Choosing the correct clients
By Julie Harris
Oddly enough in real estate you may have noticed that the most motivated clients, the ones that have to buy or sell are also the easiest ones to work with. Ask yourself if you have any pesky listings, the people who are bugging you about every little detail and yet not cooperating when you ask them to correct the feedback items. Do they actually have to sell their house, because it seems that the people who have the luxury of time often are the ones who abuse it the most?
Think about that, start practicing the concept of cultivating lilies and avoid leaches. Lilies are people and projects that repay you the effort that you put in and these people are the battery chargers.
The leaches are people who take from you even when you’re not talking to them. We don’t drop the leaches frequently enough in real estate, because it may be the only deal we’re working on yet it’s the same thing that drives the business into the ground, because you’re working with the wrong people.
Go through your leads, go through the people who are listed with you and ask yourself am I working with a lily or a leach? Who is sucking the life out of your time and your daily schedule? Who is dominating your thoughts?
Do they have to sell or buy? Probably not. Could you cut them lose and work with the lilies? What can you do to cultivate lilies today? If you don’t have enough lilies in terms of the people you’re already dealing with what can you do to create more? How can you cultivate more?
Can you call back all the leads sitting on your desk? Some of you use the Internet to your advantage and you have great leads from your website, but you haven’t done anything with them. Some held open houses last weekend and haven’t called those people back. Some prospect every day, you make the initial contact and if you don’t get anything on that contact what happens to that lead? Are you continuing to follow-up?
When a For Sale by Owner comes onto the market everybody calls them, but who follows up? Cultivate the lily, the people who actually have to buy or sell, who can use your services and who appreciate what you do every day. If somebody falls into that leach category cut them loose you don’t need that kind of stress.
Real estate can be hard enough on its own without somebody abusing your time and not appreciating you. Give before you get. Be of service, but make sure you’re working with lilies. Think about that as you go forward with your day.
Tags: battery chargers, desk, julie harris, leach, leaches, lilies, lily, open houses, real estate
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