If you are willing to compare your real estate agent business to Henry Ford's automobile manufacturing process you'll want to consider that although money was important to you and Henry, what he understood perhaps better than his competitors was that he needed to produce the type of product and process that would produce a happy pas client who would be likely to repeat and refer based on their satisfaction.
Therefore, if we start with the outcome of producing a happy and satisfied past client, then we'll need to consider how to start with the correct raw materials. I know it sounds odd, but let's consider the concept of Leads as raw materials. When you see them that way, it will force you to truly consider the quality of those raw materials. When you think quality and consider that Internet-generated leads far outpace the number of real estate transactions, are you really being smart about building your business by purchasing far too much of this type of raw material?
I'm not saying that Internet leads are not a decent source of revenue, I know firsthand as each year we convert multiple relationships that had a genesis on the Internet. However, I am suggesting that you may very well be missing many other opportunities to focus on contacts that come to you more pre-assembled and more ready to engage in a business relationship.
The reason for focusing on quality is so that you may run your assembly line more efficiently with gives a greater depth and quality to the satisfaction of your client who ultimately becomes part of your "family" and is much more likely to repeat and refer helping your business to accelerate!
Having a Unique Selling Proposition in this business is absolutely critical. However, we should clearly define USP from its origin in order to gain proper context. As stated, it is a marketing concept first proposed as a theory to explain a pattern in successful advertising campaigns of the early 1940s. The USP states that such campaigns made unique propositions to customers that convinced them to switch brands.
The essence of having a Unique Selling Proposition is to answer the question of "why should they choose you instead of the competition."
Aside from having a Unique Selling Proposition, you need to also define your avatar (ideal client). You need to get a clear mental picture of that ideal client and make sure that you’re tailoring your USP exactly for them.
In the context of real estate agency business, your USP should be your "Strategic Plan."
Your plan should recognize that there is a universal process that buyers and sellers go through and it's your job to demonstrate how to get through that process with your plan. Also recognize that even if you gave your plan to your biggest competitor, the way you that you explain that process is impossible to duplicate.
The key point is that you must develop a Unique Selling Proposition that gives you the confidence to differentiate your personal brand!
for full show notes go to http://therealtyclassroom.com/podcast/ep11
In this business, we have to become a person for others. As I’ve said in the previous episodes, it’s about helping clients with one of the single largest financial and emotional transactions that they’ll ever make in their lifetime.
Because helping people through a real estate transaction is such an important endeavor, you must find a mentor; someone who has put the right information in the right order.
However, I also want you to remember that there’s a caveat: mentors are no better than you are.
You must take their advice while also listening to your own intuition and allow for your subconscious mind to lead you.
As your first real estate agent business mentor, you should consider Michael Gerber, whose work had a tremendous impact on me. In retrospect, I wish I had paid closer attention to his challenges to small business owners earlier in my career.
The most important question he suggests small business owner ask themselves is: “How does the business really work?” In our context, “How does the real estate agency business actually work in total?”
The key is to learn that there is much more to it than just helping people buy or sell property!
For full show notes go to http://therealtyclassroom.com/podcast/ep10/
When embracing a consumer’s perception as part of your strategic process, you’ll want to avoid going into an aggressive defensive mode. Instead, what you need to do is to empower them even though you have a disagreement with their perception of how your process works.
In order to empower consumers, you must learn about their individual concerns and deal with them as part of your entire strategic process.
By asking them, “what is your biggest concern,” and then giving them a genuine uninterrupted opportunity to respond deeply, consumers will eventually “break” and come forward with what’s truly worrying them about you, your process or myriad other concerns.
Most importantly, once we know the truth, we must not get defensive and instead embrace those concerns and offer a solution or an alternative that in turn empowers them to make a more informed decision and get through false perceptions.
Like it or not, consumers use perception to make their buying decision about how a business works.
For example, you may be a great listing agent and have knowledge and expertise well beyond your competitors, however, the consumer chooses based on brand perception alone overlooking your winning strategic approach.
Yes, it’s maddening, however, why wouldn’t they decide like that given that they really have no idea how the real estate agency business actually works; therefore they have to rely on perception based on their best guess!
The solution is to have a clear formula and convince a consumer by teaching them that you are strategic in your approach and proving to them that’s how the business actually works rather than presuming a brand does the work.
However, be very prepared to back this up with facts or you’ll be swimming upstream just like a salmon!
For full show notes, go to http://therealtyclassroom.com/podcast/ep08/
Listen to the episode to learn more…especially if you’re a veteran agent like me as our intellectual challenge is even more difficult to recognize and fix!
For full show notes, go to: http://therealtyclassroom.com/podcast/ep07/
On this episode, I want to emphasize a key point relevant to your journey if you want to start a real estate agency business:
DON'T IGNORE THE SELLERS
Seller listings are the backbone of our business. I found early on my career that it's easier to default to do a buyer business. However, I recognize that with a listing, I have the opportunity to then subsequently find more buyers. There's no arguing that listing has the max leverage on the buy side vs. the sell side.
Now, listen to the episode to know more to have a deep dive on this topic.
Grab the full show notes here: http://therealtyclassroom.com/podcast/ep06/
In this episode, I want to cover how the real estate agent business really works. A lot of us have a perception of how this business will work and the common answer is sales.
Is it right? Yes. However, it's not a plan, and not about how the entire business works.
Michael Gerber is right. You need to look at the business entirely. You might know something about the technical sales but you need to understand how the business works and how you fit into the real estate agency business in order for you to appreciate your role.
Take a few minute to listen to this episode and I want you to get out of the microcosm of sales and learn how the real estate agency business work.
For the full show notes go here:http://therealtyclassroom.com/podcast/ep05/
In this fourth episode of The Realty Classroom, I want to talk about your desire to be perfectly prepared like you know all the answer to your clients' questions.
Well, all I can say is this.....
GET OVER IT
You know, you'll never gonna be prepared especially in an industry where it's a constantly changing digital landscape. Here's my proposal: Stop beating yourself up. You'll never be perfectly prepared but you can always be working on it.
For full show notes, go to: http://therealtyclassroom.com/podcast/ep04
In this third episode of The Realty Classroom, I want to help you develop what's called Unique Selling Proposition.
Remember, in any business including a real estate agency, there are A LOT of competitors and your potential customers has a big pool of choices on who should they choose.
So, you should be able to answer the question:
"Why should I choose you?"
I know it can cause panic to some but this is where unique selling proposition comes in. It's the factor that differentiates your product or service from your competitors such as the lowest cost, the highest quality or the first-ever product of its kind.
Now, listen to the episode to learn how develop yours.
For full show notes: http://therealtyclassroom.com/podcast/ep03/
In this second episode of The Realty Classroom, I want to take you down into my memory lane when I was in elementary school where I had a classmate named Antonio who drives everyone crazy...quite literally.
I had intellectual classmates back then who wants to move along so quickly. Then, there's one guy at the back of the room who always say "but sir, can you go back over that and slow down?" Guess who? It's Antonio.
Over time, I realized that Antonio was right.
In this breakthrough episode of The Realty Classroom, we're going to take a deep dive into the question "Why Real Estate Agency?" It seems like a very easy question to answer like saying "I want to help people".
NO.
It's not just about it and "it looks like fun" and money.
I want you to take a little break, listen to this episode, and after listening, answer the question again.
Hey everyone, I’m Danny Griffin, and I want to thank you for joining me for the very first episode of The Realty Classroom Podcast - the show that focuses on helping real estate agents build a bulletproof business plan so that they can sell more properties in less time and live a more fulfilled life!
In this introductory episode, I'll take you on a little journey on my beginnings and why I started this podcast.
If you want to learn more about how to be the successful in this industry -- LISTEN, LEARN, AND TAKE ACTION.