Let’s say you have developed a very strong prospecting habit.  You allocate time everyday to prospect for new business.  You don’t miss a trick.  You even spend thousands of dollars every year marketing your services to new prospects.  As a matter of fact, your quite pleased with yourself for developing a very productive prospecting habit.

Now, for the curve ball.  Do you really have to spend all that money and work so diligently to generate business?  Maybe not!  How can this be?  If you’ve been in business for a long time and have a strong client base, perhaps just tapping into your strong sphere of influence is all you need to do to reach your annual goals.  Consider the following example:

• William Weatherbee, an agent in Palm Beach, FL, sold a $2.5 million home to an attorney client in Washington, D.C. William keeps the attorney informed of Palm Beach’s real estate market conditions. William’s attorney client appreciates knowing what’s happening to the value of his home and obviously likes and trusts William. In one of William’s discussions with the attorney, William asks his client if he knows of anybody else from Washington that wants to move to Palm Beach. The attorney replies that as a matter of fact he does. Over the next two years the attorney client refers to William 8 associates who subsequently buy million dollar properties in Palm Beach.

In the above example, by staying in contact with his attorney client and asking him for referrals, William ended up with 8 “lay-down” deals.

Compare agent Williams results with those of many successful agents who are so busy trying to generate new business that they overlook the best form of new business…..referrals!

So the question is, would you prefer to get a bunch of easy business from people who like and trust you, or would you prefer to always be working hard because you’ve overlooked the easiest new business opportunities, referrals? The answer is obvious.  Focus on the easiest business first.

The moral of the story?  Don’t overlook people that you already know as a source of new business.  If you’re so busy working hard instead of smart, you may completely miss out on the goose that lays the golden egg!