Successful prospectors Mark Martin, Blair Ballin, Edward Estrada, and Ricky Carruth joined to create the 2018 Battle Plan Panel, hosted by Jason Morris on his Facebook group “Real Estate Agents That REALLY Work”. They met to discuss how to have your best prospecting year ever. If you missed this event, here are the top 10 prospecting ideas from this year’s Battle Plan Panel.
1. Mark Martin on dropping voicemails:
Mark spoke about how he uses voicemails to support his follow-up system.
“We go back and drop mass voicemails to old Expireds once every couple of months,” Mark explains. “We’re able to consistently pull 5-7 listings a month out of that. It’s just a quick message with the same thing I’m talking to them about when I’m calling them. Who I am, what I do, sorry to see their home didn’t sell, I’d love to chat with them about them if they are going to be selling that. I also have a 29-day sale guarantee that I talk to them about.” Mark uses his “29-day promise” so that sellers will compare and contrast that time frame from the 4-6 months they’ve been trying to sell their home, giving them hope that Mark can be the agent who takes care of them.
2. Ricky Carruth on why he uses GeoLeads for prospecting:
Geographic farming is the centerpiece of Ricky’s prospecting success. He swears by GeoLeads™, furthering his success as a prospector.
“I just circle-prospect. I use the GeoLeads feature, which is really incredible. I’ve been doing this a long time and I’ve found numbers all over, but it really is the best I’ve found in terms of quality. I’ve had people ask, ‘How do you know this number? This is my cell-phone number.’ It’s like magic to me.”
3. Blair Ballin on fear of picking up the phone:
Many agents have struggled with fear of calling, Blair included. But when it comes to overcoming that fear, Blair uses logic to figure out what he needs to do to be a successful prospector.
“It’s either get on the phone or get out of the business,” says Blair. “And I didn’t want to get out of the business. So the fear quickly had to go away.”
4. Ricky Carruth on “the countdown” before the call:
Ricky had some wise words to share about being afraid to pick up the phone. Ricky follows the “3, 2, 1” method to work through his fears.
“If it were easy or comfortable, then everybody would be a top producer. You just have to ask yourself, ‘Do I want to be successful? How successful do I want to be?’ And just go for it. I like the ‘3, 2, 1’ method. When something you know will make you successful scares you, just say ‘3, 2, 1..’ and then do it. Over time, the more you do it, the more comfortable you’ll be.”
5. Edward Estrada on the importance of tracking your numbers:
As a Mike Ferry coaching student, Edward is a firm believer in tracking your numbers. By tracking his numbers he’s learned how to see where he needs to improve.
“It [always] goes back to tracking numbers. If I’m tracking my numbers, I know exactly how many contacts I have to get in order for me to get an appointment. If I graph everything, I know where I’m making a mistake.”
6. Mark Martin on why role-playing is important:
Mark is a coach and role-plays with his clients often. Here’s what he had to say about what he’s learned from his years coaching:
“I do it with my coaching clients. So I help them with their scripts and dialogues, and it helps me at the same time. Many times, the teacher becomes the student. There are different things in different markets. Different objections and dynamics. Role-playing keeps you sharp. I do it basically on a daily basis.”
7. Edward Estrada on getting good at overcoming a few key objections:
Edward reminds agents to respect their scripts, but also the fact that the people they call, are in fact, people. This is the best way to handle objections.
“You need to know your objections; know what you’re speaking about. We’re so busy thinking about the next question on the script, that they forget that they’re having a conversation with someone. There’s only a certain amount of objections you get from people, and you just need to get good at having a conversation with people.”
8. Blair Ballin on making prospecting a competitive game:
If you’re competitive like Blair, you’ve got a great opportunity to turn prospecting into a game. Just like any game, in prospecting, Blair pushes himself to meet certain numbers in order to ‘win’ the game he created.
“What drives me is that I like being on the phone. I like that challenge. To me, it’s a game — knowing that I need to speak to however many people and then by a certain point, I’ll be able to contact them, convert them, then go on the appointment, win the appointment, sell the home, etc. Especially if it was an Expired, knowing another agent wasn’t able to sell the home, then I come in and I’m able to do it. I’m providing that service that someone else wasn’t able to. I’m driven to accomplish my goals, set new goals, and continue to get better.”
9. Mark Martin on battling complacency:
Complacency is a real danger to real estate agents. Once a sale or two is made, agents tend to get lazy. They let those sales carry them, until they realize they have nothing in their pipeline. Mark really hits the nail on the head with his blunt statement on the reality of being an agent.
“We create our own economy in this business. If you don’t have the amount of money that you want or aspire to or you don’t have the things that you want or the time, all you have to do is work, and you’ll solve that.”
10. Edward Estrada on being the best prospecting agent you can be:
If you’re like Edward, your best motivator is not the agents around you or competing with their sales numbers, but learning to compete with yourself for your goals.
“Focus on you, compete against yourself, and learn to do better,” Edward says. “Don’t worry about anyone else. I have to concentrate on where I am going, and what I’m doing next.
About the 2018 Battle Plan
The 2018 Battle Plan was a full day of live, free trainings featured on Jason Morris’s Facebook group “Real Estate Agents That REALLY Work”. It included trainings from industry experts Colton Lindsay, John Moscillo, Deric Lipski, and Jason Morris. The recordings are now available for free, so you can get your battle plan set for 2018.
About REDX
REDX offers real estate professionals a complete all-in-one prospecting platform for generating listing appointments. The platform includes seller leads, a dialer with up to three lines, and a lead management tool for simple follow-up. REDX maintains the position that all agents should be compliant with state and federal telecom laws – learn more here. Call (800) 731-7339 option 1 to learn more about prospecting FSBOs, Expireds, FRBOs, Pre Foreclosures, GeoLeads, and our Power Dialer – or visit www.redx.com
