Are you looking for a way to increase sales without working insane hours? If so, a slight change in your Belief Model is all you might need.

What's a belief model? Simply put, it says our actions are based on our beliefs, and our beliefs are based on what we perceive to be true.

And for most occasions, it works out just fine when our perception of the situation is on target. But what happens when what we perceive to be true isn't true any longer? Well, then, our belief is based on a myth, and the action we take is probably pushing us in the wrong direction.

As a busy Realtor you might believe that all prospects are good prospects, with each one warranting a large amount of your time. This is based on the perception that each prospect will have an equal impact on your business. From that belief stems the action most people take, which is to work long hours trying to market to all of those prospects.

I can't tell you how many Realtors I've seen working 60 to 70 hour weeks mistakenly operating under this detrimental system. And to make matters worse, they all think it's normal. As if becoming a Realtor and working long hours were one and the same. Not true, unless you're operating with the outdated premise that you need to market to every prospect.

Change that belief and something almost magical happens.

"All right, Brian, I'll bite," you might be thinking. "How can I get more business without working an insane number of hours doing it?"

I'm glad you asked.

1. Throw out the notion that you need to market to all your prospects.

   With so many people in the real estate market today, you couldn't effectively market to all of them even if you wanted to. Instead pick two or three segments (e.g., 1st-time homebuyers, retired couples) and focus exclusively in those areas.

   The good news is once you've learned how to best market to those prospects – where you're most likely to meet and how to best communicate with them – you'll spend considerably less time reinventing the wheel with each new person.

2. Identify the prospects who've had the most financial impact on your business.

   I'm sure many of you have heard of the Pareto Principle, and for those of you who haven't, that's fine too. Pareto was the name of a French farmer who discovered one day that 80 percent of his crops were produced by 20 percent of his garden. He was so intrigued by this phenomenon that he looked in other areas of his life, found the same to be true, and presto, the 80/20 rule was born.

   And in the world of real estate, the same is true. Ask yourself, "Where does 80 percent of my success come from?" In other words, is there a particular segment of your business (e.g., 1st-time home buyers, retirees, in town homebuyers) that made up an inordinate amount of your revenue? And with the lessons you've already learned in dealing with those groups (e.g., where to meet them, what objections they might have and how to best overcome them), could you then focus your business in those areas and actually make more sales with less hours in the office?

   You bet.

   Recommendation: Write down your clients over the past six months, and the amount of revenue your business made in each transaction.

   So as an example, let's say over the past six months you bought or sold houses for three 1st-time homebuyers, two retired couples, and one "in-town" homebuyer. Let's also say the average revenue figures for your business were as follows:

   1st-time homebuyers: $1,500
   Retired couples: $2,500
   In-town homebuyer: $3,500

   And if that were the case, you would then move on to the next step.

3. Focus your prospecting efforts on the group with the highest per transaction figure.

   In this example, that means targeting more "in town" homebuyers since they had the biggest revenue impact (per transaction) on your business.

   So instead of always having to start from scratch with everyone you meet (read: spend more time in the car figuring out what they want), you can go in with a few ideas based on your past experience, and take it from there.

   The upshot is you're making more sales, working fewer hours, and you're a lot less stressed from trying to cater to every prospect you meet.

Published: August 18, 2004

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As a popular speaker and author of the resource How to Get More Business in Today's Tough Market, Brian specializes in helping busy agents get more leads and close more deals - even in a market as "challenging" as this. For a free report on 2 Easy Ways to Get More Business in Today's Tough Market, just email my office and we'll send it right over.