UP AND RUNNING IN 30 DAYS: Real Estate Training and Coaching

Do You Really Know What Motivates You?

February 27th, 2020

Do you know what motivates you? This is an extremely important question for those of us in self-directed businesses–I’m speaking to you, agents (and to myself, of course). Do you think it’s money? Think again.

Stunning Research about The Realities of Motivation

In his book, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, Daniel Pink lays out a persuasive case, backed by extensive scientific studies, about why money, and the traditional ‘carrot and stick’ motivational methods just don’t work for us today. It’s especially true with real estate professionals.

Why is knowing what motivates us so important? Because we in effect work for ourselves.

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We have to be self-starters, initiators, and tenacious in our pursuit of our goals. That means we have to be motivated by things other than promises of material things.

Why Money Doesn’t Work as a Motivator

First, as Pink points out, money and/or material things are good short-term motivators. (Read Herzberg’s studies on short and long-term motivation). In fact, just take a look at the number of real estate agents who are motivated to visit an open house when there’s food! But, as Herzberg and others have pointed out, money is a lousy long-term motivator. You know that if you’ve tried motivating your kids with money—or threats (the carrot and stick).

If I Just Had More Money….

I know. You’re thinking, “If I just had more money, I would be fine.” So, let me ask you, what are you willing to do to get that money? Lead generate more regularly? Make more sales calls? We all know that lead generating is the answer to that money problem. Yet, the vast majority of agents avoid lead generating as if it gave us some chronic disease! So, money is just not an effective long-term motivator. (But, it does work short-term, because we don’t want to starve!)

The Best, Deepest, Strongest Motivators We Can Use to Motivate Ourselves

Pink shows, via extensive studies, that there are three driving motivators which we should put to work today to fire ourselves up, keep those fires lit, and achieve what we want to achieve. They are:

Autonomy

Mastery

Purpose

Knowing all you can about how you and others (like your clients!) are motivated is critical to your success.

Categories Coaching, Motivation, New Real Estate Agents, Real Estate Sales, Real Estate Success, Training, Up and Running Coaching Companion for Manager
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Do a ‘Lizzo’! Remember your Strengths

by Carla Cross

February 20th, 2020

Lizzo has proved you CAN build on your strengths–even if others would consider those strengths as weaknesses. Here’s how to tap into our skills and talents to motivate yourself and succeed in real estate.

Do a ‘Lizzo’! Remember your strengths. Do you get frustrated and de-motivated with all the rejection? Here’s a tip to combat those feelings.

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You probably know who Lizzo is–a singer and composer who has really bashed in the narrow definition of beauty and has embraced her very unique talents. (She’s a flutist, too–see above).

I’ll bet you’re coming into real estate from a former career–a career where you knew the answers–where you were confident. I came into real estate from a two-decade career as a musician (I actually started playing piano when I was four and first picked up my flute in 5th grade–so I identify with Lizzo!).

An Accidental Career Change

Then, really by accident, I went into real estate. (I got my license to help my husband, who had entered the field). I remember so clearly my first few months as a real estate agent. My favorite phrase was “I don’t know but I’ll find out”. In truth, I knew very little! Sometimes I was so humiliated and frustrated I almost quit.

Training?

In those days, we had no training. Our broker gave us this advice:

“Here’s your desk. Here’s your phone. Got any questions? Ask me.”

I was so naive I didn’t even know the questions!

So, how did I keep my spirits high? By remembering my ‘wins’ from my former ‘life’.

Keep a Journal of your ‘Wins’

In my online business start-up plan/training program, Up and Running in Real Estate, I advise new agents to keep a ‘motivation journal’ (either online or hard copy), to remember their strengths and keep their spirits high when delving into this challenging–and exciting–new field. Remember, we were all new once! You will find more rejection in real estate sales than you thought possible. Yet, those who persevere create a career with almost unlimited potential. Remember, if you think you can do it, you CAN!

P. S. I’ve provided lots of motivation and inspiration for you in Up and Running in Real Estate, too.

Categories 5th Edition Up and Running in 30 Days, attitude, Coaching, expectations, inspiration, Motivation, New Real Estate Agents, Real estate as a career, Real Estate Sales, Real Estate Success, Training
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Your First Year in the Business: Are You ’Stumbling’ or ‘Up and Running’—and Why?

by Carla Cross

February 13th, 2020

Your first year in the business: Are you stumbling or up and running, and why?

It’s estimated that over 50% of new agents fail their first year in the business. From talking with thousands of them throughout my managing and speaking career, I know why: They can’t answer the questions below. In addition, they may be getting no, or little guidance from their manager. Not having the combination of these two things almost assures their failure.

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.

Why Not Get the Tools to Succeed at a High Level–Now?

If you’ve been in the business less than 2 years, and aren’t getting the success you need, deserve, and are working for, you need a program to get you onto the right track, teach you the principles of high production, and provide an action plan that’s proven to get results. Take a look at my online training/coaching/activity plan, Up and Running in Real Estate. You’ll get a fresh start on your way to the success you dreamed of.

Categories accountability, action plan, Business Plan, Coaching, goals, manager, Motivation, New Real Estate Agents, objectives, Real estate as a career, Real Estate Sales, Real Estate Success, retention, Sales Strategies, Training, Up and Running Coaching Companion for Manager, Up and Running in Real Estate
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Presentations: Three Mistakes Too Many Make, and How to Prevent them

by Carla Cross

February 6th, 2020

If you’re in front of people (and most of us are at some time), don’t fall for these mistakes! Here’s how to act like a pro presenter.

Do you do presentations in front of people—such as in real estate offices? You may be a title rep, a home warranty specialist, a mortgage rep, a real estate manager, a salesperson—or a meeting planner. In fact, almost all of us must get in front of people and present at some time. But, it’s not something we’re trained for. We probably don’t even realize we CAN gain a process, and get some training, to do a great job! So, we just ‘wing it’—and, unfortunately it shows. However, there’s a process to create an effective presentation, and I’m going to share three major tips in that process for you here.

When you look out at the audience, what do you see? If it’s the picture below, you’ll love these tips. Why?

After you adopt these principles, your audience will be attentive to your every word!

As a long-time speaker and member of the professionals’ National Speaker Association, and trainer of trainers, I’ve learned the importance of presentation—no matter what we do. Here are three big mistakes ‘amateurs’ make, and three major presentation tips that assure your sales presentations and trainings will be professional—and effective.

Mistake #1: Launching Right in Without a Great Opening

Recently, I was at a real estate sales meeting. I heard 5 presenters in a row all start their presentations by ‘rambling’ into them. I wasn’t sure what they wanted to say, why they were there, or why I should listen!

Solution #1: Grab a Great Start

What’s your ‘hook’? How are you going to begin your presentation? With a provocative question? With a relevant story? How does that beginning tie to your theme? Sit down and write down your beginning.

Start with a great ‘hook’—something that grabs their attention.

For example, I give a presentation (usually to affiliates) to teach people how to do a persuasive presentation. As a ‘hook’, I start at the piano. They certainly aren’t expecting that, and it gets their attention right away. Of course, then I segue to the rest of the beginning: Pose the problem, suggest your solution, and build a rosy future when following your recommendations. This works great, too, in an open house to grab the attention of the ‘looker’ who’s trying to avoid you.

Mistake #2: Not developing a cohesive solution to the problem and developing it in the middle of your presentation. Instead, these presenters I heard in the sales meeting wandered around in a vast wasteland of incohesive facts, figures, and stories with no relationship or relevance to a ‘theme’ that should have been developed at the beginning.

Solution to #2: Get Persuasive

You need to be selling your point of view always to your ‘audience’. That means to structure your point of view persuasively. What stories, statistics, and facts do you have to shore up your solution—the solution you promised at the beginning? How persuasive are you here?

Mistake #3: Not crafting a great ending

In some of the presentations I heard during that sales meeting, there was no ending! The presenter just ran out of time and sat down! What if you heard your favorite tune and it ended about 4 measures before the actual ending? It would feel and sound weird, right? Well, a presentation without a logical ending feels and sounds ‘weird’, too.

Your ending should re-state your solution that you developed throughout your presentation.

Solution # 3: Bring it Home with a Great Ending

Have you ever been at a presentation that just puttered out at the end? The speaker said, “Well, we’re out of time.” And you thought, “Good”. Remember, a persuasive presentation is just like a popular tune.

Bring back the theme at the end.

Close by reminding your audience of the rosy future they will have by following your recommendations.

Your Job Up There

Your job during the persuasive presentation is to persuade. And, here’s my point of view: All presentations that anyone gives should be persuasive. You’re up there to persuade your audience to YOUR point of view, not just to regurgitate facts and figures. Otherwise, the audience could simply read a scientific report or watch a video (well, the video may be more interesting than a boring ‘live’ presenter…..)

Rate Yourself

Based on the three major points, how would you rate yourself? What will you do differently next time to make your presentation cohesive, attention getting, and motivating?

Stepping Up to Great Presentations

Do you provide training for your presenters and trainers? I’d love to help you, and them, learn and practice these types of great, quickly applicable strategies. I do trainings and presentations for Realtor trainers, trainers of real estate companies, and affiliates.

Get in touch with me and we’ll talk about your needs. I customize each presentation, too, for YOUR specific audience needs. My background as a performing musician, coupled with my real estate sales, leadership, and training experience, gives me a unique ‘take’ on training trainers. I’d love to help you!

Categories buyer presentation, communication, creative training methods, inspiration, listing presentation, manager, Motivation, open house, persuasive presentation, presentation skills, Real estate as a career, Training
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Great Presentations: How to Craft the Middle and the End

by Carla Cross

January 31st, 2020

In the previous blog, we talked about how to craft a great opening, one of the 2 most important parts of your presentation, whether you’re in front of 2 or 2000. (like a listing presentation) Do you know the second most important part?

The ending.

In this blog, I’ll show you how to craft an effective ending, and what to put in the middle, too.

Why am I writing this? I had the opportunity to sit in on several ‘affiliate’ presentations to a real estate company. Unfortunately, not one of the presenters had been trained to craft and give a ‘persuasive presentation’. The result: Disjoined, meaningless, time-wasting factoid dumps….and I’m being kind!

{See a description of my presentation to teach how to craft and give a persuasive presentation here.}

A Middle Should Educate your ‘Audience’ to your Point of View

In the middle of your presentation, add those stories, statistics, and visuals that support your point of view. By the way, as you create that presentation, jot down your point of view. If you’re doing a presentation to sellers, one of the major objectives of your presentation is to persuade them to your listing price point of view.

Key: Don’t rely on just your words. Use visuals to support your claims–and visuals from trusted sources.

The Power of the Visual

There are two reasons to use visuals in your presentation: We believe what we see We retain the information much longer

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As you organize your presentation, ask yourself:

What are the main, and frequently, unspoken objections my ‘audience’ will have? How do I educate them to show them the reasoning behind my point of view?

Retention is Key

Have you ever met with sellers or buyers, given them lots of information—and then had them question you about it a few days later—as if they never heard you—or heard you backwards? That’s because people don’t hear and retain very well. Look at the statistics:

Three days later:

We retain 10% of the information when we hear it

We retain 65% of the information when we hear and see it

So, use visuals to prove your points, not to merely show pretty pictures of houses (or whatever your topic is).

The Ending: Take your Audience Back to the Beginning

Have you thought about your wrap-up? Or, like many presenters, does your ending sound like this?

Well, that’s all. What do you think?

We’re out of time. Thank you. I hope you’ll list with me

I don’t have time to close.

I couldn’t get to much of the material, but you can read it

In fact, even the most professional presenters frequently have trouble with their endings. One of the main reasons is that they run out of time. Another is that they haven’t thought the ending through.

How to Do a Stunning Ending

Crafting an effecting ending is the second most important part of your presentation. (The first is the opening). To craft a great ending,

Go back to your beginning opening theme

Summarize the benefits of going ahead with you/take action

Motivate your ‘audience’ to take action

A Great Presentation is Crafted like a Pop Song

As a musician, I know that all pop tunes are constructed with this format:

theme—variation—theme

This is known in the music business as the ABA format. Think of your favorite pop tune: Hum the beginning. Think of the end. They’re alike, right? It’s the middle—known as the ‘bridge’—that is the humdinger. It wanders all around. Your persuasive presentation should be crafted like that pop tune:

A A compelling start (think Billy Joel, Neil Diamond, etc.)

B An interesting, developed middle, with stories, statistics

A Back to that theme, with a motivating ending

Now, you’re all set to craft a great listing or buyer presentation, great recruiting meeting or sales meeting, or awesome product/service presentation to any audience.

P. S. Practice, practice, practice!

Many more tips on presentations and presentation skills are in my new resource, Knock Their Socks Off: Tips to Make your Best Presentation Ever. Whether you’re doing listing and buyer presentations, or sales meetings, or 3-minute ‘get in front of them to sell your services’, you’ll love this resource.

Does your company ask their reps to do presentations? Are your reps trained, confident, and professional at them? I can help! Check out my presentation, where I teach you how to craft a great persuasive presentation. I offer this to local, regional, and national affiliates and trainers. See it here.

Categories buyer presentation, listing presentation, listing properties, New Real Estate Agents, persuasive presentation, presentation skills, presentations, Real Estate Sales
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How to Create a Great Opening for Effective Presentations

by Carla Cross

January 24th, 2020

Here’s how to create a great opening for effective Presentations

Do you have to get in front of 2 (or 200) and capture their attention immediately? If you’re an agent and you do buyer or seller presentations, you certainly do. And, if you’re in management, you do every time you start a sales meeting. You affiliates certainly have to quickly capture attention when you get in front of a sales meeting.

So, for all of you agents, managers, and affiliates, here are the secrets to getting their attention. This is how you launch ANY presentation any time you’re in front of people.

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Have you thought about how you start your presentations? Most of the time, we just get in front of people and say whatever we think of first. That leads to some big presentation mistakes, and costs us ‘sales’. Instead of stumbling through a presentation, why not organize it to grab their attention, persuade them to your way of thinking, and motivate them to action? You can.

In my resource, Knock Their Socks Off: Tips to Make Your Best Presentation Ever, I show a simple three-step format to create your persuasive presentation. No matter why you’re in front of people, we need to be

persuasive

Think about it. Real estate salespeople: When you’re doing a listing presentation, what do you want to happen? You want them to sign the listing agreement when you’re done. So, it’s extremely important that you organize your listing presentation using a persuasive format, not just an information-heavy dialogue flow.

In this blog, we’ll discuss great openings–one of the 2 most important parts of any presentation.

Grab Their Attention in the Opening

Have you thought about your opening? Or, are you nervously standing at the sellers’ door, worried about what you’re going to say? Are you hiding in your office because you dread doing that sales meeting? When we haven’t organized our presentation, we come up with some really boring, off-putting openings, like:

I won’t take much of your time, but

We have a lot to cover today (boy, that sounds exciting and motivating, doesn’t it?)

We won’t get through the outline/presentation (then, why do we have that outline?)

I know you don’t want to listen, but

I’m not really prepared (this happens in many presentations in front of 2 or 2000!)

You just open your presentation book, point to the pretty pages, and say, “here’s a keybox” (I’m not kidding. I’ve seen it….)

Great openings, yes? Yet, we’ve heard them dozens of times. You don’t have to settle for whatever comes ‘naturally’. Instead, make your openings

Provocative

Interesting

Different

Engaging

Motivating

The First Two Minutes are Critical

Recently, I attended a Train the Trainer’ session (yes, I still learn great stuff every day!), where the trainer said it was important to engage the audience in a meaningful way in the first two minutes of your presentation. I think that’s a great rule to follow today, because people’s attention spans are the length of a gnat’s eyebrow. So, the next time you attend a presentation, see how much time elapses before the speaker/presenter/trainer gets the audience into meaningful action. I don’t mean to ask a rhetorical question, either!

Want many more presentation tips for your next meeting, listing or buyer presentation, or sales presentation? Check out Knock Their Socks Off: Tips to Make your Best Presentation Ever.

In the next blog, we’ll talk about the other 2 parts of the presentation, and how to make them sizzle, too.

What mistakes have you seen presenters make in their openings? Let me know.

What do you do to grab their attention and interest in the first two minutes?

Let Me Help Your Trainers Refine Their Skills

I help associations and companies help their trainers become masters, try new methods, keep their audiences, awake, and become more creative. Contact me and we’ll talk about how I can help you.

Categories buyer presentation, Experienced agent, listing presentation, Marketing, New Real Estate Agents, presentation skills, Real Estate Sales, Real Estate Success, Sales Strategies
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If You Train: The Secret to Keeping their Attention AND Seeing Positive Change

by Carla Cross

January 17th, 2020

Are you rewarding the behaviors you want? And, if so, how?

In this series, I’ll be providing tips to trainers, managers, and coaches on how to get behavior change–in the most positive way. That’s the way to move people forward with confidence.

Whether you’re a trainer, a manager, or a coach, you want to see changes (for the better) in your ‘clients’. How can you accomplish that?

By catching someone doing something they should keep ‘in their repertoire’ and rewarding it.

One of the things I constantly hear as I train trainers nationally, or teach my Instructor Development Course, is that trainers want to be more engaging.

They want to keep their audience’s attention. I’ll be blogging about that during this series. Right now, I want to narrow this down and talk about one way to get and keep your audience’s attention–and it works to motivate anyone you’re working with:

Behavior that’s rewarded is repeated.

That’s the good news–and the bad news. Generally, when you compliment or reward someone for a good behavior, they will continue that behavior. But, in addition, people will repeat bad behaviors, too, if they are rewarded for them (the prisons are filled with people who demonstrate this truism).

Negative Nellies or Bash ‘Em Bobs?

To further complicate matters, some people were raised with negative reinforcement, and respond primarily to negative reinforcement (“you’re not good enough, you’ll never be able to do this, etc.”) These are the people who beat themselves up dozens of times in their heads for any mistake they make. In evaluations, they’re always hard on others. I had one of these people tell me, “You were great, but I only gave you 8 out of 10. I never give anyone a ’10.” Well, guess what, he is harder on himself that anyone else! That’s a tough way to live, but someone people always look at the dark side.

Accentuating the Positive

I don’t think, generally, that using negative reinforcement is a good strategy to employ, whether in or out of the classroom. So, I’m going to concentrate here on positive reinforcement, and specifically how to do it in the classroom.

Getting and Keeping Their Attention in the Classroom with Rewards

I just did an instructor update with the very capable instructors of the Realtors of South Central Kansas. One of the topics they requested was some strategies to get and keep the audience’s attention. Let’s zero in, then, on one surefire way to do that, and it’s quick and easy to implement. Not only does it keep people’s attention, it rewards them for those positive behaviors.

For example: What do you do, as an instructor, when someone does a great job in a role play you’ve set up? You reward that behavior. So, here’s the principle:

Use giveaways for great performance.

What do I mean? Here are some:

One of your favorite books (especially related to your topic)

A pamphlet or book you wrote (I have a small book, literally a ‘small book’ of Big Ideas, that is perfect for this. See it here.*

A CD or DVD

Starbucks card

Entry into a future seminar you’re giving/webinar, etc.

*I’m doing a presentation for Fidelity National Home Warranty Company next month, on how to present at sales meetings to grab people’s attention. So, guess what I’m going to be giving to the facilitators? You got it, the Small Book of Big Ideas!

You’ll Have Everyone’s Attention!

When you reward someone in front of others for a great performance, or being the leader of a group, or being reporter, you can be assured everyone will pay attention. You’re taking the spotlight off yourself and putting it on one of your audience members.

The big question: What are you doing with your students in the classroom that sets up an opportunity to provide positive reinforcement with rewards? (like role play, reporting, small group facilitation, etc.).

Remember, behavior that’s rewarded is repeated, and you’ll grab and keep their attention!

Categories action plan, inspiration, manager, Motivation, presentation skills, Real Estate Success, Training
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Are You ‘Coach able’?

by Carla Cross

January 9th, 2020

How coach able are you? (Not everyone is a good coaching prospect….).

This year, I’m featuring the myriad of ways we can all get better as ‘performers’. After all, real estate is a ‘performance art’, not a knowledge pursuit, rigit?

See below for my ‘coach ability’ evaluator’ to help you find out if you’re coach able.

Being coached by a competent coach is certainly one of the ways we all get better as performers.

Here are the two big attributes I’ve identified for coaching success, from my many years being coached (first as a musician and then as a real estate professional), and as a coach.

Do You Recognize Mentors or Coaches Who Partnered in your Success?

It is amazing to me how many real estate professionals say they ‘work alone’. They say they have nothing to do with anyone in their office, and impact no one. (Really? Our actions impact no one? That must mean we’re pretty insignificant…) While real estate success is certainly due to one’s efforts, to think that we are virtual ‘islands’ of knowledge and action is not only ludicrous—it’s dangerous. Before you fall for that ‘I alone am responsible for my success’, I have a question:

Who in your life mentored you, coached you, parented you, advised you, encouraged you—and set you straight when you needed it? How many people can you name? This can be positive or negative, too. We learn as much or more from a bad experience as a good one!

If you truly can’t name anyone, you don’t believe that others can help you ‘break through your ceiling of achievement’. Could that mean YOU don’t believe you can break through…..or that you have great fear of ‘being flexible’? Or, perhaps, that you can’t influence others?

How Accountable Are You Willing to Be?

This is actually the ‘biggie’. If you’re not willing to be accountable to your own actions—and to your coach—DON”T start a coaching relationship! I know many of you think accountability is a dirty word. It’s true that some coaches (sports, music, etc.) have accentuated the down side of accountability—being punitive, negative, critical…(There are a lot of inept coaches out there.)

No wonder people don’t want to be accountable if they think they will be punished for any wrong action (or inaction). But, that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about a situation where you make a promise and keep it. In doing the promised action, you are guaranteed to get praise—and results.

The Natural Reticence to Answer to Anyone

I created an online training/coaching/accountability results-based program called Up and Running in Real Estate. I essentially put the principles and processes from my best-selling book Up and Running in 30 Days online. But, it’s now 8 weeks of planned actions—my business start- up plan step by step. I built in the parameters I have learned assure the greatest success:

• A coaching component
• Lots of encouragement
• Processes and systems that are ‘self-teaching’ and support the actions we want agents to take
• Accountability.

Guess what many participants do with the program? They do some of the work (they love the multiple choice tests) but don’t do the business-producing work. By their actions, they are not accountable to themselves or to their coaches. So, of course, they aren’t getting the results—and they can’t get appreciation and recognition—two big drivers to continue the motivation. How unfortunate!

My question to you: What times in your life have you been accountable to actions and to someone else—and enjoyed the experience? Are you running away from accountability because you haven’t experienced the ‘up’ side?

So, are you coach able?

Armed with the answers to the questions in this article, you can assess whether you will benefit from a coach. And, managers and coaches, you can help your potential client figure out whether she is a good candidate for coaching.

The Coach Ability Evaluator

I have been coached by the ‘best in the business, first as a musician and then as a real estate professional. I’ve learned what works. Because of my performance background, the coaching methods we use at Carla Cross Coaching are much different than most. From all these experiences, I’ve discovered who is coach able and who is not.

Click here to take my Coach Ability Evaluator.

Categories Coaching, Experienced agent, manager, mentor, New Real Estate Agents, Real estate as a career, Real Estate Sales, Real Estate Success, Training, Up and Running in Real Estate
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Got Your Business Plan Done? Here’s the System Plus Dozens of Tips

by Carla Cross

January 3rd, 2020

Got your business plan done? Why not get dozens of tips to polish (or start) that plan) by looking at the webinar I did a couple of weeks ago?

You’ll get guidelines to organize your whole plan, and you’ll get tips to assure that plan works for 2020!

Click here to see the video and get all the handouts, too. Happy New Year!

Categories Business Plan, database, expectations, Experienced agent, new agent business plan, New Real Estate Agents, Real Estate Sales, Real Estate Success, Technology, webinar
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Is Your Business Planning System Helping–or Hurting You?

by Carla Cross

December 18th, 2019

Is your business planning system helping–or hurting you?

In these blogs, I’m focusing on business planning, to help you get ready for a great 2020. Look for ready to use checklists, systems, and processes, in the blogs, too.

Everyone knows they need business plans. Yet, most people attempt to write a plan without a system–a guide–a map. If your business plan isn’t really a roadmap, it’s not doing you any favors!

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Here are some aspects to look for in your planning system.

Is it a System, or is It Just a Piece of Paper?

Be sure your business plan is a comprehensive, proven system, designed to take you through the necessary planning steps. Here are three areas you need to evaluate about a planning system before you start using it for your plan:

1. Customization. Is the plan customized and proven for your business? You need a system that is proven for real estate salespeople. See the end of this blog for a ‘flow chart’ of a complete listing system.

2. Specific analysis of your past selling history. Does your planning system give you direction in analyzing the most critical parts of your business in the past year? This is one area that most planning systems gloss over. Yet, it is the most important area for real estate professionals to assess. Knowing exactly what your business habits were–and the results of those habits–will lead you to make changes in your business, both in business habits and in budgeting.

For example: Do you know the ratio of your listings taken last year–to your listings sold–in normal market time? Most agents don’t. Why? Because they weren’t asked that question in their business planning systems.

3. Separates the “dollar-productive” activity portions of your business from the support portions. Many agents fail because they don’t do enough “dollar productive” activities, those activities that directly lead to sales and listings sold. That’s because the business plan system they’re using doesn’t differentiate between those activities and “support” activities. In her work nationally with real estate companies and agents, Carla Cross has analyzed hundreds’ of agents’ plans. She has found that the planning system itself, if it’s deficient, will lead the agent off-track.

All Activities are NOT Equal. Poor business planning systems are structured in a way that leads the agents to believe that all activities are equal in outcome. Not true. It all needs to start when the agent first starts the business. Up and Running in Real Esta te, Cross’s online business start-up plan and training program, has clearly prioritized activities, numbers, strategies, and dialogue. Agents shouldn’t ‘graduate’ to a long-term plan until they’ve mastered short-term planning. This program has a coaching component, too, so your manager can support your success.

Being critical of your planning system is really the first step in planning a successful year. You’ve made sure the system you’re using is going to lead you through a thought process that automatically creates a good business plan. Now, the only thing left to do is the implement your plan!

Click here to see the ‘flow chart’ of an effective business planning system.

Over a year in the business? Have you done over 8 transactions this last year? You need a comprehensive business planning system. Check out Beyond the Basics of Business Planning.

FREE! Want some free business planning help? Check out my recorded webinar at carlacross.com (just hit the ‘webinars and more’ button).

Categories action plan, Business Plan, Experienced agent, lead generation, manager, New Real Estate Agents, Real estate as a career, Real Estate Budget, real estate history, Real estate systems, Up and Running in Real Estate, webinar
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