OK, let's not forget one basic premise here: we're all in sales. Sometimes you Real Estate guys think you can separate yourselves from basic rules of engagement and the facts are; you can't.
I like cold calling; in my mind it separates the committed salesperson from the person that wishes she had more business, or that person that never seems to be doing well. I've managed other sales people; those that were effective at cold calling and phone work always seemed to do better in life and whatever career they chose; certainly calling is an essential part of real estate. During my time doing Down Payment Assistance, I've walked through hundreds if not thousands of offices to work with literally thousands of loan officers and Real Estate Agents, and I've noticed almost subconsciously the people that are doing the best, are in their office, on the phone--they also pick up when you call them. One of the Sales Experts I most admire was fantastic at qualifying prospects, listening, handling objections and asking for appointments or commitments. Even this person struggled with Sales Call reluctance.
Sales Call Reluctance. That secret barrier to our success. The subtle desire to do anything rather than get on the phone and prospect. We all have it to some extent; whether it's fear of rejection, or fear of not saying the right thing, or fear of a conrontation; it's there, and it's compounded by all this fancy-schmancy internet, social media stuff, that we all secretly believe is going to propel us to top producer status with a lot less work. WRONG. Some of you have mastered the line of "I get all my business by referral." My thoughts to them are, "do you do the average 5 sides a year, or are you a triple digit producer?" If it's the former, then you probably could be doing more with your time than waiting on referrals. If it's the latter, then you've probably done a lot of phone work in your life.
I do social media concierge stuff, so I'm ultra wrapped up in that as my job, but every day I have to set aside time to SELL. When you are a Real Estate Agent, or a better term, a small business owner, you have to keep your eye on the front end of your operation all the time.
So NOTHING hacks me off more than some REAL ESTATE AGENT that thinks he's all that, and that he doesn't have time to listen or have an intelligent conversation with someone. The Agent that hangs up on people; that gets angry or abusive; That agent thinks she can break the rules of engagement in Sales. I'm not a pushy sales guy. If I don't answer your questions quickly enough because you don't really want to talk with me, then don't pick up the PHONE! Every time you pick up the phone you enter an Arena. HANGING UP on someone is the equivalent of throwing in the towel. Why not use that golden opportunity to enhance your phone skills and convince that poor vendor that he really needs to find another occupation because no one is going to buy his wares?
Sure, you're getting hit up all the time as Agents, why? Because typically, you are the gateway to purchase transactions in the United States. This gives many of you a distorted sense of reality when it comes to dealing with prospective vendors. 9 times out of 10, that vendor knows more about the subject that he's calling about than you do. The insurance guy knows more about that than you. The title gal knows more about title than you. The mortgage lady knows more about mortgages than you, and even the social media person probably knows more about that than you. But guess what? You know more about real estate than your customers; that's why you're in business. Does it bother you when someone punks you on the phone? Of course it does. How many of us have been pleasantly surprised when we have chosen a new product or service because of the additional value, features, benefits, etc.? It happens all the TIME. Is every product and service a good one? No. However, you should be able to clearly articulate to your propsective vendor, just like you articulate to your prospective client why that's the case. Get it?
All I'm saying is, realize you're in SALES. Realize that a person that takes the time to actually call you and introduce themselves and their product or service is the essence of Sales. Realize that if someone calls you consistently, then they are probably going to be a top producer somewhere and be successful sometime. Realize that the person calling you is already nervous and is trying to make it in the world. Realize that the person on the other end of the phone might be a great prospect, after all, they have to live somewhere. Realize that ultimately we should treat others the way we want to be treated and we should have the decency to pull the "no soliciting" sign off our persona because we are all "solicitors," and if you're not a "solicitor" of some kind, then you can't be doing that much business!
That's my rant, now I'm done.
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