Real Estate Prospecting: How Intentionality Impacts Your “Talk Time”
Our success comes from helping clients, and we win over new clients by prospecting. There is a difference between prospecting for yourself and prospecting to help homeowners!
I’m sure most of us have seen that picture of an iceberg where only the very tip pokes up out of the water, while beneath the surface is the rest of the massive iceberg. It’s found in memes and motivational posters everywhere, and for good reason — it represents two parts of an issue, the small visible part, and the big, giant underlying issue part. Which is a great example of how communication can look.
You might be thinking, “Darryl, it isn’t that hard to talk to people!” It isn’t usually (though that really depends on who you ask!). But there is a lot more to it than we think when it comes to communication. The tip of the iceberg? That 10% represents the words we use. The whopping 90% chunk of ice underneath the surface? That represents all the non-verbal parts, like our tone of voice, body language, attitude, and even our intentionality.
How Intentionality (or Lack Thereof) Affects Our Success
Have you ever noticed a time when you have been making your calls, all the while thinking, “I have to convince them to give me a listing appointment,” only to fail every single one of those calls? It’s because they pick up on the non-verbal cues that you are only thinking about your own needs and are trying to make them do something they might not want to do.
Let’s flip that around. When you go into your calls thinking, “I need to find out how I can help them and learn what they are committed to.” And BOOM, you have more listing appointments than hours in the day! OK, that might be a slight exaggeration, but people can sense when you genuinely want to help them, and they respond to that.
TIP: Read this related article, “Real Estate Coaching: Your ‘Touch-Base’ Calls Are Not About You.”
What is Your Conversation Commitment?
Ask yourself this: “Am I committed to getting the listing, or am I committing to helping these people reach their Next Level®? What am I committed to communicating?”
TIP: For more ideas on how to connect with homeowners, check out “Share Your Passion to Better Connect With Homeowners”
Recently, I was talking with one of our POWER AGENTS® about prospecting and farming and how to get more listings since he was struggling in that area. I asked him this simple question, “What would your business look like in 30 days if you just spent 1 hour on the phone every day, calling anyone and everyone to talk about real estate?” He had thousands of people in his farm area, so I challenged him to divide up that list and spend 1 hour, 5 days a week, just calling people to offer something. Maybe tell them he has a buyer looking to buy in the area, or he has a community report that he is offering everyone, or he is doing a survey. It doesn’t matter what it is, but if you are committed to doing the same thing, how would that impact your business over 30 days? You would get at least one listing, if not more.
TIP: This related article does the math on what calling people every day for 30 days can do for your business: “The Simple Daily Activity that Will Drive Your Business Forward.”
A Personal Story
My son, Michael, had a job doing business loans for people. His company provides leads that come by a form that people fill out on a website, and he then spends his day phoning them. He makes his calls through his computer because they have software that tracks every phone call for every client, and it includes how long he talks to that potential client, referred to as “Talk Time” (how creative!). This doesn’t include the time dialing or leaving voicemails; it only consists of the time he actually spends on the phone talking with another human being.
My son has the highest talk time in the entire office — three and a half hours every day, he’s talking to somebody. In his first year, he made six figures and absolutely killed it. He loves his job, and he loves talking to people and helping them. He understands what it means to coach people, not close people. He doesn’t sell; he serves. Sound familiar?
Increasing Your Talk Time
Going into this next week, I want you to focus on two things: Intentionality and increasing your talk time. Get Zen, then get on the phone for a consistent length of time each day. By increasing your talk time with the attitude of serving and coaching, I guarantee that within the next 30 days, you will see an impact in your business. It’s going to look a lot different than it does now, and that’s an exciting thought!
What’s Next?
Are you ready to start taking things to the Next Level®? If you don’t already know what you need to do to get to your next level, we can help!
POWER AGENTS®, check out the amazing content in the Listing Appointment tab in the Classroom for more strategies and tools for handling all the objections and differences in opinion from buyers. Whether you need a boost of confidence or brilliant dialogues, we are here to help you get the skills you need to be the go-to agent for the buyers and sellers alike in your farm area.
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