What's your problem?

Sitting in the sessions at Inman Connect last week, I heard a ton of buzz words. Most are the ones you'd expect - disruption, tech, Millennials, etc. Those words get a lot of attention because they are trendy or because they trigger emotions. But there was one word I might have heard more than any other, and it's become so commonplace in the industry that we hardly even hear ourselves say it any more. That word is leads.

One particular quote from that conference has stuck with me and it's been rolling around in my noggin all week.

"When you are spending more on leads than you are making, you don't have a lead problem, you have a training problem."

I wish I could remember who said it, but I was so struck by the comment itself that I didn't write down the person's name. You don't have a lead problem, you have a training problem. Yikes. But also, truth.

How often do we blame the leads? All the dang time, right?! I hear things like, "the leads are terrible," or "online leads are worthless." In fact, I heard those two comments verbatim at the same conference last week. But the truth is - we don't have a lead problem. We have a training problem. But see, if we look at it that way, the blame lands squarely on our own shoulders.

So, what's your problem?