Agents are often looking for the "magic pill", the secret to immediate and awesome success.  I have to admit that I looked for that pill for a couple years, trying to get the easy way into the business. 

I learned a simple truth, and I teach my new agents this all the time.  There IS a secret to lead generation.  It's unfortunate that it's a secret, because it's available to ALL agents.

This great secret to business?  The key to your financial future?  The tool that costs you nothing extra to implement?  Oh, and you all have one too.

It's a phone.  Pure and simple.  I've been speaking tongue-in-cheek so far, but here's reality.  There are many agents in real estate who aren't comfortable on the phone.  They aren't willing to pick up the phone and ask for business, or they aren't good at making their follow-ups.  For whatever reason, their phone skills suffer, and their businesses suffer.

Great instructors such as Brian Buffini teach referral prospecting, and I think that there's a lot to be said for it.  If you want business, and you want to guarantee future business, then put together a database of all the people you know, keep in touch with them on a regular basis (read about once a month at least), and constantly feed your database with new names.

In the book The Millionaire Real Estate Agent, Gary Keller gives a simple plan for staying in touch with your "Mets", or people who actually know you and would take your call.  He outlines what's known as the 33 Touch plan, which is a systematized method for touching (communicating with) someone in your database 33 times over the course of the year.

Whatever plan you have, please work on your phone skills.  The telephone is the device that will earn you thousands or millions of dollars.  All the other lead generation techniques are great, but remember that the good ole' phone is still your primary means of contacting, converting, and following up.

Now, I've got to run... I've got to make my follow-up calls!  Go get 'em!