Archive for Career Success
How’s your PR? What PR?
Posted by: | CommentsHow’s your PR? What PR? Are you taking advantage of FREE marketing? You should. I hear brokers say ‘I’m too small a broker’. ‘I don’t have a marketing budget’. Good. You don’t need one. Use the strategy below and reap big recruiting rewards.
Do you want a free recruiting tool? You’re a real estate professional. You have limited advertising/recruiting funds. You want to recruit more. You want to establish your credibility as an industry leader. One of the best strategies is to write articles that get published, and use those articles in all of your marketing strategies. Here are the steps to follow to write articles that are valuable and that get published every time. The best thing about this strategy: It’s absolutely free! Any broker of any size can do it.
The Process: Simple and Straightforward
Writing an article follows the same process composers use in writing a popular tune: It starts with the theme (A), continues with the middle, where you expand on the idea and example (B), and ends again with the theme. When I’m teaching my “Train the Trainer” course, we practice this simple structure when we create training programs.
The Eight Simple Steps to Get Started
Here are the simple steps I’ve used over the years to create articles that have gotten published hundreds of times in major real estate magazines and newsletters:
1. Decide on who your audience is, so you realize for whom you’re writing
2. Decide on the challenge (s) they have that you want to address
3. Jot down all the ideas you have about the challenges and solutions
4. Narrow the topic so you can zero in specifically on what you want to write about. The biggest mistake writers and teachers make is to choose too broad a topic for the time or word framework. For example, it’s difficult to write 500 words on how to create a team. You CAN write 500 words about why to create a team; or three strategic tips in creating a team.
5. Choose one to three ideas to discuss.
6. Arrange the topics in the order you want to discuss them
7. To expand on the ideas, present the idea clearly and then give an example. One commonality I’ve found among editors is that they want examples with the idea. Otherwise, the reader doesn’t really get the picture.
8. Close the article with the reiteration of your challenge and solution. Give your audience positive motivation to take action.
In my next blog, I’ll discuss how to build your distribution list easily–and how to distribute your articles. You’re on your way to an awesome free recruiting tool!
Managers: Develop this skill and then teach your agents how to use PR effectively. Use this skill in the interview to show agents how you’ll help them expand their reach.
Social media: Usually today, articles are published electronically. When your article is published, put it on your Facebook business page and LinkedIn. Invite peole to share the article. Instant PR!
Everyone is trying to sell your agents high tech, automatic return programs. And, they’re not cheap. But, there’s one tool that brings a bigger return on investment than any tech tool–and it’s free. Having hired and trained probably hundreds of new agents, I know the myriad of questions they have. So, here’s the simplest, yet most effective thing you can teach your new agents (and your experienced agents) to do.
The Combination that Gets you Business
Here’s the answer to the question, “What is the one thing I should do to get business?” Yes, people are always asking me that. I think it’s because I’ve written two resources for would-be and new agents: Become Tomorrow’s Mega-Agent Today and Up and Running in 30 Days. Now, we know that becoming a skilled real estate agent isn’t just one answer. But, there is one thing new agents can do that requires
No skill
No experience
No money
Little time
And, this one thing will make your agents stand out from the crowd better than any other one thing they could do! What is it? Simply:
Write a thank you note (a real hard copy note, not an email)
Why?
Because manners and ‘thank yous’ have gotten increasingly uncommon! You will stand out simply because you’ve taken the time, thought about that person, and cared enough to write—and put that stamp on it.
Write More Than One Note
I’m not going to tell your new agents to write a certain number of notes per day. You and your agents can set your standard (that means the minimum you’ll do).
What to Say
Thank you. Thinking about you. I appreciate you. I used your advice. Here’s something for you that would be helpful. I found the information you wanted.
Note to managers: This is also one of the strongest motivational tools you’ll ever have–writing notes to your agents with encouragement, thanks, etc. Do you do enough of it? Set your own goals now.
Big important sales principle:
Contacting people is simply finding an excuse to write, pick up the phone, or go see. Retaining salespeople is similar!
My challenge: How creative can you get?
Your agents are more creative than they think they are. Now, get them to sit down and think hard about 5 people they’ve started to work with, but need to contact now. What about them fits into any scenario for you to write that note, pick up the phone, or go see?
They are now using ‘advanced’ sales techniques, and they already know how to do all of this.
Sales meeting tip: One of the managers I know actually has agents write these notes during a sales meeting, and brainstorms the reasons one could write a note.
Proof is in the Pudding
My first year in real estate, I sold 40 homes. Also, I sent more things in the mail than any other of the 30 agents in my office. Why? Because I wanted to create a ‘critical mass’ of people who thought I was wonderful. Yes, an agent can also do this with social media. But, you want to stand out. And, you will stand out much more if you write to one person than to many. After all, you are working with that one person who will pay you thousands of dollars. He/she is worth that special, individual effort! That’s the one thing your agents should do to get business.
Managers, heads up: Do you always write a ‘thank you’ follow-up note after you speak to a candidate? If you just don’t think you have time, write a ‘master’ note and have your assistant write them. You’ll recruit more.
‘Attraction’ is Key in Recruiting: How ‘Attractive’ are You?
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How ‘attractive’ are you in recruiting? Being ‘attractive’ is a powerful magnet effective recruiters develop. What do I mean by ‘magnet’?
Those attributes, qualities, talents, and skills, that agents are drawn to.
The market’s heating up, and good recruiters are getting appointments like mad. What makes one person be able to hire great agents with ease, while other recruiters find it difficult? Effective recruiters have, purposely, developed magnets. You can, too. Here are the steps:
1. Identify your strengths.
Look beyond the normal things managers talk about. I know you have some special talents and skills from ‘the rest of your life’. What are they? One of the best recruiters I know has figured out to get right to agents’ hearts—to find out their fears and their aspirations. Although this came naturally to her, she has also taken several coaching and self-actualization classes, and has worked hard to translate what she learned to her recruiting strategy.
Caveat: Don’t rely on company or office features to do your recruiting for you. You must stand out as a leader, coach, and mentor.
2. Attach the benefits of those strengths to your recruit—keeping in mind the needs you are filling for that particular recruit.
By doing this process, you’ll have the information you need to design a full presentation that takes advantage of the trends, makes it easy for you to become a master presenter, helps you reveal and explain your magnets, and gets you the recruits you want.
Script (what my being a musician means to the candidate): “Yes, I was a musician in an ‘earlier ‘life’. You may not see what that means in terms of sales success, but I learned that the discipline and tenacity I developed was a great help in persevering in real estate sales. I can help you ‘keep on’ keeping on, because I know the motivators needed to create high level sales.”
Who determines what’s really “attractive?”
Agents. Managers are usually long-term real estate “pros”. They assume their company features are the best attractors to desired agents. Problem: These features are valued by managers, but they may not be equally as attractive to agents.
Example: For years, a large company in the area told prospective agents they could make more money by affiliating with that company because, “We have meetings daily.” In reality, the meetings had become poorly attended, boring, and resented by the agents. The only “beneficiaries” were the managers, since they could more easily keep tabs on the agents if they required the agents’ bodies show up at the desk at 9 A.M. daily! As agents became more independent, and competition from other companies increased, the meetings, which 30 years ago had been team-builders, became outmoded. They actually were a deterrent to recruiting! If these managers had taken the agents’ perspective, they could have avoided using a worn-out, ineffective presentation.
Be sure the features you’re promoting are of value to agents. Are you promoting some features that are out of date?
Big idea: YOU—your talents, your skills, your personality—are the biggest magnets imaginable. Build them to exceptional strength!
What skills and talents have you developed outside real estate that you have translated into ‘attractors’ for agents?
The Bottom Line: What a Recruiting Mistake Costs You
Posted by: | CommentsWhat does a recruiting mistake cost you? Many brokers have told me it costs them nothing. Pshaw! It costs a whole heck of a lot. Take a look at my estimates below:
What are your numbers? Have you ever figured it out? Let me know. As a CRB instructor, I would ask managers this question. Generally, they figured the cost of a bad hire was $10,000-$30,000. What’s yours?
Do you have your recruiting plan in place? Check out The Complete Recruiter, with a special price of $30 off ($99.95 this month), plus 2 bonuses, a $70 value. You can’t afford to wing recruiting anymore!
Hire a New Agent? You May Have Just Lost $30,000
Posted by: | CommentsDid you just hire a new agent? What’s your success rate with agents? Do you know? Do you know how much it costs you when an agent fails? Most brokers don’t realize they are doing irreparable damage to their companies by hiring those who aren’t going to go right to work—and keeping those who won’t work. Here are the 3 biggest consequences to poor selection I see.
1. Stops you from hiring great producers. Likes attract. How can brokers hope to hire that great producer when they have more than 10% of their office as non-producers? I can see it now. “Sure, I’ll come to your office. I’m a top producer, and I just love to be dragged down by those non-producers. It will be my pleasure to waste my time with them.” Not.
2. Kills your recruiting message.
Do you have a training program? Do you use it to recruit? Here’s the real message: “We have a training program. All our new agents go through it. We don’t get any results from the program, so it really doesn’t work. But, join us.” You can’t possibly show how successful your training program makes your agents because your training program can’t possibly get results—poor people in and no actions and accountability required.
3. De-motivates your agents to provide referrals to you.
Your outcomes and hiring practices speak more loudly than you could possible speak. Why would one of your good agents possibly refer someone to you when your good agent doesn’t see those you hired starting right out and making money fast?
This Market Won’t Cover Up an Inadequate Selection Process
In a fast market, ‘accidental sales’ buoyed poor agents and made them look as though they were actually selling enough real estate to be a ‘median’ agent. When the market left, so did the agents’ ‘mirage’ of decent production. Now, brokers need to hire with purpose (using a stringent, professional interview process). Then, they need to put agents right to work with a proven start-up plan.
Please Tell Me What You Think
What do you think a non-productive agent costs the company? In my next blog, I’ll give you some line items that will probably double what you think a bad hire costs. Let’s see what you think first. Poor hiring practices really, really hurts brokers—both financially and emotionally.
What do you think? Should a broker hire anyone who walks through the door? Does your broker hire anyone who walks through the door?
Do you have your recruiting plan in place? Check out The Complete Recruiter, with a special price of $30 off ($99.95 this month), plus 2 bonuses, a $70 value. You can’t afford to wing recruiting anymore!
From a Musician’s Perspective: How to Create a Follower and a Fan
Posted by: | CommentsI just created a new business page for Carla Cross & Co. on Facebook. (Hey–join and take part in contests, sweepstakes, etc.). It occurred to me that the words “followers” (Twitter) and “fans” (Facebook) are borrowed from the performance world–a world I lived in for many years. I thought you’d like to get some skills in creating ‘fans’ or ‘followers’–not just how to use these programs, but, more importantly, how to create FF’s–admirers.
What’s ‘Admirable’?
If you’re reading this blog, you’re probably involved somehow in managing people (that includes managing families, too!). So, it would be helpful to know how to create admirers–in the best sense of the word. Why? Admirers do several things for you (and you must do several things for them, of course):
They refer others to you with enthusiasm
They provide ‘positive grapevine’ promotion for you
They help you discover strengths you may not have known you have (think branding)
They see the best in you when you’re sometimes not seeing it in yourself!
What You Need to Do to Create ‘Admirers’
I worked my way through college and graduate school playing piano in bars (I sure learned a lot about human nature!). As a musician, I learned, to have admirers, I had to do 2 things:
1. Play the music they wanted to hear
2. Play the music they wanted to hear the way they wanted to hear it
To do this, I learned literally thousands of tunes and dozens of styles. Now, I was set to gain followers/admirers (and tips, of course!. In other words, you have to make yourself someone that can be admired (when did you take your last true ‘people management’ course?)
What does that mean to you as a manager? You have to figure out the needs that they want filled, and fill them the way they want them filled. I did a webinar, Light ‘Em on Fire, for the Learning Library of the National Association of Realtors, and discussed the ins and outs of motivation–a mis-understood yet incredibly powerful tool.
Appreciation: The best Tool to Gain Admirers
There are many ways to gain ‘followers’. The easiest is to lavishly use appreciation. How often do you appreciate? Probably not as often as you could. This is one of the most effective, low-cost, and happy methods to motivate and gain admirers you can imagine. Yet, few managers use this effectively (and I mean to be sincere about it, of course). I’ve created a white paper on the principles of motivation, along with over 25 ways to appreciate. Click here to get your copy.
I appreciate you and your support and comments on this management blog
Managers: What’s your ‘Inspiration’ Quotient?
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What’s your “Inspiration Quotient”? Often, we managers/trainers/coaches completely underestimate our power to inspire. Recently, I read an article in our local newspaper that demonstrates just how strong that power can be.
How a Homeless Girl Got to Harvard
Khadijah Williams’s mother was last spotted living in a storage unit in Los Angeles. But, Khadijah isn’t living there. She’s on her way to Harvard. What an improbable—yet inspiring—story. For as long as she can remember, she and her family, consisting of her mother, and her sister, have drifted from one homeless shelter to another. Yet, she’s still not drifting. And, she’s not just graduating from high school, or getting an entry-level job, or going to a community college, she’s actually enrolled in Harvard. (Don’t get me wrong. It’s a terrific feat to go from homeless to a job, or to graduate from anything. But, Harvard?…..)
What aspects of Khadijah Williams’s life caused her to veer off the homeless, dependent path and toward higher education? What role did her mentors play?
Inspiration, Tenacity, Belief: A Homeless Girl’s Lessons
Here are the powerful motivators that greatly and positively influenced this future Harvard grad’s life.
1. Be aware of the power of your words
Someone told Khadijah she was smart. In the third grade, she scored in the 99th percentile on a state exam. Her teachers told her she was gifted, and put her in special programs—even though her schooling was intermittent—and she moved schools constantly. What do you tell people? Do you pick out their strengths and help them accentuate them?
2. Help them believe in their unique talents and skills
Khadijah believed in herself because she believed what her teachers told her about herself—the positive. Can you think of someone in your life that believed in you more than you believed in yourself at the time?
3. Give them the encouragement/inspiration from mentors
Khadijah realized she couldn’t do it herself, and sought out organizations and mentors. When is the last time you encouraged someone to take a risk?
4. Help them keep on keeping on. Never give up
Fueled by her belief in herself and the faith others had in her, Khadijah developed unbelievable tenacity to put herself into programs, stay in school, and ignored the taunts of the other students (you’re homeless, you can’t do this, etc., etc., etc.)
5. Help them create a better environment
Even though her mother and sister continue to live the homeless lifestyle, Khadijah has never blamed her relatives or her environment.
Yes. It’s a challenging business. But, you have skills the agents are hungry for. From these five points above, you can see the absolute power of the mentor. You have the ability to change people’s lives for the better!
Who/what inspires you? Let me know who and what inspires you and why by putting a comment on either of my blogs on this subject (1-2 paragraphs, please). Simply write a comment on the blog, telling me who and/or what inspires you.
Managers’ tip: Why not do this as an exercise with your agents? You’ll inspire them and re-light the fires of desire so they’ll be eager and enthusiastic to do what needs to be done to get back into the action.
What If Your Coaching Isn’t Working?
Posted by: | CommentsYou’ve been coaching an agent for three months. You haven’t seen any improvements. What do you do if your coaching isn’t working?
The biggest mistakes managers make in coaching agents is to continue the coaching relationship when the agent isn’t doing the work. Usually, we continue because we didn’t set coaching standards at the beginning of the relationship. When our coaching doesn’t get results, we think that we must re-motivate the agent—that this is our job.
Who or What Motivates?
Motivation happens when we do an activity and it works for us. Then, we want to do it all over again. That’s right. WE do the activity! In this case, it’s the agent doing the sales activities and having some success. You just encourage that success. You can’t encourage not doing things, which is what you’re doing when you let that agent meet with you and you ‘pump them up’ even though they haven’t done what they were supposed to do! Don’t get caught in that trap.
Reasons to Terminate the coaching Relationship
Here are the reasons to terminate the coaching relationship:
- Not doing the activity work
- Not meeting at the scheduled time
- The results are working negatively on your own self-esteem
You’ve done your agent and internal review, and you’ve established the coaching rules. Now, it’s easy to terminate the coaching relationship. You already set up those perimeters prior to starting your coaching relationship. Remember, you have only time to coach those who respond. You also need this response to provide your own self-assurance that what you’re doing is working.
Free Yourself for Better Experiences
By terminating the coaching relationships that have no pay-offs, you’re freeing yourself to coach those who do want your time and talent—and you’ve pre-determined that these people will be successful. You’ve created the best recruiting tool there is—concrete success from your agents with your personal and professional help.
Choosing and Coaching ‘Responders’ Has Many Benefits
I find time and time again that when I try to work with people who do not want to achieve higher goals, they fail—and I feel as if I’ve failed. So, my caveat to you now is this: Choose the people you will coach carefully, to retain your self-esteem, self-confidence, and contribute your talents to those who will respond. That’s a win-win!
A coachability evaluator: Click here to get an evaluator you can use with agents.
What are your reasons for terminating a coaching relationship? What mistakes have you made in continuing a non-working relationship?
P. S. I’m working on an online program right now for the new or challenged agent, to get them into great business habits fast. One of the features of this program will be broker coaching. I’ll coach brokers on choosing those who are coachable, and how to coach when you have no time to coach! What do you want to see included?
Three Steps to a Successful Coaching Relationship
Posted by: | CommentsIf you’ve done any coaching at all, you have found that people don’t respond just because you told them they needed to be more productive—or they told you they wanted to be more productive. You may have blamed yourself for their failure to produce. Although it is true that we all need to hone coaching skill sets, failure to move an agent off ‘dead center’ is usually not a function of poor coaching skills. It’s usually a function of the coach choosing a poor candidate.
The Steps to Choose the Right Coaching Candidates
Step One: Determine who is coachable
You and I know that a successful real estate office is built one agent at a time. Although there were 30 licensees in that office (some of whom I never met), there were many fewer workers. If we didn’t have sales volume, we couldn’t attract the kind of people who would want to be on the team to attain that vision. My first job, then, was to find out who wanted to be productive. Here are the steps I followed, and that you can follow, too, to create a coaching relationship with those who will respond positively to your guidance.
First, set up a meeting with each agent that you think is coachable. Have prepared a list of questions, arranged with a place to write his/her answers for each question. Schedule at least 45 minutes with each agent. Here are 3 of the questions you should ask:
- Describe how you created a successful real estate business in the past.
- Describe how you are creating the business that you are doing now.
- What would be different in your life if you had higher income?
Coachability evaluator: Click here to get an evaluator to use with your agent so he/she can determine if he/she is coachable.
Step Two: Evaluate Your Chances of Success through Coaching this Agent
After asking these past-based questions, take the time to evaluate whether or not you think this agent has the skills and motivation to move his/her career to a higher level. Here are three of the questions you should ask yourself?
- Has this agent demonstrated the ability to overcome failure in the past?
- Is this agent realistic about the activities required and the time frames involved, to succeed?
- Does this agent accept personal responsibility for production?
Step Three: Get Agreement on Mutual Expectations from the Agent
You’ve now determined who wants to work to higher goals. You’ve done your due diligence to determine whether you think they’re coachable. Now, you have to get agreement on the game plan—the plan of action. This is the point at which the agent may say, “I just want to do better on my own. I don’t need any coaching. I just want to be able to ask you questions whenever I want to, and I want you available.” If this is an agent that is not meeting your minimum production standards, I suggest you give them a choice:
Either
- attain specific monetary results (a listing sold or a sale) within a certain time period, or you will terminate that person (and you must be explicitly clear when you say this)
or
- implement a mutually-agreed upon game plan and meet with you on a pre-determined schedule with pre-determined activity standards to be attained and goals to work toward
The game plan: Coaching often fails because it’s not anchored by a specific, pre-determined, agreed-upon game plan. Most agents weren’t taught how to organize a start-up business plan, or weren’t given one and coached to one as a new agent, so they don’t have a proven game plan. You need to have one ready.
“George, I’m so pleased to be working with you to help you take your career to the next level. What we’ll do now is to agree on the activity standards to maintain our coaching agreement (minimum numbers of lead generating and sales activities), your goals, a time frame (should be at least 3 months), and the scheduling for our coaching appointments. We’ll agree on what would stop our coaching relationship, too (not doing the activities, not keeping the coaching appointments).”
P. S. I’m working on an online program right now for the new or challenged agent, to get them into great business habits fast. One of the features of this program will be broker coaching. I’ll coach brokers on choosing those who are coachable, and how to coach when you have no time to coach! What do you want to see included?
Are You Ignoring the Red Flags in your Interview Process?
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Is your interview process gaining the kind of agents you want? Or, are you unpleasantly surprised ‘after the fact’?
The scene: You have been waiting all week with baited breath for that desired candidate to keep his appointment with you. Now you’re in the interview. Everything seems to be going fine, until…
You get an uneasy feeling. It’s just a ‘gut’ response. You can’t put your finger on it. Yet, this candidate has been recommended to you. He’s a top producer. You need him. Other companies have been wooing him. So, you ignore your gut and keep going.
Sound familiar? We’ve all been there. We are enamored with that candidate. We really, really need his production. Our competitive nature comes to the fore when we learn other companies are vying for this very agent. So, we don’t pay attention to the ‘red flags’ that are being waved in front of our face. In the next few blogs, we’ll investigate those ‘red flags’–and I’ll ask you to share with me YOUR red flags, too.
What are ‘red flags’?
The term ‘red flags’ has been around our industry for years. Literally, ‘red flags’ are indicators you observe which may be ‘knock-out’ factors for that candidate. Or, taken one at a time, they are warning flags. They indicate a candidate doesn’t fit the profile of the kind of agent you’re looking for.
Some Indicators that We’ve Been Ignoring Red Flags
From consumer feedback and sales statistics, seems to me we have been ignoring the red flag concept in our hiring practices lately. Why do I draw that conclusion? One reason is that 65% of agents today are part-timers. Now, you may decide to hire a part-timer on purpose. But, I’ll bet you’ve hired several agents in the past year who didn’t reveal to you they had a full-time job (and it wasn’t selling real estate…). You thought you had hired someone who would start ‘up and running’, but, instead, you hired someone who is slow and crawling—if moving at all!
Consumer Feedback Indicates our Red Flag ‘Ignorance’
Another clue that we’re not paying attention to those red flags is the consumer feedback. In a recent survey of buyers, the California Association of Realtors’ survey found that buyers rated their buyers’ agents at an all-time low: an overall satisfaction rate of a lousy 4%! Yes. That’s right. Not 40%–but 4%. You and I know that’s too low to get return business. It’s too low to maintain any type of attractive commissions. So, it’s time to bring that ‘red flag’ concept back and practice it to protect our businesses.
What ‘red flags’ do you note? How have you been ‘snookered’?
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