Every Real Estate agent knows the importance of quality leads.

Every time I turn around I feel there is a new company offering to sell leads to the highest bidder.

But what if you’re a new agent trying to get your sea legs in the industry? Hopefully you set aside some savings, and hopefully you are gaining a little bit of traction early in the game, but chances are you don’t have a lot of disposable income to throw around buying leads.

How can agents generate leads without handing over their money to sites like Zillow and Realtor.com—without spending thousands on billboards, ad spots, and direct mail?

With hustle, elbow grease, pavement pounding, outgoing energy, and an underlying motivation to help every prospect you come into contact with.

1. Pick up the Phone: Call everyone in your area and let them know you’re an agent, and that you’d love the chance to work with them if the opportunity ever presented itself. You don’t have to lay down a hard sell, just make a friendly first impression and let them know you’re in business.
2. Host an Open House for a Busy Top Producer: Every brokerage has a few agents that are killing the game. These top producers might not want to work an open house early on a Sunday morning. You arrange to host for them, with the understanding that you can capture any buyers that might walk in without an agent.
3. Door Knock: It’s a throwback move, but since many agents never do it, door knocking is a great way to stand out from the competition and get some valuable face time with folks in your community.
4. Update Social Media: Like it or not, people like to communicate via social media, both directly and indirectly. You can reach hundreds, even thousands of people with thoughtfully curated content. This indirect exposure goes a long way to keep you top of mind and make your name industry synonymous.
5. Become an Expert: Find the specific area that you want to own and become scholar. Learn every idiosyncratic historical fact, memorize stats about the school district, have a laundry list of pleasant anecdotes that you can use to regale clients.

If new agents take action on these five tips consistently they’ll have no trouble drumming up some initial business. From there they can spend more money on marketing and lead purchase, but these grass roots methods are timeless.