by Joshua Talayka

Created on: June 14, 2007   Last Updated: June 15, 2007

According to the National Association of Realtor's, 74% of an agent's potential clients are generated by a referral from a trusted source. However, very few of these referral actually become clients that will buy or sell with that agent. The reason for this is that most agents just do not properly follow their leads.

For example:
Like most agents, most of your leads are probably given to you while you are in the field and you probably jot them down on the closest piece of paper, post-it, back of an envelope, or even on the back of one of your cards only to be forgotten or misplaced. You may eventually ask yourself, "Where did I put that lead?" And if you ever do find or remember, it's generally too late to take advantage of. Not to mention that your friend or associate that first gave you the lead will find out you never followed up on it. You can kiss the idea goodbye that they'll ever trust you with another referral.

To make the most of your leads, first you need to stop thinking of them as leads and start thinking of them as dollars. Losing a lead is just like loosing a commission that could be worth $4,000 or more. After you start looking at things from this perspective, you'll be more responsible with keeping tract of your leads.

Now for strategy:
You first must get yourself organized. Establish a place to write them down. Whether it is a notepad or a PDA, just make sure you have them in one easy to manage source. Once you have a place to put them, develop some sort of a note keeping format that will ensure you have all the information you need.
For example: Name, Address, Phone, Buyer/Seller, General Notes, etc.

Convert those leads while they're hot. A cold lead isn't worth the paper it's written on. You need to make contact A.S.A.P. and make sure you become the brand name Realtor in that persons head before someone can beat you to the punch. Keep the hottest leads (people looking to do something now) with you and contact them throughout the day when you have some down time.

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