Archive for Management
What Should An Agent Know Before Committing to Real Estate as a Career?
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What should an agent know before committing to real estate as a career?
After interviewing dozens of would-be agents, I had compiled a stack of paper that I handed out to interviewees. I was trying to educate them so they could make a good career decision. One day, one of my recent recruits said, “You should put that in a book.” So, I did. Now, I’m creating a new edition of the book. I’ve renamed the book
Launching Right in Real Estate: What They Won’t Teach You in Pre-License School.
What should be in the book? What’s most important for that would-be agent to know? What mistakes do would-be agents make in choosing companies? What could I add to make
Saving Management Time
From all those interviews, I found I wasn’t really interviewing. I was educating. What could I include in the book that would save you interview time, and prepare the candidate for a real interview?
What misconceptions do would-be agents bring into the business that cause them to start slowly or fail?
Blast-Off for Launching Right
I’m planning on having the edits done by Dec. 1, so the eBook will be available a few weeks after that. Please add your experience and expertise so I know the contents will be useful to real estate managers.
Just leave me a comment and contribute to our industry. Thank you!
How to Organize your Virtual Presentation for Greatest Impact
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How to Organize Your Virtual Presentation for Greatest Impact
You had three hours to give your presentation live. Now, you’re going to give that presentation #virtually. Not so fast. You just can’t keep them riveted to you online for three hours! You’ll need to take out the paring scissors and cut your presentation to under an hour. Why? Because that’s all the time you can expect people to stay focused on you. If you wonder if that’s true, ask attendees how long they can stay focused on an #online presentation? When I asked, 50% said ten minutes or less. So, give up on the long, tedious virtual presentations. That means you’ll have to do some re-organization before you turn on that camera.
Overall Organization that Works
I just read an article in Training magazine by one of my heroes, Bob Pike. Author of 30 books, and founder of an international training organization, Bob’s advice is always expert, practical, and proven. Here are some of the points he made to create effective #virtual presentations, along with my points and comments.
Compare Your Presentation
Right now, draw your online presentation organization.
Do you have an introduction? How long is it? (no more than two minutes)
Do you have a planned ending? Does it involve your participants?
How long are you talking before you involve your audience? Are you involving them at the beginning?
How many times do you #involve your audience within those 45 minutes? (at least every 4 minutes)
How varied are your #attendee activities? How are you keeping attendee attention during your virtual presentation?
Give Me Your Rating
How would you rate the presentations you’ve attended lately–on a scale of 1 to 10? Why?
What Magic Johnson Can Teach Us About Business–and Life
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I can’t do it. It’s someone else’s fault. If only….I’ll never be able to. I tried that once. It didn’t work. It won’t work for me. Give me (you fill in the blanks) or else I can’t succeed.
You’ve heard all these reasons why someone can’t succeed. (Makes me depressed just reading this list.) So, it’s refreshing to hear someone speak about how to succeed—with no excuses. I don’t mean that we all don’t at times need a hand up. But, those are the few times. They don’t become our mantra.
I just watched a video where a UPS executive interviewed Magic. Here are some of Magic’s insightful comments.Dream it First to Live It
At age 16, Magic was a janitor while in school. He would go sit in the CEO’s chair and pretend he was the CEO; giving orders, making decisions, acting like a CEO. He said he always wanted to be an entrepreneur, not just a basketball player. Look what happened.
What are you dreaming?
On Not Giving Up
As Magic transitioned from famous, successful pro basketball player to businessman, he thought his fame would magically open doors and make him successful. He found it opened doors (they all wanted to meet him), but, it didn’t get him the funding he needed to expand his business. He was turned down ten times before a bank took a chance on him.
How tenacious are you?
Network and Lead Generate and Learn
Magic wanted to find out what was important to prominent people. He got the list of Lakers season ticket holders, and called up to 50 a day. Many met with him, and several became investors with him.
Are you lead generating with tenacity?
Tailor to your Target
Magic was an early investor in Starbucks, and has over 125 Starbucks locations today. He met with Howard Schultz, the founder and then president, and told him he needed to tailor his Starbucks businesses to his clientele. You can imagine where Magic wanted to place his Starbucks. He told Mr. Schultz he didn’t want that music that was in most Starbucks stores. He wanted Michael Jackson, Beyonce, etc. He didn’t want scones. You get the picture.
Are you targeting your marketing to your audiences?
Hire and Work with the Best
Magic says, if you find great talent, you don’t need to micro-manage them. This comes from his experience as a basketball player.
Are you affiliating with the best? Do you need to ‘up your game’ interviewing?
Shine Your Light on Others to Succeed
As you help others succeed, you’ll succeed. Magic says his reason for being in business is to help others. He’s helped thousands of minority business people launch businesses. This comes, too, from his experience as a basketball player. His mentoring others resulted in more success for everyone.
Are you providing a hand up to qualified, determined talent?
Learn from Everyone
Magic believes everyone has something he can learn from. He values each person and seeks their contributions. He says he loves to learn and he’s constantly learning.
Are you learning from those you’re around?
Add Value
Magic believes the secret of business success is to add value. When he meets with someone, he thinks about how he can add value for that person.
Are you adding value to those you work with, coach, or teach?
Does your Interview Process Need Polishing?
Check out this system for selecting winners. Save time, money, and training. See it here.
Tips to Go Online with your Training
Posted by: | CommentsDo you need to go online with your presentations and courses’? In real estate, we’re not doing any ‘live’ teaching. So, this is a great time, to adjust your communication and training strategy to reach out.
I’ve been doing webinars for years, and, I learned so much working with pros like Amy Chorew while I presented through National Association of Realtors doing business planning webinars. I really worked on my technique, and was always rated in the top three presenters.
Unfortunately, many of the Zoom training and presentations have been–shall I say it–boring! Here is what I learned from the best, the mistakes I’ve made as I’ve learned, and the strategies that will help you create effective online communications and training as we go forward.
Today, you need to take your training courses online if you’re a
- Trainer
- Coach
- Manager
- Team leader
- Salesperson
and in today’s world, we HAVE to communicate digitally–at least for awhile. The good news is that it forces us to get really good at this type of communication so we can reach more people more effectively. I hate it when I ask people what they think of webinars and they say that last PowerPoint presentation was
boring/dull/repetitive/ill-organized/no fun……..
But, if you’re skilled at presenting online, you can
- Inform
- Introduce
- Sell
- Increase your image
Webinars: An Easy Solution to Training
What can a webinar do? First, what it can’t do. Don’t expect it to
Change people’s behavior (it’s not training. It’s education). Webinars are not the magic training bullet we’ve wished for. There are limited objectives you can accomplish by doing a webinar. But, I’ve discovered some methods to help ‘attendees’ internalize and apply what they’re learning (see my Train the Trainer sneak preview below).
Of course, the upside of a online training/webinar is that
- People don’t have to travel to get to the an event
- It’s very cost-effective
- It puts you in front of new audiences
- You can make it evergreen (record it and share it)
Some Basic Choices to Make Before You Start
- Your vehicle
Which company will you use to deliver your webinar? There are over 100 companies today offering some type of screen sharing. They range from free to $100+ a month. The free versions companies tout are for a limited number of viewers (usually 5-10). After that, figure on paying for the services. Among the most popular services are Zoom, GoTo Meeting, WebEx, and BrightTalk. Whatever you choose, pick a service that will be easy for you! Getting caught in the technicalities while you are trying to be a sparkling presenter is death by webinar.
- What’s your message?
Boy, this one seems so easy, and yet, it’s where most of us go way off the rails. Why? We try to do too much in too little time with too little organization! (Just like we do in ‘live’ classes). But, it’s more fatal digitally, because it is more challenging to hold people’s attention. So, the next few tips are critical to the success of your training.
Decide on your topic. Is it something that would lend itself to a webinar? To find out, study webinars you’ve attended. Do some seem too wishy-washy to have been worth your time? Are some so full of facts and figures you snooze off?
Decide on your objectives. In other words, start with the end in mind. What do you see, hear, and feel the attendees doing at the end of your presentation?
To write your objectives, start with this sentence,
As a result of this webinar, attendees will____________________________. Examples of objectives for a business planning webinar could be:
- Understand the flow of the strategic business planning process
- Be able to differentiate between a vision and a mission statement
- Be able to pinpoint 3 areas of concern about their business from the previous year
After I’ve written my objectives, I know the basic structure of my webinar. I can prioritize those objectives and start arranging my webinar in the right presentation order.
Your Topic: Overview or Detailed?
Is your topic an overview, or is it more detailed? Decide on the scope of your topic, and your objectives, before going further.
Common webinar mistake: Either being so global there is little information, or being so detailed you lose the audience in facts and figures.
Sound Familiar?
If you’ve taken my Instructor Development Workshop or my online learning version, Train the Trainer, you’ve learned what objectives are and how to write and apply them in creating your training/presentation/digital class.
After deciding on your desired delivery company, and drafting your topic and objectives, you’re ready for the next step. In the next blog, we’ll discuss best presentation methods–and common presentation mistakes.
See What a Digital Course Looks Like and How it’s Organized
Necessity is the mother of invention!!!! Oh, boy, have I learned that. I decided to put my distance learning program in new course software. In doing so, I’ve found out how to help people internalize important concepts and apply them to great, concrete, immediately-usable results. Here’s a sneak preview of my Train the Trainer program. It fulfills the requirement for attendees to teach clock hour approved courses in Washington state, and is accredited for 15 clock hours.
Train the Trainer Sneak Preview
In later posts, I’ll share some strategies I’ve found work really well in creating online presentations and courses that involve, inform, and entertain.
Connections, not Sales
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Connections, Not Sales
The biggest change in your agent’s real estate business plan has to be in their short-term goals. All business plans have a lead generation component. That means we’re actively looking for listing leads and buyer leads. Our dialogues and our marketing materials are designed to bring us those leads.
What does that mean? That means our communication needs to be- Supportive
- Positive
- Helpful
- Meaningful
- Relationship-based
That means we’re not looking for that big, money-making result. We’re really in a
“pre-lead” phase.
Why Connections?
Remember Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs? It states that we must meet the lowest unmet need before we can be motivated to meet higher needs. What are the majority of people’s needs now?
- Comfort
- Shelter
- Enough food and supplies (toilet paper!)
- Fear of sickness
- Fear of losing one’s job—or of making payments
Where are we on Maslow’s Hierarchy? We are close to the bottom—that need to meet very basic needs. Maslow calls those Safety or Security needs. That’s why agents’ messages have to be reassuring. You have to establish trust. You have to provide a safe harbor for your clients and potential clients.
Re-Designing that Business Plan
Instead of thinking ‘how am I going to get leads’? Think ‘how am I going to connect’? Help your agents design messages to their best target markets with connection as their goal. That means, too, that you must identify those markets and make your messages meaningful to those markets.
I just did a complimentary webinar for Real Estate Professionals called “Build Your Business Right Now to Position for Success Later”.
You can see the video and grab the materials at my website. I also have a 60-Day Business Plan template for all attendees so they can easily complete their plans.
Outcomes of a Re-Designed Plan
The irony of this re-design is that your agents are going to create listing and sales opportunities because your client base is looking for that connection now. When they find it, they will walk one step closer to a transaction with you—even when you didn’t ask. The danger in ‘laying out’ (as we say in the music performance business when we’re told not to play) is that you’ll be way behind the curve when the market comes back. Those people agents considered clients found the agents were a ‘secret agent’ when they needed connections and information. They have turned to a new source of connections because you didn’t communicate. Don’t let that happen.
Start Today
From working with hundreds of real estate professionals during this time, I know clients are so grateful for these connections. Each agent has something to offer. Don’t keep it a secret. Help your agents share information, concern, and a positive attitude today. Not only will you reap real estate business in the future, they will feel better for having given value to their clients.
Is This an ‘Interruption’ or an Opportunity’?
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Is this an interruption or an opportunity?
We’ve never faced this kind of situation. Yes, we’ve been through and weathered the slumps. We’ve helped our agents change their strategies from sellers’ to buyers’ markets and back again. But, this is somewhat different.
Consider This a Unique Leadership Opportunity
On April 23, at 10 am PDT, I’ll be presenting a webinar for leadership on how to seize this time as an opportunity to lead.
For many agents (I estimate it’s about 75% or more), this time is seen as an interruption of a great market. These agents have depended on
the market driving their businesses.
Now, in an instant,
the agents must drive the market themselves.
But, most agents are not going to make that shift alone. You need to lead them to the concept that they now drive the market–and show them how to do that.
The Leadership Actions to Reveal Opportunities to Agents
How can you implement specific actions that work now to get your agents back into the business and connecting with their client base? Here are four methods to do just that. In the webinar, I’ll show you how to
- Motivate your team members to communicate value to their client base
- Mobilize your team to gain exceptional support
- Re-focus each of your agents by helping them implement a 60-Day Pivot Business Plan*
- ‘Up’ your communication with specific changes
*You’ll receive my 60-Day Pivot Business Plan as my ‘thank you’ for attending this webinar. I’ll show you how to use this plan to coach your agents.
Special circumstances require special leadership actions. How have you lead your agents from an ‘interruption mindset’ to an ‘opportunity mindset’?
Leadership:
The Right
Actions to
Take
Now to
Assure Profits
Later
Join me for this fast-paced, 45-minute webinar exclusively for leadership April 23 (Thursday), at 10 am PDT. Click here for more information and to register.
Do You Have Your 60-Day ‘Pivot Plan’ In Place?
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Do you have your 60-day pivot business plan in place?
Congratulations to you if you made a 2020 business plan. However, none of us could have foreseen the events of the past two months. Those events have called for a different plan–both for you and for your agents.
5 Big Questions to Answer Right Now
Next Thursday (April 23), I’ll be doing a 45-minute webinar exclusively for leadership on actions to take right now to retain agents and plan for profits. Here’s more information on that.
To prepare for this webinar, here are some questions leadership needs to ask themselves to evaluate whether they’ve got everything they need in place to lead in this uncertain environment.
- What are you doing right now to communicate regularly with each agent in your office? Do you have a schedule? Have you helped each agent with a pivot business plan? (I’ll be providing a template for you to use with your agents after the webinar).
- What’s your agent mix? How many new agents, growth agents, mature agents in your mix? Do you have a plan for each group to move them forward? (I’ll provide you a tool to segment your agents).
- How have you changed your training to continue it without disruption? Are you doing ‘live’ online events, or have you contracted with an outside source to assure your training has continuity?
- Who else have you enlisted to help retain your agents? Do you have any teaming in place?
- What’s the morale like in your office? With each agent? What actions are you taking to improve each person’s outlook so they will continue their business in a meaningful way now?
Answering these questions will prepare you for the actions I’ll be suggesting to you during the webinar next Thursday, April 23, starting at 10 am Pacific Daylight Time.
The good news: This is the time when leaders can LEAD. The feelings of insecurity, of fear of income loss, fear of sickness–all can overwhelm our agents unless we step forward with positive leadership actions. The actions I’ll be suggesting to you next week will build loyalty and retain your good agents, preparing for a market re-emergence.
Leadership:
The Actions
to Take Now
to Preserve
Profits Later
Join me for this fast-paced, 45-minute webinar exclusively for leadership April 23 (Thursday), at 10 am PDT. Click here for more information and to register.
Going Online with your Training? Four ‘Must Haves’
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Your training calendar looked phenomenal. Until now. Why? It was all ‘live’. Yes, ‘live’ training is best, but it’s impossible now. So, how are you going to pivot to effective online training?
Just Turn on the Camera–Not
We can get away with a lot when we are ‘live’. We can wander a bit from the outline the audience will forgive us. After all, we have an audience with whom to interact. We take questions, we create debate, we tell those great war stories.
Is Your Course Really a ‘Course’?
I’ve taught real estate professionals and affiliates how to train for over three decades. I’ve seen dozens of their ‘courses’. Unfortunately, most aren’t courses. They’re streams of information. They’re not well-organized. They don’t have the end in mind–objectives. They don’t have various delivery methods (teaching methods other than that old boring lecture). Even though those problems don’t show up so badly in the live classroom, they show up with a vengeance when going online.
You’ll Need These Four Strategies in your Online Course
How are you going to avoid droning on until you get to the end of that hour you’ve booked to train? Here are the four things you need in your online presentation or course:
- An blazingly good course organization, created from learning objectives (having the end in mind)*
*See my 3 models to create your presentation or course in Train the Trainer, my online version of my training course
2. An easy, engaging process to draw the attendee in and keep him/her interested (methods to avoid droning on forever in a lecture) (self-analysis, reflection, case studies to complete)
3. Interaction and idea exchange with others in the course (adults learn from others)
4. Action plans and reviews so you can see your attendees putting your concepts and skills to work
Before You Choose that Seminar Guru’s ‘Training’ Course
You may decide to go outside your office to find online training. Does that course have those 4 attributes I listed above? Who is the course for? Does it have accountability? Does the course have a method for you to coach the agent to the course? What will the agent accomplish through taking the course?
Choosing the right online training can make the difference between ‘still in recession’ three months from now or ‘back up and running’ to profits.
Call me at 425-392-6914 if you have questions about how to switch successfully to online training.
Why reinvent the wheel right now? Take advantage of my online training program, Up and Running in Real Estate, created from my smash hit, the proven business start-up program for new agents– Up and Running in 30 Days.
Catch a sneak preview here.
This online training for new agents (and seasoned agents who want a jump-start) has the attributes I listed above. There’s one more important component left out of others’ online training:
YOU
I want you to be able to fully support your agents’ success–and grab their loyalty forever. So, I have waived the $99 fee for Coaches Corner (the coaching component of Up and Running in Real Estate) for all who sign up prior to Sept. 1, 2020. To qualify, register at least 1 of your agents in the Up and Running in Real Estate program. See more here.
Lets create success together!
Questions? Call me and we’ll discuss whether this program would be a ‘fit’ for you and your agents: 425-392-6914.
Engagement: How to Drive It in a Screeching-Halt Market
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Engagement: Do you have a plan to drive engagement with your agents in this shifted market? Or, are you waiting for your company, your association, or …… to take over? Or, do you think you just don’t have to engage?
Sometimes it takes years! I don’t want you to lose your agents–or your business.
Concrete Methods to Re-Engage Your Agents
Every week, I’ll be giving you specific actions to take to re-vitalize the communication and the activity levels of the agents in your office. I’m not just drawing these out of a hat. This is what I have done for years to encourage, tell truth, and get agents into action in challenging markets. This will set you up for great profitability, retention, and a wonderful recruiting tool. How do I know? I’ve done it several times. It works.
First: Set Up Your Plan
Don’t wait for your company or some outside force to do this for you. All well and good, but you need to step right in and be the one who literally LEADS right now. That’s right–leads. Oh, boy, I just thought of what I don’t want to happen for you: DON’T just send them to some training guru site and hope all works out (that includes me!).
What Your Plan Should Look Like
First, when I say ‘meetings’, of course I mean via Zoom or Go to Webinar, or a similar program!
As a group (and groups):
- New agent training at least weekly with actionable items they are to complete–must be high accountability
- Advanced agent training at least weekly with guests sharing best practices for this market
- Mastermind groups of various experience and/or production levels
- Office meetings weekly with guests
In other words, your training calendar must
- Address the needs of the various levels of your agents
- Be consistent and well-thought out to serve your agents with actionable items–which you then can get permission to share
- Create a compelling reason why your agents should re-engage frequently
You DO have a training calendar, don’t you?
With individuals:
- Quartile your agents using any weighing variables you feel are important (4 points for production, 3 points for culture, etc.). See who you can help (probably not the bottom quartile, but you make that call. It’s your time and energy. You deserve a pay-off…..)
- Look at what you’ve been urging these agents to get done for the past 6 months (or more!): their website, their bios, their databases, their presentations, etc.
- Choose 5 action items you want to use with each agent, and let each agent prioritize and add to these actions, add dates–so it’s their plan; or, ask each agent to come up with 5 prioritized items
- Set up a schedule with each agent to review actions–I’ll be helping you apply great coaching techniques so they are motivated to keep going!
What I’ll be Providing You
Besides these overview and bigger picture items, I’m going to provide you specific action items (some with templates so you don’t have to reinvent the wheel) that you can drop in in several training/coaching areas
Who Will Survive and Thrive Through this Time
I know today, there are companies and/or managers who have a ‘hands off’ approach: It’s the agent’s business and that agent decides when, how, and how much to do–alone. When the market is going nuts, that works, because the market is driving the agents. But, when the market becomes challenging, the agents are looking for leadership, for guidance, for coaching. They get lost–more easily than they will admit. Those who provide positive, clear, supportive leadership now will come out with a much stronger profit picture, a synergistic team, and a recruiting tool.
Tell me: What are YOU doing to drive action in your office right now?
Let’s Partner to Drive your Success!
Why reinvent the wheel right now? Take advantage of my online training program, Up and Running in Real Estate, created from my smash hit, proven business start-up program Up and Running in 30 Days.
Not just a distance learning program!
No one wants to sit in front of a computer especially now!) and learn neat stuff….
Effective online training has to have 3 things:
- An easy, engaging process to draw the attendee in and keep him/her interested
- Interaction with a real human being once inawhile
- Interaction and idea exchange with others in the course
Ive integrated these 3 critical factors in Up and Running in Real Estate.
- Engaging--I created humor, introspection, and awards to motivate attendees to keep going through the program
- Coaching: I will be personally group coaching agents in the program, and you have a unique opportunity to coach in the program, too.
- Interaction: set up discussion groups so agents can interact and support each other
An Easy Way to Integrate Coaching Your Agents
Your support right now is critical. So, I waived the $99 fee for Coaches Corner (the coaching component of the program) for all who sign up prior to Sept. 1, 2020. To qualify, register at least 1 of your agents in the program. See more here.
Lets create success together!
What’s Wrong with This Training?
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What’s wrong with this training?
Most of us managers train……along with the other 100 things we have to do each day. Too often, we tend to ‘grab and go’……our training is not too well thought out–with good reason!
In my Instructor Development Workshop (live) and my online distance learning version of the course, Train the Trainer, I show attendees how to deliver their courses without droning through them.
case study
In case study, we create a situation that reflects real life. This case study can be rather long and complex. We use it to help students grapple with the ‘gray areas’ –just like we have to do in real life.
What is a ‘case study’?
First, it isn’t what the attorneys tell us. It’s not a case that you, the instructor, talk through and give the answers. Instead, it’s a written situation that asks the students to come to several conclusions.
When is the case study used? It’s used toward the end of your course or module.
What is the case study for? To test the students’ judgment, understanding, and application of what you’ve taught.
Who can (and should) use the delivery method (teaching method) of case study? Anyone who wants to ‘test’ students’ understanding, judgment, and ability to draw conclusions from the course. It’s great for mortgage lenders, title and escrow, attorneys, and home inspectors to use. in my classes, I ask students to create an appropraite case study for their course.
What does a case study accomplish? It throws the accountability to the student. It lets the students interact, to team build, and to learn from each other. It shows you, the instructor, how well you’ve taught and what you need to review.
Here’s that case study for you. Take a look at the case study I use in my train the trainer courses to see how well students have internalized the concepts taught in my classes. I assign the case study at the end of one class, and we debrief in small groups and then generalize in the large group. (And it helps attendees see an example of a case study and how it is used–so they can create their own case studies easily and quickly).
How did you do? Could you name 10 things ‘Sally’ did wrong?
Grab Great Teaching Methods
Get some new training strategies and step your training up to the next level. See my online program, Train the Trainer, in new course software. It’s fun to do and you learn great methods (plus I give you 8 ready-to-use teaching strategies).
Take a Sneak Preview here.