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Real Estate News and Advice |
November 27, 2009 |
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 Prospect Like a Madman: Take a Leaf from Ralph Roberts' Book
by Blanche Evans
 For those of you who have heard of real estate sales legend Ralph Roberts, you will be excited to read an excerpt from his best-selling book "Walk Like a Giant, Sell Like a Madman." If you haven't heard of Ralph Roberts, here is an introduction to sales mastery you won't soon forget. Time Magazine calls him the number one salesperson in America, and he is the leader in the real estate industry. Find out how he got there and how to order a copy of his book and other publications by visiting his web site, Ralph's World. A FEW WORDS ON PROSPECTING An excerpt from Walk Like a Giant, Sell Like A Madman James A. Good is among the finest sales trainers in the nation. His firm, James A. Good & Associates, based in Laguna Beach, CA., has trained more than 100,000 salespeople, mostly stockbrokers for E.F. Hutton and other top firms. When I asked Jim to explain the essence of a good telemarketer, he replied with a story about a trip Jim took as a 17-year-old kid making his first visit to New York City. Young Jim saw all the sights in New York, and finally made his way to the theater district at Broadway and 42nd Street. He wanted to visit a world-famous deli known for the best sandwiches anywhere. Jim got his number and stood in line with about 50 other customers. Finally, as he neared the front of the line, the counterman called the number just preceding Jim's. No one answered. The counterman called it once more, then immediately called Jim's number. "He didn't run out onto the sidewalk, looking for this customer who had given up his place," Jim recalls today. "He didn't waste an instant on this customer who had left. He knew that he had 50 other prospects right there in front of him, waiting for service." The moral of the story is that prospecting for sales doesn't have to be a painful experience. There are always more prospects. Sooner or later you'll meet that one who says "yes." Don't get hung up on the "no's." Just politely thank them for their time and move on. Just ASK Do you think Tom Bagby got to be one of the best network marketers in the nation by being afraid to ask people for business? Hardly. Tom tells me he asks everybody for business -- friends, relatives, the dentist, everybody. Tom's philosophy is summed up in the little word ASK -- always ask, ask in simple words, and keep on asking. "To let some silly fear of rejection negatively impact your financial life is lunacy," Tom says. "Courage sets you free. Remember, if you don't ASK, the answer is always "no!" Realize that prospecting is a numbers game. There are more than 250 million Americans. There are always more prospects. If someone says "no," you can immediately find a dozen more prospects. Don't get fixated on any one prospect. Just move on. Don't Fear Calling Back There's lots of myths about prospecting, like the one that you can only call a prospect once. Jim Good once did a training seminar for E.F. Hutton brokers in Southern California. Jim had the stockbrokers work with a real phone list drawn from a small town. When E.F. Hutton asked Jim back to run the same seminar each month, Jim thought he'd get a different phone list. Instead, Hutton provided the same list from the same small town for each meeting. Well, the surprise was that the list just got better and better. Jim's trainees called the list once a month for three years, and it kept generating more and more business. Why? Because people eventually were ready to buy what the brokers were selling. Even if your prospect doesn't want to buy from you today, they may tomorrow. Remember what I've said before: When people hand me my brochure back and tell me they won't be the market for a home for five years, I tell them I'll still be in business in five years and ask them to keep it. Farm Other Professionals Prospecting doesn't have to be all "cold calls," or just calling random names in the phone book. You can niche market your prospecting. I use the concept of farming a territory. For example, I farm between 10 and 30 lawyers in my territory. I started by calling every one of them, telling them who I was and what I could do for them. I also mail the lawyers a monthly newsletter. I keep reminding them that we could mutually refer business to each other. I also look for sources of multiple sales. I've represented entire subdivisions, ranging in size from about 50 units to some with hundreds of homes. A long time ago I started farming five to 10 insurance agents. Insurance agents know a lot about what people are buying and selling. Many of my customers ask me for referrals for home insurance, and I can send a lot of business to some agents. In return, they refer people to me. I also farm five to 10 banks. Banks know everything about the real estate in my territory, plus they have title to homes that they've foreclosed upon. This is a system in which I've diversified my marketing efforts. When my work with lawyers isn't paying off, my builders may be. When my insurance agents aren't sending me referrals, perhaps my bankers will. Don't Forget the Follow-up One key that too many salespeople neglect is staying in touch with past customers. Remember, you'll get more business from past clients than from cold calling by itself. Always stay in touch. There's lots of ways to do this. Here's one very clever idea. An auto dealership urged its salespeople to cultivate their past customers for new business. The salespeople were sent thank you cards and birthday cards and the like. But it was hard to distinguish their cards from all the other direct mail from other car dealerships. Then, one day, someone had a great idea. Whenever the dealership would sell a car, the salesperson would take the owner's manual from that car and photocopy one page out of it. And then, over the next few years, the salesperson would mail a copy of that one page to the customer on twice a year. And the customers loved it. What was the page? It was the one that showed customers how to reset their clocks on the dashboard. The salespeople would mail it when it was time to switch to Daylight Savings Time in the spring and again just before we "fall back" in the autumn. This little touch of service reminded the customers that their salesperson was looking out for their welfare. What a thoughtful, intelligent way to prospect for more business! I'm sure you can think of similar ways to enhance your prospecting efforts. PROSPECTING CHECKLIST
Related Stories: Ralph Roberts' Key to Success Published: June 29, 1998 Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws. 
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Blanche is a renowned author of five real estate books. Her newest, Bubbles, Booms and Busts: Make Money In Any Real Estate Market, McGraw-Hill, was rave-reviewed by The New York Times. She was also selected from hundreds of real estate experts to contribute to Donald Trump's book, Trump: The Best Real Estate Advice I Ever Received: 100 Top Experts Share Their Strategies, Rutledge Hill Press, and is featured on page 68.
