Want to know how to generate prospects today? Free? Guaranteed? Of course you do. The fact is you probably don't know how, because you are too new or you do know how, but you're suffering from inertia.

Before I go further, I must warn you that what you about to read will strip you of every excuse you can think of for not prospecting every day.

Here's the setting:

Realtor Bill Calhoon, broker/owner of Orlando Real Estate Professionals opened for business about six months ago, and decided he was going to make sales training available for his agents. The easy thing for him to do would be to bring in a trainer and for him to take care of other more pressing issues, which many brokers tend to do, while the training was being conducted in another part of the office.

Instead, he sat through the entire 12 hours of training with his agents.

"I wanted to see what I was getting for my money," Calhoon said. "I wanted to make sure the trainer was training to my standards, and I wanted to be a reinforcement for the skills being taught and the action plans suggested by the trainer."

He hired me. Frankly, I do not believe the performance results would have been there if Bill hadn't lent his authority to the training. His presence said to his agents "This is important to me. You are important to me."

I made an assignment for the agents in training to bring in five referred prospects each within three days. So when the prospecting assignment was made, Bill encouraged his agents carry them out. His weight, not the trainer's instructions, made the difference.

Here is what they were told to do:

Ask everyone you meet this question: "I was wondering, do you know anyone who might be thinking of buying or selling a home?"

Every agent came back the next class with at least one referred prospect. One had 18. Not one had a "something came up" excuse.

Most of the agents had been in the business all of two weeks. Some just started that week. Some were still waiting on their nametags and business cards. They had not had time to build a contact list for mailings, post cards, newsletter, or publish a website. They didn't own laptops.

They had every excuse to not prospect. But they did.

About halfway through the listing training, the agents were told to drive neighborhoods and write down telephone numbers of homeowners attempting to sell their own homes.

Nine newly licensed agents produced 49 referred prospects in three days. They had the prospect's name, phone number and the name of the referring party.

Three days later, Realtor Barry Stephens brings in 23 FSBO listings. Someone forgot to tell him that in a good market like Orlando, you can't find FSBO's.

Barry explained how he got the 23 FSBO's, "We drove around for about an hour."

That's it.

How many years have these two strategies been taught? Probably before the invention of the automobile. It proves an old point to me. Agents need to start at the beginning to make sure the fundamentals are learned. What new agents need to learn are the basics of prospecting and follow-up. What matters is implementation.

Here's my challenge to you, New Agent:

1. Don't wait for something to happen. You can prospect 24/7 24 hours if you wish, at no cost, and no waiting. Just learn to ask for the business.

2. Drive neighborhoods with focus. Focus on getting telephone numbers. I know the Do-not-call law is a problem, but it's not a reason not to prospect.

My hat is off to these new agents. They are off to a great start with a broker who will continue to help them with their scripts and encourage them to prospect knowing that what they are doing is doable, and it can be done today.

Published: January 17, 2005

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David Fletcher has been a Florida licensed real estate broker and new homes sales and marketing consultant for 30 years. Along the way, he has sold more than $3 billion in new homes and condominium products for developers and builder/developers. He has been broker of record for 16 rental conversions and marketing consultant in 29 lender workouts for major communities and condominium projects, a featured speaker at the National Association of Realtors, and chaired the Florida Home Builder Association's Sales and Marketing Council. In 2008 he was named a 'Lifetime Achiever' by Keller Williams Realty's International Division. You may contact him at or call him at 407.234.2349.