Does Old-School Prospecting Still Work in 2019?

Have you ever looked at the contacts you’ve made after a grueling prospecting session and wondered what’s the point?

I mean, a person can only hear the word “no” so many times before getting discouraged, right?

If you’re starting to feel like you’re finished with cold calls, recent podcast guest Ramon Sanchez has a few interesting figures that may change your mind.

Ramon is a highly analytical agent who spends a lot of time prospecting via phone. This guy tracks and evaluates everything from calls to contacts to closings.

After going through last year’s numbers, he discovered that each one of his contacts was worth exactly $61.44.

How’d he come up with $61.44?

Well, Ramon made 8,858 contacts. From those contacts, he closed 41 deals. If you multiply 8,858 by 61.44, the number you get is what Ramon made from those 41 deals: $544,235.52.

So yeah, despite hearing “no” day after day, Ramon definitely isn’t putting down the phone anytime soon. In fact, as you’ll hear in the interview below, he actually plans to scale up his prospecting efforts this year.

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It’s Not Easy, but It’s Worth It

Ramon will be the first to admit that making cold calls isn’t easy, but prospecting produces the majority of his business. Without it, Ramon’s GCI would be nowhere near as impressive as it is.

When Ramon was less consistent with prospecting earlier in his career, he noticed that his production really suffered; he’d be stuck in the feast-or-famine business cycle that so many agents struggle to break.

If you’re looking for a way to get a steady supply of business, consider scaling up your prospecting efforts. For an overview of Ramon’s system (including his prospecting tools and script), read on.

Ramon’s Prospecting System

Ramon is a big believer in the old-school Mike Ferry method. Once Ramon sets a goal for the number of deals he wants to close annually, he commits to making at least that many contacts each day of the work week.

Say you want to close 50 deals this year. To do this, you’d need to make at least 50 contacts (actual conversations, not calls) per day Monday through Friday.

Expect to hear “no” 99 percent of the time. If you’re making a lot of calls, only a small percentage of people need to say “yes” in order for you to make some serious money.

Prospecting Tools and Resources

With the number of calls it takes just to get 50 people on the phone these days, you’re going to need some help.

Ramon relies on Mojo Dialer for making multi-line calls – a feature that makes phone-based prospecting much more efficient.

To get low-cost leads, Ramon pulls numbers from Cole Realty Resource and RedX.

Script for Cancelled and Expired Listings

Once Ramon gets a seller on the phone, he uses a short, simple script to get straight to the point while highlighting his experience. Here’s how it goes:

Ramon: Hi, may I speak with Pat?

Pat: Yeah, this is Pat.

Ramon: Hey Pat, Ramon Sanchez here with Keller Williams. Listen, I’m calling because I noticed that you’re selling your house. Are you going to be interviewing agents?

Pat: Yeah, my wife and I are talking about what we need to do.

Ramon: Fantastic. Well, listen, I’d like to apply for the job of selling your property. I’ve been doing this 28 years, and I’m one of the Realtors for the local area. When would you be available? I’d like to show you what I can do – how last year I sold 55 houses.

From here, if the prospect is open to setting up an appointment, Ramon will get them scheduled before moving on to the next number on his list.

To learn the script that Ramon uses to leverage homes he’s recently sold in the seller’s area, listen to the podcast interview.