The market is changing and I am asked all the time, how should I adapt? It’s really very simple and every trainer, successful agent and manager knows the answer, get back to basics! There have been many articles written about the market and online sales courses are much more frequented—agents want answers. They want to prepare for whatever lies ahead. Let me remind you what you need to do.

Your Clients

I have said this over and over again as well as many others, your past clients are your best source of business. Keep in touch with them on a regular basis and tell them about the local marketplace. They want to know what the trends are. You can give them statistics on how many three bedroom homes have sold in the last year or even last month. You can give them the number of homes that have come on the market in the past month compared to the same time last year. The one caution I have to give you is that you must keep all information positive. No one wants to hear negative.

Your Prospecting

Make up a plan that is doable for your prospecting. This is the most neglected part of our business and should be routine so that your business is consistent. I think you should prospect at least an hour a day. That seems so easy, but we are human and “things” get in the way of doing what is difficult for most of us. However, if you bring it down to a doable size (one hour a day) and have a plan and a script, you will see results! I recently read a true story about a man who has cerebral palsy and how the only job he could get was going door-to-door selling household products where he was on straight commission. This man had a plan and executed it every day of his life because it is the only thing that he could do to take care of himself and feel good about his life; and, he did it in great pain every day. All we need to do is prospect one hour per day. It’s easy.

You know what you do best. It could be cold calling, seeing FSBOs, calling expired listings, farming a territory, farming your network of acquaintances, calling on local businesses, or holding multiple open houses every week and following up on all that you met. Whatever it is, do it one hour per day, every day.

Keep Track

You want to keep a simple record of how you are doing. It is motivating to see results and sometimes those results may be in the number of calls made rather than just the number of sales made or listings obtained.

You also need to know how much actual money you have made on each sale and where that business came from so that you know where to concentrate the majority of your efforts. Why spend hours calling on expired listings when most of your business is from your past clients? Spend hours contacting your clients. They may not be moving, but they do know of people who are.

Don’t Be Swayed

You need to create your own plan and you cannot listen to anyone else. Others will tell you that you are wasting time on certain prospecting, don’t be influenced by such statements. The most successful person is the one who knows where he is going and will not be deterred by anyone until he gets there. It’s hard when you hear the top agent in your office tell you that cold calling is a waste of time. Maybe it is for the top agent because they are much more productive calling their past clients or farming an area that they have sold in for ten years. You are good at cold calling and getting appointments. This is just an example of how others will make comments about prospecting, they mean well, but only you know what works for you.

Success

Enjoy your success. Every time you get an appointment. Every time you get a listing. Every time you make a sale. Every time you cash a commission check. Enjoy the moment. Celebrate. No matter what the market is doing, if you work on the basics you will be successful. This is a truth - year in and year out.

Published: November 16, 2001

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