Don't passively wait for business and success to come to you. Proactively create business and make success come to you. Too many Agents have let the market over the last few years create all of their success.

Recently, it has been pretty easy nationally to make a very good living selling real estate. You could have been passive and been okay. In today's marketplace, with changing inventory levels, more cautious buyers, and rising interest rates, you just can't wait – you have to create.

You must proactively and consistently prospect for leads. Most Agents never prospect proactively. Let's look at the truth; we mail things out and rarely pick up the phone or get face-to-face with anyone. Most Agents do lead follow-up, which means they follow-up on leads that came to them. They use passive techniques to create leads. We must also proactively create leads and proactively follow-up on our current leads. I tell Agents all the time, "If you need a boost in your production inventory, call all of your leads, even the longer term ones."

The vast majority of a Champion Agent's new listing inventory in a given month comes from their pipeline of leads. If you want to change your inventory level of listings, first go to your leads. Then start to prospect to build up your pipeline.

Sell prospects on "service presentation" meetings

This is an area we need to improve on. We rely on sending large quantities of information via e-mail rather than getting face-to-face. We have to focus on getting face-to-face with all prospects, even if they are six months out. The way to best determine if the lead is outstanding is the face-to-face meeting. It's also the thing that most other Agents they are talking to are not doing. The tightest connection you can create will be from a face-to-face meeting. In a service presentation meeting, you are not doing your full listing presentation; you are trying to determine desire, need, ability, and authority.

Prospect, Prospect, Prospect

In this marketplace, more time is needed in prospecting. It will take:

• More dials to = same amount of contacts

• More contacts to = same amount of leads

• More leads to = same amount of appointments

• More appointments to = same amount of contracts

• More contracts to = same amount of revenue

It might not be fair; it is what it is

Far too many Agents over the last few years have been totally reliant on one area of business: the "wear it like a badge of honor; I'm a 'by referral only' Realtor." While I believe referrals are essential to a healthy business, they are not the lifeblood of any successful business. Relying on 100% of one's revenue from one source is not a sound business practice. Even having 80% to 90% of one's income from one source leaves the business vulnerable to market shifts.

When the public's consciousness for real estate is at an all-time high, referrals generate significant revenue. When real estate is not the main topic of conversation at every cocktail party across North America, fewer leads and opportunities are created through referrals.

"There is a rude awakening about to happen for a significant segment of successful Agents."

Let's look at a real-world company, recently in the news, that had to declare bankruptcy due to their customer mix coming from predominantly one source. Delphi recently declared bankruptcy because their biggest customer is General Motors. More than 60% of their sales are made to General Motors. Due to the problems at GM and high labor costs, Delphi was forced into bankruptcy.

Many Agents await that same fate because of an eventual drop in referrals. The time to expand our streams of leads and income is now. Once most Agents realize the reduction in the number and quality of referrals due to a lower consumer demand and awareness for real estate, it will be too late. The time to act is now.

Resolve to add one new income stream in the next 90 days. I caution you to only add one. The natural tendency is to try a whole bunch. Focus on adding one with excellence rather than a whole bunch poorly.

Published: April 7, 2008

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Dirk Zeller is an Agent, an Investor, and the President & CEO of Real Estate Champions. His company trains more than 350,000 Agents worldwide each year through live events, online training, self-study programs, and newsletters. He's the widely published author of Your First Year in Real Estate, Success as a Real Estate Agent for Dummies®, The Champion Real Estate Agent, Telephone Sales for Dummies®, and over 300 articles in print. You can get more information by visiting RealEstateChampions.com.