Archive for Motivation
Your Clients Are Tattling on Your Agents
Posted by: | CommentsWhat do you think clients think of agents in general–and who are they telling?
A recent California Association of Realtors’ survey of buyers revealed that buyers rated their overall experience at an all time low: 4 out of 100!
What does this mean about the level of customer service clients think they’re getting from agents? If you said, “Not much.” You’re right. And, now, clients have a way to let everyone and their brother know what they think of their agent. Check out
These are agent feedback sites. You’ll see the good, the bad, and the ugly. In fact, you’ll be stunned, I think, at the impact a testimonial has in writing—on the net.
This is a huge trend: Clients providing feedback that can be accessed by everyone. Now, even Realtor Associations, like the Houston Association of Realtors, is regularly surveying members’ buyers and sellers for feedback. Expect this trend to get bigger quickly.
What You Need to Do
First, check those sites (and others as they appear) regularly. There are some stunningly wonderful–and some stunningly awful–reviews on those sites. As the marketers know, a bad review is ‘tattled’ by 9 more people!
Second, collect surveys from each transaction regularly. If they aren’t wonderful, fix it fast. The consumer is increasingly relying on what others say, not on what we say about our service. Be on the cutting edge of the curve, not way behind it.
If you’d like my survey, click here.
Lots of Room For Growth
Recently, I was speaking to a group of ‘old pros’ in the Minneapolis area. I surveyed them and found that only about 20% sent out surveys! But, that’s not much different from the normal agent population. It’s time we got into the 21st century and did some basic marketing, to keep our businesses healthy!
Management: Lessons from my 8th Grade Teacher
Posted by: | CommentsI’ll bet you have at least one teacher who made a huge impression on you (good or bad!). Mine was Louise K. Taylor. She was our small town’s most famous (or infamous depending on your point of view) grade school teacher. She got a hold of us just as hormones were raging—and attempted to tame and prepare us for high school.
Gaining Attention, Respect, and Motivating to Action
Louise K. was known for her statement the first day of school. She would stand up, walk toward this unruly, somewhat disrespectful group of eighth graders and say, “You’re probably wondering what the “K” stands for?” Then, after a pregnant pause, she would scream (and I do mean ‘scream’), “Killer”!
Well, that statement sure tamed us, at least for a short period of time. And, it either scared us into performing at our best, or created a few ‘deer in the headlights’ thirteen-year olds who literally stayed paralyzed the whole year.
Mrs. Taylor’s Management Principles We Need to Apply Today
Mrs. Taylor (Aka “Killer”) actually used two management principles that I believe brokers must implement today to assure their agents will survive and thrive in this challenging time.
1. Mrs. Taylor established expectations. When she yelled that first day of school, she made clear, in her ‘opening statements’, she wouldn’t tolerate our not doing the work or failing. These were her standards. But, not only was she frightening us into submission. She was also doing something extremely important for successful management: Implicit in those standards was her promise: She could teach us to succeed at a high level in high school and college. All we had to do was to do the work.
Mrs. Taylor scared us into action and reinforced those actions with encouragement.
She was proved right again and again. Not only did we thrive in high school and college, the basic English and math skills Mrs. Taylor drilled into us in little ole Lebanon, Oregon, have benefited us through the rest of our lives.
2. Mrs. Taylor had a plan of action to get us past those expectations.
Everything Mrs. Taylor did and taught us was backed up with a specific, proven plan of action. She knew how to structure learning, how to get us to practice perfectly, how to give us feedback, and how to help us set ever higher goals. This couldn’t have happened unless she had
A proven plan that she knew got the outcomes she wanted for us
Her obvious faith in her plan gave us the guts, the determination, the motivation to do the work. We knew that she knew that plan got us results.
Managers: Do you have plans of action (coaching and training tools) that you absolutely know get proven outcomes? Are you communicating that with great confidence to agents? If not, what foundation are you using to help your agents past standards?
Your Sales Meetings: Knocking Their Socks Off?
Posted by: | CommentsManagers: Are your sales meetings knocking their socks off? If not, help is here! Organize your presentation with the three steps here, and watch your agent count go way up for your sales meetings and training presentations.
Who Is a Presenter?
We’re all presenters: Any time we’re in front of two or two thousand, our goal is to persuade the audience to our point of view. However, most of the time, we just get in front of people and say whatever we think of first. That lack of attention to presentation organization leads to some big presentation mistakes, and costs us ‘sales’. Instead of stumbling through a presentation, why not organize it to grab their attention, persuade them to your way of thinking, and motivate them to action?
Grab Their Attention in the Opening
Have you thought about your opening? Are you hiding in your office because you dread doing that sales meeting? When we haven’t organized our presentation, we come up with some really boring, off-putting openings, like:
I won’t take much of your time, but
We have a lot to cover today
We won’t get through the outline
I know you don’t want to listen, but
I’m not really prepared
You just open your presentation book, point to the pretty pages, and say, “here’s a keybox” (I’m not kidding. I’ve seen it….)
Great openings, yes? Yet, we’ve heard them dozens of times. You don’t have to settle for whatever comes ‘naturally’. Instead, make your openings
Provocative
Interesting
Different
Engaging
A Middle that Educates your ‘Audience’ to your Point of View
In the middle of your presentation, add those stories, statistics, and visuals that support your point of view. By the way, as you create that presentation, jot down your point of view. What do you want to persuade your agents to do?
Why use Visuals?
There are two reasons to use visuals in your presentation:
We believe what we see
We retain the information much longer
As you organize your presentation, ask yourself:
What are the main, and frequently, unspoken objections my ‘audience’ will have? How do I educate them to show them the reasoning behind my point of view?
The Ending: Back to the Beginning
Have you thought about your wrap-up? Or, like many presenters, does your ending sound like this?
Well, that’s all. What do you think?
We’re out of time. Thank you. I hope you’ll list with me
I don’t have time to close.
I couldn’t get to much of the material, but you can read it
In fact, even the most professional presenters frequently have trouble with their endings. One of the main reasons is that they run out of time. Another is that they haven’t thought the ending through.
How to Do a Stunning Ending
Crafting an effecting ending is the second most important part of your presentation. (The first is the opening). To craft a great ending,
Go back to your beginning opening theme
Summarize the benefits of going ahead with you/take action
Motivate your ‘audience’ to take action
A Great Presentation is Crafted like a Pop Song
As a musician, I know that all pop tunes are constructed with this format:
theme—variation—theme
This is known in the music business as the ABA format. Think of your favorite pop tune: Hum the beginning. Think of the end. They’re alike, right? It’s the middle—known as the ‘bridge’—that is the humdinger. It wanders all around. Your persuasive presentation should be crafted like that pop tune:
A A compelling start (think Billy Joel, Neil Diamond, etc.)
B An interesting, developed middle, with stories, statistics
A Back to that theme, with a motivating ending
Now, you’re all set to craft a great listing or buyer presentation, great recruiting meeting or sales meeting, or awesome product/service presentation to any audience.
P. S. Practice!
Many more tips on presentations and presentation skills are in my new resource, Knock Their Socks Off: Tips to Make your Best Presentation Ever.
I Can’t Fire Joe….Why Keeping Non-Producers Hurts You–and Them
Posted by: | CommentsEveryone has a Joe (or Josephine) in their offices. Joe has been an agent for six years. He’s the guy who makes coffee every morning. He’s the guy who takes people’s open houses (although he never picks up a customer). He’s even the guy who steps in when someone in the office can’t make their floor time (but he has never converted an inquiry to a client…). He’s also the guy who doesn’t sell a stick of real estate. Woops. I misspoke. He did sell one home once. It was during the ‘on fire’ market. Joe was on floor time. He got a walk in: A buyer who found the home himself, had cash, and was willing to write it up at Joe’s convenience. (After closing, Joe didn’t follow up with the client again. After all, the sale is over, isn’t it?)
What’s the matter with just keeping Joe?
Nothing, if you don’t care about your bottom line. Brokers tell me that a poor hire or a non-productive agent costs them nothing. Unfortunately, that’s far from the case. In this article, we’ll just beat up poor Joe. In the next article, we’ll address the new agent – poor hire.
Here’s How Joe Costs You $$$$$–Lots of $$$$$$
If you read nothing else in this article, please read this line:
Joe is a walking billboard for failure-an effective marketing strategy that communicates your office’s failure to make him successful, and your failure to making him successful.
Joe’s “billboard” publicizes the outcomes from your recruiting, training, and coaching. Here they are.
Recruiting. You find it hard to recruit. See, likes attract. People see that Joe (or lots of Joes) are in your office. Agents do search the MLS to find out what the sales statistics are in offices. (Why would they go to an office that has low production?) Maybe you’re like me, taking over a real estate office where it was known in the area, literally, as “the place you went if you didn’t want to work.” Boy, what a great recruiting endorsement! If so, you know that it’s a terrific uphill battle to recruit good people into a bad office. (Hint: You must get rid of the bad people first, then build on a new foundation. You can’t fool those agents!).
Training. You’re finding it hard to get agents to attend your training classes. Why? Because Joe attends every one of them-and then doesn’t take any action. So, your class endorsement is actually “those classes don’t do any good.”
Coaching. People say they want help, but they won’t go into a coaching relationship with you. Why? Because Joe tells them it won’t do any good. After all, he’s been in your office for five years, and being with you certainly hasn’t done him any good. (Joe also rains on the newer agents’ parades, by convincing them that no lead generating method you endorse is worth their time. After all, the one home Joe sold was a walk-in.)
Joe’s Making Your Success an Uphill Battle
You’ve tried to help Joe. You’ve decided you can’t help him. You’re working harder and longer. Yet, your office culture and productivity just don’t seem to improve. Ask yourself:
What percent of “Joe’s” do you have in your office right now?
Carla’s rule: If you have over 10% seasoned non-producers, you aren’t leading. They are.
In my next blog, I’ll show you a different way of evaluating your agents. It will give you a method you can trust to figure out who to keep and who to terminate.
Motivating from the Inside
Posted by: | Comments
There are two ways to get that motivation, that appreciation, that support you need. We already discussed ‘going outside’ (see the earlier blog). But, there’s another method. That’s the method so few of us use: Going inside. We shy away from acknowledging our own efforts. Why? Perhaps your mom (as mine did) told us not to brag. It was unseemly to be immodest.
Not about Bragging
Acknowledging yourself is not bragging. It is not only positive, it is absolutely critical to do if we are to be effective leaders. We must use all the methods as our disposal to keep ourselves ‘up’, so we can be models for those who follow us.
Going inside. Someone you can always count on. When I was in college, I remember going sailing with a group of people. It was a gorgeous day. We sailed around the large lake, enjoying moderate winds. Then, about 6 o’clock, we decided to sail back to the dock. Problem. No wind. We had no choice but to wait for that wind to bring us back. (or use the little outboard motor, which the purest ‘captain’ was loathe to use.)
Frequently, we count on others to ‘sail us back to the dock of positive attitude’ when we’re down. Like the wind, though, they may not be there when we need them!
Draw a Different Conclusion
Actually, though, we have our own outboard motor on board–our own minds. We have the ability to change our minds about things (especially we women, men say…). We have the ability inside us to re-draw a conclusion about an event. For instance, we managers get ‘down’ when the agent we thought we were going to hire went to another agency. We can look at it as a loss, or as an opportunity to learn from the experience. If we’re good at managing our attitude, we’ll call that agent to find out what attracted that agent to the other company–and learn from the experience.
See Up and Running in 30 Days and the On Track to Success System in 30 Days for motivational tools for agents.
The One Thing You Should Teach All Your New Agents
Posted by: | CommentsHaving 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.
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 you stand out from the crowd better than any other one thing you 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 44 cent 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.
Are You Really Motivating?
Posted by: | CommentsAre your motivating methods working? If you’re using the methods most managers use, they aren’t working like they used to. Why? Because today’s agents just aren’t motivated by the things ‘workers’ used to respond to. Today, it’s very important that we motivate effectively, because we have to get out agents back out into the market.
Motivational Methods Must Change
In his new book, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, Daniel Pink lays out a persuasive case, backed by extensive scientific studies, about why the traditional ‘carrot and stick’ motivational methods just don’t work for us today. It’s especially true with real estate professionals. Why? Because we in effect work for ourselves. We have to be self-starters, initiators, and tenacious in our pursuit of our goals. That means we have to be motivated by things other than promises of material things.
Why Money Doesn’t Work as a Motivator
First, as Pink points out, money and/or material things are good short-term motivators. (Read Herzberg’s studies on short and long-term motivation). In fact, just take a look at the number of real estate agents who are motivated to visit an open house when there’s food! But, as Herzberg and others have pointed out, money is a lousy long-term motivator. You know that if you’ve tried motivating your kids with money—or threats (the carrot and stick).
I know. The agents all say they need to make more sales. But, what have you noticed they are willing to do to make those sales? Lead generate more regularly? Make more sales calls? We all know that lead generating is the answer to that money problem. Yet, the vast majority of agents avoid lead generating as if it gave us some chronic disease! So, money is just not an effective long-term motivator.
Best Motivators to Motivate Others
Pink shows, via extensive studies, that there are three driving motivators which we should put to work today to fire ourselves up, keep those fires lit, and achieve what we want to achieve. They are:
- Autonomy
- Mastery
- Purpose
Questions to Ask Your Agents to Get Them Excited Again
About Autonomy
Are you in charge of your own business, or are you waiting for someone else to tell you what to do?
Do you expect your manager to make you go to work, or are you self-directed and self-starting?
Are you disciplined in your business, so you can enjoy that autonomy?
Seth Godin, author of Tribes, says about autonomy: The art of the art {of autonomy} is picking your limits. That’s the autonomy I must cherish. The freedom to pick my boundaries.
My question to you: Do you have agents that you believe will never operate in autonomy? Don’t you need to invite them to another profession?
About Mastery
Are you working just to get by, or are you consistently working to get better? What do you want to excel at? How does that translate into your business?
About Purpose
What excites you so much you can’t sleep at night?
Is there a way to translate that to your real estate business?
The desire to do something because you find it deeply satisfying and personally challenging inspires the highest levels of creativity, whether it’s in the arts, sciences, or business. Teresa Amabile, Professor, Harvard University
Webinar: How to Motivate
More about effective motivation today: I’m doing a webinar on motivation for the National Association of Realtors’ Learning Library on March 17, at 2 p.m. EST. Click here for more information.
Our Coaching Helps You Motivate
Carla cross’s extensive background and study into effective motivation is an extra benefit to you in her Leadership Mastery coaching program. Click here for a complimentary consultation.
How to Toughen’ Em Up for the ‘New Normal’
Posted by: | CommentsHow do you toughen your agents for the ‘new normal’—that much more challenging market? You’ve probably noted, as I have, that many agents have either gotten out of the business or have dropped to the sidelines, to ‘wait it out’. Why? Because they don’t have the will or the skill to tackle this market. But, there are some agents who are thriving in this market. What’s the difference? Self-confidence and self-esteem. To wildly paraphrase psychologist Maxwell Maltz, we can’t motivate ourselves to raise to a challenge without a concurrent raising of self-esteem.
What did he mean? We just aren’t willing to take risks unless we’re feeling pretty good about ourselves. I think we’d all agree that this is the kind of market that requires us to have a high level of self-confidence. How do managers find it and nurture it?
Symptoms of Self-Esteem Issues
Managers: Are there some agents you have now that just can’t seem to ask the closing questions? Just aren’t willing to lead generate? Run away when faced with objections? If so, read the tips below on helping your agents raise their self-esteem so they can thrive in this market.
Toughening Tips from Top Performers
Great performers MUST have high self-esteem. Just for a moment, pretend that you’ve been chosen to present your recruiting or listing presentation on a 100-foot stage before 30,000 real estate peers. How do you feel? Excited? Scared? Which way are you running? Toward or away from the stage? Because I’ve been on the stage as a musician from the time I was four years old, I’ve had the opportunity to feel those ‘stage’ feelings and have had to learn how to manage my ‘performance’ emotions. Here are three keys to gutsy performance in these challenging real estate markets:
- Practice, practice, practice. You wouldn’t get up in front of those 30,000 people without having practiced your presentation until you were a master. So, don’t go to a single presentation without a high level of practice, either.
Managers: Assume your agents can’t perform competently without practice. Build in practice to every training and coaching session.
- Role play with a coach! I am teaching an Up and Running in 30 Days small group right now. I found that several of the agents just didn’t have compelling reasons for a seller to meet with them. Why? Because they hadn’t practiced their dialogue with a coach. You know your dialogue isn’t very good when you don’t get the listing, but, isn’t it unfortunate that you didn’t have better dialogue to optimize that contact?
Managers: Make role play a part of your training and coaching. You’ll be stunned—and sometimes thrilled—with the creativity of your agents!
- Build your self-esteem with a Professional Portfolio. What is a Portfolio? It is a presentation about YOU–your strengths, your strategies, your differentiators, and, most important, what people have said about you. It’s used to help agents, sellers and buyers get to know the ‘best you’—fast. After all, if they don’t trust you and respect your knowledge, you can’t form a relationship with them.
Tip to managers: Create a version of your Portfolio for your office entry. For a complimentary list of the contents of your Office Portfolio, and suggested topic separators, click here.
The importance of the Portfolio to your self esteem: Because you’re going to put your testimonials in the Portfolio, it will infuse you with self-confidence to make you motivated to tackle those tough buyers, sellers, and transactions.
Armed with these ideas, and the subsequent action, you’ll be providing the toughness necessary for your agents to thrive in the ‘new normal’.
To get your list to create a Book of Greatness, click here.
YOU CAN! ‘Move’ Your Ceiling of Achievement Upward
Posted by: | CommentsIt’s the new year. Are you ready to move that ceiling of achievement you’ve been batting your head against? 2010 is the year you can do it! Without new skills, we just keeping working harder, not smarter. The really bad thing about continuing to beat your head against that ceiling, is that it hurts more and more. You spend more energy just trying to accomplish the same thing.
Too Much Energy, Too Little Results
Worse yet, we bounce off that ceiling and hit a new low every thing we get up the energy to try to break through it. Not only that, the last few years have been discouraging for many in real estate. Don’t give up on yourself! You do have the talent, the skill, and the determination to succeed at a much higher level again.
All Performers Hit ‘Ceilings of Achievement’
As a long-time performing pianist and flutist (I spent the first thirty years of my life playing and teaching music), I had to learn how to constantly change up my playing for the better. In these next few blogs, I’m going to share what I learned as a musician that will change your 2010 performance dramatically—for the better.
You Aren’t as Good as You Can Be—I Promise
I just did a talk for our area’s Women’s Council, on how to have a much better 2010—how to smash through that ceiling of achievement. (Title: Everything I learned about Achievement I learned from Tickling’ the Ivories—also the title of my latest keynote).
As a four-year old, I climbed up on the piano bench and figured out, by ear, how to play “Sue City Sue”—with bass notes, chords, rhythm, melody—the whole shebang. I was acclaimed as a little kid. However, as I got a little older, I found that playing by ear just wasn’t getting me to be a better player. Here’s what I did to get to concert artistry level, and earn a bachelor’s in piano performance—and how you can translate these performance principles to your real estate business.
Get from ‘By Ear’ via your Talent to Conscious Systemization
As a musician, I know that no one can play very well when they try learning only by hearing (playing ‘by ear’). To progress pass a ‘whiz-bang, aren’t you wonderful’ amateur level, musicians must learn to read music, get a great teacher, and learn to practice perfectly. Generally, their teacher/coach will teach them how to practice, and provide the best editions of music. They will teach them will a specific system. The better the system, the coach, the music, and the practice, the higher the performance—the sky is the limit.
The First Time You Do Something Isn’t As Good as it Gets!
What does that mean to a real estate professional? Most of us started selling or managing ‘by ear’. Some of us were talented, and that carried us pretty well for quite a while. But, then, we hit our ‘ceiling of achievement’, and found we were working 24/7 and expending way too much energy—and money. The way out:
- Grasp systems (the best systems you can find)
- Follow processes and checklists
- Get a great coach
- Practice as perfectly as you can
Practitioners—Watch Those Actions, Not Just the Words
Unfortunately, we real estate professionals don’t realize that we are judged on our performance, not our knowledge. So, when you get all antsy because you think you need more classes, stop and think about your performance level, not your knowledge level. Spend more time evaluating your performance, and pay someone to coach to you get better (all performers, whether musicians or golfers, do this, by the way). Critique your systems, and keep refining them because they will subconsciously affect your performance levels.
If I had a piano, I’d demonstrate these points (I do use the piano in the keynote!).
What Do You Want to Work on This Year—from ‘By Ear’ to Systematic?
Do you have some business plan goals for yourself this year to raise your ceiling of achievement? What do you believe is most valuable for you to work on?
Motivating the ‘Tough Case’ Agent
Posted by: | CommentsDo you have any seasoned agents in your office who have lost their fire? There’s probably no challenge for a manager today greater than that of rejuvenating your experienced, valued agents. Even though your market is better than it was, these seasoned agents just don’t seem to be able to re-light those fires of desire. You’ve tried being supportive and empathetic. You’ve even given them leads. Nothing has seemed to work. What are you going to do to retain these agents, motivate these agents, and get them back into the fray?
Before We Start: What Doesn’t Work
As a coach, I’ve been working with management teams to save and re-generate the careers of experienced agents. One of the biggest mistakes I’ve seen managers make is to try to help these seasoned agents through support and empathy. That’s just not enough. And, it’s actually demeaning. Yes, some empathy is needed. But, my observation is that it too often drifts into sympathy. Instead of motivating these seasoned agents to get back at it, these well-meaning but misguided managers are sympathizing the agents into a deeper
You Can Fill the Motivational Void Left by the ‘On Fire’ Market
As a manager, you have the ability to not only provide an atmosphere, along with a platform, to motivate that agent back into the business, you can go much further than that, to “inspiration”.
Just think what would happen if you could get that seasoned, slumping, ‘stuck’ agent back into the business with fervor. The whole attitude of your office would improve. Your coaching would work. Your training would be well attended. Your bottom line would look much healthier.
Two Steps to Create an Awesome Motivational Office
I’ve created a two-step approach to re-ignite your seasoned agents. In the next few blogs, I’ll show you exactly how to not only motivate those agents, but go way beyond motivation to inspiration.
Before I give you my approach, let me ask you to think about what motivates you. What re-lights your fires of desire? How have you noticed your seasoned agents ‘checking out’? Do some observation and research before you read my next blog post.