Archive for Management
Help Your Agents Choose the Absolute Best Team Leader for Them
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Help your agents choose the absolute best team leader for them.
As a three-decade owner and manager on the firing line, I’ve seen some teams thrive and many others fail. Here are the questions an agent should ask before joining a team, from my new book, Launching Right in Real Estate: What They Won’t Teach You in Pre-License School.
Questions:
- How many leads are distributed to a team member per week? Per month?
- Am I expected to generate leads for the team? How many a month?
- Let me see your vision and mission statements. What are the values you expect your team to uphold?
- If I want to leave the team, how will you help me transition to my own business?
- How will I be held accountable? (meetings/reports/CRM input)
- Ask how much turnover there has been on the team.
- Ask whether you can sell and list houses outside the team—and how much the rainmaker will charge you if you do.
- What is your experience as a leader? (courses, jobs, etc.)
- What are the systems you use? See the specific systems the rainmaker will use with his team. Lack of systems means the team will not operate as a team, and you will be left trying to figure out how to take action on your own.
- What is your commission structure: Read the contract the rainmaker asks you to sign. Be sure you understand the consequences of your involvement. Evaluate how good a leader that rainmaker is.
- Interview tip: Do not lead with a question about commissions! As a manager, that was a red flag to me. I want to see if we are a ‘fit’ before we talk specifics about pay.
Great Salespeople; Lousy Leaders
Some rainmakers are great salespeople, but lousy leaders. As a result, their team never jells. Most team leaders ultimately expect their team members to generate their own leads in addition to team leads. If you cannot meet the rainmaker’s expectations, you are terminated. Be willing and ready to take the responsibilities of team membership seriously.
Starting Over: When you leave the team, you are generally starting again as a new agent, since you have not generated your own leads (unless you have worked for an exceptional team leader who has helped nurture you so you can transition successfully into your own business).
Managers: What did I forget? What is your experience working with teams in your office?
Launching Right in Real Estate: What They Won’t Teach You in Pre-License School will save you hundreds of hours in explaining real estate to would-be agents. It will help you advise people in whether real estate is the career for them. Now, available in paperback or eBook. You need this book so you know what I’m advising would-be agents to look for, too!
P. S. Great tools, too, to use for your Career Nights.
Why Your PowerPoint Isn’t Your Outline!
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Here’s why your handout just can’t be your PowerPoint slides.
I know. It’s easy to rely on those slides. Some presenters just read the slides, word for word. How interesting. How entertaining. That’s how to keep your audience engaged–not. Just as bad, some trainers use those slides as the outline or handouts. Here’s why that’s not in your best interest–or your audience’s.
- You’ve just given out your presentation via your slides in advance–so your audience doesn’t have to pay attention to you! You’ve seen it. You hand out the ‘outline’–just the PowerPoint slides–and your audience immediately flips through all of them. Now, why do you have to be there? You don’t, and they know it! You’ve just given away all your mystery, your interest, and the reason for you to be there to command their attention.
- It looks lazy–and it is. If you want to impress your audience with your training expertise, your outline and/or handouts goes a long way in this regard. Which would you be more impressed with, those slides as a handout (which they are going to see in a minute), or a handout that was a ‘keeper’ for attendees to use practically in their own businesses?
Solutions
- Make your outline or handout something that audiences interact with during the presentation. Tomorrow, I’ll be doing my ‘live’ workshop on how to teach: Instructor Development Workshop. During the workshop I’ll have attendees apply what they’re learning to their own teaching and courses. Written right into the outline, the attendees with answer questions and grapple with the real application of what I’m teaching in that module. I’ve put these questionnaires and applications into the course so they appear 6 times. I call this ‘reflection time’. So, they will walk out with ready-to-use solutions to their presentation challenges. I want them to refer to that outline indefinitely, and use it as a resource. I want them to remember me forever, not just try to recall my name during these two days.
- Include handouts that are useful AFTER your event. Because we’re doing so many more virtual events, I’m including a small module on how to use the course strategies in a virtual presentation. I’ve created a 2-page handout–a checklist for attendees to use as they create their presentations. I hope this will be ‘evergreen’–that they will use this checklist forever and think of me!
Become Memorable
Doing your presentation is an opportunity to educate. And, it’s an opportunity to become memorable. Many of you reading this are affiliates who want more business. Many of you are managers who want great recruits. Leaving something with your attendees that they will use in their own businesses assures you are memorable. They will remember your expertise and your determination to go the extra way to help them succeed.
Join us for a unique Mastermind group, where we’ll work on our presentation skills and courses. Carla will facilitate, and you’ll have an opportunity to work directly with her and others in the group. You’ll also have the opportunity to try out parts of your course to see how it works. Contact Carla at 425-392-6914 or carla@carlacross.com to find out more.
8 weeks; weekly Zoom conferencing; $499.
Presenters’ Panic Time: Why Can’t I Keep their Attention?
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You’re giving them great information. But, they aren’t paying attention. This can be a problem, whether you’re training or giving a client presentation. Here’s the reason their attention is wandering, and what to do about it. Watch the 2-minute video.
In later videos, I’ll show you different methods of bringing people’s attention back to you–gracefully, so you get greater audience engagement and better results.
The Five Interview Questions You Need to be Ready to Answer
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Here are the five questions you need to be prepared to answer. They probably aren’t the questions you’ve anticipated.
I’ve just finished my new book, Launching Right in Real Estate: What They Won’t Teach You in Pre-License School. It addresses every question I’ve been asked by the hundreds of would-be agents I’ve interviewed.
Agents Get Many Misperceptions about the Business
I know. As an interviewer, you want to sell your company, your office, and yourself. That’s fine. But, many would-be agents draw the wrong conclusions from those sales pitches. They get the idea that real estate is easy. They hear they are special. They assume they will make gazillions of bucks–just like they see in those reality TV shows. Plus, they get information from other sources: Their agent friends, their other friends, etc. The result is that they go into the business with rose-colored glasses. That’s why it’s estimated that over half of all agents who enter the business in any given year are out of the business by the end of that year.
Agents Need to Look Behind the Curtain
Besides the sales presentations, would-be agents need a full picture of the business, so they can make good decisions. In my Launching book, I give would-be agents the facts about real estate sales. I provide them self-analysis tools so they can find out if they are good candidates for this business. In addition, I give them the five most important questions they should ask their interviewer. Here they are:
Figure_9.6_The_Five_Critical_Questions_to_Ask_cropped
Are you asking these questions? How can you prepare for these questions?
Get Ready to Provide the Proof
Throughout the book, I advise these candidates to ask for proof of claims. They hear:
“Our training program is great.”
“You can make lots of money here.”
“We provide leads.”
“Our new agents make money fast.”
Instead of accepting these statements, I advise interviewees to ask to see outlines, schedules, and statistics. You will stand out if you can verify your sales statements with the facts.
Your Crystal Ball: Three Ways to Determine if They Will Make it As Agents
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Do you feel like you need a crystal ball when you’re interviewing? We may think we’re good at picking winners, but, the statistics say we….well, I’m going to say it–we suck.
How do I know? I see the retention statistics in real estate offices. I just spoke with an agent who told me they were hiring lots of people. That was true. However, out of the 150 people they hired last year, only 40 are still with them. Sounds like a lot of work for little reward.
Three Ways to Predict if They will Succeed
- They let you lead the interview
Don’t you love it when that would-be agent wants in, and immediately tries to grab the conversation? Usually that person opens with, “What are you going to give me?” Or, I want a special deal.” There are two problems here. The first problem is that they asked for a special deal and you don’t even know who they are. After having interviewed thousands of would-be agents, I’ve concluded that the ‘importance posturing’ is just that. The second problem is that they aren’t letting me lead the interview process. If they won’t let me lead now, are they trainable? My experience is that they are not trainable. They know what they know and they defend it to the death.
2. They demonstrate the qualities you want with ‘past-behavior’ questions
Frequently, interviewers ask ‘future-based’ questions, like, “If you were ever in a situation where you had to lie, would you?” Well, of course, the candidate has the ‘right’ answer ready for you. Avoiding any future-based questions is one of the keys to choosing the right interview questions to review what you want to learn. Instead of those future-based questions, learn to ask ‘past-based behavioral predictors’. In the next blog, I’ll explain these questions. In short, these questions revealed how the candidate acted in the past. The truism is
we behave in the future as we behaved in the past.
3. They demonstrate, through their actions, they possess the qualities and skills you want.
Few interviewers decide in advance the qualities and skills they want in an agent. If you haven’t done that, do it now. Rate them in order of importance. Now, create questions (past-based), that will reveal to you whether the candidate has the qualities and skills you want.
In my new book, Launching Right in Real Estate: What They don’t Teach You in Pre-License School, I give would-be agents the qualities will-be successful agents possess. I also provide them some questionnaires to help them determine whether they have those qualities.
Here’s my list:
What’s your list? What questions do you have that indicate whether the candidate has the qualities you’ve observed show they will make in the real estate business?
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-referenceIs 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
Posted by: | CommentsHere 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.