This question is one that seems to have two answers.  I think the correct answer really depends on your perspective on the business.  So first, let me explain, and then I’ll give you my answer.

Today, there are really two opposing mindsets in the real estate community: there is the scarcity mentality, and there is the abundance mentality.  For most agents today, there is a critical shortage of good, available business.  Most agents work harder than ever and seem to find less business.  For those agents, it is clearly a scarcity mentality.

For example, if you’re new to the business, you’ve probably noticed that most agents won’t show you any tricks or give you any “secrets” to help you.  That is because to most of them, you are their competitor and not their colleague.  Don’t take it personally — this is because of their scarcity mentality.

But for a smaller number of agents, these days are some of the best ever.  There is an abundance of available business — more than at any time in the history of the real estate business.  Sure, the number of transactions is down as much as 10%.  But the number of agents is also down, by as much as 30%!  That means the actual number of available transactions, per agent, is higher than ever.

In other words, there truly is an abundance of business.  I should tell you that I am one of the agents that has an abundance mentality.  (Incidentally, that is why I am not afraid to freely share tips and tricks with other agents.)  The fact is, there is more than enough business out there if you simply know how to get it!  So where is the big disconnect?  Why does it feel like there is a shortage?

For most agents, there actually is a shortage.  That’s because they are using old-school methods to gather customers.  And, sadly, the old-school methods are not working any more.  If you take the time to study today’s customer, nearly all of them (87%) are starting online.  Over 93% of them use the Internet for part of their home search.  That’s 9 out of 10 customers are online!

And yet most agents are still doing almost no business from the Internet.  How sad!  And then they wonder where all the customers went.  But instead of embracing the new reality — the Internet reality — most are just working the old-school marketing methods that much harder, and getting more frustrated by the day.  OK, so that’s the backdrop.

That brings me to the answer to the question: When should I give up on a lead?  If you are an old-school agent, using old-school, traditional marketing to gather clients, you’d better hang on to every one you get.  On the other hand, if you’ve learned the secret to gathering the seemingly endless number of customers from the Internet, my answer is much different.

In baseball, it’s three strikes and you’re out.  In real estate, I teach agents it’s six strikes and you’re out.  I will only make six attempts to reach and connect with a customer.  My objective is to reach (or speak with) 50% of my leads.  Then, to actually “connect” with a third of those, or in other words one in six of the total.  If I am consistent in my prospecting, and I approach my leads correctly, those are fairly easy numbers to hit.

Then I know that of those I actually connect with, I’ll close a transaction with about half.  That means that I should close a deal with about one in twenty-four leads.  I don’t waste a lot of time trying to make chicken salad out of chicken manure, as the saying goes.  There are far too many other leads that I will be able to connect with.  There are too many other customers out there that will gladly work with me, for me to spend the rest of my life chasing those that won’t.

So to sum it all up: If you’re an agent that’s living in the scarcity reality, I say spend as much time as you need to make every lead pan out.  Or, maybe think about doing real estate the new way and then you can pick and choose your customers.  For more on building that kind of a business, read my free seminar: Becoming a Mega-Producer.  If you have plenty of leads, then I say “six strikes and they’re out”, and that’s my quick answer.