The dog days of summer are upon us with record heat waves throughout the country and for many of us, those ambitious plans of early winter may be melting with the desire to stay in air conditioning with a cold drink. Which makes this a perfect time to revisit your lead generation strategies.

But, that’s no way to become a top agent. Only by continuing to develop your lead generation process will you meet the goals you set those many months ago. Let’s take a fresh look at ways you can continue to maximize your lead generation and push through to fall with success.

Realtor 2nd Quarter Planning and 3rd Quarter Planning

• Talk to everyone about real estate.When you first started in the business, you probably told every single person you met what you were doing. If you find yourself struggling for leads, revisit this tool. When you drop your kids off for camp, make sure the camp director knows you are a real estate professional. Time to kill by the pool? Take your nose out of your beach reading and begin selling yourself to those around you.
• Reintroduce yourself to past clients.If you’ve not talked to past clients recently, this is an easy way to find leads. No need to build a new relationship since you already have one. Schedule time to review your past client list, start checking in with them and frankly let them know you’re hustling for business. Chances are, you’ll come up with some excellent leads this way.
• Triage your time. Don’t forget that about 75 percent of your day should be spent on revenue-producing activities, which means you must be strict about prioritizing. Block out a set hour or two for administrative activities and replying to emails. If you use separate personal and business phones, set your personal one on ‘do not disturb’ when you are in lead-generation mode.
• Expired listings.Chasing expired listings can become fruitful sources of income, as sellers may be frustrated with their inability to sell their house and ready to make an immediate appointment with an agent who inspires confidence. You can hunt expired listings through MLS but you may find it more efficient to work with a service that offers them to agents.
• Direct Mail.Rarely does anyone receive a hand-written letter anymore, but there are services you can contract with that create snail mail that looks like one, ensuring a higher open rate. You can craft hyper-targeted lists using these services and generate a stream of leads you might not otherwise find.

This gives you a good mix of tried-and-true methods of lead generation. You have just over five months in this year to meet your annual goals, so don’t let the heat beat you and keep you from achieving them.

Check out this earlier post for tips on how to become more efficient and effective