Real estate prospecting: five ways to find sellers and buyers, and how many of each to do a week

Most agents prospect hard when the pipeline is empty and stop when it's full. Because a listing takes weeks to come from a first conversation, that gives you a busy month, then a quiet one, then another busy one.

The fix is a fixed amount each week that you do whether or not you're busy. Block the same hour each weekday for it, before viewings start. Keep it small enough that a week with three closings doesn't stop it.

Your sphere is everyone who knows you by name: past clients, friends, family, neighbours, old colleagues, the parents at school. They're the easiest people to call, because they'll pick up and they'll be glad to hear from you.

• Put them in one list, and mark past clients first.
• Call two a day. Ask how they are, and whether they know anyone thinking of buying or selling this year.
• Send past clients something useful once a quarter, like what homes on their street sold for.
• When someone passes on a name, thank them the same day.

A farm is a neighbourhood, a set of streets or a few condo blocks where you want to be the agent people think of. Pick one you can cover, not one you'd like to own.

• Choose somewhere you know, with enough homes that a few sell each year, and where no single agent already has most of the listings.
• Start with a few hundred homes. You'll reach each one more often.
• Each week, knock on doors or leave a note on a set number of homes, and cover the whole farm every couple of months.
• Once a month, send the farm the same useful thing, like what sold and for how much.
• Give it a year before you judge it. People sell when they're ready, and you want to be the name they know by then.

An open house is a room full of people who are interested in homes right now. Most agents let them walk out with a brochure.

• Use a sign-in sheet that asks for a phone number, and whether they're working with an agent. The open house sign-in sheet has both.
• Ask each visitor one question at the door, like what they'd change about their current home.
• Call every visitor by Monday. The ones who liked the home but want something different are the ones to book.

An expired listing is a home that was on the market and didn't sell. A FSBO (for sale by owner) is one the owner is selling without an agent. Both owners have already decided to sell, which is why they get a lot of calls.

• Expireds: call soon after the listing comes off. Ask what they think stopped it selling, and listen before you say what you'd do.
• FSBOs: say you're not calling to list it, and ask how the viewings are going. Offer something useful, like what nearby homes sold for, and ask to check in next week.

The National Association of REALTORS found that "For-sale-by-owners (FSBO) dropped to a historic low of just 5% of sellers. Sixty percent of FSBOs knew the buyer of their home." Many FSBO owners have a buyer in mind before they start, so ask early whether they do. The ones who don't are the ones who may want help.

The real estate scripts have an opener, questions and the ask for expireds, FSBOs, your sphere and open house visitors.

A made-up week for Jordan, a real estate agent working on his own:

In this example 82 contacts made 30 conversations, and 2 of those conversations booked appointments: a listing appointment with an expired owner and a buyer meeting with an open house visitor. Jordan's own numbers after a month will tell him which source gives him the most conversations for the time. The real estate business plan works your yearly goal back to the conversations a week it takes.

Most conversations end in "not now". The agents who get the listing are the ones who call back when "now" comes.

• Before you hang up, get a month, and write it down with what they said.
• Keep one list of every callback, sorted by date, and open it first each morning.
• When the date comes, remind them what they told you: "You said to call in March, when the kids finish school."

These are the official rules, summarised. It isn't legal advice, and your agency may have stricter rules.

In Singapore, the Council for Estate Agencies says property agents must follow the Do Not Call provisions of the Personal Data Protection Act:

• "Estate agents (EAs) and real estate salespersons (RESs) thus have to ensure that such messages are not sent to Singapore telephone numbers registered with the DNC Registry." That covers mobile, fixed-line, residential and business numbers.
• WhatsApp counts. Messages sent through apps that use a phone number as the identifier "are covered by the DNC provisions as long as the messages are addressed to a Singapore telephone number."
• The Personal Data Protection Commission, which runs the registry, says: "Results are valid for 21 days from the date the check was conducted." After that, check the list again.
• You don't need the check if you have the person's "clear and unambiguous consent in writing or other accessible format".

In the US, the Federal Communications Commission's rule (47 CFR 64.1200) says:

• No telephone solicitation to a residential number before 8am or after 9pm, local time where the person is.
• No telephone solicitation to a residential number on the National Do Not Call Registry.

The cold calling guide has more on calling rules for any seller.

This guide is free. ActivityTracker, the app we make, is paid. It doesn't find you leads or list your properties. It counts the prospecting week.

• Set a weekly target, and every viewing and listing call you log adds to it
• Put the year's number in as a goal, and see what each month still needs
• On track, at risk or off track, against where you should be by today
• Buyers and sellers you haven't spoken to lately, at the top

See how property agents use it.