Archive for Coaching
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.
Do Your Agents Have a Trust ‘Issue’ with their Clients?
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Do your agents have a trust ‘issue’ with their clients? (Look for the Trust Evaluator link below. Use it with your agents to test their ‘trust quotients’–great meeting topic).
We’re always telling our agents to ‘work smarter’, not harder. Yet, what does that mean? For one thing, in this low-trust world, it means creating high trust as a foundation for any sales action and decision. Yet, in the ‘on fire’ market of the past, agents didn’t have to work very hard at creating trust. The market forced decisions and the consumers ended up buying from an agent they may not really know. Those days are over.
Why Creating Trust is a $$$ Issue
Do you know how much more it costs to get a new client than to keep an old one? Marketers tell us 6-9 times more. So, it’s just good business sense to train your agents to create high trust with clients for return and referral business.
How You Can Help Your Agents Create Trust
Salespeople can’t sell anything to anyone without first establishing an exceptional level of trust–an increasingly difficult thing to do. The ten tips below shared on in a recent radio show help sales professionals build a ‘platinum level’ of trust.
Five Tips to Raise your Agents’ Client Trust Levels
Here are 5 tips, with special comments to you as a leader–in blue.
1. Learn non-verbal skills and apply them in writing, on the phone, and in person to establish rapport in an increasingly ‘cold inquiry’ world.
Are you teaching them Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NL))? Are you working with them to pace and mirror in interactive workshops?
2. We believe what others say about a salesperson, not what the salesperson says about themselves. Use testimonials; check evaluation websites to see what consumers are saying about you.
Are you checking out what the consumers are saying about your agents on the web?
Look at www.realestateratingz.com and www.incredibleagents.com.
3. Create an after-the-sale survey and use it consistently. If there’s something wrong, fix it fast.
Do you have an after sale survey that you send out from the office? How do you handle surveys that are less than stellar?
4. We believe what we see, not what we hear. Show, don’t tell. Use visual presentations consistently.
Are you working with your agents to practice showing evidence?
5. Flip your sales presentations. Ask questions—lots of questions—first. Educate. Finally, sell (well, you won’t have to sell).
Do you have a planned presentation you teach agents–and have them practice until they are ‘killer’?
Click here to get your Trust Evaluator.
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!
Brokers: Why Aren’t Your New Agents Succeeding?
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Brokers: Why aren’t your new agents succeeding? (half are failing in their first year; another 25% fail in their second year). What do new agents need to know to succeed? You’ve watched them come into your office and flounder. You’ve watched them become ‘time tornadoes’–whirling around in your office, sucking time from seasoned agents, while seeming to stay in terminal neutral themselves. Here’s your chance to tell me how real estate brokers (and new agents) are going wrong.
Why Tell Me Now?
Right now, I’m doing several things that I think will greatly impact the success of a new real estate agent. Here they are:
1. I’m making a new online version of Up and Running in 30 Days, to help new agents and managers assure that new agent gets started fast–doing the right things in the right order. I’ll be providing coaching, training videos, and accountability to show ultimate support for that new agent–and the broker enrolled in the program.
2. I’ve just been named New Agent Expert for a national real estate publication, which will interact with pre-license schools. So, I’ll have an opportunity to help agents prior to their coming into the business.
3. I’ll be providing brokers with coaching so they can stay on track with their new agents, and assure that everyone has the same focus–success quickly for that new agent.
So, I have two questions for you:
1. What does the new agent need to know to succeed?
2. What does the new agent need to do to succeed?
To answer those questions, think of the successful agents you know. What did they do in the first 3 months of the business? What did they avoid?
Training: What new agent training helped your new agents? What was useless? What ought to be there?
Coaching: Were you coached as a new agent? What was good? What was not useful to you? What do you wish someone would have told you? What about your coaching new agents has worked for you? What hasn’t worked?
Your Opportunity to Help the Industry
Okay. Here you go. Comment on this blog and help the industry, so we can raise the level of expectations of new agents, give brokers some guidance, and help consumers think well of us. Thank you!
Termination: Is Yours Graceful or G–Awful?
Posted by: | CommentsHow would you rate your termination system: graceful or g–awful? How to let someone go fairly–with grace–is a huge challenge for many managers. This challenge just came up again. I was just asked by an association of real estate companies to do a leadership webinar on standards. Before I do a ‘live’ presentation or a webinar for a particular group, I use my Pre-Conference Survey to find out exactly what their needs are.
(Note: If you do presentations for ‘outside groups’, consider making a pre-conference survey so you find out their exact needs, cultural specifics, and market differences. It makes a huge difference in your ability to deliver to their needs). This was the question that stood out most to me in the survey.
Question: How Do You Terminate Someone Fairly and Effectively?
Do you believe that the person who is failing knows he/she is failing? Of course they do. And, the longer they fail, the further down their self-esteem sinks, the further their confidence shrinks, and, finally,
the person simply quits working!
They still may be employed/contracted with you, but, they aren’t doing the things necessary to move their job forward. So, it’s not fair to simply let them continue failing. Nothing will change. You must step in.
The ‘One Last Chance’ Conversation and System
The principle is this: Never let someone go without a process that proves to them and you that it’s the right thing to do–unless, of course, that person has done something so egregious that she must be terminated immediately.
I’m a huge believer in game plans and systems for situations. That means you are fair with everyone. One of the reasons managers don’t want to fire is that they are afraid they will be unfair–or perceived as unfair. The way to take away those fears is to implement a system to give each person one last chance (this is after you have tried your normal coaching and training methods).
Important: Everyone in your office must know there’s a system, and that each person will be treated fairly within that system.
What’s in the One Last Chance’ Conversation
Here are the steps to terminate someone fairly and with grace.
1. Call the meeting. Do not engage in small talk. This is serious; it has no social aspect.
2. State that the person has not met your standards (minimum expectations). You DO have those in place, right?
3. Tell the person you will provide them one last chance.
4. Show them the performance system you will use (something like The On Track System to Success in 30 Days System for the Experienced Agent).
5. Get agreement that the person will use the system.
Make The Time Frame Short
I have been snookered by the best of them! I’ve learned to make the time frame no more than 30 days. You want that person to go right to work. You also must reserve the right to terminate at any time.
Good News: They Will Let Themselves Go 50% of the Time
You will find that many people are just waiting for you to provide that last chance, so they can face the fact they really don’t want to work. They will let themselves go.
When You Terminate
You have given them a fair chance. You have been straightforward. They have not gone to work. All you have to do in your termination conversation is to state just that. 95% of the time you will get no argument. In fact, they will thank you for being honest with them. Using these five pointers will allow you to let them go with grace, and relieve your mind that you are fair in your termination guidelines.
Get On Track with Your Business
This comprehensive resource is like having your own consultant 24/7. In each secction, you have the opportunity to analyze your strengths and challenges and make a specific plan to improve. In addition, there’s a 30-day regeneration plan. See more at The On Track to Success in 30 Days System for the Experienced Agent. This is also a wonderful tool to use to consult agents in or out of the business.
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?
Is Everyone Coachable? How to Create the Foundation for Successful Coaching
Posted by: | CommentsManagers’ time is their most valuable asset (along with their agents). With a majority of managers today also selling real estate, their time allotment is precious. Yet, they’re told take the time to ‘coach’ agents to help them succeed. Read how to determine who to coach and when to decline and/or quit coaching—and keep your sanity and self-esteem while doing it!
Whose Fault Is It When They Fail?
A few years ago, I was facilitating a panel of exceptional trainers at the Realtors National Convention. During the question period, a fellow stood up and said, “I’ve tried all the training and coaching methods you mentioned. But, three of my agents just don’t respond. What am I doing wrong?”
What do you think is the answer? It is that he’s not doing anything wrong—except, choosing the wrong people to train and coach!
Like many of us, I went into management to help people succeed. So, as a new manager, I tried to train and coach all the agents who wanted (or needed) to step up to the next level. From that experience, I found that I couldn’t help those who didn’t want to be helped.
Why Coach Your Agents?
I have turned around two failing real estate offices. In the first instance, I didn’t know what I was doing and failed my way to success. The second time, I knew what I was doing, because I figured out the patterns that I had used the first time—intuitively. But, the agents in the second office had no confidence, at first, that I could do it. So, I’ve had real life experiences in coaching agents to success—in an environment where they didn’t believe in themselves—or me.
A New Vision Must Form the Foundation for your Coaching
In both instances, I created a completely different vision and team in each office. The second was more dramatic, since the agents had never had any vision or focused leadership and were enjoying an extreme ‘victim’ posture. They desperately wanted someone to paint a picture of the future that was bright and attainable. They had given up on painting such a vision. My job was to create a bright, vibrant vision, mission, and the teamwork to attain it. In one year, using the four steps I’ll explain in my next blog, I had created a six-figure profit and completely changed the atmosphere and culture in the office.
Readers: What mistakes are you making in those you choose to coach? What have your failures taught you? How do you choose your ‘coaching clients’ now? What did you put in place prior to starting your coacing/