I suck BIG time!
Maybe, I’m not meant to be successful…ever.
That’s what I used to think when I’d put SO much effort into my work and get little to almost NO results.
Network like crazy, they said.
Make connections.
Show up and be everywhere.
Buy lists and leads.
And me? I was doing EXACTLY that.
But then I had a family to look after as well. I couldn’t simply ignore my family to make my business work.
To say the least, back when I first started my real estate business, I used to cry myself to sleep almost every night.
To be honest, I thought just “starting” a business would be enough.
I thought if people knew about it, I’d start closing dream deals and make as much money as I wanted.
But things don’t work that way, do they?
[And BTW, buying lists of potential leads was the WORST idea ever!!!]
So, a couple years into my business, I found myself at a crossroads.
1. Close shop and go home – proving everyone who said, “you don’t have business chops”, right! Feeling a sense of failure for the rest of my life, and quitting my dream of building my very own business empire.
2. Find out what I was doing wrong and how to make it better – by turning a deaf ear to the noise, looking at my weak links objectively and hiring help where needed.
Guess what?
I CHOSE THE LATTER.
And after closely studying my business and my marketing activities, I found THREE things that totally CHANGED the game for me!.
DISCOVERY #1: You can’t buy leads. You have to EARN them.
The first thing that I discovered and something that truly transformed the game for me was this! Money can’t buy everything. You can spend tons of money buying lists, likes, and engagement, but unless you have people’s trust & respect, things won’t work.
So, I shifted my focus from buying leads to getting in front of them strategically and earning their trust BEFORE they give me their contact info OR their hard-earned money.
DISCOVERY #2: Effective marketing has LESS to do with your budget and MORE to do with systems.
Initially, I thought (and the people around me made me believe) that the more money I spend on marketing, the more money I’ll make. So, I was literally flushing money down the advertisement drain, and I was doing it out of desperation.
But then I realized and learned that more advertising money wasn’t the solution, SYSTEMS were. So, I set systems in place to make it easier for the right people to find me, contact me and work with me. I also started optimizing them with time and fine-tuning the whole process of lead generation and conversions.
DISCOVERY #3: The MORE fun you have, the MORE money you make.
Last but not the least, I realized that despite starting my business out of passion, I made it a BURDEN for myself by putting myself under constant pressure…
To do all the right things
And be the perfect business owner.
But when I realized that making money doesn’t have to be boring, I started making more (literally).
Reason?
When you’re having fun, you make decisions and show up with different energy and that energy is CONTAGIOUS. People see it, they feel it and wanna be a part of it. Hence, you automatically start attracting the right people, the right leads and the right opportunities.
All in all, I believe that lead generation and attracting high-quality clients is an ART – NOT a science, and anyone can learn it.
What about you?
How do you attract leads and clients in your business? What’s been working GREAT for you?
And if you’re struggling, what changes will you make after reading this?