Relationships ARE Your Business Success

Get on the Phone – Your Cheapest and Best Source of Business!

Most, if not all, business owners are looking for the secret to procuring more business. “How do I generate more leads?” or “How do I make more money come in the door?” are extremely common questions in our business.

The answer is simple. And most of you are NOT going to like it.

You see, in most businesses, the least expensive and highest return way to generate revenue is to nurture the relationships you’ve already established – that means contacting your past clients and your sphere of influence. Consistently. And regularly. Period. I’m not talking just bombarding them with mailings, e-newsletters, and email blasts. I’m talking about voice to voice connection, one on one with people. Pick… up… the… PHONE.

Good business practice in real estate would be to ensure that each past client and person in your sphere of influence sees something from you at minimum monthly and hears you at least quarterly. Making quarterly calls to these very important people is for a two-fold purpose:

• To let them know you care about them; and
• To remind them you’re in business

​​​​​​​However you communicate those two key points, you’re succeeding.

So if it’s that simple, why isn’t everyone doing it? In real estate, and likely in most cases for other industries, you don’t call for three reasons:

1. You haven’t kept sufficient contact information after the sale to be able to reach them (this is the lowest percentage of cases).
2. You fear rejection.
3. You don’t know what to say.

To #1: If you haven’t kept great contact information, start TODAY doing a better job with newly-obtained clients, and over time work on filling in your gaps.

Specifically in real estate, you should be using your CRM (contact management database) to keep track of a person’s email, phone numbers, and physical mailing address.

To #2: If you fear rejection, it’s high time you get over yourself. We hear this all the time: “It’s been a really long time since I last talked to these people!”

So what? In real estate, your past clients are not sitting at home, pining away because they haven’t heard from their REALTOR in ages. In fact, we hear repeatedly from our coaching clients that when they DO finally start making calls, people are actually delighted to hear from them!

So that leaves #3: You don’t know what to say? I’ll give you ten GREAT reasons to call your past clients. Before we get into the list, though, I know some of you are already overwhelmed at the thought of calling. If you’ve been at this awhile, you may have hundreds, if not thousands, of people to call. Narrow down your list and focus on your key referring sources and multiple-transaction clients first.

If you feel you can only talk to two people a day, that’s two more than you called yesterday! Over a five-day week you’ll have reached ten. And at the end of ten weeks, you’ll have touched 100!

Enough excuses. Either you want the best business or you don’t. HERE ARE 10 REASONS TO CALL:

1. Gosh, you popped into my mind today, so I thought rather than let another moment pass I’d just pick up the phone. Tell me what’s changed in your life since the last time we talked!
2. I’m focusing more on getting timely and relevant information into the hands of my most important people – you included! So that I make sure I’m reaching you where you prefer, let’s verify all of your contact information: I have {###.###.####}; is that the best number to call you? What about this email? And this mailing address?
3. I have two tickets to the {football or baseball game, local theater, symphony, movies} that I’m not going to be able to use; they’re for {tomorrow night at 6}; would you like them? [The key with this one is that you call with short notice, so that it takes you lots of calls to find a taker. If leaving a voice mail, add: “Call me back if you’re interested, and if I still have them, they’re yours.” If they call back after you’ve given them away: “Shoot! I found someone else. Want me to call again next time?”]
4. I value your opinion and since I’m working on updating my {website; online bio; marketing; mailers} I wanted to ask you: what do you pay attention to when it comes to real estate agents?
5. I was in your neighborhood showing properties and it made me realize we haven’t connected in awhile. Tell me what’s new in your life!
6. I’m looking to grow my list of great service providers in the area. Who do you like to recommend – could be a hairstylist, veterinarian, or mechanic – that you’d like to tell me about?
7. Every so often I like to call and remind folks to put new batteries in their smoke detectors.
8. It’s time to blow out your sprinklers, so I’m just calling to remind you!
9. It’s a great time to get your lawn aerated and I know a great person who is very reasonable; would you like his/her contact information?
10. Just calling to wish you a Happy Valentine’s Day! [great for widowers, singles and divorcees]

Now GET on the PHONE already!

Our acclaimed Snapshot Business Planning process that’s helped hundreds of our clients is available as a self-study eCourse! Work on all 8 facets of your business, including Sales Systems like calling your past clients, and develop a comprehensive plan to get you to the Next Level.