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Relentlessly Prospect
"By consistently focusing on the correct activities on a consistent disciplined basis and with a high level of skill and competence, you will have a continuous flow of quality listings." - Geoff Buck - Download FREE Prospecting Planner. A sales person's primary focus should be on continually securing quality exclusive listings.
The benefits to you in becoming a first class lister include the following :
With prospecting you have only two options. 1. Active prospecting - you find vendors. 2. Passive prospecting - vendors find you. If you rely on passive prospecting your career in Real Estate may not last for too long. Active prospecting; successfully listing a property, achieving a result and giving outstanding service to all involved is the only way to be successful. Other sellers will then actively seek you out as a "speciality item", a person who achieves results. The combination of always actively prospecting linked with a high degree of personal referrals will assure you of a substantial income, satisfaction and recognition. With successful prospecting, discipline, commitment, knowledge and competence are the key issues. Best of all it is challenging, enormously satisfying and financially rewarding. Many sales people are reluctant to prospect. Why? Fear of refusal? Console yourself with the fact that a refusal is not life threatening. However, refusal to do any prospecting is almost certainly "job threatening"! Some research indicates that as many as 80% of sales people who fail, do so because of incorrect or insufficient prospecting. "Relentless prospecting" is activity based. Successful ways of obtaining listings vary from locality to locality and from sales person to sales person. "Accept the challenge of continuously prospecting without reservation or doubt. Risk the disappointment of losing occasionally so that you may experience the exhilaration of victory." - (Anon). It is estimated that there are approximately 30 methods of prospecting. It is generally accepted that there are 7 to 10 key activities that produce approximately 80% of the listings. The successful producers in our industry focus on the key activities that produce the best result. The common denominator with these people is that they discipline themselves and have simple straightforward, regular methods. Once you know the methods and continually use them, your success is virtually assured.
Like waves on the ocean, the peaks and troughs of the vast majority of offices and individual sales people suffer from "The Wave Pattern" in their income stream. Peaking one month and then crashing on to shore, the next in a continuous cycle of highs and lows. This affects a whole range of aspects of their life from income to self confidence, often creating excessive and unnecessary stress and worry.
In Real Estate your results are directly linked to the number of contacts you have with prospective customers. A phrase used by psychologists, managers and trainers is "call reluctance". It can strike new or highly experienced sales people. Call reluctance is often evidenced by low level prospecting activity. Its cause may be deep seated and related to past experiences, a lack of clearly defined goals, poor focus, complacency or laziness, low self confidence, limited self motivation or poor skills. Different types of people face different problems. If you are negative you would probably take few risks and expect the worst. Other sales people over-analyse people, some are afraid to use their network of personal friends, associates and relatives for fear of being perceived as "too pushy". Some find self promotion distasteful or have difficulty and are intimidated by certain groups of people, ie. persons of wealth or "power". "The thick skinned fearlessness expected in sales people is more fiction than fact. It turns out that many sales people are struggling with bone shaking fear of prospecting. This fear tends to persist regardless of what they sell, how well they have been trained, or how much they personally believe in the products worth". - Quoted from "The psychology of call reluctance" by Dudley & Shannon.
Methods of Contacting Prospective Sellers
1. Establish an
attainable income goal.
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