Whaaat? How can you say fishing is like selling Real Estate? Easy, in both you spend countless hours prospecting the waters for the big one, catch several small and mid size ones along the way to keep and eat, and if you are like me, sad to leave after a full day of it, and can't wait to get out for more the next day. Now that one run on sentence sums it up, let me digress and give you the details in paragraph form.
Prospecting- Think back to when you were a new agent, and had that first hot lead, that first prospect. Now think back to when you went fishing for the first time. My Dad was the first one to take me fishing, he showed me the ropes. Often helped me bait my hook with a dirty little worm, cast my line, watch the bobber, and set the hook when it went down. When I got to the point where I could do all this on my own, he still kept an eye on me, acted as my coach. But we had a system for catching bluegills on Sugarloaf Lake, and it worked. Basically, I did as I was told and I practiced that and eventually caught fish. My first years in Real Estate were the same way. I did what I was told, and reeled in a few sales. Eventually my Dad, taught me to cast lures, with a different rod and reel and for bass. By this time we were in a boat of our own, with different gear on a different lake. Bigger fish, more often with better tools. With Real Estate, I remember the day I bought my first laptop, digital camera, bought a personal website etc, in the hopes of landing bigger sales more often.
The beauty of prospecting in Real Estate, and why I didn't likely get bored in this business, is you can reinvent yourself every so often in order to get new business. I am learning new ways to fish and progressing all the time. I learned with a worm, a cane pole, a hook and a bobber. A while back after fishing with lures, and a spin cast reel for bass and pike for several years, I took up spinner fishing for trout. I needed waders, a spinning reel, and different lures. Just recently I added to that by trying my hand at fly fishing for trout, and bait fishing for Salmon and Steelhead. Same river, just a different approach for more and bigger fish. Last year I bought my first boat. A 25' big lake boat to troll Lake Michigan for Salmon and Steelhead. I've invested in technology. (The analogy loses a bit here if you account that my boat is almost 30 years old and isn't the "latest" technology.) In Real Estate, I prospected FSBO's and expireds, went to By Referral Only, began investing in websites, to re-invent my focus and to actually maintain focus while selling.
Systems- The key to good fishing and good sales in Real Estate is systems. When I hit the river for a weekend, I have checklist, (sometimes mental). Boots, waders, rod, reel, line, lures, net, vest etc. My Real Estate practice also uses checklists. Listings have their own checklist, prospecting gets scheduled regulary, I account for my income, and so on. If you buy all the fishing gear on the planet, but don't know how to use it and don't prepare to use it properly, the first day of trout season in the cold water and semi darkness, fumbling to tie a not, casting in to the trees and losing big fish will not lead to success.
Practice- A lucky few can hit the water a time or two a year and land a fish. A lucky few (we all know them) can walk in the office twice a month and close a deal. However for longevity in this business, and long term success in fishing, you must practice. Steelhead and salmon fisherpeople always talk about going 2 for 5 or 3 for 7. Landing versus hook ups. You don't ever hear Realtors saying I went 3 for 4 on listing appointments this week. But mentally they are. The more polished and practiced you are in your delivery of a lure or a listing presentation, the better chance you have at success. The more time you spend on the water, the more you learn about when fish bite, where they will bite, what they will bite on. Same is true for Real Estate. There are lifelong students of this industry that go to every seminar, broker open house and free lunch under the sun. But they aren't out their "on the water". I was at a outdoors convention recently and there was a gentleman there who was displaying his hand tied flies. A real work of art. I asked him if they caught fish. He looked at me and said with a straight face, "I don't know, I've never tried catching fish with them before". If you buy or make the greatest listing presentation in the world and never get in front of potential listing clients with it, you will never list a house either.
In closing, let me just say this. There are days I prepare, have practiced and am ready to land the big one, but I mis-step on a log or rock and fall over in the river. It's not fun, but I get up and keep fishing. I've also had a great listing presentation, and not made the sale. But I learn not to step on the floating log again, and I learn from my mistakes in real estate too. That's what keeps me coming back.
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