“Not following up with your prospects is the same as filling up your bathtub without first putting in the stopper in the drain.” – Michelle Moore
It is so, so true. This is where a lot of Real Estate Agents fail. Correct that. This is where all the Real Estate agents out there fail at some point in their career. (Don’t be that guy or gal) Most do not do this well. I was included in that category for a large part of my career. 5 years into my real estate business I brought on a newly licensed agent and her first duty was to go through all of my banker boxes and enter people into a database program. It took her 3 months!!
I paid her a salary and gave her some business through buyer referrals etc and it worked out pretty well for her to get her started. It cost me a lot of money but it was totally worth it. I caught it just in time. Imagine if I waited longer to get this done. The question that keeps plaguing my mind is, “How much business did I NOT do because of my lack of follow up?” Tragically, I will never know the answer. There were some people that I actually avoided calling or sending letters to because I felt like an idiot contacting them now after 4 years from the time they moved into their home that I sold them. They probably had no idea who I was anyway. If they did remember who I was, the biggest thing that they would remember is how I NEVER SPOKE TO THEM AGAIN from the moment I received my commission cheque. Was it because I didn’t care? No not really. I just was so caught up in my “busy-ness” that I forgot to work on my “business”.
That is the past and it is in the past. I have learned from this. Follow up has to be intentional and it has to be done. It humanizes the business. It keeps us in their minds. It reminds them that we are still active and working and when we jump back in their lives for a second there is always a chance that there is more business that will come out of it. This is the cheapest advertising that you can do.
Firstly, I would take the word “prospects” and add to that, Friends, Referral Sources, Strategic Alliances, Past Clients, Back burner leads, and prospects that have newly come into your circle. Everyone. Every source. Every person that you have touched in some way. Having said that, there are systematic ways to do this. It is not as daunting of a task as it seems. It can be systematized and it should. If you are going to have paid staff for any reason this is the chief reason. This will keep them busy and will pay you large dividends. This can be a minimum wage activity and a part-time job for someone as well. More on this in our next level course. But for now just understand the benefits of the activities that include: following up, touching base, communicating, visiting, pop-by’s, random texts, emails, letters, birthday cards, Christmas letters, lunches and dinners and coffees etc etc etc.
Understand this…….there is never nothing to do. What a horribly written sentence. This has to be part of your work day every single day. Now I encourage you to schedule it and plan it and make it happen. All the best…