The Reluctant Prospector

I'm doing a little one-on-one consulting with a relatively new agent (who's gonna ROCK!) in Denver. We have similar personalities when it comes to our feelings about prospecting and business-building, so our conversations about prospecting always lead to some interesting A-HA moments for both of us.

Anyway, yesterday, my agent friend told me about a conversation he had with a like-minded career coach - one who specializes in matching personality types with business-building strategies. According to this coach (and my friend's score on the MBTI), my friend is capable of cold-calling and door-knocking for business, and he might even be rather good at it, as long as he feels he has something of value to offer.

HOWEVER, the coach cautioned him that even though he might be moderately successful in his cold-prospecting efforts, his personality type is simply not one that tolerates rejection well over the long term. That if he spends too much of his time and energy on prospecting activities that involve a steady dose of rejection, he'll eventually become depressed and discouraged. And probably won't realize why he's so lethargic and unenthusiastic about his career... and his life.

That makes perfect sense to me! I've been preaching for a long time now that there's no reason to spend your days doing something that you aren't comfortable with when there are perfectly acceptable alternatives. And if there AREN'T perfectly acceptable alternatives, maybe you're in the wrong business!

The good news is, of course, there are plenty of real estate prospecting techniques that don't involve much rejection. Oh, sure, rejection is a part of life, but that doesn't mean you have to put yourself in positions of pursuing it in the name of generating business if you don't want to. There's no need to "suck it up" or "just do it" if the sucking-up or just-doing makes you miserable.

Life's way too short for that. Figure out what you enjoy doing that brings in business. Do that. It really is that simple.

RELATED BLOGS: 
Be Yourself... Have More Fun... Sell More Real Estate! 
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When to Venture Out of Your Comfort Zone... and when to stay in

 

 

 

It's Here!!!! 
The Sequel to Sell with Soul
Own one of the first 1,000 copies printed, numbered & autographed.
www.SWSStore.com

I remember when I was a brand-spanking new agent back in 1996, I contacted my previous human resources manager and offered to show relocating employees around Denver if they were looking for a rental. I figured, what the heck? After all, they're renters today; but maybe buyers tomorrow and besides, I could use the practice getting around town.

Good for me.

Just the other day, I talked with a new agent who is considering adding property management to his menu of services. I asked him why and he replied that he thought it would be a good opportunity to make contacts with people who will probably buy a home eventually.

Good for him.

But... here's where I'd like to see that reasoning tweaked just a little.

Yes, renters may eventually become buyers, and later, sellers. But... not because they're renters. They may eventually buy or sell a home because they're human beings.

This is another example of the laser-focused prospecting I cautioned against last week. Agents try to identify specific groups of people to target with their marketing and focus their efforts on that group. Other popular targets include first-time buyers, home-builders, divorcing couples and newlyweds. Some agents watch the obituaries in hopes of scoring a good listing or two.

And there's nothing wrong with identifying a group or groups of people you want to work with and customizing your approach to them! But you know what's cool about our business? Almost EVERYONE who crosses your path "may eventually buy or sell a home" -- whether they're renters, builders, first-timers or newlyweds. Just make it your goal to cross paths with as many warm bodies as possible as you go about your day! And remember to smile...

 

 

 

The SWS Mega-Toolkit
$89 

 

 

 

(You can buy the toolkit and get a copy of my new book freeeee - thru tomorrow)
Here are the details

 

 

The other day, a nice man from REALTOR Magazine called me up to chat about the Do Not Call list - specifically, what recommendations I, Jennifer Allan, queen of cold-calling (*snort*) might have for agents stymied in their prospecting efforts by that pesky DNC.

We had a great conversation, although it remains to be seen if any of my brilliance will make it into the final article since I really have no experience with the DNC except for being first in line to sign up.

But one of the last questions he asked made me think... and I came up with an answer off the cuff that I'm rather proud of. Thought I'd share it with you.

Question: "Jennifer, I understand that you never cold-called, but I'm sure that someone in your RE/MAX office did. If that agent were to ask you for advice on what to do instead, what would you have advised him?"

JA's Off-the-Cuff Answer: "Hmmmmmm."

No, seriously, I did come up with something...

"What I would probably tell him would be to get out from behind the desk and the telephone and take his naturally charming self out there into the world and make contacts face to face. No, not by knocking on doors or attending power networking events, but rather by striving to make a positive impression on as many people as possible as he goes about his day. By implementing a Quality over Quantity approach to attracting business. Instead of trying to make contact with 100 people a day, who will almost certainly promptly forget about him, try to really connect with two or three, who will be much more likely to remember him tomorrow... and six months from now."

I'm guessing that someone who has experienced success in cold calling has an appealing personality and a confident aura of success, which would be very attractive out in the real world, too! And, frankly, being out in the real world making real friends and real connections sounds a whole lot more fun and rewarding than dialing for dollars three hours a day!

I must confess that while I think my advice is brilliant, I've never been approached by a master cold-caller for my opinion and I don't expect to be in the near future. There are many paths to success and we're all better suited to one path or another.

So, while I don't expect the cold-calling world to suddenly shift their tactics to the JA-Way, I do hope I can inspire those who'd rather not cold-call to try the JA-Way and see if they like it!

Oh, and watch for your April edition of REALTOR Magazine to see if any of this made it in...

It's here, it's here! My new book - it's here! I mean that literally - it's EVERYWHERE in my house. Boxes and boxes of books, everywhere I look. Yeah, it's kinda cool. Strike that. It's so darn freakin' unbelievably cool. I do a little happy dance every time I trip over my boxes and boxes and boxes! (But check back in with me in two weeks as I'm moving all these boxes and boxes to my new place!)

Here's an excerpt from the first chapter of the book... enjoy!

"If You're Not Having Fun Selling Real Estate, You're Not Doing it Right!
by Jennifer Allan

Chapter One 
"What's Fun Got to Do with it?"

Selling real estate can be a blast. All day, every day? Uh, no. There will be days you long for the stability and security of a steady paycheck and regular hours. There will be nights you lie awake tossing and turning, unable to forget that scathing criticism you received from your unhappy seller. You'll have weeks - maybe even months - when you have no idea where your next mortgage payment is coming from. That's definitely not fun... and, unfortunately, something a lot of us can relate to in recent times.

But you'll also enjoy the euphoria of successfully negotiating a tough inspection. Of beating out five other agents for that primo listing without budging on your commission. Of picking up the phone to find a $1.5M buyer on the other end who found you as a result of your blog. Of hearing from your new referred client that your mutual friend said you were "the best." Of being too busy to breathe and then, when you finally come up for air, realizing that you just had a $50,000 month.

Making gobs and gobs of money is fun. Getting steady streams of referrals is fun. Being a master negotiator is fun. Solving problems is fun.

Being an exceptional real estate agent is fun.

This book is going to show you how to have more fun selling real estate by being exceptional at what you do and making lots of money doing it. Yes, you can mix business and pleasure... and have a heck of a time doing it.

First, we'll revisit and expand upon the Sphere of Influence (SOI) business philosophy introduced in Sell with Soul, because having lots of friends is fun, even for introverts like me. Getting business and referrals from your friends is even more fun-more fun than cold-calling, door-knocking, mass-mailing and advertising combined! We'll discuss how the traditional Numbers Game is not much fun at all and how you can change the rules and beat ‘em at their own game.

Moving on, we'll jump into the car with your buyers and debunk most of the nonsense that real estate trainers have been pushing at us since time began. The way we've been trained to "manage" and "handle" and "protect ourselves from" our buyers is a bunch of hooey! Relax, enjoy your buyers, trust your buyers, respect your buyers and they'll be a joy to work with.

Next, we'll spend some time discussing some advanced strategies for marketing, selling and closing your listings, with a particular emphasis on pricing. Trust me, being an outrageously effective listing agent - that is, one who knows how to actually sell houses - is buckets of fun. Being good at turning your listings into paychecks gives you an intoxicating sense of power over your business.

We'll also discuss some of the finer points of being an exceptional real estate agent-covering topics such as win/win negotiating, the right use of systems and effective communication skills.

Finally, we'll wrap things up with some fresh ideas on time management, taking your career to the next level (or conversely, down a notch), firing your clients and much more.

.....................

Want one of your very own? You can buy it from me (numbered & autographed - www.swsstore.com) or at Amazon... I think the Kindle version is already available, or will be shortly.

You can also get one for free, sorta, if you participate in the book release party at my website - just go here for details.

Did I mention how darn cool it is to release a book?

 

 

Here's the interview - it was another fun one!

Right before Christmas, I did a live interview with PI Window on Business's Jon Hansen with the somewhat cryptic title: The Sincere Introvert: Sincerity and Vulnerability in the Age of Personal Branding. The premise of the interview was to discuss how a self-professed introvert (that would be me) was able to succeed in a sales-oriented career by creating a "quiet" personal brand.

Good stuff, if I do say so myself. I had a good time, anyway.

Well, my 45 minutes flew by, and according to Jon, the audience seemed entranced (okay, those are my words, not his) by our conversation, so he invited me back for another round.

That's where I'll be today (Thursday, January 7th) at 12:30 eastern time. Would love to have you join me! Here's the link to do that... http://www.blogtalkradio.com/jon-hansen/2010/01/07/the-sincere-introvert-part-2-the-new-age-of-personal-branding