Hey guys, are you afraid of ghosts? A lot of us are, but let’s put aside the spooky ghosts and talk about your business ghosts.

What are business ghosts?

If you dive into your CRM, your phone, or even your social media and see people you don’t recognize, you might think, “Maybe I should delete them.”

These are the ghosts in your machine—people you’ve forgotten. Don’t delete them!

Instead, I want you to rekindle that relationship. Here’s how: reach out via text, phone call, or direct message. Say, “Hey, I’m cleaning up my records and came across your name. I’m just trying to remember how we connected.”

They’ll respond with something like, “Oh, Jim, we met at an open house,” or “We met here or there.” Then you can say, “That’s right! I remember now. How are you guys doing?”

From there, you’ll rekindle the relationship. This could lead to a sale, a referral, or...

We see so much marketing that is irrelevant and meaningless — it doesn't resonate with anybody. It's trying to be ironic, cute, and Instagram perfect.

But nobody really cares so these marketing gimmicks fail.

What do our potential clients care about then?

Learning something new — which will always make them stop dead in their tracks and consider your message.

That's the basic idea behind my "Educational Marketing" strategy.

Now let's think of it in terms of real estate:

Not everyone has an interest in real estate. Buyers and sellers usually only get interested right before they're ready to sell their home or buy a new one.

So when a buyer starts to think that they should buy a house, that's when they start to look at all the terms and processes around real estate. Or when a homeowner gets interested in selling, that's when they suddenly get tuned into the market conditions.

That's the power behind using "Educational...

In a recent study conducted by Zillow Research it was found that 52% of homes now on the market are owned by First Time Home Sellers! As the millennial generation has matured and become a dominate force in the home buyer market they are now crossing over and becoming a dominate force in the home seller market. As the average millennial is aged 24-38 many are looking forward to moving up to their second home.

When you consider this generation’s preferred method of communication this presents an opportunity for savvy real estate professionals looking for an edge in a competitive market. How? Millennial's don’t call each other they text each other. The exciting thing about texting is that over 90% of texts are read and responded to within 5 minutes!

How can you apply this to real estate lead generation? Consider if you were targeting For Sale by Owner or Expired Listings. Instead of calling a homeowner and not getting through what if you cold texted the homeowner? 

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