"Welcome aboard. Here's your desk, here's your phone. Good luck to you."

Are you ready to ... cold call, to knock on doors, to hassle FSBOs and expired listings? Are you excited to hear "no" about 99 times ... on your way to one golden "yes"?

No?

(Don't worry, I won't tell your broker. Your secret is safe with me.)

If you shudder at the thought of chasing down your prey, I have great news for you. You don't have to! There is a whole community of people out there, ready and willing to help you jump-start your business. They're known as your Sphere of Influence ("SOI") and they include your friends, your family, your acquaintances, your friends' friends, your friends' families, your family's friends and your family's families. Every living, breathing person you know (or will know) has the potential to become your biggest cheerleader and to bring business your way without you even asking for it.

Sound good? It gets better.

Here are eight reasons to implement your own SOI-based business model:

1. Generating business from your Sphere of Influence is fun.

A good SOI business model includes lunch dates, housewarming parties, afternoon BBQs, friendly email exchanges, cocktails and football games. Conversely, mass-marketing to strangers involves stuffing envelopes, paying for postcards, licking stamps, disturbing day-sleepers, shaking off rejection and designing newspaper ads.

2. Generating business from your Sphere of Influence is relatively cheap.

Getting your SOI campaign up and running will cost you a few pennies, but no where near what you'll spend promoting yourself to strangers. You'll probably need to design, print and mail a newsletter or two, which might run you around $500 depending on the size of your SOI. You'll probably do Christmas cards and send out some cute "Spring Forward!"-type postcards a few times a year. You might create some high quality magnets and implement a strategy to encourage referrals. You might want to send birthday and anniversary cards, and to invest in a good website and email stationary. But otherwise, all the money you spend marketing to your SOI will be used on entertainment! Hot wings and beer on Sunday afternoon! All-you-can-eat jumbo shrimp at your house on Friday night! Sushi and sake after work with your best friend!

3. Implementing an SOI business model encourages good habits.

When you commit to developing and maintaining a contact database, you're always aware of the new people that you meet. You remember to ask for and write down their contact information, and to input it into your management system. Because the success of your business depends on keeping your SOI current, you tend to be more vigilant with updates (even if you aren't perfect).

You don't forget about the nice lady you met last week at your friend's pool party who said she'd like to talk to you about buying an investment property. You can even find her phone number!

4. An SOI business model minimizes rejection.

I don't think anyone, even the most outgoing, charismatic sales dynamo enjoys rejection. Sure, maybe you can develop a knack for shaking it off, but rejection hurts, even if only for a moment. And when you market yourself to strangers, you encounter rejection all the time. Even if it's nothing more than a lack of response to your expensive advertising, it's disappointing and discouraging. When your business is made up mostly of people who know you, or who were referred to you, you are rarely rejected. You may not get every piece of business that crosses your path, but when you don't, it's usually for a reason other than a lack of salesmanship.

5. An SOI business model increases your accountability.

When you are working with friends or referrals, you want to do a GREAT job! Contrary to what some might believe, you won't be tempted to let things slide just because you have a personal relationship with this person. You will want to impress them and even show off a little. This is good. When you do an exceptional job for one client, you've raised your own bar a little and will feel the need to do as good a job for the next ... and even better for the next. Before you know it, you're an extraordinary real estate agent!

6. Business generated from your SOI is easy business to get.

If your friends and your friends' friends think you're a competent real estate agent (or even just a generally competent person), "interviews" will be a slam-dunk. You'll rarely have to compete for listings and buyers; they're already predisposed to hire you.

7. Business generated by your SOI tends to be better business.

Assuming that the people you know are people you respect and would like to do business with, it just makes sense that the business generated by them will also be business you'll enjoy. On the other hand, people who wander into a real estate office, visit an open house, or answer a newspaper ad may not be as qualified, motivated or loyal as you would like. Agents who depend on such marketing venues often find themselves working with buyers and sellers who aren't ready to move, or who are working with several different agents around town.

8. Once your SOI is "built," you can coast through the rest of your real estate career.

Sure, your SOI will need ongoing maintenance, but you'll never have to do another day of prospecting. If you spend your first 4 years building a truly great SOI, it will take care of you the rest of your days. In the last five years of my career, I relied solely on business generated by my SOI. Thus, my personal promotion expenses were next to nothing and all my working hours were devoted to my (many) clients. I was able to make a six figure income working less than 30 hours a week. That is a beautiful thing.

You can depend on your SOI for 100 percent of your wildly successful real estate business if you like -- without making one cold call. I promise.

Published: May 24, 2007

Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

Jennifer Allan-Hagedorn was a top producing real estate broker in Denver, Colorado before writing her first book in 2007. Since then, she has written several more books about the business of selling real estate including her flagship book: Sell with Soul: Creating an Extraordinary Career in Real Estate without Losing Your Friends, Your Principles or Your Self-Respect, the sequel, If You're Not Having Fun Selling Real Estate, You're Not Doing it Right and her latest, to be released in Spring 2011, Prospect with Soul for Real Estate Agents. Jennifer believes that the secret of success for real estate agents is not in aggressive marketing techniques or hard-core sales pitches, but rather in being competent in one's craft. Competence begets Confidence. And in today's world of increasingly suspicious and ad-weary consumers, having an air of self-assurance and enthusiasm will be far more effective than a slick sales campaign. Jennifer writes and speaks with this philosophy in mind. She preaches that salespeople should follow the Golden Rule in their day-to-day practice of business - treating clients and prospects respectfully, as the salesperson him or herself would like to be treated. Being competent, reliable and fair, and motivated by a true desire to earn a paycheck, not just show up at closing with hand outstretched. She is a regular contributor to several real estate newsletters and magazines, a member of the RE/MAX Hall of Fame and one of the industry's most popular bloggers. You can learn more about Jennifer's "soulful" philosophies at www.SellWithSoul.com. Subscribe Below to Enroll in the Daily Seduction Newsletter Mini-Clinic - Tips and Strategies to Generate Business and Referrals From Your Sphere of Influence! Your Full Name Your Email Address