Is Cold Calling Coming to an End for Real Estate Agents?

By Jessie Trapp, Marketing Coordinator 

There are two types of real estate agents out there:

1. Agents that like cold calling.
2. Agents that don’t.

Along with the stair stepper and brussels sprouts, cold calling is simply one of those things that people either love or hate. And, unfortunately for those who are fans of cold calling (and fortunately for the rest of us), the practice appears to be going out of style.

Here are three reasons why the strategy of lead generation known as cold calling is likely to become a thing of the past in the not-so-distant future:

1. Phones are losing popularity.

Times are changing and phone calls are simply no longer the most desired form of communication. While you may immediately feel inclined to blame this on the millennial generation, according to NAR, real estate agents themselves (whose average age is 54) now prefer to communicate with clients over email as opposed to over the phone.

It may have been the go-to selling strategy in 1995, but there are now much more efficient (and far less annoying) forms of lead generation that will make prospects more inclined to work with you, and far less likely to hang up on you.

2. People hate getting caught off guard.

Social media advertising and email marketing are among the strategies putting cold calling out of business, and for good reason. Cold calling tends to involve lots of interrupted dinners, awkward convos, and frustrated humans – all things that go against everything we love about, and expect from, the tech savvy marketing world that we find ourselves in today.

Today’s culture is also very averse to forced conversations, meaning we like to receive messages/emails/texts and have the ability to respond to them at our own leisure, as opposed to the very second a stranger decides to contact us.

3. Not worth your time

If you’re going to put your precious time and effort into engaging with your sphere, it’s important to choose activities that will actually result in an ROI which, according to a recent study, is most definitely not the case when it comes to cold calling. In fact, findings show that:

• “Less than 2% of cold calls result in an appointment.”
• “Cold calling costs 62% more per lead than inbound marketing.”

Just those two stats alone should be enough to convince you that calling every stranger in a phone book probably isn’t the best use of your time.

To be clear, we aren’t saying that you shouldn’t call your clients, because you definitely should, but they key is that they’re your clients – not just some random person that was unfortunate enough to have you get your hands on their number. And, if you’re in need of lead generation tools that will help you engage with your sphere and actually give you a massive boost in business, we have you covered.