3.Build a marketing plan around your best source of business. Now, you’re starting to think big. When you consider old customers and clients, plus those who know and trust you, as sources of business, you can start creating actions (tactics) to capture referrals. How many actions can you think of now–off the top of your head? For dozens of tactics, see Beyond the Basics of Business Planning.

4. Check out your level of service to assure it’s high enough to expect a referral. It’s critical to create a marketing plan around your best source of business. But, let’s not kid ourselves. Unless your level of service is perceived by your customers as highly satisfactory, you can ask–but you’re not going to get! How do you know what your level of service is now? Survey everyone you work with. There’s an excellent survey used by top agents in my business planning system I referred to above.

5. Decide which is more valuable to you: The listing, the sale–or a referral.  Creating a marketing plan for your best source of business starts a paradigm shift in your thinking. Here’s the critical shift you must make to create a business based on referrals. You’re not after the sale. You’re after the referrals. You’re not after the listing. You’re after the referrals. Stop thinking about the immediate gratification–a sale. You must become a big, long-term, visionary thinker. What an order for a salesperson.

Give up immediate business? I can hear you arguing. A listing, even over-priced, can result in calls from would-be purchasers. You’re right. You’ll get a short term gain. But, you’ll also create long-term pain. Let me put that sales tactic in perspective to the real person out there who uses our services (our client and customer). Guess what real people call that sales tactic in automobile sales? “Bait and switch”. It hurts me to write that, but it’s true, isn’t it? The reason I’m laying it on the line here is that our consumers are threatening to leave us unless we clean up our act. We must become longer-term thinkers, looking out for a customer’s best interests, even if it doesn’t help us short-term.

6. Manage your referral business with the truism “behavior that’s rewarded is repeated”. That is, if you want someone to do something again, reward the behavior you want. (If you have children, you know exactly what I mean). To get more referral business, pay more attention to the customer after closing. The customer doesn’t think we deserved the commission unless we keep in touch after we got their check. If we ‘love ‘em and leave ‘em, the customer thinks that all we wanted was that commission. (You would, too….) That’s not an effective method to encourage referral business!

Are You a ‘Love ‘Em and Leave ‘Em Kind of Agent?

Even though you and I understand the “reward” concept, agents still try to save money by skimping in the wrong areas. Recently, I was teaching a business planning course, where agents analyze their businesses, choose their best sources, (target markets), and  decide on tactical actions to get the best return on their investments. One “under-achieving” experienced agent told the class he’d decided not to spend any money on his customers after closing. After all, he’d gotten the check. It was over. He thought that closing gift idea was a waste of money–and since he wasn’t making much money, he wanted to save what he did have for finding new customers.

It was really obvious that he was only after one check. He was practicing real estate the old way–looking for new strangers to close. To build his business with less marketing dollars and more satisfaction, this under-achieving agent should have made the paradigm shift. He should be building a marketing plan where he’s spending more of his time and money on that client after closing –than before. Why? Because, with a marketing plan targeting referrals, he could make that one sale pay off in at least five future transactions! (The rest of the story: This agent is out of the business).

Be generous with your ‘thanks’ for business and for referrals.

Be generous with your information, care, and support after closing.

Build a tactical marketing plan to continue communicating  after closing. Remember, “behavior that’s rewarded is repeated”.

Change your paradigm from ‘next’ to ‘love ‘em forever.

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.

www.realestateratingz.com

www.incredibleagents.com

www.zillow.com

These are agent feedback sites. You’ll see the good, the bad, and the ugly. In fact, you’ll be stunned, I think, at the impact a testimonial has in writing—on the net. This is a huge trend: Clients providing feedback that can be accessed by everyone. Now, even Realtor Associations, like the Houston Association of Realtors, is regularly surveying members’ buyers and sellers for feedback. Expect this trend to get bigger quickly.

Two New ‘Players’ in the Agent Information Business

In addition to the sites I told you about above, Bank of America and USAA are getting into the ‘information about agents’ business. Check them out, too.

It’s So Easy to Stand Out from the Crowd

You don’t have to be a top producer. You don’t have to be a technical genius. All you have to do to succeed is to put yourself in your customer’s shoes and think,

“How would I like to be treated? How would I like to be answered? What makes me trust a person? What makes me walk away from the product or service?” You’ve got it. You’re on your way to a stellar reputation and business.

Survey, Survey, Survey

Are you surveying right now? Would you like a copy of my survey? If so, click here. Let me know how it works for you!

Question: Why are agents afraid to survey? Studies show that only about 10% of agents actively and regularly survey.

The market is slowly improving. Yet, many agents are not changing how they do business to take advantage of it. Historically, agents have ‘snared’ clients by promising they could get something for them, do better than that other agent, or represent them so client always won–and made the other client lose. (Not always legal is it?). In a market ruled by short sales, foreclosures, and other ‘not-controllable’ outcomes, that sales strategy just comes back to hit the agent in the face!

Stop Over-Promising and Under-Delivering

According to a recent California Association of Realtors’ survey, buyers gave agents an overall satisfaction score of 4–out of 100!

Obviously, this over-promise strategy didn’t work very well with buyers! One of the areas buyers said agents were deficient in were negotiation skills. Although I think that’s true, I believe the anger is caused by something else. Unfortunately, many agents are still using that old-style sales technique of making promises they can’t keep. I think they made promises to buyers, and, when they couldn’t get what they promised, the buyers thought the agent didn’t have negotiation skills. Better negotiation skills isn’t going to make a bank sign something the bank has not intended to sign!

This is not the era of ‘over-promise’ and ‘under-deliver’. It is the era of ‘under-promise and over-deliver’!

For example: The agent is attempting to get the bank to accept an offer on a foreclosure. To get that buyer to work with him, the agent has promised he will ‘get that bank to sign on the dotted line’. NOT! Now, the agent has over-promised to get the client, only to let the client down. The client believes the agent doesn’t have sufficient negotiating skills. Actually, the agent has used deceptive, over-kill sales tactics with the client. It’s a situation the agent can’t hope to win. Agents who are working like this must think clients are really, really dumb.

The Customer Doesn’t Know What He’s Getting–Until He Doesn’t

Have you heard that marketing saying? We all want to believe there’s a tooth fairy. We love to find ‘found money’. We want to believe all those smooth salespeople that say they can get us something for nothing. But, when it doesn’t happen, we turn against the salesperson. That is certainly happening in the real estate industry.

The Answer: Learn to ‘Tell the Truth Attractively’

Instead of using the old sales tactic of over-promising, learn to do a consultative interview with your potential client. Tell him what you can and can’t do. Give him your credentials and testimonials. Promise him you will rely on other experts in areas where you aren’t an expert. Become a ‘partner’ in solving problems. You aren’t a magician, you don’t control sale outcomes, and you aren’t an attorney–or a judge, or a bank.

Be Ready to Lose Once In Awhile

If you want to build a loyal clientele over time, you must be ready to lose to win. Sometimes you will lose a client to that old style manipulative agent. But, that client will come back to you, and be more loyal that ever. Remember, ‘the customer doesn’t know what he’s getting–until he doesn’t. And, when he realizes what has been done to him, he will appreciate your candidness and steadfastness. That’s the way to build loyalty over decades.

What do you do to build loyalty and counter the claims of that old-style ‘over-promising’ agent?

A Resource to Guide You to Today’s Representation of Buyers

Whether you’ve been in the business 3 minutes or 30 years, it is time to polish your buyer presentation skills. I’ve put together all the resources you need: Buyer presentations, with a PowerPoint presentation, and your own guide, where I coach you as a presenter. This is a really comprehensive guide, with over 150 pages and several presentations–plus dozens of checklists and documents.

Take a look at The Complete Buyer’s Agent Toolkit.

The listing sold quickly

The listing sold for close to full price

 The Agent-Centered Process

You can guess what that is: The agent creates dialogue to get the seller to list with him/her at any price–so the agent will have a listing he/she can market to snag buyers.

The Cient-Centered Approach Gets You Referrals

If what the client wants from us is a “sold” sign on the property, and that’s the only way they rate us highly–and give us referrals, then, it makes sense to do a  listing and marketing process that creates the higher levels of customer satisfaction. By the “client-centered” approach, I mean to keep the client’s best interest first at heart—not the agent’s!

Five Questions to Ask Yourself

Here are five questions to ask yourself, to see which kind of process you use—and tips to change your process to true ‘client-centered’.

1. Do you have an ‘information-loaded’, prioritized listing system? If you don’t have a complete process, you aren’t instilling trust and confidence in the seller.

2. Do you educate from the beginning, or do you just sell, sell, sell (tell) ? A pre-first visit package educates seller and shows your professionalism.

3. Are you a ‘property information gatherer’ or a ‘people consultant’? An in-depth questionnaire focusing on their needs proves you care more about them than getting a sign on the property.

4. What’s your objective? The statistics prove that most agents’ objective is to list the property. That is not in the client’s best interests. To change to client-centered marketing, you must focus on listing only saleable properties.

5. Do you provide the seller a written marketing plan? A professional marketing company always provides the plan in writing. Shouldn’t you?

Looking for guidance in how to make your process truly client-based? Take a look at the CRS-recommended resource, Your Client-Based Marketing System.      In it, you’ll see all the questionaires you need, a PowerPoint presentation, ready to use, a marketing plan, and much more. Save time and compete with the mega-agents.      

Regurgitating Information Isn’t Communicating

When we enter real estate, we take courses in finance, escrow, title insurance, and building inspections in order to talk to strangers (potential customers and clients) with authority.  After all, if anyone asked us a question, we would, we would be embarrassed if we didn’t know the answer—and we start talking our way right out of a real estate career.

Sometimes it’s better not to know too much!

Why?  Because people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.

Listening Shows You Care

How do you show that you care about others?  Ask them questions; listen to them.  People want to be listened to, understood, and empathized with.  Instead of learning facts and figures to dazzle prospects, the most important skill to hone is listening.

Listening Skills are the Most Important Communication Skills for a Real Estate Professional

To become a good listener, practice the following skills that effective listeners have developed:

Listen for inflections, pauses, the pace—the “music” of the talk rather than the “words”

Actively acknowledge the talker (e.g. “yes, okay, hmm”).

Repeat what the talker said to be sure you correctly understood it.

Ask for more clarification of what the talker said

Avoid jumping to conclusions and talking

Are We as Good as we Think We Are?

Generally, people assume that they are good listeners.  But, in truth, most people just listen carefully enough to get the gist and long enough to get ready to talk.  They’re thinking about what they’re going to say rather than listen effectively.

Recently, I was teaching a large group of managers how to apply counseling techniques for use with their agents.  One principle of counseling is that to solve the problem, we must get to the root of the problem.  Often the agent’s problem isn’t really a problem but a symptom.

During the class, I showed managers a proven counseling process that worked.  Then I asked the managers to use this process, which required them to demonstrate all the listening skills in the class.  Although they resisted taking the time to probe, listen, and clarify, the managers acknowledged that the process worked.

Following the process, they restrained from offering a pat solution and, as they probed further, discovered that the problem was different from what they had first assumed.  Their initial solution, had they offered it, would have been wrong.

Take the Time to Get Below the Obvious

The same holds true for you with your customers and clients.  They have problems, objections, and beliefs.  You must take the time to find out exactly what is on your customers’ minds and in their hearts to help them meet their needs.  Effective listening is the most important communication skill to develop for a successful real estate career.

My fun flashcards and scripts, Objection Busters, shows you how to listen for what’s really going on. I also provide some specific scripts. More important, though, I teach you the process of handling objections, both for buyers and sellers. Check them out.

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

Don’t Kid Yourself

You may be thinking that you don’t associate with other agents in your office. Yet, you’re getting all kinds of influences every day that, in turn, influence how you do business. It’s just sub-conscious.

Let’s look at a study, to see what others think.  In a recent survey of over 70,000 business professionals, when asked if slackers affected their business performance,

Put yourself around other high achievers.

In a recent survey of over 70,000 business professionals, when asked if slackers affected their business performance,

I know, as a performing musician, that I only perform as well as the worst musician in my group. So, if you’ve been hanging around with poor real estate agents (or managers), it’s sub-consciously affecting your attitude and production. Cut loose and find some winners to emulate (and be ready to compete at a higher level).

Side note to those in management: In this study, when asked the effect low performers/slackers had retention, 87% said low performers caused them to seek a different work atmosphere (Retention, anyone?) (We’ll tackle leadership issues like this in my 365 Leadership series. See www.365leadership.net for all the information )

Ready to Break Through that Ceiling of Achievement?

Why do some agents keep creating higher, better careers, while others falter? You can break through those ceilings of achievement with the only resource of its kind: The On Track to Success in 30 Days System for Experienced Agents. (not for those under 1 year in the business). And, managers–we have a coaching companion for you that gives you all the ‘inside scoop’ on how to coach your seasoned agents. See specials on the complete coaching system February, too, at www.carlacross.com.

Inspire Trust

You can’t sell anything of value to anyone without inspiring trust in them. (Well, maybe a set of $19.95 knives…) We have a serious breakdown of trust between us and the client today.  Take a look at the California Association of Realtors’ survey of buyers in 2009. See how the ‘overall satisfaction’ rating plummeted in just six years:

Yes, I know that was a difficult time. Lack of control over short sales and foreclosures certainly contributes to that low rating. Yet, buyers don’t buy every day. The ‘taste in their mouths’ will last for a long time, if we don’t do something differently.

Would You Go Back?

If you had rated a service person as a ‘4’ out of 100, would you go back to that person, or even that particular service again, and pay a fee? I think not.

For your own internal review on how to inspire trust, click here.

What We Need to Do to Re-Inspire Trust

First, recognize trust in us has eroded greatly. Then, set about specific actions to re-establish trust with your would-be and present clients.

One method: Survey frequently and regularly to find out how we’re doing. Stefan Swanepoel, in his Trends Report 2010, says,

Consumers are now looking much harder at “proof of experience” in the form of comments from past clients.

Want to see what consumers think of real estate agents’ service? Check out

www.zillow.com

www.incredibleagents.com

www.realestateratingz.com

A Huge Trend: Consumers Tell the World What They Think of Us

On these sites: You will see the good, the bad, and the downright ugly. With the proliferation of social networking channels, consumers easily can tell everyone in the world what they think of a particular agent (and the company, of course).

We can run, but, we can’t hide any longer.

Action plan: If you’re not surveying regularly now, you must start. And, you must survey more than just at closing. Survey at important points of contact, like after the first appointment, at the sale negotiation, etc. If you find an area that needs fixing, fix it fast! You will get many, many more referrals that way. Remember, it takes 6-9 times more marketing money to get a new customer than to keep an old one. This is the era of the referral—not the ‘next’ type of old-style business.

New Normal Actions Put You Ahead in 2011

It’s pretty simple, really. In fact, all great ideas are simple. They’re just difficult to execute. So, here’s what you need to put in your business plan:

1. Become an early adopter. Decide on the 3 things you’re going to do for the first time—the actions that will leverage your business.
2. Work hard. There has never been a slam-bam, easy-squeezy way to be successful—at anything (I know that, as a musician). Accept that working hard gets you where you want to go. And, commit now.
3. Re-inspire trust. People are looking for someone they can count on. We’re in a ‘personal service’ business. That’s what we have to offer that is invaluable. Develop, nurture, and value your trust quotient.

If you’re reading this as a seasoned agent, you may say, “I’ve heard it all before’. If so, take heed to what the greatest basketball coach in history said,

“It’s what we learn after we know it all that counts.”      John Wooden.

Take a fresh look at how you do business. Re-commit to excellence and mastery, and you will have re-vitalized your career.

You’re a successful real estate agent, but you’d like to step to the next level. You know your business is really now your business, and you want to maximize every dollar. Here are three areas of your real estate career, that, with small adjustments, can pay huge dividends.

1. Where’s your money been going? It makes sense that the money you invest in your career  should be giving you pay-offs equal to your investment. Unfortunately, many agents don’t know where they spent the bulk of their money last year. Go back over the past four months.

Add up the moneys you’ve spent to generate business in each of your ‘target markets’–those identifiable groups of people that you build programs around to get business (geographical farm, first-time buyers, etc.) Where are you spending most of your money? Are you getting a good enough ‘return on your investment’? From working with agents in my business planning course, I’ve observed that many agents don’t build a business plan around their best source of business: ‘sold’ customers and clients. Marketing surveys show that it costs six to nine times as much to get a new customer as to keep an old one. So, if you spend more money on your best source, and less on your other sources, you’ll optimize your investment.

2. What are your ‘success’ ratios? Most agents don’t know this one: What are your ratios of listings taken to listings sold? How many of your sellers are you making happy? How many of those sellers are so delighted with your service that they will refer more people to you? In my opinion, a good agent should target  a 80-90%  success ratio in this area. Why? We all know we need to promote ourselves. The most successful, believable promotions are based on our success records–what we’ve done, not promises. If you have a sign on your desk that says “If you don’t list, you don’t last”–tear it up. Instead, put up a sign that reads, “If your listings don’t sell, you don’t last. Small adjustments, big dividends. (Plus you’ll save lots of marketing dollars.)

3. How ‘delighted’ are your customers? Most so-called ‘business plans’ in real estate merely are goal-setting grids. Focusing only on the ends suggests that the ends justify the means. However, the consumer sure doesn’t think so! These goal setting grids alone lead agents to miss the point of the decade: Top-flight customer service begets more business. That is, not just what you do, but how you do it.

What level of customer service are you providing? Is it just good enough to get through the transaction? Or, is it so great that your customers and clients are thoroughly delighted? (Delighted consumers refer business to you–less cost and more effort equals big pay-offs, right?)  What can you build into your business plan to assure that you’re regularly delighting those you work with?

One of the agents in featured in many of my books, Rick Franz, now provides surveys weekly during the time he works with buyers and sellers. He wants clients to know he cares how they feel about the service, and that he’s dedicated to providing the best service they’ve ever had. Pretty competitive, yes?

Although there are dozens of areas to scope in your plan, just taking one hour out of your day now to assess these three areas–and plan adjustments–will assure you make more money this year–and create a better, more pleasant long-term career.

For more revealing statistics and habits to review in your business plan, see The Business Planning System for the Real Estate Professional, with special pricing and bonuses through December.