Assuming you've recruited, selected, and hired people who are organized and are eager to be of service, you are ready to start giving them leads. And your salespeople are eager to start talking to people.
As their manager, you know the two key obstacles confronting most salespeople:
- They are afraid to talk to leads. This is known as "call reluctance,” which is caused by the fear of rejection.
- When they do engage with leads, they talk too much and turn off potential buyers with their unprofessional approach.
Marginal salespeople think selling is simply a matter of talking to leads, but selling isn’t about talking. It's about listening. And top salespeople know the difference.
The good news is marginal salespeople can become top producers when they ask their leads the series of tightly scripted qualifying questions that are on the Let's Get Acquainted form. These questions are designed to get people to open up as they talk about their housing:
- Needs
- Wants
- Dreams
- Desires
- And of most importance, the “timing” for a new residence or investment
Top producers listen intently to every answer as they determine the need or urgency for each lead. If there is no need or urgency, top producers use their CRM program to incubate this person until there is a need or sufficient desire for this person to take more aggressive actions. These leads will receive continued electronic and minimal personal follow up until the lead has developed the adequate need or desire to take action. (There are no such things as dropped leads to a CRM, though people can unsubscribe.)
Marginal producers make the critical mistake of investing their time equally with each lead. They waste their time on people who don't have a sufficient want, need, or urgency. This mistake in judgment quickens the marginal salesperson's failure, resulting in the need to quit the business because they aren’t earning money.
Top Producers earn six-figure incomes because they value their time and only work with ready-to-buy prospects who have some urgency. These professionals know that without a need, a lead is a waste of their time.
Leads cost money, and most of them get dropped because they are not qualified. This is why marketing costs keep going up and why salespeople keep asking for more leads. But if these dropped leads are turned over to a seasoned salesperson who knows how to qualify, sales occur.
There's a big difference between a professional salesperson who is searching for that "low-hanging fruit" and the poorly performing salesperson who is searching for the buyer who just "drops out of sky."
