When I first got involved in the Orlando real estate business in 2003, I was on a shoestring budget and hungry to make some money in this business they called real estate. At one of the first real estate boot camps that I attended, there was a guy named Dan Doran aka “Dan Doran the marketing man” and he was selling a course that was supposed to teach you about knocking on doors of people that are in the process of foreclosure. When I think about it, it was a scary thing to do. However, we just had our first son and we were determined to “make it” in the Orlando real estate business no matter what. So I went through Dan’s course a couple of times, made some cheat sheets that I could carry with me, and hit the ground running.
You see, when we first started this business, we didn’t have the budget to do massive postcard campaigns or any other kind of marketing for that matter. That was the beauty of door knocking… all you needed was an up-to-date foreclosure list and a tank full of gas. In those days I was a private investor and not a realtor which sometimes had its advantages.
Anyway, I started knocking on doors in a town called Pine Hills which happens to be a pretty rough part of town. I got all kinds of responses such as the door being slammed in my face, getting yelled at, and even getting a few death threats. Responses like; “Who are you and what do you want?” or “We don’t want any, Go away!” were common responses and I was told that these responses would build my character. LOL! However, about one out of every 15 doors that I knocked on offering to help the homeowner, I would get the deal! Wow, what a great feeling that was! Then I would be soo happy that I seemed to forget about the 14 other people that I visited that told me to get lost.
These days, the thought of knocking on doors to get leads makes me cringe… Sometimes I find it hard to believe that I ever did it in the first place.
Orlando realtors are finally getting the “Big Picture”
Most Orlando real estate agents these days like myself, are trying to focus more on their online presence above all else. The price of postage is expensive and most days people start their search with Google for everything anyway. Orlando realtors that don’t do any online marketing are really missing the boat when it comes to advertising in 2013. Our site at https://orlandorealtyconsultants.com/ brings in about 90% of our listings with the rest being from referrals. We haven’t sent out a postcard or letter in over 2 years.
