How Are Your Listings?

I caught up with a consultant I know who does a lot of work with real estate agents. We got talking and he told me a simple story to illustrate the point that anyone can be successful if they have a plan and are committed to its execution.

If you know anyone in real estate they will tell you that “listings are the lifeblood of their business”. Once you get a listing you then have the ability to leverage that listing across other agents and increase the chance for that home to sell.

So what happens if you are brand new to the business?  This story is about one agent who started from scratch and became one of the top sellers within a very short time.

Started with a phone book

This agent lived about an hour away from where I live. The area is situated on a beautiful coast with the Pacific Ocean stretched out in front of you, and it’s mainly made up of retirees and commuters who do not mind the drive of 1 hour to the city.

This would-be agent had come out of a redundancy and a totally unrelated industry, but knew that success is not overnight, and requires hard work, patience and effort.

First things first

His first day at work he picked up the telephone book and started with the letter “A” in his area, he called each number with a simple request.

“Hi, it’s John here from <insert real estate agency here>, would it be okay if I sent you some information every now again?”

That was all he asked, he did not go into who his company was, all the benefits of working with him – just that simple question.

Over time he built a database of over 1,800 clients, who were okay “If he sent them some information every now and again…”

Execute your plan

As soon as he got a name he sent out “that information”, and after about three months he got the odd call, nothing overwhelming, but soon enough calls started to come in. As the year unfolded  it started to increase, and now, on average, he is listing about a dozen houses a month.

When he got the calls he heard comments like this

• “I liked your approach”
• “We were not ready to sell when you first called but do now”
• “You followed through”
• “No one else does this”

Now, he has become quite a successful agent.

Is there something like this you can execute today to be just like this agent?

Good selling

PHOTO CREDIT – thinkpanama