Reposted with permission from Matt Bonelli.
So many real estate agents want more business.
You may be thinking about that right now, too.
The problem is that everyone is looking for the silver bullet or the next new thing that will funnel in the highest quality leads.
The reality is that there is plenty of business right in front of you. You just don’t have the right relationship in place to receive the business.
There is certainly nothing wrong with buying online leads. It can be quite lucrative if you spend enough money and put the right systems in place. For most agents, though, with online leads comes stress — lots of stress.
Instead, why not grow your business while having more fun?
How do you do it? Pick up the phone.
Have lots of great, value added conversations with your database. Make the focus about them, and stop thinking about yourself and converting people into transactions.
Increasing your influence is one of the best ways to attract more business. You do that by caring.
The Law of Influence from The Go-Giver states, “Your influence is determined by how abundantly you place other people’s interests first.”
Other people’s interests first. It’s about them, not you.
Okay, but how do you do this and actually increase business?
First, focus on making the call. Schedule time in your calendar that is to be used exclusively for making calls into your database. Pick up the phone and use the five step calling process:
- Greet
- Ask a question
- Reason for your call
- Ask a question
- Conclude in three to five minutes
Most importantly, do not force a real estate conversation or bring up anything about business unless they do first. These are simple, quick and effective calls.
Listen to how the person on the other end answers the questions, and listen for pain and pleasure.
Identify areas where you can add value. If they have a real estate need, great! If they have some other type of need, that’s great, too.
Focusing on your people and engaging in a meaningful way will help you stay top of mind so that you are the person they call when they or a friend of theirs has a need to buy or sell.
Don’t think it works?
There are several agents around the country doing this right now and closing over $20 million worth of business each year by themselves.
Just listen to this interview with Jen Egbert in Boulder, Colorado.
So pick up the phone, connect with your people and watch your business grow.
Matt Bonelli is a manager and broker associate for Turpin Realtors’ Chatham office in Chatham, New Jersey. You can follow him on Twitter or learn more about him on LinkedIn.
