If you went through any type of “agent” training, most of the training classes out there available to Realtors(R) talk about your sphere of influence. By that we’re talking about your friends, family, past co-workers, your significant other’s co-workers, etc. As the sphere expands, you list your friends’ friends, their family, co-workers, and the list goes on. Marketing yourself can be an expensive business. The average listing in the yellow pages is several hundred dollars per month. Billboard and newspaper ads can be just as expensive and the rate of return for those advertisements? Depending on the area, they can be good investment or a total waste of money. So it begs the question, is traditional advertising dead?

Sometimes some of the cheapest and even free, yes FREE marketing can be the most productive and give you the biggest returns. In this segment, we’ll focus on just expanding your sphere of influence and turning that into a lead generator. By now, everyone has probably done cold calling, just pounding the phones for leads until you hit gold. Is it an effective use of time? Perhaps not, most likely you’ll be hearing hundreds of NO answers before you hear a yes. Using an office phone it won’t cost you anything but time. However, there is a better use for that time and it actually save you money in the process while expanding your sphere on influence.

Pick a charity that you like (and support) and volunteer. It must be a cause you personally believe in. By doing so you will be expanding your sphere of influence by meeting new people and who knows, you may just get a tax deduction in the process. More importantly, by doing this on a semi-regular basis you are promoting yourself and your business and giving back to the community you serve. Quite a few charities now maintain a web presence. Your efforts may also lead to getting a link to your website or having your information listed there, encouraging other volunteers to use your services. You may also want to consider enticing them to do so by donating a portion of your commission to that charity for anyone that finds you through them. It’s a win-win. Plus what would you rather be doing? Making endless phone calls or making a difference?

About the Author: Charles Richey is the webmaster for lvrealty.net, a huge Las Vegas real estate website. In addition, he authors his own blogs and has been a guest blogger for several other prominent real estate blogs.