Since the first offer was made on the first ‘Two-bedroom cave with solid fuel cooking and views to die for” there has been a perception that you have to be a particular type of person to be a successful real estate agent. It is true that some people are more suited to sales but remember, the selling is only a small part of the interaction that we have with our clients. The agent’s roles and functions are wide and various comprising hot and cold prospecting, client nurture, marketing, follow up, negotiation and the list goes on. We invest our hard earned cash attending seminars to learn the “427 Simple Steps to Listing Success”, we listen to audio, watch video and read books and magazines just like this one in an effort to up-skill and get the edge. Don’t get me wrong we always need to be improving our skills and good training and self-improvement is invaluable but if we focus on the prospecting methods that we enjoy the most then it stands to reason that we will be happier and more productive.
Let’s face it, not all agents enjoy door knocking, in fact most hate it. At a recent seminar in a room of 71 highly successful agents only two said that they actually enjoyed it. Most said that they only did it when the boss sent them out to do it and they had experienced little or no success. However, the two agents that did door knock said that it was a major part of their prospecting and were getting great results.
Ask some sales people about cold calling and you get a similar response it doesn’t work for me”. Farming is the same, why do some agents know their farming area backwards? They can quote you days on market, sale prices, market share, withdrawn sales etc. like they’ve swallowed their iPad while others don’t even bother farming. Why it is that one agent can attend a networking function and get five appraisals while others will fall asleep after 5 minutes?
When we are in flow we are doing the tasks that we enjoy and out of flow when doing those that we don’t. Early in our careers we are taught that we must master all the different prospecting methods to be successful. The result is that we can often prospect using methods that will bring either very little or no success at all. This wastes time, effort and resources and will sometimes result in team members leaving for another agency more suited to their style.
We know that most of the agents who are meeting their expected level of success are all working in their flow. They are leveraging the prospecting elements that they enjoy the most and are obtaining further leverage by employing others to do the tasks that they don’t enjoy. How much sense does that make?
If we look at some of the top agents around the country, we see that they often stick to what they enjoy most and they often utilize only one or two of the myriad of prospecting methods available to them. Each of them have different innate skills and through time and experience have identified their natural strengths to maximize the return on their time and their effort.
The Real Estate profession is famous for its high turnover of sales staff. So many potentially great agents have left the industry because Principals and Sales Managers failed to identify where they should best channel their natural skill set. Those who identify and recognize where individual team members are best suited to channel their innate prospecting and listing skills will be well rewarded. They will develop a team of naturally talented individuals all working in flow and leveraging their strengths. Who wouldn’t like a team who is more productive, more successful and a whole lot happier.
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