Resolving Cold Call Reluctance in Commercial Real Estate Brokerage
In commercial real estate today, ‘call reluctance’ can be a big problem for you holding back your progress has an agent or broker. To deal with that cold calling and telephone prospecting involves a disciplined and systemized approach.
In the early stages of cold calling, you will always have some frustrations to deal with, some new skills to learn, and factors of rejection from the people you talk to. Don’t let these things hold you back. Learn the skills of prospecting and cold calling; you can and will find new clients to serve in this way.
When you first start making lots of calls, all your best intentions and actions will be frustrated by people that don’t want to talk with you, or don’t want to meet; that is the nature of the process, so you make more calls rather than stop. That rejection should not be a hindrance to your progress or momentum. Learn the skills to make more calls and practice your scripts and dialogues.
Conversations Improve Results
So let’s say that you are ready to make the calls and talk to a lot of people. Be prepared for the rejection to occur, and so just focus on creating conversations. Conversations will lead you to the valuable information about the needs or interests of the client or the prospect relative to commercial real estate. The conversational approach to call prospecting allows you to build rapport in a nonthreatening way. That is how top agents get results from the process.
So here are some specific strategies to use if call reluctance is a problem for you:
- Research the right people to connect with. The quality and accuracy of your research will help with the results. Every evening research more local business owners and property investors to talk to. Both categories of people will lead to opportunities.
- At the very start of the calling process feel comfortable with contacting people that you have not spoken to before. To help you get started, create a simple script to support relevant opening conversation. Remember that this is not a ‘pitch’ for new business, but rather a conversation to understand the person you are talking to and their potential property needs. Be prepared for the variations of conversation across sales, leasing, and property management topics and requirements.
- Practice will help you ‘fast track’ the results and the confidence that you need in making lots of calls. Devote 30 minutes a day to practicing your simple opening script; confidence will develop in this way. That practice can occur when you first arise and before you leave for the office.
- Call confidence is the key to a good conversation. Local property market information will also help you in that conversation. In saying that, you can build cold call confidence quite easily by using a telephone headset and standing up when you’re making your calls. Stand up behind your desk and continue that strategy through all of your calls; only sit down for brief periods of time. This simple strategy puts tonality in to your voice, confidence in the conversation, and helps your telephone dialogue flow. You are less defensive when you’re standing up and more conversational. That then leads to a better call result both in message and understanding.
- Track and measure the ratios and the results that you achieve with making your telephone calls. Over time the ratios should improve. The numbers to track include calls out, meetings created, and listings generated. With some clients and prospects, it will take about three or four telephone calls to create a meeting. On that basis you will need to be very organized and support the contact process with database software that you complete as you proceed ahead.
Reaching out to new people through cold calling and door knocking is relatively easy process when you establish your system and build your skills. These four simple steps will help you with the momentum and the skill development that you need.
