Are you looking for an individual with particular wealth and experience? Or is it a potential mentor that you want to help kick-start your property journey?
We all know that making new contacts is crucial for any property investor regardless of the stage you’re at.
This is where meet-ups and property events are great, but sometimes you just don’t have the time to make them, or are not finding the right person you need when there.
This is where leveraging the web can help shortcut your way to that essential contact and here are some surefire ways to get that started.
1 – Google Search
A simple search of “Property investing companies” will bring up a whole host of companies big and small. From the list of companies, go into each website and have a nose around and see if you can find out more about the team.
Is it a small team? Is it run by two partners? Is there a way you can add value to their business? Rather than working against them, see if you can find a way to work with them.
Generally, the smaller the organisation the more likely you are to receive a reply from the founder/partner when enquiring via a website’s contact form.
If you’ve put together a list of potentials but want to find out more about a particular individual, Linkedin should be your next port of call.
2 – LinkedIn
This powerful platform allows you to delve deeper into an individual’s experience and potential wealth as much as it can be the first place to go to find and make new contacts.
You’ll find that some LinkedIn profiles will have their email address within their profile bio opening up a direct port of communication.
They may also have their Twitter handle displayed so consider following them if you have an account as if they follow you back, you’ll be able to private message them.
In the global search bar at the top of the LinkedIn page you can search for individuals using a particular search term i.e “Property investor”. After the search results are displayed, select ‘People’ to go through the countless profiles.
Be sure to have a filled out profile because not only will it be more likely the individual you want to connect with will accept but you may find individuals wanting to connect and collaborate with you too.
3 – Getting their email
The benefit of getting someone’s email is primarily to keep in touch with them- some people do appreciate a simple email from you just saying a quick hello every now and then. You can also find someone on Facebook by using their email address (if the email is connected to a Facebook account).
As in point one, the smaller the company the more likely you’ll receive a response, however if the business has layers of staff you want to cut through you can sometimes figure out a decision-maker’s email address even if it isn’t displayed on their website.
How?
To do this, navigate to their respective website and find the page which lists the team.
Once there, begin looking at the team members and their email addresses. Can you see how all departments share the same email format?
For example the business administrator’s email address may look like:
FirstName.LastName@company.com
You can be sure that the founder’s email address will follow the same format. Simply replace their first and last names.
Other email formats may look like:
FirstName@company.com
FirstNameLastName@company.com
FirstNameLastNameFirstInitial@company.com
If you’re not sure of the email, the best way is to ask for this when you’re contacting the website owner. Make sure to be respectful of people’s email addresses and only send promotions to their email if you have their explicit permission.
4 – Facebook
The platform with billions of users is very popular even for property investors for a number of reasons. First of all it’s very easy to share with others what you’re up to, and also see what others are up to as well. Secondly, you can also join groups and build an audience by posting in them.
It’s free to use and a simple way to stay connected with people after meeting them, for example from networking events. You can also set up a professional fan page to start building your brand, as well as being able to advertise to your audience for a very low cost by using Facebook advertising.
One key thing about using this platform is you can use different mediums such as live videos to start building an audience. These are becoming very popular and are an easy way to get your message out, and very few people are using this amazing tool to gain exposure for their brand. Be the minority and start stepping out of your comfort zone by doing more Facebook lives.
5 – Run advertising
The good news about running advertising nowadays, is that you no longer have to just rely on expensive advertising methods such as newspapers or TV. You can start advertising on platforms such as Facebook starting with a low budget, whilst being able to reach a large amount of people almost immediately.
You can also target people based on their demographics, location and interests so that your advert is super specific and relevant to your audience. Doing this will also ensure your advertising is effective and reaches the right people.
6 – Local meetups / networking events
When at meetups or networking events, make it a goal to speak to as many different people as possible rather than just speaking to the same person. The key is not to pitch your business at these events, but to market yourself and then meet up at a later date to speak more.
Collect as many business cards as you can, and make it a goal to keep in touch with the person who you met at the event. It’s even better if you can schedule a coffee meeting with that person there and then, if you feel there is a genuine connection with them.
Another thing you can do at these events is, if the opportunity arises, to do an elevator pitch at the event and talk about your business. Very few people will actually do this, but you may notice that it’s the few that do their elevator pitch that seem to go the furthest. Success certainly leaves clues.
7 – Coffee 1 on 1 meetups
It’s a great idea to book in a coffee with someone, as you never know what opportunities they may provide for you. You may be talking to an experienced investor who has a lot of money laying about and has no idea about what to do with it!
The goal of a coffee meetup is just to make a friend for life, whilst doing a bit of fact finding. Even if the person who you meet isn’t a fit for you, or they don’t have the funds to invest in your projects, they may help you to make a lot of new contacts which can help you along your journey.
8 – Business card blitz
Remember those business cards you picked up from various events you went to? Why not have a ‘blitz’ of contacting the people on them! Even if you met them a long time ago, some of them may still remember you and want to meet up for a coffee.
If you can’t get a hold of that person by phone, you may be able to see if they are on Facebook or LinkedIn by searching their name or company. They may have other details on the business card where they can be reached – don’t be afraid to pick up the phone as you never know who is looking for an opportunity.
9 – Referrals
Asking for referrals may not always be comfortable, or easy to remember to do after a long conversation or pitch…but there really is no harm in asking. If you have built up rapport with someone who isn’t ready to invest with you at this moment in time, they may feel obliged to help and therefore refer others to you.
If you don’t get a referral right away, there’s no need to panic. Stay connected with people who have a strong influence with their network (or they have a large network) as you may get referrals in the future.
It also works well to refer others if you want referrals to come to you as well. Referrals work both ways and generally speaking, to get something back you have to give something out first.
10 – Community or charity events
If you can become known in your local area as a supporter for your community, this will give people the impression that as a business owner you care about your community and it can enhance your credibility.
You also may meet other regular donors at a charity event, who also have money to invest but no idea what to do with it. This is where you can come in! Make it a goal to book in with a coffee with people at these events to spread your reach.
11 – Simply being out and about!
A huge key in networking is to be seen and heard a lot. Just by being out in the community can bring you more opportunities as people will begin to recognise you. You may actually bump into someone highly influential, particularly if you are spending time in areas of affluence e.g. high end hotels or conference areas.
By being out regularly you will tend to find more opportunities, at least much more than sitting around at home! Even if it’s just going out to work in a coffee shop and talking to people in the line. People who go out and about generally have disposable income, who are ideal people to talk to. Network, leave your business card and leave an impact with whoever you meet.
Basically the idea is to be a smiling, friendly face that people can’t wait to see again. You aren’t just building a business, you’re building your own brand which is YOU.
Are there other ways in which you leverage the web to find and make contacts? If you can think of any post them below in the comments. Others may be inspired by your ideas, so feel free to share them!
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