Category: interview

Interview with Joy Russell
Realtor in Baton Rouge, Louisiana

What is the foundation for her succes in real estate?

How important is prospecting in your business?

Prospecting is incredibly important. As Realtors, we are in the lead generation business. Without leads, there are no clients, no appointments, no closings, and essentially we’ll never make any money. It is crucial for a Realtor to spend two to three hours daily on lead generation.  As for me, I lead-generate two hours a day. I then follow up with clients for about an hour and a half. It’s all about top of mind awareness.

What does your team look like?

I’m an individual agent with three assistants. My executive assistant is in charge of handling all paperwork as well as speaking with lenders, title companies, and home inspectors. My marketing assistant creates all of the marketing pieces. My ISA is in charge of following up with clients.

What type of approach do you use for lead generation?

I’m pretty basic when it comes to lead generation. My main approach of lead generation is calling my database which consists of my sphere of influence and past clients. I also focus heavily on social media. When I first got started as an agent, my approach was door knocking just because I didn’t have any other source of business to call upon. I went out and I created business by knocking on doors every single day. I did this by introducing myself, explaining how I could assist them, and then asking for the business afterwards. I did this the first two years of my business and now it consists of repeat and referral business and as well as social media.

What kind of social media tools do you use?

I use Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn primarily. You will notice on my social media pages that post at least 3 times per day. There is a post at eight o’clock, twelve o’clock and four o’clock every single day. My eight o’clock post is inspirational, to help people start their day. The twelve o’clock post is a reminder that I’m a real estate agent. If someone is looking to buy a home or sell their home I am reminding them that I’m there to assist them and I am also asking for a referral.  The four o’clock post is a credit or financial tip to educate people. The purpose is to help them either become financially sound or make sure that their credit is together. That is how I use social media. My budget is incredibly low because I’m only focusing on people who want to do business with me and don’t spend on advertising. My marketing assistant creates all the content.

What are your business goals for prospecting?

I target my database primarily. I call twenty people per day and as a result, I receive around five to ten leads on a daily basis. I track everything in my CRM and write some things on a piece of paper, to stay on top of it. I also use a system called, ‘Commitment to Excellence’,to track my numbers.It allows me to see exactly what I have in my pipeline, whether or not I’m on track, or if I’m behind. If I’m behind, then I know what I need to do and it’s going to push me to either make more calls that week, or do more marketing on my social media network. It gauges me to where I am and where I need to be.

What would you feel are keys to success in real estate? Is it attitude, discipline, execution, experience, having a system? 

It’s all of those things. I think that mindset plays a big part. As Realtors we have to stay focused and have determination in order to accomplish our goals. We need to set goals, have a plan, and execute that plan. This is beneficial because it helps in knowing the number of transactions that are needed each year, each month, each week, and each day in order to achieve the goals that we set.

We must always know our numbers and have a positive mindset at all times. As previously mentioned, it is important to stay focused and to time block (manage time better by doing one task at a time). As long as one has those characteristics, he/she can still be successful in this business.

How do you maintain a positive mindset?

Having a positive mindset actually takes time. You have to really be determined. A lot of us say that we have a positive mindset but we allow things to stress and worry us. We also allow negative thoughts to enter and stay in our minds. I decided four years ago to remove all of the negativity in my life and to start living my best life possible. Nothing worries or stresses me because I made the decision to not allow it to.

I took inspiration from (the book) “Think and Grow Rich” which provides principles on training your mind. I say positive affirmation every single day. It is more than just saying it, it’s about having faith and actually believing it.

Those were the things I did in the beginning. I don’t necessarily have to do those things anymore because it’s now a natural part of who I am.

Have you changed anything in your prospecting approach over the last say ten years?

Everything has practically stayed the same for me. I only work on my twenty percent. That’s the reason why I leverage and hire other people to help me in my business. My approach is to lead generate and to focus on my database, past clients, and sphere of influence.

I call to check on them and see how they’re doing. I basically ask about how they’re enjoying their houses, how their family is doing, whether or not they have vacations coming up, and what they’re doing in their pastime for fun. I also remind them that I’m a resource for them if they ever have any questions or need anything.

I do not cold call, I have never called FSBO’s or expireds. It may seem strange but I don’t like calling strangers to ask them for business. I would rather call someone that I know or someone that I’ve done business with in the past and ask them to help me in my business. I also share my goals with my database and ask for referrals. That is my prospecting method.

Do you have to ask existing clients for business or does it automatically come to you?

A combination of both. I always ask for business. On my Facebook page, you always see me saying “Who do you know that’s looking to buy, sell, or invest their real estate? Message me for more information.”. There’s always a call to action on every single thing that I do. If you don’t ask for it, you’re not going to get it. I love the quote, “Closed mouths don’t get fed,” so my mouth is always open.

As a Realtors, we really only have five jobs. I focus on four of those five. Our job is to practice scripts and role play, lead generate, lead follow up, go on appointments, and negotiate contracts. I do all of these things in exception to the scripts and role play. The primary reason for that is because I don’t cold call.

Everything else in my business is leveraged. I don’t write the contract for instance. A lot of agents are still doing this because they feel that they are the only person that can do it the right way. I was like that in the beginning before I hired my assistants, three and a half years ago.

I was working late hours every day because I was trying to get everything done myself. I didn’t feel that anybody could do it better than me. Now I find that my assistants are much better than me in a lot of ways. We have to find other people who can assist us in the business, help it grow, and take it to the next level.

Alot of realtors are also scared to make the commitment to hire another person because of the money that they are going to have to pay for that person. In order to grow one’s business, one has to invest in that business.

What prospecting advice do you have for a starting realtor?

Find what works for you. For me, I’ve never been the one to pick up the phone and just call people and ask for business, especially if I didn’t know the person. Instead I focused on face to face interactions. I door knocked and talked to everyone that I came in contact with on a daily basis. It’s all about finding your niche.

I knew that real estate was a numbers game. I knew that my success was contingent upon the number of people that I came in contact with on a daily basis. I made sure that I knocked on so many doors every single day and I spoke to so many people every day. I handed out numerous business cards every day as well. I did these things consistently and became Rookie of the Year my first year in business.

My advice is to be consistent in whatever you do and protect your schedule at all times.

What goals did you set for yourself to become rookie of the year?

Honestly, my goal was never to become Rookie of the Year. I was more concerned about making money to support myself since I quit my job to pursue a career in Real Estate. I door knocked two hours every single day. I also introduced myself to every person I came in contact with and handed out my business card. That enabled me to accomplish my goals in this business. 

Interview with Peter Byers

How important is prospecting in your realtor business?

Lead generation is the most important thing in any sales orientated business. It’s what keeps the engine running. So, obviously it needs to be scheduled and you need to be proactive at it every day.

How much time would you have to spend on it?

Over 15 years it has fluctuated. I got the best results when I did 20 to 30 hours a week of prospecting; that’s contacting one person after another and setting up appointments.

Prospecting is a combination of cold calling into the market area and following-up with existing leads and contacts. So, you’re You need to be talking to new people every day as well as nurturing people along the way. You’ve got to keep them both going regularly. So, when I say 20 or 30 hours, it’s a combination of the two of them, but regularly-scheduled meeting people face-to-face.

Prospecting is close to 50% of the work of a realtor.

What is the best way to do cold calling and nurturing?

I found that I’m more successful personally in door knocking than cold calling on the phone. I actually prefer going door to door over a phone calling, but I don’t like to go outside when it’s freezing cold. So, I would go door to door and if I met somebody, I would schedule to drop by again. Because I’ve already had an initial contact, I can now call them and say, “Hey, I’m going to be in the neighbourhood. Can I maybe stop in and see where you’re at in your process?” A lot of times, once you’ve made an initial contact face-to-face, the phone seems to suffice until they’re ready to make a move. But, you have to nurture the leads that you have and follow-up.

In terms of following up, if somebody says they’re ready in six months, you need to be talking to them in three months. So, whatever timeline they give you, you need to cut that in half just to cut space “Are you still thinking about a move in the next three months or has anything changed?” If we just wait until the time that they said that they’re ready, you find that life throws curves all the time.

Most realtors don’t cold call, most realtors don’t door knock, but those that do are more successful than those that don’t. The harder you work, the luckier you get.

Initial face-to-face contacts are superior because it establishes a stronger relationship?

Yes, and then you have to ask a person how they like to have further communication. Some people want to talk to you on the phone, some people want to meet with you face to face, and some people just want to text back and forth. Typically, the younger a person is they almost exclusively text. If you call them they don’t even answer their phone but if you text them they instantly respond. So, most people under 30 don’t like to talk on the phone; they’re text only.

Do you have specific targets for your lead generation?

When you’re focused on prospecting the math is one out of ten are going to be thinking about making a move. So, if you talk to 50 people in a week, 5 qualify. Some people with high I  personality type [type that is open to others and confident in their social ability, see DISCUSS] can even talk to a hundred people in 20 hours. I’m not so driven by numbers; I tend to care more and engage in longer conversations with more social interactions. My phone calls generally take twice as long but almost everybody I talk to that qualifies is willing to meet with me and then I bring half of those people under contract.

The goal is not the number of people that you talk to; the goal is the amount of time allocated. So, for example, if you’re prospecting the best time to call; most people are going to be either like 9:00 to 11:00 or 7:00 to 8:30 in the evening. Don’t call Friday nights, people don’t like to be called on Friday nights and call on Saturday may be between 11:00 and 1:00 o’clock. I find that when you’re making one phone call after another about two hours is my threshold of ‘grace’ let’s call it. It’s emotionally draining. You really have to be in the right mind set. That is important in any type of sales. You have to care about the person that you’re talking to and come across in a positive manner.

I find that in any kind of prospecting I do much better if I have some sort of accountability. The type of accountability has to tailored to your personality though.

What do you feel are the keys for success in prospecting?

Establishing rapport is critical. We are drawn to people that are like us. So you need to tailor your approach to the type of person. For instance if you start talking to type D [personality type focused on achievement and success], you can almost tell right away and just get right to the point. Because they don’t want to have a social chat. They just want to have the information and what you have to offer. If you are talking to a C [personality type looking for compliance and avoiding conflict] on the other hand, they want the data and analyze it.

You have to put in the time. Put it in your schedule and do it consistently.

You have to respect your prospects. If they tell you they’re not going to move in two or three years, the next phone call is not going to be six months later asking “You’re thinking about a move?” You’ve got to actually respond in accordance. So, you have to nurture it in accordance with what they would want.

Over time, did you change your approach to prospecting?

I think that the more accountability I had, the better I got. Life just happens.

What would be your advice to new realtors in terms of prospecting?

They’ve got to use a system, they’ve got to schedule a time to prospect, and they’ve got to execute it. They should talk to other people, who are successful at it and find somebody that can mentor them and help them.

You can’t do sales of any volume if you don’t have a system: You’ve got to schedule the people that you talk to; you have to keep notes to what it is that you talk to them about and when you need to follow up with them next. You schedule when you’re going to call when you have an appointment, and things that you have to do.

 

Interview with Max de Vries,  http://maxdevries.com/

How important is prospecting in your realtor business and what approach do you use?

Prospecting is the business. It is absolutely critical. My team and I start every day with prospecting. We follow the Mike Ferry system. From 8-11 we focus exclusively on prospecting.

What approaches do you use for prospecting?

As mentioned we follow the Mike Ferry system and have done so for the last 10 years. We cold-call every day. We start early. After we have some coffee and practice a few scripts with each other, we close the doors and start calling around 8 am.

We use an auto dialer. We have three groups that we normally call, expired listings, FSBO’s (For Sale By Owner) and leads we get from the title company. When we have a listing, we also call in a radius around that listing. We vary the approach. The one day we might focus on FSBO’s and the next on the leads. The key is to put in the hours and make the calls.

At 11 am we get together and compare notes.

What targets do have for prospecting? How do you measure success?

The primary goal we have is to consistently put in the hours. If you do that success will follow. With our approach, the results are different from day to day. Sometimes you have 2 or 3 leads, sometimes nothing.

What do you feel are the keys to success in prospecting?

There are three keys to prospecting success:

• First, don’t be afraid to be rejected. You cannot be shy. You have to talk to people in this business. You are not going to be successful by being a secret agent.
• Second, prospecting is a numbers game. You have to be aware of that and then put in the time and effort to make the numbers. Real estate is hard work.
• Third, learn the scripts. What I see with new realtors is that for whatever reason some of them don’t want to use the scripts. They improvise, make things up and in the long run that does not work. They don’t last.

As you put in the numbers and make the calls you get better and better at answering the questions. There is not a question that prospects can ask that I or my team does not have an immediate answer for. You need to be able to answer the questions to get them as customers. Being able to answer the questions is something you develop over time and comes with experience.

In this day and age, there is resistance against being called. How do you deal with objections on the phone?

That is handled by using the scripts. Don’t try to improvise just use the scripts and practice them.

In terms of prospecting – have you changed your approach over time and what are some of the changes that you’ve implemented to improve your prospecting?

Not really. There are many systems in real estate that can work as well, but we stuck to ours and it has worked well for us.

What advice do you have regarding prospecting for realtors who are just getting started?

There are only two things: Take a mentor and work hard. The real estate business looks like a simple business, but it really is not. It requires a lot of hard work, a lot of experience and perseverance. Prospecting is absolutely critical for success especially when you are just getting started. A starting realtor needs to be prepared to put in a lot of hours.  I sometimes see new realtors just doing a few things on Facebook and the rest of the time they take it easy and I am thinking that is not going to work. To be successful you need to be prepared to work hard. You have to talk to people.

How could your life as realtor be made easier, specifically with prospecting?

We have the system for prospecting. The auto dialer certainly helps. What we could use is more data and better-quality data.