A Warning to All of You Who Work in Real Estate

This is a warning to all of you who work in real estate. We sometimes hold on to people that aren’t ready to buy or sell thinking that everyone that comes in our path is interested in transacting.

Remember that not everyone that comes to you through open houses, referrals, online leads, etc. are going to be ready to buy or sell. Your job is to find those that are ready to buy or transact in the next few months, nurture the ones that are a few months away, and the ones that are just lookie-loos you can’t spend energy on. That’s where you have your automated systems to take care of those. Whether it’s automation through text and email or dynamic ads in social media.

First and foremost these people who aren’t ready to buy cause a MASSIVE amount of time to be wasted by you. And second, probably the most damaging is the confusion and negativity it creates on the newer agents because they spend so much time on these people who are never going to buy and it burns them out.

This is why you need a set of guidelines when engaging with prospects. You need to find the motivation and ask questions to help you discover at what stage they’re in.

Here’s what you look for so you don’t waste your time.

1. When asked about their finances they are vague or they are overconfident that they qualify and they don’t need to talk to anyone else.
2. They make it a point to find an issue with everything that you show them. Never quite finding the right thing.
3. They ask the same questions over and over again and they seem to know the answer to most of the questions they are asking.
4. Most important of all you need to categorize whom you talk to into ABCD

• – A Buyer – Pre Approved
• – B Buyer – Not Pre Approved
• – C Buyer – 3 months +
• – D Buyer – 6 months +
• – E Buyer – Just Nurture (Never Buying)

• – A Seller – Contract Taken
• – B Seller – No Contract, But wants to list
• – C Seller – 3 Months +
• – D Seller – 6 Months +
• – E Seller – Just Nurture (Never Selling)

Past Clients/Sphere

• – A Sphere – 2 Referrals a year
• – B Sphere – 1 Referral a year
• – C Sphere – 0 Referrals, but willing
• – D Sphere – Noting said
• – E Sphere – Never going to refer you