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!

“If nothing else works, I’ll pick up the phone.” 

So, their lead generating efforts are too little, too late—and done without much skill. In fact, they spend too much time and energy negating various methods of lead generation. They say things like,

“It won’t work for me in my area.”

“I tried that once. It doesn’t work.”

“Isn’t there something new?”

“I’ll wait for people to come to me.”

“I am going to company that provides leads.”

“I’ll join a team and they will provide me as many golden leads as I want.” 

In your dreams.

Don’t Listen to the ‘Seasoned’ Agents…. 

If you’re a newer agent, you’ve probably heard some of those quotes above. You may have even gotten that kind of advice. Don’t listen! Why? Because this isn’t the era of the ‘given lead’. That era was over about 3 years ago! Yet, many agents are still waiting for those ‘good times’ to come back–and they will continue to wait a long time!

Instead of spending countless hours, energy, and money trying to avoid lead generating, you’ll want to make lead generating the cornerstone of your business, not the exception to the rule.

Stay in the Busness Cycle to Get Results

 The business cycle, as explained in Up and Running in 30 Days, is: 

It all starts with lead generation (prospecting).

How Much Lead Generation to Get a Sale or Listing? 

I just got a question from a trainer, wanting to know: 

“How much prospecting will one have to do, to generate one sale? Is there a formula? Is there an average?”

I wish I could give you a tight, proven formula. Yet, there are variables that make specific formulas difficult to pin down.

On numbers: I set the goals for the Up and Running in 30 Days 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?

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

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

How can you tell the numbers it takes? Track your numbers for each target market and track your and 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.

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 On Track To Success in 30 Days System have such big numbers–it’s an insurance plan.

What are your lead generating ‘conversion’ numbers? If you don’t know, find out now, so you can either increase your lead generation or sharpen your skills to reach your goals.

Today, real estate agents capture much more of the gross commission dollar than ever before. At the same time, they must become real businesspeople, because they must allocate some of these dollars to marketing—to increase their business. But, how do you know how to spend those marketing dollars?

Here are two basic principles of marketing dollar allocation

Principle One. Spend a proportional amount on your best source (s) of business—it will beget more business (your best source of business is from your past clients and people who know and trust you).

Most Agents are Not Spending Their Marketing Dollars Right

A recent study showed that agents spent the largest amount of their marketing dollars on direct mail, advertising, and the Internet. Yet, the majority of their business came from traditional ‘people to people’ sources 

Do you know how much you spent on your best source of business last year?

Only one percent of the agents do. That means they aren’t treating that group of people as a ‘target market’. You must segregate your best sources and allocate funds directly to marketing to them. You must make a marketing plan directly to these people, and attach a budget to this best source.

How much Money Should You Spend?

Principle Two. Spend between 5 and 10% of your projected income on marketing to your best source of business.

Example: If you were to project for next year that you will get 20 sales from your past clients, and that income would be $4000 per ‘revenue unit’ or $80,000, you would allocate $4000 to $8000 to marketing to that source.

Simply reviewing how you spent your 2011 and allocating adequate marketing dollars for 2012 will, in the end, save you money. Also, you’ll have something to measure and adjust.

New Business Planning Series

If you’re unsure how to start your plan, if you don’t see the benefit of planning, I’ve got some answers for you.  I’ve been working on business planning for years……and I’ve just come up with a series that I think answers questions like, “How do I get started? How do I know what numbers to put in? How can I make my plan useful?  How will I know that it works?”

I call this big program Come See 2012: Beyond the Basics of Business Planning. In it, I’ve created 2 webinars to walk you right through the planning process. I’ve made it simple and straightforward–but not so simple it won’t work!  Along with that, I’ve provided the most updated versions of my planning documents–15 of them!

In addition, I’ve added several bonuses:

• From the Coach: 53 Pointers for your Business Plan
• Biggest Marketing Dos and Don’ts
• Especially for teams: How to use the planning process to teamify and inspire

All for a VERY affordable price of $79. Why not let me walk you through the process, provide inspiration, and confidence that your plan will work to give you a great 2012? Click here for more information and purchase.

I just did my first tele-conference (of 2) for purchasers of Up and Running in 30 Days (past 2 months). On this tele-conference, I helped them bash the barriers they were getting in their way to a sale in 30 days. Here were the top three:

Keeping focus

Time management

Staying motivated

Interesting, yes? So, in the blogs this week, I’m going to share some of the tips I gave the attendees for ‘moving the mountain’—bashing the barriers to getting that sale.

Keeping Focus

It sounds so easy, doesn’t it? Just do the activities in Up and Running weekly and you’ll get a sale in 30 days. But, then life gets in the way. One of the most common ways people get bogged down is that they slow down their lead generation to ‘learn stuff’. What category is ‘learn stuff’ in?

Business supporting.

You know, from doing Up and Running, that the more business supporting work you do, the less business producing work you tend to do. That principle is so important, I’m going to put it in quotes:

The more business supporting work you do, the  less business producing work you tend to do.

Tip: Do your weekly schedule from Up and Running each week, and analyze your balance of business-supporting vs. business-producing work.

Coach’s note: I teach agents how to analyze their daily schedules–a very important time management tool that each agent should grab in their own ‘personal management’ game bag.

Engaging your Coach

Get together with your coach, and go over your analysis. What’s getting in your way of doing lead generation? What do you feel you need to know before you get started? Why are you putting off getting started? What’s scaring you? What can your coach do for and with you to help you get past those barriers and start lead generating ‘with a vengeance’?

Big idea: The business starts when you start lead generating. Why not start now and guarantee a great career in our business?

About those bonus tele-conferences: As my ‘thank you’ for purchasing Up and Running in 30 Days, and the coaches’ resource, I’m providing coaching tele-conferences in October. I will be offering them three times, also, in 2012. So, if you’re thinking about purchasing Up and Running for your agents, you’ll be able to take part in these bonus coaching calls, where I personally coach you in using the program most successfully.

The Value of Being a Salesperson

 I learned the value of becoming a salesperson–a really, really good salesperson, because I learned I could help people do what they wanted to do–and just needed someone to facilitate that.

If There Were No Salespeople

Where would we be without sales skills and salespeople? Here are some of the notable people today that you don’t think are in sales–but who have really, really good sales skills (and have to have, to get us to embrace their ideas):

Madonna (she may not be the best singer, but, boy, does she know how to sell herself)

President Obama (he must be able to sell himself and his programs)

Warren Buffet (help people embrace his investment ideas)

Bill Gates (Sell Microsoft and its products)

What Salespeople Do–and Why You Should Be Proud to Call Yourself a ‘Salesperson

As my first ‘boss’ in real estate said, ” If there were no salespeople, few/no goods would be bought” (except those that are absolutely needed). In fact, as Bob pointed out, the economy would come to a grinding halt. Look at what’s happening in our economy today. People are just starting to spend money again, and salespeople should be there to help people see the benefits of buying.

Sales Skills are Artistic and Not So Easy to Master

Now, there is a movement against using anything with the connotation of ‘sales’. Yet, there is nothing wrong–and everything right–about the art of sales. Using properly, sales helps people see the benefits of buying whatever they are considering.

Poor Sales Hurts the Consumer–Really Hurts!

As a long-time real estate salesperson, I saw buyers and sellers actually stopped from purchasing or selling because their salesperson was so inept. That meant the customer lost hundreds of thousands of dollars down the road! In fact, 99% of the mistakes agents I observed salespeople make were not in forcing, manipulating, or lying their way into getting someone to do something not in their best interest but rather

stopping a buyer or seller from doing what’s best for him/her because the salesperson had such lousy skills

Become a Blazingly Good Salesperson

If you have some reticence at the word ‘salesperson’, tackle that reticence right now. You aren’t just a licensee; you aren’t just an agent; you are a sales professional. You discover prospects (lead generation). You uncover prospects’ needs; you help prospects investigate new possibilities; you help prospects prioritize information and properties; you negotiate on their behalf. Those are all sales not agent skills. Agency is just a license. Sales is a skill and an art. Become  an artist of what you do!

1. Under-promise and over-deliver. Agents do the opposite in their messages. Just read the homes magazines. You would think that every agent is really ‘number one in service”, or “provides great service”, or “excellence in action”. It’s not believable to the client. And, by over-promising, agents are setting themselves up for a fall.

2. Use lots of white space. Agents have too many messages on their business cards and signs. Just try reading one of those for sales signs going thirty miles an hour! Remember, clean and clear. Get some graphic artist assistance.

3. Slogans are passé unless they’re dynamite. You know the Nike slogan. What’s Reebok’s? Yet, Reebok has spent millions of dollars to get us to recognize it. You’re not a simple product. Don’t get ‘sloganitis’.

4. Frequency is more important than reach. One big ad in a newspaper once makes little or no impact. It takes frequent repetitions to create remembrance in the client’s mind. Don’t start unless you commit to frequency over time. Narrow your field and become known! One long blog once inawhile is not effective. You have to blog at least 2 times per week to start to have memorable impact. Frequency is the key, along with consistency.

5. Work your best market, not your worst! Who’s your best market? The people you just sold. Make a marketing plan to communicate frequently with it.

6. Differentiate, differentiate, differentiate. An-all promising slogan won’t make it. Develop unique themes that communicate your value to clients and customers, and run those themes through all your promotional pieces and verbal communication. They can’t discover your great skills unless you tell and show them!

I created The Professional Portfolio to lead you to your ‘core competency’, so you would know what’s outstanding about YOU. The Professional Portfolio helps you focus on your strenghs, to create the confidence you need to succeed in this tough sales business. Click here to find out more.

If It’s Not Knowing Lots of Stuff, What Is It?

Practice and performance. So, what in the world can a pianist teach you about getting higher performance? A lot, I think.  Why? Because pianists play better by learning new skills–not learning about how the piano is tuned…….

Without new skills, we just keeping working harder, not smarter. The really bad thing about continuing to beat your head against that ceiling, is that it hurts more and more. You spend more energy just trying to accomplish the same thing.

 Too Much Energy, Too Little Results

 Worse yet, we bounce off that ceiling and hit a new low every thing we get up the energy to try to break through it. Not only that, the last few years have been discouraging for many in real estate. Don’t give up on yourself! You do have the talent, the skill, and the determination to succeed at a much higher level again.

 All Performers Hit ‘Ceilings of Achievement’

 As a long-time performing pianist and flutist (I spent the first thirty years of my life playing and teaching music), I had to learn how to constantly change up my playing for the better. In these next few blogs, I’m going to share what I learned as a musician that will change your  performance dramatically—for the better.

 You Aren’t as Good as You Can Be—I Promise

 I just did a talk for our area’s Women’s Council, on how to have a much better ‘next year’—how to smash through that ceiling of achievement. (Title: Everything I learned about Achievement I learned from Tickling’ the Ivories—also the title of my latest keynote).

 As a four-year old, I climbed up on the piano bench and figured out, by ear, how to play “Sue City Sue”—with bass notes, chords, rhythm, melody—the whole shebang. I was acclaimed as a little kid. However, as I got a little older, I found that playing by ear just wasn’t getting me to be a better player. Here’s what I did to get to concert artistry level, and earn a bachelor’s in piano performance—and how you can translate these performance principles to your real estate business.

 Get from ‘By Ear’ via your Talent to Conscious Systemization

 As a musician, I know that no one can play very well when they try learning only by hearing (playing ‘by ear’). To progress past a ‘whiz-bang, aren’t you wonderful’ amateur level, musicians must learn to read music, get a great teacher, and learn to practice perfectly. Generally, their teacher/coach will teach them how to practice, and provide the best editions of music. They will teach them a specific system. The better the system, the coach, the music, and the practice, the higher the performance—the sky is the limit.

 The First Time You Do Something Isn’t As Good as it Gets!

 What does that mean to a real estate professional? Most of us started selling or managing ‘by ear’. Some of us were talented, and that carried us pretty well for quite a while. But, then, we hit our ‘ceiling of achievement’, and found we were working 24/7 and expending way too much energy—and money. The way out:

1.  Grasp systems (the best systems you can find)
2. Follow processes and checklists
3. Get a great coach
4. Practice as perfectly as you can

 Practitioners—Watch Those Actions, Not Just the Words

 Unfortunately, we real estate professionals don’t realize that we are judged on our performance, not our knowledge. So, when you get all antsy because you think you need more classes, stop and think about your performance level, not your knowledge level. Spend more time evaluating your performance, and pay someone to coach to you get better (all performers, whether musicians or golfers, do this, by the way). Critique your systems, and keep refining them because they will subconsciously affect your performance levels.

 If I had a piano, I’d demonstrate these points (I do use the piano in the keynote!).

 What Do You Want to Work on This Year—from ‘By Ear’ to Systematic?

 Do you have some business plan goals for yourself this year to raise your ceiling of achievement? What do you believe is most valuable for you to work on?

Remember, if you’re a newer agent, you’ll be tempted to hang back, keep your fingers off the keys, and wait for something different–or better–to happen to you. Don’t get tempted! Put to work these performance principles and see yourresults improve dramatically.

Question: What do you wish you’d had as training to help you ‘see’ success early in your career? What would you change about your training if you were creating it?

 What should you expect from a training program?

What to Look For: Five Critical Points

If you’re looking for effective training to get your career started fast, or re-started, you need to choose a training program that has these features:

            1. The objective is fast productivity, not just knowledge. When you interview, ask what the objectives of training are with that company. If it’s just knowledge, run the other way! You will know a lot, but you won’t be in business very long!

            2. The training program has business-producing expectations and goals.  For example, if you expect to make money fast, your training program needs to help you learn to set prospecting goals and attain them. That doesn’t mean lecturing in class. That means you have an activity plan and are working in the field during the class duration. That also means that you aren’t in class all day.

            3. The training program is built around a business start-up plan. Ask to see the company’s business start-up plan for you. If it isn’t sales-producing, it isn’t a real start-up plan.     

4. Sales skills are practiced by the students in class. How can you expect to be competent with clients if you haven’t gained competency and confidence in the classroom? Clients are very discriminating these days. They expect agents to know what they’re doing! During the interview, ask for a description of how the students spend class time. If the manager says the students listen all the time, pick up your materials and go to the next interview. You need skills training; you don’t need to know everything the instructor knows.

5. Expectations for achievement in sales developing and packaging are clear. Is this a college-level training? In college, students are expected to perform during the course. If you’re not expected to practice outside class, and get your sales packages together (like listing and buyer presentations), then this isn’t a real training. It’s just a time-eating event. Wouldn’t your consumer expect you to have a high level of competence? Then, your training program must deliver.

Armed with these 5 critical expectations, you can choose a training program that is dedicated to assuring you quick results, high sales skill, and confidence with consumers. Why settle for less? 

Question: What went wrong with your traiming? What do you think should have been in your training program?

Want to see that kind of program–and a sample of what it looks like? Check out Advantage 2.0. Click here to see more.

Although there are as many approaches to the real estate business as there are people, there are certain qualities that are common to successful real estate professionals:

 1. High personal initiative. Do what you know needs to be done even if no one else is doing it!

2.  Tenacity. Studies show most salespeople give up after the second ‘no’. Yet, most customers only say ‘yes’ after they’ve said ‘no’ 5 times! Never give up.

3.  Risk taker. Doing it before you have all the answers–taking risks–is a big part of starting your career successfully.

4.  Accountability to yourself. Plan your week and work your plan. No one else will do it for you in the real estate business.

5.  Reliability to others. The consumer rates “trustworthiness” as the most important attribute they need in a real estate agent. Keep your promises.

6.  Willingness to learn. In this warp-speed changing business, being a life-long learner is critical to success in a real estate career.

7.  Enthusiasm. Would you buy anything from anyone who wasn’t convinced himself  that the product or service was important to you? And could convey his excitement and enthusiasm?

8.  Handling rejection. Absolute faith in your own convictions and your own self-worth helps you weather those thousands of ‘nos’ and keep going to get a ‘yes’.

9.  Creativity. Doing it like we’ve always done it just won’t work in this changing environment. Try it differently. Put you into the sales equation for great success.

Help me Out.

I’m preparing a new edition of my book for would-be and new agents, Become Tomorrow’s Mega-Agent Today. What characteristics should I add?

Get Some Hints from the Big-Bucks Advertisers

When our son Chris was small, we’d go to the grocery store, walk through the aisles, and hear Chris say, “I want this cereal because it will make me strong.” He was a veritable walking commercial for the products he saw—and wanted! Wouldn’t it be great if our clients were the same way? We can help them sing our praises, but we must know the marketing “rules” and do it right.

Two Big Agent Marketing Mistakes

1. Getting the malady ‘sloganitis’. It may work with a four-year old (my example above), but it doesn’t work with adults—and it sure doesn’t work in the world of professionalism.

What’s sloganitis? Using a worn-out phrase to portray who you are and what you do. For instance, many agents use with their advertising the phrase “Expect excellence.” If that were true, thousands of agents would actually be ‘excellent.’ Excellent at what? That’s a set-up. Also, the public doesn’t just believe that you are going to provide excellent service just because you say so!

Drop the redundant, tired phrases. If you can’t think of a really great one, don’t use one. After all, your doctor doesn’t advertise by saying, “Number one in gall bladder operations” (at least, I hope he doesn’t!). Your name can be enough.

 2. Over-promising. “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of everything.” “There will be hundreds of agents showing your home”. “I know that your home will sell quickly.”  There are over fifty people involved in the sales process. You simply can’t control every one of them and ‘take care of everything.’ You are over-promising. Guess what happens when you over-promise? You are fated to ‘under-deliver’. The client loves you at the beginning and hates you later.

This is the old sales pattern, isn’t it? Instead, ‘under-promise’ and ‘over-deliver’. That way, you will get glowing testimonials and solid return and referral business. After all, you’re not a slogan or a magician. You’re a trustworthy salesperson. Be sure your personal marketing portrays that about you.

For detailed information on promoting yourself effectively (and avoiding bragging), see Your Professional Portfolio, now in its third edition. This resource increases self-confidence, provides credibility, and forms the foundation for a trusting relationship with clients.