There's always a lot of new business out there for you to begin working on. Just look at all the agents in your area who are closing transactions with clients you're not working with. This in itself should show you there's constantly new business out there waiting to be discovered. But if you don't have a system in place to locate this new business, you may have a problem.

Imagine for a moment that you had a system in place that brought every lead you'd be interested in working on directly to you. Now wouldn't that really be something? Then all you'd need to do is follow-up with these prospects directly. And your life as a real estate agent would be so much simpler.

But it really doesn't happen like this, does it? Unless of course you already have systems in place that are constantly bringing you a great amount of new leads to continually work on. With this in mind, a great part of your future success in real estate may rely on how effectively you continually generate new, quality leads for you to begin working on.

So what are the best ways for you to generate these leads? Here are some ideas for you: Phone calls, knocking on doors, having one or more Web sites, utilizing E-mail autoresponder (drip) campaigns, sending out an E-newsletter, using direct mail, obtaining referrals, networking, speaking in front of local organizations, advertising, getting publicity, and staying in relationship with your old clients

If you're ever experiencing a shortage of prospects to work with, the problem is not what's going on in your market right now. It's the approach you're utilizing (or not utilizing) to find new prospects for you to begin working with. If all the other agents in your area also had no new prospects to begin working with, we could possibly say that it was the market that was the problem. But as long as your competitors are still closing transactions with people you'd like to be working with, the problem is really your approach for locating new prospects.

If you want to increase your business, take a look at the list I've outlined above, add any approaches of your own as you feel are appropriate, and then do what's necessary to start bringing more new prospects your way. As long as there is one other agent in your territory who is closing the amount of business you'd like to be closing, you can do the same. You just need to focus on doing what will locate your ideal prospects before they begin working with your competitors.

Published: July 9, 2004

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Jim Gillespie, Ph.D., is America's Premier Real Estate Coach℠. He has over 20 years of experience in real estate sales and is a past president of three different real estate companies. His FREE real estate E-newsletter with tips and creative ideas to help agents make more money is now read by over 35,000 agents nationwide. You can subscribe to his FREE E-newsletter by visiting RealEstateSalesCoach.com or contact him at Jim@RealEstateSalesCoach.com.