Over the course of my 40 years of experience in real estate, I have seen many different challenges that real estate salespeople had to face. These challenges have either set back sales reps or forced them to quit. Here are the top seven challenges and how you can overcome them.
1. Not talking to enough prospective clients on a daily, weekly and monthly basis.
Solution: Set up a daily minimum of numbers per day and create a set schedule each day to make it happen. I did 99 numbers a day and would do this Monday to Friday from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. For every 99 numbers, I got one great lead, and three leads led to one or two listings.
Note that you must not call people who are on the Do Not Call list. Most people are not, but we purchase the list from the CRTC and then avoid the names and numbers on that list.
2. Staying motivated to continue to prospect.
Solution: Activity drives motivation! No one wakes up and wants to make 100 calls. The success is the activity of making the calls, not the result. Focusing on results is demotivating!
3. Doing follow-ups and responding to inquires in a timely manner.
Solution: Create a binder (or use a CRM system) that has dividers for each day of the year. Place reminders in those dividers so you know when to follow up with prospects. Answer quickly to leads! If it is a general inquiry, you should respond as soon as possible. Fifty per cent of all sales go to the first person who responds.
4. Over selling and doing more talking than necessary during presentations.
Solution: The key is to listen to your clients and ask questions before your presentation. Most salespeople just present and don’t ask enough or any questions.
5. Feeling forced to lower commission to compete with other salespeople.
Solution: Create a detailed marketing plan to show your difference and the value you bring to them. It will contain all the marketing tactics you will use to achieve the highest selling price. This could include open houses, social media tactics, virtual tours and whichever tactics you intend to use. The key is to show how you will attract more prospective buyers. More showings, more buyers and more offers will lead to a higher selling price.
6. Spending the time to constantly improve your business.
Solution: Schedule time either on a daily, weekly or monthly basis to think and analyze your business. Focus on day-to-day tasks and how you can refine them. The goal is to achieve better results with less time and cost.
7. Birds of a feather flock together!
Solution: Who are you hanging around with? Who are the top producers in your office? If you want to be like them, you are in the right place. If not, you need to rethink your environment.
Once you overcome these seven challenges, I would like to congratulate you. There is only a small group of agents that can make it through all of them. You will be able to sustain a growing, consistent and repeatable business in a very competitive and great industry.
Alex Pilarski was introduced to the world of real estate in 1972. In 1985, he co-founded Re/Max Realtron with his brother Richard. Together they have been awarded many top honours within the Re/Max system, including No. 1 Re/Max in the world in 2012 (most transactions), International Broker/Owners of the Year and the Prestigious Distinguished Service Award. He is also a certified mentor with Buffini and Company and Richard Robbins International. Send him an email or phone 905-944-8800 x302.
