One of the biggest downfalls of unsuccessful Real Estate Agents is that they don’t keep in touch with prospects effectively or they tend to give up on a potential client far too quickly.

If you want to become a Top Performer in Real Estate then it’s important to look at effective ways that you can maintain ongoing & engaging communications with potential clients.

Earlier today, I was watching this interview with Matthew Ferrara from the NAR Conference, where he raises some interesting points about keeping in touch & following up on leads.

I agree with Matthew that agents seem to be generating a lot of leads but don’t seem to establish the effective follow-up systems that help to maintain the ongoing contact points required to convert potential clients into business revenue.

Both the marketplace & technology have had a major impact on this lack of follow-up.  People have become time poor, less patient & there are many agents who have an expectation that they only want to deal with people who want to buy or sell today (right now). Unfortunately, agents who only focus on getting a result today will miss out on lots of business tomorrow.

If you go around looking at prospects with dollar signs in your eyes you will actually repel more business than you will win. You are better off engaging with your customers by focussing on ways that you can help them first & then the money will come as a benefit out of the service you’ve provided.

Developing A Future Focus

As we are just about to move into a new decade, response times & following up on leads are going to become more & more important skills to develop if you want to become one of the top performers.

Also, as technology keeps developing in 2010, finding ways that you can work with your pipeline sellers in a way that keeps them engaged & well informed will become the foundation for an agent’s ongoing real estate success.

As an example, I was just discussing this very topic with my friend Kevin Turner from REUncut & he told me that he had just been interviewing real estate agent, James Tostevin.  James is one of the top producers within the Australian real estate industry & is one of the greatest exponents of following up prospects.

James was running late for the interview because he just listed a property that he had been working on for 5 years.

James said that when he went in to sign up the listing the sellers had no doubt about who they were going to sign with, all that needed to be confirmed at the listing appointment was the marketing budget & strategy.

If you follow up with clients effectively & don’t give up on them you’ll find that getting good quality listings will come as your reward for persistence.

From Personal Experience

James Tostevin’s comment about following up on a client for 5 years reminded me of a personal real estate experience that I had.

I had a client who was looking at upgrading in our area but was looking for something in particular.  So whenever something came up along the lines of what they were looking for they were the first people I contacted.

Finally, after years of looking, a property came onto the market that was perfect for them. I called my clients & they bought it straight away. The seller was over the moon & the buyers were really happy too.

They now had to sell their house, so that same day they listed their house with me.

During, the process of signing up the listing I mentioned that I had an appointment with some buyers the next morning who might be interested in their home & if it would be OK to bring them through (this was prior to needing to have contracts prepared beforehand).

The owner then said to me, Greg that could mean that you’ll make 2 sales in less than 24 hours, that’s a lot of money you’ve just made out of me & asked me if I could do something about negotiating our selling fee?

I said, “Hang on I think you might be forgetting something. I’ve worked for nearly 3 years trying to find the right home so I can help you & your family move. I’ve made it my priority to contact you anytime a new property came up, if anything maybe we should be putting the fee up.” We all had a laugh & the selling fee stood as it was.

Moral: Be patient, keep in touch & you will get the rewards.

I knew they would move if I could just find them the right home. By keeping in touch you’ll not only get more listings, but your selling fee will rarely become an issue. Plus, you’ll often find that you’ll be the only agent the clients will want to deal with.

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