Prospecting has never been easier. Each day RiTA delivers agents an optimised list of who to call and even searches the market to find something local and relevant to talk to them about. Every obstacle has been removed, but human motivation remains one of the most important theatres of competition in real estate.
The agent who executes the work; wins. Success lives in completing this work, yet for many agents, prospecting is one of the first things to be sacrificed when ‘busy’ takes over. Most agents agree and acknowledge that prospecting is important – but maybe not everyone believes it is urgent.
No one ever skips an auction event to make prospecting calls, yet the same can’t be said about the sanctity of prospecting time. Here are 7 ways behavioural science can help you create unbreakable habits around prospecting.
- The Piggyback
One of the easiest ways to create a new habit is to ‘piggyback’ off something that you already do, habitually. For example, if the first thing you do when you get to work is to enjoy a coffee, make a decision that you will make 10 phone calls at your desk and then reward yourself with a coffee once it’s done. - Commit to the Rewire
Habits don’t form overnight or from doing something once or twice. In fact it takes an average of 66 days for our brains to recognise a pattern and switch it into autopilot – or rather, habit-mode. So, commit to 3 months of change, after which, you probably won’t notice it anymore. - Baby Steps
If you were training for a marathon, and the goal is to become a running machine, you can’t start at 42.2km a day – especially not with the isobod that most of us are still rocking. No, you start small. Don’t set out to make 50 calls a day. Start with 10. Or block out an hour a week and commit to just that. Once the habit is formed and both real and perceived obstacles have faded away, then you can focus on stepping up the intensity. Start with a smaller number of better quality conversations or let RiTA help you prioritise your list each day and just start with baby steps. - Habits by Association
You tend to be the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with and in the 21st century, for better or for worse, the 5 people you spend the most time with are likely to be at work. Think about the people you spend the most time with at work? Do they prospect as a habit or are they subscribing to some other belief about how listings happen? Maybe they spend a fortune on marketing? Maybe they have spent a career prospecting and are in wind-down mode relying on referrals from the client base they have established (by prospecting). If you don’t have enough stock, you need to spend time with people who are actively chasing more listings. - Reward for Effort
The truth is, we’re not that much different to motivate than other mammals. We like to do the thing and then get a treat. Action and reward is a big part of human motivation and you can read more about that here. Creating a ‘reward’ system for yourself can help with habit creation – just remember to make the rewards small and easy to get you going. Not a big holiday next year…think in terms of a coffee each day or having a few hours off each week as a reward for the extra productivity. Like training a puppy, the reward has to be in reach and delivered close to completing the good habit. Whosagoodboy? - Delegate It
Let’s not ignore the reality that for some people that prospecting might not be the best use of their time. If you are fully engaged in current transactions or prefer simply working pipeline stock, there may not be time in your day for prospecting. Remembering that everyone has the same 24 hours in the day as Beyoncé, if you have more important things to do, yet recognise the importance of prospecting to put more business into your pipeline, then the next best thing is to have someone else call. Introducing our AiREsourcing service, we have professional callers trained by agents, powered by RiTA achieving outstanding results doing the prospecting for agents. If you are interested, say hello to John at john@getaire.com.au - Make Room Often when we are talking about creating habits, we focus on what we are going to start doing. When you keep adding things to your life, the strain of it usually means you drop something. The thing you drop may not be the best thing to drop. Prospecting often falls off the radar accidentally because if nothing happens, nothing happens…you just don’t have a pipeline next month. Think about what you will deliberately drop in order to pick up a prospecting habit. You might kill two birds with one stone and trade in a bad habit for a money-maker.
Transform your prospecting by optimising your behaviour using these tips and optimise your technology with RiTA.
