Technology TransactionsAvoid Roller Coaster Income with Scheduled Prospecting
Most agents know deep down inside that they need to do a better job of
prospecting in order to increase business. They know that true long-term sales
success is built through the work of looking for new business but they do not
do the work. Unlike those agents, if you want to succeed you must provide
service to clients once you have acquired them, but you have to acquire them
before you can serve them at all.
The guy who builds the best mousetrap only has a great mousetrap. He still
has to find someone to buy it. Finding someone to buy it is often harder than
creating the mousetrap.
Rule one to better prospecting: Schedule a time to do it.
You should schedule your prospecting block for the same time daily. This time should be when you are the sharpest, at your peak performance. For me it
was early in the morning. I did my prospecting calls first thing in the
morning, because that was when I had the most energy. Your time schedule may
be different.
For most of us, if the prospecting is not scheduled it doesn’t get done.
The time for prospecting has to be treated as if it were a listing or buyer
appointment. None of us would ever think of being late for or skipping either
of those. You can’t afford to miss a prospecting appointment. The
prospecting appointment feeds your listing and buyer appointments. By sticking
to your prospecting appointments, you will have many more listing or buyer
appointments to work with.
Rule two: Stay the course.
When you get busy -- because you will -- don’t stop prospecting. Stay the
course. Agents who stop prospecting ride the roller coaster of income: one
month, great; the next, nothing. The ups and downs of income are caused by the
inconsistency of their prospecting. Resolve today to keep up the momentum of
prospecting!
This problem happened to one of my new clients recently. She was doing a
fantastic job prospecting, and she created more leads and business than she
could handle. She then stopped prospecting. You can guess what happened; she
took the big swan dive. We coached her "to raise the bar" instead of stopping
what’s working. What I mean by "to raise the bar" is to qualify your leads
harder. You have the opportunity to select better clients. You have earned
the right through your prospecting to work only with highly motivated buyers
and sellers. The more motivated people will treat you better, respect you more
and do what you say. What a great reward for prospecting! More money and
easier people to work with - who wouldn’t like that?
Rule three: Don’t worry about what you can’t control.
Don’t worry about the people who are not home when you call. Don’t worry
about the people who are negative. Don’t concern yourself about the best time
to call. Don’t worry about the conditions of the field -just play.
The field conditions are the same for us all. Nobody takes seriously the
football coach who says that the rain caused his team to lose -- was it only
raining on his side of the field?
Focus on what you do have right now. What you have is the person on the
other end of the line. Focus on serving this person and seeing if you can
solve this person’s problem if it’s an expired or FSBO. If this is a cold
call, or if you are calling someone in your farm, try to connect with the
person and check for motivation to sell. If you find someone who doesn’t have
motivation, move on to the next person. There is a four-letter word successful
sales people say all day -- it’s NEXT!
To be effective at prospecting you must make a firm commitment to do it
daily without fail. It’s amazing what a few calls every day will yield after
a year. Start today and stay with it. Stay the course through the ups and
downs. Don’t worry about things that are out of your control. Regular
prospecting leads to control of your business and of your income. It frees you
to work the schedule you desire. Don’t delay -- start today.