Business Plan

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How to Get Excited about your Business Plan (!)

November 7th, 2019

Is this you when you think about business planning? No wonder. Most times, the critical parts of the plan are left out–and you’re left with cold numbers.

Note: Through November and December, I’m going to help you with your 2020 business plans. You’ll find free documents from my business planning system for owners and an invitation to a complimentary webinar. Why not subscribe and be sure not to miss a thing?

Let’s get real. Your aren’t motivated to build that business plan. We know we’re supposed to write business plans. Yet, if you are like 95% of real estate professionals, doing that seems just like an exercise in futility. Most business plans don’t inspire.

Leaving Out the Magic?

There are components left out of most plans–components that put the inspiration and motivation into your plan and your agents’ plans. I’ll give you specific guidance for you to put that magic into business plans, so you are inspired every day to not only to complete the plan, but to use it as a very personalized and specific guide to your success.

Why Are Most Business Plans Useless?

Unfortunately, when most people write business plans, all they do is fill in some blanks with “guess” numbers. The problem here is that numbers in blanks aren’t inspiring. They aren’t motivating. They don’t call out and suggest to you that you should look at those numbers once in awhile!

What Really Motivates Us?

If numbers inspired us, we’d all be gazillionaires selling real estate.

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After all, we say we want to sell more homes than the average agent. We want to make more money than the average agent. You know the drill, and we’ve heard it from hundreds of agents hundreds of times. Yet, if numbers and money were motivators, our results would be different than they are. The fact is that money, in itself, is not a motivator.

It’s what we do with the money.

And that’s as individual as we are. Martin Luther King didn’t say, “I have a business plan.” He said, “I have a dream.” You must include the dream part–the emotional driver–of your future in your business plans to make that plan useful to you. To do that, include the three ‘missing’ parts of business plans that I describe below.

Building the ‘Why’ Into Your Business Plan

That’s the motivator. In other words, we have to have a big why. Most business plans don’t build in the why. So, they fall flat, and leave us cold. That’s why agents don’t want to go through the exercise of creating them. Managers always commiserate that they can’t get their agents to write business plans. You wouldn’t want to write a plan, either, if you know it wouldn’t help you with your business the next year.

The Tools to Find the ‘Why’

Most people think of business plans as projections of numbers. But, that’s not all there is to a real strategic plan. There are three parts of a business plan that provide that inspiration, that motivation. Those are the parts of the planning process that are most frequently left out:

our vision--why you’re in this business; how you see yourself after you retire
Your review–what happened in your business that will make an impact on your business in the future
Your mission–who are you in the business

In the next few blogs, I’ll show you how to create these parts of your business plan so you give yourself the inspiration and motivation you need to create and implement your plan.

Ready to create your plan? Take a look at my online business planning program, with all the guidance and forms you need: ***Beyond The Basics of Business Planning.***

Categories Business Plan, Experienced agent, mission, Real estate systems, vision
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Why Selling Real Estate is Just Like Tickling the Ivories

by Carla Cross

October 25th, 2019

Here’s why selling real estate is just like tickling the ivories…..

From working with real estate agents for so many years, I know that one of the mistakes they make is to think that real estate success is largely related to what you know. Yet, once agents get past the panic of not knowing all the right answers, they start to understand (that is, the ones that will be successful)– that knowing lots of ‘stuff’ about real estate doesn’t equate to success.

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 and practicing 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 invisible but very real 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. I learned a lot, which I translated to success in real estate.

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–where I use the piano to demonstrate important points).

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:

Embrace systems (the best systems you can find)
Follow processes and checklists
Get a great coach
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.

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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 your results 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?

Speaking of training: Let me help your instructors become masters of the classroom! I’ll customize a workshop just for your group, so they can break through those ceilings of achievement and master their crafts. Contact me and find out how I can help you: 425-392-6914 or carla@carlacross.com.

Categories Business Plan, New Real Estate Agents, Real estate as a career, Real Estate Sales, Real Estate Success, Real estate systems, time management, Up and Running Coaching Companion for Manager
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New Agents Speak Out: What Works–What to Avoid

by Carla Cross

September 12th, 2019

Want the ‘real skinny’ on succeeding in real estate? Read what successful newer agents say to do–and what to avoid.

In the latest edition of Up and Running in 30 Days, the new agent’s business start-up plan, I’ve put lots of updates including advice from successful newer agents. Rather than my trying to convince you of these principles myself, here’s what they’ve said:

On Training

Here’s a quote from Kyle Kovats, who was chosen as one of the finalists for the “30 under 30” honors from the National Association of Realtors. These select nominations are agents chosen because they are under 30 and very successful in the business.

Kyle advises: “Find a broker who has a comprehensive training program. Ask if you can speak with agents who have gone through it to get the agents’ perspective on whether it was helpful.”

{Note: Up and Running in 30 Days has tips for you new agents in choosing the right training program—a training program that actually assures you launch a great career).

The Importance of Coaches and Mentors

There’s a lot more to success than just attending even a great training program. Read this from Merrilee Prochaska, “I wish I had understood the importance of a mentor/coach before I began.”

{Up and Running in 30 Days discusses the trend toward coaches, and provides guidance in choosing the right coach for you.}

On What They Wish They’d Done Differently

It’s not all a smooth ride to success! Here are some comments successful agents on what they wish they had done differently

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. From Cerise Paton: “Followed up more and more consistently; understood the time and discipline and numbers needed for lead generation and lead conversion; recognizing the time it took to build trust; going on more appointments, failing more often, and getting better, practicing presentations with friends”.

Gary Richter’s comment on what he would do differently could apply to most new agents: “Contact all of my sphere and ask for business.” Gary admits he was reticent to ask them all for business.

On Prioritizing Your Activities and Lead Generation Sources

Don’t take my word for it that clearly prioritizing your activities as business-producing or business-supporting is key to success. Hear it from Gary Richter, who used Up and Running in 30 Days to start his career. He says his priorities are big reasons he’s succeeding now: “I am cognizant of my daily activities and recognized them as either business producing or business supporting. I spend the majority of my time on business-producing activities.”

And, Diane Honeycutt states, “Take the advice in this plan and be sure you’re not a ‘secret agent’! Develop a work plan and stick to it”.

Here’s what Kyle Kovats, that great ’30 under 30’ nominee, said: “Get out there and just do it. Try different forms of prospecting and see what works. An ounce of action is more powerful than a ton of planning.”

Gary Richter advises: “Get off your computer and go out into the areas. Focus on business-producing activities.”

More great advice from Kyle Kovats: “Be relentless. Follow up with handwritten letters rather than the generic form letters/cards most agents send people. Be unique.”

On the Importance of Client Relationship Management Technology

When I asked those agent and manager contributors the technology new agents should incorporate, here’s what they said:

“CRM and lead management tools”—Diane Honeycutt

“A really good and easy-to-use CRM”—Cerise Paton

“A good CRM”—Chris Cross

So, don’t be like the majority of new agents (and even seasoned agents who put off capturing all those leads in a database and then, even better a CRM!) Start using a database, or better yet, a CRM your first week in the business.

On Spending Money for Leads

Here’s some advice from one of those Top 30 Under 30 finalists, James Pierce: “Don’t pay a dime to sites like Zillow, etc.”

From Cerise Paton: “You will get a lot of calls to sell you leads, google placement, banner ads, shopping carts, you name it. Don’t do it. It either has no value, or you’re not ready for it, or you can’t afford it”

Tip for managers: As you read these comments, ask yourself, “How is my training, coaching, and business start-up plan keeping my new agents on track?” What needs to be changed or refined so I get better results?”

How about YOU?

Are you following these principles? How many have you rejected or violated in your first few months in the business? Why? Success isn’t always easy, but it always has patterns and leaves clues! Don’t try and re-invent the wheel. Follow a proven plan with assured results and you will be wildly successful!

Take a look at what’s in Up and Running in 30 Days: updates in 5th edition. If you’re not reaching your goals as a newer agent (or want to re-start your career), you NEED this detailed start-up plan–chock full of advice that’s up-to-date. only $32.95 plus shipping–and invaluable to your career success. Click here for more information and to order.

I’ve got a bonus, too, for you this month: You’ll also receive my ‘little book of Big Ideas--inspiration and motivation to keep going to success!

The 10 Dumbest Things New Agents Do (Last 5 Here)

by Carla Cross

August 29th, 2019

What is your list of 10 dumbest mistakes new agents make?

In my last blog, I listed what I thought were 5 of the dumbest mistakes new agents make. Here’s the rest of the list of 10:

6. Starting the business part-time, with no ‘drop dead’ exit plan from your other work. I know. I started part-time, but, within three months, I realized that I could not serve my consumer honestly when I had to run to another job. The truth is that you just can’t care much about the consumer if you’re not committed and working in real estate at least 50 hours a week. If you have to start part-time, give yourself a deadline to become full-time. Managers, don’t hire without that deadline in writing. You’ll be wasting your time training and coaching expertise.

7. Not getting a commitment from your manager that he/she will consistently and frequently coach you to a game plan. If your manager can’t rise to that level of commitment, how successful to you think your manager intends you to be? (Side note to managers: I believe you need to be 100% committed to your agents, or else the likelihood they will fail is 100%. Use a precise, consistent, proven game plan like the 5th edition of Up and Running in Real Estate to put your agent to work, and coach your agent. (I’ve included a coaching plan with Up and Running in Real Estate–Coaches’ Corner).

8. Thinking that the best commission plan is the best place to work. As the old song says, “Nothin’ from nothin’ is nothin’.” You need to sell lots of real estate—lots and lots of real estate. Choose the place where you think that will happen. Why? Because happy clients beget happy clients which beget more commissions and a solid career. New agents who figure out they only have to sell three homes a year to pay those fees are thinking like losers.

9. Not investing in the business until they ‘get successful’. When would that be? Why do you get to be successful without an investment? With that attitude, how are you going to compete with those great agents—and how are you going to meet those amazingly high consumer expectations?

10. Going into the business to see if they like it. I’ll bet 50% of new agents don’t really go into the business to make it a career. They go into the business to ‘try it out’. If that’s your attitude, how do you expect your manager and your company to be 100% committed to you, when you’re 25% committed?

A Great Manager Plus a Great Plan Plus Accountability = Success

Harsh words above, but true. If you want to succeed, find a great manager who will coach you and hold you to a start-up plan. Find a manager who will tell you the truth—even when you don’t want to hear it! Find a manager who is 100% committed to you, and you will be one of those 50% who survive their first years, and go on to great careers.

Categories 5th Edition Up and Running in 30 Days, accountability, action plan, Business Plan, expectations, income, manager, new agent business plan, New Real Estate Agents, Real estate as a career, Real Estate Sales, Real Estate Success, Up and Running Coaching Companion for Manager, Up and Running in 30 Days, Up and Running in Real Estate
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Do You Know the 10 Dumbest Things New Agents Do? Here’s My List….

by Carla Cross

August 22nd, 2019

Do you know the 10 dumbest things new agents do? Here’s my first five. What are yours?

We all want success easily. We all want to ‘do it our way’. And, if we’re honest, in our quest for easy success, we’ll all done dumb things. That is, we realized they were dumb–after the fact. So, just because I’m picking on new agents here doesn’t mean I haven’t done many more than just ten dumb things! I’m listing these here, though, to help you avoid the mistakes I made as a new agent, and the mistakes I’ve observed thousands of new agents make over the years I’ve managed, trained and coached.

Some Mistakes Cost More than Others

Some dumb actions don’t cost us much, but, when an agent fails, it costs money to everyone–agents, offices, and consumers. It’s estimated that it costs a manager $15,000-30,000 for every agent hired who fails! So, that agent isn’t a profit-center, she’s a cost center! In addition, an agent who fails spends at least $5000-15,000 just in ‘subsidized living’ and real estate expenses the first three months in the business. Finally, the consumer loses, because the agent is out of the business before serving the consumer (or in the midst of trying to serve the consumer).

Heads Up

New agents don’t come into the business to fail. But, they don’t realize the effort and skill it takes to succeed. In addition, there are increasingly difficult challenges for new agents:

1. The gap between consumer expectations and agent performance is widening quickly and dramatically. New agents must have better training, coaching, and commitment from their brokers.
2. The market is softening, so agents can’t get those ‘dumb luck’ first easy sales.
3. The committed, career-oriented agent is taking much more of the market share.
It’s estimated that 50% of new agents fail and get out of the business in their first year, and 75% are out in two years. That seems to me a huge waste of resources-and a huge contributor to that expectations gap I listed above. We need to stop that attrition now.

So, new agents, I’ve created a list of the ten dumbest things I’ve seen thousands do to fail themselves right out of the business. In this blog, we’ll investigate the first five:

The First Five ‘Dumbest’

1. Thinking that there are lots of ways to start the business. There aren’t. Real estate sales is sales, and sales is a numbers game. (Up and Running in Real Estate shows you exactly how to work those numbers to your benefit).
2. Thinking they don’t have to lead generate, because they’ll “do it differently.” Rejecting proactive lead generation (talking to people consistently and in great numbers) and you’ll be flipping burgers before you know it! (Not that there is anything wrong in flipping burgers, but you won’t be “selling real estate”.)
3. Thinking that their manager or office or the Internet will supply them leads. If that were the case, your commissions would be much smaller.
4. Thinking that this business is about tasks and technology. It’s not. It’s about people relationships. Technology is there to support relationships.
5. Treating the business like a ‘next’ business. It’s not about finding and selling a customer. It’s about finding and keeping the customer for long-term referral business.

How many of these dumb things have you done? In truth, we learn from our mistakes. It’s not what we do wrong. It’s what we continue doing wrong. I created Up and Running in Real Estate to cut your ‘mistake time’!

Categories 5th Edition Up and Running in 30 Days, action plan, attitude, Business Plan, Coaching, CRM, database, new agent business plan, New Real Estate Agents, Real estate as a career, Real Estate Sales, Real Estate Success, Sales Strategies, Up and Running in 30 Days, Up and Running in Real Estate
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Can You Afford NOT to Hire a Coach?

by Carla Cross

July 23rd, 2019

Waiting until you’re successful to hire a coach may not be your best strategy. Read why hiring a coach–before you’re ready–can be the best decision you can make!

Money is tight. You are experiencing more challenges than you thought possible in real estate sales. Who can afford a coach? Well, maybe now is the time you CAN”T afford NOT to hire one.

Ask yourself: How are you going to get better? How are you going to break through those ceilings of achievement? Have you been ‘trying harder’? Doesn’t work, does it?

“I’ll Get Coaching and Training from My Company”

How’s that working out for you? The real estate industry is cyclical. You’ve heard people say that. There are ‘buyers’ markets, and ‘sellers’ markets. There’s another way the real estate industry is cyclical, too. It’s cyclical in its approach to supporting its agents. When I started in real estate, (almost three decades ago!), there was no training. Then, companies started training programs. When I went into management in the early 1980’s, we were also taught to coach agents to higher productivity. But, as money got tight, and real estate companies became less profitable, they dumped their training programs. They asked managers to also sell. Just ask any selling manager today whether they have time to train and coach……….you know the answer. It’s ‘no’.

Coaching is Big in the World of Business Today

However, in the world of business generally, coaching has become a big thing. It’s even swept into the realm of real estate again in the form of paid, independent coaching programs. But, you may be one of those who says, “I don’t need a coach. I’m a self-starter. I can reach my goals on my own.” Having been in real estate for three decades, I’ve heard that comment a lot. But, my experience has shown me that almost everyone benefits from coaching.

Skills Come from Practice and Coaching Assistance

As a pianist since I was four years old, I know that peak performance comes only with practice—perfect practice. And, therein lies the rub. When you attempt to learn to play the piano by yourself, without a teacher, you can’t hear yourself play. You can’t make adjustments fast enough alone. You need a great piano teacher who is helping you assess your performance, make adjustments, and challenges you to stretch to higher goals. The difference between one person’s success in any field and another lies, in part, in their comparable skills. All experienced pianists can put their hands on the keys. They can play the notes. But, most pianists haven’t mastered playing the notes. They haven’t mastered the interpretation. That takes practice and coaching.

Could You Benefit from Coaching?

If you’re:

Not optimizing your talents
Not attaining your goals
Spending too much time spinning your wheels
Spending too much money for little return
Hitting ceilings of achievement

You will benefit from a professional business coach.

What Your Coach Can Do For You

Help you focus on our goals so we get there faster.
Motivate you to get into meaningful action.
Encourage you to keep on keeping on.
Offer resources for new ideas so we can take a different look.
Appreciate your efforts when no one else seems to!

Real Estate Salespeople and Managers—a Special Breed

Approximately ninety percent of all real estate salespeople and managers have behavioral styles that are highly aggressive and/or promotional. That’s not like the normal population! In other words, we like people and we charge ahead (my motto is, when all else fails, read the directions……). Only fifty percent of the normal population exhibits those behavioral styles. Other behavioral styles are more task focused and embrace procedure. Yes, we salespeople-types have special talents—and special challenges.

We Real Estate People’s Biggest Challenge

Our biggest challenge is focus. We’re great with people. We get into action fast. Our problem is that people and actions pull us in various directions, and we lose the one thing that drives us toward our goals—focus. The first and biggest benefit a coach can give us is to keep us focused.

Coaches Provide Much-Needed Models and Systems

Models and systems are woefully lacking in our real estate industry. After all, we’re the people who’ve always said, “Fake it until you make it.” What if your surgeon said that? Or your accountant? Historically, we real estate professionals have had an aversion to following procedures. Yet, in the world of business, systems are the basis of all business growth. For us too, systematizing is the best way we can build big, profitable businesses. A competent coach uses proven models and systems and processes that do more than stop our crisis management. They teach us how to think about our business.

A Coach Helps You move Faster and With More Confidence

Armed with great models and systems, you and your coach have a common language from which to work. You will benefit from gaining focus. You will accomplish more faster, gain greater confidence, and be able to set higher goals as a result of your coaching experience and relationship.

Want to see if coaching may be for you? Take this evaluator.

Check out our unique coaching programs here.

Categories accountability, action plan, Business Plan, Coaching, Experienced agent, goals, mentor, New Real Estate Agents, Real estate as a career, Real Estate Sales, Real Estate Success, Real estate systems, Training
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Has Your Manager Shared His/Her Expectations with You?

by Carla Cross

July 3rd, 2019

Has your manager shared his/her expectations with you?

A survey I did a few years ago of 155 new agents revealed some compelling facts. For example, most agents coming into the business today as ‘full-time’ careerists have high expectations. 92% of the new agents surveyed expected to make more than the median income of all Realtors. The most stunning statistic, though, from these new agents, was that 65% expected incomes in the $31,000 to 75,000 range–their first year in the business! This survey of new agents was done to gather research for Carla Cross’s book, What They Don’t Teach You in Pre-License School.

New agents need to be focused on business development—not training

Another stunning finding from the research was that 62% of the new agents expected to get a check in their first sixty days in the business! They expect to hit the ground running.

To do this, the new agent’s focus needs to be on business development, not on training. Normally, companies put the new agent into a ‘curriculum based’ program to tell them everything they’ll ever need to know about real estate. Unfortunately, the new agent thinks that all that knowledge equals success in real estate. That’s wrong.

Creating Success, not Useless Knowledge

New agents create early success when they focus on a business start-up plan that contained heavy business-producing activities. If you’re a new agent, you have to develop the mental toughness to ignore information that’s not critical to your business production. If you don’t, your money will run out before you learn everything! (Give it up; you’ll never know everything!)

Your expectations may vary from your manager’s expectations of you.

If the new agent expects high earnings fast, what did his manager expect from him? Most of the new agent respondents from the survey didn’t know. They hadn’t asked, and the manager, in the interview, had not volunteered to share any management expectations.

No News is Good News?

71% of the respondents didn’t know even the minimum expectations of their managers–the minimum production standards they would have to meet to have their contracts renewed the second year (or to be retained during any start-up period). To assure that the new agent and manager see ‘eye to eye’, both parties need to agree on mutual expectations in writing prior to hiring on.

Not only getting the ‘what’ in writing, but the ‘how’. Even agreeing on minimum activity and production standards doesn’t assure that the new agent will meet his goals with the full support of his/her manager. The new agent needs to see the ‘how’—exactly how that manager will coach the new agent to quick success. If you’re a new agent, you need to see the exact business activity plan* that you will be coached to. You also need proof that the plan has worked with others in the past to deliver the results you expect of yourself your first month, quarter, and year in the business.

Matching expectations assures no surprises and gets planned results. Take the wishing out of business expectations. Both new agent and manager need to get expectations in writing, agree on a business start-up plan, and start working together with mutual accountability to partner in great results. Your manager must be accountable to coaching you on a regular basis with a proven business start-up plan. You, the new agent, must be accountable to do the activities in the plan. Together, you will achieve your mutual goals.

Here’s the right combination of knowledge, skill and ACTION to get a sale in eight weeks–or get really close! If you’re not experiencing the success you expected, why not give yourself the gift of this proven business start-up plan? You’ll reach those goals and establish life-long business habits to ever greater success! Check it out **here!**

Categories 5th Edition Up and Running in 30 Days, accountability, action plan, Business Plan, Coaching, creative training methods, lead generation, new agent business plan, New Real Estate Agents, Real estate as a career, Sales Strategies, Training, Up and Running in Real Estate, What They Don't Teach You in PreLicense School
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Lead Generation: What The Experts Say Now

by Carla Cross

June 21st, 2019

Lead Generation: What The Experts Say NOW

You’ve heard lead generation is important. But, do you really believe it? Or, are you like thousands of new agents, looking for a different, a better, an easier way to sell real estate? If you’re one of those looking to reject lead generation as the principle for success, you’re not alone. That’s why the failure rate of new agents is so high! The vast majority fail to start lead generating in time to save their businesses!

My Business Start-Up Plan Again Updated

Dearborn Education Company has published the fifth edition of my business start-up plan, Up and Running in 30 Days. Of course, this business start-up plan accentuates lead generation. For the fifth edition, I’ve added new studies, along with advice and observations from top-producing newer agents and their coaches.

Although all successful real estate agents have embraced lead generation as their main reason for success, the majority of real estate pros haven’t acknowledged this same importance of lead generation until the last few years.

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Up and Running in 30 Days puts lead generation front and center as THE main activity real estate agents do to be exceptionally successful.

One of the studies I included in this latest edition of Up and Running in 30 Days was How to Fix New Agent Onboarding, a special report from Inman Select.

Inman Survey: New Agents Are Unprepared for the Realities of Working Independently

One of the big principles in Up and Running in 30 Days is to reveal how agents succeeded—and why they failed. One of the big takeaways of this report is that three-quarters of the respondents said new agents fail in large part because they are unprepared for the realities for working as an independent contractor.

The study revealed that, though some large franchises and boutique companies’ training programs were highly rated, it’s not enough to assure success. Other support systems, mainly coaching and mentoring, were deemed as needed to assure the new agent transferred the knowledge and skills gained in class to ‘real life’. In other words, lead generation activities need to be featured AND coached to.

Does Your Training/Coaching Spotlight Lead Generation?

In that Inman Select survey I mentioned earlier, How to Fix New Agent Onboarding, 47% of respondents stated lead generation is critical in initial training. And, they observed most new agents struggled with lead generation. That’s why this Up and Running start-up plan is so important to follow to the letter!

Inman also noted that new agents spend too much time on marketing and too little time on lead generation.

Which kind of agent will you be—or are you? One who gets after it by contacting many people each week so you have great leads? Or, the kind of agent who rejects active lead generation and looks for ‘an easier way’? It’s as simple as embracing success or predicting failure!

What is the reason you believe new agents fail?

You’ve observed agents coming in and out of your office. Why do you think they fail? What can we do, as trainers and managers, to assure a better success rate?

Take a look at what’s new in Up and Running in 30 Days: updates in 5th edition. This invaluable book is only $32.95 plus shipping, and has been used by thousands of new agents to launch successful careers. Order here.

Categories 5th Edition Up and Running in 30 Days, Business Plan, goals, income, lead generation, mentor, New Real Estate Agents, onboarding, Real estate as a career, Real Estate Success, retention, Training, Up and Running in 30 Days, Up and Running in Real Estate
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How Much Energy are You Putting into Inaction?

by Carla Cross

June 13th, 2019

How much energy are you putting into inaction?

In the 5th edition of Up and Running in 30 Days. In it, I’ve included lots of up-to-the-minute updates to our business. You can read some of them, in these blogs.

Click here to see the updates in my fifth edition of Up and Running in 30 Days.

Below is an excerpt from this edition of the book.

Real Estate Sales IS Challenging!

I’ll bet you didn’t know how challenging real estate sales were until now. To cope with those challenges, your creative subconscious may be coming up with ways to convince you to avoid getting into action. You might even start believing your subconscious!

One of the most common reasons new agents (and some seasoned ones) don’t get into action is the old “I can’t do that because I don’t know enough.”

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Or, maybe your subconscious has convinced you that you’re not organized enough to get into action, or that you’re not perfect enough.

Getting Ready to Get Ready

Ned, an agent in my office, acted in a way that is an example of creative avoidance. In the business eight months, Ned had made only one sale. However, he was in the office regularly and appeared busy with paperwork. He attended law courses and was well-informed on financing. One day I saw Ned collating maps. I asked him what he was doing. He explained that he was putting together a series of maps for a buyer’s tour. I thought that was exceptional; buyers would really want to know the whereabouts of the homes they were seeing.

Does What You’re Doing Matter?

Unfortunately, Ned had used his strategy with only six buyers—all the buyers he had put in his car in the past eight months! He had spent his time on this nifty map system, but had not talked to enough people to get them into the car—or have the opportunity to appreciate the map system! Which is more important to your goal attainment—talking to people, qualifying them, and showing them homes, or working diligently on a map system in case you find someone who wants you to show them homes?

How People Get into Action

How do you “get into action”? In a wonderful book, The Conative Connection, Kathy Kolbe explores the ways different personalities get into action—not how we learn, but how we get into action. Some people barge ahead and worry about the details later. We start badly, but, because we’re tenacious, we surprise people by how good we finally get. Unfortunately, our supervisors often remember only how bad we were when we started. We must be tough-minded and keep at it; we must retain an image of ourselves as “finished products,” because others will not see us that way. Other people observe the action for a long time. Finally, when we feel ready to perform well, we get into action. We start slowly but well.

Positive reinforcement? Because of our slow start, we don’t get much positive reinforcement from our supervisors (or coach or manager), who note our lack of progress compared with others in the office. If slow starters are tenacious and believe in themselves, they become very good because they practice perfectly. Kolbe points out several “get into action” styles. This book will help you pinpoint your “get into action” style as well as the barriers and challenges you face as you start your real estate career.

Embrace Embarrassment

Go ahead—be embarrassed. There is no way to be experienced until you get experience. No agents like to take risks, be embarrassed, or have buyers and sellers guess that they are new in the business. But face it—everyone has been new in the business. Just go ahead and get those first few months over with. You will be embarrassed every day—many times. As a new agent, my most common statement to buyers or sellers was “I don’t know, but I’ll find out.” In music, little could stump me—but in real estate anything could stump me! Still, I muddled through it, and you will, too.

* Big Idea: Your ability to get into action and risk being embarrassed is one of the attributes of a successful new agent.

Why not take your time? I’ve interviewed prospective agents who told me they really didn’t want to sell real estate right away. They wanted to learn everything they could. Then, after six or eight months, they would feel ready to sell real estate. It doesn’t work that way! I wish I could tell you that you can successfully launch your real estate career by taking lots of time to “get ready.” However, if you take all the time in the world, you will fail. Why? Because you will lose your enthusiasm and motivation. You’ll start telling yourself you really can’t do it!

Real estate is a performance art. It doesn’t matter how much you know; it only matters how you interact with people. And that takes practice and performance. To remember and emulate good performance, we need to perform right after we have heard, seen, and practiced that performance. Learning something in a class and letting that skill lie dormant for months just guarantees poor skill—and high stress.

* Big Idea: 99 percent of what we learn we learn by doing.

On a scael of 1-10, 10 being “I jump right into action”, how would you rate yourself in getting into action?

Do You Have a Proven Start-Up Plan with Inspiration Built In?

Up and Running in 30 Days has lots of up-to-the-minute updates. Plus, a proven, prioritized business start-up plan with inspiration, motivation, and action items built in. Check it out!

Categories 5th Edition Up and Running in 30 Days, accountability, Business Plan, Experienced agent, Motivation, New Real Estate Agents, Real estate as a career, Real Estate Sales, time management, Up and Running in 30 Days
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Do You Have a Great Start-Up Plan?

by Carla Cross

May 9th, 2019

Do you have a great start-up plan?

May is my designated Training Month. So, I’m writing blogs on training for both this blog and my blog for managers and trainers, Management in a Minute. (Help your manager with training!)

You know what your training will do for you. So I hope you are convinced you also need to implement a business start-up plan to put all that information in perspective. But watch out—

there are more poor business start-up plans than good ones than good ones out there

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. As a CRB (Certified Real Estate Broker) instructor for 12 years, I taught thousands of owners and managers nationally. I saw plenty of poor plans managers shared with me. (These were the plans they were giving their agents, too.)

Some commonalities of those bad plans:

No priorities: They are laundry lists of busywork activities interspersed with activities that actually make you money, so the agent doesn’t get any evaluative perspective to create an effective business
Activities not spotlighted: They do not prioritize lead-generating activities, so the agent thinks all types of lead generation have equal payoffs.
No Tracking: They do not have methods of setting goals, keeping track of results, and analyzing results to make changes quickly. (Up and Running provides sales ratios so you learn how many specific actions it takes to get the results you want.)
Priorities lead to defeat: They do incorrectly prioritize actions. For example, as a high priority, they direct the new agent to “see all the inventory” before doing anything else. The rationale is that it’s very important to see all the inventory to build a knowledge base. It is important, but only as it relates to working with buyers and sellers. (It’s the means, not the end.) But new agents don’t want to do the high-rejection, high-risk activities such as talking to people. So they gladly see all the inventory until it becomes their job descriptions
Busywork is accentuated: They do include plenty of “busywork” as equal priority to lead generating—such as a broker having an agent visit a title company to learn how it operates. This keeps the agent busy and out of the broker’s hair! Also, the new agent loves the broker for a while, because the broker isn’t asking the new agent to do those high- rejection activities—those activities that lead to a sale!

Be very critical before you commit to any start-up plan. It is prioritizing your mind! The start-up plan you may love because it keeps you out of sales activities isn’t the plan that is going to love you back (get you the sales you want). What you do every day becomes your job description.

Let me know your evaluation of your start-up plan with the above points.

(This blog is excerpted from Up and Running in 30 Days.)

Up and Running in Real Estate Starts You Right to an Exceptional Career

If you’ve been in the business less than 2 years and you’re not getting the success you deserve, you need to give yourself the gift of this program. All the training, coaching, and supporting documents are online, so you can go at your own speed and go back as many times as you want.

How this program is different: It is foundationed with a business start-up plan, so you learn how to self-manage a successful business, not just do activities. And, there’s nothing else to buy–no extra cards that stay in your trunk! (And, there’s a coaching component for your manager so support you every step of the way!).

Take a look and launch or re-launch your career right!

Categories 5th Edition Up and Running in 30 Days, action plan, Business Plan, lead generation, new agent business plan, New Real Estate Agents, Real estate as a career, Real Estate Sales, Real Estate Success, Sales Strategies, Training
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