MYTH #3: You Have to Pester (er, Cold Call) Strangers to Build a Successful Business
Some people have it, some don't. The desire and willingness to cold call, door knock and network, that is. I'll bet many competent future real estate agents have been deterred from their calling, thinking that they had to spend their lives bothering people to get their business. Not true! I am living proof of that and so are countless other successful real estate agents.
Strangers are probably not your best source of business anyway. Many real estate agents primarily prospect to strangers with newspaper advertising, web placement, bus bench ads, even billboards, but these self-promotion techniques are expensive. I've found that the agents who attribute their success to these techniques are the ones who could not pay the bills relying on a referral-based model. In other words, they don't get many referrals! Possibly because they are spending most of their time and energy on massive marketing projects rather than focusing on doing a good job for the clients they already have.
I've known many agents who operate this way. Their marketing efforts are legendary. They blanket their farm area with thousands of postcards, harass every expired listing, advertise on the radio and TV and pay big bucks for top placement on search engines. And they do get a lot of business, so I guess you could say these efforts are successful. But that's not the way I'd want to build my business.
(If the above sounds good to you, see if you can get a refund for this book. It won't be much use to you.)
It doesn't have to be that way. You can build a successful business on a combination of referrals and warm prospecting, which we'll discuss in depth later. Just know that if the thought of making a hundred phone calls a day asking the poor sap who answers the phone if he "knows anyone who's thinking of buying or selling real estate?" leaves you cold, don't for a minute think that you can't be as successful as you want to be.
Tomorrow... Myth #4
The 7 Myths of a Real Estate Career
Your Love of People Will Make you a Successful Real Estate Agent
Your Love of Houses Will Make You a Successful Real Estate Agent
You Have to Pester (er, Cold Call) Strangers to Build a Successful Business
Your Job Is to Drive Buyers Around and Hold Open Houses
You Will Work Every Weekend
Real Estate Is a Team Sport
You Shouldn't Ever Discount Your Fee
* due to heightened self-imposed stress due to participation in the NAR Convention, I am blogging with material from my book until the end of October (unless something absolutely brilliant strikes me that I MUST write about).
copyright Jennifer Allan 2007
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Tips & Inspirations to Generate Business from the Very Important People Who Know You
Thanks for the informatin Jennifer.. I receive most of my business from leads/referrals.. Doing a very good job for each customer/client is key.
Jennifer,
When I first started I tried cold calling. It was not for me. I'm one who barely can call people I already know! Since then, I have managed to build my business purely on networking with friends and investors and it feels so much less like harassing. I'm glad I read your book!
Morning Jennifer,
This is very thought provoking...I'm currently working FSBO's, Expires, my farm with door hangers and I keep wondering to myself "is what I'm doing begging?" Deep down inside I feel that customers/clients should compelled to do business with us because if they don't, they will miss out.
Thanks for the post.
You know Jennifer,
Those days of obnoxious sales people I believe are just about over. I really believe some have a wish to get hurt. I had one come to my house and i could not get rid of the guy. After 20 minutes I finally told him that he was becoming very iterating and he was going to go out the door on his feet, or airborne.
I have met Real estate salespeople that at the same time are tenacious, and it fits. Although, I have met Real Estate brokers that I cannot sit in the same room for more than tn minutes.
You have a good post here.
Tom
Good post, Jennifer. I hate cold calling. Heck, I hate warm calling (past clients).
I was just at a state realtor convention and attended a talk on prospecting. The speaker said "How many of you are NOT on the do not call list?" In a room of about 100 people, maybe 4 raised their hands. Then he said, "See, not everybody is on it." I think he effectively proved the opposite point from what he intended. I sure don't want to look up 96 people to reach the 4 who might be willing to do business.
Stephen - by warm prospecting, I mean SOI for the most part. And yes, you can certainly do any lead generation activities that appeal to you, as long as you treat the people you connect with like real people that you actually care a little bit about! In fact, a strong SOI strategy is MORE about drawing new people to you (in whatever way you like, including prospecting), rather than simply depending on the people you know TODAY.
My first 22 closings were from people I knew, yet NO ONE that I knew the day I got my license. In other words, they were all people I met through my existing SOI or through my day-to-day activities.
Jennifer, I am new to this business (since April) I can't knock on people's doors, I don't think I can cold call either. I am being told that I have to do these things to generate business and I am just not that kind of person. I am not outgoing and have trouble approaching people. I have to find another way to lead generate!