Why Agents Don’t Prospect
Real Estate Agents are notorious for HALTING their prospecting and lead generation efforts when they get too busy. Just like the world’s largest corporations, you should NEVER stop lead generating. If you want to reach your highest levels of success, you must carve out 2-3 Hours EVERY MORNING Monday-Friday to do your LEAD GEN no matter what; and don’t ever stop that practice.
As you may already know, I am focused on teaching my students how to generate MORE LISTINGS! In my own practice, I listed an average of 10 homes a month for more than 10 years in a row. What is the ONE THING that allowed me to list more than 1000 houses during my first 10 years in the business? A Daily Prospecting Schedule. This daily practice allowed me to pay off my house, pay off all debt and retire from the business at age 45. There are a several excuses that real estate agents provide for why they do not prospect regularly.
The truth is, no excuse is warranted or valid.
Lead Generation is a daily activity and you have to be completely committed to this daily activity if you are going to have any hopes of long term success in the real estate game.
Time Block for Success
A successful Listing Specialist will conduct their lead generation activities in the morning hours, typically before noon. In my coaching practice and in my own listing business, I have found that 9 AM to Noon is a pretty typical time block for lead generation and works well for most agents. Some highly efficient producers can even get away with a schedule of 9-11.
Generally speaking, 2 to 3 hours a day, Monday through Friday is preferable. Handling your lead generation in the morning hours, when you are at your peak performance and maximum energy level is the way to go.
In order to achieve success with your lead generation activities, you will need to block out your daily lead gen time in your calendar. Set it there as a hard and fast daily appointment, and don’t break the routine and don’t ever lose focus of the fact that Lead Generation is critical to your ongoing success.
To help you to not lose sight of this fact, in this article I would like to address some of the most common excuses that I’ve heard for not prospecting. Let’s examine these 5 Common Excuses together.
Excuse #1: “I’m so busy! I just can’t seem to find the time!”
Imagine our forefathers waking up and thinking “I’ve got a lot of things to do today, so I guess I won’t go out hunting. Feeding my family can wait.”
In our businesses we can easily become distracted by that which is urgent and forget about that which is truly important. Everyone and everything may seem to be vying for your attention, but nothing deserves it more than your lead generation time.
No matter how busy your world gets or how much business you currently have in your pipeline, you should never take your foot off the lead generation pedal.
Don’t be afraid to let your business grow to as big as it wants to be, and don’t be afraid to delegate those tasks which are not the most dollar producing.
Your time block for lead generation should be anchored to your schedule and that schedule should be honored daily.
Excuse #2: “I’ve tried to time-block but I keep getting distracted.”
Allowing yourself to become distracted means that you are not correctly protecting your time block period. Be sure that everyone in your family and your office understands the importance of this activity.
In ancient times, nothing was more important than hunting and gathering. In modern times, we call this Lead Generating. Hunting and gathering is what put food on the table and kept the tribe alive.This still holds true today. Imagine a family member discouraging the patriarch from going on the daily hunt, because of some other frivolous matter.
Purposely protect your lead generation space by hanging a note on the door that says “LEAD GENERATING. PLEASE DO NOT DISTURB.” Close the door if you can.
Also, take any snacks, coffee, water and other supplies with you into your lead generation bunker. Even the distraction of leaving your desk to fetch a drink of water or a coffee refill may prove fatal. If you are less than supremely disciplined when taking short breaks, then you should be anchored to your desk until you have achieved your goal for the day (lead generate for 3 hours, make 20 contacts, set 2 appointments, etc.).
Excuse #3: “I just can’t get in the habit of time blocking.”
You absolutely can get into the habit of time blocking because you already time block now. In fact, you have learned to time block since the day you were born.
Do you go to sleep every night? That’s a time blocked activity. Do you brush your teeth, shower and get dressed every morning? Each of those is a time blocked activity. Do you eat meals every day? That’s a time blocked activity. When you worked a 9-to-5 job, did you go to the movies during your work hours? Of course not, because you time-blocked 8 hours for work and did personal activities during your off work hours! Even when you go to the movies you are time blocking 2-3 hours of undisturbed time.
You already know how to time block and you do it every day. If you are not time blocking for lead generation in your real estate practice, then you have not yet come to realize the correlation between prospecting and paychecks.
- Prospecting = Paychecks
- Not Prospecting = Poverty
Excuse #4: “I don’t know what to say.”
Knowing what to say is critical and oftentimes we fail to lead generate because we are afraid that we either don’t know what to say or we will say the wrong thing. Knowing what to say is simply a matter of training and learning your scripts.
Some agents believe that scripts make them sound unnatural. The opposite is actually the truth. When an agent has mastered their scripts, and adopted them into their own language, they actually sound more authoritative and more natural. They no longer have to search for the right words to say to overcome a common objective. The words tend to roll off their tongue like butter. As you learn and master the best scripts, you will know exactly what to say to your prospects and you will command more respect and win more Yeses.
Excuse #5. “I don’t know what to do.”
You’ve time blocked your schedule and plopped yourself down at your desk promptly at 9 AM. Now what? Obviously, knowing what to do during your lead generation time is very important. For a Listing Specialist, lead generation is the activity of generating new seller leads.
During your lead gen time, you should be focused on one of these 3 activities:
- Prospecting for new seller leads (lead generation).
- Following up on your existing leads (lead incubation).
- Implementing marketing plans.
As long as you are focused on one of these three actives you will be in the zone. Mornings are for generating leads, and afternoons are for going on appointments. That’s the way it should be each and every day.
Don’t let these common excuses rob you of the income, freedom and prosperity you deserve. Begin time blocking for lead generation and watch your real estate practice soar to new heights!
Here is a link to my YouTube Video on “Why Agents Don’t Prospect!” Enjoy!
Watch Video On Youtube
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