There's no question, the last couple of years have been tough in the real estate business. But that doesn't mean you have to buy into a doom-and-gloom state of mind. No matter what your year has been like so far, it is within your power to elevate your game and finish 2010 strong.
So what's holding you back? There could be many reasons. Your game can get sloppy if you’ve been in the business for 15 or 20 years. Or, for whatever the reason, you didn’t take the time to learn good skills and techniques - you just started running, chasing and muscling the biz. Or you had all the best intentions when you started out at the beginning of the year and got sloppy as the year progressed.
Ah, but you are not a fatalist. You are ready to reapply yourself to rooting out the flaws that infiltrate your real estate game like termites in baseboards. With some pointers in the next quarter, prepare to finish 2010 with a bang!
Start your reboot by focusing on one issue at a time. Identify the FLAW, look for the CLUES that say you have a need to improve, examine the MESS, and then proceed to the CLEAN UP.
Focus first on a big FLAW that many real estate professionals find: Prospecting – either blunders or just not enough of it!
The CLUES that your prospecting game needs some clean up:
- Not enough business
- Not enough A+ leads
- Not enough listings
- Not enough buyers under buyer contract
- Not enough pendings
Now take a good look at the MESS:
- You don’t have enough A+ leads.
- You can’t say "NO."
- You are unwilling to refer a person out to someone who is better equipped to handle them.
- You have a tendency to work with anyone who is breathing.
- Your deals are difficult or, worse yet, your deals are falling apart.
- You work more hours then necessary, your clients/leads are not respecting your time, they are not coachable, they are controlling you.
- You don’t have time to take time off.
- You are over worked and frazzled.
- You have tremendous stress.
- You are not having any fun.
What a mess! Reading that list, you have to wonder why in the heck would you want to prospect anyway if you are going to have more of the same challenges and issues? But there are ways to win at the prospecting game, something we spend a lot of time on in The Real Estate Game.
Any mess can be cleaned up if you attack it head on with a plan and a commitment to stick to that plan. To CLEAN UP the prospecting mess, try these steps:
- Start prospecting! Sure, that's obvious, but don't overlook the obvious when you are trying to clean up a big mess.
- You should be talking to 20 people a day, 5 days a week.
- Remember, selling is legal and selling real estate is a contact sport. Think "Contact to Contract." You won't have contracts if you don't make contact.
- Take command of your time and stop having too much busy-ness and not enough business. 80% of your time needs to be in income producing activities and no more than 20% in administrative and servicing - not the other way around.
- Ideally, take at least two days off a week. At the very least, keep one day off to renew yourself.
- Raise your standards around scheduling prospecting. Have a boundary around it to protect your time and make sure you get your essential work done.
To become successful in prospecting you have to develop patience. Just because you don’t see immediate results doesn’t mean the prospecting is not working or you are not making progress. The outcome we want while prospecting is to find a "YES!" and to SET AN APPOINTMENT. Visualize that positive outcome before starting.
How do you know if you are prospecting enough? Here's one quantifying guide: You should have at least five A+ leads. If you don't, you are not prospecting enough. Look to make 20 contacts a day, five days a week – that should generate enough leads to support your goals.
Prospecting is your number one job task. Let's think of it as panning for gold. Miners spend hours, days, months and years panning for gold. They go through this sometimes grueling process because the value of what they find means a big financial gain for them. Do they find gold with every effort? I don't think so. Yet they keep panning. Think about it, the value of the gold they are looking for is high because it is hard to come by. If it were easy, it would not be so valuable, and everyone could do it. Hmm….
Finish 2010 strong with prospecting. Good Luck out there, and remember that there is always help and support with a group of dynamic and committed real estate pros when you play The Real Estate Game.
Patti Kouri, Accelerated Performance Coaching
Helping You Through Self-Made Limitations!
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