Why Fear of Rejection Is Costing You Listings

Last week we asked our team one of the questions that separates the agents who grow from the ones who stall: is the fear of rejection keeping you from getting new listings and new clients? It brought us back to something a friend and mentor of ours has said for years. Everything you want is on the other side of some kind of pain. Once you start looking at your own life through that lens, you see it everywhere.

Everything worth having sits past some pain. Think about getting fit. You go to the gym, you push hard, and you get sore. It’s hard, and it isn’t fun in the moment, but the benefit shows up on the other side of that soreness. Having kids is the same. We have six now, and anyone who’s been through childbirth knows it’s not pleasant. No mom in the world calls it her favorite moment. Ask her about what happens right after, though, and you get the thing she was dreaming of. The pain came first, then the payoff. Your business runs on the exact same rule.

Nobody gets excited about making calls. Let’s be honest about the pain in this business, because it’s real. Nobody comes out of bed excited to make phone calls and talk to strangers. Some people are going to tell you to pound sand, and a few will be a lot less polite than that. Nobody gets excited about that part. But once you can see it as the price of admission, the pain that carries you to the equivalent of childbirth in your business, that’s the moment it stops draining you and starts fueling you.

Turn every no into money in your pocket. Then you get to play the mind games that keep you going. We had a friend who started in real estate back in the 80s, and he figured out exactly how many doors he had to knock on to land a deal. When he divided that by his average commission, he realized he was making about $35 per door, whether they answered or not. So every time he walked back down a driveway after someone slammed the door in his face, he’d pat his pocket and think, “There’s $35 right there.” When you can tell yourself you’re just one step closer to the goal, the rejection stops being a wall and becomes the toll you pay to get there.

Remember why you started when you want to quit. One more story that stuck with us. A long time ago we trained for the Marine Corps Marathon with two goals: beat Oprah’s time of about four and a half hours, and don’t walk a single step. Right around mile 13, just past the Kennedy Center, the doubt crept in. Why not just do the Army Ten-Miler? Why sign up for this at all? And right as we were about to give ourselves permission to walk, the Rocky theme song started playing over the course. Rocky wouldn’t quit, so we didn’t either. We finished without walking, and yes, we beat Oprah. It took a little outside encouragement and a hard memory of why we wanted it, but that’s exactly where most of us land in our business when we feel like putting the phone down.

The few who push through reach the top. A lot of the time we feel like quitting. We feel like skipping the call. But the growth you want is waiting on the other side of the pain you’re avoiding, and the moment you embrace that, you get to the benefit. If this business were easy, everybody would do it. It’s the few, the elite, the ones willing to push when the average person quits, who reach that level. That’s the whole goal.

If you want to hear more about what we’re coaching our agents to do, we’d love to share it. Reply to this email, and we’ll send you a recording of one of our team huddles, where we walk through how to push through the pain, what to actually say to the buyers and sellers who don’t want to talk yet but still need to make a move, and the scripting and technique that gets you through to them. When you’re ready to connect, book a call with us or email us at ChrisCraddock@ChrisCraddockLeadership.com. We’d love to help you get to the other side of it.