When to Give Up On a Prospect

Summary

What do you do when a lead you’ve been following up with finally lists their property with another agent (and they’ve now gone under contract)? 

It’s important to maintain your relationships with these potential clients and not give up on them, even if they've chosen a different agent.

Here’s why…

One, there's a chance that the deal with the other agent might fall through, and the client would need a new agent. While the odds of this happening are not high, it's still a possibility, especially because many agents may not provide a great experience.

Even if the deal does close successfully with the other agent, you want to continue to communicate with these clients and build a relationship because, statistically, previous agents tend to disappear after the transaction. 

Studies show that a high percentage of buyers and sellers claim they would use their previous agent again, but in reality, only a small fraction of them actually do. Mainly because the agent fails to stay in touch after the deal is closed.

You want to be the agent who maintains the relationship with these clients, even if you've never worked with them before… because real estate is a game of consistency, attrition, and endurance. 

Over time, many agents drop out of the industry, and those who remain will have the opportunity to capture a significant share of the open market. 

So don’t give up on relationships and keep in touch with leads who have chosen another agent, as they might become your clients in the future.

Full Transcript

So what do you do with that lead that you've been talking to, following up, and they listed with somebody else, and now it's under contract, and it's like, uh, they listed once they listed you can't really talk to them, and now it's under contract. You may have lost him. What do you do?

So this just happened. It's a great question from one of our coaching members, and they've had somebody they've been following up on the property was listed. It was just about to expire, and then it went under contract. And it's like, what do I do with this relationship? What do I do with these people? Do I just keep them in my personal circle, or do I let them go and throw them away?

And here's the answer: You always keep them in your personal circle. Keep them in your A-team for now, for several reasons. Number one, the deal could fall through, and everything could blow up, and they're now looking for another agent. Now, what are the odds of that happening? I don't know, 15, 20, 25 percent. Most agents are incompetent; their experience is probably not going to be great. Okay, okay. And even if they do get it closed, you keep them in your A. Continue to talk to them, continue to build a relationship. You may move them to your B-team, but you keep them in your personal circle because, in a year or two or three, when they get ready to sell again or they know somebody looking to sell again, their previous agent, 90 percent chance, has not ever talked to them after closing.

Okay, I want to be clear on this. When N does their survey of buyers and sellers, they ask them, "Will you use the agent, your same agent, again next time you move?" And typically, it's in the 80 percentile, 80, 85, 89 percent say, "Yeah, we'll use our same agent again." And the reality is that only 11 to 13 percent actually use their same agent again. Over 34 of them say three-four of them say, "Yes, we're going to use our same agent," but less than 15 percent actually use their agent again. Why? The agent disappears. All you've got to do is be the one who maintains a relationship, and you over time become their new agent, even though they've never done a deal with you. So never give up on a relationship because the game is a game of who stays the course. It's a game of consistency. It's a game of attrition because most agents, woo, they're falling out. And if we lose buyer agency with this class-action lawsuit and all that, and you're going to lose three-four of the industry, two-thirds three-four of the industry are going to be gone over the next three or four years. So guess what? Those who are still standing are going to have a lot of open market share. Make sure you keep those relationships that you got.