Cold calling, or the unsolicited call by phone or in person to sell goods or services, is a part of a real estate agent's (or any salesman for that matter) life. Some may consider the practice as old school or antiquated, for there are modern ways of doing the offer such as via sending bulk e-mails, creating a website, establishing a profile in social medias such as LinkedIn or Pinterest--but experts still consider cold calling as an effective way of finding potential clients for your business to grow.
Doug Devitre, who did a book review on 'Smart Calling: Eliminate the Fear, Failure, and Rejection from Cold Calling , written by Art Sobczak identifies that one major concern which prevents agents from picking up the phone and dialing numbers to find possible clients is their fear of getting rejected. In his blog which appeared in the REALTOR® Magazine, Devitre highlights the following ways for sales professionals to transform the cold calling from a dreaded experience to a positive one by enabling them to connect with prospects in a helpful way.
1. Propose significant values to your seller.
Be able to engage your prospect into discussing how much they are going to save if they will avail of the services you are providing. Present how much time can be saved and mistakes prevented if they will hire you. You can share how much, in terms of percentage (10 percent for instance), from the list price in negotiations was taken off, that the number of homes to be seen and be reduced by 5 due to your property qualifying process or a hundred percent on-time closing rate the moment the contract is in escrow to illustrate how much help you can do to them.
2. Take advantage of social engineering.
The internet, specifically conversations in the social media or predictive analytics tool, can be a good source for your needed data on homeowners who are willing to sell. Instead of dialing for dollars with a cold list, do some research ahead of time to come up with a "better-prepared conversation that can set you apart from the competition?"
3. Stick to your script
Professionals in the entertainment industry and performing arts hardly improvise once the camera starts to roll , so you shouldn't be experimenting too. Many salespeople reject the use of scripts as they do not want to sound canned, robotic or automated. However, the problem is not in the script itself, rather it is in the delivery. Once a script has been prepared and made available, you have to practice it over and over again. Do it in a friendly, natural and conversational way.
