Use the edit button, then....

No, I do not have a team. Just a part-time assisstant who puts in approx 30 hours per week. I mainly show my own listings only. I will work a buyer if it's referred to me or if in an unusual circumstance where the buyer seems extremely serious to buy quickly AND is extremely loyal to me AND they have a home to sell. Truthfully, I would rather prospect for serious sellers that 100%, need to sell!!!!!!



I live by these sayings:


"You have to LIST to LAST."
"Buyers are Liars."
"Buyers eat their young."

Lucky, once you get a lead that 100% must sell this year, how often do you follow up by phone? weekly? monthly? depends? Thanks!

Totally depends on the lead...the conversation...past experiences with those types of leads...what their answers are to my questions.

Some Questions I like to ask leads:

a) when do you plan on listing your home for sale?
b) when should I call you back?
c) do you want to moved by (july) or just get started then?

Depending on what they say, I usually cut the time in half since I want to making additional contacts with them before they actually interview agents.

There is an old adage that says...you have to make 7 contacts with a lead before they know who you are.

Having said all this...I lose a lot of leads. These people don't know me and sometimes they do know me. Where I work, I believe even lead follow up is a numbers game. In extremely aggressive markets like mine, this is extremely true. In smaller markets and boards, leads/past clients/SOI/ are more loyal.

...

Lucky, in our hot, low inventory, GTA market, when you come across someone who is planning on moving but hates realtors and thinks he can sell it on his own because the market is so hot, do you try to work that lead over time to convert him? or not bother because of the high number of daily contacts you do and just find easier leads to convert?

Thanks for all the sharing!

One other question, do you send a pre-listing package before going on a listing presentation? Thanks!

A BEAUTIFULL THOUGHT ON THIS BUSINESS!!!!

START LOADING....there's a great expression in sales that says "if you want to know how yow did today, check your Bank Balance in 90 days." Most sales have a predictable period from start to finish...most Real Estate transactions from inception ("I just got a great LEAD") to closing ("I just got paid") take 90 days. Think of the sales Cycle like a conveyor belt. Here is a great question to ask yourself everyday. "What is on my conveyor belt?"

Action Step....You can predict the futrure and you can control what will happen in 90 days!!!! Simply make sure that every single day you are loading up your conveyor belt with NEW LEADS! It's like fish swimming up stream....most will not make it to the end but some will! The ones that will make it to the end of your conveyor belt magically will turn into PAYCHECKS!

The KEY is to allow no gaps on your conveyor belt every day.
NO GAPS means you have a steady income stream in 90 days.

It's that simple.....START LOADING!

(paraphrased from my friend Bruce Keith)

If that seller MUST sell, then I may follow-up with the lead a few times and see if I can set an appointmentto show them my services. However, there are so many good easy going sellers that I wouls say....go find a good, easy one and avoid the difficult ones.

Hello lucky,

the snow has been quite a mess here. perfect time for calling! this week i have had to cancel 2 listing appointments! I have another appointment set for tomorrow evening, but will probably end up rescheduling that one as well. the weather has been terrible. good news is that we rescheduled both of the appointments to a later date. more good news....prospecting yesterday landed 2 appointments and today landed 1! for the week there have been 3 appointments set.



i have a question, but first let me lay out when i call

when i first started prospecting i would prospect between 5 and 7pm. this was before i had power dialers or anything fancy. i was dialing on a regular phone and i'm not the fastest. my calls to answers were very high. i know this is an optimum time since most people are home from work.

now i use a dialer and my calls to answers is not as high, but i make more calls and ultimately, make more contacts.

my current prospecting time is from 930am to noon (just increased it this past week...it was 930-11am) my lead follow up is from 4-5pm. for me, prospecting is to make contacts with people i have not called before and lead follow up is to follow up with people i have already made into a lead.

i know that i could vary my times, but i really like the times that i work the phones. i might change them in the future, but for now, unless you have data to suggest otherwise...they will probably remain the same since i know i will be consistent with the times outlined above



________________________________________
here is the question

i know that you have worked 8 hour dialing sessions before and i wondered if you had tracked calls to answers for the different hours of the day? this is something that i have never tracked. i really want to try and 8 hour session sometime. i think it would be a blast! kind of like running a marathon.

Great forum here....for especially newbies like myself....I do have a question regarding prospecting.....are these calls at random, or are you given a list from your broker to call?....may seem like a foolish question for you all, but for a naive little prospective agent like myself....also, any idea how many leads I may get from a broker on average per month?

There is no question that successful real estate agents consider themselves first and foremost, a lead generator and secondly, a real estate agent.

Here are some great free audio interviews with Gary Keller and top mega agents sharing their ideas and systems. Hope you find this helpful:

Free Audio Interview Archives From Gary Keller's Agent Mountain

I find that betwee 11 and 3 a lot of people go out and this time is a little of a dead zone. I still call during those times though. I think you will really enjoy calling from 8:30-9:30 am, this is my most productive hour.

I just sold another listing on Friday....$505,000. I cold called him in December, he told me he'd list around March so I sent him my card. Surprisingly, he called me back just b4 the One on One Retreat. He told me he had a very close friend in the Business but did not like the small company he works for. (good agent by the way)

Came in on Saturday to prospect. Two hours I only got 50 contacts in because I took 4 hot leads. I could not believe my luck! On one street alone I took 3 leads. This has never happened before. I am wondering if Saturday prospecting is the most productive? Certainly seems to be!

Also in the last week, I took 2 listings. One is a past client's commercial property. I believe he called me back from my Christmas time PC/SOI blitz. The other was a cold call. They expressed to me how they had a nephew in the business and he was over recently pushing for them to list with him...therefore they felt obligated! I stressed my track record in their area and no agent came close. Surprisingly they called me back a few days later asking for an evaluation since it was too early to list because they had purchased a new condo to be ready in 10 months.
Even more surprisingly, they gave me the listing. Now the challenge of finding a buyer with a ten month closing date.

Also in this same week, I found out I lost 3 listings to the competition...all appointments I felt I had done great presentations on....man this is frustrating!

Furthermore, I hear the Competition Bureau of Canada is taking the Canadian Real Estate Association to the Tribunal (like the Supreme Court) over anti-competitive rules governing the MLS.

The Bureau wants the CREA to allow brokers to simply post their homes on our MLS for a flat fee (already exists) AND wants buyers to go directly to the Sellers without the Listing Broker being further involved making commissions more competitive.

If this were to flourish then there would be fewer agents remaining in the business, meaning less board dues, leading to the MLS, its boards and franchises collapsing due to lack of membership. I may be over reacting here but I hear many agents and publications stating this will forever change the Real Estate Industry in Canada. I can see this one brilliant move by the Competition Burea...destroying the MLS, forcing the top Realtors to go back to exclusive listings.

Lucky...sellers could list on mls without realtor? If they can, then are our dues - dues? or penalty for having a license..lol

by the way...LOVE your posts. Very encouraging. Keep up the great work and keep sharing your updates!