Hello. I’m Ira Naiditch and I’m a Mike Ferry Organization Coach and speaker … and Mike asked me to talk to you today about what’s probably everybody’s favorite topic … prospecting. So, how many of you honestly prospect as much as your schedule says you’re supposed to? And how many of you really need to be prospecting more but just don’t for one reason or another? Or … in other words … most of you are human because it’s just not getting done the way we always want to do it.

Even so, we find that we need to talk to people every day who want to buy or sell Real Estate. We have to do this daily because you can’t have too many prospects … you just can’t. Prospecting, lead generation … call it whatever you want … we have to do this or we will be out of business. This is job one.

We all know that we need to talk to more people if we want to more deals … and we all want to do more deals, of course. And we need to do that … and we do it by strengthening the link between prospecting and achieving the results that we’re trying to achieve. Or, as Fahada Saad said, a couple years ago, right on the stage at an MFO Superstar Retreat, “We need to connect the dots between what we do and the results we want to attain.”

Do you have goals? And are those goals strong, meaningful, worthwhile, attainable goals? They could be life goals … production goals … business goals … or personal goals. And for those of you that have goals, have you taken the time to take it to the next level … to do the next step … and relate those goals to the production that you need to attain them. How much money do you need to support your family? In your budget, do you account for housing? Do you account for food? Vacation? Utilities? Your car? Savings for a rainy day? Your children’s education? Maybe your retirement? Or are you just spending freely, not really knowing where the money’s going to come from? You know, there’s a definite link, and all of us need to do a better job finding that link and then working to accomplish our goals to support the needs, wants and desires that we have.

So, you know what you want in life … you know at what age you’d like to retire … you know where you want to go on vacation … you know if you want to or if you don’t want to pay for your children’s further education … you know what kind of car you’d like to drive … and you know you’re required to pay taxes each year. And since we know these things, why don’t we do what we have to do each and every day or … even just a majority of the days … to accomplish what we have to accomplish to ensure that we can retire on schedule when we want to … or go on that vacation … or purchase that new car … or pay for our kid’s education … or just have enough money for a rainy day so that when the roof leaks or the dishwasher goes out … or we get sick or injured and can’t work … that we have the money to sustain ourselves.

See, too many of us are living paycheck to paycheck and not planning for the expenses we know ahead of time that we’re going to have. Who would like to change that? Who would like to have money in the bank so there is just waiting for you enough money to cover all of the expenses you have when you have them? Who would like to have more money put aside for retirement, so that you can retire when you’d like to and at the comfort level you’d like to be at? Once you strengthen that link between prospecting and achieving results, the goals you’ve set will be on the way to you and you’ll have the success you want. But first … first … we need to make a commitment, a real commitment, to build our business to daily, efficient and effective prospecting.

Mike teaches us that our business can come from one of three ways. Number one … we can wait for it … and that, quite frankly, is what most people do. Number two … we can buy it … that can get expensive, but that’s what some people do. Or number three … we can go out and find it … and that’s what we teach here at the Mike Ferry Organization, and that’s what Mike’s taught us for years and years and years on what to do and how to do it.

See, 80% of your business should come from finding it … 80% should come from finding it … so what are you doing to find your business? Therein lies the difficulty. Do you know how to prospect? Well, you could be on the phones … so a) phones. There, we use the scripts that we teach you to use. They’ll help keep you focused and on task … or b) go to the doors. During our current COVID-19 crisis, that’s difficult and probably not recommended, but when the crisis ends … and yes, the crisis will end … then it’s a great way, not only to get some exercise, and some of us need that more than others, but also to get you known in the area. And while many people screen their phone calls, they do answer the door if they’re home.

Letter c) we can do more mailings. Now, are you mailing to your database four times a year as Mike recommends? It’s so great. If not, why not? Now, we’re not recommending that you do a lot of mass mailings to thousands and thousands of people, but we should be mailing something of value to our Past Clients and Centers of Influence one time per quarter.

Letter d) we could do open houses. And we know that a lot of you are sitting open houses … and if you are, you can do whatever you can to get the maximum number of people to your open house. Are you inviting all the neighbors? Are you prospecting in areas where the target Buyers live so that they can be invited? Now, this applies to all virtual open houses too. They can be done through Zoom and you can work to create traffic to your Zoom account.

Working old company files. Take over the servicing of clients from agents that left your company. After all, no one else is. Are you working Expireds and FSBOs? Are you all calling all of the FSBOs and Expireds? See, these are low hanging fruit. These are people who are literally raising their hands saying, “I need to move. Who can help me?” And you’re that person that can be helping them.

Letter f) call around existing listings and sales. When one person sells and people see a For Sale sign, it puts the thought in their minds to do the same. Letter g) your Past Clients and Centers of Influence. Are you calling them? Are you mailing to them? If not, why not? Mike is not recommending, again, massive geographic mailings that are very expensive and bring low results, but these are people that know you … that like you … they respect you. These are a group of people who collectively could and should account for 35% to 40% of your business. So be calling them every quarter and be mailing to them every quarter.

There’s personal promotion and there’s so many ways to do that. There’s networking organizations that are fun … and you can be having breakfast, lunch or dinner with your group and doing business at the same time. You could be adopting the other side of a transaction. Not too many people do that. It’s a great way to build your database, and their old agent that either sold them the house … they’re not calling them, so maybe you should and they become your client. You could be doing small public seminars, again, using Zoom during this crisis that we’re going through with COVID-19. And the list goes on.

You know, there’s passive techniques like I’ve listed some, and there’s active or more aggressive techniques, some of which we’ve mentioned, that bring more rejection, but also bring more results. Th choice is yours. Just ensure your choices support your goals. Once you’ve decided who you’re going to prospect and how you’re going to prospect, you have to ask yourself, “Do I know what to say?” Do I know what to say?

Well, we have the scripts for you, make no mistake about that. So, are you using the scripts or are you winging it? Remember what Mike teaches us … telling is not selling. Asking good questions is selling, and MFO scripts are all designed around good open-ended questions that start with “who,” “what,” “where,” “when, “why” and “how” … all open-ended questions. If you don’t have them, go to our website and download them. They’re free. There’s no reason why not to have them.

Number two … a question is … why do you fight using the scripts if you’re not using them? They allow you to control the conversation versus the customer controlling the conversation. Another question … number three … when you take the time to really learn the scripts, they will become very natural to you. I promise you that. And prospecting can be fun if you know what to say … so you have to ask yourself … do I want to know what to say?

For those of you that are in MFO Coaching, we are there helping you whenever you need it … to use the scripts … to use them to their maximum potential … and to get your maximum potential out of you. For those of you not in Coaching, consider joining us. It’ll pay for itself quickly when you do the things you need to do and you have the help you need to have to do what you have to do.

Now, some of you may have a basic fear of prospecting, and that’s not unusual, so don’t beat yourself up over it. And, at the same time, we can help you so you can get over that fear. What can you do about it? Well, maybe practice more. Mike recommends that you practice a minimum … a minimum … of a half hour a day. Maybe you should be doing an hour a day? You know, Tony Smith, another one of the great speakers and Coaches at the Mike Ferry Organization, he played college football at Montana State … and when he got done with college and moved and got into Real Estate, he was practicing 2 hours a day. He knew the value of practice from his football days.

See, football players, there’s offense, there’s defense and there’s special teams … and there’s 60 minutes in a game. Now, for those of you that aren’t football fans, sorry, it’s just one of the analogies that I’m able to use and one of the examples. But even the starting players are in the game less than 25 minutes. See, there’s 25 minutes on offense … 25 minutes on defense … and about 10 minutes on special teams. So, to prepare for that time, for that 25 minutes in a game, they spend 40 or more hours practicing during the week. How much do you practice? How much do you really need to practice? And what would happen if you practiced more?

Get tougher role-play partners. Memorize and internalize the scripts. If an issue comes up on an appointment, work on that so that issue never stumps you again. And once we do practice more, and we get better at lead generation, our confidence increases. Remember what Earl Nightingale engrained in Mike Ferry’s mind? Knowledge equals confidence, and ignorance equals fear. So, work to build that confidence. Some of you may have to talk to 150 or even 200 people or more than that before setting an appointment. Others may only have to talk to 50 or 60 to set an appointment. As you practice more and improve your skills, your execution rate will improve … I promise you that, too. As you build your database and work it properly, again, calling four times per year and mailing four times per year, your execution rate will improve.

Once you know how many transactions you need to close to accomplish your goals and how many people you have to talk to in order to take a listing, you can then figure out how many people you have to talk to per day. And then comes the rejection, when someone yells at you or hangs up, and we all get that. It happens to all of us. Can you handle the rejection? We are in a rejection business. It happens to all of us. Don’t let it bother you. For those of you that have kids, we get rejected all the time. For those of you that have spouses, for sure you get rejected all the time, so why would you let it bother you when somebody you don’t even know and will probably never meet rejects you? We’ve got to be able to get over that.

Let’s find the people who need you and who are ready to let you help them. What we need to remember in this regard is that you are the only person in the way of finding the next prospect who wants to buy or sell a home. So, let me say that again … you are the only person who gets in your own way of finding the next prospect who wants to buy or sell with you. Remember, prospecting is not about you … it’s about them. Buyers and Sellers are out there no matter what kind of market we’re experiencing.

Right now, in every market, there are Real Estate Agents who are doing nothing. They’re convinced that there’s no business out there during the COVID-19 times … and they’re living in a land that is just causing them not to be able to do any of their business. They’re convinced there isn’t any. But then there are MFO agents who are having absolutely fantastic years listing and selling with multiple offers and running all the way to the bank. Which group are you in, and which one would you like to be in?

Well, you’re here watching Mike Ferry TV, so we know you want to grow your business. The key is … no matter what kind of market there is … no matter what the market is like … there are people out there who need your help, you just need to go find them. You need to set more appointments. Who wants to go on more appointments? Can we all agree that sitting with a Buyer or Seller, either face-to-face or over the phone, or via Zoom meetings like, you know, virtual meetings, are the most important part of the Real Estate business? This business is all about going on appointments on a regular basis. This is what we do. This is who we are. We have to understand that the only way to get paid in this business is to go on more appointments all the time, and to get more appointments, we have to be more fanatical about the prospecting we do.

I hope this edition of Mike Ferry TV has helped you. If you have any questions or need any more guidance or help with your prospecting skills, if you’re in Coaching, talk to your Coach. For those of you that don’t have a coach, I really hope you call MFO today and talk to the sales team about joining us … and investing in yourself to increase your production.

Have a great day and happy prospecting.

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Mike Ferry is the global leader in real estate coaching and training. Watch Mike each week as he discusses a variety of topics to help real estate agents and brokers. Grow your real estate business by improving your mindset, developing your skills and creating a plan of action to increase your production!