*Cold Calls Do’s & Dont’s

One of KJF Partners’ Core Values is:

“We are driven by our personal commitment to create value for our investors, tenants, teammates and brokers.”

To serve our broker partners, we send occasional emails that focus on things that I have learned through my brokerage history or that I notice from my current role on the principal side of the business.

Brokerage is a challenging business and using good phone technique can help open doors to productive conversations.

A real-life example:
I received a call from a good friend, (also a real estate investor), recently telling me the experience he had just had with a broker cold call. My friend explained that the call was very short and went something like this: a young investment broker called and introduced himself and his company and proceeded to ask a few questions. The following is a summary of the call: Broker asked if the investor owned a specific property; the answer was “yes.” Broker then asked if the investor was happy with the investment; answer was “yes.” Broker asked if investor would be interested in selling the property; the answer was “no.” Broker then thanked investor and call was ended.

I’ve had this same experience many times and, while I’m always happy to know that brokers are making cold calls as business development starts with dialing the phone; I do believe some adjustments will lead to better results. The following are some are some simple practices to maintain or avoid while you are on the phone with your prospect.

Do’s:
Do start the call with something that will be interesting to your prospect. Put yourself in your prospect’s position and start your call with something of value to them. If your prospect is a buyer, they may want to hear about a potential deal that could meet their criteria. If they are a single tenant owner, this could be information about their tenant, their franchisee, industry news that could affect them. The news could be some relevant information about the area their property is located such as new competition coming to the market, tenants opening or closing in the market. This part of your call should be short and, is intended to add a bit of value for your prospect and open the door to additional conversation.

Do shift from your initial value proposition to your call intentions by asking a question that can lead the conversation to the topic you’d like to discuss.

Do ask open ended questions such as: I know you bought the XYZ property in (add the year), what attracted you to the property as an acquisition? How is the property measuring up against your initial expectations? What is/are your goal(s) for the property long/medium and short term? What types of properties are you currently looking for and why? How does this asset compare to your current acquisition criteria? (Listen carefully and pay attention to the prospects answers and inflection).

Do close by asking for an appointment/proposal or whatever your next step is whenever you uncover points of pain or opportunities to help. Do continue to close throughout your conversation. Do expect to hear no a few times before you get to a yes.

Don’ts:
Don’t ask questions that are answered with yes/no, especially if a no can end your call or put you in an awkward position relative to moving the call forward.

Don’t start with the call with “how are you doing today” unless you’re really hoping to get “I’m really busy, stressed, annoyed” as an answer. 😊 I find it much more productive to either get to your hook quickly or just insert a rapid “I hope your day is going well so far.”

Don’t start the call by telling me a bunch of information about your company. I’m most interested in information that benefits me, not brags about you. In my experience, everyone tells me they are the number one something somewhere. Unless you’re creating value for me, I’m not listening closely to that type of fluff.

Don’t worry if you called me two weeks ago and totally messed up the call. I won’t remember your blunder and probably don’t recall it was you. If you add value during this call, I’ll listen and engage.

Don’t quit making those calls as the more you make, the better you’ll get. The better you get, the more enjoyable they will become and the stronger your brokerage career will become.

The above represents just a few things to keep in mind but, they are based on what I, and in this case other investors, hear when they are called.

Happy hunting!

Happy Hunting!