The best agents are always getting real estate leads.

I was talking with my sales floor the other day and I was reminded of what my GetMyHomesValue.com partners Steve Young, Dave Conklin and myself always say and preach:  agents need to understand they're starting their own business.  When you get your license, you have to take it from the standpoint of you're starting your own business.

If by your efforts you can make more money, then you must treat what you do as your own business.  Especially in real estate....when you get your license, your income is exponential.  I know agents who haven't had a settlement in months.  I know others who make over a million dollars a year.  Do they work 30 hours a week?  No.  But the one who hasn't had a settlement in 6 to 8 months and hasn't gotten paid is probably working less than 30 hours a week...or is working lazy, scared and stupid.

I hear agents complaining about the wrong thing.  Check your ego at the door and make it happen.  Your job is to do nothing but generate real estate leads.  Take coaching classes, get me to coach you, whatever you need to do.  It's a matter of doing the right things.  There are lots of resources, seminars, lots of motivational speakers out there who can teach you what to do...you just have to DO it!  You have to be willing to follow through to fruition the things you learn when you drop $1k - $5k on a 2-3 day training seminar on how to be a better salesperson.  It's all fine and dandy, but if you don't really USE it, you just wasted $1k - $5k, plain and simple.

In real estate, your only goal is to generate real estate leads...always, constantly, every effort you make is to generate leads.  There are people who have been in the business 6 years that get in a rut where they have no listings, no business, no pipeline.  It's common sense.  No agent should ever scratch their head and wonder why they don't have a commission every single month.  If you're constantly generating real estate leads, it'll happen.

Keep in mind that a referral is a lead.  It doesn't matter where you get the leads.  If someone says "I work strictly off referrals,"  then they've settled for the income they have and they just don't want any more business.  Building on your "Sphere of Influence" is lead generation...you've convinced people somewhere along the way to bring up your name when somebody they know has a real estate need.  I did it all the time.  I used to get referrals from people I didn't even do real estate for.  Everything you do...ads, open houses, yard signs you purchase, business cards, your website, flyers, online lead generation services...all of it is for real estate leads. 

The person with the most real estate leads wins, plain and simple...as long as you FOLLOW UP on the leads till they "buy or die."  That's the biggest mistake agents make with their real estate leads...giving up after very few attempts or not even bothering to follow up.

We get cancellations every month at GetMyHomesValue.com from agents who have been with the service for a month or less, received a few real estate leads (including verified leads) and STILL cancel because nobody's "panned out" yet.  If I was an agent again, I would subscribe to more than one lead generation service and would not expect to see any return for at least 6 months.  Period.  There are those exceptions, but don't fool yourself into counting on the exceptions. 

Understand that you are filling your pipeline with real estate leads to nurture into active customers.  Some of them won't do anything with you for 2 or 3 years.  Some of them will do something in 2 or 3 months.  It sounds like a cliche, but it's true...it's a numbers game and a contact sport.  I actually had a GetMyHomesValue.com customer tell me that good agents don't knock on doors.  She was right...good agents don't knock on doors.  Great agents are the ones knocking on doors...and getting commission checks every month.  Any consistently successful agent will tell you the same.

Everything is lead generation and the rest is follow up.  You have to have a strong follow up plan for your real estate leads.  So many agents today aren't putting out the effort.  They say, "Aww they must have known that person from Coldwell Banker for years, that's why I didn't get that listing,"  when the truth is that they only sent them an email, while the person from Coldwell Banker (or wherever) called them, visited them, did a CMA without being asked, sent them a card, made 7 or 8 different contacts before they actually got the appointment...then earned the listing.  

So many agents are impatient.  They think a lead is supposed to buy or sell NOW!  You have to have a follow up plan, because you sometimes get these leads early in the process and you get to make the first impression and set the precedent.  You get to be the most unforgettable.  And that's the bottom line with following up with real estate leads: don't let them forget you.