Let’s face it: mistakes are bound to happen, especially when it comes to a challenging industry like sales. The good news? Some of the most common mistakes can be avoided.

In this episode of Stay Paid, Josh and Luke break down the top three most common mistakes that salespeople make, and what steps they can take to prevent these mistakes from harming their business.

Key Points

• Turning clients into advocates for your business is essential
• Following up maximizes your relationship marketing efforts
• Reverse engineering your income goals enables you to set daily tasks

Mistake #1: Spending the majority of time and money on chasing new leads

While many salespeople assume that new leads mean new money, this actually can’t be further from the truth. Instead, focus on growing your book of business by referrals and relationships. When it comes to real estate, 54 percent of buyers and 64 percent of sellers found their agent through referrals or using the last agent that they worked with (National Association of REALTORS®). Whereas only 5 percent found their agent on the agent’s website. And yet, agents are spending twice as much on their websites as they are on referral or affinity marketing. Just remember: everything you need for your next deal is already in your last deal.

Mistake #2: Not maximizing results from events and relationship marketing

While it’s easy to host an event or send a piece of marketing and assume that your job is finished, it’s important to remember that following up is crucial to your success. Customers of American Lifestyle magazine, for example, see even greater results when they follow up with their clients after sending the magazine. Pick up the phone, and leverage your efforts to schedule an in-person meeting.

The same goes for Facebook leads. If you’re utilizing Facebook for your marketing efforts, you must follow up with those new leads. You will lose opportunities if you’re not focused on consistently working those new contacts. Following up will help strengthen the relationships that provide you with more referrals and repeat transactions.

Mistake #3: Working blindly and not reverse engineering your goals

Knowing how many goals you need to hit without knowing how you’ll get there is like going on a road trip without directions. To put it lightly, it’s useless. In order to set your daily tasks, you have to reverse engineer your income goals. Both your marketing and day-to-day efforts will get noticeably easier once you begin to work backwards.

TIP: If you’re unsure how to get started, download our leads calculator at the bottom of the show notes.

Action Items

Following the podcast, our goal is to provide you with as many actionable tips as possible. This episode includes…

• Download our leads calculator, and put in your goals for the week.
• Call at least 50 people in your database, and track your referral rate.

As always, take action on these tips!