Welcome and good morning to Mike Ferry TV. It is the week of August 8th. Summer goes by quickly, much faster than most of us would like to even imagine. But we’ll soon be in September and the fourth quarter of the year. And of course, the name of the game today is can we get each of you to be on more appointments with Buyers and or Sellers so you can get contracts signed from now through the end of the year, which would give you a better holiday season and of course, a better start to next year.

So what I’m going to do this week and next week is talk to you about ideas on getting more appointments, whether, again, they be listing appointments or showing appointments. So these are random thoughts that I wrote. I wrote these thoughts about 20 years ago. I found on my desk virtually a few minutes ago the opening of the Action Workshop, which we created back in 1985. Let’s see if any of these first ten ideas still make sense to you today.

So I wrote down, number one, I need to understand the only way I get paid in this business of Real Estate is to go on appointments on a regular basis. To go to appointments I must know exactly what to say. If I don’t know what to say, I won’t go on appointments. You’ve heard me state that time and time and time again.

Number two, if I don’t learn a scripted can presentation now, I really don’t have a chance to win the game. Don’t wing it, the process requires knowing exactly what to say.

Number three, we have to do everything possible to remove any fears we have of going on appointments. The fear of failure, obviously, the fear of succeeding, obviously. The fear of having to learn what to say, which is one of the big fears that Real Estate people have, the fear of talking to people and the fear of looking like a salesperson, which, of course, is what your Buyers and Sellers expect you to be.

Number four, we must call all of our leads nonstop. We’ve got to get over this fear of calling our leads. How often do I lose deals because of too much good lead follow-up? That came from a man named John Ferber in Toronto at a Workshop years ago. And everybody was kind of stunned when he said it. But then I said, “John, repeat it.” Watch. How often do I lose deals because I’m too aggressive in lead follow-up. Call all of your leads as soon as this short MFTV is done.

Number five people give you their name and number for a reason. It’s either to list or to help them buy a home. Go do it. Now see, what we have to understand is they don’t give their name and number to one person only. They’ll generally give it to a variety of people. The person most aggressively follows up is the person that gets the transaction.

Number six, I’m going to ask you to think about a plan from now, August 8th through, say, December 20th, on how many appointments you would like to go on and then a plan on how to get those appointments. You notice I haven’t talked about prospecting, which of course is my favorite topic. And of course, as soon as I talk about prospecting, I find a lot of people quit listening. And the reason they don’t like to prospect is because their fear of rejection and we know the fear of rejection is something we deal with daily, whether it be from family, friends, acquaintances or people we don’t know. The fastest way to overcome rejection is to go get rejected and get used to it.

Number seven, we can’t make money in this business, if we’re not in front of people all the time. It is what the best agents do every day. So think about it this way. Today is Monday. If your Broker said to you by Friday, you have to either complete a Buyer controlled sale or you have to take a listing. And if you don’t do it, you lose your license for life. First of all, could you do it? The answer is, “Yes.” Second, what kind of a plan would you have to put in play? And that would mean you’d have to talk to a lot of people, and you’d have to really spend and concentrate on your lead follow-up to get a presentation to get a contract signed. We are in the people communication and image business. That is the business of Real Estate. People, one-on-one, in groups, talking to people. Communication, knowing what to say to them when you’re standing, sitting at their kitchen table, showing them a property. And of course, image, meaning they look at you as a professional person.

Number eight, I wrote down how many appointments would you like to have in the next 30 days? So I mentioned a minute ago, I said, “Let’s talk about from now through December 20th.” How about if we go from today, August 8th through September 8th. Could you go on one appointment a week? I believe you could. Could you go on two in a week? I believe you could. If you really got aggressive, could you go on three a week? I believe you could, but it all comes back to the willingness to talk to people.

Number nine, I understand my primary job is to find somebody every day who will sign a contract. And the only way that can happen is if you’re going on appointments on a regular basis.

And number ten, I must accept the fact that the problem is often too many leads and not enough appointments.

So I’m going to ask you a favor. Write down right now how many leads you have. Good leads, bad leads, future leads, today leads, Leads you bought, referrals. I don’t care where they came from. How many leads do you have? And then I want you to look at each lead carefully. And I want you to ask yourself this question. Will this lead sign a contract with somebody, hopefully yourself, sometime in the next seven to ten days? And if you don’t know the answer, call the lead and prequalify them. If you know the answer and it’s 30, 60, 90 days away, why are you holding on to them and not finding somebody that wants to do something today? And if they want to do something now, call and set the appointment. You’ve heard me say this in the past. Is there anybody within five miles of your office that will list or buy a home today? And the answer is, “Yes.” Are they going to call you? The answer is probably, “No.” Are you going to call them? It’s a question mark and when you erase the question mark and write, “Yes”, you’re going to succeed at a higher level. Thanks for participating in Mike Ferry TV. We’ll talk to you next week. We’re going to go through ten more thoughts on getting more appointments. Have a great week. Talk to you then.

Read Part 2 of  “20 Ideas On How To Get More Appointments“