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Most brokers seek more and better clients. So they go about marketing to attract new clients. They do everything from cold calling, asking for referrals, sending audio interviews of themselves, seminars, joining community organizations, sending direct mail, running ads and the list goes on. Much of this effort is wasted.
Brokers generally start prospecting the way their manager tells them to do it. Or they see another producer prospecting successfully and they do the same. These methods may not work for you even though they work wonderfully for others! That’s because your personality is different. You are a different person and cannot expect the same results by pursuing the method that works best for another.
It’s wasted because many brokers select the wrong way to market for their personality. If the marketing method you select is not comfortable, it won’t work! Stop trying to make it work. If you hate cold calling, then stop it! Forget that motivational nonsense about rewarding yourself a dollar every time you complete a cold call. Such psychological attempts will work for a few days but you’ll still hate cold calling. You need to market and prospect in a way that suits you. In other words, stop fighting an uphill battle—find out what types of marketing would be natural for you.
How do you know what type of marketing suits you?
You need to know about yourself. For example, on personality tests, I test as an introvert. Therefore, cold calling, networking, and joining community organizations would be a disastrous way for me to market. These methods would be a struggle and I would hate them, avoid them, and of course my results would be miserable.
However, seminars work great for me. At first, seminars might seem like a strange way to market for an introvert because I need to talk in front of all of those attendees. However, maybe you’ve read that many movie stars are introverts. Introverts can do very well in front of big crowds because they make little personal contact. They speak to an anonymous crowd and can leave at the end of their presentation. They do not need to make small talk or become vulnerable on a personal level. Seminars can be a very impersonal way to market.
So how do you find out about yourself? The Myers Briggs test (http://www.teamtechnology.co.uk/tt/t-articl/mb-simpl.htm) might be a great place to start (there’s an abbreviated version in the book Please Understand Me). Tests administered by Johnson O’Connor (http://members.aol.com/jocrf19/index.html) would also be helpful.
Once you know more about who you really are, then you can select the marketing method that will best suit you. You will be motivated and eager to dig in each day. I know many producers who tell me, “I love giving seminars.” These people love to market. And these people have high potential to make a lot of money.
I know others that tell me, “I really like people and people like me.” They would do wonderfully in networking situations and referral prospecting.
Give yourself a New Year’s gift. Start marketing and prospecting the right way for you.
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