Five keys to successful prospecting

Prospecting is without a doubt the most important activity in real estate sales. It is how we build a successful business. Unfortunately, many real estate agents struggle with prospecting.

When I train real estate agents I talk about these five principals:

1. Consistency

Do not expect to go out door knocking once, make one phone call, send one email or flyer and have your phone ringing endlessly because of it. People will only remember us if they see us or hear from us again and again and again. We must be consistent in our prospecting. The opinions vary from 7-20 times before they remember us. Keep on doing it.

2. Frequency

Delivering flyers once a month vs once a week. Sending an email once a month vs once a week. Making a phone call once a year vs once a quarter. The more often people hear from us or see us, the more effective our prospecting is, again because of being front of mind, they do not forget who we are. 

3. Quantity

Essentially prospecting is a numbers game. so the more we do it the more opportunities we will have. Making 20 calls a day will open more opportunities than 5 phone calls a day (the average number of phone calls a real estate agent makes in a day). 10,000 flyers will create more opportunities than 1000 flyers. Simply because of the exposure. 

4. Probing questions

In our conversations with people, our aim is to ask probing questions that help us understand their situation. Helps us understand who they are and where they are in the selling process. Are they ready to sell? Are they 5 years away from selling? What are the things that would make them make a move? Understanding these will help us help them and build a relationship.

5. Luck

Yes, I know luck has got nothing to do with it. The more I do the luckier I become, etc. but luck does play a role in successful prospecting. I know of salespeople who went door knocking once and on the second door the owners said yes I want to sell. People who made three phone calls and got a listing on the third call. Sometimes in prospecting we just need to be in the right place at the right time. It does however require us to do.

If you are working on building a successful business in real estate, implement these five keys into your business.