Why does every car freak share the same dream?
The dream is to locate a rare 1965 (insert favorite car here) in a barn being sold by a blind old geezer that wants to unload the car for next to nothing as it goes to someone that will appreciate it (us!) and real estate agents dream of the same thing replacing car with client. A client that has never spoken to another real estate agent and has every tick box filled regarding income, credit, checkbook in hand, reasonable expectations, house already selected, etc…
Some real estate professionals take it a step further and believe falsely that a lead is only good for a short time. The similarities are insane and the possibility of either is remote at best. If we remember that our competitors have some really bad follow up according to the NAR. If our follow sucks just a little less than the majority of our contemporaries, we shine. We need to allow timing to work for us by being in their mind as often as possible. Referrals do not have an expiration date or a Best Before Date stamped on their bottoms. They are living, breathing creatures with lives of their own that get complicated and busy and they balance a lot of stuff just like us.
I didn’t realize but apparently many people who want to buy homes are too busy to talk on the phone. They don’t return our calls. They are not serious about buying a home. The reasons go on for as long as the excuse provider has breath. OMG…Call them and let them know you exist to help them achieve their dreams. We need to stop feeding ourselves with all the reason not to call and just pick up the phone.
This is according to many real estate agents and loan officers I have spoken to, including ones that have worked for me as their manager and as their client. This reluctance puts the onus on the consumer who wants to work to get us to help them buy or sell a home which in the end provides us with our only form of income, a nice big check? This doesn’t work and it never will. Sure we have to value our time but we first we need to value their business. If we value each lead as the 6 to 15 thousand dollar commission check we are far better off than if we value the lead for what it cost out of pocket to receive the referral.
Leads, referrals, whatever we call them are money on the table, not money out of pocket. We take it off the table or someone else will and we will be left complaining that no one is motivated to buy houses while millions of homes sell every year. That is defeatists and deadly to our career. Look at each lead and place a commission value on each based on whatever information you have and they will become a lot more valuable and you will call them without all the baggage of the reasons that you don’t.
Not being a sexist or a…whatever I may be, but when I was a single man…when I got a woman’s phone number I didn’t sit there and hope she would call me? I called her and I kept calling her periodically afterwards so that I could catch her and try to move the relationship forward. I am not good looking enough to believe that the woman would call me…and I never did.
When I was in real estate I worked under the impression that if I was the one that wants something from them, I will not get it unless I asked for it. I couldn’t ask for it unless I called and if I couldn’t get the other person (female or client) on the phone the first time I would pursue the goal until it was reached or her lawyer called me back with threats of a restraining order. This is the same way I have always approached pursuit of the end goal. Like a woman that I wanted to date. If I want to get to the relationship moving along I had better call until the timing is right and she is at available physically and emotionally. BTW…not every call worked out the way I wanted just like not every lead works out the way we want. But if I didn’t try I wouldn’t know. If I tried real hard and created a method I had more success because I was organized.