“Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who said it, no matter if I have said it, unless it agrees with your own reason and your own common sense.” - Buddha
Buddha said that back in the mid 5th century, B.C., and while he probably wasn’t talking about prospecting for real estate business, his words apply perfectly to prospecting for real estate business!
We real estate agents are bombarded with tips, tricks and strategies to prospect for business, much of which makes very little sense if we really think about it. We’re encouraged to assault others with sales pitches that would irritate the heck out of us if we were subjected to them. We’re taught to use cheesy scripts and pushy closing dialogues that we’d see coming a mile away. We’re told that we should Just Do It when it comes to prospecting, even if the “it” we’re supposed to be doing is something that makes our skin crawl, our eyes roll and our stomachs churn, all in the name of generating business.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. You don’t have to do anything to generate business that makes you feel uncomfortable, silly or even a little icky!
You CAN choose the methods you’ll use to build your business. As an adult human being, you can and should pick and choose among all the various strategies out there and select a few that suit you the best. The ones that suit YOU – wonderful, extraordinary, one-of-a-kind YOU who has unique strengths, talents, interests, goals and lifestyle!
And you know what else? You don’t have to try everything that’s suggested to you. If something doesn’t sound quite right to you – for whatever reason – you can and should reject the notion outright or tweak it until it does sound right and feel good.
When evaluating any prospecting activity to see if it’s right for you, just apply these three “tests” and see how the activity fares. If it fails any of the three, it’s not a good strategy for you. If it passes all three – you’ve just discovered a perfect prospecting strategy for YOU!
Is This Strategy One I’m Proud of and Excited about? Sometimes it seems we assume that by signing up for a program or hiring a coach, we’ll suddenly become a different person—someone who tomorrow will be excited and comfortable doing things that today seem kinda silly and cheesy. Even if our common sense is in there whispering to us that the approach we’re signing up for is wrong (for us), we insist on giving it a try, just in case we’re wrong about being wrong!
Bad plan. Before implementing any prospecting strategy, be darn sure that it’s something you’re jazzed up, revved up and fired up to do. And not because some superstar guru promised you the earth, moon and stars if you’ll just sign on the dotted line and turn over a chunk of your precious marketing budget. Only YOU can make the determination of whether you are proud of and excited about something; no one else can (or should) do that for you.
Is This a Strategy That Would Work on Me? If a particular strategy wouldn’t be effective with you, you probably won’t be able to pull it off with others. Never prospect for business using a strategy that you’d see right through. Show your prospects the respect that they are every bit as smart as you are and therefore deserve to be “prospected to” intelligently.
Does This Strategy Make Me Feel “Icky?” While feeling “icky” about a prospecting strategy goes along with doing things that wouldn’t work on you and that you aren’t proud of, it’s in a league all its own.
Feeling icky about any activity should be a clear indication that there’s something wrong with the activity (for you). But, often we’re told that that what we’re really feeling is fear, not ickiness. However, there’s a big difference between being reasonably nervous about something you haven’t done before and feeling icky about it. Your gut knows the difference. Trust it.
When you choose and use the right prospecting strategies for you, you’re proud of and excited about your prospecting efforts. You don’t feel like you have to apologize for, explain or defend them. You can’t wait to implement your latest approach and are looking forward to feedback from your audience. You have no real doubt that your audience will be receptive and responsive to your prospecting; in fact, you’re pretty sure they’ll get a kick out of it.
That’s how you know it’s right. When you’re excited about it. When you’re proud of it.
Guest Author Jennifer Allan-Hagedorn has authored multiple books and courses designed to teach agents her Sell with Soul philosophy that centers on four interrelated principles: Respect, Competence, Confidence and Enthusiasm. The latest release of her book is available in the VanEd bookstore. You can also visit her online at www.sellwithsoul.com or attend one of her free teleseminars on a variety of topics of interest to the real estate community.
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