Gayle is a Realtor in Kalamazoo who has changed the rules of prospecting

In 2007 her business was 35% referrals; now her business is practically 100% referrals. She typically closes 50 homes per year, every year, and does it without mass mailing, billboards, ad buys, or any kind of mass marketing. In fact, she has practically no marketing or advertising budget at all.

What she does to generate this volume of business is built on a formula that takes her about 90 minutes a day.

90 Minute-a-Day Formula

Here is what she does:

• 50 social media touches a day – a heart emoji, a like.
• 20 comments a day – a handshake, tip of the hat, actual “hello” or, as we say in west Texas, “howdy.”
• 5 conversations – text message, phone, private message, a conversation in a thread.
• 3 cards (physical cards).
• 1 powerful conversation a day – the kind that you can go back and work on.

This all leads to conversations, which lead to opportunities, which lead to business.

Relational vs. Transactional

What is fundamental to Gayle’s business approach is that her contacts have a Relational focus rather than a Transactional focus. In her words:

“…any time you can create the conversations with people through a heartfelt message, through social media, through a phone call, through face-to-face interactions, that’s going to lead to opportunities that will eventually lead to business.”

Her relationship focus leads to plentiful, ongoing business from people who grow to know and like her because they see Gayle as a real person, as she has proven she sees them. She celebrates people’s lives with them, and they reciprocate with trust and referrals.

Transaction-focused people, on the other hand, rely on push marketing, billboards, purchased leads, and cold calls.

You want to know the crazy part? Anybody can do what Gayle does, but few people are willing. (No, I don’t have a good explanation for why – it’s just true.)

Simply put, the difference is attracting people you don’t know versus celebrating the lives of those you do know.

I hope you are willing to consider doing things in a smarter way. Take a few minutes to look and listen closer to what Gayle is doing here.

---

Michael Stammer is a Sales | Life | Performance coach available for individual and group coaching and speaking to organizations. For more visit www.coachmichael.com

Header photo by Matt Buck used under Creative Commons License.