Prospecting vs. Marketing

I Believe the two biggest pain points for most agents are: Prospecting  and Marketing 

What is Prospecting? 

Prospecting is outbound marketing. The goal of prospecting is to chase people that may or may not be interested in the services you have to offer and, then ultimately, converting them into clients. One classic view of prospecting is cold calling or door-to-door salespeople. 

Prospecting isn’t always easy. For many, it’s more painful than pulling teeth. Still, if your livelihood and business depend on getting clients to sign on the dotted line right now, you can make prospecting work for you. 

You need to remember, whether you’re cold-calling door knocking or attending a networking event, is that prospecting is very time-consuming. It is also a numbers game. The more calls you make or people you contact, the more likely it is that someone will sign and become a client.  You will face a tremendous amount of rejection when you prospect- and it’s one of the main reasons most agents prefer marketing strategies over prospecting. 

What is Marketing? 

If prospecting is outbound marketing, then “marketing” is inbound marketing. The main goal of marketing is to attract people to you rather than chasing after cold leads. Marketing has a long-term strategy behind it. Here are some ideas for marketing strategies: 

Blogging 

Developing an email campaign  

lead magnets 

Paid advertising  

Podcasting 

Educational videos 

Social media strategy and engagement 

The idea of having to cold call a list of people makes me sick. 

I much prefer the feeling I get when engaging in a marketing strategy, and I think that a lot of agents feel this same way.  

Prospecting to me feels forced. Whereas with marketing it feels like I have the opportunity to do something I enjoy.  I can still be building my business’s brand while reaching my niche audience. 

What If You’re Just Starting Out? 

Here are two miss conceptions: marketing is the “lazy” route. And prospecting is for the “go-getters.” Neither one of these is true. You would be smart if you had a combination of both to get started. It would help if you got active with an inbound marketing strategy – and genuinely commit to it. When you get more aggressive with your marketing strategy, you’ll be more likely to draw in the type prospects you’re dying to work with.   

To get started with your inbound marketing strategy you’ll need to start marketing yourself and your business where your niche audience already hangs out. Show up there and interact whether it is online or in person. The more you get involved with your niche the more they will get to like and trust you.  You will also begin to understand their pains and frustrations and how you can provide a solution for them. 

Inbound marketing is all about making it so that the people, your niche who are looking for you to show them the answer to their pain and frustrations will find you. Yes, it is not going to happen overnight, to become “findable” that is – but it doesn’t take as long as you may think. When you have a niche, you’ll produce content that draws them in. You’ll be hanging out and interacting on the social media channels, groups, and forums that they’re already are. They will begin to see you as an expert in the areas they need help with. They will want to work with you and you only.  

There Isn’t a Silver Bullet 

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I am going to be.  While prospecting and marketing are both options, there is no easy button, you have to get your business and your name out there – neither of them is a silver bullet. There is no magic, booming-practice-overnight strategy I’m hiding from you so that you knock it out of the park in year one. I wish there were! 

Therefore, I am a proponent of the long-term marketing strategy over chasing the prospect. I believe that building your brand and being actively involved with marketing to your niche is the best way to have a constant flow of closings and a constant income stream. 

Conclusion: 

Okay, so what’s the difference between prospecting and marketing? 

Prospecting  

Prospecting is the Active side of Marketing. 

As a prospector, you become the hunter. 

When you are prospecting, you are actively pursuing or chasing your prospects. 

You are spending a lot of time actively meeting, cold calling, following up etc. You are always hunting for the next prospect. 

Marketing With marketing you become the hunted. You provide solutions to your prospect’s pains and frustrations, so they reach out to you. 

Marketing is much like fishing – you are putting out the bait or lead magnet waiting for the niche prospect to bite. 

You determine what fish you will get with the bait you chose to use. 

Then it’s just a waiting game, but your prospects hunt you down, so they are much more targeted and qualified.