Prospecting is basic to your business, so it is important to know the best approach to take with it. There are two different kinds of prospecting: relationship-based prospecting and geographic-based prospecting.
With geographic-based prospecting you start by targeting an area of properties where you think you want to work. You get contact information for everyone who lives or owns property in that geographic area and you send a copy of your market report to as many of them as possible. Hopefully from this offering you will be able to book a few market appraisals, proceed to some listing presentations and end up with property listings.
Relationship-based prospecting focuses on contacting all the people you already know, working with them wherever their properties may be, and in the process forming new relationships with them and through them to expand your possibilities. What you hope will happen is that you are able to sell a high-level property to someone who then has a property you can sell in another market at another price point, then sell that buyer’s property elsewhere at yet another price point, and so on. In short, the more people you meet with trade-ins, the more of both buyers and sellers who are market-ready you will meet, and thus the more business you can do.
Which approach is better – geographic-based prospecting or relationship-based prospecting? The industry tends to use the geographic approach more often. However, building upon relationships with as many people as you know and can meet does in fact expand your possibilities, and is not limited by the boundaries of a given area or market. Every person you meet is a buyer or tenant, a seller or landlord, and they all have to live somewhere. Their status expands your opportunities, whether now or in the future.
Thank you for joining us for today’s Coaching Tip, and we hope to see you again next week.