Recently I passed my license test and joined a real estate brokerage as a salesperson. One of the rudest awakenings was that agents were encouraged and expected to cold-call expired listings and “fizzbos” (FSBOs or “For Sale By Owner” properties) to get new listings.

I hate cold calling, and I hate the idea of cold calling. Some of that resistance relates to personal issues I need to work on relating to codependency. And the rest has to do with the numbers. Of 100 prospects, 80 of them are predisposed to never initiate a business decision based on a cold call. So you’re really trying to find just 20 percent of the people you contact. There has to be a better way to reach these people; and also a better way to market to the reticent 80 percent so that when they’re ready, they find you.

I’m looking at some work by the author Frank Rumbauskas to see if there is another way. He claims success.

More importantly, I need to pay attention to systems. I have a lot of pieces, but I don’t have them working together.