chaseFrom time to time, we find ourselves in what I call “chasing” mode.

CHASE: an act of pursuing someone or something

We chase leads
We chase clients
We chase referrals
We chase listings
We chase sales
We chase other agents
We chase tenants
We chase money

Depending on your business, you might actually spend most of your time in chasing mode. Chasing isn’t fun and sucks the enjoyment out of life. We chase because we’ve created a situation where we think we need whatever it is we’re chasing.

Throughout my journey, I’ve chased all of the above and more. To be 100% honest, I absolutely hate chasing, because it feels as if we’re devaluing ourselves when we chase.

For years I chased leads. I would make follow up phone calls from 6 to 8pm two nights a week and again on Sunday afternoons. My method of chasing was to “dial for dollars.” I would continue calling every lead until I got them as a client, or they told me to never contact them again. I then followed this process when I decided to recruit agents for my business. I chased and chased trying to get them to move their license to my company.

I was miserable and hated real estate.

This process of chasing only ends when we finally make the decision to stop chasing. This is the first, and most important, step – simply decide to stop chasing.

Once you make this decision, everything changes. Everything changes because you’re now forced to accomplish your goals without chasing.

Where are you chasing in your life? How can you re-engineer this so that you no longer have to chase whatever it is your chasing? How can you re-engineer things so that whatever you’re chasing chases you instead?

This idea applies to everything.

Have a rental property and the tenant isn’t paying? File the eviction. If the tenant wants to stay, they’ll have to chase you. If the tenant doesn’t chase you, get them out and start over with a better tenant. Don’t chase them. They pay what they owe, or they move. The end result is the same; however, the chasing is eliminated.

Want to sell a certain number of homes each month? Setup a marketing system where prospects chase you to be their agent. They either hire you as their agent, or they don’t. The end result is the same; however, the chasing is eliminated.

Want to get other agents to join your team? Create a system where they’ll make more money working with you then anywhere else. They’ll either join your team, or they won’t. The end result is the same; however, you didn’t chase them.

You know chasing isn’t the best approach to business. You live this with almost every home sale negotiation. Whichever agent is pursuing the other agent in the negotiation always loses the negotiation. Their client ends up losing money because they chased.

Ending the chase doesn’t mean we don’t work hard. We still work very hard, but do things differently.

A great example of this can be found in a recent episode of Million Dollar Listings New York titled, “You Got Yourself a Deal!” Here is a clip from this episode:

Luis Ortiz had a client who was trying to buy the last apartment on one floor of a building so they could convert the entire floor into one large unit at a higher sale price. Ryan Serhant represented the seller of the last apartment. At first Luis was chasing the seller and Ryan in order to make the deal for his buyer to buy the last apartment on the floor. Ryan and his client asked an outrageous price for this apartment because Luis was chasing them.

Instead of allowing his client to pay this outrageous price, Luis decided to do things differently.  He stopped chasing completely and setup a large open house marketing the space for sale without the last apartment. When Ryan Serhant and his seller thought they lost the sale, they came down in price significantly in order to make the deal.

Whether you like the show or you don’t, this is a great example of changing an approach to eliminate chasing. It does require some creativity and thinking outside the box, but this is such a better way to approach business. It is a lot more fun and enjoyable.

Take some time this week to think about where you might be chasing in your life.  Start thinking about how you might do things differently so that you can accomplish what you want without having to chase… anyone for anything.


    2 replies to "Stop Chasing"

    • Juanita

      Totally agree with you Rob! Chasing is a backwards way of doing business and it certainly does not attract your client to you!

    • Ty

      Hi Robert, attract, do not chase! I started attracting and stopped chasing two years ago and real estate is fun again!
      Great article
      Ty

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