Any business owner's anxiety is being able to keep their business flowing. In the real estate agency business, we may have great deals in the pipeline but there's always something in the back of our minds - where will the next deals come from?
First, you have to market yourself to your sphere of influence. A lot of coaches will tell you that you have to out and tell all your friends and family members that you are now a realtor or a real estate agent. In that case, that's great! but, you also don't want to be the agitating folk who shoves it to your friends and relatives.
However, it is not enough to market yourself to your friends and family. If you want to get the business sustainable over time, you need to do business with people you don't know as well. It's not as easy as marketing your self to your sphere of influence, so you have to be strategic. You have to define your market niche - who they are and where are they? Narrow down the marketplace.
After defining your market niche, you may ask what will make you unique in the market that you're trying to target? You have a strategic plan. Get to our Free Sales Training Call every Friday at 1:00 PM EDT and hear me going thru the 7-Step Plan for Sellers and 6-Point Plan for Buyers.
Then based on what you can afford to do, choose what medium can you deliver your message. You may do social media, door to door, whatever you may think applicable! Be extremely frugal and strategic at the same time - it's about being resourceful! One great opportunity to create conversation is by doing an open house. In today's digital age, you might be surprised but a lot of buyers are still running around on their own looking at properties to figure out what they like. If you're the one that's there to introduce them to the property, then that's great. However, you can also pitch your plan in case the property doesn't fit their liking.
The last point is to build a follow-up plan to convert all of your leads. You can give them the feed from MLS or if it's a seller, give them a list of properties relevant to them. It's a very powerful concierge-style approach that constantly gives information to your leads.
To summarize the key point: "Conversations with people that you know and don't know will give you a steady flow"
As we dig deeper into understanding how the real estate agency business really works, we'll break down how to find real money in your marketplace.
First, you have to know where do you want to compete. As others would say, it's about narrowing down your niche until it becomes painful. In looking for a place to compete, look for where there's probably at least 600 sales in that geography. That's the bare minimum area within which you'll market your services. It doesn't mean you won't go outside of it but this is trying to be strategic about marketing your brand inside a viable market area that produces enough sales where you can expect to get a reasonable portion of that business.
The next step is to go to MLS or Multiple Listing Service and pull a list of all the production done by all of the individual agents. This will give you a great overview of your area and the averages. Focus on the average sale price because that's going to be the cornerstone when you move away from average production into a top producing production mindset.
You also need to pay attention to the true top producers - the people who have the balance between the number of transactions and are also hitting massive numbers when it comes to the production and gross GCI. This is where the money is!
You also have to know how much these top producers are really selling in your marketplace. If you're on a broker, ask them to provide this because this is integral to your business plan. You have to have a clear goal on what is average in your marketplace and what is top producing rather than just making up numbers. However, you have to still be realistic about who they are, what they are, and how much they are selling. Then you can begin to study them.
Lastly, pay attention to the fact that you're after an average or above sale price and figure out what are the techniques that the top producers are using you know in a good way. It's okay to study success. That's what people do all the time - find someone who already got to the top and start to mimic a lot of their actions. Then as you learn more, you begin to innovate and put in your own spin of their actions.
As a guy who started in this business with only 2000 business cards and a work ethic, it agitates me hearing people complain a lot about what wasn't working for them. I never stopped taking 100% responsibility for what happens or doesn't happen to me in my business.
Let's break down why people don't take 100% responsibility beyond work ethic and how to get rid of it.
First, if oftentimes starts with intellectual insecurity. When we don't have what we want in our real estate agency business and we have these expectations but don't know what to do, all of a sudden we don't know how smart we are. We throw away our resourcefulness and panic when we're under pressure or faced with something not going our way. Stop blaming someone or something because of a setback. It is your job figure out how it works.
To get rid of intellectual insecurity, we should define the best opportunity. For me, the best opportunity in the real estate agency business despite the trend of the digital age where people are all over social media channels like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, is still face to face conversation with someone who is thinking of buying or selling a real estate. The digital world is just a part of the grand scheme of things in this business but nothing beats being in a room with somebody and having a conversation. Do whatever you define as your best opportunity to have a conversation that leads them into a meeting.
Next is knowing what to say. It's very clear to anyone in my Elite Mastermind that we follow simple plans. For example, in our Buy Side Plan, it's so simple - there are only 6 points. Be prepared, take 100% responsibility and state the obvious: educate them about how the buying or selling process works and why you can do the best job organizing it for them. That's it.
Lastly, you have to do all of these yourself because nobody's coming for you. The market will never magically fill you with sales and high GCIs. The reason why I'm here to help you by giving you free information is that in this business, you need a plan and you have to get out there.
When I'm coaching agents, I always ask them what do they need help with. When setting a goal, I noticed that people are stating overly round numbers. During a call, somebody said $400,000. Yes, it's doable, but I want to know where the agent is at now and where did that number come from.
The thing is, I worry when people give me those targets because round numbers tend to be general statements. When you are setting a goal that's too general, you're not programming the subconscious mind to be very specific. It sounds sexy and interesting to put a very big number on the board and say "that's my big, hairy, audacious goal!" but don't just make up numbers for the sake of having one. So be very specific and do some little math. You can look at the average sales in the area, see what the average agent does, and set your goals from there. Be at least get beyond the average and shoot to become a top producer but be realistic about it.
Another thing that I noticed that a lot of people are setting goals in a negative lens. That lens, according to Dr. Maxwell Maltz of The New Psycho-Cybernetics is your self-image. I ask a lot of new agents where they want to be and they were in a very enthusiastic. But, the next thing that comes out from them is negative talk. How would you ever get off if that's your mindset?
That's why we should clean our self-image lens and stick to the simple plan. I suggest you follow our plans here at The Realty Classroom: 7 Steps to Listing Success, 6 Steps to helping a buyer, and you're well on your way.
This week I traveled to Miami to attend what turned out to be a better-than-expected conference by Gary Vaynerchuk called Agent 2021. For those who don't know Gary, he is a serial entrepreneur and the CEO and founder of VaynerMedia, but I've known about him even before that when he hosted one of the first and most successful shows on social media platforms called Wine Library TV, which helped him grow his family's business into a $50+ million business.
The most important insight that he shared is that it's still very early in the Digital Age and opportunity abounds on all social channels. Newcomers tend to be intimidated by "influencers" who have been in the social sphere for a long time now with an enormous resume of content. Bottom line: there's always room for new quality content and most people lack the discipline to produce on a regular basis. Furthermore, the cost of exposure ranges from free to low cost as major brands have yet to fully enter the arena and drive up the cost!
I am also in agreement with the emphasis that was placed on personal branding. In the pre-Digital Age, you had to spend a lot of money to brand yourself on billboards, T.V., radio and just about every major media outlet just to get your name out there. But in today's world, social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn are the Modern Age's equivalent of the major networks such as A.B.C., N.B.C. and C.B.S. The best part is that there are no gatekeepers to get approved by or gigantic budgets required!
Although the access is simple and free to low cost, I do recognize that there's a "content paralysis" where a lot of you get stuck about what type of content to put out. In the real estate context, you already have content. You can talk about how you would take someone through the buying and selling process and supplement that by doing a monthly market summary by simply pulling the statistics from M.L.S. and discussing the trends in your marketplace. In addition, you should be publicly discussing your listings and their features and the lifestyle benefits that they offer. In short, the content is right in front of you! It's all about injecting yourself. Start recording and talk about these topics and push them out into your social platforms.
However, the most important concept I took away from the #Agent2021 was to ensure that you engage with your audience. It's one thing to get content out there and it's another thing to engage people in and around that relevant content. Talk to them and answer their questions because all of these social media platforms are only viable when we engage each other. However, don't push! Be genuine and help people. When you engage in an authentic way, you magnetize people into the conversation where you build meaningful relationships that bear true fruit.
If there was a key word for me this week it was "agency". Although many business models, including real estate, are under great pressure to change, the concept of agency is alive and well. A top-shelf real estate agency owner or real estate agent is more responsible than ever for lifting up agents and consumers by providing effective solutions to Digital Age problems by giving structure and guidance in a new context. When you embrace the concept that we are in the "agency" business, you begin to see yourself as the problem solver that the World needs more than ever.
The greatest challenge that real estate agent's face is time management.
However, before painting this problem with such a broad brush, agents should first determine the core of the problem. Is the challenge that 1. They don't know what to do with their time or 2. They are running out of time trying to keep up with what they have to do.
Quite the dilemma. However, the solution starts by considering which of your mindsets is controlling you.
Simply put, how can you "manage" anything without a manager's mindset. As I contemplate the concept of a manager's mindset, I'm always drawn back to Michael Gerber's E-myth where I first recognized that the Manager was indeed a persona unique from the Technician or Sales persona.
It's natural for a Sales persona to assume that you can manage a better business through the mindset of a Technician where your focus is on the present and performing the hands-on work of the business. However, a manager's mindset is that of a planner who takes the company's strategic vision and plots tactical action plans to accomplish that vision in a certain period of time.
After considering this for many years, I've chunked up what I believe is the manager's modules of concentration: Marketing Module, Conversion Module, Closing Module, and Past Client Module.
Once you consider that these modules are the time managed blocks that produce the outcome of a happy client, only then will you be able to organize the tactics that will properly consume your time. Therefore, for each module, there must be clear, tactical plans that should be put in place in order to effectively manage time.
You must memorialize your tactical plans in your CRM (Customer Relationship Manager) in order to ensure that your time to execute these actions is clearly blocked. For example, when are you actually going to manage your time to make lead, prospect, and client calls?
Once you get into a rhythm of completing task plans within allotted time frames, it's important to measure your results against the plan. You should constantly measure your results to check if your managed time plan is working in order to make refinements along the way to ensure that you reach your financial goal.
P.S. If you feel like you're getting nowhere, ask me questions, post comments, and I will help you make those "guided missile" adjustments so that your time management plan is always on track.
Learning to speak conversational real estate is very important in the real estate agent business. On our weekly live sales training calls for our Mastermind Members in The Realty Classroom, we have highlighted the importance of the context of the inside sales call.
By focusing on a quick and simple introduction: “Hi I’m Danny Griffin from The Griffin Realty Group” you’ll give the lead an orientation as to who you are and what your business is about, assuming the word real estate or some variation is included.
The next beat is to tell the lead why you’re calling them. There are many examples depending on their context. For example: “I noticed that you expired on the MLS” or “I noticed that you came into our website searching for properties.”
At this point, they know who you are and what you know about them.
The next step is to discuss the struggle they’re facing, also referred to as agitating the pain, which they may or may not realize they’re suffering from. The reason for bringing the tension to the forefront is so that you’re able to more effectively offer your solution.
The final beat of our introduction is what we’ve done, sent or will do immediately to help them. While you might ask permission to do so first, we have found that it’s best practice to send helpful information regardless of their willingness to accept it; unless of course we discover that our help has no relevance. For example, a probate lead, the administrator of an estate, informs us that there is no real estate to sell.
It’s critical to emphasize that there is no need to be confrontational.
As you go through your conversations with leads, you will experience a lot of rejection simply because people as consumers are conditioned to quickly say “NO” because they’re agitated, frustrated or simply hate being sold. Also, the people at the other end of the telephone line don’t know you so they are naturally not willing to open up.
This is precisely where it’s critical to cross over from a more scripted introduction to a conversation and the best way to do so is by asking a question that allows them to vent about their frustration.
For example, when speaking to an expired lead, after telling them we sent our 7 Step Plan in the mail, we ask them, “why do you think it didn’t sell?”
Now, once they open up and enter the conversation, there will be many different emotionally charged responses that won’t follow anybody’s script to the letter. Over time you’ll see a pattern in the types of objections you’ll have to overcome however, the key is to be ready to interject with a strong understanding of the market within which you’re working.
Practice by truly answering the question, “How’s the market?”
By simply studying the market statistics and trends that are readily available in MLS (Multiple Listing Service) and discussing those meaningful specifics during your call, you’ll be well on your way to becoming a true professional and mastering conversational real estate.
To summarize the key point: “Learn To Speak Conversational Real Estate.”
Each week in The Realty Classroom, we conduct a live sales training session for our Mastermind Members and their teams. Although we incessantly practice inside sales role play, we recognize that agents experience a higher level of challenge when dealing with real leads and hearing their aggressive and sometimes negative reactions on the other end of the telephone line.
One of the things we picked up on was the "tone" of one caller and how it could tell us how to behave. The seconds that it takes for a lead to say "hello" can offer a clue as to the mood you're encountering. It's amazing how simply being a good listener can set you up for a greater chance at inside sales success. When you hear the one and match yours, you're demonstrating an act of empathy which helps you navigate your opening script.
I also want to point out that you must have a clean 3 beat script down who you are, why you're calling, and what you're offering. The simple point is that you have seconds to cut to the chase and tell them why you're interrupting their life.
Finishing your opening with a relevant, provocative question will allow them to vent and give you clues as to how you might personalize your solution for them. For example, in the context of an expired lead, it's likely that they are agitated and frustrated and may feel the need to rough you up.
The key point is that when they start to vent or even attack you, you shouldn't pull back, rather lean in a bit by being confident in the strategies that you're offering to help them overcome. By doing so, you'll at least achieve a clear outcome and determine whether or not there will be an opportunity for follow up.
To summarize the key point: “Learn to diffuse the negative emotions of a lead by leaning in to confidently express your plan to help them"
2018 has just begun and I want to share my thoughts on how to plan the new year correctly so that you may actually reach your goals.
The most important point: don't start the year by making the mistake of focusing on what went wrong in 2017. I know it may be difficult, however, I can guarantee that all of us can find some things that definitely went right and you should start your plan for 2018 built upon your current strengths.
It's also a great time of the year to revisit Michael Gerber's "The E-Myth" or "E-Myth Real Estate Brokerage". As you build your plan for the future, you must understand that an entrepreneurial spirit to succeed is not a plan. It's also clear most of us tend to focus only on the technical or sales work and we don't bother to stop and ask ourselves: how does the whole business really work?
When you stop to consider the mechanics of the business, you're allowing for the"manager's point of view." This viewpoint is the critical middle ground between the "entrepreneur/visionary" and the "technician/salesperson." It's the missing link for correct planning and accountability throughout the year.
Setting a clear revenue goal this year is also a must. Rather than worrying about the micro details, just pick a number and write it down. It's amazing how a clear, reasonable revenue goal, when written on a paper, can serve as your inner manager's compass.
Another thing to focus on this year is your commitment to follow-up and conversion. You must build the self-discipline to follow up and clean your list of Prospects consistently and on at least a weekly basis.
Finally, resist the urge to whine and complain. Complaining is often the result of not having a clear plan and it's up to you to follow a strategic plan that bullet-proofs you from getting lost throughout 2018.
To summarize the key point: “Focus on building a manager's point of view and self-discipline to achieve your real estate goals in 2018”
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.