How did you get your first listing? What were the steps you took to land it?
I know this is a loaded question...  

I''m new to the business and any stories would be wonderful.  When did you start to get listings on your own without the help of your broker? Two years?  Three?  What were the steps you took to get them?  Cold-Calls?  Networking?  Referral from your brokers listing? 

I'm constantly being told by people in the business to be patient and keep learning.  Just hoping to hear some positive stories of your hard work in the early years paying off. 
[{"id": "crfo7t7", "text": "I'm very interested to hear about this too. First year investment sales broker just trying to keep my non monetary metrics up.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "crfw3w1", "text": "Just got my first listing last week after 14 months. Cold call cold call cold call. My guy wanted to do a 1031, and we made him a plan A, a plan B, and a plan C for his uplegs which really made him feel comfortable in an area where other brokers hadn't.  Which I think is why he finally pulled the trigger with me.\n\nGet in front of as many people as you can. It doesn't matter the reason, it starts relationships that someday may blossom. ", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "crgerj2", "text": "I'm almost 3 years in so still relatively new but I've learned what works and what doesn't. \n\nI started working towards listings day 1. That is where the money is. Avoid buyers and tenants, it's typically a waste of time (at least in my seller's market). \n\nThe first listing I ever got was $2M and ended up being the biggest sale in the company that year (I'm in a smaller market). The building was what I call a sleeper, basically an under utilized gem in a hot market. I called the owner and provided them with valuable content every other week and made it clear I was interested in listing their property. 2 months later they called me and decided it was time to sell. The property was under contract 3 days later. So moral of the story...look for sleepers! \n\nAnother strategy is to canvas an area and look for out of state owners. The majority of the time, they have no idea what the market is doing. Educate them on the value of their property and that it's time to sell. \n\nAnd for god sakes, read the fucking newspaper! It's a gold mine. I read an article that mentioned a local non-profit was in trouble because a large number of employees took their pensions all at once. I called them and turns out they were considering liquidating their assets and moving to a lease model. I sold their building for $1M and turned around and leased them an office. So be observant and use that to your advantage. Set up google alerts for words like \"acquisitions, dispositions, layoffs, mass hirings\" etc. \n\nI highly disagree with the shotgun cold call approach most coaching classes recommend. Call 200 people a week from your company's database and strive for at least 2 appointments. Fuck that. Use a very precise rifle approach and you'll see better results. I'll pick 5-10 property owners a week and research the hell out of them. When I call, my calls are of better quality and I almost always book a face to face appointment. Not all people are ready to sell but that's when you start your drip campaign. \"hi, Mr. Boonies Farm, I saw this article in the paper about new regulations on malt liquor and thought it might be of use to you. Here ya go\". The goal is to be at the forefront of someone's mind when they ARE ready to sell. The seeds you plant today are the trees of tomorrow, yadda yadda yadda. \n\nAnd go to every network event you can. You want to be recognized in the community. I was in rite-aid the other day and they mayor waved me down to say hello. I felt like a Kardashian or something. I had only met the mayor briefly once, but she probably recognized that I attend most of the city's events and assumed that I was a person she might want to know a little better. \n\nDon't dog a sellers property to justify your price opinion! I beat out 2 top producing brokers on 2 separate listing pitches. Afterwards I asked the sellers why they chose me. Both said that the other guys mentioned all the negative things about the property to justify their price opinion but I seemed sincerely eager to sell their property and talked about its good characteristics. I won the listings even though my price opinion was lower in both instances. You think you'll have a better chance getting a date if you tell the girl she has a pretty laugh or that she sounds me a hyena? Same principle. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n", "replies": [{"id": "crgr4fn", "text": "This is a great reply.  Thank you so much for your time in writing this. I have some questions if you don't mind!\n\n1.) When giving the information to the owner did you email it to him?  Or did you call him and \"Mr. Joe,  this hotel sold for 1.2, just wanted to keep you updated on the value of your property.\" \n\n2.)  When  you call these 5-10 owners what information are you specifically giving them to get a face-face.  \"This is the value of this property close to you and what it sold for last week would you like to sit down and discuss the value of yours?\"", "replies": [{"id": "crgvovs", "text": "Hey no problem. \n\n1) I'll typically email an article/quarterly report etc. I use my \"year in review\" report to have a reason to meet for coffee/lunch once a year. If I haven't talked to someone in awhile, I'll send them some stuff in the mail with a handwritten hello note. If they bought/sold a property and used another broker or none at all, I'll send them a handwritten card congratulating them on their new purchase/sale. I send all previous clients hand written notes on the anniversary of their purchase, \"hey you, you've officially owned your property for 1 year, thanks again for working with me yadda yadda\". \n\nJust make it a goal to touch base with the same person once a quarter, be careful not to overwhelm them with stuff. If I get the feeling they have no interest in working with me, I'll just take them off my prospect list. \n\nJust remember whenever you call someone, always have something to provide them with. You want them to think you give them valuable information. And it doesn't always have to be real estate related. I have a prospect that is an avid kayaker. A new kayak store is opening about an hour away so I sent him the press release. Think competition too...one of my prospects is our county's largest recycling center. Looking through building permit applications, I noticed a new recycling company was under contract for a piece of land and had submitted the planning permit application. I let my prospect know all of this and he was more than happy to take my follow up phone calls. \n\n2) I do a \"year in review\" info packet every year in my target market which is what I use as leverage to book a meeting. Something along the lines of \"I'd like the chance to get to meet you and provide you with my 2014 year in review which would give you some good comparisons of where your property sits in the market\".\nIf it's a little later in the year, I'll also throw in some short quarterly reports. Everything needs to be short and sweet, if you hand them a 15 page costar report they will probably never want to talk to you again. \n\nIf you pm me your email, I can send you a copy of my report for reference. \n\n", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}]