I Made 300 Cold Calls a Day… Here’s Why I Stopped

I used to make 300 cold calls a day. Tick marks on a sheet, phone book in front of me. Yes, young people, we had those. And by the time I found someone who needed me, I was exhausted. In this video, I'm going to break down whether cold calling still works in 2026, why it wears so many agents down, and how to build a trust-based business that has allowed me to sell over 4,000 homes in my career. Does cold calling still work? Sure, it can. You need people who need an agent, and you've got to find them. That part hasn't changed. But here's the part nobody talks about: it will wear you flat down. Back in my stockbroker days, before I got into real estate, we were cold call cowboys. Sitting in our little bullpen, expected to make a minimum of 300 dials a day. We had to track it, little tick marks on a sheet to hand to the boss, looking through phone books, going to the library to find names, purchasing lead lists. Smiling, dial, smiling and dialing, smiling and dialing, and smiling and dialing, and Ugh. I did find businesses, but I was drained. Talking to those owners just pulled it out of me because I was already empty. And y'all, real estate is no different. Yes, you absolutely can find clients this way. But if you become cynical and exhausted by the time someone finally says, Well, yes, I'd love to chat. Are you even going to deliver a decent level of service? That's the question. The solution to cold call exhaustion is warm calling. Talking to people who don't automatically hate you simply for calling them. And before you roll your eyes and say, Leigh, I've heard this before. Yes, It's the list you were told to make on day one. Your family, your friends, the people you went to high school with, the people you've known from church, the people you used to work with in your other jobs, the employers that you worked for, the parents of your kids' friends. Honestly, it's anybody you saved in your phone. Warm calling isn't about begging for business. It's about reconnecting. It's about calling someone and saying, "Hey, I'm in real estate. If you or someone you care about needs help, I'd be honored to lean in." That's actually not sleazy. That's professional. And it's a sustainable model. If you want my help to get consistent visibility as a REALTOR®, check out the first link in the description. Now, let's say you have called everyone in your phone and still nothing. So you think, "Fine, I'll just get more involved in the community." Fantastic. But are you doing it the right way? You've called everyone, still no business. So now you're told, be active in the community. And absolutely, 100% yes, you should be. But I won't name names. There is an agent in my marketplace once— well, she might be retired now, but she used to attend 4 different churches. Rotating weekly. Don't know what she did on that occasional 5th Sunday. Maybe she just took the day off, but that was 4 congregations, 4 potential pipelines. The challenge, even in a relatively large area, everyone knew. Community leadership can be tremendous for your business if done correctly. Now, what do I mean by done correctly? Friends, I mean authenticity, real passion. Your involvement should be about your gifts, your talents, and most importantly, where you actually want to be. Frankly, it's where you would be even if you weren't in real estate. You think, "If I stop chasing business, won't I get less of it?" No, not actually. Because when people see you're in the right place for the right reasons, you don't even have to wear a name tag. They will find out you're in real estate organically. And y'all, that's how real trust is built. Not just any kind of trust, Big trust, not transactional trust. This is what happens when you show up consistently. And as the saying goes, be where you are. If you want more ideas on building business through genuine presence, join my email list below. I love sharing practical strategies there every week. Let's lay it out there, y'all. Here's the fear that creeps in when you start building this kind of business. What if being yourself, chasing your passions, cost you clients? When your business is built on you, your personality, your belief system, your style, or your lack of style, there's a fear. What if I offend someone? What if I turn off part of the market? In a world where politics has infiltrated literally everything, I get it. Even Michael Jordan gets it. He said Republicans buy sneakers too. So we know that fear is real. But here's the truth. You bring tremendous value. And regardless of what people get to see about you, not everyone's going to see the value of you. Friends, that's not new. That's always been true. It was true on the kindergarten playground, and it's true in real estate. But the transformation away from fear happens when you know yourself and you're comfortable that way. Because when you're grounded, your advice comes from a steady place and your clients feel that. They hear it in your words and they see it in your demeanor. Now, will it still sting when you lose someone? Of course it will. You're human. But the richer relationships you build with the right people will more than offset that loss. Cold calling can build a pipeline. Warm calling builds a reputation. Community builds trust. And frankly, confidence in who you are builds longevity. In real estate and beyond. Okay, you fix your referral process, but what if you're still exhausted from chasing strangers? If cold calling is wearing you down and you don't know what to replace it with, that's your next problem. Watch the video on your screen where I show you what actually works instead.