Road Map to Develop your warm market

Over the years, I have read hundreds of training manuals of both real estate agents and mortgage loan officers. They all have a few pages on the warm market and they all say basically the same thing: make a list of everyone you know and everyone you come in contact with. They even give you a reference to start with: family,friends,neighbors,parents of childrens friends, and on and on. New agents and loan officers alike have a huge turn-over rate. There's a wide-open front door. There's also a wide-open back door. In other words, the turnover rate for new agents and loan officers is high. "I've been told the drop-out rate in the first year is close to 80 percent. "You have to be very committed and ready to work full-time." Lets see what happens if you were to follow the instructions of the manuals. The authors of the manuals tell new agents and loan officers that it is not unusual to have a hundred or more names on the lists. To make a hundred phone calls and actually speak to a person could take weeks. And if everyone you spoke to became buyers/ sellers or loans there would be no time to show or originate. the concept is great, as it is a tremendous fast-start program. The problem lies in how to effectively use your warm market list.If mined properly it is a perpetual goldmine of potential customers, referrals, new recruits and high commission checks, if(!) properly mined. If you rush through the list calling everyone, you will end up with chaos. The secret lies in your view of the list and what it represents. Lets face it, the shelf life of new agents and loan officers is short. During the working cycle, new agents and loan officers starts with the eagerness of an 11 year old on a sugar rush. Pretty soon the sugar burns off. Then the agent and the loan officer hit a dead spot; with no prospects, loses faith and becomes silent never to be heard from again.

The reason for this failure is that we "VETS" rushed the new guy or gal. We told them to develop their warm market. We were so eager for them to succeed we caused them to fail.

To save your new Agent and your new LO follow this road map.

1. The warm market will always be a warm market: family and friends are not going anywhere so there is no rush to call everyone on your warm list.
2. Selective calling and follow up is the key.
3. Figure how many appointments you can possibly have in a week, not how many you would like to hold. If your time restraints will only allow you to have 3 appointments then don`t schedule 6
4. Expect to spend 4 hours calling leads the rule of thumb is a 10% close ratio so if you spent 4 hours calling 60 warm leads expect to sell or close 6.

By selective calling time management and follow-up the new LO or Agent can extend there work life. Teaching your agents and loan officers how to prospect they will have a greater chance for success and not look for greener pastures elsewhere.

Spend the rest of your time sending out mailers to the ones you did not contact and then follow-up.