In commercial real estate prospecting you will get lots of ‘push-backs’ as part of talking to new people. Some call it the ‘rejection factor’. Many agents take the rejection and use it as a reason to stop prospecting.
Show me an agent that doesn’t make the cold calls and prospect every day, and I will show you someone with low income and poor listings. Get the message?
If you have chosen a career in commercial real estate, then be prepared to work hard at prospecting. The requirement will never disappear; in fact, it will increase in importance. Rise to the challenge and connect with more people. That’s what prospecting is all about. That is how you become a top agent.
So the message here is clear. Understand that rejection is a part of connecting with new people and in finding new clients. Some will not want to talk to you or meet with you, yet others will. You need to find the right people that want to do something with property or are happy to stay in contact with you for the day that they need property help.
To make all of this work you have to create a solid and effective prospecting system that you do for 2 or 3 hours every day. That’s the rule that you must stick to. Over a period of 3 months your skills in the process will improve and your conversions will rise. Soon you will have quality listings and the majority of them will be ‘exclusive’. When you control your listing stock, the market has to come to you. That is why ‘exclusive’ listings are so important to commercial real estate agents.
So what do people say to you when you prospect? What are the standard ‘push-backs’? Try some of these:
- Not today thanks
- Send me something
- Call me back next week
- We already use someone else
- Too busy to talk right now
- We are just fine at the moment
You can most likely add to this list. There are so many variations that you strike. Most clients and prospects will ‘push-back’ at least twice in a prospecting or cold call situation. You will hear versions of the above statements.
So what should you do? You should be prepared for the rejection. Practice your responses so you can keep the conversation moving ahead. The advantage that you have is that you are the person that made the call; you can be totally prepared to connect in a professional way.
It should be said that your call should be made on the basis of a conversation and not a pitch. Find out what the other person is doing now with property and what they could require in the future. Make the calls and the ‘door-knocking’ work for you in that way.
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