As our market has toughened up, I have had many agents come to me and ask what they could do to generate more business. As I have been in the Tallahassee Real Estate Market for 17 years now, I certainly have a lot of ideas and experience. But more importantly, I have (on my computer) records of what we were doing the last time the market was like this.
I had to dig deep. As a Real Estate Broker with a computer science degree, I have a pretty well-organized computer structure that allows me to pull most files or records that I used since about 1992. I have always "carried forward" my file structure to a new computer when replacing an old one.
So, to the point.... Our market in Tallahassee, FL turned from Seller-side to Buyer-side in the middle of 1996. I did not have great experience at that time so I travelled the country to see what others were doing. I went to seminars and franchise meetings. Anyone proclaiming the knowledge of real estate success received my undivided attention. I learned all the great sources for prospecting. I went to Joe Stumpf and Mike Ferry. I was the avid student.
Joe Stumpf taught (and still teaches) a client-for-life mentality. My memories of The Main Event recall him guiding Realtors to work less on meeting new people and focusing more on the people that you already know. Get people in your Sphere of Influence to regard you as their "Family Realtor." By doing so, an agent will be able to generate enough referral business and allow the agent to enjoy working with friends, and friends of friends. I learned a lot from Joe Stumpf. I would certainly recommend Joe Stumpf to any new agent (or any agent struggling to corral their sphere of influence).
Mike Ferry taught a much-more "in your face" style of prospecting. He identified sources of opportunities to target such as:
- Expireds
- FSBOs
- Call Around Just Listed
- Call Around Just Sold
- Cold Calling
I remember being very excited at his Productivity School because I felt like Mike Ferry was giving me a blue print to "go out there and do it."
So two different schools of thought at the time. Either focus on your own sphere of influence, or go out there and get the lead through telephone prospecting....
I decided that I would follow the old axiom that "Anything worth doing is worth measuring," so I created a process to track what my "Active Agents" were working on. I would measure and record the results of their activities so that I could help channelize our efforts towards the most Dollar-Productive Activities.
My follow-on post will go over the specific numbers that we measured.
If you want to read any of the related posts, here are the links:
- A Geek's Guide to Finding Business - II
- A Geek's Guide to Finding Business - III
- A Geek's Guide to Finding Business - IV
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