THANK YOU THANK YOU AR Gods for featuring my little rant last week about whether or not an 80/20% business model (where 80% of one's time is devoted to prospecting and 20% devoted to client care) is a wise course to take in a real estate career. I can't say enough how encouraging it was to hear so many commenters jump on the "clients-first" bandwagon, proclaiming that while they acknowledge prospecting for new clients must be done, it should NOT be done at the expense of one's current clients!
Yay!
In the original blog, I promised to return with some more thoughts of my own on the matter, but most of those thoughts were already spoken within the nearly 100 comments. But I'll make good on my promise and share mine anyway, even though they'll likely just echo the brilliance provided by those who participated in the discussion.
Thought #1
If you are a new or struggling real estate agent and don't have any (or many) clients to care for, then I suppose you should be spending some signficant time looking for some - in other words, you probably can't fill up all or most of your working hours serving the clients you don't yet have. HOWEVER... hold true to the philosophy of putting clients first - when you get up in the morning, make darn sure that your current clients and prospects are fully taken care of before you even think about prospecting. GET INTO THIS HABIT EARLY and it will pay off for you big time in the future. I promise.
Thought #2
As many pointed out, taking great care of the clients you have is a FANTASTIC prospecting strategy. Those who neglect their current clients so they can pursue their future ones darn well better enjoy that pursuit because they'll be doing it their entire careers. In other words, very few referrals cometh to agents who don't take good care of their clients when they have them.
But maybe that's okay for the 80/20 crowd. Maybe they're so awesome at prospecting, they don't need the trust, affection and referrals of their current and past clients, so it doesn't matter if their clients don't think much of them during and after their time together. The 80/20's just spend the rest of their career devoting 80% of your time prospecting! Hey, it's one business model that many subscribe to and they make it work, so if that sounds like fun to you, knock yourself out!
Thought #3
As many mentioned in the original blog, a 20/80 model (20% prospecting, 80% client care) IS a viable strategy once you have enough clients to care for. Spend your days taking great care of your clients and then stay in touch with them on a reasonably regular basis afterwards (which probably won't take even 20% of your time) and I promise you - you'll be golden.
Thanks for such a great discussion, my friends!
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We're closing out the 2011 Season in the SWS Virtual Studio with two related teleseminar shows... one this Thursday and one the following Thursday. This week's show is called "Secrets of Successful SWS'ers" and next week's is the grand finale - "Are You the Best Real Estate Agent You Know?" To register, just visit the SWS Calendar of Events here: www.SellwithSoul.com/about/calendar.
