There's one thing that many small businesses regularly do that could and should be considered the number one mistake they're making. Guess what it is! Go on! Okay, you don't have to. I'm clearly going to tell you anyway. It's not following up contacts and leads. Did you know that some stats show that as many as 99% of small businesses don't consistently follow up prospects? That's ridiculous! And with that many possible customers being missed, you could actually be doubling your business by just following up. Is it really that hard?
When it comes to lost leads in the property game, I know why this happens, being the messiah of real estate that I am. (I'm joking of course) And it's the same reason it happens in every other business. When you're running your own business, you need to run a tight ship. Or at least this should be how you think. But in doing that, knowing how much each hour is costing your business, what the cost to the business is per sale, per salesperson etc, you know what you have to do to make not only ends meet, but to make a profit, and often there are regular tasks to this. When things are firing on all cylinders to make this happen, and you lull yourself into thinking your business is managing fine with the clients that you have, following up leads can easily drop to the bottom of the priority list.
The problem with this line of thinking is that spending all your time managing your costs isn't going to help you secure business. And if the wheels fall off your current set up, and if you've ignored enough potential leads in the meantime, you may find yourself in the less than desirable position of not having the level of business you thought, or having the prospects you thought you'd have either.
Put processes into place so that those people who deal with customers, and if it's your business that should most certainly include you, have the time to do so. Delegate anything that prevents these people from communicating with customers and prospective customers to another staff member. If you want to maximise your business success, you need to make sure you do everything possible to secure 100% of your potential business, especially when they're the ones contacting you!