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Do property managers and business owners sometimes suffer from being so theoretical and idealistic that they forget a few things?
I create training and mentoring sessions for property managers and business owners. About halfway through a recent boxing class, I came to a realisation — well, a number of them really — about some similarities between the job and the sport.
Here’s what came to me as I threw yet another mediocre right hook into the bag:
People don’t wake up desperate to prospect every morning.
I don’t wake up desperate to attend boxing class at 8.30am. In fact, many would question why I would even be awake at this time on the weekend! The fact is that for a couple of months I didn’t go to this class, mainly because I thought I was hopeless at boxing, and it hurt too much. (Correct in both assumptions). But since this is 2023 and the year of trying new things, I showed up a few weeks ago prepared for a high amount of embarrassment and exhaustion. A funny thing happened: everyone else was doing their own thing and there was nothing to be embarrassed about. So what if my kicks were a bit off-target and I nearly lost balance? Big deal if my left hook looked very little like a hook should. I was giving it a go! And the best part, it was exhausting but I didn’t have time to notice because I was having so much fun.
The energy you and those around you allocate to your day will have a HUGE impact on your results.
The idea of sitting on the phone for hours every day waiting for people to yell at you or hang up does not instil positive energy or the desire to repeat the behaviour. Just you and your phone, and a list of names and numbers in a database (or excel spreadsheet, or don’t get me started on post-it notes with random contact names and numbers).
Like all of you who detest prospecting, I’ve done boxing before and hated it so what would make it different now? The answer is the energy in the room — 52 people ranging in age from 20 to 75, smashing it out to Pitbull’s “Don’t Stop the Party” with an instructor who clearly loved running the class. There were four to a boxing bag, so I had to keep up with the rest of the team and they made me lift my game. Why is daily prospecting so depressing and under-energised? It doesn’t have to be, nor does it have to be a solo event. Bring your best game every day, share your wins, and laugh about the misses. Surely that’s better than the big stick approach to filling in a call sheet (which most people cheat on anyway, let’s face it). A prospecting sheet with 50 pieces of data is not just letters and numbers, it’s people all on their own journey. Get to know them, care about their story, and most importantly, listen.
I will never be as good as Muhammad Ali ... and most agents will never be million-dollar writers.
But does that mean we never try? Of course not. If I want to be better, I need to show up every week and pay attention to my form and where I can improve. It’s ridiculous to think that a new BDM can start in the industry today and be skilled enough to overcome objections, understand personality types and how to adapt to them by next week. Just like Ali, they need to go in the ring, get knocked around, then get up and do it again. Learn, and keep learning.
Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.
Some days you won’t feel like talking to people, some days you’ll wish you listened to your parents and studied medicine or law or whatever it was they were advising you to do. Accept that this happens from time to time and work through it. Show up every day and do the work. The most successful people in the world are not always the most naturally talented, but you can be sure they are dedicated experts in their subject matter and prepared to persist. Jump into your daily prospecting ring, knowing progress over perfection will be your key to long-term results.
Karmen Costigan is the head of property management at Harcourts Australia.
