I Hate Cold Calling!

Cold Calling Tips and Facts

Cold calling was, and still is, the preferred method of generating new business for real estate salespeople worldwide. Not for me. I really hate cold calling and always have.

As in all areas of life, ideas come and go. Because it worked yesterday does not mean it's a good option today. The effectiveness of this traditional exercise went by the wayside more than fifteen years ago.

Still, some sales managers insist that a large part of your real estate education should include spending time making these dreaded calls instead of using more effective methods to meet qualified prospects who want and need your services and are ready, even eager to do business.

When sales are down, those familiar words "get on the phone and make calls" and "you need to increase your activity" are heard from sales managers.

Real estate agents are being mistrained and misled by otherwise well-meaning corporate trainers and sales managers. Realtors continue to race like caged mice on a wheel, hoping for a change in scenery. "Cold calling works" has been so drilled into the minds of most agents that some still continue to do it in the traditional way.

Calling potential prospects in this way is by far the least efficient way to find new business. If you keep doing what you've always done, and the result is failure, you're going to become frustrated and worse...go broke.

The great news is that there are better ways - literally dozens of better ways - to find and attract new business.

It has become obsolete and is no longer a viable option to generate new business for many reasons.

Cold Calling Destroys Your Status as a Business Equal.

Begging for business when you approach a prospect in an un-solicited situation, makes it very apparent that you need them and but they probably don't need you. The prospect is instantly placed in a position of power and superiority. You are perceived as needy and inferior by the prospect. And as all negotiating experts explain, perception is everything. Even if you have power, if you're perceived as not having it,... you don't have it.

Cold Calling Limits Production and Wastes Time.

The typical sales training model goes something like this:

"Take your monthly income goal and divide it by the average dollar amount per sale to determine how many sales you need each month. Then multiply that by the number of buyers or listings you need to produce to get one sale. Then multiply that by the number of appointments you need to have to get to a listing or buyer, and multiply that by the number of calls necessary to get an appointment. Divide by 20, and that's how many calls you need to make every business day."

The obvious problem with this is if the agent is brutally honest with him/herself about closing ratios and cold call to appointment ratios, the number of calls required is unrealistic and there simply aren't enough hours to do them as well as any other work such as appointments, listing presentations, etc..

In addition, you're not using the power of leverage when calling. You can only be in one place or make one phone call at a time and can only make so many calls in a day, week, month, or year. Your potential becomes finite and is strictly limited by how many cold calls you make.

Cold Calling Makes Timing Work Against You... Not For You.

Do doctors call you at random times to ask if you're sick and need an appointment?

Do dentists call you unexpectedly and ask if you have a toothache?

Do mechanics call you without warning to find out if your car has broken down and in need of repair?

Of course not.

The very idea of getting these kinds of calls is ridiculous and may even have you laughing, and this is exactly what most prospects think when you cold call them.

If you're lucky enough to find a prospect who is in a buying mode, chances are they've already called some of your competitors for proposals or quotes and the odds of you conducting business with them are already stacked against you.

Because cold calling destroys your status as a business equal, you automatically appear inferior to your competition.

Cold calling instantly puts you in a negative light because prospects find these calls to be intrusive, annoying, disrespectful of their time and generally bothersome.

You Might Get into Serious Trouble.

Are you aware of the Do Not Call Laws? They exist in the U.S. and Canada to prevent telephone solicitation. Be Cautious! Know the Rules/Laws and use them to your advantage.

Cold Calling Destroys Attitudes.

Even the trainers and managers who hold cold calling as the answer to financial freedom will admit: Everyone HATES IT! A fairly basic fact of human nature that forcing yourself to do something you find unpleasant puts you in a bad mood and shifts your attitude from positive to negative. So, why would any real estate agent continue to do something that erodes their ability to sell at a most basic level? You can take the rejection out of selling by discovering the 7 Cold Calling secrets even the sales gurus don't know.

How To Prosper in a No Call Environment

If you are looking for new strategies for lead generation to avoid traditional un-solicited calling, there are a several here.