Lead Generation. REALTORS® have been dreading this sales activity since the days when MLS tear sheets were delivered to real estate offices by donkey.
Whether you are calling your sphere, following up with internet leads or working to sneak real estate into a conversation at a social event, Lead Gen is uncomfortable. it can evoke emotions of guilt and shame and it can activate the gremlin inside of us that tells us we are no good. We fear rejection and judgement and the results are uncertain and inconsistent. What’s not to love?
And, if you don’t have any clients to serve, it doesn’t matter how skilled or caring you are as a REALTOR®.
As a coach, I won’t deal with Lead Gen. My clients build their business without being nagged and we spend our valuable time working on building strategy, planning negotiations, improving customer service, time management and life balance. These are the important aspects of real estate where my expertise is valuable.
My clients don’t need nagging about Lead Gen because they see it differently. They have built the habit of doing it organically, authentically and consistently.
Here’s how:
- Don’t call it Lead Gen. Call it business development. Every business must develop itself and this simple name change helps your inner processing system think differently about it.
- Accept that the only way to succeed in real estate is to have a lot of high-quality conversations with people about real estate.
- Engineer opportunities to have these conversations. This could be following up with online leads, converting a social media follower or helping an older man at the grocery store. The opportunities are endless. Be creative.
- Be completely authentic and transparent. If you are calling up an old friend for business reasons, don’t pretend otherwise. They’ll know.
- Make the conversations about them and valuable to them.
- Accept that most people aren’t moving anytime soon. See business development as an opportunity to build relationships, respect and reputation because most of them know someone who is moving sometime soon.
- Don’t ask for referrals. Read my blog Building a Culture of referrals Part One, Part Two, and Part Three. Ask if they would recommend you if they knew someone was moving (and be prepared for some hesitation in their answer).
- Don’t try to persuade people to move.
- Ask if you can call again in six months. If they give you permission, don’t miss the follow up call.
- Use this simple math. The number of conversations you will need to have each week corresponds directly to the number of transactions you want to do annually. Want to do 20 deals in 2021, have 20 high quality conversation a week. Want to do 50, well you’ll want to talk to 50 people weekly.
- Stop negotiating with yourself about developing your business. Either do it, or don’t do it
