Archive for Launching Right in Real Estate
Interview Time Saver: Questionnaire on Your Ideal Job
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Interview time saver: Use this self-analysis tool.
Having interviewed at least hundreds of would-be agents, I know that they really don’t want to be interviewed. They want information. So, I used to spend hours educating them. That is, until I figured out that shouldn’t be my job. But, somebody has to, right? That’s why I wrote Launching Right in Real Estate: What They Won’t Teach You in Pre-License School.
Pre-qualifying Tools for You
When I wrote the book, I was thinking of those hundreds–or thousands–or hours I spent, and how futile that was. Why? Because the majority of those people either wouldn’t go into real estate or weren’t serious about making it a career. Was I naive? Sure. Did I do a poor job of screening? Yes. But, that’s how I learned to provide the information would-be agents need, and the self-screening tools to help them make the best decisions for them.
Help Them Choose the Best Job for Them
One of the pre-qualifying tools I created for the Launch book is called ‘What’s Your Ideal Job’? This helps people clarify what they really want. It also opens the door for you to probe further to find out what’s really on their minds.
Make your Career Night Stand Out
Most career nights are simply sales jobs. The speaker tries to convince everyone to join the company. And, these speakers are good salespeople! So, many people go into real estate sales who really shouldn’t be there. That’s one of the reasons we have those high turnover rates. Using the self-analysis tools in the Launch eBook for your Career Nights will help you screen people properly–and will help them separate the myths from the truths about selling real estate.
The Self-Analysis Tool: What’s Your Ideal Job?
Use this in your Information Package and/or Career Nights. Let me know how it works for you. Here’s to an effective, time-saving process for pre-screening your candidates.
Figure_1.1_Your_Ideal_Job-with-reference
A Simple Method to Help Your Agents Manage Time
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A simple way to help your agents manage time.
We all have the same amount of time. Yet, some agents start their careers like rockets, launching fast. Others just can’t seem to get a foothold.
I’m just finishing my new book, Launching Right in Real Estate: What They Won’t Teach You in Pre-License School (out in about 3 weeks). Although the book is written for the person thinking about real estate as a career, or is in pre-license, this book actually is a treasure trove for any agent. Why? It
- Lays out a simple, effective business start-up plan
- It exposes the mistakes agents make in launch, that costs them time and money–and sometimes a whole career
- It helps agent budget–both personally and professionally
Time Allocations for Newer Agents
New agents attend training school. They learn lots of interesting–and sometimes valuable-information. But, they seldom learn how to organize their businesses, prioritize their time, and measure their advancement. One of the basic premises to success is to allocate their time to the right activities. Here’s my list, from Launching Right in Real Estate:
Figure_3.6_Time_Commitments__How_To_Allocate_Your_TimeCommon Time Management Mistakes
The new agent: We go into real estate with lots of confidence. We love houses. We like people. We want to help people. Then, we find out there’s a whole lot to learn. So, we spend most of our time ‘getting ready’. I’ve watched new agents spend many months learning–and avoiding jumping on what I term the sales path--talking to, working with, and selling homes to real people.
Compare Your Agent’s Time Management to My Allocations
Use my time management allocations to coach your agents. What do you see as differences? What are the activities leading to a sale? What are the activities that actually protect you from working with those challenging people–those potential clients? What adjustments do you want to make to create a faster career launch for yourself?
Career Night Strategy: A Great Way to Involve Your Attendees and Recruit More Winners
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Holding career nights is one of the lead generating methods recruiters use to find great recruiters. But, too many career nights sound the same: Sales spiels of the company and how great the company is. After while, it’s not believable. Instead, why not use some methods to involve attendees and help them self-select for real estate.
Hiring Someone Who Won’t Contribute Doesn’t Help You
First, before I show you my quick questionnaire of self-analysis, let me ask you: Do you want to hire anybody, just to have a body? I know. Managers tell me they are careful who they hire. Yet, 50-75% of their hires fail in the first year. How does that compare with retention rates of other businesses? Not so good–in fact, it’s pathetic…..
What Do You Gain with High Turnover?
Well, you do gain bodies and momentum for a short time. You gain bragging rights. Maybe you even gain market share–at least agent market share. And, it takes some time to see what you are losing. So, what do you lose?
- Your good agents–they don’t want to work with non-producers
- Your staff–they burn out trying to help those who won’t go to work
- Your bottom line–your expenses go up, without profit coming in
- Your position in the market–you become the place to go where people don’t work
Help Them Screen Themselves Before they Enter Real Estate
I’m just finishing my book, Launching Right in Real Estate: What They Don’t Teach You in Pre-License School. In it, I’ve put several self-analysis tools to help those interested people decide whether they will love real estate, are willing to do the work, and what it takes to succeed. Here’s one of those analysis tools:
Figure_1.2_Self-Analysis_Attributes_for_SuccessMake Your Career Night Stand Out: Be the Counselor, not the Salesperson
Most people who hold career nights act like super salespeople, and they may be. But, just selling someone on something without interviewing them is against all the sales principles we use today. Why not follow the guidelines of principles sales, and inform, educate, and counsel. You’ll stand out as a quality company who upholds its values and chooses wisely. Great recruits will appreciate your approach.
Let me know how this self-analysis works for you.
Is the “A” Word in your Vocabulary?
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Here’s why your agents aren’t achieving to their potential, and what you can do about it.
Each week, I do a live Zoom coaching call with all those agents and coaches in my Up and Running in Real Estate program. This week, we talked about why many agents don’t make it in real estate–or fail to achieve their goals.
We’re New: How Would We Know what Good Performance Looks Like?
I surveyed 400 agents under three months in the business to find out their expectations for income–and when they expected to make their first sale. (See Launching Right in Real Estate: What They Won’t Teach You in Pre-License School). The majority of these agents said they expected (not wanted, but expected) to make their first sale in 30 days. What does that mean? They must go to work lead generating their first week in the office. But, most agents feel they just can’t go talk to people. They need training. Lots of training. So, they sit in the classroom for weeks, soaking up the expertise of the instructors. Then, unfortunately, their money runs out before they really get started. Their self-esteem goes in the dumper. They don’t know what good performance looks like.
Coaches provide the Framework for Good Performance
Let’s say you want to learn to play the piano. So, you come to me for piano lessons (I taught piano for several years). We have our first lesson, and I give you the assignment: Practice the lesson a half hour a day. That is the expectation. You are accountable to play for me next week–and to play up to an acceptable standard. I’m serious that this is the way you’ll learn to play. But, you don’t practice that week. When you come to your lesson, guess what? I’ll have to fire myself as your teacher. Why? Because my reputation depends on your being able to play. Not only that, you told me you wanted to learn to play the piano.
Accountability in the Real Estate Office: Coaches Have Three Jobs
Your new agent just doesn’t know what’s expected of her. She doesn’t know what it takes to succeed.
- Your first job as her coach is to lay out a program that will get her the sales she desires in the time frame she desires. That’s the ‘music’.
- Your second job is to provide expectations.
- Your third job is to hold her accountable to the actions she agreed to do.
Anything Goes…
In many real estate offices today, there are no expectations. There isn’t any accountability. Even though we provide training and good advice, agents get the idea they can take it or leave it. When they leave it, they fail. Because we don’t carry through, agents think they don’t have to do certain activities to achieve.
How do you use the laws of achievement (a plan, expectations, and accountability) to help your agents succeed?
Be Prepared! Five Questions Every Candidate Should Ask
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Here are the questions I think are most important for a would-be or transferring agent should ask their interviewers.
Unfortunately, the interview process is not as practiced or prepared by either party as it could be. So, the interviewer doesn’t find out critical information from the candidate, and the candidate asks a few general questions. I hate to say this, but some interviewers spend most of the time selling the candidate on the benefits of that particular company. Candidates get excited and join–and then find out there’s more to the story.
Any Surprises Should be Good Ones
It’s very dis-enheartening when the agent new to an office finds out that something he heard–or assumed–was not exactly what he found after being hired. Guard against that by fully informing that would-be agent prior to hiring. The only surprises the agent should get are good ones!
It’s a Retention Issue
I don’t think we in real estate appreciate how important our approach to interviewing and onboarding is to retention. According to a recent business onboarding survey, the majority of those new to companies (all companies, not just real estate), decide in the first 30 days whether they want to stay with the company. It pays to be fully transparent and consistent, from that first interview, through onboarding, and into training.
Those Questions Candidates Should Ask
Here are the questions, excerpted from my new eBook, Launching Right in Real Estate: What They Won’t Teach You in Pre-LIcense School.
Figure_9.6_The_Five_Critical_Questions_to_Ask_croppedWhat do you think I’ve missed with this critical list of questions?
P. S. Launching Right in Real Estate has 77 questions or categories for candidates to choose from, to assure they get the information they need to make the right choices for them.
Launching Right in Real Estate: What They Won’t Teach You in Pre-License School.
Tips to Help Them Pass that Real Estate License Test
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You’ve interviewed that would-be agent with great potential. Here’s a method to not only stay in touch, and support them like no other manager will.
Launching Right in Real Estate, What They Won’t Teach You in Pre-License school, tells would-be agents everything they need to know to choose real estate as a career, how to prepare for the license exam, the secrets of a great interview, choosing the best company, office, and manager for each individual–every question a would-be agent has! Here’s an excerpt from the chapter on real estate exams: What to expect and how to pass that exam the first time.
Tip #1: Before each in-class session, or when you start your next online chapter, skim the new chapter for highlights. Then, read the chapter carefully. You need to get the “big picture” before you grasp the details. This is “the forest and the trees” study truism: “You can’t see the forest for the trees.” When you use this study tip, you will see both when you need to.
Learning Fact: Experts tell us we “learn what we already know.” In other words, you must have a context for what you are learning. By seeing the big picture first, you have context. Then, you fill in the blanks with the details. Works every time… I promise.
Tip #2: Right after class, review your class subjects and notes. Why? We remember only ten percent of what we’ve heard three days after we heard it.
Learning Fact: We learn through repetition. You will need to revisit each concept at least six times to commit it to memory.
Tip #3: Make a notebook (hard copy or online) with all the definitions you covered in each class session. Create test questions to match words and definitions.
Learning Fact: It takes time and repetition to make that learning stick long-term. Now you are making your learning go deeper. You are rearranging it so you really grasp it.
Tip #4: If you learn through listening, and you can’t listen to audio only, record yourself saying the definitions. Play these in your car as you drive.
Learning Fact: Use all the senses to learn. Seeing, hearing, and using the material increases your retention to 65 percent three days later.
Tip #5: Keep up with the class work. Faithfully attend every session and study every chapter. Study regularly between sessions. If you have ever gotten behind on your work in school, you know why this is important!
Take every practice exam until you are comfortable with the process and format.
Learning Fact: When you are successful doing something, your fear goes away, and you look forward to doing that again. Train yourself to win!
Taking the Test
Face it. We have all had exam anxiety at some time. Here are five pointers that will help you relax, control your emotions, and pass the test the first time you take it:
- Read each question slowly; then, read all the possible answers. Do not jump to conclusions to mark the “right” answer. Instead, tell yourself why each answer is wrong. By the process of elimination, find the only answer you think is correct. If you find two out of four that may be correct, leave that question and come back to it.
- Remember, the point of the exam is to limit the number of agents coming into the field. One of the ways to do this is to write exams where exam takers jump to the “right” answer. Do not fall for it!
- Do not answer any questions unless you are absolutely sure of the answer. Skip questions for which you are unsure and come back to them. You will either remember the answer later as you “warm up,” or the remaining questions will give you some hints as to the other answers.
- Take your time. You will have plenty of time to answer each question on the exam.
- Build your self-confidence as you start by skimming the exam. Find some questions you are certain you can correctly answer and answer them first. Amazingly, when your mind gets warmed up, you will find you can think through questions that baffled you when you tried to attack them at the beginning of the testing period.
- Let the test give you the answers. By reading through the complete test first, answering only the questions you are sure of, you will find hints of other answers. Your confidence will soar, and you will find you are answering more questions as the test period continues.
These tips are excerpted from my new eBook for anyone interested in real estate as a career. Carla Cross, CRB, MA, has interviewed thousands of would-be agents. As a successful real estate agent, manager, owner, regional director, and international trainer, Cross knows the questions you have—and what you may not be told—and should know. Order her new eBook here.
Managers: Use this to inform those great potential agents while you save time so you don’t have to answer the same questions again and again. Helps the best candidates choose real estate as a career and take it seriously.
New! For Your Career Nights
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Here’s something to put new energy and interest into your Career Nights.
In my new book, Launching Right in Real Estate: What They Won’t Teach You in Pre-License School, I provide several self-analysis tools so people can make the decision that’s right for them. Unfortunately, often would-be agents are not informed. Instead, they’re sold. They get excited about real estate as a career, see the ‘easy money’, and think it’s for them. Not so fast. Selling real estate can be a wonderful career for the right person. And, it’s the wrong career for some people, too.
Put the Selling Aside and Let Attendees Discover
Unfortunately, Career Nights can dissolve into sales pitches. Instead, give some time to helping attendees discover whether they are right for real estate.
Use this quick questionnaire help attendees rate themselves in the qualities that make agents successful.
Take the Questionnaire Yourself. How Many Threes Did You Give Yourself?
You can rate yourself from “3”, which means you rate yourself as having lots of that quality, to a “1”, meaning you have not so much.
Congratulations! Every ‘3’ represents a quality that successful agents exhibit. Here’s what I mean.
#1. Successful agents get up in the morning and start their day in a productive way. They have a great deal of self-discipline. No one has to kick them out of bed or tell them to get to work.
#2. Successful agents finish the job, even if it takes them 12 hours that day. Unsuccessful agents great selling real estate like a 9-5 job. Doesn’t work with clients!
#3. Successful agents don’t shy away from challenges. They’re always learning and striving.
#4. Successful agents don’t wait for someone to invite them. They organize, motivate, and inspire!
#5. Successful agents have a great belief in their abilities to succeed, even when others don’t.
#6. Successful agents always keep their promises; clients can count on them.
#7. Successful agents are ‘learning based’. They don’t believe their training is over after that initial office training!
#8. Successful agents love accomplishing things. That’s their motivation–not just the money.
#9. Successful agents learn to handle the great deal of rejection we get in this business. They’re very tough-minded.
#10. Successful agents are willing to jump off the high diving board without gathering every bit of information available anytime.
What’s a Trait of Successful Agents I didn’t mention?
Let me know what I missed. There are a myriad of qualities and traits successful agents exhibit each day. Also, let me know how this energizes and changes your Career Nights so they stand out from the others.
Training Video: How to Help Your Agents Get to ‘Yes’
Posted by: | CommentsNo means no, right? No, it doesn’t. Watch this short video to find out who it takes several ‘nos’ to get to ‘yes’. How many more deals could you and your agents complete if you could help them graciously get past the ‘nos’ to ‘yes’?
Training tip: Use this video to start a discussion on how to keep the relationship going, and how to avoid that final ‘no’. You will be amazed at the increased number of transactions your agents will complete.
Are You Prepared for those 77 Interview Questions?
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Are you prepared for those 77 interview questions?
You’re interviewing a would-be agent. But, you quickly find out these aren’t interviews. These are Q and A. And, the would-be agent is asking all the questions. You, ever gracious, are taking hours with each person. Unfortunately, you never see most of them again.
I just finished my new eBook Launching Right in Real Estate: What They Won’t Teach You in Pre-License School. Of course, to write the book, I contacted dozens of newer agents. I also drew on my experience of having interviewed thousands of eager, enthusiastic–and naive–people who thought they would love selling real estate.
They Have More Questions than You have Time to Give
When I was a new manager, I graciously spent hours answering these many questions. I found out, though, that I didn’t get to know the candidate at all. Why? Because they just weren’t far enough along in the ‘gathering information’ process to answer my candidate questions. They were just hungry to get information.
Would-Be Agents Get Lots of Dis-Information
I found out that these would-be agents thought:
- They would make $100,000 their first year in the business
- They could work 20 hours a week.
- The business consisted of looking at pretty houses and selling them to clients that magically appeared.
- Somehow, the client would find the agent.
- Armed with business cards and a good company name, the agent would provide great service, were ‘honest’, ‘worked hard’, and would ‘go the extra route’. (Heard those claims before?)
- Someone (manager, company, relo, websites) would provide them leads–all people ready and willing to buy from that agent.
- Their training program would give them all the answers and they would be educated to deal with any client.
Where Did the Would-be Agent Get These Fantasy Ideas?
From affiliates, friends, reading, and, unfortunately, some interviewers. Oh, I almost forgot. They also get it from agents who write those ‘how I made a gazillion dollars selling real estate in a half year in my spare time’.
How Do You Set the Record Straight?
I tried to solve that problem by handing the would-be agent lots of information. Finally, one of my new agents said, “Why don’t you put that in a book?” So, I did. I found providing the book early on in the relationship saved both the would-be agent and I time, and gave the would-be agent better information with which to interview.
Back to those 77 Interview Questions
Get ready to answer ANY of these 77 interview questions…..
Download those interview questions and topics below.
Save time and give those eager would-be agents good, straightforward, realistic information. The easy way to do that is to get Launching Right in Real Estate and provide it to your would-be agents. Pre-order now and get it at half price (regularly $24.95, now $12.95). Available June 1, 2021.
The Five Most Important Questions Would-be Agents Should Ask You
Posted by: | CommentsWhat do you think are the five most important questions the would-be agent should ask you? I know. You have your favorite interview questions. At the same time, the prospective agent has questions for you. I’m just publishing my new book, Launching Right in Real Estate: What They Won’t Teach You in Pre-License School.
In this new eBook, I answer the myriad of questions the new agent candidate has. In addition, I provide advice on whether real estate may be for them (a series of self-analyses), a look at a day in the life, so they know what to expect, and the business start-up plan to assure they make a sale fast.
Thousands of “Interviews” have Taught me a Lot
The other day, I figured the number of interviews I had done with would-be agents. I was astounded to find it was in the thousands. Did I ever learn a lot from holding these interviews. At first, I interviewed them–well, I thought I interviewed them. But, in reality, it wasn’t an interview, it was a Q and A–and they were asking all the questions. So, I started putting all those questions and answers in handouts. Finally, one of my newer agents said, ‘You should put that in a book.” So, I did. Then, when a prospective agent wanted an “interview”, I provided them the book. When they were into the pre-license course, I would schedule an interview. What I found was that I could really do an interview. I could spend most of the time asking questions and deciding for myself whether that person would be successful in real estate, and whether she would be a ‘fit’ with my company.
A Question for You First
Before I show you the questions that I advise readers to ask, let me ask you:
Those Five Important Questions
Your Turn: What Do You Think Prospective Agents Should Ask?