When the market slows, our ability – or inability – to create as many leads as possible becomes exposed. This is where Mastery Coach Anna Krueger’s expertise comes into play. With 20 years of sales under her belt, 10 years in real estate, and a background in teaching, Anna knows a lot about how to educate, connect and listen to people. As a coach, her goal is to help agents to truly connect with others and understand what their day should look like when lead generating.

One of the things that Anna sees most frequently is agents having difficulty pinpointing true motivation in their clients. This is important because understanding motivation helps us to uncover leads. After all, people show up as leads for a reason. It’s up to us to figure out why they came to us, what they’re interested in , and how we can help them get what they want.

Uncovering Motivation

• Refer back to their past needs and wants

All too often these days, the feedback we’re hearing from potential clients is that they aren’t ready to buy or sell. The market can feel overwhelming and objections are natural. To truly find out why these people expressed interest in real estate at some point, refer back to the past in your current conversations. Anna finds that people are more willing to discuss their past interests than their current interests. So whether it was through perusing your website, visiting an open house, or some other interaction, refer back to what caused the potential client to be interested at the time when they first came on your radar.

• Build rapport through keyword backtracking

When you’re digging into why they were initially interested in real estate, it’s important to build rapport. After all, when you can connect with people and establish a genuine trust and relationship, you’re better able to uncover their motivation and help meet their needs. Anna suggests doing this through two key approaches. The first is simply pay attention. Let what you learn in each question guide your next question. Make sure you are really listening to what you’re being told. The second approach is called keyword backtracking. To do this, use a word that they used to answer your prior question when you pose your next question. This process helps to build rapport by making sure you stay on topic and enables you to dig deeper into what your potential clients are telling you. When you know what their deeper motivation is, you can try to help them at that level.

Using Your Time Wisely

Anna recognizes that things are tough right now. Agents are getting discouraged because it’s taking more conversations to convert potential contacts into appointments and appointments into closings. However, once we recognize the realities of the current market, when we are consistent day in and day out with working on our skills and focusing on the right activities, our business will follow.

• Have a good strategy for your lead generation and lead conversion time

You can only lead generate and convert at the highest level when you dedicate specific time each day for it. This time has to be protected at all cost as it’s the source of your current and future business. Anna suggests setting expectations for your clients upfront that your mornings are spent looking for interested buyers for their property or sellers with homes that meet their criteria. After all, this is what you’re doing when you are lead generating. Share what your office hours are and then be available during those specific times for your existing clients. Remember, these are two distinct parts of your job, so treat them as such. More often than not, your clients will be happy to know what your standards are. They’ll like that you are actively spending time trying to meet their needs. And you may be surprised to find that problems that arise during these time blocked lead generation times actually resolve themselves by the time your office hours begin. 

• Know your numbers to make sure you are on the right track

It’s no surprise that Anna has found people are having to talk to more people in order to convert appointments. In fact, agents have shared they are, on average, talking to nine more people right now in order to get the same number of appointments they previously had. However, there are also other number to keep in mind when you’re lead generating to ensure you are on the right track for reaching your goals. For instance, Anna has found that when dialing by hand, we can generally aim to talk to six to eight people every hour, with an average of around six people. She’s also found it takes approximately three minutes to get to true motivation in a conversation. Her recommendation? Buy a three-minute timer and set a goal to keep diving into a potential client’s motivation until the timer runs out. Anna believes that it takes 75 contacts in an average market to get a closing, so in the current market, it’s likely around 100 contacts per closing. Then, it takes approximately three appointments to get a closing.

These numbers can sound intimidating. But at the end of the day remember this: even on an off day, the more people you call and connect with, the more likely you’re going to get an appointment and be on your way to getting a closing. Momentum is powerful. Prioritizing lead generation and conversion time daily in your schedule is a powerful way to ensure your own success. 

Anna’s ultimate goal is to help people to go to bed at night knowing that they are doing the right activities in a relationship-based business to ensure that they hit their income goals. What activities could you improve to better reach or exceed your own goals?