There are two solutions we use to overcome the fear of rejection with door knocking:
Focus on the action instead of the result.
Exposure therapy with the elastic band technique.
Focus on the action:
As a real estate agent, naturally, tie ourselves to the result. Instead of being proud of the effort we put in, we come down on ourselves for not getting a listing appointment. This can be used in any area of real estate like cold calling, open houses, door knocking or asking for referrals.
Change your mindset from focusing on the result to just focusing on the action.
In doing this, you shift the pressure away from getting lead, appointment, sale, etc, and the only thing you value is the fact that you did the action.
Try this and you will in real estate or anywhere in life when you are struggling with the fear of rejection.
Exposure therapy with the elastic band technique:
In real estate, there are activities that push us out of our comfort zone. We know this. One sure way to struggle in real estate is to stick in your comfort zone.
When you start door knocking and that seller opens the door, you are out of your comfort zone. Although it doesn't seem like this at the time, the more you door knock, the more comfortable it becomes.
The challenge is when you approach door knocking by asking the potential client if they need to sell or if they know anyone who is looking to sell, you make that person uncomfortable and there is a higher likelihood you will be rejected. After a few doors of hard rejection, you may toss in the towel and never door knock again.
When pushing outside of your comfort zone, think of it like an elastic band. You want to stretch yourself but not snap. Doorking as a real estate agent can either stretch the elastic band or, potentially, snap the band.
Bonus Download
REALTOR® Habit Guide
The Easiest Door Knocking Script Ever
To accomplish the easiest door knocking script ever and be successful with your door knocking campaign there are a few things you will need.
A real estate geographic farm (or desire to begin a geo farm)
A handle on the real estate market and an area market handout
Consistency
Select a Geo Farm or Area
Select your geo farm wisely. Select an area that you like and where there is a fair amount of sales. Ideally a turnover rate of 6% (number of sales/total number of homes) and an area that is not already heavily farmed.
Choose between 250-400 homes that you can hit consistently for the foreseeable future on a monthly basis.
You will door knock these homes once a month.
Consistency
Using this door knocking script once will be a waste of your time. You need to dedicate time and continuous effort for this to work.
When you are starting a new lead generation idea, I recommend being prepared to go 6 months to 1 year without seeing an ROI. Following that you should have tons of business.
The Script
It is almost too easy. You print off your market reports and head to your farm.
*Knock, Knock*
Home Owner: Hello
Real Estate Agent: Hi, just dropping off your market update for the month. Here you go!
Real Estate Agent: Bye
That is it! You are building a relationship with this person over a period of time. That is the magic in this door knocking practice.
You do the exact same thing for the next year.
After the homeowner starts to recognize you, let a conversation naturally start.
Pro Tip: Have a photo of you on the market report so the homeowner pairs you as the expert in the area.
You play with this door knocking technique is to create a relationship with the homeowner and eventually add them to your database.
Follow Up Reading:
9 Ways to Get a Listing as a New Real Estate Agent
10 Top Habits of Successful Real Estate Agents
Successful Real Estate Agent Daily Schedule
Have you tried door knocking? What has your experience been with this lead generation strategy? Let me know in the comments below.
-Michael Montgomery
Episode Transcript:
[00:00:00] Hello and welcome to Rev Real Estate School like with quick tips and actionable advice to help you sell more real estate in today's world. And now your host Michael Montgomery.
[00:00:12] Hello and welcome back to Rev Real Estate School. My name is Michael Montgomery and today we are talking about door knocking. Have you ever tried door knocking had any success with it or maybe you've wanted to try door knocking but that whole fear of rejection thing starts to creep in?
[00:00:30] Well today we are going to learn the most simple and straightforward door knocking script and practice that will not only help you get more business but is also a very soft approach so that you don't have to necessarily be so concerned about the fear of rejection because it won't happen very often. With this approach. First off let's talk about this whole thing about fear of rejection.
[00:00:58] This is the main thing that stops most real estate agents from starting a door knocking campaign. And where does this come from. I mean we're human right and we do all want to be accepted. That's just part of being human. And we want to go towards pleasure and away from pain, and rejection is a painful process. So the first step here is to understand that it's normal to be afraid of rejection but there are ways that we can we can get around rejection so that we're still able to do the uncomfortable thing regardless of those feelings. So first off I want you to approach the door knocking campaign or anything really in real estate especially when you're starting out with more of a mindset that you are applauding the fact that you're doing the action.
[00:01:47] Let me explain that a little bit further. You're less concerned with the result you're more concerned with just doing the action. So you are tracking yourself in the sense that you are following what it is that you are doing and you are following through.
[00:02:05] You are not coming down on yourself if you do not get the result you are proud of yourself. If you do the action the results will come And whatever you do, do NOT tie your self-esteem or your or your self image as a real estate agent to that result. It is all about just taking the steps necessary and that means walking up to the door and following through with a campaign such as this.
[00:02:32] The second part to this is you need to put yourself in the consumer's shoes. So you need to pretend that you are the person at the other end of the door. And many of us have probably been that person when somebody came and knocked on our door and I know for myself even the fact that we teach this it is not the most comfortable feeling as a consumer. Oftentimes that is because the person who's talking on my door is asking something of me they want me to do something. As in they want a donation or they want my name and email address or they want me to sign something. So they want something of me and this is the wrong approach and this is where we can really start to shine and doorknocking because those doors that we're knocking on are expecting us to ask something like that of them. They're expecting us to ask them to do something. Do you know of somebody who needs to buy or sell real estate? Do You need to buy or sell real estate? And this is an approach and there's nothing wrong with it but our approach is just a little bit different.
[00:03:33] So what you require for this what's best is if you have a geo farm or if you have an area that you plan on starting to geo farm because this is an awesome way to start. All you need is about 250 homes and or maybe a little bit more a little bit less but you need to be able to hit them on a consistent basis for the next year or so and all you do is you print off a market report make sure that marker board has your face on it and you'll see why. Just a simple clean design not a lot of copy on it and just a nice looking small postcard size design. And this is what you do you choose your 250 homes you're getting started.
[00:04:13] This is your first month. You walk up to the door you have your handful of market reports. Knock knock knock. Person comes to the door. They think you are going to ask something of them. You hand them the mark report you say Hello here's your monthly market report. Turn around and leave. That is it. That is it. It is so simple. All you are doing is you are establishing yourself as the real estate expert in that neighborhood but you're doing so in a soft way. Oftentimes you will actually catch the consumer off guard and they're usually quite grateful for it. They enjoy receiving it but you haven't came and asked anything of them. So the power behind this is not just going out and doing it once it's having those 250 doors or so and doing this every single month month to you do the same thing. Knock Knock knock Hi how you doing monthly market report turnaround around leave.
[00:05:02] Ten after about three four months you'll naturally have some conversations that will start. This is built around relationships yet. Again so it's not built around trying to get the transaction. It's about how can we lead with value and provide people within a community with valuable information on a consistent basis. Now your face will also be on the poster. It doesn't have to be but it is nice because when you're handing that off to the person they might not even know who you are and they won't off the start. And even as time goes on. So having your face on there just creates a little bit more recognition and establishes yourself a little bit more.
[00:05:41] So you have to stick with this the whole thing about this one is its consistency and you're doing it over and over and you're hitting the same houses. After a while if you hit a couple of houses that potentially don't give you the best sort of response then just cross them off your list and you don't have to go back to that one and I can almost guarantee you that within a few months you'll start having conversations with these people about real estate because they say oh wait wait wait. Yeah you're you do quite a bit of business in this area don't you. Or do you do you know what's going on down the down the street or do you know what that home sold for. This will naturally cause conversations because you're leading with value and you're not asking anything of the person that your doorknocking. So the whole thing about this consistency you are bringing value first you are not asking anything of them and you are doing it month after month. So this is the door knocking campaign that has worked best for us.
[00:06:33] And coming back to the start where we talked about rejection. That is why this campaign can work so well because nobody can really reject you right because all you're doing is you're providing them with some information you're not asking for their name email address or anything you're simply just providing them with information and you will be astonished by how many people are so grateful for this and that's it. So that is the door knocking campaign. Thank you very much for listening to this episode. If you'd like a recap about this or if you want more information head down into the show notes coming over to revel estates school dot com. There's a video for you to watch. Plus there's a recap on this strategy. Thank you again for listening. And we will see you at the next episode this episode of Rev.
[00:07:22] Rev Real Estate School has come to a close. Thank you for tuning in. We'll see you back here for the next lesson
