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Real Estate Cold Calling…The Right Way
By Karin Elliott | January 23, 2008
As a follow up to last night’s “vent” regarding the incredibly rude homes.com sales pitch ( read the article - House.com - Real Estate Marketing Gone Awry? ), I thought I would write a short blog on cold calling. I posted a blog on Active Rain (a website site mostly devoted to and populated by realtors) last night regarding my House.com cold calling experience, and I received several responses. One post from a realtor out of Cape Coral offered this advice:
”Cant say anything good or bad about House.com but I can say I have established lots of good relationships through cold calling both as the caller and callee. I would never put my phone number on a do not call list.”
I would agree that cold calling can and does work, and I have established relationships from cold calls as well (both as the caller and the callee). I would disagree about the no call list, mainly because many of the people cold calling have no interest in common courtesy or following the rules of the road so to speak.
In my 3 years of successful sales in Big Canoe real estate (a North Georgia mountains community), I have done plenty of cold calling. It is a tough call to make. Cold calling is a staple in all real estate sales, and all other sales for that matter. Every time I do it I feel like I’m taking a shot of Jagermeister (my spelling of it is as bad as it tastes!)….YUCK! However I power through it and take my lumps, and I try to politely get me pitch across to the customer.
When I cold call people about real estate I adlib it, and I try to do it in a relaxed environment. Most of the time I do it standing on my front porch staring at the trees and quiet street or my kids riding bikes. I’m usually calling for a listing or a rental that has caught my attention because it has expired, or I heard through the grapevine that it’s about to be listed. I ask questions, tell the potential customer about my company and my experience, then I open up for their questions.
The funny part is that most of the time they are very interested in our company and I rarely get “no” but I bow out gracefully when I do get the dreaded “no”. Be truthful and know that the people you are calling could be neighbors and they have their limits just like you. The best words of advice I have to offer are to treat the person on the other end of the phone the same way you’d want to be treated.
~Karin
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