It’s Fall now.  That means football season.  My local team, the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) Miners have got off to an 0-3 start and, of course, the coach is starting to feel pressure.  He has been telling all of the fans that the team is not made up of losers - they are doing all of the little things right — and if you keep doing all of the little things right, it is impossible not to end up with the results that you want.

After I heard that comment I thought he is right — and it applies to real estate as well as football.  Sure the market is tougher now than it was a year or two ago, but people always need a place to live.  People are being transferred into town, getting married, having babies, etc.

So, how do we find these people?  By doing the little things.

Real estate is a contact business.  We have to keep putting ourselves in front of potential buyers and sellers.  If we do this enough, then we will find plenty of clients to work with.  Keep contacting those for sale by owners and expired listings.  Keep calling and emailing your buyer prospects.

What I’ve found, though, is that it’s not enough just to make the contact.  It’s the follow through that separates the top Realtors from the rest of the pack.

If someone is not ready to buy or sell now, that’s ok.  I’m in this business for the long run.  I’ll simply keep contacting them every month or so, depending on their time frame to move, by phone or email.  Eventually, when they are ready, so am I.  I take greater pleasure by helping someone that I’ve been in contact with for a year or two than someone who I just talked to.

For me, I’ve found the best source of new business is my website.  Over 50% of my business come from there.  Many website visitors are researching a move for several months or years before they are ready to do anything — so you need to do the little things — like be very responsive to their inquiries, send them news articles about your city every now and then, send them new listings that meet their criteria,  put them in touch with a lender — and yes — even give them a call once in a while — don’t just rely on email.

If you keep doing theses things, then all of a sudden — boom — you’ll have a client ready to work with you.

By the way, the Miners just won their first game of the season last night.