Why Tell Me Now?

Right now, I’m doing several things that I think will greatly impact the success of a new real estate agent. Here they are:

1. I’m making a new online version of Up and Running in 30 Days, to help new agents and managers assure that new agent gets started fast–doing the right things in the right order. I’ll be providing coaching, training videos, and accountability to show ultimate support for that new agent–and the broker enrolled in the program.

2. I’ve just been named New Agent Expert for a national real estate publication, which will interact with pre-license schools. So, I’ll have an opportunity to help agents prior to their coming into the business. 

3. I’ll be providing brokers with coaching so they can stay on track with their new agents, and assure that everyone has the same focus–success quickly for that new agent.

So, I have two questions for you:

1. What does the new agent need to know to succeed?

2. What does the new agent need to do to succeed?

To answer those questions, think of the successful agents you know. What did they do in the first 3 months of the business? What did they avoid?

Training: What new agent training helped you? What was useless? What ought to be there?

Coaching: Were you coached as a new agent? What was good? What was not useful to you? What do you wish someone would have told you?

Your Opportunity to Help the Industry

Okay. Here you go. Comment on this blog and help the industry, so we can raise the level of expectations of new agents, give brokers some guidance, and help consumers think well of us. Thank you!

The Ten Tips

1. Learn non-verbal skills and apply them in writing, on the phone, and in person to establish rapport in an increasingly ‘cold inquiry’ world. (For example: That’s voice pacing, inflections, pauses, pitch, dynamics–just to name a few ‘hearing’ non-verbal skills.) 

2. We believe what others say about a salesperson, not what the salesperson says about themselves. Use testimonials; check evaluation websites to see what consumers are saying about you.

Check out www.realestateratingz.com and www.incredibleagents.com.

3. Create an after-the-sale survey and use it consistently. If there’s something wrong, fix it fast.

4. We believe what we see, not what we hear. Show, don’t tell. Use visual presentations consistently.

5. Flip your sales presentations. Ask questions—lots of questions—first. Educate. Finally, sell (well, you won’t have to sell).

6. Tell the truth attractively. Show evidence.  Don’t try to scare the client into action by predicting  the future.

7. Evaluate the client for long-term relationships. Is the client someone you want to add to your ‘tribe’?

8. Use ‘tough love’ with a client to tell the truth, turn down a client—to stay true to your values. Do what’s best for the client.

9. Re-cap. Regularly, stop and re-cap with the client. Do this, too, when you can’t meet client expectations.

10. Book of Greatness: Don’t brag about yourself in the middle of apresentation. Create a ‘Book of Greatness’ to use in your pre-first visit so your clients get to know you and your approach to sales.

Trust evaluator: See what your trust level quotient is. Click here to get the Trust Evaluator. The higher your trust quotient, the more money you’ll make–more easily.

1. Do the work.
2. Don’t argue.
3. Don’t make excuses for not doing your start-up plan.
4. Don’t tell the manager you’ve been in the business two weeks and you have a better way.
5. Do thank your manager frequently.
6. Do tell other agents that you appreciate your manager’s efforts.
7. Do tell other new agents you meet in other companies that you have a great manager.
8. Don’t bug other people in the office to find another answer because you didn’t like your manager’s answer.
9. Don’t change the Up and Running plan because you “don’t like it”. (You just don’t like lead generating, do you?)10. Don’t miss a coaching appointment!

I’d love to hear what you think of my ‘ten commandments.’ Are there others you think are important?

Managers: Why not make your own ten commandments and discuss them in your interview process. Then, turn the tables and ask the agent about his expectations of you and the office.

Agents: Before you hire on, get in writing exactly what your manager is going to do to assure your success, so you won’t have disappointments later. Getting agreement on what we both expect before we decide to work together is key to a happy partnership. The only surprises I want you and your agent to have after you start working together are good ones!

Side note: Managers: My belief is that you owe it to your agents to coach each one, regularly and professionally, in starting his or her business. That shows your 100% commitment to each person’s success.

Know Your Business

Do you know where the majority of your business came from last year? Do you know what percent (or even how many) of your marketing dollars you spent in creating that business? Some agents know the answer to the first question. Very few agents know the answer to the second. A few months ago, I was a speaker at a large regional company convention on business planning. I found that about half the agents could answer the first question. They knew their best source of business was referrals. However, only one out of 400 knew what percent of his total marketing budget he had spent generating this best source!  Why? Agents take referrals for granted. They don’t build a marketing plan around this best source, so they have no way of allocating marketing dollars or measuring results. Their approach to their best source seems to be, when you’ve been in the business for awhile, you get referrals, don’t you?

 Are you Mining Referrals or Just Waiting for Them?

Assuming that referrals automatically come to you as a result of being in the business for awhile is a costly mistake. Smart salespeople in other fields today know that planned, purposeful business networking for referrals is the best way to increase your business at small cost. No matter how many referrals you get now, here’s how to increase that goldmine. An added bonus: Your business experiences will be less stressful, for you’ll be working more with people who know you’re wonderful–or have heard you’re wonderful. Here’s how to systematize your ‘goldmine’ to assure that getting referrals is not just a great idea–it’s a major part of your business plan.

Two of the Six Goldmine ‘Moves’

1. Find out where your business came from last year. This is a very important, though usually left out, part of your business planning process. My new business planning program, Beyond the Basics of Business Planning, has a system for analyzing your best sources of business (as well as analyzing all of the most critical areas of your business) . 

After discovering where your best sources of business were last year, add the number of marketing dollars you spent on each source of business. Compare sources with outlay of marketing dollars. Are you allocating more of your marketing dollars to your proven sources? What’s your return on your marketing investments? Are you, as many agents, spending too many marketing dollars chasing the wrong sources of sources of business?

According to marketing research companies, it costs five times more to get a new customer than to keep an old one! But, you say, why should you spend marketing money on people who won’t buy another home from you, or list their home, for another five-fifteen years? Because you’re not after just the sale. You’re after referrals.(insert figure here)

2. Start thinking of your best source of business as a “target market”. Who gives you referrals? Your most important source are old customers and clients. Your second source, in that same category, are people who know and trust you. Have you ever thought about these two groups as a specific “target market”? Looking at them that way changes your whole view on their importance to growing your business.

A word of caution about concentrating on getting referrals as merely tactical moves. It’s bigger than that.  To grow your goldmine with referrals, you must integrate this referral concept into your business plan. This is a specific market, one that’s much more important than for-sale-by-owners, first-time buyers, or other markets. Why?

What insights did you get reading this blog? How much money did you spend on your best source of business last year? What changes are you going to make?

1. Get you to top performance fast. As a top producing agent, I learned how to put together and implement a start-up plan that worked. Then, I proved this plan works for others, as I used it to coach hun­dreds of new agents to success fast. Many of the new agents I hired and coached achieved top 10 percent status their first year in our company, which consisted of 400 agents, including those who had fifteen years’ or more experience.

Question: If you’re struggling, is your business plan helping you fail?

2.    Provide a top flight “performance plan.” More than experience and background has gone into crafting your start-up plan. I really learned how to craft a good performance plan as a musician and musical performance coach. (I started teaching piano at age 16, and taught private and group piano and ~ ute lessons in colleges for sev­eral years.) To learn to do something, you must have a structure that helps you perform correctly from the start. It must give you your next steps—in the right order. It must challenge you at the right times. It must teach you the principles so you can “go on auto” yourself.

*Big Idea: This performance plan is the basis for your career success— forever.

3.  Helps you consistently get better results. As a musician, I know that in order to get great performance fast, I need a way to measure what I’m doing and make adjustments. In music, we listen to our perfor­mances, usually with our coach, and evaluate to make adjustments. Then, we play it again with the bene~ ts of our evaluations. That’s how we get higher performance.

As a real estate coach, that’s what I do with my clients: help them look at their performances and make adjustments for higher performance results. So, another big differ­ence in this resource is that I’ve built in the measurement tools you’ll need to analyze your progress and adjust your activities to get the results you want. I haven’t just given you activity plans. I’ve given you the means to measure your results. I’ve given you the analysis tools to make adjustments. I’ve given you all the tools you need to become a master at self-management.

*Big Idea: Measuring what you do frequently propels you to higher results.

4. Get you a sale in 30 days. When do you expect to make your first sale (or a sale, if you’re slumping)? If you’re like the majority of new agents, you expect to make a sale in your first 30 days in the business. I discovered those expecta­tions when I did a survey of hundreds of agents who had under three months in the business. (The results of that survey are in Become Tomorrow’s Mega-Agent Today! ) How­ever, most new agents don’t achieve that goal. In fact, about half the new agents who start their careers in any year leave the business that same year! Not only do they not make a sale fast, they don’t make enough sales to stay in the business.

So, if making a sale your first month is your expectation, you need a start-up plan that gets you into the sales game fast and has you talking with (and working with) many people Protect you from adopting the habits of failure. As a new agent, I honestly didn’t know why I was succeeding, but as I began observ­ing the activities of low-producing agents, I noticed they spent most of their time previewing properties to “know the inventory.” They also spent a signi~ cant amount of time in class learning interesting things. They also spent less time on the job (National Association of REALTORS^® statistics show successful agents spend many more hours on the job). In contrast, my primary priority was finding and showing homes to buyers. I, too, viewed plenty of homes—but took genuine buyers with me to see them.

Contrasts of Low-Producing vs. High-Producing Agents

I started contrasting the low-producing agents’ plans with mine (although low-producing agents say they have no plan; what they did last week was their plan). My plan was to find and show people homes. Sell as fast as you can! I finally fig­ured out that most new agents avoid the actions that require sales skills. They avoid rejection. They naturally do the activities that are easy: preview homes and sit in class!

*Big Idea: Slow starters do activities that allow them to avoid rejection, but also have a low fi nancial payoff . If you want to start fast, you need a fast start-up plan.

These principles are the foundation of Up and Running in 30 Days. Or, if you’re an experienced agent looking for a shot in the arm (or a kick in the pants), take a look at the On Track to Success in 30 Days System for the Experienced Agent. Either program will get your priorities right and put you back on the track to your goals.

New agents need to be focused on business development—not training

Another stunning finding from the research was that 62% of the new agents expected to get a check in their first sixty days in the business!  They expect to hit the ground running.

To do this, the new agent’s focus needs to be on business development, not on training. Normally, companies put the new agent into a ‘curriculum based’ program to tell them everything they’ll ever need to know about real estate. Unfortunately, the new agent thinks that all that knowledge equals success in real estate. That’s wrong.

Creating Success, not Useless Knowledge

New agents create early success when they focus on a business start-up plan that contained heavy business-producing activities. If you’re a new agent, you have to develop the mental toughness to ignore information that’s not critical to your business production. If you don’t, your money will run out before you learn everything! (Give it up; you’ll never know everything!)

Your expectations may vary from your manager’s expectations of you.

If the new agent expects high earnings fast, what did his manager expect from him?  71% of the new agent respondents from the survey didn’t know.  They hadn’t asked, and the manager, in the interview, had not volunteered to share any management expectations.

No News is Good News?

71% of the respondents didn’t know even the minimum expectations of their managers–the minimum production standards they would have to meet to have their contracts renewed the second year (or  to be retained during any start-up period). To assure that the new agent and manager see ‘eye to eye’, both parties need to agree on mutual expectations in writing prior to hiring on.

Not only getting the ‘what’ in writing, but the ‘how’. Even agreeing on minimum activity and production standards doesn’t assure that the new agent will meet his goals with the full support of his/her manager. The new agent needs to see the ‘how’—exactly how that manager will coach the new agent to quick success. If you’re a new agent, you need to see the exact business activity plan* that you will be coached to. You also need proof that the plan has worked with others in the past to deliver the results you expect of yourself your first month, quarter, and year in the business.

Matching expectations assures no surprises and gets planned results. Take the wishing out of business expectations. Both new agent and manager need to get expectations in writing, agree on a business start-up plan, and start working together with mutual accountability to partner in great results. Your manager must be accountable to coaching you on a regular basis with a proven business start-up plan. You, the new agent, must be accountable to do the activities in the plan. Together, you will achieve your mutual goals.

Do YOU have a start-up plan?

If you’re under 2 years in the business, I’ll bet you don’t have a business start-up plan. Yet, you need one! Check out Up and Running in 30 Days. I promise you’ll get your business on track to exceptional success, as have thousands of other new agents who follow the plan.

we believe what others say about us, not what WE say about us.

Are you sending out your surveys regularly, at least at closing? At the end of this blog, I’ll give you a link to get a format for a survey, if you need one.

According to Stefan Swanepoel, in his 2010 Trends Report,

Consumers are looking much harder at ‘proof of experience’ in the form of comments from past clients.

If you are sending surveys at closing–congratulations. But, what are you doing with them? Are you reading them, then putting them in the drawer? Not so fast. You need to publicize them. You need to let others know that clients believe you are competent.

Watch Those Websites

Take a look at 10 agents’ websites–at random. How many of the ten have posted testimonials or evaluations? I’ll bet not more than one or two of them. So, you can see how easy it is for you to stand out. Just start by posting 5-10 of your testimonials on your website. By the way, always have a place on your evaluations where your clients can check that they will let you use that evaluation publicly.

Take Advantage of LinkedIn and Facebook Endorsements

It’s getting to be a really big deal–evaluations and endorsements. So, get in the habit of asking for endorsements on these sites. There’s just too much information today available for the potential client to know who to choose. Help them.

Check Out Evaluation Webites

These websites offer clients an opportunity to provide feedback on their agents. Take a look at this feedback: 

After the Sale Survey

Are you the Greyhound or the Turtle?

Some people barge ahead and worry about the details later (that’s me). We start badly, but, because we’re tenacious, we surprise people by how good we finally get. Other people observe the action for a long time. Finally, when they feel ready to perform well, they get into action. They start slowly but well.

The ‘Get Into Action’ Style that’s Problematic

Other people just wait to start until it’s proven that whatever the coach has told them will work for them—because it actually worked for them. Unfortunately, though, it can’t happen that way. You can’t know that you absolutely, positively, undeniably can do something before you’ve done it it! You must start with some faith that you can do it, and that what you’re being told to do will work, because it has worked for others before.

You can’t get better until you get into action.

The Fallacy about Motivation

Have you tried to motivate someone into action? Did you pump them up when they were in your office, only to find them deflated later? I call this the ‘immediate fizzle effect.’  Yes, a motivational pep talk can make us feel better, but, the truth is that talk does not provide us the sustaining motivation we need to take the risk and try new things. What does? Action. Read what psychologist Jerome Bruner says:

You’re more likely to act yourself into feeling, than feel yourself into action.

 If you’re still not convinced, it’s because you have a ‘get into action’ profile that author Kolbe says wants all the proof it worked—before you do it! Not too logical, is it? So, you’ll have to trick yourself into action faster if you want to succeed in real estate.

What’s In a Lead Generation Plan

You’re either a new agent, or you want to re-generate your business. You’re wondering just how to do it. You know you have to lead generate to jump-start your business. Specifically,you’re wondering how much lead generation you must do to reach those goals.

Although people lead generate in various ways,  there are some proven numbers associated with lead generation which help you plan and track those leads.

Success by the Numbers

 I set the expectations for the Up and Running in 30 Days business start-up program based on my experience on the number of contacts it takes to get a lead, then a sale. But, it also depends on several variables, as explained in Up and Running:

1. Type of contact–how warm or cold is it?

How much trust has been established? The warmer the contact, the more trust is already there. So, it takes less contacts in a ‘warm’ target market (like people you know or past clients) to convert to a lead, than to a ‘cold contact’. For example, the Internet marketing companies say it takes 200 contacts to equal one sale.

2. The agent’s sales skill, competency, and tenacity.

How good are you at opening sales conversations? How good are you at finding out needs? Asking insightful questions? Listening? Guiding the conversation with focus toward a goal of moving the sales process forward? The better you are at sales skills, the easier you’ll find it to sell–and the better your lead and conversion ratios.

3. The market–buyers and sellers are more hesitant to ‘turn themselves in’ today.

Sales skills come back into play here. It’s not a market where people just fall all over themselves to buy and sell real estate. You have to have skills, tenacity, and competency.

How can you tell the numbers it takes?

Track your numbers for each target market and track your conversion rates. Now you know the specific work it takes for you to generate a lead, create an interview, work with buyers and sellers, and get sales results. Armed with those numbers, you can customize a program like Up and Running.

The problem: Most agents work way too few lead generation numbers and sources. In fact, they have so few, it’s impossible to extrapolate ratios. That’s why Up and Running and the four -week regeneration plan in the On Track to Success in 30 Days System (for seasoned agents) have such big numbers–it’s an insurance plan.

Getting to the Finish Line

Grab your tenacity, get armed with your business generation plan, and get started. Set your goals and keep your accomplishments. Analyze them. Work your best sources of business with consistency. Polish your sales skills. Now, you’ve positioned yourself for success!

What Does your Phone Voice Say about You?

Pretend you didn’t know you. Listen to your phone message. What ‘first impression’ are you making?  Do you sound happy to hear from that caller? Sluggish? Disinterested? Timely?

When I phone an agent today, I have no idea where that agent will answer his or her phone—or from what phone the call is being answered. And, I don’t really care. Technology allows the phone to follow the agent. That’s great. Here’s what’s not so great. Many times the agent’s message is so dull, powerless, or mumbled that it doesn’t sound as though the agent wants to talk to me. Or, the agent’s message is so long, that I’m impatient by the time I get to leave the message.

What Impact Do You Want to Make?

Surveys show that consumers want their agent to be enthusiastic. So why do many of the agents’ phone messages sound as though they are terribly tired or uninterested in the caller? Here’s the principle.

We use our senses to make snap judgments about people.

The less senses involved, the more important it is that we communicate properly. On the phone, there is only once sense involved—that of hearing. You have no ability to communicate your warmth, your interest, etc. visually on the phone. You have only your voice.

Decide What You Want to Communicate

What conclusions do you want your caller to have about you? Write down the five most important judgments you want your caller to make about you and your business approach. Now, listen to your own voice message. Do you believe you are communicating your ‘best self’? Ask five other people to listen, too. Decide what you like and what you want to change.

Research your Competition

Don’t listen only for your own communications. For three days, listen carefully to the tone, intent, and messages you hear on answering machines or voice messages of other agents and brokers. Listen carefully to how agents answer the phone at their offices. What do you think those agents are communicating? Do you believe they are communicating the kind of qualities they want to communicate—and think they are communicating?

Four important tips to remember when recording your own message:

1. Stand up—you’ll sound as though you have much more energy.
2. Write out your script first—and be sure it’s not too long. I don’t really care where you’re going to be all day!
3. Modulate your voice pleasantly. Try to get some resonance.
4. Sound as though you’re looking forward to hearing from me! 

These simple tips will increase your trust rate and your business. Get to ‘hearing’ today! Best news for budgeting: These tips cost you nothing, but reap you great benefits. First impressions count: Create your best phone voice.