Everyone tells you to stop cold calling expireds. I'm not one of them.
Cold calling works. It 100% works. If you call enough people, have enough conversations, actually learn from those conversations, and ask for the appointment, I can tell you with certainty you will set appointments. That part isn't broken.
Here's where it falls flat.
Fewer people answer the phone now. And the odds of calling someone today who is thinking about selling in the next 60 days, and isn't already talking to a real estate agent, are very low. That doesn't mean you shouldn't do it. It just means it's a much longer sales cycle than selling something to somebody right out of the gate.
So knowing that's true, there are other ways to go after expireds. And the best ones are built on the business you already do.
Work Your Existing Clients First
We have a specific set of letters that go out based on the type of clients we already have.
Say you've got a buyer looking in a neighborhood. We go back and find every buyer searching in that neighborhood. Then we send a letter. We're hoping for two things.
One, we identify a potential listing for a buyer when inventory is low. And here's the part most agents miss. You could have a ton of inventory or none at all. We're still sending the letter.
Two, we want to identify more clients for our clients. Every client I get, I want to use to find more clients. That's the whole game.
Your Job Is to Market What You Do
Your job as a real estate agent is to tell everybody exactly what you do and how you do it. Do it a ton of different times. And make sure they understand one thing.
You're not better. Not worse. Not longer. Not shorter. You're different.
When you do that, and you start identifying opportunities that aren't on the MLS and aren't even coming soon, something shifts. It doesn't matter if you're at Compass, Real, eXp, or Keller Williams. When you give people access to resources they can't find on their own, that's when the referrals really start to set in. Because you're doing things outside of what people think a real estate agent does on average.
How to Use the Letter
Download it and use it today. That's it.
How far back should you go? Much longer than you think.
What does it say? You get the full letter inside the members area. What I can tell you is this. If you do this dozens of times for every single client you have, it works.
And expireds aren't the only place letters work. We've got letters for:
- New listings you have coming soon
- A listing that just sold
- A buyer that just closed
- A whole bunch of other moments worth marketing
Letters are still wildly effective for conversion. The only thing you have to get really good at is the messaging. The good news is we've already sent thousands of these out, both myself and our coaching clients. So you can rip off all of it.
Expireds Are Still a Huge Source of Business
This hasn't changed. Expireds are still a huge source of business.
It's just that the way you were taught to work them in the early 2000s, or even the 2010s, is exhausting. It's stressful. And it's not very sustainable.
If you want a sustainable way to do this, here's the move. Download the letter. Send it. Then let me know what your response is. Tell me what's working. Tell me how many you send. I'd love to hear your feedback.
That's the expired listing letter.
