Are you drowning in the clutter of your real estate office? Envision your business desk. If I walked into your office, what would I see? Could I see processes and systems you use in providing top quality customer service? Could I see your checklists, posted, so that I knew you followed a regular, proven procedure for each group of activities? Could I see pre-made, ready to use, presentations for buyers and sellers? Could I see binders labeled with each subject (like ‘listing process’), and filled with ‘how-tos’ for assistants (or you) inside? Or, would I see stacks of disorganized papers?
If you’re a newer agent, I understand how difficult it is to organize that blizzard of information. And, admittedly, you’ll have to keep changing your organization as you progress. Yet, until you meet the organizational challenge, you can’t really move forward.
There are two reasons to organize. The first is that it provides much better customer service. If I’m the consumer today, I want to know that you are trustworthy—that you’re good for your word. If I can see that you have systems, I know that you will have a much better chance of keeping your word to me. I’m using the word “see”, because we believe what we see, not what we hear.
The second reason is that it provides you much better time management. The agent’s biggest challenge is to find a way to make the same amount of money and quit working 24/7. Creating systems will take a long way toward that goal.
Take system inventory now.
Here are the minimum systems you need:
For sellers:
- Lead generating system (should be run with contact management software)
- Automated process for following the lead from first contact through listing
- Visual marketing presentation and a system for having them pre-done and always ready to go
- Pre-first visit presentation and a system to have them packaged, ready to use
- System for following the listing from first listed to after closing (can be automated with use of a contact management program)
- After close/client retention system (can be automated)
- Your personal marketing system—a marketing plan that can be automated and delegated to someone
For buyers:
- Lead generating system—driven by contact management
- System to follow the buyer from first contact to sale (can be automated)
- Visual buyer presentation—packaged and ready to use
- Pre-first visit presentation—packaged and ready to use
- Checklists: process during buying/before closing/after closing—client retention
- Your personal marketing system
How to begin. Real estate professionals are doers. We talk our way through processes. We dread organizing things, and frankly, we’re not good at it. So, how do we begin?
Start with one system or process at a time. Make a list and prioritize it for the systems you need first. Put a date to start, and a date for completion (I know, there’s that organization again!). You’ll find that the first is the hardest, and then, it starts to actually get easy! It’s a skill like anything else. Bottom line: Systematization allows you to actually run a business, not just run after buyers and sellers.
Note: If you want to make it easy on yourself, get The Complete Buyer’s Agent Toolkit and Your Client-Based Marketing System, the complete buyer and seller systems, with dozens of checklists, processes, and presentations already created for you.
