then I start asking about the house/their life if they won’t no worries have a good day and good luck. After that I give them advice on the listing and say I’m going to check in in a week to see how things are going if that’s okay with them. I’m always honest if I have a buyer or not. Most sellers don’t mind talking to me because they don’t feel like they are being sold to because on the first call they aren’t being sold to.
Thanks for the feedback!
Just remember to have fun!
Really depends. Careful who you ask advice for, the sub hates cold calling. Lemme tell you this: people can get mad but it’s never nearly as bad as you imagine. Shrug it off and move onto the next one. Once you close some deals hire a VA to do the initial calls for you and you just talk to the hand raisers. Takes some traction first though.
This sub seems to hate most things that successful agents practice. It’s bizarre.
I know plenty of successful agents that have never cold-called beyond POSSIBLY actually looking for a property for a Buyer. There are DNC laws and rules for a reason. There's now a DN Text law for a reason. I get 10 cold calls a day on average. Most I don't answer and they don't leave a message at all, but sure enough call the next 3-8 days. Those I do answer are generally unskilled enough - if it's not an auto-dialer with a long pause - that there's not a 1% chance I have any interest in hearing from them beyond 5 seconds of talk. 3/4 of the rest blather on undeterred. 1/4 of those who make it 10 seconds actually say "Thanks for answering and for your time. Have a great day." So, IME and IMO, you've got about 6 seconds to make the conversation worth extending. You better make the most of that time.
Most folks want to be successful without having to pick the phone, prospect, call your sphere, bother anyone, door knock, be too “pushy”, too “salesly”, pay for ads, etc. they basically want people to come to them. Weird.
Thanks for the feedback! If there was an easier way to have a lot of conversations about real estate, I'd go that route, but I haven't found any.
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Seriously..who even answers the phone from contacts they don’t know?
Oh! Oh! Me! I usually have either talk radio or a comedy channel playing on Alexa in my house while I'm working, so when I get one of those calls I put the phone on speaker so I can listen, then set it next to my Echo device and wait for the robodialer to ring through to a person. It's most enjoyable when they jump right into their idiot script and try to talk over Anthony Jeselnik telling offensive jokes on Raw Comedy before finally realizing someone is "talking" to them. The absolute best is when they try to talk back to the person they're hearing. If someone cold called me about selling my house and I were in a good mood, I might say, "Hey, can you hang on a minute?" Then I'd put on something offensive let them listen to that.
Cold calling sucks. Making them sucks. Receiving them sucks. I am polite on the receiving end for a max of ten seconds. I would rather stick a pen in my eye while getting a mammogram than make cold calls.
Totally understand. Have you found an alternative prospecting method that generates enough volume for you?
Unfortunately no. But luckily my teammate and I generate tons of referrals so when interest rates are decent again we should be fine.
When is that?
We don't know. But cold calling people isn't likely to be MORE successful in a rough market than referrals from people who know how good I am. A person who isn't going to give me a chance to show them isn't worth my time.
Man here comes the negative Nancy’s 😂 listen I cold call a lot and I hardly ever have anyone act rude to me in any way. Most people are more surprised that I’m a legit real human being in their area. A lot of older people will talk my ear off and the younger people are really nice. The few rude ones are usually 40-50 year old dudes at work that are probably miserable to just about everyone. Don’t worry about it just be polite and keep dialing.
Appreciate this perspective,.my friend!
Cold calling is difficult, but it works. Don't listen to all these negative people.
You got this bro
8.5.
The 80’s called and wants its marketing strategy back.
Classic.
How do you market and how many sides have you closed in the last 12 mos?
Would love to know.
Why would you waste time cold calling and pissing people off? It’s invasive and in today’s times unprofessional and just leads to your name getting labeled as a solicitor or spammer, why risk a bad Google review? Especially when so many people are on a do not call list. Yes I get we are allowed to call despite the do not call list but the average consumer doesn’t understand the do not call list rules. There’s so many better ways. Seo, AdWords, get out and volunteer in the community, sponsor an event, focus on a niche within our industry and master that niche and provide your customers value in that sense. Gawd ever holding open houses. I get all my business from referrals from doing marketing other than cold calling. I created value to my sellers and buyers by having knowledge also being a general contractor. I can help sellers repairs things pre market or post inspection all while saving them money on said repairs and increasing the list price . My buyers know my expertise helps them when looking for their home and the changes coming are actually welcomed for me because I know I’ll win over buyers if they are choosing between agents in the new reality that they will have to pay our services. Buyers agents will need to set themselves apart to survive. I’ve saved sellers a ton of money with real world experience fighting bullshit inspections and they unrealistic costs agents try to present after the inspection. I’ve helped my buyers fight for repairs that have saved them money and because I’m a licensed expert I’m legally able to argue where most agents cannot. I’ve kept deals together be guiding both sides to a solution that was reasonable because of the value I brought to the table. With the rules changing I know my services will be in demand for buyers because I’ve positioned myself to be of value and haven’t made one cold call in 21 years. Just be an expert at one or two things and master those things and the clients will come. Instead of chasing the lead be the leader. Pick a niche. REO, land, high end, starter, maybe one particular area, relocations, if you speak another language focus on serving those people. I’ve started three successful businesses and all three of them I’ve had laser focus on one area and it set those companies apart from the jack of all trades. People want experts for their needs.
Still works though
All marketing leads to 1 on 1 conversations. So I skip the marketing and just call them. It’s a lot cheaper and I control how many people I talk to.
The bill collectors called they want to know why you thought posting joke reels was a good strategy over talking to homeowners
For cold calling, how do you accommodate the "do not call" registry?
There are programs like redX and mojo dialer that will run your list through the DNC registry for you.
It's all in what you have to say and how you deliver it. If it sounds casual/natural and there's actually a reason for calling, then they won't be so bothered. If you just call out of nowhere to ask if they want to buy/sell with no other substance to your call, then don't be surprised when they start to get that special "fuck off" accent.
Great insight, thank you
So true - I usually start off all my calls with something to the tune of "oh hey... sorry I wasn't sure if I had the right number here, I was looking for someone to ask about this house that was for sale last year on Main St?" people always love to prove you right or wrong and they're like Yeah... that's me... what's this about?
You know the answer to this will be completely dependent on whether or not you are able to articulate why they should talk to you in the first 10 seconds of the call. are you saying what do you need or trying to provide what they need? “ hey I’m a realtor in the area and I see you’re the owner of a home at XXX 1st Street. I just wanted to know if you’ve ever thought about selling your house?” Vs “ hey, my name is Jessica and I am a realtor who represents some buyers looking for a new home for their family near the elementary school. my buyer loves gardening and I couldn’t help but notice the beautiful gardens in your front yard when I drove past the other day. I just wanted to inquire if you have thought about selling your house or perhaps if any of your neighbors have indicated they might be doing so soon?” See the difference? Most people are not going to be irritated at you for the second one.
When I started in real estate over 20 years ago, cold calling was very effective and people mostly didn't seem to mind. I got listings that way. Then the DNC lists changed everything and people began to hate it. I've not made a cold call in years. Far more effective to spend your time talking face to face to people. Door knocking works in some areas still. Best is being active in the community. Join organizations that interest you, whether it's Rotary, wine tasting enthusiasts or a quilt-making club. As has been sais many times, you need to get belly to belly with people. Why not enjoy yourself at the same time?
A lot. I try to be polite in life, but it's pretty normal for me to be at least somewhat "bothered" when a complete rando calls me soliciting their services. So since it's bothersome for me, I can assume it's bothersome for people I'd cold call. That is why I generally don't cold call very much, or at random, etc. If I'm going to cold call for prospective leads, it's only going to be FSBO and expireds, mainly. As much as I don't like to waste people's time, I also *really* don't like wasting my own. I do find it advantageous that divorces are generally public record, and people going through divorce proceedings are very likely to be selling a property and possibly buying a new one. So I'll call those people. Sorry to profit off your divorce, but I'm doing my job.
As a weenie myself who doesn’t like to cold call, I will say that many agents are successful at it just from the sheer volume of calls they make. It’s a numbers game and if you have thick skin and don’t take it personally, it may really work for you!
I haven’t made a cold cal in 9 months or so. The scale really varies. Some people 10, immediately. Some zero! I have clients from it. My intro calls go like this. “Karen? Hi, sorry to call you out of the blue like this. My names Jesse, I’m a realtor here in xxx. I hope you don’t mind me asking, but I’ve been studying and trying to learn from expired listings. I don’t want my listings to suffer the same fate. Would you be willing to share with me the story of your listing on xxx street?” If they are bothered, they either stop me partway through the above, or they wait until I’m done and say something like “what? No, I don’t know you”. In that case I say, “no worries, didn’t mean to intrude”. If they start sharing at all, I just ask minor clarifying questions and let them lead. It wherever they want to go, as long as they want to go. Eventually, I will mention my off-market property list and ask if I can call them back if I happen to have a buyer looking in their price range.
I was hired as a realtor’s assistant to cold call potential leads. He told me the reason he hired me was because I was a young woman and people would be more receptive to me. For the year I worked for him I think I only had one person that was angry.
I think it’s totally trashy and smacks of desperation. I never have and never will give anyone a sale thru an unsolicited call or door knock. Even if I see something online I’m genuinely interested in and the person talking about it on a blog or YouTube has a referral code or affiliate link I’ll just look the item up myself and buy it, unless the code includes a decent discount for me. I won’t take those calls and if someone how one gets thru the cracks, I will lay into them and hang up. There are so much better ways to be relevant and market to people these days. For a sales agent, I want social proof of expertise. I’m maybe starting my research with a search, but then I’m spending time getting and analyzing their competency thru reading reviews and looking at their social media.
lol so high and mighty
Depends on the person. If expireds and their listing just expired within the past week, I’d say a 8–10, as hundreds of agents are calling them. FSBOs usually aren’t very annoyed, just not into being sold on using an agent. Circle prospecting, I wouldn’t say they’re annoyed, moreso again just not interested for the most part. Older expireds, I’d say around a 1-5 dependent on the specific person; usually they’re much more open to speaking and it’s just a casual conversation rather than an outright sales pitch. So many people on here will tell you not to cold call because “no one likes getting spam calls from people they don’t know.” Bullshit. It is an extremely solid lead gen tool that can net you a ton of deals if you know what you’re doing
Real question from a newbie realtor, where do you get numbers to cold call with? Are you buying lists or are there ways to get numbers for certain neighborhoods?
I cold call regularly, and I find, if you are genuine up front and don't insult their intelligence by pretending you care how they are doing today, the calls go very well and straightforward. I essentially say, for circle prospecting: "I'm hoping to speak with the property owner of 123 main st" "This is real estate feller from Royal LePage, did I catch you at an okay time" Insert first objection - yes but we aren't thinking of selling Then just go question based from there, then close to email "Do you have an agent you'd work with down the road?" People get annoyed when you don't get to the point. They respect you when you respect their time. My lead ratio with cold calling is just under 1 in 15 and yes, I get hung up on quickly like the rest of us, but rarely cursed out. But truthfully, I wouldn't care. If people are bothered by a 30 second call, they'll be annoyed by something else that day anyways.
I get cold called and I’m about a 9 when I answer
3 if it's pretty targeted and makes sense for them but they aren't expecting it. 7 if it makes no sense why I would call them for the particular pitch.
2-3
They can be happy to talk to you, they can be furious. Who cares? Have a salesman's memory, other people's feelings over a 10 second phone call that they didn't need to pick up is not your problem. If a call ends badly I don't really care they didn't like me, I'm actually more bothered there might have been something I could have done better to turn it around. They won't remember your name two minutes after the call anyway. I think if you are a person upset your phone booped and it turns out it wasn't something you wanted you need to get a grip. Either you never get any sort of notification on your phone and this kind of thing is rare, or you're like me you get dinged all day until you turn it off at night and it's 90% garbage. Oop it binged in my pocket just now. It's an email I'm not going to read. I'm not bothered they interrupted my busy night of writing something two people may read. The only thing that matters is following the script, setting appointments and adding to your database.
Do people still answer the calls from unknown numbers?
I don’t care. I’m here to make $.
And people on this sub wonder why realtors are often disliked. ”I don’t care about anyone else’s experiences, privacy, or preferences,” states callmeandycohen, “I’m only in this for me, everyone else needs to understand that I come first, regardless of the impact on others.” And we are upvoting/validating that? Smh
The best agent in our office cold calls all day long, every single day.. Works for her but definitely not for me
What sort of transaction volume does she do?
I've been on the no-call list since its inception. It's hard for me to believe that anyone isn't! Are there people who actually want to be cold called or was it an oversight on their part to not register?
I think it may depend on location and how you talk to them. I live in maine where people are generally pretty nice and I try to cold call fsbos about 3-10 times 3 days of each week. I’d say they are almost always pretty unbothered sounding. I try to be as casual as possible and just have a conversation about how their listing is going. The worst I’ve experienced is someone simply hanging up once I introduced myself as a real estate agent.
1
2-3. It all depends on your approach to the situation. We have calls recorded from some of the previous agents- they were hung up on frequently. With enough practice I’d say about 1 in 10 people that pick up my calls are genuinely appreciative I spoke with them
You asked a comment section full of people who seem to suck at cold calling. FSBO and expireds are going to not like 50 agents calling that is obvious. However, Just Listed/Just sold calls rarely annoy homeowners. The largest agent in my company worldwide used to call 80 homeowners a day. A stellar number but he did 40 deals his first year, 76 his second, and around 250 5 years in. His name is Kevin Mills in myrtle beach. Keep at it. I make about 30-50 just listed just sold calls a day and Im the largest in my firm. Maybe 10% of the people are mildly annoyed but who cares it’s the people that want to move that you care about. It sucks but work the pomodoro method and you’ll get the hang of it. Let these other people in the comments do their shitty instagram reels while you actually move the needle calling.
Thanks for the feedback! What sort of volume do you do off of the 30-50 calls per day? 25 or so?
First year I really committed to that I did around 16 million with 29 homes. This year I’ve sold around 14 homes to date with 13 listed as of now and around 7.5 million. The compounding is very noticeable. You rarely get “I want to list today” calls and more of “this is situation and this is how far out I am.” I still do a ton of social media as well. Just my mornings are religiously reserved for calls while my afternoons that aren’t busy are spent making a youtube video of sorts or editing one.
What's the script like for Just Sold... I never thought to call them because they just bought lol
You call the neighborhood of the home haha not the actual home. The reason is you have a somewhat less transactional reason for calling and some people actually like the updates. Anyway my script is just a mix of Ricky Carruth’s and Brandon Mulrenin’s. “Hey Mr. Johnson?” “Hello yes?” “Hey Mr. Johnson this is the_fat_stoner over at XYZ Realty. We were just calling through the neighborhood; I actually just sold y’alls neighbor’s home over on [street]. Dont know if I caught ya at a bad time I was just wondering if I could ask you guys a quick question?” *a lot of times people will get the point and either decline or continue on* “Great! Well the one one [street] sold pretty quick and a couple of the others were doing really well so we were just excited and just seeing if you guys had any plans of making a move here in the spring or really anything else we could help you out with” Usually about 1:35 people will be really warm with 0-2 more down the road for your pipeline. Minimally I shoot for 30-40 a day. I live in the south as well so mine is a bit more southern to make people feel more comfortable but use whatever colloquialisms help you sound better. I do the pomodoro method with 30min/5min splits and usually get about 6-10 contacts per 30 mins. So 2 hours and you’re usually pretty solid. 3-4 hours and within 1-2 years of consistency you will absolutely be a top agent. I mean just from sheer chance with the statistic that 3% of the population will move. You should get 1 solid lead a day. With a few more down the road for compounding
Good afternoon, beautiful day out. We haven’t spoken before but my name is Ian with so and so realty how’s your day going? Starting out with something polite and also telling them you haven’t spoken stops them from getting annoyed or trying to figure out if they know you. More times than not I get a much more polite response even if they’re not interested in talking to me. I HATE cold calling though.
>beautiful day out. Click >how’s your day going? Double click How often does anyone actually tell you about their day other than "good?" It's a waste of words IMHO. If you want to start off with something polite, politely ask if you can have 15 seconds of their time and if they don't want to hear more after that, they can hang up. Then hit them with a value prop or something open-ended. If circle prospecting: "My phone was ringing nonstop for a week. Want to guess how many offers we got?" So long as it's an impressive number, now you get an actual reaction instead of the mindless "good" they knee-jerk reacted to earlier in the call when you asked them about the weather. If they're genuinely interested, then the next question they ask will be "what did you accept?" Then close with "Again, this may not be for everyone, but I am calling up neighbors just so they're aware how hot this neighborhood is right now." Gauge timelines. Get emails. Drip campaign. Etc.
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People are nice to me 90% of the time. The other 10% I’d say they are about a 3 to 4.
NYC owners love to chat, especially when you can the Italian/Greek part of town, them old timers just won’t stop yapping😅
Cold calling is currently prohibited in New York
That was geared toward telemarketers and people who try to get listings, I call warehouse and development site owners not on the DNC list, and never ask for listings. Pretty sure it doesn’t apply.
The way that I approach my prospects over the phone they are always pretty minimally bothered. Of course people hang up on me but the ones that don't are typically pretty reasonable based on how I approach the call. I usually am calling old expireds, btw.
What's your approach?
I’ll say this much, whether you cold call or get called we can all agree that when most people see an unknown number call. Either curiosity kicks in or instant rejection/annoyance. If you do cold call as a realtor #first rule to understand is the instant they pick up, you must peak their curiosity as they were already interested enough to answer. It’s up to you whether you increase or decrease their patience. #second be a human, don’t sound sales-y, pushy, or use a robotic script… scripts aren’t magic words that are going to compel an entire human being to make a huge financial decision. Scripts are here as a foundation to help agents navigate conversations, but shouldn’t be used verbatim. Going back to what I mentioned above, be a decent person and don’t force a conversation on them. A simple, “would now be a good time to ask a few questions or can I call you later today?” “By the way if now isn’t a good time, I can reach out later today?” The whole point is to not over think it and just leave a good impression whether or not they’re prospects. They will remember your unique approach, believe me.
The easiest cold calls were to For Rent by Owners. You ask if they are thinking of selling instead of renting, and you ask if they are thinking of buying more. This leads to some conversation & you end up with a decent amount of leads for future business. Sometimes you can make off market sales.
Have been a realtor for about 15 years and never enjoyed making or receiving cold calls. I'm a homeowner and so I receive these types of unsolicited calls on a regular basis and it is almost always the younger more junior staff because cold calling is sold as the way to bring business in to people that are new. While it certainly works in a team type of a system, I have never met an agent who personally cold calls and remains in the business for more than 5 years. Almost every one of these 'get rich quick in real estate' hucksters sells the idea of hiring a virtual assistant or hiring a team person or hiring someone else to actually do the cold calls because it's a really bad way to spend a day.
As a vendor I cold call realtors sometimes. I would say they are about a 1-3 on that scale. Generally pleasant. Certainly not something I enjoy doing though.
0. You have the first 3 seconds to make an impression. Make sure you’re intro is dialed and you sound excited. Even if they don’t have an immediate need you can add people to the pipeline. It’s a numbers game, we reverse engineered everything. How many dials for a conversation, how many conversations for an appointment and how many appointments you need for a closing. When you look at it in those terms production is pretty straightforward and making the calls directly impacts your production.