If you’re unsure whether you will reach your goals, (or even make enough money to stay in the business), ask yourself these 10 questions: 

1.  Do I have a ‘start-up’ plan—a plan that tells me what to do, when to do it, how to do it, and why to do it? (Or, do I just come to the office and ‘go with the flow’)

2. Am I waiting for someone to tell me what to do each day, or do I have focus and purpose with my plan? (it doesn’t work to ask your manager what to do each day, and, as a newer agent just told me, your manager answers, “Mail some postcards.” You wouldn’t expect a Starbucks franchise to ‘guide’ the new franchisee that way, and you’re not going to get a business start with that kind of  piecemeal ‘advice’!)

3. Do I have a daily schedule that is prioritized with the business actions most important to me to assure I make money? (If you’re just relying on your office for its floor time and meeting schedule, you aren’t in the business!)

4. Do I know the best methods of lead generation—and how to implement them? (You can’t wait for ‘training’ that starts in 3 months to start your business!)

5. Do I know the numbers? (how many contacts does it take to get a lead, how many leads to get an appointment, how many appointments to get a listing, showing, how many showings to get a sale, how many marketable listings will sell) (If you don’t, you are destined to be an ‘on accident’ agent—only selling someone something when the stars are aligned).

6. Do I know how long it will take to get a sale? To get a listing? To get a listing sold? (so you can project your income) (New agents tend to wait, and wait, and wait, to get into the business ‘stream’, thinking that there is no time frame to buyers’ decisions—wrong!)

7. Do I have a method of setting goals and tracking accomplishments in the areas above—so I can analyze my specific strengths and challenges in this business? (Most agents never track what they do, so they don’t know what worked—or why what they’re doing isn’t working).

8. Do I have a budget so I know how much money I should be spending in marketing myself/marketing my listings?

9. Do I have someone to talk to regularly, to coach me, to keep me on track, and to help me if I fall off my start-up plan (to keep me from failing)?

10. Do I have a method to keep myself motivated and inspired to keep on keeping on (like a coach or your manager)? 

If you can’t answer the questions above with authority and confidence, you need much more business direction than you’re getting now. It’s time for you to get serious about real estate as a business, and grasp a start-up plan and the support you need to assure your success.

 Resource: See Up and Running in 30 Days, www.carlacross.com. It’s a comprehensive new agent start-up plan with enough training to get you into the field, and focused, starting with your first week in the business. It answers all the questions above. Most people would call it a ‘business plan’, but it’s not. It’s specially created as the appropriate ‘start-up plan’ for the new agent, just as all successful franchises provide their start-up plans for their new franchisees.

Managers: My survey of hundreds of agents under 3 months in the business showed that the majority expected a sale their first month in the business. Guess in what month they are mentally and emotionally out of the business? Month two.

Especially in a challenging market, it’s your job to provide them a comprehensive start-up plan and coach them to it, to assure your investment in them pays off—and their investments in themselves pay off, too.

The Problem With Being ‘Answer Man’

I know we want the answers to all those objections. But, that’s not the key to handling objections. Here’s the key:

Create a process to follow to assure you

1. Understand the objection
2. Have all the information you need
3. Provide an appropriate answer

What NOT to Do

That means you don’t rush in with that clever answer the minute you hear the objection from your client! Why?

You need a ‘pillow’ between the objection and your answer.

Why a ‘pillow’?

You may know the answer, but, when you blurt it out (sometimes even before the poor client has finished the objection…), you end up creating an adversary out of the client. You don’t want that, do you?

What’s a ‘pillow’?

That’s a certain type of sentence or sentences to probe to find out what’s really going on with the client. It’s a time to clarify his objection, to get more information—to use your probing skills.

Practice your Probing Skills

Probing skills are used after you’ve heard the objection and have acknowledged it. These are queries like,

“Tell me more.”

Help me understand.”

“Please clarify.”

The Best Part about This Approach

While you’re getting more information from the client, you’re constructing the best method to actually answer the objection. Sometimes, the client objection goes away, when he has an opportunity to talk about it.

So, don’t ‘knock ‘em dead’ when you should be interested and curious about the client statement, and you’ll start mastering the ‘handling objections’ process.

The Process, Examples, and Actual Role-Played Dialogue

I’ve created a fun method to learn both the answers to common objections and the method to craft your own objection handling. With flashcards and actual written dialogue, you’ll be able to practice handling objections. And, I’ve included an audio CD where we actually role-play handling common objections. Why not get supremely confident about your ability to handle the most difficult clients and objections?

To see Buyers’ and Sellers’ Objection Busters, click here.

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.

Why meeting buyer qualifying criteria is important: Buyers today have many choices of how to find homes. You need to create competitive reasons to help buyers choose you.  It will save you time and money. And, if you’re a newer agent, creating solid reasons to help buyers choose you will increase your self-confidence 200%.

Five Critical Questions Buyers Should Ask Agent ‘Candidates’

Here are five critical questions I believe buyers should ask agents to assure they have a ‘match’ between what they are looking for and what the agent provides. In addition, I’ve added what I believe buyers should look for in the anwers (that means that we agents must be able to qualify on these terms):

1. “Is selling residential real estate your full-time career?”

My advice to buyers: Listen to be sure the agent specializes in residential real estate. You want someone selling homes for a living, not apartment houses. Listen to see if this is the agent’s full-time career. Ask additional questions if the agent’s answers need more clarifying.

2. “How many homes did you sell last year?”

My advice to buyers: You want someone successful; that means, at minimum, the agent sold homes to buyers at least six times in that year.

3. “How long have you specialized in residential real estate in this area?”

My advice to buyers: Be sure the agent has been working in the area where you want to purchase for at least six months, so you know the agent has expertise and interest in that area.

4. “Describe the work you do in our price range and area.”

My advice to buyers: Listen to be sure the agent zeros in on the area and price range you need. If the agent says, “I work anywhere with anybody”, that agent may not be for you, for he may be trying to cover too much ground to know very much about specific areas.

5. “Tell us how you will work with us.”

My advice to buyers: Listen as the agent describes the buying process, as he views it. Does it reflect what you’re looking for?

Agents: Think These Criteria are Too Tough?

Did some of those questions and my advice to buyers make you defensive and argumentative? That’s because we agents tend to look at things ‘inside out’ (from our perspective). Instead, pretend you are a discriminating buyer. You’re going to spend $60,000 on a car. What kind of customer service do you expect? Now, think in terms of the real estate buyer. What kind of service should a real estate buyer expect?

Newer Agents: Panicked Because You Think You Can’t Qualify?

Relax. You don’t need to qualify on all terms. But, you need to have answers and explanations ready so you can provide buyers reasons to work with you.

 Advice: Educate yourself so that you are as well-prepared to help a buyer as an agent who has sold 100+ homes in his/her career.

Sound off! What did I miss? Are some of these questions too tough? What do you think?

Complimentary Sales Webinar with International Speaker

Master Motivator Verl Workman helps you get your year started off right.

This action packed 1 hour webinar is like a private consulting session with one of the industry’s top coaches and mentors.

Verl will take you step by step through how to build your business plan and achieve your financial goals.  Using the 3 Ts:  Technology, Training, and Trade Secrets of the top performers in the world, Verl will show you how to make 2012 your best year ever in real estate.  Invite your friends, partners, teams and entire companies to this event. 

When: Jan. 19

Time: 1:30-2:30 PM, PST

What: a webinar

To register:  https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/289780334

Are You Telling It or Showing It?

We believe what we see, not what we hear. If you’re still talking a mile a minute, telling the sellers how wonderful you are, blah, blah, blah–just stop talking and start showing. Also,

We remember only 10% of what we  hear three days later! With visuals, retention goes to 65%.

5 Points to Include as You Create that Marketing Plan

            1. It’s an action plan—what you will do for the seller

            2. It’s specific—it has dates for what will be done and who does it

            3. It’s not about what the company will do—it’s about what you will do

           4. It is stated either as a checklist, as a calendar of events, and/or in visuals.

           5. It has a section on pricing, but the pricing, or market analysis, is only one part of the plan

Creating specific marketing plans for each individual will put you far ahead of most real estate practioners. Now, the next important action is to dutifully do the actions you promised and report back.

Complimentary Sales Webinar with International Speaker

Master Motivator Verl Workman helps you get your year started off right.

This action packed 1 hour webinar is like a private consulting session with one of the industry’s top coaches and mentors.

Verl will take you step by step through how to build your business plan and achieve your financial goals.  Using the 3 Ts:  Technology, Training, and Trade Secrets of the top performers in the world, Verl will show you how to make 2012 your best year ever in real estate.  Invite your friends, partners, teams and entire companies to this event. 

Most agents tell me they did not receive a job description when they started in the business (or in the interview). If not, why not? In my last blog, I discussed the fallacy that agents should start out as ‘independent’ business people. Now, I don’t mean they shouldn’t take responsibility for their actions and success. I mean that we shouldn’t abdicate our responsibility to teach, train, and coach them so they become great salespeople (so they can become independnet).  Besides not having skills they need to succeed, they usually don’t even know what the job is!

Poor Job Descriptions Abound

As I teach management courses nationally, and speak nationally, I see many examples of poorly thought-out job descriptions and activity plans. What do you think is a poor job description? Take a look here.  ( a preview is to the right).

Why do you think I regard it as a poor job description? It’s not:

Prioritized

Some of the activities don’t result in success

My conclusion: This job description was written by an academic who had never been successful in real estate!

Abdicating  Leadership Responsibilities

Part of that abdication of management responsibility, I believe, is managers not providing a prioritized job description to agents. Notice I said ‘prioritized’.  Which activities should the agent start with? Which are important to be successful? Which are less important?

Before I share my job description with you, please write the job description you believe is the one you follow. Is it helping your hurting you prioritize your most important activities?

My Prioritized Job Description

Now, take a look at the prioritized job description I developed as a foundation for the new agent’s start-up plan,  Up and Running in 30 Days. How does yours differ? What does your job description say about what you think is important? Are you gaining as much success as you should? What does your job description and business plan have to do with those results?

For a printable copy, click here. 

Get that job description refined. Talk to other agents to assure it’s the job description that reflects how you want to work. Compare that job description to what you actually do every day. How close can you come to your job description in your everyday execution? Now, you’re getting much more effective and efficient.

Getting the guidance you need to succeed: If you’re a new agent (under 1 year), you need Up and Running in 30 Days. If you’re a seasoned agent, you need The On Track to Success in 30 Days System. Why not assure you have a better year in 2012?

Whether you’re new or in business for decades, read on. You may be deluding yourself about your path to success.

There are many skills required in this business that people new to it just don’t have. Yet, too often agents believe all they have to do is to start in this business and go to training. They will be successful. Then, when they start failing, they can’t figure out why. In this blog I’ll name 3 qualities and skills you need to develop fast. My question to you is: How are you going to develop or refine them?

Skill # 1: Time management

Most people go into real estate from a field that required them to show up on time, do specific work, and work for at least eight hours. If they didn’t fulfil the minimum requirements of the job, they were fired. Understandably, many people don’t like to work under those strictures. So, they go into real estate where they can name their own hours, work at their own speed, etc. etc. The problem is, with many, that they don’t understand that working at their own speed many be working at a failure speed.

My question: How are you developing your time management skills? Did you bring them from your former business? (Most agents don’t).

Skill # 2; Being accountable to a plan

When I was regional director for a very large international franchise company, I found, as I screened them,  most potential owners and managers had never had anyone hold them accountable. In fact, there was a negative feeling about being held accountable. When you have a ‘boss’, you are accountable to that work plan and to your boss. In real estate, we’re so careful not to step over the boundaries of the independent contractor concept, we rarely hold anyone accountable to anything. The result: Most people never know what the job really is, and whether they are on track to attain their goals.

My question to you is: Who is helping you be accountable for your own success? Who is your coach? (And don’t tell me it is YOU…..)

Skill #3: Implement a plan of action.

It is just amazing to me the kablooey plans of action out there. In another blog, I’ll show you why most of them lead to an agent’s failure. Most of the time, in fact, an agent isn’t provided a plan of action. He/she is just told suggestions or 50 ways to do something. The result: The agent has no idea how to prioritize activities and proceed. He has no idea whether what he is doing every day actually is leading him toward a goal.

My question to you is: Do you have a proven, prioritized plan of action and are you executing it?

So, after I’ve given you 3 skills agents need to succeed, what do you think? Is real estate an ‘independent’ or dependent business? I believe it needs to be a ‘dependent’ business at the beginning. That is, I coach the new agent as he/she starts his/her business. I am the leader. The new agent is the follower (or the struggling agent). There is the dependence. Once the agent ‘has it’, I step back, and become more of a consultant. Have you been a successful follower, so you can learn the business right? If so, why not?

If you haven’t read the great book,  Outliers, get it and read it now. One of the great lessons in the book is that no one succeeds alone. In later blogs, we’ll talk about the ‘community’ it takes to help someone be successful today.

Give me your feedback on the ‘independent’ or ‘dependent’ concept. What do you think?

Getting the guidance you need to succeed: If you’re a new agent (under 1 year), you need Up and Running in 30 Days. If you’re a seasoned agent, you need The On Track to Success in 30 Days System. Why not assure you have a better year in 2012?

1. You don’t have a sales history to review (a large part of the business planning process). You don’t have a frame of reference.

2. You don’t have a need to think out 3-5 years.

3. You don’t have a need to make complex marketing plans.

What you do need: A prioritized business start-up plan. If you don’t have that, you will do meaningless activities like:

• get organized–all day
• attend classes–all day
• preview properties–all week
• observe others–all week
• do research and follow-up

A friend of mine observes that agents who fall into this action plan seem to be “getting ready to get ready”.

The very dangerous thing about agents creating a daily plan without good business-start-up principles, is that they create habits of failure. In effect, they created their own start-up plan—one that assures low production.

Dump that Long-Term Plan and Look at your Start-Up Plan–If You Have One Why not rate your plan now to see which path you are on? Simply add up the number of hours you spent last week in the activities above. Now, add up the sales producing activities (lead generation, showings, listing presentations, sales, and listings gained). Which of the categories has the larger time block?  What does that tell you about the job description you have created? Is it a job description that leads to sales?

Attributes of an Effective Business Start-up System

So, then, what is an effective business start-up plan? And, what else do you need? An effective business start-up plan has these attributes:

1. An organized activity schedule that has certain activities prioritized first, so you can manage your time effectively—throughout your career

2. A schedule that has certain activities scheduled secondarily—and why—so you don’t teach yourself to be a failed agent

3. A road-map for a continuing plan, so you can continue growing your business to the next level. (These are all attributes of Up and Running in 30 Days, the new agent’s business start-up plan).

Plan must be integrated with training and coaching. But, that’s not all you need. You need integrated programs with a skilled coaching professional (it can be your manager, or an outside coach), to help you implement successfully.

When to Switch to a Bigger Business Planning Process

1. When you’ve completed 8-12 transactions in a year (now you know how to organize and implement your prioritized day-to-day activities)

2. When you have a track record so you can review your previous year to see patterns and make changes

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.

A recent study showed that shrinking commissions was the largest problem perceived by top producers.

I was asked to do a presentation on real estate trends and their impact on real estate professionals for the National Association of Realtors’ Mid-Year Convention. So, I did lots of research. The presentation is called “The Drumbeat of Emerging Trends”. In it, I explore the five most important trends affecting real estate right now.

In this blog, I want to share with you how to assure your commissions don’t shrink.

After all, if you’re a committed agent who invests monetarily and emotionally in a long-term career, you deserve the commissions you want to charge.

What it Takes to Preserve the Commission Levels you Want 

There are two things you can provide that more than earn your ‘generous’ commissions (and that a computer search can’t do for a buyer or seller):

Expert consulting

Expert negotiating

Becoming that ‘Value-Added’ Consultant and Negotiator

There are some specific steps you can take to provide truly deliver immeasurable value to your clients. Here they are:

1. If you haven’t taken interactive, tough, to-the-point consulting and negotiating workshops, do so now. Unfortunately, most agents aren’t trained consultants or negotiators, so they’re missing the opportunity to differentiate themselves from other agents—and impersonal web-based services
2. If you don’t use a written questionnaire to interview prospective buyers and sellers, get and starting using them now.  (see The Complete Buyer’s Agent Toolkit and Your Client-Based Marketing System for comprehensive consulting tools)
3. Regularly survey your clients, at least at closing, to find out how you did—and keep refining your buyer and seller systems based on client feedback

Surveys Now on the Web for the World to See 

A huge trend: websites have been created that feature surveys from real estate clients. The client has been feeling let down by agents, and now can either vent or brag! Take a look at

www.incredibleagents.com

www.realestateratingz.com

www.zillow.com

Ask yourself: If I were a client, what kind of feedback about an agent would cause me to want to work with her? What would cause me to avoid this agent? Some of the client surveys you’ll see on the site are awe-inspiring—and some are exceptional for entirely different reasons! 

Down to the Wire 

I believe that, very soon, companies will be either full service, generous commission companies, with dedicated, career-focused agents, or limited service, “less generous” commission companies. Which level of service (and fee structure) will you offer?

What education, training, and skills are you going to build into that business plan to assure you are the professional of choice–and worth every penny of what you want to charge?

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.

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.