Thanx for the input REO, I really appreciate it. No worries, I am not a robot personality wise. I have developed good discipline as far as my daily schedule goes. You know where you said pick up the listings when they expire? Well, they do not expire. They are motivated an MUST SELL. Plus, if they do expire, there is little chance for me to pick it up as they will receive 5 calls before expiring and 30-40 calls per day after it expires. It's very competitive here as I have mentioned. I am competing on 99% of my appointments and against many agressive competent agents as well.

In another thread there was mention that agents in Canada could not call expireds

It's just like the DNC list, bird dog fees, etc...some people follow the rules, others, not so much. Some people subscribe to the theory that it is "just the cost of doing business" if they get caught/fined.

I subscribe to "daily conversations with the superstars" a Mike Ferry product. I listened to several interviews today and the one that caught my attention was the one with a lady named Sylvia Morris from GTA. In 2009 she did 101 deals and her goal is 150 deals, an ambitious goal for sure. Mike has been asking everyone what they ABSOLUTELY must do to achieve their 2010 goals. Sylvia says she must BOOST her prospecting to 5 hours per day and she has established a financial penalty with an accountability partner. This blows my mind that she is getting such great results. I know her market has large turnover compared to mine which is one of the lowest and this makes a huge difference for sure.

On Saturday I made 105 contacts in 1.5 hours. There is a different feeling to the people I contact on Saturdays. I don't exactly know what it is. They seem more relaxed and open. They are definitely the more upwardly mobile kind since most of them are working during the week and I would not find myself speaking to them from Monday to Friday.

The 105 contacts generated 3 leads. I am still losing about 1 listing per week to other agents from my lead pool. This week it was one I contacted in October, ( she said she bought new with October 2010 closing.) I followed up in November, she told me she would not list before summer since she has small kids and has no where to go ( I had suggested the ideas of selling & moving in with family till the new home is ready~many do this). I had her in TOP PRODUCER as a follow up call for mid March. She came out listed on Saturday at $669K with a July closing.

I constantly have a lead pool of 90-140 leads which I circulate through. Some change their minds, some must list with someone else~family etc, some sell private, some list with discounters, some list with me etc, etc, etc,. My current ratios are 1 listing taken for 8 leads generated. I am racking my brains out to improve this ratio. If I could get it down to 1 listing to 5 leads generated it would greatly increase my production with the same amount of prospecting.

Ideas I implemented for 2010 to improve this ratio are;
a)more, better, aggressive lead follow up, evening calls, leaving more messages, more follow calls per day, saturday follow up calls
b)post card mailings every 2 weeks to leads ( like a farm area )
c)hand written notes to the hotter leads indicating my track record of homes sold in their immediate area.
d)mailing my track record/resume for the Real Estate business

Another idea I have is to personally drop in to meet the hotter leads in the pool and if not home leave some kind of marketing material. I have not implemented this yet.

IF ANYONE HAS ANY EFFECTIVE MARKETING PIECES OR IDEAS FOR GETTING LEADS TO RECOGNIZE YOU AND/OR NOTICE YOU AND POSSIBLY CHOOSE YOU, OUT OF THE MANY OTHER REAL ESTATE AGENTS WHO ARE ALSO CALLING/GOING AFTER THE SAME LEADS AND WOULD LIKE TO SHARE.....I WOULD GREATLY APPRECIATE IT!

I remember when real estate television was popular, a fellow agent would take a polaroid of an expired leads house and attach it to a flyer stating something like..."this is how your house would appear on RE TV, call me for an appointment," and he would drop it of in the Lead/Epireds mailbox.

Some other fellow Agents have told me that because I do ZERO advertizing in local papers, benches etc, the Leads do not know who I am and therefor my lead follow up and ratios are less effecive.

Anyone have any experience or ideas on this....let's share!

What do you do when you really want to take a specific listing where you know they MUST SELL and you know others are after the same listing? What do you do to get noticed? What do you do to get them to choose you instead of the competition? How do you differentiate yourself from other GREAT Agents who are going after the same business/lead?

That's great! Maybe there's a slot in the Guinness Book of World Records for that.

105 Calls in 90 Minutes puts your average call at less than 52 Seconds in length. And how much of that is taken up in just dialing?

I wonder if there's a Course in Evelyn Wood's Speed Talking ?

I do like to stop by when I target listings. I generally reserve that that though for spring evenings. I roll park somewhere, get the wagon out, load the kids in it, my stuff and cancas the whole area. I find that people are less rude when kids are present. People are friendly when they can get outside after a long winter. It works for me. Plus I get time with the kids, and exercise.

This year, I will also will be including Menus for local restraunts as well. I'll deliver the marketing material but they gotta throw my material in the takeout bag as well. Does not work well with chain restraunts though.

I detect some disbelief, sarcasm or maybe it's just your way of trying to look smart. Let me break down the math for you since it looks like you could use some tutoring.. As I have stated previously, saturday prospecting yields 60% contact to dial ratio as opposed to 45% during the week. My phone system even has a timer on it and allowing the phone to ring 4 times, if no one is home (an illustration only) takes 20 seconds per number dialed which is 3 numbers dialed per minute which is the equivolent of 180 numbers dialed per hour theoretically. Obviously there is some talking involved but the average responce is "no, we are not moving" . I actually dial 100-120 numbers per hour using a 2 phone system of dialing ( as I am half way thru the call on one phone I am dialing the other.) None of which I take the credit for. Many agents have used this technique for over a decade. So, it's not as incredible as it may seem and just because you have not heard or seen something, does not mean it does not exist.

(If you were being funny or friendly, I apologise for my response in advance.)

Thanks for your advice! I'll have to contact my 3rd Grade Arithmetic Teacher and see if he can recommend a Tutor for me.

He'll be devastated to hear that I'm such a poor representative of his efforts; but he'll have to get over it.

Besides, he always did like Word Problems. Gosh, I hope he's still alive!

You know, somehow that 51.43 Seconds per Call still seems right to me? But anyway, I'm impressed! See, I always seem to get myself bogged down in those wasteful and time-consuming administrative niceties like saying "Hello" and saying "Good Bye".

Well, at least everybody is being civil!

While I do agree to the possible validity of Lucky's methods, as I know Mike Ferry's methods do work for many successful agents, I prefer to take the "other" road.

I read a LOT of Seth Godins ideas and methods, and he teaches, instead of seeing how little time you can invest in a client, REALLY put them first. When you have an almost 100% base of past and present clients that really believe that you are looking after them, you really have a loyal fan for life.

I don't make all my clients my best friend, but I do put their goals first and foremost. If their goals are not realistic, I prove the point with statistics so they will know I'm not blowing smoke. It's not supposed to be smoke and mirrors, but good solid advice based on my market knowledge and professionalism. I prefer to advise my clients with the same integrity and strategies I would use if I were helping my kids buy a house.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

I am very new to this and have been reading this forum for a few weeks now. I just want to chime in and say that this has been an extremely useful thread. I just recently received my license and have been learning some of Mike Ferry's techniques. I have decided that is the approach I will take with my business.

Lucky, do you think prospecting by calling expired and FSBO's is a good way for a brand new agent to start their business? Obviously I can't call past clients since I don't have any. Since I am brand new I don't have as much to offer as an experienced agent.

I hate those scripts. Great that they work for you. I use scripts also, but mine are truthful, sound as if they are natural and come out of my own mouth, and don't make me gag.

Good grief! You started the thread! I'm only 12 posts into it and it's already all about you!

LOL