[quote=Jennifer Allan]Augusta - You ask some great questions and I'd love to answer them one by one. However, I won't do it here as it may not be the right venue.

Big picture though, it's simply a different approach and attitude toward the business of selling real estate. I do not consider myself a salesperson in any sense of the word - I am hired to manage a complicated process with many moving pieces and parts. That's what I enjoy doing and for me - the prospecting part of being a real estate agent is a necessary evil - not something I enjoy at all. Therefore, I created a business model very different from Lucky's because, frankly, if I were forced to prospect using his or her methods, I'd have failed within a month.

But back to the point - I agree that what Lucky is doing seems to be working from a business-generating perspective. And I do hope his(?) clients are well-served in the process, but I think we can all agree that in many cases, real estate agents who focus on prospecting prospecting prospecting are not always the best at customer service. But I apologize if I made assumptions about Lucky's business model based on what I read in this thread.

But I do feel strongly and passionately that the job of a licensed real estate agent is not to become a skilled prospector; it's to be an expert on the process of handling the exchange of real property. Many disagree and I'm fine with that, but I challenge those who are evaluating different approaches to building a business to consider being an exceptional real estate agent who generates referrals from delighted clients rather than someone who is simply a master cold-caller.

And Lucky, you asked for input on how to generate another $100,000 of income; I answered your question from my perspective and experience. I know nothing about postcard campaigns, but I do know what has worked, consistently, for me. [/quote]

Jennifer, with all due respect.....of course we have to provide great service...just common sense really. This is a given. Obviously if we provide crappy service we won't get repeat business or referrals, again....just common sense...no offense.

Like it or not... as a business person....our job IS to generate, (in a cost effective manner) business/leads. (This is what prospecting IS!) There is no more cost effective way, especially for new agents!

As a mature business person, our job is to build a predictable, duplicatable, measurable business where we are respected as professionals and only as their friends if you want to spend your spare time doing so but there is a cost to be paid!

As I mentioned in my previous post, I have many collegues who's production is the same or significantly better through social networking or marketing or both. They are taking clients to sporting events, dinners, throwing client parties etc. Most of them are never home, divorced and lonely. Many others spend 20-50-90% or more of their gross on marketing and/or teams. Well guess what? They have to go on 20-50-90% more appointments AND put in the corresponding hours to service/generate that business.

AT dinnertime I am with my wife and kids, not on the telephone, or having dinners with clients.

I am not putting down Jennifer's system. I simply want to point the costs for those who are considering it because it seems more attractive.

[quote=RealtyPro]Hey Lucky, do you use speed dial software if so please shed some light on that.

AugustaBroker - what computer speed dial were you referencing? Is there anything FREE that you know of to dial numbers??? If not free, please shed light on any that you know of.

Thanks everyone for your insight and opinions. [/quote]

No speed dialers. A friend of mine has used them. I believe there is one that puts the calls through when answered but I think that there is a pause when once they answer and the number which appears on call displays is sort of kooky. There may be some inherited flaws there.

I use two phones with 2 wireless headsets.

[quote=RAH]Question: With high volume cold calling, does your company brand name recognition matter in the results that you get? or is your tone of voice, confidence,script, etc... really the only thing that matters? [/quote]

I think you can overcome the company name if it's an independant with an objection handler of some kind and strong confidence. But as a listing agent, I would personally prefer to work for a broker with name recognition, close to home, with good support at a reasonable price. If I worked for an independant I'm sure it would cost me money in lost listings and poor service....just as much as I thought I was saving on the commish split. Again, this is from a listing agent's perspective and is mine only.

Thanks a lot for sharing, lucky! ... Have you ever tried door knocking to see if the effectiveness of it relative to time invested makes sense?... also, what's your definition of a lead?

There are many systems out there just like there are many types of buyers and sellers out there. Do trainers have a motive SURE. They sell merchandise that earns them a living and there is nothing wrong with that as long as the material is quality.

For me I am different than many on this board. I play in the commercial real estate arena. I am passionate about it and LOVE IT!

What I absolutely can't stand is rentals and property management.
Unlike residential that is a highly EMOTIONAL business commercial is more of a NUMBERS business. It is about the deal and the current and future ROI. This is why I love it because there is no FRU FRU or touchy feely stuff. Do I have rapport with my clients? Sure I do but it is more of a business relationship.

I equate trainers to martial arts. I have been taking for years and years. Every time I see a new technique or twist to an old one I will see if it has value for me. If it does not I throw it away but if it does I will take the whole or part and add it in to what makes up me.

Personally I do not want to be on twitter telling people I am breathing every 10 seconds. Some people thrive on that stuff. I just post my listings etc. for marketing purposes. My friends send me Mafia Wars,growing garden crops,and all kind of other crap I have no time for.Between going out with a close circle of friends,my wife,family,exercising,selling real estate,etc. I have no time for other things.About one of my few guilty pleasures is posting on this board. LOL!

My saying is "It's your life,define how you want to live it"

TODAY WAS A GREAT DAY FOR PROSPECTING. 50% people were home. Started at 9 am, Made 115 contacts, dialed 220 numbers, in 2hours, 100 new contacts, 15 Past Client/Sphere calls, 2 leads (both bought new homes closing in 2010) On my way to watch my son play basketball-Billeting with U.S. teams, we are hosting and getting clobbered. U.S. teams are great!

Been lurking for a while reading this thread with great interest.

3 Questions for lucky - I'm trying to visualize your workflow more specifically.

The first was sort of addressed earlier but not fully.

1. Someone above asked you what you did after your opening statement of having "serious buyers in your area?". As I understand from reading the posts (please forgive me if I missed something, there's a lot to read), if the prospect asks for some more information on the buyers, you basically ignore the question and proceed with your script by asking them where they are planning to go when they move?.

I guess my question is this. How does the conversation go next - is the seller typically OK with you redirecting the conversation past his question to keep your script going?

I'm asking because in a past life I trained hundreds (probably thousands) of telephone sales people and wrote a lot of scripts. One of the first rules was this: If someone asks a question, you [b]must[/b] answer it first before you proceed with your script. The reason for this is simple - if you don't answer the question, they're going to assume you don't have an answer.

2. Again, I'm focusing on your opening which is "I have serious buyers "in your area". My question is this. Since you are doing all your cold calling between 8:30 and noon, aren't a great many of the homeowner's at their jobs? If so, how have you obtained their work telephone numbers and related it to "their area? Do they mind being called at their jobs to discuss personal business? Would you have better luck reaching the decision makers in the evenings?

3. Since you spend until noon each day cold calling and you are home in the evenings, when you do you typically do all the other parts of your job like going on listing presentations, preparing listings for the MLS, negotiating the deals when you have offers, contracts, and other papers, taking out buyer prospects to look at homes, etc.

As I said, just trying to understand the process a little better.

Thanks
Rick

I don't really have much to add here, but I wanted to say this was a great discussion once it got past the name calling. Lucky you seem like you know exactly how you want your business to be run, and you stick to your goals. I think that is the thing that creates success in this business, goal setting, monitoring time spent, and being effective with how you spend your time.

If you spend your time going to lunch with your SOI, or calling a 100 people, it doesn't matter. What matters is that you have designated that time for your prospecting effort and you do it day in and day out.

Hi Rick;

Question 1: there are a so many different ways the conversation can go but in summary: A serious lead generated is almost never going to be ready TODAY to have my buyers come look at the house and sign a contract to sell their home. I wish they did! I could sell alot more houses if it were that simple....they always want me to call back. They never question me about my buyers.Like today for instance....I took 2 leads who bought new homes from a builder, one with a September closing the other with an April closing. They expressed they were not ready to see me or my potential buyers and that I should call back in February. This is where Top Producer Software comes in. The Sellers that ARE ready to see buyers and offers either have already picked an agent or literally have an agent going over that same day. Both happen to me regularily. In this instance, I try to squeeze in there for a listing appointment.

Question 2: Yes more people are home some evenings...it's approximately 10% more believe it or not. Today there were 50% home, some days there only 30% home. What difference does it make...(stay with me now...took me a while to grasp this one and get over all the mental roadblocks myself) I am making 100 contacts regardless, whether all 100 numbers were home or 1 of 3 were home it still is 100 contacts. In 1 week I make 500 contacts. In 500 contacts I take approximately 6-10 leads that week or 30-40 that month. Out of that pool of leads is where I take my listing inventory which turn into my sales each month. I can steer my business where ever I want geographically. I can move my inventory to wherever I want it..ie: what is selling best....what has the best commission for me....take listings which are closest to my home so i am not driving all over tim buck two trying to earn a living.

Question 3: I said....if I do not have an appointment I am done usually by 3:30. I do not have appointments every single night thank God. Today I finished at 12:30, took my son to his basketball tournament with his Billeting ball players from California and Jersey, I watched his game at 2:30 and now I am going back to watch his 7:00 game. After the game I am taking my son and his guests to dinner and then to Watch Avatar the movie at the IMAX. Hard to do this if I mainly worked buyers since they require more time and at their convenience.
RE: paperwork, I get to the office 7:30-8:00 most days....like a real job or professional would do, I consolidate my duties into blocks of time...ie: I follow a specific schedule daily and I am always striving to make it more productive, efficient and profitable.

Hope this helps. Today I was driving around when I decided I want to double my current income in the next 5 years or less. I am working on cementing my plans in place to achieve these goals. I wish you the same. Hang around people who do more than you...it will inspire your creativity to grow.

Regards

See, this is where I get confused about these methods... when I was selling 50+ houses a year, I was so freakin' busy with contracts and inspections and appraisals and closings and open houses and market updates and just the day-to-day minutia of handling real estate transactions that I didn't have time to prospect or watch movies or take naps or whatever. I was BUSY all day long taking care of my clients.

This is why I'm suspicious when I hear about Power Prospectors who also claim to provide great service. There just aren't that many hours in the day, especially when you say that you finish up in time for dinner. And I'm one of the most efficient and organized people I know...

If I were to do this sort of prospecting in my town, I would run out of phone numbers in 2 or 3 days....using the larger area that I work, maybe a couple of weeks....I do not cold call lol.

[quote=MHT]If I were to do this sort of prospecting in my town, I would run out of phone numbers in 2 or 3 days....using the larger area that I work, maybe a couple of weeks....I do not cold call lol. [/quote]

I think the answer here is obviously for you to expand your geographic market place so you can make some money. If you only have 700 homes in your market....how can you possibly make ANY money selling RE or anything else for that matter? I don't get it!

[quote=Jennifer Allan]See, this is where I get confused about these methods... when I was selling 50+ houses a year, I was so freakin' busy with contracts and inspections and appraisals and closings and open houses and market updates and just the day-to-day minutia of handling real estate transactions that I didn't have time to prospect or watch movies or take naps or whatever. I was BUSY all day long taking care of my clients.

This is why I'm suspicious when I hear about Power Prospectors who also claim to provide great service. There just aren't that many hours in the day, especially when you say that you finish up in time for dinner. And I'm one of the most efficient and organized people I know... [/quote]

This is where I and I am sure many others get confused. 50 odd deals a year is roughly one per week. Does it really take 40-5 0 hours a week or say 8 hours a day to do those few things you mentioned. Don't you have an assistant? Every professional uses one. You must have been doing a lot of the $10 dollar per hour work which an assistant should be doing. Surely your statement doesn't jive... about you being efficient and organized. I assure you, my clients get just as much proper customer service as you. You are not being honest with the client for example by doing open houses. If you are lumping this into customer service, NAR has stated less than 1% of open houses sell the home being open! Open houses are another passive prospecting technique. Besides, event OH only take 3 or so hours per week.

When you get a lead, and mail them something right away, when do you follow up again? also, does it make sense to follow up in person?

Thanks

Lucky...the cost of living in rural Ontario (yes there is life outside of the GTA, as opposed to what most people from the GTA seem to think) is much lower than in the GTA. Top agents in this area will make 6 figures but nowhere close to your 500k (top agents will probably be around 150k and there is only a handful of them). Working in this area is much more about who you know than it is about who you can call at random.