Prospecting Effectively

Some real estate professionals who work in the industry for a few years achieve moderate success, but eventually hit a bottleneck and can’t seem to take their business to the next level. Many think they could do it if they had more clients. But if you’re a single sales person, there’s a limit to how many clients you can properly serve simultaneously. The problem isn’t so much lack of clients as your ability to close the ones you have now.

Prospecting really is the foundation of your success, so you must find a strategy that works for you and master it. In my 36 years in real estate I’ve tried many prospecting strategies and techniques myself and recommended them to top producers. Even if you’re a top producer now you’ll probably find them useful.  Here are a few:

Treat Prospecting as Your Career’s Lifeblood

Increasing your prospecting effectiveness is the single fastest way of boosting your sales. Focus your efforts on the quality of your prospects, not so much the quantity. It’ll ensure you spend most of your time with qualified prospects. Top producing real estate professionals don’t spend much time with bad prospects because it taxes their most valuable resource: time.

You should also focus on consistency. A steady stream of qualified prospects helps avoid slumps and plateaus. Consistency also eliminates fear and procrastination, two things preventing you from keeping current with your prospects and customers.

Effectively Leveraging Your Time

Leveraging your time is difficult but critical to your success. Your prospecting abilities are your best time management tool because they sort the ‘wheat’ prospects from the ‘chaff’ prospects, helping you avoid wasting time on people who aren’t decision makers or aren’t serious about buying or selling. Unfocused or sloppy prospecting wastes time because you wind up spending time with useless prospects.

Think how much of a difference this can make: the wear on your morale when you’re regularly dealing with bad prospects vs. the boost to your self confidence and determination when you’re regularly dealing with qualified prospects. So get a prospecting routine you’re comfortable with and work it every day!