Let's face it. Anything you can do to brighten-up your real estate prospecting sessions can be great for both your prospecting results and for your attitude in general as a real estate agent. So I want to propose a simple idea you can do once in a while that can be fun, informative for your prospects, and move you to a new level of accomplishment in the real estate prospecting arena.

Host a community event.

Consider hosting events in your territory one to four times a year or so where you have experts talk to the people in the community about important issues that they will definitely want to know about. If there are any proposed changes in your area that your local government officials are considering, this would be the perfect topic to have an appropriate government official speak about it at one of these events. Are any zoning changes being proposed that could be very controversial in your territory? Are there any new construction projects being talked about that some people are in favor of but others are opposed to? How about new regulations for street widening, parking, maximum building size per square foot of land, or a newly proposed freeway or highway in the area? All of these are topics that get people's attention that they will definitely want to know more about.

What you can then do here is contact the most appropriate government official who can best speak on the proposed ordinance and invite this person to speak at an event hosted by you. You could perhaps host the event at a local lodge, a recreation hall, or maybe a building owner in the area will offer you the free use of their facility as this is a matter of public concern that everyone wants to know about.

As an alternative, you could also consider hosting events with speakers like CPAs, estate planning attorneys, and real estate tax experts. People who would attend an event where the most recent real estate tax laws and strategies will be discussed could very likely be people who will be looking to buy or sell real estate in your area in the near future.

When hosting events like these on a regular basis, you have the opportunity to rise above the other real estate agents who are your competitors in your geographical territory. Your prospects will see you as providing them value on an ongoing basis instead of just knocking on their doors and calling them like all the other agents are doing. And of course when you host events like these, you can have a big banner at the front of the room with your name, company, and phone number on it as the person responsible for hosting the event and putting it all together. On top of this, because it's your event, you get to stand up and say whatever you want to in front of the prospects also. This is a great opportunity for publicity, enhancing your image, and also mentioning a few words to them about the current real estate market which may land you some new business before everybody goes home.

Keep in mind that when you focus on doing things for your prospects that provide value to both them and the community, you rise to a whole new level as a real estate agent in their minds. Many of the other agents may just be focused on getting their prospects' business when they're ready to buy and sell. You, on the other hand, through providing your prospects value on an ongoing basis, now have a great chance of becoming the first agent they'll want to work with when it's time to get moving on their next real estate transaction.

Published: March 25, 2004

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Jim Gillespie, Ph.D., is America's Premier Real Estate Coach℠. He has over 20 years of experience in real estate sales and is a past president of three different real estate companies. His FREE real estate E-newsletter with tips and creative ideas to help agents make more money is now read by over 35,000 agents nationwide. You can subscribe to his FREE E-newsletter by visiting RealEstateSalesCoach.com or contact him at Jim@RealEstateSalesCoach.com.