Real Estate Marketing Strategies: Mastering the "Inner Game" of Lead Generation

Part 1: The Problem

I have found in my 14+ years of coaching Real Estate Professionals, that the ones who are flourishing are the ones who have mastered the “Inner Game” of lead generation.

They feel confident about picking up the phone, they market themselves consistently, their pipeline is always full, and their contacts yield profitable results in Ideal Clients, so they make more money with less effort.

However, if you are like most Real Estate Professionals, when you think of Lead to Generation, you probably get caught up in an "avoidance pattern", which looks something like this:

* You procrastinate
* You do busy work
* You tell yourself that you don't have enough time to prospect
* You may schedule out the time to call, but then never get around to it
* Worse yet, you may have called someone who was rude and then you feel so devastated that you recoil from from prospecting for a few days or a few weeks or a few months

If any of that sounds familiar, you are not alone and it's not your fault.

I believe that there are 3 reasons why we avoid picking up the phone and calling people:

1. The fear of the unknown and the fear of rejection

2. Self limiting beliefs

3. Inner conflicts about calling

Can you begin to see what lies beneath the surface of your "avoidance pattern" about making those calls?

* It's not that you are "lazy" or unmotivated…
* It's not that you don't know what to do or say…
* It's not that you don't have enough time…

...It's just that you have Fears, self-limiting beliefs and conflicts that prevent you from doing what you need to do to get your business on track, i.e. lead generation.

However, here's the Good News: you are NOT stuck with your fears, your self limiting beliefs, or your conflicts as they can all be dissolved and replaced with confidence and ease, leading you to prospect in an easy and effortless way.

How do I know for sure? Because I have been coaching real estate agents for quite a few years and have seen them transform from fear about lead generation, to actually looking forward to picking up the phone and calling people to offer their services.

A former client of mine, JoAnn, is a great example of someone who was burdened by beliefs that stopped her from picking up the phone. She didn't even know she had these hidden beliefs, and yet they took their toll.

Even after many coaching programs, she still got nervous about making calls and she didn't know why. She would say to me "I know what I should be doing, I'm just not doing it".

It turns out that JoAnn acquired many hidden self-limiting beliefs before she met me. Again she didn't know they were there, but they included;

* "I shouldn't pick up the phone and talk to strangers"
* "I call people and bothering them"
* "If I call people I might get rejected"
* "People don't want to hear from me anyway”

Even though her business was declining and she was "broke and scared”, she could not move forward and didn't know why.

Once we discovered the old beliefs, removed them, and installed Empowered beliefs, her confidence level soared, she started making the calls she wanted to make, her income increased substantially to 35,000 a month, and at the end, she called herself "unstoppable”.

Here are some of the new beliefs, that we installed in her mind:

* "I have a valuable service to offer people and they are happy to hear from me."
* "Every time I pick up the phone to call people, I attract clients who are ready, willing, able and fun."
* "The only persons approval I need is my own."

With these new beliefs solidly in place, JoAnn approaches prospecting with an optimistic and positive mindset, which yields positive results.

Part 2 : The Solution

The solution is to look inside yourself and find out what it is that is blocking your success. What self-limiting beliefs you have that stop you from picking up the phone? What conflicts do have about calling people that paralyze you? Once you bring these beliefs and conflicts up to the surface, you can reprogram them to empower you, rather than stop you. The reprogramming process simply means that you release the old self-limiting beliefs you no longer need and install the empowered beliefs listed above in the example of JoAnn.

Another way that you can master the "Inner Game" of lead generation is to build up your confidence in yourself. Remember, if you don't call people up and let them know of your services, then you're forcing people to look into the phone book to find a real estate agent.

Do you think that is the best way for someone to find a real estate professional?

So how do you come to feel great about yourself as a real estate professional?

1. Definitely clear yourself of all self sabotaging beliefs like:

“I'm not good enough" or “I don't have what it takes to succeed”

2. Another way to build up confidence about yourself, is to compile a list of what makes you a very good real estate agent. For example, are you detail oriented? Are you patient with your clients? Do you have excellent follow through? Do you have an educational approach to helping your clients?

I find that when my clients really take an inventory of their skills, they realize that they are very good at what they do. When you know that, it's easy to install beliefs "I have a valuable service to offer people are happy to hear from me."

3. Part of the solution feeling of good about prospecting, is to call with the attitude that you are the "giver". Doesn't it feel good to be the giver? Don't you love giving gifts to people seeing the expression on their faces as they receive a gift? This puts you in a position of power. It's also true; you are the giver, you are the one with the real estate expertise to offer.

4. Think of the many ways that you can be perceived as the giver:

* You are calling them to let them know of the local real estate activity in their neighborhood.
* You are calling to let them know what houses have been sold in the area and what the prices are.
* You are calling to find out who they would like to have as their neighbors in the houses for sale in their neighborhood.
* You are calling to find out if they would like to have a free comparative market analysis so that when they get ready to sell, they know the price of their home.
* You are calling to give them a connection to a real estate professional so that when they need real estate help, they will already have an established connection.

5. It's very likely, that your current prospecting strategy is "catch as catch can." In other words when you have a few minutes during the day, you call a few people.

The good news is that as you release your self-limiting beliefs, get rid of your fears, and restore your confidence in yourself as a real estate professional, you will be more motivated to make those calls because you know you have something valuable to offer.

Here's a tip: look at your schedule at the beginning of the week and block out a certain amount of time every morning, to do the lead generation. Generally speaking, you will want to aim eventually to be doing two hours every morning. One of the mistakes real estate agents make is to try to go from 0 to 100 or try to go from doing no prospecting to doing two hours a day and then feeling overwhelmed.

You would be best off to:

* Build up to two hours a day starting with half hour increments
* Refrain from taking any incoming calls during that time
* Let any callers know from your voicemail message that you will be calling them back at a certain time

Finally, you will increase your confidence about lead generation by letting go of the belief "I shouldn't have to prospect, I should just receive referrals."

Obviously, that is not the case. Even if you are receiving some referrals, in today's market it's not enough for you to reach your financial goals. I'm not saying that getting referrals is not a good thing and you shouldn't work for it. Absolutely not, do what you need to do to get referrals. But don't depend on them.

Along with that, people often tell themselves "I shouldn't need to prospect, I should be able to get enough clients through open houses, farming, and social networking.” While all those strategies are good they are not enough in today's market.

In summary, today's real estate market, requires that you be proactive and let people know of the valuable services you offer. Rid yourself of your self-limiting beliefs, and fears about lead generation and you will be amongst the top percentage of real estate agents who are flourishing in today's market and will flourish in any market.

As you've probably heard before, "Good real estate agents do well in any market.”

Master the “Inner Game” of lead generation and even in today's challenging marketplace, you can be one of the top producers.