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Use these geographic farming scripts and ideas for real estate agents to become the dominant listing agent of choice in specifically targeted neighborhoods and communities.

Today we are going to talk about geographic farming scripts for Realtors. I was a guest on The RedX Podcast and got to speak with Robert Sullivan, the host, about all things geographic farming. You can watch the full podcast below, and we’ll highlight the key takeaways within this blog. One of the key takeaways? Through strategic geographic farming, you gain mindshare from your target neighborhood, and you demonstrate that no one works harder than you. When it comes time to buy or sell, you want these residents to think of you first.

VIDEO: Geographic Farming Scripts and Ideas for Real Estate Agents

What can you do in a low-inventory market to get listings?

Yes, it is a low-inventory market. But that doesn’t mean it’s a low-listing market. There are tons of listings. It’s probable that in 2021 we will set the record for most listings ever. A lot of people don’t realize that, and it’s because the listings are flying off the market so quickly. Before this year, the record for the most listings ever recorded happened in the peak of the housing boom. There were 6.2 million listings sold in 2006. That was the top year of the housing boom. At that point in time, people thought there was no inventory. It’s very similar to how people feel today.

They way you control the market right now is by controlling the listings. And the way you control listings is by getting more of them. We coach our clients here at ICC to focus on their sphere of influence (SOI) first and foremost as a pillar of business. That said, another important pillar of business that we coach is geographic farming. If you are looking for a way to get more listings in this low-inventory market, geographic farming can be a revolutionary tool. Before we dive into some helpful geographic farming scripts, let’s talk a bit about how geographic farming works.

Geographic farming: how-to and scripts

Most of our top-producing clients start geographic farming when they are looking to increase their price point. There is no better way to increase your price point than by choosing a neighborhood with homes in that price range and targeting it as a farm. Find where the expensive houses are and target market that area. Here is an overview that shows 6 steps to breaking into a geographic farm.

6 steps to start geographic farming

  1. Set up your farm database. Use an information service to get you the contact information for your geographic farm. RedX is an information service that we use (CLICK HERE for ICC’s special rate and tell your rep that we sent you!)
  2. Set up email/mailer templates. Our ICC clients use a variety of mailer/email templates that can be used easily and at low cost. We Need Listings Letter & Email Template, Listings Needed Letter & Email Template, and Buyer Needs a Home Letter & Email Template are a few of our favorites. (Learn more about these templates HERE.)
  3. Set up everyone on listing e-alerts. Set up all of these farm contacts on listing e-alerts. That way, anytime a listing comes on the market in their neighborhood or community, they get an email alert.
  4. Use Facebook/social media. Create a Facebook list from your geographic farm email list and market directly to them on Facebook.
  5. Send out an intro mailer. This mailer gives the geographic farm members a heads up on the fact that you’ve signed them up for listing e-alerts.
  6. Use “just listed” and “just sold” marketing. This does not mean simply sending out two postcards with each listing. You should do eight contacts. If you do this, everyone in the geographic farm will think you just sold eight houses.
    • Coming Soon email
    • Just Listed email
    • Open House email
    • Under Contract email
    • Sale Pending email
    • Just Sold email
    • Mail a Just Listed mailer
    • Mail a Just Sold mailer

Geographic farming scripts

We use the sixth step listed above to navigate our script flow when it comes to geographic farming marketing. This should be the order of attack, and when you put it all together, it gives you eight touches. Do six emails and two mailers. This gives you a 6:2 ratio, and you spread them out. You are saturating your target market with this system — it isn’t just two mailers saying “Just Listed” and “Just Sold,” as many agents do without success.

These emails and mailers are your geographic farming scripts! Beyond these mailers and emails, you can create social media campaigns around them, too. Every touch can have a corresponding Facebook and Instagram post. Now we’re at around 15 or more touches for one listing! Because this plan has so many steps, you need to add each of the steps to your Listing & Closing Checklist.

geographic farming scripts

Breaking into a farm

The key with geographic farming is to make it look like you are the hardest working Realtor around. You are demonstrating your prowess and your expertise by marketing over, and over, and over again, in various ways. It will evidence your success while showing the high level of customer service that you provide to your seller clients that are their neighbors in their community. You will be respected for your hard work! Everything you are doing is weaving in customer service to add value — while marketing your services at the same time.

Hire an admin for geographic farming support (and more)

There are a lot of leverageable tasks that you can give you an administrative assistant to support you in your geographic farming efforts. A lot of agents fail at farming, or give up. This is why at ICC we coach that in order to level up as a top-producing real estate agent, you need administrative support. High-level teams can farm multiple neighborhoods at once because they have great, full-time administrative support. The key to farming is diverse, layered contacts. A lot of agents don’t hire an admin because of the cost. However, with good administrative support, the rule of thumb is that it will pay for itself on a 3:1 return on investment.

Once you have an admin to assist you with your geographic farming scripts and marketing, you can create a structure to make the workflow easier. Add the geographic farming tasks to their listing to contract and contract to close checklists. This will ensure that all of these geographic farming ideas are executed with every listing you take!

Other geographic farming scripts and tips

Here are a few quick tips that will help you as you embark into geographic farming.

  1. Don’t get spammy. There is a fine line to walk when sending out your emails and making your social media posts. You do not want to spam your farm with emails not directly related to them and their neighborhood. All of your email and social media communications should include hyper-local information. Their neighborhood should be in the subject line! If it isn’t, they will probably mark you as spam.
  2. Check your ratio. Make sure that your social media posts aren’t 100% business related. You need to have a healthy mix of personal posts and business posts, or your followers will tune you out (and so will Facebook’s algorithm.)
  3. Listing e-alerts are key (and free.) As we mentioned in our 6-step plan, you should set up your neighborhood on listing e-alerts. These will keep your farm members informed of any action in their neighborhood. And what they really love? Being able to look inside their neighbors’ homes. It keeps everyone up to date on the market and they get to be nosey. It’s a win-win. One more plus — people will think every listing that shows up in their inbox is your listing!

Learn more about ICC

  • Preorder the guide to building and running a successful real estate team. The High-Performing Real Estate Team is available for preorder now!
  • Register for the ICC Summit 2021. Join the real estate industry’s top producers on the central coast of California for a weekend to remember.
  • Join the Real Estate Agent Round Table. We are always posting fresh content, including market updates, free templates, and host dynamic discussions with the industry’s top producers.
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  • Reach out and talk to an ICC coach. Not sure which of our coaching programs is right for you? Let us help you.
Stay up to date on what's happening in our industry and join our Facebook group, the Real Estate Agent Round Table for free, relevant content daily, including breaking news on the real estate market and the Coronavirus crisis.
Stay up to date on what’s happening in our industry and join our Facebook group, the Real Estate Agent Round Table for free, relevant content daily, including breaking news on the real estate market.

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