Waste of Time
Can we define a Lead? What is a lead? We talk about it all the time in this business. People Lead generate. Agents buy leads. Zullow sells leads (yes, I misspelled it on purpose).
To me a real lead is a name, phone number and email address for someone ready to buy or sell. Ready to buy or sell means they have a date by which they have to be done or be homeless. To have a date by which they have to had the home sold or serious consequences will happen.
If those things are not true then it’s an inquiry. I think it matters what we call these things because we’ll get confused if we don’t know.
Back to the buyers, I do not believe the buyers have to have a loan qualification letter yet because they might not know they need one. It’s your job to educate them but please don’t put them in the car unless they have one. Right?
If they don’t have one are they a waste of your time?
What if it’s someone referred to you and you trust the person who referred them? Can you show them some homes first to build the connection between you and them? To get to know them a bit and what they need? What if they are just starting to look. It’s going to months before they buy.
Are they wasting your time?
I believe we need to qualify folks before we really call them a lead but working by referral is a bit different. One of my best referring folks could not buy a house a the time I met them. I helped them get into 4 different rentals because they needed help. I told them how I work and referrals were the life of my business. That one person connected me to over $2 Million in business over those 4 years.
Was that a waste of my time?
So investing in people, helping because you can is a business model I can get behind because I don’t waste my time with cold calling, etc. I just read comments someone who calls themselves successful in this business and they door knock for leads. It took 60 knocks to get to a ‘lead’ and 180 knocks to get to a closing. I guess that’s 179 wasted knocks and perhaps you can do that many in a day but I doubt it. That much rejection must be affecting the mood, emotions and temperament. It would take hours and if you stop knocking the business stops. It’s a trap. What if you want 2 deals a month? 3? I just doesn’t scale.
Helping folks who actually need your help is so much better in my opinion. If you agree then maybe you’ll sign up below to join in this conversation. I’ve got a lot more to say so stay tuned. If you sign up you’ll get an email when I post a new article. Up to 3 a week but not more than that.
Thanks for listening,
Jerry Robertson
678-616-1578