I used to cold call from a physical phone book in 2008

Back when I first started in real estate, I'd sit with this massive phone book every Tuesday morning and call random numbers from the 'For Sale by Owner' listings in the classifieds. I'd get hung up on maybe 40 times out of 50 calls, but the few that stuck were gold. Now I run targeted Facebook ads to people within a 3 mile radius of my current listings, and I can see who's looking at properties before they even pick up the phone. The change happened around 2016 when I realized I was spending 15 hours a week dialing numbers that just weren't working anymore. I still miss the raw feel of those cold calls though, even with a 2% success rate. Has anyone else here switched from old school prospecting to digital and regretted giving up that face to face grit?

3 comments

3 Comments

alicehernandez1mo ago

Phone books make great doorstops now, I guess.

taylor.hayden28d ago

Wait, you actually miss the phone book days? I used to think people saying that were just romanticizing the grind, but then I tried going back to straight phone calls from a list last year for a week. It was a nightmare at first, but by day three I was actually having real conversations with people instead of just firing off automated texts. Still not switching back full time though, my cold call hand gets tired.

tara7931mo ago

Phone books taught you persistence way better than any dashboard ever could. There's something about hearing a real person's voice hesitate that you just can't replicate with a click.