With over a million agents in the industry, standing out and getting FSBOs to list with you is a huge job. There are a lot of agents going after them, calling them, mailing them, and pursuing them to get them to list. So the campaign that you use makes a huge difference on your success.
#1 Stand Out with Marketing Materials
The first thing to remember is to stand out. Don't blend in. I know that sounds stupidly simple, but when you go after FSBOs, if everyone else does one thing, do the opposite. For an example, if everyone mails letters, mail them a book. If everyone is cold-calling them, knock on the door or mail them letters. Whatever they're doing, do something different.
#2 Stand Out in Your Approach
Another way to stand out is through your messaging and voice - however you're wording your cold calls, letters, text messages or mail. So, if everyone's going after area FSBOs with pushy sales messages and sales scripts, opt for a helpful consultative selling approach. Help them along the way, see where they're stuck, offer some input and build trust and rapport so that it's easy to get the listing when they give up and decide to list with an agent.
#3 Use Multiple Campaign Steps
When you lay out your campaign, you want to make sure you use multiple steps and change them up. Here's an example. On day one, as soon as that FSBO comes on the market, my recommendation would be send them a letter, a postcard or a book, or drop by whatever you can. On day four, you could call them, leave a voicemail if they don't answer, send them an email, or even send them a text message. Now, there's obviously the do not call list and different laws around that. So it's up to you to do the research for your area and figure out what makes the most sense for you.
On day five, if, depending upon how that call or voicemail or email goes, if you don't reach them, I recommend you mail them again. And after that, wait a few days and call them again. Or if they're doing an open house, go out to their open house and introduce yourself. And then if they don't respond to that or they're not home, you can leave something on the door like a handwritten note.
#4 Keep in Mind that Less is More
It's better to to solicit fewer leads, do a better job and have quite a quality campaign than to just to send a bunch of sporadic mail all over the place. So narrow it down, then do a really good job on a multi-step campaign that uses different steps and different methods.
#5 Be in-person whenever you can.
It takes more time, but open houses on the weekend are really good way to meet FSBOs, and that way, you know they're at home. They're already expecting people to walk in the front door. Consider all the leads you're going after on your campaign, and pull them up every weekend and ask yourself, ‘Are any of these leads hosting an open house? Okay, I'm going to stop by.’
And whether three of them are having open houses or one of them is, go by their house and introduce yourself.