No New Leads? Here’s What to Do Instead

You're refreshing your email, scrolling Instagram, checking the MLS… and nothing. No DMs, no new inquiries—just crickets. But here's the kicker: you might not need more leads. You might just need to work the ones you already have.

In this episode, I’m walking you through what to do when it feels like your business is slowing down—without spending a dime on leads or ads. It’s time to stop chasing strangers and start reactivating the goldmine that’s already in your sphere.

In this episode, we cover:

• Why "no leads" is often just a follow-up problem in disguise
• How to audit and reactivate your sphere (even if it’s been a while)
• The 3 types of outreach texts you can send today
• How to build a real referral system that isn’t just vibes and Canva graphics
• Monthly marketing touchpoints that keep you top of mind (without burning out)
• Why consistent, human content beats perfect content every time
• Why talking about referrals shouldn’t feel icky—and how to do it well
• A sneak peek at my new membership: Referrals on Repeat 💌

LINKS MENTIONED:

• 👉 Join the Referrals on Repeat Waitlist: www.happyagent.co/referrals-on-repeat
• 👉 Get the Free Social-Free Marketing Blueprint + 8 Lead Gen Ideas: www.happyagentco.kit.com/socialfree

Let's stay connected!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello there, welcome to another episode of the Happy
Agent Co podcast.
I am Lindsay Dreyer, your host,founder of Happy Agent Co and
brokerage owner at City ChicReal Estate in Washington DC.
We are going to talk about athing I am hearing from a lot of
agents recently, which is Ihave no new leads.

(00:24):
So we are going to get intowhat you can do when you just
feel like the pipeline isrunning dry.
Picture this you are staring atyour CRM, dms are dry, the
inbox is quiet, you arerefreshing your MLS, instagram
and your email like somethingmagical is about to happen and,

(00:46):
honestly, nothing is happening.
You are just sitting there andyou're like crickets.
First of all, I want you toknow you're not alone.
Second, you actually may notneed more new leads.
What you do need is to work theleads, work the relationships
and work the reputation that youalready have.

(01:07):
In today's episode, I'm goingto show you how you can stop
chasing new leads and strangersand start maximizing the
goldmine that you're alreadysitting on as professional
firefighters.
Real estate agents are notoriousfor not following up and not
being consistent, so I want youto think about do you not have

(01:32):
business or do you need moreleads because you have not been
consistent on your follow-up.
So many agents focus on justgetting new leads, but they are
not focused on converting them.
Conversion is so crucial toselling more homes, so you
probably don't need 100 newpeople in your database.

(01:56):
What you need is 10 betterconversations.
How do you have betterconversations?
Asking great questions andreally listening to the answers.
Having quality conversations.
I love Ninja Selling.
For this.
They have the FORD method.

(02:16):
So if you want to have aquality conversation with
someone FORD is an acronym forFamily, friends, occupation,
recreation and Dreams.
If you don't know how to haveconversations, let's start there
.
You need to really focus on howto go deep with people, really
find out what's going on intheir life, in their work, and

(02:38):
what are they dreaming.
What are their plans for thefuture.
So having 10 qualityconversations is light years
above getting 100 new leads.
Here's the honest truth is thatyour last 24 months of clients
are a referral machine.
If you turn it on, so many ofyou are ignoring those

(03:03):
relationships that you've builtand you are not nurturing them.
So we are going to dive intohow to audit and reactivate your
sphere.
I know, I know so many realestate coaches gurus out there
tell you that you need toreactivate your sphere, stay in
touch with your sphere, and somany of you and I know this

(03:25):
excuse because I hear a lot ofcoaching clients say it which is
I haven't stayed in touch and Ifeel bad about it.
Here's the deal Get overyourself.
It doesn't matter If youhaven't stayed in touch.
You just have to own it andthen make a concerted effort to
reconnect and stay in touch.
It could be as simple as hey, Itotally dropped the ball.
I'm so sorry I haven't been intouch.

(03:46):
This year has been bananas forme, professionally and
personally, but I want to make abetter effort to stay connected
with you going forward.
It can be honest, vulnerable,it's okay.
We are human.
People get busy, things happen,but reconnecting doesn't have
to be this weird, awkward thingthat so many real estate agents

(04:06):
make it out to be Sending.
That text or message that Iliterally just said can be that
way to rekindle a relationship.
So what does reactivating yoursphere look like?
The first thing is I would do arelationship audit.
Pull your last two to threeyears of buyers or sellers you

(04:27):
can go back further if you wantand then highlight who gave you
a referral who had a greatexperience and who has been
silent.
Then you're going to send sometargeted outreach.
Three types of outreach.
We could have your check-intext or DM or voice note.
Hey, I was just thinking aboutyou.

(04:49):
How's everything going with thehouse?
I would love an update.
When you have a second Wouldlove to hear from you However
you would word it in yournatural language.
The second type of text couldbe I ran a quick market snapshot
of your neighborhood.
Prices have shifted since youpurchased.
Are you curious to get theupdate?
That could also be sent as anemail if you want.

(05:10):
Then we have a referral.
If you want to go like realbold, you could say hey, quick
question.
And this I would say is if youhave maintained the relationship
, if you have not go to one ortwo, quick question Do you know
anyone thinking about buying orselling this year?
I would love to get two orthree more clients before summer
hits full swing.

(05:31):
Asking for help is always areally, if you have the
relationship already, asking forhelp is always okay and if you
feel like it's kind of slow, itcan remind people that you exist
and that you work by referral.
The key here is that you wantto remind people that you are
the real estate expert that theycan go to.
You are the go-to real estateperson in their network.

(05:54):
So it's I'm not here to sellyou anything.
I'm just here to be yourresource.
Whether you need contractorrecommendations, mortgage lender
information, market valueinformation, whatever it is, I
want to be your go-to resourcefor real estate, and then you
make it happen.
My next point is that I wantyou to make sure that your

(06:15):
marketing is pulling people backin.
Consistent content builds trust,not just awareness.
So talk to your past clients inyour marketing, not just
necessarily new ones.
Share market commentary havefrequently asked questions.
Also, tell stories.
People love stories, successstories.

(06:37):
It could be a hardship that youturned into a success, but it
reminds people that you are theprofessional that they've
already known and they'vealready trusted.
The other thing is thatmulti-channel matters.
So many real estate agents goall in on one channel, but there
are lots of ways that we canstay in touch with people Email,
the actual mail, text, dms,voice notes, phone calls,

(07:01):
in-person meetups, social media.
There are so many channels, sochoose the ones that are easy
for you to execute or the onesthat you will actually execute
on a consistent basis, becauseconsistency builds trust and
awareness.
So here's some examples ofcontent you could create that
you could push out on any medium, any channel that you feel

(07:24):
comfortable with.
What I would do if I bought in2021 and want to sell now that
could easily be an email, asocial post.
It could also be a direct mailpiece.
Another idea why I still don'tthink it's a bad time to buy and
this could be your hot take onwhy it could be a really great
time to buy even though interestrates are high or maybe the

(07:45):
economy is softening.
Another idea is behind thescenes of prepping a listing.
People love getting the behindthe scenes take of what happens
behind the scenes.
So that could be social media.
It could be an email, it couldbe a postcard, it could be any
of these things.
It could be a blog post.
So, whatever channels you areusing, these content ideas can

(08:08):
be repurposed.
I think so often we think ithas to be an Instagram reel or
it has to be a Facebook post,but don't ignore these other
channels, because they areimportant and they are impactful
.
What it really comes down to isdon't disappear, don't ghost
your clients and then wonder whyno one is calling you or

(08:28):
sending you referrals.
If you are not staying in touchand nurturing that relationship
, that is on you and it is thefirst place I would start.
If you feel like you need newbusiness, let's dive into the
next thing, which is yourreferral system.
That probably doesn't exist.
Most agents think they have areferral system, but they really

(08:53):
do not.
They are posting a few justsold graphics online.
They just assume that peopleknow that you want referrals and
then you wonder why they're notconsistently rolling in.
But here's the truth If yourreferral system isn't visible,
personal and repeatable, it doesnot exist.
We can definitely fix that in away that's easy to sustain and

(09:17):
actually feels good to do.
So there's three parts that Irecommend when you're building
your referable system.
The first is to createconsistent connection points,
and referrals do not come fromdisappearing.
We have already said that.
Do not ghost people.
They come from staying top ofmind in a real, helpful,

(09:38):
memorable and meaningful way.
So I recommend, at a bareminimum, having a monthly email,
and this is not just marketstats.
It is sharing something humanwhat's going on behind the
scenes in your life or business.
It could be a little bitvulnerable, keep it casual, keep
it real and keep it valuable.

(09:59):
And I always think if you canthrow in some behind the scenes,
like how the sausage is madepeople love to see that or any
lessons learned, even better.
But this has to be written byyou.
Yes, you could use your customGPT if you want, but it needs to
be something that actuallyhappened in your life or

(10:21):
business, because people want tohear from you.
If you've built a relationshipwith them over time, they want
to know what's going on with you.
They want to know what's goingon with your business.
So that monthly email if you'rea high achiever, weekly is
really good, but at a bareminimum monthly.
The next is quarterly check-ins, which could be just a hey,
thinking of you, how'severything going, anything I can

(10:43):
support you with this season,or it could be a CMA update.
But those texts that we'retalking about earlier, those are
really important.
They can be text messages, theycan be calls, they could be
voice notes, whatever is goingto resonate with your audience.
Again, I've mentioned a milliontimes I hate phone calls.
I love a good voice note, lovea good text message, and that's

(11:03):
just as meaningful If you arekeeping track of clients'
birthdays or house anniversaries, sending notes out it's so nice
.
It could be a gift if you'regoing above and beyond, but at
the very minimum, a text or avoice note or an email that you
wrote happy house anniversarycan't believe it's been five

(11:24):
years.
Hope you're still loving yourhouse.
Those go a long way that youremember to them.
That's a really big thing forpeople.
And then the next is monthlypostcards.
I really am a firm believer inmail.
Again, I don't know about you,but my mailbox.
I get maybe like one or twopieces of mail every single day

(11:44):
if I'm lucky.
So I think mail is coming backin a big way and there's a
really strategic way that youcan use it staying top of mind,
being helpful, being memorable.
I really am a big believer inpostcards and I know that that
sounds very old school.
I like to be innovative, butit's all about eyeballs and

(12:05):
attention and the competition toget in front of your audience.
And whatever you can do to getin front of your audience, you
should be rocking and rolling.
You may have noticed I didn'tmention social media.
I don't think you have to be onsocial media to build a
referable system If that is partof your system, go for it, but

(12:25):
I do think that the algorithmthere's no guarantee that
content you're putting out showsup to the people you want it to
.
So if you're on social, justmake sure that it's an
engagement strategy, notnecessarily a push strategy.
Now what I'm finding is a lotof agents have a challenge in
just executing this monthly,which is why I am creating a

(12:48):
monthly membership programcalled Referrals on Repeat.
What Referrals on Repeat isgoing to do is it will have a
monthly email that ispersonalized, that doesn't seem
generic, that you can then plugand play right into your email
list.
We'll also have a conversationstarter either text, dm or voice

(13:10):
note that you could send out toyour database, as well as a
monthly postcard template.
So every month you'll get thosethree things and then you will
also have a monthly bonus, whichwill be different every month,
but it will be something thathelps you get more referrals.
The waitlist is open.
So if you are interested ingetting on the referrals on

(13:30):
repeat waitlist, please checkout the link in the show notes
to be the first to know.
There will be a very limitedtime founder's price, which will
lock you in for the life of themembership.
So definitely check that out.
Let's move on to talking aboutreferrals, because I think this
is really important.
Yes, I think asking forreferrals can feel kind of weird

(13:51):
or salesy sometimes, buttalking about the fact that you
work by referral should feelnatural, because it is Majority
of your business should be, orcould be, by referral.
So make sure that you'retalking about how you like to
work by referral and sprinklethat throughout the process.
It can be at your first meeting, it can be when you're touring
homes, it could be at a listingpresentation, it could be at any

(14:14):
point.
But talking about how you liketo work by referral and how
someone would actually refer youis a crucial step.
To work by referral and howsomeone would actually refer you
is a crucial step to gettingmore referral-based business.
So two things I think you couldsay.
These are just examples ofthings I love working by
referral.
So if you ever hear of anyonewho could use my help, would you
feel comfortable connecting usand they'll probably say, yeah,

(14:35):
oh my gosh, totally Okay,awesome.
So yeah, if you run intoanybody who could use my help,
please feel free to connect usvia text or email.
Either is totally fine.
So, really being intentionalabout having those conversations
, it does not have to be grossand creepy and, honestly, you
should not be asking forreferrals, especially if you do

(14:58):
not have a relationship wherethat is the case, but you can
talk about how you work by.
Have a relationship where thatis the case, but you can talk
about how you work by referral.
I think that's really important.
We should always be talkingabout that.
90% of my business servicereferrals, or 80% of my business
is referrals, and I loveworking with referrals because
they tend to be my favoriteclients.
So, whatever you can do, justsprinkle it, sprinkle it,

(15:19):
sprinkle it.
That repetition is reallyhelpful in increasing the amount
of referrals.
You receive Big Results.

(15:41):
Eight Free Lead GenerationTactics for Real Estate Agents
and I will put that link in theshow notes.
That also comes with the socialfree marketing blueprint, which
runs you through those leadgeneration tactics and also how
to build relationships.
So if you're interested in that, I will also link that in the
show notes.
I want to close with that.
You may not be in a leaddrought.
You might be in a follow-updrought and you probably have

(16:03):
more opportunity than you think.
You just haven't been focusingyour energy in the right place.
So, instead of panicking orpaying for another lead service
or downloading another buyerpresentation, get in touch with
your people, the ones whoalready know you, they already
like you and they already trustyou because they have worked

(16:24):
with you before.
That is your next client,that's where you're going to
find your next referral and,honestly, that's your next
paycheck.
So go get it.
If this episode has beenhelpful, please forward it to a
real estate agent who might needto hear it.
Also, don't forget to hitsubscribe and until next time,
stay happy.