Trade shows are a great marketing opportunity if you’re willing to put out the money for a stand. Anywhere you can get in front of more than a couple hundred people, BE THERE! It’s too good an opportunity to pass up. Trade shows can be anything from home and builder shows to travel expos or even wedding shows! Co-founders Rory, Steve and Dave have probably been to more wedding shows than may be healthy for the average American male but have never seen another real estate agent set up with a booth! Considering people who are looking to get married are most likely looking for a new home (or will be within a year or two), there’s every opportunity to cultivate a ton of new leads from wedding shows.

If the cost of a stand at a trade show worries you, split it with your loan officer, or even another agent you enjoy working closely with. Your loan officer can do pre-approvals and give out information on financing, while you offer informative handouts, have listings set up with pictures (no prices of course, since that will lead to more conversation) and fun freebies with your information on it (magnets, key chains, notepads, etc).

Recommendation: Did you know that you can plan a trip to Disney World for a family of four for roughly $3000? That includes airfare, hotel, the parks, food, souvenirs, everything you can imagine. If you have the extra money to spend, put a sign up at your booth that says you’re giving away a free vacation to Disney World and everyone who wants to enter needs to fill out a form. (If you’re a bit strapped for cash, go for something less expensive – a weekend at a beach, or even weekend passes to an amusement park like Six Flags Great Adventure).

Obviously the bigger the prize the more people will enter. This may be expensive for you, but since they have to fill out their name, telephone, address, email AND when they plan to make their next real estate move, you’ve just added a TON of people to your pipeline. You then want to call every one of those people and introduce yourself, get to know them and let them get to know you. Typically, for about every 200 people you contact, at least 1 person should be ready to move or know someone who is.

At this point in time, you don’t let them know whether they’ve won or not – if you find someone who wants to move, guess who “randomly” wins your free vacation? Then the rest of the people are added to your drip campaigns and pipeline and you work on following up with them over the next couple months or years to convert more leads to clients!

Most people have no idea what’s involved in a home buying process, nor have any clue that they can even afford to buy a home. It’s your job to inform them and trade shows are a great place to do so. There’s really no one in the U.S. you can’t make money off between referrals and people in your area, because every human is a possible client for you. Maybe not today or even 2 months from now, but in real estate you should always be planning for the future and constantly building your pipeline. By including clients who may not do anything for years yet, you’re planning for your future. Including leads in your pipeline in all stages of a real estate transaction ensures that at any given time, you’ll always have someone in your pipeline ready to buy or sell with you.