• Home
  • Careers
  • How to generate business from your sphere of influence

How to use your sphere of influence to generate millions of dollars as a real estate agent.

Who belongs in your sphere?

Grab a notebook or excel spreadsheet and jot down all the names you can think of, including:

  • Past coworkers 
  • Your friends (yes, even the high school friend you haven’t seen in 20 years)
  • Your spouse’s or partner’s coworkers
  • Your spouse’s or partner’s friends
  • Your kids’ friends or their parents 
  • Your kids’ teachers and school workers
  • Your extended family
  • Your neighbours
  • Friends and acquaintances from any social groups such as Neighborhood Association, Rotary, PTA, etc.
  • Anyone you interact with regularly (even if that just means once every couple of months), hair stylist, accountant, doctor, dentist, bank teller etc.

Sort your list.

One way to ensure that the content and communication you send are always meaningful, relevant, and engaging is by segmenting your sphere of influence. You may want to segment your list in a variety of ways, including the following:

  • Personal vs. Professional Contacts
  • Local vs. Out-of-town Contacts
  • Leads vs. Current Clients vs. Past Clients
  • Close contacts vs. Acquaintances
  • Online vs. IRL Friends

Focus on what you can do for your sphere - not the other way around!!!

If there’s one SOI pro tip to live by, it’s this: NEVER ASSUME

  • Never assume your friends and family don’t want to hear about your real estate business
  • Never assume your acquaintances already have a Realtor (85%of people don’t even know how to contact their Realtor)
  • Never assume a member of your sphere won’t refer you business

Just never, ever assume. It could literally lose you millions.

How to Introduce Yourself on Social as a New Agent

The first thing we'll tackle is, "Does everybody know you're an agent now?" 

First: 

Share a professional headshot OR professional-looking photo branded to you as an agent with a compelling message - talk about WHY you got into real estate, how you're passionate about helping people, the education and training you're focused on, and/or why you aligned yourself with the team/brokerage.

Second: 

Start Posting about Real Estate Content 

Consistency is the key to all real estate marketing. You might not have tons of experience helping people buy/sell, but you do have experience living in your city. 

  1. Homes
  2. Real Estate Tips
  3. Personal Branding
  4. Community & Lifestyle

How to use Facebook Messenger to get Contacts

Send a quick message sharing a recent win, funny story, or revelation about the market. Try to do this for each and every person on your list. And remember, you are NOT selling.

If it helps you to have a framework when you C-A-L-L someone in your sphere:

  • Check-in: Show you care with a genuine interest in their life.
  • Ask: frankly ask, “How can I be of support to you?” 
  • Listen: Their answer might not be related to real estate, but it will help them know you’re there (and ready to help when real estate needs arise). 
  • List: When they ask how things are going for you, start by listing the positive things you’re experiencing in real estate before discussing other areas of your life. 

Following these steps will help show you care while also subtly establishing you as a trusted real estate professional that your connections can count on.

Simple Messenger Script

  • Agent: “Hi George, it’s been too long. What’s new in your life?”
  • SOI: “ Hey Matt, great to hear from you. [Highlights what’s new in their life]. What’s new with you?” 
  • Agent: “I’ve recently started in real estate with EXP REALTY/The Move Faster Team and loving it! It’s such a fulfilling career and I’m loving helping buyers and sellers.
  • Continue the conversation with genuine curiosity and interest.
  • CTA: If you ever need anything on the real estate front, don’t hesitate to reach out”

Shame on me Script:

“Hey George, I was thinking about you, and shame on me for not reaching out earlier. But, I thought, no better time than right now. I just want to check in with you and see how you’re doing.”

Ask to add them to an email list Script:

Hey George!

How are you?! You’re someone I always think of whenever I see amazing landscaping, the house I showed yesterday had a jaw-dropping garden! (It’s just around the corner from you in Cameron Heights.) I’m kicking off an email newsletter with home and garden how-to’s (and maybe a few insider tips on the market) and I’d love to get an expert like you on my list.

Can I go ahead and include you?

or 

Hey George, I’m new in real estate and putting together a list of fantastic contacts. Would it be alright if I grabbed your address/phone number/email so I can stay in touch with you?”

or 

Hey George, I’m new in real estate and putting together a list of fantastic contacts. I'm creating a monthly newsletter with insider information on the local real estate market, would that be something that would be of value to you? I can add you to our VIP list. Don't worry we won't spam you, this is just valuable information that truly interests our our clients.

Ask for a referral Script:

Hi George, I hope all is well! Looking forward to catching up with you soon! 

Because we worked together, if anyone comes up in your network that may need real estate advice, I'm always happy to help. We work almost exclusively on referrals, so we always make a point of asking our great clients if they know anyone.

No need to respond - we are just huge on referrals so if anyone comes up, we are always happy to help.

Chat soon! 

or 

Hey, would you do me a favour, George? If you know anyone who’s thinking of moving any time soon, would you just keep us in mind? The bulk of our business comes from referrals so we’d really appreciate it if you’d keep us in mind. 

Ask for a review Script

Hi George, it’s Matt. It was great working with you and helping you find the right home. Would you write a 5-star review I can share with prospective buyers and sellers? 

How to Nurture Your SOI 

If the thought of nurturing every contact in your SOI from your 3rd grade teacher to your great grandma gives you anxiety, never fear. It won’t be like that for long.

Once everyone in your SOI knows you sell real estate, you’ll start seeing the referrals coming in. And once you start seeing where the bulk of the referral business is coming from, you can prioritize the members of your SOI who are the best at sending you business, and set these contacts up on a priority list.

40 Contact Plan | That's 40 contacts per year by any medium

Cultivate the relationships:

  1. Client Appreciation Events
  2. Monthly Newsletters
  3. Quarterly Call to EVERYONE
  4. Participate in Community Events
  5. Give Personalized and Thoughtful Gifts or Cards.
  6. Share Content on Social Media
  7. Face-to-Face Meetings
  8. Email Drip Campaign Full of Value
  9. Facebook Messenger 
  10. Send Links to Your Website | https://www.movefaster.ca/thinking-about-selling/

What do I say?

This is where you can start.

One of the best ways to discover topics of conversation with these people is to follow the HEFE Model

  • H: Hobbies - What hobbies or interests do they have?
  • E: Entertainment - What are they doing/watching for entertainment?
  • F: Food - What restaurants or food are they enjoying?
  • E: Environment - What’s around them, such as locations, their house, or work?

Another common strategy is the FORD Model

  • F: Family - What’s new with their family?
  • O: Occupation - What’s happening in their work life?
  • R: Recreation - What are they doing for fun?
  • D: Dreams - What upcoming plans do they have?

So, we need a way to stimulate the conversation about real estate. Luckily we have a hack for this. All you have to do is use one of these three opportunities to bring up real estate.

  1. Ask them how work is going: They will naturally want to ask about your work. 
  2. When they ask “How are you?” respond with something real estate related. 
  3. Ask them if they’ve been following the real estate market lately

Remember, you are not selling. You are cultivating relationships for future business. Trust the process, don't chase commission cheques.

Agent Video Resources
Joining a Real Estate Team | Tips for Real Estate Agents
Joining a team may be the biggest decision of your real estate career, join the wrong one and you may waste months or years of your life, or even worse, you may end up failing from the industry altogether. But joining the right team can catapult your career to growth that you would have never dreamed of as a solo agent... choose wisely.
Lead Generation vs. Appointment Setting vs. Conversion to Sales
What’s the most important key performance indicator?
How to handle objections
When handling objections it’s important to first understand if that’s the true objection or if there’s other objections. It’s much easier to handle one objection at a time so try to isolate each objection and handle them one by one.
How do you use a CRM to scale your business
A CRM is one of the most important parts of a realtor’s business. Your CRM should be able to not only keep track of everything that’s going on, but it needs to be able to do a lot of things for you while you’re too busy buying and selling houses. First off your share of needs to be able to nurture clients. Second, your CRM needs to have automation, so it does things when you’re too busy and third your CRM needs to send weekly value to your database. Once you have all three of these things, then you can star
Mass Email your Database a Video or Market Update
To ensure you don't miss all my FREE training videos all you have to do is sign up here
How to Influence your Clients as a Realtor
You want to double your transactions in a year? Just master the skills of influence. You need how to know how to influence your clients as a realtor.
Make Deposits in Relationship Accounts
How are you make relationships better? What do you contribute?
Quarterly Review - Go to the Board
Our team is going to dig down deep on the quarterly review - Go to the Board and explore their commitments
Unveiling New Agent Tactics: Make $100k in Your First Year
These are the essential tactics for new agents. In this video, I'm unveiling new agent tactics that will help you make $100k in your first year as a real estate agent. These strategies will help you build your real estate business and make more money in your first year as a realtor!
5 Rules For Creating Your Perfect Day: Don't Waste Time
Are you ready to build your perfect day? In this video, we'll give you 5 rules for creating a perfect day in the real estate industry. From working hard to networking, these rules will help you achieve your real estate goals! If you're a real estate agent or broker, then you know that nothing is more frustrating than working hard on a deal and not being able to close. In this video, we'll give you some tips on how to create a perfect day in the real estate industry and achieve your goals! From networking t
5 Common Real Estate Social Media Mistakes to Avoid for Agents
The first step clients will take before consuming your social media content is to check out your profile. If you’re posting for business, you’re not doing it for the like button, you’re doing it for people to connect with you and consider you their real estate expert. If your profile is a mess or makes a bad first impression, missing opportunities. There are five major mistakes agents tend to make over and over again that should be avoided at all costs.
Thinking About a Career in Real Estate: Start Here!
Take your business to new heights with our collection of free real estate agent tools. Our team has decades of experience helping realtors grow their businesses. We make this happen by equipping them with the knowledge, skills, and real estate marketing tools they can implement into their practice. Browse our real estate agent resources to see what new skills and information you can add to your arsenal.