5 Reasons for FEW Appointments and HOW to Book Your Calendar Choking Full?
By: Yasser Khan
Tags: Realtor, Property, Real Estate Career, Property Agent, Real Estate

Real Estate is pretty much an appointment-driven business.The vast majority of real estate transactions still happen in pre-booked appointments.

Therefore appointments, once closed, make property agents money.

That is seemingly simple and very straightforward.But still, there are many property agents out there who do not have enough appointments.

And there are 5 major reasons for not having enough appointments:

Not enough leads Not following up quickly enough Not using a script when calling Not overcoming prospect’s objections against appointments Having ‘No Shows’

I’m going to explain each one in detail with easy solutions to help you get more appointments quickly.

Why Having Few Leads is a Problem?

Leads are the lifeblood of your business.Because no leads = no appointments…

Qualified Leads represent prospects willing to speak to you and who can agree to come down for a face-to-face appointment.

But getting few inquiries is a serious problem.It’s a problem because if you’re not getting any inquiries, there is no way you can get in front of someone in order to sell and make a commission.

So you need to get a lead before you can even sell them something.

The good news, it’s quite an easy problem to fix.

How to Solve the Problem of Not Enough Leads

For this to work, you need will more prospects to reach out to you first, without you ‘begging’ them for business.

This means you need to stop doing all Old School Prospecting methods that require an investment of your time like:

cold calling,

door knocking,

networking

manually throwing flyers

commenting online

personal messaging (PM)

etc.

This is critical, because, if you do not free up your time from these types of outdated prospecting, you’ll run out of time to serve existing customers.You’ll always have no more to give.

In order to free up your time, you will need to do effective Direct Response Marketing.This means prospects are compelled to reach out to you first.

This is the only way where you can get a flood of qualified prospects, that you can pick and choose to meet the ones who represent an immediate opportunity.

The good news is that I compiled an entire ‘Marketing Library SWIPE FILE’ of all of my winning ads that I wrote for my team over the past 10 years.

You can get it over at PropertyAgentUniversity.com.Simply use the correct ad for the correct marketing channel, and you’re good to go.

If you do this right, now, you should be getting many leads.

The next step is simply to call them up.And that’s why follow up is so important.

Why Follow Up is EVERYTHING?

I’m not going to mince my words here.

If you do not call up your leads, you would have wasted ALL of your marketing dollars.And you won’t be getting a single appointment.No appointment = no money.

Pretty wasteful right?But this is happening daily.

And this is a big problem in our industry.

Studies show that 80% of all appointments are booked within the FIRST MINUTE of getting a lead.As time goes by, your chances of securing an appointment goes down to ZERO.And the same study proved that just as agents are giving up, prospects are just getting started!

And that’s not a coincidence.Prospects are more impatient than ever before.You need to talk to them while they’re still ‘hot’.Letting them cool off by calling them in an hour, in 12 hours or the next day, or worse, not even calling is a horrible thing to do.

But it can be easily fixed too.

How to Permanently Resolve Slow (or No) Follow Up?

You just need to pick up your phone in the very first minute.

I know, it can be a challenge, especially if you’re already in an appointment or busy with other commitments.

How do you prevent the lead slipping away from your fingers and going to your competitors instead?

It’s simple; you use automation.Technology is advancing so fast that instant follow up is no longer a fantasy.It’s already happening nowadays.

It doesn’t need to be complicated or too ‘techie’.That’s why we built our own Follow Up Platform to make is super easy for Property Agents to automatically and instantly do all of their follow up.All without getting a degree in IT or hiring expensive developers or spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on building it from scratch.

You can simply create a FREE TRIAL at AgentLEADS.

So once you’re doing follow up and prospects are answering your phone calls, what do you do next?

You will need to follow a proven sequence of questions to get them agree to meet you.In other words, use a script.

Why Using a Script is Mission Critical?

If you don’t use a script when calling back your leads and inquiries, 2 horrible things happen:

prospects waste your Time or prospects waste your Energy (and Money, another form of energy)

Here’s why that’s very bad for you.

Prospects already use their own script, whether or not they (or even you) realise that.

You’re not the first property agent they’ve come across.They have already been talking to many agents.And they’ve learnt how to fish for information while pretending to be very interested in meeting you (when in truth, they’re not).

Nowhere does it say in their script that you win.Only THEY win.

I call their scripts Appointment-Destroying Scripts.And it’s their best weapon for 2 reasons:

They play games with you to get you to tell them what you know (which is pretty valuable). They do it because it’s their defence against salesmen like you.

And property agents have been getting stumped by such scripts for years.Not realising that prospects are even more sophisticated than agents themselves!

Appointment-Destroying Scripts used by prospects sound like

“Just curious…”

“Just browsing…”

“Accidentally clicked!”

“What else do you have?!”

Prospects tell you they’re not interested, when in fact, interest can be generated under better circumstances.Prospects say they want to meet up with you when in fact, they don’t, and they’ll meet someone else behind your back.

Only using my Proven Scripts will save you from the above appointment-destroying prospects scripts.

Here’s another tip for you; using a proven script always wins.Even when the other party is using a weaker script.

So the one using a stronger, proven script will win somebody with a weaker script, or better, no script at all.

Where to Get a PROVEN Script (And How to Use it Without Sounding Like a Robot)?

You can use many of my own proven scripts that I developed, tested and perfected over the last 12 years.

My agents have been telling me that all of these scripts work.The only time these scripts don’t work is when the agent does not use it as intended.

So, head over to PropertyAgentUniversity.com and download my Winning Scripts.

But hang on…

There’s still one issue that prevents agents from using any script.And that has to do with the fear of sounding like a robot when reading a script.This fear is bad, because it gets in the way of closing.

The good news is, no, using a script does not mean you must sound like a robot.(Actors do it all the time. They sound totally natural.)

The bad news is, it takes practice. There is no shortcut.(Just like anything else worth pursuing in life.)

It only gets easier when you’re using a script consistently.

So, after you get leads and you quickly call them up using a proven follow up script, some agents still stumble with objections.

Why Objections Are an Agent’s Hidden Best Friend?

Disinterest is your real enemy, and objections are your hidden best friend.

Here’s why.

People in general only have ‘issues’ with a product when they’re in the process of buying it.They don’t have any issues with something that they do not intend to buy.

Would you have any issues with the price, quality, colour, model or attributes of a Rubbish Truck that you will never ever buy in your life?No right?(Unless of course, you start a new business collecting rubbish!)

Similarly, prospects who are serious about buying something find issues with price because they’re fully ready to discuss price.And what they say to you about that price (or whatever attribute) comes across as an objection.

And many prospects definitely have objections to even meet up with you in a meeting.

The trick is to resolve all their concerns so that meeting up with you is a no-brainer decision.Here’s how to do that.

How to Quickly Overcome ANY Objection About Appointments?

Getting an appointment is a relatively simple task that should not require too much time or effort on your part.Meaning, you don’t need to spend hours just to convince the prospect to meet up with you.(Wait, if you’re spending hours convincing prospects to meet you, then you’re obviously doing something wrong!)

Here’s why they have objections:

Prospects generally have objections regarding the date/time of the appointment you’re trying to set up (schedule clash) or

they do not see the value in going out of their way to make time to see you (too risky) or

they may not even be serious about buying or selling a house right now (unqualified)

Maybe their perceived risk is too high, but given the opportunity, you could totally remove all of their perceived risks.

The point is, you don’t really know.

You need to quickly find out and then address all of these issues on the very first phone call (provided you use the Proven Scripts I provide).

By following my Proven phone call Script, you simply need to understand two simple things about the prospect:

When are they planning to make a move? How motivated are they in their intent to buy/sell/invest?

That’s it.You’re not trying to sell them a house over the phone.The time for that is not right now.

Keep things simple at this stage.

(That’s another way you can rapidly accelerate your ability to successfully handle all kinds of objections. Read on below about my Mastery Coaching Program for more details.)

So assuming you’ve been quickly calling back your leads with a proven script and booking appointments with them, there’s still one more hurdle.

And that’s last-minute Cancellations, or even worse, not showing up (aka No Shows).

Why Cancellations and No Shows Are 100% Avoidable Problems?

Prospects who do not turn up, do not respond to your messages or do not pick up your phone calls can be a real nuisance.Last-minute, informed cancellations are no consolation either.

More objectively, the time wasted by a No Show could have been better invested with a more qualified prospect.Now, it’s just a Sunk Cost. In other words, every no show is a real opportunity cost for you.Even a ‘No’ is better than a no show, because, even a ‘No’ gets you closer to a ‘Yes’!

But fortunately, you can take steps to minimise such instances in future.

How to Minimise Cancellations and Prevent No Shows Using This New Strategy

NEVER SCOLD PROSPECTS!Do not break bridges by scolding them or shouting at them.

Don’t make the mistake of getting emotional.You can’t get angry or personal at them.

The real problem, at this point, is not them.It’s YOU.Or more accurately, your skill of qualifying and influencing might not be up to par.

You cannot solve this problem by screenshotting your prospect’s messages, pictures or Identity Card details on Facebook or WhatsApp groups to ‘warn’ other agents.(That’s doxxing and it’s illegal.)

Badmouthing prospects does NOTHING against them!Or for you…

In fact, you’re worse off because you’ve now engaged in wasting precious time on trivial stuff.And worse, you start to attract more of such prospects in your life!

You’ve got to think and act like a real Professional.Real Professionals like Doctors or Lawyers do not go around throwing public tantrums or cursing clients or screenshotting no shows…

And neither should you.

The only way to drastically reduce no shows or cancellations is to get better at making Upfront Agreements with your prospects.This skill takes GUTS and requires you to be PROACTIVE before it becomes a problem.

Here’s how you do this the right way:

Tell them upfront about any schedule clashes. Ask them what alternatives do they propose. Tell them you’ll stick to your agreed-upon time and that you expect the same courtesy of them. Do not hang up until you hear them verbally repeat this agreement back to you.

After you put down the phone, your work is not over yet:

Confirm appointments 24 hours beforehand (and get a response from them). Then reconfirm again 1 hour beforehand (and get a response from them). If no response in either case, DO NOT WAIT. Call immediately and clarify. Or postpone.

The point is, you’re not leaving things to chance.This is not 100% foolproof, but it’s way better than doing nothing except cursing people angrily.

Is this the only way? No.There’s another new strategy that you can use.It requires you doing role plays with me or my agents in our weekly Role Play Clinics.This builds LONG TERM skills and professionalism in you.

This is by far the best way to practise my scripts, handle any objection and dramatically improve your follow up skills.You can simply try this out for $7 for 7 Days Mastery Coaching at my Mastery Coaching Program.

If you practice enough, you will see a dramatic reduction in no shows and cancellations.You’ll also make money and have greater peace of mind.

So if you follow the above strategies, you should be able to book more appointments than you can handle!

Get more exclusive real estate agent training here 👉 https://www.yasserkhan.sg/👈

Learn How To Get More Real Estate Leads, More Listings, More Sales, with Less Resistance AND still have a LIFE!

Yasser Khan is a real estate coach, speaker, and trainer at YasserKhan.SG who teaches Realtors how to make more Money, have more Time and enjoy more Freedom without all the B.S.

Originally published at https://www.yasserkhan.sg on December 28, 2020.