Hey, team, you're on prospecting calls today—reaching out to expired listings or for sale by owners, maybe marketing in a neighborhood. What if no one picks up? Do you leave a voicemail?

Before that, try this trick:

Hang up and call the same number quickly, twice. Imagine being on the other side—seeing a missed call, then the same number calling back. You're more likely to pick up.

Now, they still don't answer. It goes to voicemail. Should you leave a voicemail as a salesperson? Absolutely. The chances of circling back and calling again are low. Keep the message concise and to the point.

For an expired listing, I might say, "Hey, I'm Jim. Your property delisted today. Wondering if you're interviewing other agents. I have a 25-point marketing plan that works. Just sold a house nearby, 25 days, 5% over list price. Let's talk."

For a for sale by owner, a simple approach: "I'm J Man with ABC Real Estate. Saw your ad on Craigslist. Can I do a video of your property for...

Let's consider your office location: If you were to drop a pin on the map around your office, extending 2 to 5 miles, have you connected with local business owners in that area?

Many business owners are facing challenges due to economic changes and other factors. It's an excellent opportunity to reach out to them and establish a connection.

Here's a simple approach: initiate a business card exchange. Walk into a nearby business and introduce yourself. Mention your office's proximity and express your interest in referring people who are new to the area. You can say, "I often meet people relocating here, and I prefer to refer local businesses. Would you mind exchanging business cards?" Allow them to share information about their business.

You can further enhance the connection by saying, "I like to highlight a local business on my social media each week. Would it be okay if I featured your business next week and tagged...

One thing that we should do this year is cut the dead wood.

What does that mean?

It means we don't wanna be walking up a mountain, our mountain being our figurative goal set that we've set for ourselves and have a backpack full of rocks on our back.

Now, what is that backpack full of rocks?

Those are clients that don't wanna sell, that don't wanna buy, that are wasting your time, that are frustrating, that are angry people that we do not need to be carrying around on our backs anymore.

We need to cut them loose and work with people that really wanna buy and sell.

So going into the new year, how can we approach our business a little bit differently?

One is to work with ready and willing clients which sounds crazy, but it is so simple that it's obvious, right?

We need to work with ready and willing clients.

Having a ready and willing conversation is important. So I'm gonna give you my "ready and willing" conversation script when I'm...

If you have a gap in your income right now and you're out of escrows, what's the cause of that?

The cause isn't anything you're doing right now.

It's not the market conditions.

It's not something you just did yesterday or the day before.

It's actually something you've done 90 days ago.

Whenever I do this with my coaching students when they're having a gap in closings, I tell them to look back to 90 days ago.

What were you doing 90 days ago? Let's really look at the calendar and open it up. When we open up that calendar, we'll inevitably see a gap.

Maybe they went on vacation. Maybe they just took a few weeks off because something was going on in their lives and they stopped prospecting 90 days ago. And that's what comes forward like a snake eating an egg. It just travels down the timeline and then boom, it blows up resulting in them having no escrows in the moment.

So how do we eliminate this situation so we don't have gaps in the future?

It's...

Now we've all heard of supply chain issues hitting the entire country. Lots of things happening because of COVID breaking down the supply chains.

But is this impacting real estate?

It absolutely is impacting real estate. It's impacting builders. It's impacting all kinds of vendors that are tied to real estate.

My wife and I are remodeling a house and we've had to wait six months for the cabinets to come in. It's impacting remodeling and flipping and all kinds of areas that we don't necessarily consider tied to the supply chain.

But real estate is definitely one of those areas.

So how can we use this?

Here's one way we can use it when we're out prospecting is talking about supply chain issues because everybody can identify with it right now.

So you might just say:

"Hey, you know, what, can you do me a huge favor? Even real estate is facing supply chain issues. We're facing very low inventory compared to most years and huge buyer...

Have you replaced your business cards with a virtual business card yet?

Watch this quick video on the benefits of using a V-Card as a part of your "new" normal. In today's world we may not have an opportunity to physically meet a client until much later in the relationship. By using a V-Card you can share you contact data quickly and easily. 

The advantages of using a V-Card (even without Coid-19) as a key part of your marketing plan are incredible check out these quick advantages:

• Easier to Capture Potential Client Information 
• Higher Conversion Rates (More People Say Yes)
• Scaled Messages (Send Your VCard to Hundreds of People)
• Print + Digital Combinations Using QR Codes