Are You Farming Like A Pro?

Farming

We aren’t talking about Animal Crossing or Stardew Valley. We’re talking about sending out a continuous stream of marketing material to one area in the hopes of them turning into closed deals in the future. It’s called farming because you’re basically planting seeds in the hopes that those seeds bear fruit over the next few years. You can’t expect great results after your first mailing campaign, but if you stick with it, you can have an amazing business.

Last week, I had the opportunity to sit in on a meeting where a top agent in Milpitas broke down her strategies for farming a target area.

Consistency

The single most important part of farming is consistency. She’s been farming this location for over 40 years and is well known in the community. She specifically targets her criteria and doesn’t get distracted by shiny object syndrome. These same properties get a direct mail piece every month, a door to door calendar three times a year, an open house card and “just sold” piece every time she closes a deal.

She also uses traditional media like posting advertisements on billboards, shopping carts at Safeway, and taking ads in the local newspaper.

This constant exposure puts her in front of people’s minds. When they decide to sell their home, she’s one of the few names that come up. When she receives the call from the prospect, it’s almost a done deal. The trust has been built up over the years and they’re ready to use her as their listing agent.

Build Relationships

She’s also very good at building relationships. Most agents are thankful for a client for their transaction but will forget about them over time. This agent makes sure to follow up with past clients by sending them something at their door 3 times a year and sends them annual calendars. This constant attention to her past-clients helps her when they are ready to buy a new home and helps when their friends ask for referrals to great agents.

Farming is a 3-5 year process, and you need to be consistent with it to see the results. One interesting thing that she said is that she doesn’t “target” any properties based on the “last sold” date. She’s had cases where people have called her and have only lived in the house for two years. If she limited her farming to houses that have sold over 10 years ago, then she would have missed out on that opportunity!

If you’re just starting as an agent or investor and want to start farming on a limited budget, she recommends that you just print out several hundred flyers for your services and go door to door to drop them off. Over time, people will recognize you and you’ll start to generate leads for your business.