Real
estate prospecting is an extremely vital
component in developing your real estate
brokerage business. Yet so many agents
make simple mistakes that take them away
from doing the prospecting that will
have them earn and get paid the amounts
of money they want to make each and
every year. Keeping this in mind these
are what I refer to as The 7 Deadly Sins
of Real Estate Prospecting: Not
Doing Enough of It Prospecting
is a great way for you to find the leads
that will become your successfully
closed transactions in the weeks and
months ahead. If you don't do what will
have you find the best people to work
with in your territory your competitors
will find these people and successfully
close transactions with them instead.
Many, many people will be buying,
selling, and leasing property in your
territory in the months ahead. You have
to be willing to do what will have you
find these people before your
competitors begin forming solid
relationships with them. Prospecting
With a Poor Attitude Do
you ever notice how sometimes a person's
attitude can change your own attitude?
In addition to this have you ever
noticed how quite often what you expect
to happen does happen? People respond to
you based upon what you are putting out
to them. When you have a great,
positive, fun-loving attitude people
will like talking to you more. And when
your prospects need a real estate agent
they are more likely to remember the
agent who made the best impression on
them. Make that agent be you. When
you begin your prospecting sessions
coming from a positive attitude and an
expectation that you are definitely
going to uncover some solid leads, you
will often prove yourself to be 100%
right. Not
Following-Up With Prospects If
you've ever uncovered leads from
prospecting and weeks or months later
found out that these same people listed
their property or completed a
transaction with another agent, you know
exactly what I'm talking about here.
Doing your prospecting is only part of
the formula for success in your real
estate business. Following-up on the
leads you've uncovered and enrolling
your prospects in working with you
exclusively is really what being a
successful real estate agent is all
about. Prospecting
the Wrong People Are
you prospecting the people you ideally
want to be working with? Are you
prospecting in the geographical area
that has the properties you really want
be working on? Sometimes agents get to
the point where they now want to work on
transactions that will earn them more
commission dollars per transaction than
what they've normally worked on in the
past. If this is true for you make sure
you are prospecting the people who will
be closing the exact kind of
transactions you want to be working on. Not
Asking Your Prospects for Referrals When
you are prospecting you will maximize
your results when you ask your prospects
who they know who may be interested in
buying, selling, or leasing in the near
future. If any of the people you are
prospecting right now aren't looking to
do anything themselves you might as well
ask them who else they know who may be
looking to buy, sell, or lease. And if
you have the great attitude we talked
about above you are much more likely to
have these people want to refer you to
someone. Remember...when you're
prospecting you're not just prospecting
the person you're speaking with in the
moment. When you ask the right questions
you can also begin prospecting everyone
else they know. Not
Continually Mailing to Your Prospects Mailing
to your prospects can literally be
considered as "prospecting in
print." If you have a territory
with hundreds or thousands of prospects
that you'd like to work with there's no
way that you can possibly talk to each
and every one of these people every
single month. Mailing to them, though,
allows you to get their attention and
remind them of who you are every single
month. You just have to be committed to
doing it. The more you mail the more you
increase the probability that one of
your prospects will be looking to buy,
sell, or lease right around the time
that one of your mailers arrives with
your name and phone number on it staring
them right in the face. Discontinuing
Your Prospecting Once You Generate
Activity This
is one of the biggest, most common
mistakes that many agents make. To be
the best you can be in your real estate
career you need to be prospecting
constantly. As you already know there's
a time lag from the moment you identify
a prospect to the time you successfully
close a transaction with them. If you
get busy with activity and stop or
substantially reduce your prospecting
you will most definitely experience a
gap in your incoming commissions in the
weeks and months ahead. Don't delude
yourself about this. Know with certainty
that whenever you slow down your rate of
prospecting you will substantially
decrease your income for the year.
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