Even after decades in the real estate business, I sometimes need to pause and make sure I’m on track for consistent income.  Some factors are out of my control, of course, such as the economy, politics, war or peace, competition, and sometimes even weather conditions.  It’s important, however, that I do take control of whatever I can.

One of these is a constant flow of three ingredients (or sources of business) feeding simultaneously into and through a funnel to produce consistent income:

FUTURE CLIENTS – Prospecting, prospecting, prospecting is to success in sales what location is to real estate. 

Did you ever get so bogged down with showing property, writing offers, and performing administrative tasks for current clients that you just didn’t have time to prospect?  I think that’s one of the reasons people in sales tend to have a “feast or famine” existence.  If you don’t make time for prospecting, you won’t have any new business when your current clients close.  It’s as simple as that.

 

CURRENT CLIENTS – Today’s clients are tomorrow’s commissions. 

And yet, do you sometimes put off that follow-up phone call to a current client ‘til you finish your daily blogging and commenting on ActiveRain or mailings to your farm?  NOTHING is more important than your current clients.  Did you ever hear the expression “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush”? 

You gotta CLOSE these clients to generate income, and this is the focus of everything you do with them.

 

PAST CLIENTS – Success in sales relies, in part, on repeat and referral clients as a source of future business

Consistently keeping in touch with past clients is the surest way to keep their loyalty, and another form of prospecting.  Just last week, I listed the first home I ever sold – way back in the dark ages of 1974.  The sellers said they never considered another agent because I’d always kept in touch with holiday mailings and other notes or postcards throughout the years.  Hopefully most of your repeat business won’t take 35 years to bounce back, but this is an extreme example of maintaining a relationships with past clients.

 

There’s a certain RISK inherent with success in any of these areas.  If your prospecting generates a lot of leads, for example, you could find yourself working dawn ‘til dusk with current clients.  When this happens, there’s a tendancy to ease up on the time spent prospecting for future and past clients.  Here’s the problem when that happens:  With nothing else flowing through the funnel, you’re probably going to starve as you begin all over from scratch.

CONSISTENT INCOME for anyone in sales depends on having the discipline to maintain balance.  All three of these ingredients must be flowing into and through the funnel at all times.

Easier said than done!

I hope you’ll think of this funnel daily – maybe even print it, cut it out, and post it on the wall in front of your desk.  If you’d like a larger version for that purpose, just send me your email address.

Copyright 2009.  All rights reserved.  Margaret Woda

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