Sure, itโs one of the key fundamentals of real estate, but in the search for a solution to generating an ongoing pipeline of prospective listings, itโs also something agents can over complicate.
The reality is lead generation is a career necessity, but it is not a complex science, and often itโs as simple as seeing opportunities that are right in front of you, each and every day.
Donโt lose sight of the basics
Recently I met with an agent and talk turned to the good old topic of lead generation, which prompted the obvious question, โWhat prospecting activities do you undertake?โ
It was evident from their reply they were searching for โa magic bulletโ and hadnโt found it yet. In the process, they had totally lost sight of the basics.
And letโs be honest, those basics are simple.
They involve staying in regular contact with people in your area who are likely to have a need to sell or buy in the immediate term or the future.
And of course, there are a whole range of real estate activities that relate to this including maintaining your database, providing people with market updates, touching base regularly regarding their intentions, offering to appraise their property, sending regular emails to let them know whatโs sold recently and for how much, and more.
But in addition to these standard activities there are other simple strategies you can engage in that too often agents overlook as part of an interesting phenomenon known as โinattention blindnessโ.
Do you suffer inattention blindness?
First coined as a phrase in the early 1990s, โinattention blindnessโ is a phenomenon where you donโt see something that is in plain sight, simply because your attention is directed elsewhere.
In other words, weโre focused so intently on a task at hand that we donโt notice the weird thing or opportunity thatโs right there in plain view.
However, in real estate, โinattention blindnessโ occurs when opportunity literally stares agents in the face, but they โcanโtโ or โchoose notโ to see those opportunities.
Some simple and obvious scenarios
In real estate thereโs a good chance weโve all been guilty of inattention blindness at some point and have missed opportunities that were staring us right in the face.
So letโs walk through a couple of examples of how it might look in practice.
Scenario 1: Youโre at an open home or on the phone speaking with a prospective buyer, but donโt ask the question, “Mr or Mrs Buyer, with your current residence, do you plan on holding onto it orโฆ. (pause and let them finish the question)?”
Scenario 2: Youโve just sold a property, but didnโt prospect the immediate homes around it.
Then, much to your annoyance, one of the neighbours lists with another agent without even calling you.
โDidnโt they see my 8×6 sign board that needed its own post code?โ I hear you ask.
Maybe they did, but the question you should really be asking is did your inattention blindness see you overlook an obvious opportunity to personally introduce yourself, and how will you remedy this in the future?
We pass and meet potential sellers every single day
The reality is, in real estate we pass and meet potential sellers every single day.
We meet hundreds of buyers who will be future sellers throughout our career.
Every home you drive or walk pass has an owner attached to it.
They are a potential future seller.
We just need to introduce ourselves.
The opportunities are literally staring every agent in the face.
So, I challenge you to consider those opportunities and reflect on the times when youโve been guilty of inattention blindness.
Thenโฆ commit to the basics.
Commit to the follow-up.
Commit to the process.
When you seize the opportunities that are right in front of you, I guarantee it will change your career.
For all enquiries and more information on how the AgentsโAgency can help you take your career to the next level, please visit https://www.agentsagency.com.au or email hello@agentsagency.com.au