Dear Zuess,
I’m putting in the work, but I’m still not getting any good leads. I don’t understand – I’m holding open houses, I’m going to more social events, and I’m even calling up friends and acquaintances to tell them that I am in real estate. I’m still not getting any clients – it’s very discouraging. Can you help?
Pat
Hi Pat, Thanks for writing. It’s frustrating to put in the uncomfortable work without reaping any immediate rewards. First off, good for you for getting out there! It’s an essential first step. Now, it’s time to learn the art of creating natural conversations. You used the word “tell” in your letter, and that gives me a clue as to what might be going wrong. We all know that people don’t want to be sold, but the newest mantra is that people don’t want to be told.
So how the heck do we have conversations that don’t involve telling? This is where the Nature of Real Estate approaches things differently than most coaching companies. We use specific definitions for each of the steps involved in selling real estate. See our blog post on these five essential steps
By definition, a conversation is a two-way dialogue that involves the connection of the minds and is about real estate. Let’s break this down a little further:
- A conversation is two-way – it’s not an email or a voice mail. It’s not you telling them. It’s a back and forth exchange of thoughts, ideas, and – most importantly – questions and inquiries.
- A conversation is the connection of the minds. In other words, it’s rapport. Without rapport, there is no relationship and there is no business. You must build rapport before you do anything else.
Take a look at this Nature of Real Estate resource paper on rapport
- A conversation has to be about real estate; only the conversations that contain an element of real estate will bring you business. Most people are curious about real estate and are interested in talking about the market. If you’re not sure how to bring up what you do in a conversation, it’s easy: just ask them what they do and be authentically curious about their answer. Take time to listen, and you’ll find the 9 times out of 10, they will eventually want to know what you do (at least, if they like you they will!)
Mastering the art of natural and deliberate conversations will give you the opportunity to move more people.