Today's title Prospect, Prospect, Prospect and MORE PROSPECTING comes from a bullet point made in yesterday's post Success Tips. What's the big deal about prospecting? Recently I had a twenty year veteran of real estate tell me that he had never prospected in his career, until now. That same person was bemoaning the slowness of the business when others around him were well into the busy spring season. Well, guess what? This same agent said, "I am holding open houses, I am sending invitations, I am doing this & that, etc. AND still nothing."
Some new agents enter the real estate business with a large following of friends and family from whom they draw a lot of their business. Others think the business will just walk through the door, call on the phone or find them on the internet. A few will prospect as new agents then get out of the habit of prospecting as they get busier. However, when the business slows down as it did last year, they race back to prospecting and like the twenty year veteran wonder why the business isn't just rolling their way.
Need I say it again? Prospect, Prospect, Prospect and MORE PROSPECTING. Our goal must be to create a steady stream of business. I don't know too many agents who couldn't use more business. So why don't they prospect? I don't have a really good answer, but I can guess. I bet they don't prospect because they don't like to prospect. Period.
As an agent I used to track where my business came from. Where did I get sellers? Where did my buyers come from? In other words I wanted t know what was working and what wasn't. If an activity wasn't working I wanted to know why. Then I could improve my technique or concentrate my efforts on what did work for me.
Years later as a manager I asked my agents to track their business. Together we analyzed what was working for them and what wasn't. Some agents improved, others stayed the same and decided to find what they saw as an easier job. That was okay with me. As manager I wanted to spend my time assisting those agents who wanted to work and were willing to do what it takes to be successful. Read on if you are in that category.
Perhaps the best kept secret about prospecting is that prospecting can be fun! Yes, I said fun! As a young parent you can prospect while hosting a six year old's birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese. Just wear attire with your company logo. Other parents in attendance will know that you are an agent and may need your services now or in the future. One of my top agents sang in his church choir every Sunday wearing his name badge as he did an open almost every Sunday afternoon. Lots of his fellow church members used his real estate services, including the pastor.
Other prospecting tips:
- Work your sphere of influence--your sphere is everyone you know or who knows you. Attend every family and social event you are invited to. My sister's husband was one of seven so they were included in my sphere of influence. Everyone likes to talk real estate.
- Conversational prospecting--Don't start out talking about real estate, but work to bring the conversation around to real estate
- Perfect your elevator speech--read Marvin's Elevator Speech
- Opportunity time/phone time/floor time--take as much as you can and work each call
- Open houses--don't just sit there. Prepare, work the open, follow up
- FSBOs & Expireds--get a system. Don't be afraid of this category. They really want to sell. Your job is to figure out how to help them.
- Circle the neighborhood of every new listing, recent solds and open houses for other leads
- Geographic faming--pick a neighborhood with above average turnover. Become the Realtor of Choice for the neighborhood
- Demographic farming--if your spouse is an attorney, let the other attorneys know that real estate is your profession. If you were a car saleperson before real estate, farm that profession in your area
- Use the internet--your company website, your website or profile, real estate sites, etc.
- Social networking---face to face AND internet networking sites. Read: Social Networking or Social Disease
- Get involved in your community, your neighborhood, your kids school & activities, your place of worship--invest in business and casual attire with your logo. Part of the cost is tax deductible, too.
- Use hand wriiten notes for every reason.
One last word or two: Make prospecting fun!!! You are more likely to continue prospecting if you make it fun.
These tips and more will be included in my next sales class in Erie, PA. Join me in class or read & comment. Thanks for visiting.
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