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Write a detailed scientific introduction in English for a chapter entitled "Prospecting & Marketing Integration"
in a training course entitled "Master Your Network: Building a Powerful Contact Database" about the topic "Prospecting & Marketing Integration".
The introduction should provide a brief summary of the topic, its scientific importance,
and the educational goals of the chapter. The introduction should be scientific and precise.
Do not use Markdown formatting.
File content PDF (relevant part):
LEAD GENERATION: PROSPECTING ED 1 REV 2– © 2015 KELLER WILLIAMS REALTY INC. 17
Power Session 2 Prospecting
The Lead Generation Puzzle
Prospecting Reinforces Marketing
Prospecting can be easier when led by marketing. Marketing can provide the reason for your call or visit, and in fact, prospecting after marketing can dramatically increase the odds of getting business. It can “warm” up a purely “cold” call. For example, after mailing an inexpensive postcard to a neighborhood announcing a home that was recently listed, you could call or visit residents and open the conversation with:
AGENT: “Good day, my name is and I’m in real estate. Did you receive the postcard I sent regarding your neighbor’s home that is for sale? Do you know anyone who might be interested in this home? It would be my pleasure to provide the answer to any of your real estate questions.”
Marketing Supports Prospecting
Marketing validates you—it creates recognition and reputation. People may see your signs or fliers before they meet you and feel like they already “know” you. Therefore, you want your marketing of yourself (your branding) to call
attention to you and attract people to you. People will form impressions of you
quickly, so your marketing should represent who you are and the professionalism and customer value you bring to every aspect of your business.
A great example of how marketing can really work is the branding of The McKissack Team in Denton, Texas. Pictures of Jimmy and Linda McKissack featured them giving a “thumbs-up.” After a while, random strangers in the grocery store, video rental store, or doctor’s waiting room began giving them the thumbs-up. It took a few times for Jimmy and Linda to connect the dots and realize their brand marketing was a success. You will learn more about all aspects of marketing in Lead Generation 36:12:3 Power Session 3: Marketing.
18 LEAD GENERATION: PROSPECTING ED 1 REV 2– © 2015 KELLER WILLIAMS REALTY INC.
Prospecting Power Session 2
The Lead Generation Puzzle
Cost versus Time/Effort of Prospecting and Marketing
Cost Versus Time/Effort
Prospecting Marketing
Cost Minimal Could be unaffordable
Time/Effort Maximum Minimal
Prospecting takes more of your time and effort, but can cost little to nothing because it involves making phone calls and visiting people. Marketing, on the other hand, can reach more people in less time, but there is a cost component, which can be high depending on quality and quantity of materials, as well as how often they are distributed.
Don’t fall for the myth “I don’t have the money to lead generate.” Invest your time in prospecting and lead with revenue. You can start prospecting today with a list of people and your phone.
LEAD GENERATION: PROSPECTING ED 1 REV 2– © 2015 KELLER WILLIAMS REALTY INC. 19
Power Session 2 Prospecting
The Lead Generation Puzzle
Exercise Assess Yourself: Where are you now with prospecting and marketing? Directions: Answer the following questions and fill out the grid.
1. How much time each day, week, month, or year do you devote to
prospecting?
- How much money do you spend on a daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly basis on marketing?
Prospecting Versus Marketing
Daily Weekly Monthly Yearly
Amount of Time
Devoted to Prospecting
Amount of Money spent on Marketing
Mins Mins Mins Mins
Hrs Hrs Hrs Hrs
$ $ $ $
Is your lead generation program prospecting based? Yes No
Time: 5 minutes (10 minutes with facilitated discussion)
20 LEAD GENERATION: PROSPECTING ED 1 REV 2– © 2015 KELLER WILLIAMS REALTY INC.
Prospecting Power Session 2
Prospecting:
The Critical
Puzzle Piece
Myths and Truths about Prospecting
Hopefully, your interest is piqued and you are curious to tap into the power of prospecting. Let’s begin with some myths that may be preventing you from reaping the benefits that come from prospecting.
In The Power of One, you learned a basic lead generation myth that if you do a good job, people will just come to you. Your reputation is an important foundation for your business and, certainly, some people will be attracted to you and find you because of your reputation and your marketing efforts. However, not enough will and not soon enough to build or sustain your business. This is a passive approach that may be unreliable, no matter how strong your reputation.
Myth 1
Prospecting = Cold Calling = Rejection
Truth
Prospecting = Meeting People and Building
Purposeful Business Relationships = A Strong Real Estate Business
“You can be the brightest, smartest,
most well-educated real estate person there is, but if nobody calls you, it just does
not matter.”
GENE RIVERS
THE RIVERS TEAM
TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA
On a KWRI MAPS free coaching call on prospecting, an informal poll was taken of the 162 people on the call. The poll revealed that approximately 78 percent of them prospect less than one hour per day. One reason they gave was they didn’t know what to say. The other reason was that they see prospecting as cold calling.
LEAD GENERATION: PROSPECTING ED 1 REV 2– © 2015 KELLER WILLIAMS REALTY INC. 21
Power Session 2 Prospecting
Prospecting: The Critical Puzzle Piece
Most people forget that prospecting has eleven letters and, instead, treat it like a four-letter word. For many real estate agents, the mere mention of the word prospecting conjures images of sitting at a telephone and calling complete strangers for hours on end, only to face rejection, insults, and slammed receivers. With this kind of thinking, would you think that you would enjoy prospecting? Of course not.
Adopt a new mindset about prospecting. See it in a new light and get excited about doing it at the highest level. Nikki Ubaldini, KWU Master Faculty Instructor, puts it best. “When I teach lead generation,” she notes, “I say that the P word, prospecting, is not a dirty word. It’s not just picking up the phone. It’s getting involved in networking groups and in volunteer situations. It’s making a point to meet people every single day.”
Prospecting is more than phone calling strangers. Sure, cold calling FSBOs and expired listings can be a successful form of prospecting, but you will learn other effective ways of prospecting in upcoming Power Sessions, like holding open houses, hosting seminars, knocking on doors in a neighborhood, and visiting past customers.
22 LEAD GENERATION: PROSPECTING ED 1 REV 2– © 2015 KELLER WILLIAMS REALTY INC.
Prospecting Power Session 2
Prospecting: The Critical Puzzle Piece
Myth 2
Prospecting means contacting people you don’t know.
Truth
Prospecting means contacting people you know as well as those you don’t know.
Most people have a limiting belief that prospecting is only about calling strangers. In fact, a prospecting component is included in all Keller Williams recommended action plans for Mets (8 x 8, and 33 Touch.) As part of each plan, and to achieve maximum results, you are expected to call and/or visit those on your action plans a certain number of times in a given period. Therefore, prospecting is a critical element in building and growing relationships with those you know—past customers, Allied Resources, and Core Advocates. Action plans and the different categories of people you know are defined in The Millionaire Real Estate Agent and are further discussed in Power Session 3: Marketing, and Power Session 4: Leveraging a Powerful Contact Database.
There are many examples of very successful agents who, in the beginning, grew the number of Mets in their database to a sustainable level, and now only prospect to their Mets. For example, Dick Dillingham, a very successful agent
in Plano, Texas, and Dean of Keller Williams University – Faculty, grew his database of Mets from 300 to more than 3,000. He decided to focus only on Mets and generate business from those he already knew. In the growth phase of your career, it is recommended you build your database by prospecting to those you don’t know as well as those you already know.
Be like Forrest Gump. Have blind faith. Do it like you don't know any better.
LEAD GENERATION: PROSPECTING ED 1 REV 2– © 2015 KELLER WILLIAMS REALTY INC. 23
Power Session 2 Prospecting
Prospecting: The Critical Puzzle Piece
Myth 3
Prospecting is what you do to launch your business. Only new agents have to prospect.
Truth
Prospecting is what you do to keep your real estate business running and growing. You should never stop prospecting.
You never stop prospecting because you always need new leads coming into your business. It keeps your skills sharp and your awareness of the market high. You are always looking to add people to your Met database. (Refer to Power Session 4: Leveraging a Powerful Contact Database) At the start of this course, you read about Bill Watson and his relentless, consistent prospecting—Bill
Watson’s Perfect Day. You’ll recall Bill’s commitment to prospecting, “I can’t
ever stop. It’s just what I do.”
Prospecting Statistics
According to the “National Association of Realtors Profile of Home Buyers
and Sellers,” only 22 percent of sellers and 12 percent of buyers already have an
agent they will use. That means there’s plenty of business for you to go after.
The prospecting activities you choose will affect how people choose you. For example, prospecting to people you don’t know (FSBOs, expired listings, visitor to open houses, etc.) will yield some fraction of the overall total buyers and sellers in the market. However, many more buyers and sellers who have done business with you in the past, or who know you through your network (your Mets), will choose to do business with you again, and may refer others to do business with you. These are all viable prospecting options for you.
24 LEAD GENERATION: PROSPECTING ED 1 REV 2– © 2015 KELLER WILLIAMS REALTY INC.
Prospecting Power Session 2
Prospecting: The Critical Puzzle Piece
Take a look at more statistics on how buyers and sellers choose an agent from
“The National Association of Realtors Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers.”
How People Choose an Agent
Buyers Sellers
-
Use the agent who contacted them
-
Use the agent referred to them by friend, relative, or neighbor
-
Use the same agent they used before
4% 4%
40% 38%
12% 22%
Now let’s look at the exact same statistics defined in a different and more powerful way—that is, related to prospecting. Based on who you prospect, and how often, people will end up choosing you as their agent.
How People Choose YOU Based on Your Prospecting
Prospecting To: Buyers Sellers
-
Haven’t Mets
(You contact people you don’t know)
-
Mets
(You contact people you know and ask them to refer you)
-
Past Customers
(You contact them and ask them for repeat business)
4% 4%
40% 38%
12% 22%
LEAD GENERATION: PROSPECTING ED 1 REV 2– © 2015 KELLER WILLIAMS REALTY INC. 25
Power Session 2 Prospecting
Prospecting: The Critical Puzzle Piece
Five Benefits of Prospecting
Prospecting is an investment and commitment to your business. Smokey Garrett, owner of the Garrett and Nguyen Realty Group in Arlington, Texas, reflects on the importance of prospecting: “Even if you have a closing and you make a lot of money, it’s not from anything you did that day. It’s from the investment in prospecting. I feel better at the end of the day when I’ve made my contacts, because my job is to make contacts and to generate a certain number of leads.”
Prospecting is critical to your business for the following reasons.
Prospecting:
-
Is inexpensive and yields immediate results
-
Puts you in control of filling your pipeline of leads
-
Increases your confidence and skill
-
Yields quantity leads which yield quality leads
-
Keeps you in direct contact with the market and protects against market shifts
26 LEAD GENERATION: PROSPECTING ED 1 REV 2– © 2015 KELLER WILLIAMS REALTY INC.
Prospecting Power Session 2
Prospecting: The Critical Puzzle Piece
- Prospecting is inexpensive and yields immediate results
As we have discussed, lead generation through prospecting means calling or interacting with people face-to-face. Sure, some costs are associated with these techniques—phone service, gas for your car, etc.—but these are minimal compared to the cost of maintaining an effective marketing-based lead generation program. Your time has a value attached to it as well, but prospecting remains one of the most dollar-productive activities a real estate agent can engage in.
In addition, marketing alone is typically a sit-and-wait game. With prospecting, when you reach someone over the phone or you meet with them in person, you immediately get a sense from them if they are interested in the service you can provide. The people you reach will have a conversation with you, answer your questions, or ask you not to contact them again. Either way, you have taken the opportunity to make a connection and gather information for your database. You will know immediately if this contact is interested in real estate services from you now, or you will have a sense about their potential as future business.
- Prospecting puts you in control of filling your pipeline of leads
The very nature of prospecting is about starting and building relationships, converting Haven’t Mets to Mets, and cultivating Mets for present or future business.
What are your monthly and annual production goals? Do you know how many leads you will need in your pipeline to meet those production goals? (Refer to Power Session 11: Living Your Goals for more direction on goal setting.) When you get into the habit of setting production goals and tracking your prospecting activities and conversion rates, you will know when you need to ramp up your prospecting. Prospecting puts you are in control of your pipeline. With marketing, you have to wait to assess the effectiveness of your efforts, and you don’t know the size of your pipeline of potential business.
LEAD GENERATION: PROSPECTING ED 1 REV 2– © 2015 KELLER WILLIAMS REALTY INC. 27
Power Session 2 Prospecting
Prospecting: The Critical Puzzle Piece
- Prospecting increases your confidence and skill
Because prospecting is a contact sport, so to speak, you regularly have the opportunity to hone your people skills and your art of persuasion. You are able to practice and perfect your scripts and dialogues. You’re able to get your own groove and tap into your strengths. You will also easily identify where you can improve your techniques through further training and practice. You will undoubtedly make some mistakes along the way, but with mistakes comes progress.
mokey Garrett, knows the value of time on the task. “When I started out I didn’t know what I was doing. I didn’t know what I was saying. But I don’t think you can really become successful in this industry
without just going and doing it. No matter how many scripts you
practice and how many things you do, it is not going to replace you being at that door or you being on that phone and communicating with the customers.” He continues, “I wasn’t very good at first, but I was motivated to succeed. I didn't wait until I knew how to call on people; I just did it and made mistakes, and learned from them.”
Jama Fontaine, of Jama Fontaine & Associates in Albuquerque, New Mexico, was rookie of the year her first year even though she didn’t know anyone in her new city. She began her business prospecting through open houses of other agents’ listings. She discusses confidence: “A lot of people that I ended up doing business with my first year were shocked when they found out that I was rookie of the year because they thought I had been in business for a long time. That just comes from confidence.”
Do you recall the lesson of the clay pots told in The Millionaire Real Estate Agent? As the story goes, a ceramics teacher divided his class into two groups. One
was to spend the semester creating one pot of superior quality, and they would
be graded solely on quality. The other group was to produce a large quantity of pots, and they would be graded on the total weight of the pots they created. As it turned out, the group that made the large quantity of pots ended up with the best quality pots as well. Why is this? Because they learned from mistakes and improved their production skills and methods with each pot.
28 LEAD GENERATION: PROSPECTING ED 1 REV 2– © 2015 KELLER WILLIAMS REALTY INC.
Prospecting Power Session 2
Prospecting: The Critical Puzzle Piece
- Prospecting yields quantity leads which yield quality leads
The story of the clay pots illustrates that art and skill are developed through practice, but it also validates that quantity leads to quality. Consistent prospecting to reach a large population of potential business can lead to better quality leads. And quality leads are ones that have a higher likelihood of turning into closed transactions.
Bill Watson has this advice about the quality of leads: “If you’re a real prospector, if you are talking to 20, 30, 40, or 50 people a day, you don’t need to worry about weak leads. If you are not prospecting every day, you grasp on to whatever you possibly think is a lead because you’re attached to it. You can’t be attached to it if you’re going to be successful. You have to be prospecting
enough so that if the lead is a weak lead, you can disregard it because you know
you are going to have better quality leads as a result of your prospecting.”
- Prospecting keeps you in direct contact with the market and protects against market shifts
The reason that agents will hang on to a customer who is worthless is because they have a scarcity
of prospects from a
lack of prospecting.
Worrying about what your real estate market is up to and where it’s headed? If you’re prospecting every day, you’ll be one of the first to know, and it won’t matter.
There will always be people buying and selling, or those who will do so in the near future. And with prospecting, you’re always in direct contact with these people, answering their questions about the market and assuring them that you have services to help them. This direct contact with buyers and sellers also yield invaluable intelligence on current market conditions. Prospecting agents are often the first to know the market is shifting and can act accordingly.
Top-producing real estate agents do not overly worry about inevitable market shifts, and in fact, they actually even see the opportunity in them—an opportunity to gain market share.
