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All Top Producer Tips & Secrets

Tip #12 - Ask for the Business

 

Ready to jump start your business? I've got an idea that is guaranteed to provide you with ten quality leads at absolutely no cost.

Here goes: the average socially active person knows about 100 people on a first name basis. Get a blank pad of paper or fire up your word processor and start making your list of everyone you know on a first name basis who lives within your real estate service areas. Include your family members, friends, neighbors, people you know from church, or the gym, or the PTA. Keep thinking about your different spheres of contact and keep writing until you get to 100.

Next, gather the telephone numbers of each of those people. You can find just about anybody's number on whitepages.com.

Now comes the hard part. Pick up the telephone and begin calling every person on your list. Say something like this, "Susie, this is Kate from down the street. Hey, I'm not sure if I ever mentioned this to you, but I'm a real estate agent and I'm always looking for more people to help buy or sell a home or investment property. Do you mind if I ask you a question? Are you and Bill planning on buying or selling a home or investment property within the next 12 months? Do you know anybody who is?"

Keep careful notes on every conversation. Follow up on every lead. By the time you get through your list you will have at least ten quality leads to jump start your business.

Is it really that easy? It's not easy at all. Making prospect calls and asking for business is hard. If it were easy everyone would be an agent and every agent would be successful. It's been said that real estate is a simple hard business: simple to understand, hard to do.

Want proof? Thousands of agents will read this message. Less than 2% will actually do it. If you're among the 2%, let me know. You're the kind of person I'd like to add to my list of people I know on a first name basis!

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Let me take one more shot at driving home this message.
 
We're in the toughest real estate market most agents have ever experienced. Agents are scrambling to find the "magic bullet" that's going to make everything better. Some are staking their future on internet leads. Others are diving into the short sale business. But the most direct and reliable way to make money as a real estate agent has never changed. 
 
The people most likely to do business with you are those who already know you, like you, and trust you. If you'll get to know enough people, ask for their business, and provide great service, you'll survive and thrive in any market. 
 
Oh, that "guarantee" I mentioned earlier...if you call 100 people to ask for their business and don't get at least ten quality leads, lunch is on me!