Archive for Sales
Real Estate Managers: Here’s What Buyers Want from your Agents
Posted by: | CommentsReal estate managers: What do buyers really want from your agents? Yes, we can guess, but, do we really know? As some of you know, I’ve
been a musician almost all my life. From the time I was four, I was ‘tickling the ivories’. As you can imagine, I’ve been through countless examinations, ratings, adjudications, and contests. I’m very familiar with rating systems. One of the ways to get great performance is to know by which perimeters you’ll be evaluated.
How Would your Agents Rate a ’10′?
For example: What would constitute the consumers rating your agent a ‘10’ (out of 10)? It’s very frustrating when you don’t know what great performance looks, sounds, and feels like. If you’ve ever been evaluated and gotten a less than stellar evaluation, you know how frustrating it is to be rated as less than stellar—but not know what constituted ‘great’ in the eyes of those rating us.
Read What Consumers Want from Buyers’ Agents
Besides surveying buyers and asking them to rate agents, the California Association of Realtors asked buyers exactly what they wanted from those buyers’ agents. Here’s what buyers said:
What We Can Learn to Help Us Get those Great Ratings
As you can see, consumers expected agents to be experts at whatever they were doing. They don’t want agents to try to help them in areas where they’re not competent (like trying to sell foreclosures without adequate education). What does that mean to us? The obvious. If our agents going to delve into short sales and foreclosures, our agents need to dedicate themselves to becoming an expert.
My question to you managers/trainers: Are you specifically training to the skills consumers (buyers) said they wanted from their agents? What does your training schedule look like? Do you have a training calendar that includes these areas? What areas are you training to, right now, that fulfil consumer demands?
Coaching: How Much Lead Generation Does Your Agent Need to Do?
Posted by: | CommentsYou’re the coach. You’re helping that seasoned agent re-energize his/her business. The agent asks you, 
“How much lead generation do I HAVE to do, coach? ”
What do you tell the agent? I have a strict, precise lead generating plan with ratios of success in Up and Running in 30 Days. I also have a plan for the seasoned agent in On Track to Success in 30 Days System. But, it’s not quite that simple.
Three Variables to Keep in Mind
I wish I could give you one tight, proven formula. There are variables that make specific formulas difficult to pin down.
Success by the Numbers
I set the expectations for the Up and Running in 30 Days business start-up program based on my experience on the number of contacts it takes to get a lead, then a sale. But, it also depends on several variables, as explained in Up and Running:
1. Type of contact–how warm or cold is it?
How much trust has been established? The warmer the contact, the more trust is already there. So, it takes less contacts in a ‘warm’ target market (like people you know or past clients) to convert to a lead, than to a ‘cold contact’. For example, the Internet marketing companies say it takes 200 contacts to equal one sale.
2. The agent’s sales skill, competency, and tenacity.
How good is the agent at opening sales conversations? How good is the agent at finding out needs? Asking insightful questions? Listening? Guiding the conversation with focus toward a goal of moving the sales process forward? The better the agent is at sales skills, the easier he/she will find it to sell–and the better the lead and conversion ratios.
3. The market–buyers and sellers are more hesitant to ‘turn themselves in’ today.
Sales skills come back into play here. It’s not a market where people just fall all over themselves to buy and sell real estate. You have to have skills, tenacity, and competency.
How can you tell the numbers it takes?
Provide a tracking process as you coach. (There are tracking Excel spreadsheets with goals and ‘actuals’ in both Up and Running and on Track). Set up goals for each target market and track the agent’s conversion rates with him/her . Now you know the specific work it takes for the agent to generate a lead, create an interview, work with buyers and sellers, and get sales results. Armed with those numbers, you can customize a program like Up and Running.
The problem: Most agents work way too few lead generation numbers and sources. In fact, they have so few, it’s impossible to extrapolate ratios. That’s why Up and Running and the four -week regeneration plan in the On Track to Success in 30 Days System (for seasoned agents) have such big numbers–it’s an insurance plan.
What your agent needs to succeed: Tenacity, a business generation plan, and action. Help each agent set goals and keep accomplishments. Analyze them. Point out their best sources of business and help them work them with consistency. Teach classes and have them practice and polish sales skills. Remember, you are helping each agent, one at a time, develop an enviable career.
Webinars: How to Engage Them, not Enrage Them (or worse yet, Bore Them)
Posted by: | CommentsDeath by webinar. We’ve all been there. Here are nine methods to engage your viewers, so you don’t lose them. You can become a very skilled webinar ‘artist’ just by integrating some of these methods into your ‘repertoire’.
1. Engage them early and often. One way is to use polls. Not only will 
polls engage your viewers, the answers will give lots of information for articles and blogs. Be sure to tell your audience at the beginning that you’re going to use polls—and why.
An example of a poll:
When I’m doing business planning webinars, I ask managers:
“What percent of managers do you believe have a business plan?”
Then, I have multiple possible answers. After I’ve polled, I share with everyone, and I ‘translate’ or interpret the answers. This is a pool I use toward the beginning of the webinar. Then, I can make the point on why planning is important. I may ask, “Why don’t managers plan?”
Point: Be sure your polls have a rhyme and reason, and that they form a bridge from where to are to where you want to go. Doing a poll just to do a poll does not engage.
How many polls?
In 45 minutes, use 3-5 polls. That’s plenty. Any more, and you’ll be too busy polling to get much more done.I also am careful to space my polls. For example, if I have a poll after slide 3, and I have a total of 30 slides, I’ll try to have another poll at about slide 7-9.
How long should you hold your polls open? Make your audience do the poll fast. Otherwise, you’ll have lots of dead air. You can see the percent of people who have completed the poll. When you get to about 80%, tell people you are closing the poll. Then, publish the results and comment.
2. Allow and encourage participants to ask questions in writing. When I’m doing a webinar for the National Association of Realtors, I hold questions until the end. I end at 45 minutes after the hour, and take questions. At the beginning of the webinar, I explain how questions will be handled (at the end of the presentation). I ask participants to write their questions as they think of them. As I can, I look at questions during the presentation. If there’s one that can/should be answered during the presentation, I handle it them. Otherwise, I handle them all at the end.
3. Allow audience to raise hands. You’ll see the indicator that a hand is raised. You can allow or not allow this feature.
4. Allow audience to ask questions verbally. You can also mute or 
unmute audience’s phones—or allow them to do so. Warning about unmuting: Some people have music on ‘hold’ on their phones. If they are unmated, and they put you on hold, all of your audience will hear the music—and you can’t stop it! So, I don’t allow unmuting with audiences of any size.
5. Allow the ‘chat’ feature. You can set this feature so the audience can chat with each other, or with you. I find it very difficult to carry on a chat when I’m doing the webinar! But, if you have a moderator, that moderator can field the ‘private chat’ and/or questions.
6. Use the whiteboard that is included with some applications (see DimDim, for instance). With some programs, you can actually have the participants take over the whiteboard. I haven’t done that, but it’s possible. Studies show that creating something in front of your viewer is more attention-catching than showing the completed picture.
7. Use your computer’s webcam for your introduction. And, you can also then use your whiteboard.
8. Share your desktop with more than PowerPoint, including Internet or a video.
9. Ask audiences to tweet or IM their messages to a central location. My
friend Jonathan Nicholas, recommends paratweet.com. You can put the tweets on your screen, too.
Wow! Sounds like you’ll be really busy. But, don’t get overwhelmed. Just do one or two of these things in a 45 minute webinar and you’ll be one of the top webinar presenters.
Next blog: Presentation tips.
Want some right now? Check out Knock Their Socks Off: Tips to Make your Best Presentation Ever.
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.
Who Gets you Up when You’re Down?
Posted by: | CommentsWho gets you up when you’re down? That’s a really important question for us managers. Why? Because we’re expected to be the ‘cheerleaders’ for our associates. So, if we’re down, we can bring everyone down.
Have you ever gotten poison oak? In Oregon’s Willamette Valley, where I grew up, poison ivy seemed to be waiting in the woods ready to attack me each time I ventured out of my yard. Getting poison ivy meant itchy skin, at the least, and, at its worst, it meant a face swollen to the point where my eyes were just slits. That will get you down. In fact, I’d look in the mirror and wonder if I’d ever look like me again.
During one particularly horrible bout with my enemy, poison oak (you can tell I really hated this stuff), I remember riding in the car with my mother to pick up my sister at school. (I couldn’t go to school with the poison oak raging, but I was probably driving my mother so crazy that she let me take this little trip). We got near the school, and I forgot I had this grotesquely swollen face for a moment. I waved at a friend. I got a stare back. Turning to my mom, I asked, “Will I ever get over this?” Of course, as good moms do, she replied, “Of course, sweetie. It’s just temporary. You’ll look like your cheery little self real soon again.” And, of course, after a couple of weeks, I did resemble me.
What do you do when your mom’s not there?
We managers have many varieties of poison oak waiting to attack us as we venture into the ‘woods of management’ each day. An agent leaves us, a call from an unhappy seller, a letter from a new homeowner, saying, “What is your company going to do about our pest infestation problem?” I’ll bet you can think of 25 others! Sometimes you wish your mom could just sit with you in your office each day and say, over and over, “It’s okay, honey. They don’t dislike you, they just have a problem.” Sounds far fetched, but, the real question is, “Who gets you up when you’re down?”
An industry-wide Problem
It’s not just us brokers who seem to be fighting more ‘poison oak’ every day. It’s all of us in the industry. As agents capture more of the commission dollars, they’re more ‘on their own’. They’re fighting more of their own battles, with less management help. There’s less ‘broker supervision’. Now, to independent people like you and me, that sounds great. We don’t need someone standing over our shoulder telling us what to do. But, there’s a downside to no supervision. When we do something right, there’s no one to congratulate us! And, since most of us in this industry thrive on recognition, we’ve given up a chance to get it from an ‘authority’. On the other hand, when things go wrong, with less interest and guidance in how we’re doing, we’ve given up the chance to let someone who cares about us ‘pump us up’ when we’re down.
How do you respond to barriers? How quickly can you bounce back? Tell me your strategies and share them with our readers. In the next blogs, I’ll tackle some strategies to pick ourselves up–again and again.
By the way, in Up and Running in 30 Days, and The On Track to Success in 30 Days System for Experienced Agents, I provide lots of motivation and methods for agents to stay energized as they tackle the challenges of sales today.
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.
Managers: Are Your Agents Raising or Eroding Trust?
Posted by: | CommentsIn my blog a few days ago, I talked about how agents need to ‘up’ their trust establishment in this non-trusting world. I gave you the first five methods to train your agents to create trustworthiness. Now, here are the last 5 methods.
6. Tell the truth attractively. Show evidence. Don’t try to scare the client into action by predicting the future.
Have you trained your agents to ‘tell the truth attractively’? Have you hung out with them when they are doing listing or buyers’ presentations? Want to get scared?
7. Evaluate the client for long-term relationships. Is the client someone you want to add to your ‘tribe’?
Teach your agents to qualify buyers and sellers according to their ability to become long-term clients, not one-time sales.
8. Use ‘tough love’ with a client to tell the truth, turn down a client—to stay true to your values. Do what’s best for the client.
A study of very successful agents showed that they regularly let the client know whether the client’s desires were reasonable—or not. Have you trained your agents to do that? Do you have evaluators for this purpose?
9. Re-cap. Regularly, stop and re-cap with the client. Do this, too, when you can’t meet client expectations.
Practice the re-cap with your agents. In other words, take the client back to the office and re-cap what happened and what’s next.
10. Book of Greatness: Don’t brag about yourself in the middle of a presentation. Create a ‘Book of Greatness’ to use in your pre-first visit so your clients get to know you and your approach to sales.
Managers: For your list of what can go in your Book of Greatness in your lobby (what a great recruiting tool!), click here.
Skill enhancers, time savers, and presentation builders:
See Your Professional Portfolio to assemble an effective ‘book of greatness for agents.
See The Complete Buyer’s Agent Toolkit* to assemble and present your presentations to buyers. includes all presentations and evaluators.
See Your Client-Based Marketed System* to create presentations and systems to work effectively with sellers. Includes evaluators–self-training.
See Objection-Busters for buyers and sellers to handle barriers to a sale.
*tested and recommended by CRS (Council of Residential Specialists)
Your Agents: Creating Platinum or Tarnished Trust?
Posted by: | CommentsWe’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 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.
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.
The Ten Tips
Here are the first 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?
Check out 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’?
Skill enhancers, time savers, and presentation builders:
See Your Professional Portfolio to assemble an effective ‘book of greatness.
See The Complete Buyer’s Agent Toolkit* to assemble and present your presentations to buyers.
See Your Client-Based Marketed System* to create presentations and systems to work effectively with sellers.
See Objection-Busters for buyers and sellers to handle barriers to a sale.
*tested and recommended by CRS (Council of Residential Specialists)
Is the Dual Career Agent Causing more Harm than Good?
Posted by: | CommentsAgents with two careers are on the rise. Are they harming your reputation? In Stefan Swanepoel’s publication, Trends Report 2010, he calls the real estate licensee with another job the ‘dual career’ agent. That’s what we used to call the ‘part-timer’. Although ‘dual career’ sounds much more important than ‘part-time’, the result is the same: Less time to devote to the consumer. Being pulled in two directions is very difficult. The conflict that an agent feels when he has another job is causing the consumer to rate our service lower than ever before.
Dual Careerists Are a Growing Trend
More and more real estate agents are getting second jobs to make ends meet. In fact, the 2009 National Association of Realtors’ Member Profile says that 26% of Realtors stated that real estate was not their only occupation. (I’m sure that many more licensees who aren’t Realtors have other major sources of income). In addition, less than half of all Realtors surveyed reported that real estate was their primary source of household income.
Is the Dual Careerist Doing the Industry More Harm than Good?
Having been an agent, manager and owner a long time, I know how difficult it is at times for an agent to ‘hang in there’, put their heads down, and keep working through tough times. It’s a great temptation, and a relief for many to take that other job just to ‘tide them over’. From the broker’s perspective, too, keeping the agent at least licensed with the brokerage to get that one transaction seems to be better than losing that one transaction.
Several problems accrue, when the agent gets another job:
- The agent’s mind, energy, and dollars drift away from the needs of the consumer because the agent must focus on another job
- The agent can’t keep up on the technical, legal, and business developments
- The consumer demands just can’t be met when the agent is unavailable for large blocks of time
- The broker must carry a much bigger responsibility for the agent’s transactions
If you are a broker who finds more and more of your agents getting other jobs, ask yourself, “What do I need to do to get these agents’ careers off the ground so they don’t need second jobs?” Now, get the game plans and coaching expertise you need to get on the ‘offensive’ with agents’ careers.