1. First impressions count. It takes just a few seconds for someone to form their opinion of you and a lot longer to change it. Be on time, be yourself, be confident, dress appropriately for the situation and, most of all, be prepared. Don’t waste a person’s time. Many of the things you should do to create a good first impression are common sense. Putting a little extra thought and preparation into a relationship can go a long way and turn a good first impression into a great one.
2. Look for common ground. Like any relationship, a business relationship must be cultivated. Ask questions and be sure to listen to the answers with interest. Practice listening more than you talk and never interrupt. Find common ground with your clients and prospects. This will make them feel more connected to you and, in turn, can create the desire for them to want to work with you. Never assume closeness- nothing sends people running faster. You need to work at it. Remember, Rome was not built in a day. And once you get those relationships, don’t forget to look for ways to strengthen and maintain them.
3. The right way is not always the easy way. Don’t try to take the easy way out. Even if it’s harder or more complicated, you will gain respect by doing the right thing. Also, remember that every relationship should be made up of give and take. If one party is doing all the taking, the other will feel taken advantage of. One of the quickest ways to lose respect is to make someone feel like you don’t appreciate them.
4. Trust and respect are two way streets. Even with the best service and the best business practices, a strong relationship doesn’t just happen. Respect and trust are at the center of any relationship- the glue that holds it together. It is not only important that you trust and respect the people you work for, but that you handle yourself in a manner so that they will do the same. People are more willing to give referrals for those they trust. Not only will your relationship prosper, but your business will prosper.
5. Communication, communication, communication. Remember, everybody communicates differently. It is important to learn what method works best for your clients and prospects. Don’t avoid phone calls or emails just because you feel unprepared or you don’t have much to report. Lies and avoidance can destroy not only your relationship, but your reputation. A bad reputation means no referrals. The safe choice is to just fess up and tell the truth- it’s guaranteed to gain you respect and get that courage to make that contact even when there isn’t much to report. If the truth ruins your relationship, then at least you are still left with you reputation intact.
6. When a sweet thing goes sour- stay professional. It happens in every kind of relationship. Sometimes things just go bad. It’s what you do with that that’s really going to count. If you find that your business relationship is not working out, then end it and surprise them by offering to find someone else to help them. Don’t leave them “hanging.” Sometimes relationships just weren’t meant to be. Take it as a lesson learned and move on.
7. You get what you give. This one should be a no brainer. If you put little into your relationship, you will most likely get little in return. It is important to show how invested you are in others if you want them to become invested in you. Remember, what you put into your relationships is what you will get in return from them.
Would you ever take a road trip to a new destination without a plan on how to get there?
Picture this: you’re packing up and getting ready to head out on a road trip. You’re going to a new place- you may have an idea of where your destination is or which direction you should head, but without a clear plan, you’ll surely get lost. So, what is the one thing you are not going to leave home without? Directions, a roadmap or your GPS. Much is the same in the journey of your business. If you would never leave home without a tool to get you where you’re going, why would you ever venture into something as big as your business without the same thing? That’s where the roadmap for your business, your business plan, comes into play.
So, how can your business roadmap get you where you need to go? All too often, we have great ideas, but lack on the follow-through. A business plan keeps you on track, organizes your thoughts and forces you to contemplate ALL aspects of your business- even the ones you tend to pay little attention to. A business plan also acts as tool to convince others that your concept can be successful and that you possess the expertise to assure that it will be. Your investors will see your vision through your business plan.
A business plan helps you determine what you want to achieve, where you want to go with your business and how you’ll get there… BUT, it is also important to remember that your business plan is not the end all, be all. Even with a map or GPS, you can still get lost. However, if you get off track you can always find an alternate route and still end up at the same destination. The same is true for your business plan. Finding the balance between flexibility and stability is the key. Your business plan should not be carved in stone, but rather etched in sand.
A business plan is the road map for your business. If you embark on the journey of your business without a plan…you will get lost.
I attended a technology conference last week in Atlanta and was reminded, once again, of how alluring technology can be. I was reminded of how quickly folks latch on to the trendiest new tech thingies, thinking they have finally found the answer that is going to take their business to that highly, profitable place they have been dreaming of. Most of all though, I was reminded of how complicated our lives can become when we abandon simple things that have been proven to work over and over again.
As I sat there listening to speaker after speaker, I found these questions swirling around in my head.
- How much time are these “hot new” programs taking from an agent’s work day?
- How are agents tracking their ROI when using these programs?
- Are these programs bringing agents closer to their goals or further away?
- Is the use of this stuff dollar-productive or a just distraction?
As it turns out, I was not the only person thinking this way. One speaker, who happens to be an owner of a very reputable technology company, gave a presentation titled, “Manage your business and not your tools.” He stressed the power of simplicity and emphasized the point that while he believes in technology, he also suggested that if it is not making life easier for you and helping to produce more income, then it’s really an obstacle and not a tool.
It was refreshing to hear a leader of a technology company publicly embrace the principles on which we founded ours. Technology represents no more magic to our businesses than do our shoes or a ballpoint pen. They all have their place and can potentially add value, but none are a substitute for timeless best practices.
Remember Occam’s Razor. It’s the belief that all other things being equal, the simplest solution is usually the correct one. If you can accomplish the same or more with less “overhead”, why wouldn’t you.
Simplicity…
- enables us to achieve more by staying focused on the core things that matter most in our businesses.
- breeds clarity, taking the stress out of not knowing what’s most important for us to be doing at any point in time.
- enhances profitability because complicated tools and systems generally cost either more money, more time, or both.
- enhances creativity by keeping our minds uncluttered and free from the burdens of ambiguity and worry.
- keeps us out of the unnecessary “muck” that slows us down, allowing us to more nimbly react when opportunities present themselves.
So the next time you find your self bedazzled by high technology, ask yourself whether it’s truly going to take you where you want to go. And be particularly suspicious of anything that claims to solve all of your problems or run your business on auto-pilot. If such things really existed, everyone would be sipping mixed drinks on a faraway beach while their businesses ran themselves.
Quick…which would you rather do: Business planning or stick a fork in your eye. Come on now. I know a bunch of you had to hesitate for just a minute. The reality for most of us is that we gravitate to what we like and we don our invisibility cloaks to hide from the things we don’t.
This “do what’s fun” approach wouldn’t be so harmful if what we always wanted to do were more in alignment with what really needs to get done. Remember the saying “Successful people do what unsuccessful people aren’t willing to”? There’s a very good reason it doesn’t say “Successful people always do what’s the most fun”.
Generically speaking, planning is one of those things that correlates very well with success. While it’s awfully easy to find people who don’t reach their potential and who never plan anything, it’s nearly impossible to find people in any field of endeavor who have become the very best at what they do and who have done so in the absence of a coherent and well-thought-out plan.
Now, don’t misunderstand…planning doesn’t have to be a month-long endeavor, the by products of which are reams of documented goal sheets, charts, metrics, and to-do lists. To have planned anything just means that you’ve invested some quiet time to consider what it is you want to accomplish and what’s the surest path to get you there.
I will say this though: I know from experience that investing a little more time on the front end of any process worthy of planning typically pays off many times over. Why do you think carpenters say “measure twice, cut once”.
Planning in the real estate business typically centers around either an income goal or an intermediate metric that correlates very well with income (like listings taken or pending volume or contracts written).
But for most agents, that’s the easy part. Knowing how much money you want to make is probably top-of-mind for you. It’s charting a course that will predictably get you there that can be elusive.
While this article doesn’t aim to tell you what specifically needs to be in your business plan, I do want to share with you a tactic that I’ve found universal success with. That tactic could be thought of as relative specificity. But that sounds a little highfalutin (yes, that’s a real word), so I’m just gonna call it Planning Rule #1.
The rule is simply this. When you struggle with anything at all, get more specific. What? Don’t believe that’s a real nugget of wisdom? Let me prove it to you by way of an example.
An agent has a goal to earn $12,000 in the next 3 months and she’ll do this by doubling her listing inventory, with an emphasis on well-priced homes. But 2 months into the plan, she’s no further along than where she started. Fortunately for her, she remembers Planning Rule #1.
Rather than trying to go straight to doubling her listing inventory, she gets more specific. Her new action goal is to speak with 20 people per day and for 5 of those to be new people she has never met. To meet the 5 new people, she’ll attend at least two networking events per week and will canvass local businesses in the area to meet small business owners.
Now, by using the power of specificity, what she’s effectively done is drive action. If she’s chosen the right actions (and trust me, she has), results will follow. And if she feels lost, she can re-apply the rule and get even more specific. She can list every networking opportunity she can find and put them on her calendar. She can also list the businesses in the order that she’ll visit them along with the approximate dates and times.
Try it out. Anytime you feel yourself stuck in a rut or uncertain about the path ahead, get more specific and drill down until you arrive at an action that ultimately supports your big goals.
Just remember not to call it the rule of relative specificity. Trust me…people will laugh at you.
Have you ever felt like an unpaid chauffeur when your buyer clients just ask you to show them more and more homes and just can’t quite seem to narrow their search down?
As inventory increased in the years following the “sub-prime meltdown” and we switched from a seller’s market to a buyer’s market, many buyers experienced MORE DIFFICULTY in making a purchasing decision.
(OK, hold it, wasn’t it supposed to be easier, now that there are more choices available…??)
The fact is that having MANY options sometimes OVERWHELMS our buyer clients and causes them to experience BUYER PARALYSIS!
Buyers are comparing different types of homes (private sales, short sales, lender-owned, foreclosure auctions) that have different advantages or disadvantages. In addition they must compare homes and value propositions to make up their mind. This process can be trying for some buyers…
To keep the buying process organized and prevent confusion, try this technique: Tell your buyer clients that the process of finding their perfect home will be like taking a city-tour in a helicopter:
1. Have them imagine they are flying HIGH ABOVE THE CITY – tell them they’ll be choosing their PREFERRED AREAS first! They can use criteria such as commute time, property taxes, school districts, etc. Help them eliminate areas of the city that would not be ideal according to their own criteria.
2. Once they have chosen preferred areas, tell them that you’ll now fly at a lower level where they can better choose their PREFERRED NEIGHBORHOODS within the selected areas. This process may include riding around at different times of the day, researching demographic and crime statistics, engaging in conversations with neighbors, asking people they know, etc.
3. Once they have chosen their SELECT NEIGHBORHOODS (not more than 5 or 6) then and only then should you focus on picking the right home for them! This may involve comparing size, curb appeal, number of bedrooms/bathrooms, age, construction, style, upgrades, price, condition, lot, taxes, etc.
By following this simple 3-step process you will find that your buyer clients can select the right property among available homes, and avoid confusion and paralysis.
Remind them that they can always change the roof, repaint the walls or fix the air conditioning…but they will never be able to change the location, the character of the neighborhood or the driving distance to work.
By focusing on the BIG DECISIONS first, your clients will be able to compare one home to another more effectively, knowing that the BASICS (area, neighborhood, schools, crime, etc.) are all taken care of…!
In order to be a successful Buyer’s Agent it is essential to consistently add high value to all of your buyer clients. To help you achieve that consistency, we invite you to try BluePrint, our easy-to-use, web-based relationship management tool for real estate agents, managers, coaches, and offices.
Try BluePrint for FREE (for 30 days) by clicking here and using the promo code “blog”.
How many times have you heard the mantra that top agents all across the country got where they are by consistently lead generating every day for 3 hours per day? Still don’t believe the whole 3-hour deal?
Well, a professor at Florida State University named K. Anders Ericsson wanted to prove the point. To do so, he chose to study (of all things) violinists. Ericsson had the group of 20-year-old violinists evaluated for their skill level by music teachers. What he found was that the top 1/3 of the violinists (as determined by the evaluators) averaged 10,000 hours of practice over their lifetime. The next 1/3 avereaged 7,500 hours and the bottom 1/3 averaged 5,000 hours.
While it may be no big surprise that the violinists with the most practice came out out top skill-wise, it is VERY interesting to note that if you figure the top violinists in the group took on average about 10 years to master their craft, the 10,000 hours of practice averaged out to about 3 hours per day.
We often talk of “time on the task” as being the great equalizer and it doesn’t matter where you look, you see this law of nature consistently hold true. The best athletes, businesspeople, teachers, doctors, and yes, Realtors are almost invariably those with the most time on the task. Whether the task is hitting golf balls 300 yards or selling lots of houses, often the only difference between just good and truly great is just that the great ones show up every day (and yes, for 3 hours).
Most successful real estate agents have a strong listing base. It is well documented that controlling the “supply side” will not only enhance your sales, but also leverage your business, given that on average every properly managed listing produces two additional buyer clients.
Many successful real estate teams are built around a successful listing agent (the “rainmaker”) plus support staff and additional buyer agents to whom the team feeds the buyer leads generated by the team’s listings.
So, if you’re convinced that you need more listings, where do you start? Here are some ways that you can “stand in opportunity’s path” to maximize your likelihood of bringing in more listings:
1. Sphere of Influence (SOI). People do business with other people they KNOW, they TRUST and they LIKE. Letting friends, colleagues and relatives know what you do for a living is the first step. Then, like learning a script for a play, you must repeat this message over and over (without becoming a pain) so that they know you not just as a pal but also as the professional that you are.
If you’re a seasoned agent, you’ve probably experienced the disappointment of discovering that a friend or neighbor has listed a home with someone else, despite your assumption that you would be their “go-to” agent by virtue of a good friend or neighbor. In most cases like this, where we fail as agents is in not establishing ourselves in the minds of others that we are exceptional at what we do. As you’ve probably discovered, you can’t “ride your own coattails” and assume that being a good friend means being thought of as a great agent.
Keeping in front of your SOI requires an easily manageable strategy and a versatile Customer Relationship Management (CRM) System. While the most effective system out there is the one that you’ll use consistently, we happen to be quite fond of our solution, BluePrint*. We believe it’s the perfect system for those who want fast and easy access to their data and who value tools that are incredibly easy-to-set-up and use.
2. Networking – Networking is a great way to meet new people increase the size of your SOI. After you meet someone, don’t forget to follow up regularly and add them to your SOI contact management followup system.
3. Expired Listings – These folks have raised their hand, saying “hey, over here…I want to sell my home and need some help”. When talking with Expired sellers, it’s important to find out a) why their home didn’t sell in the first place and b) how motivated they are (i.e. how far are they willing to go in terms of presentation, repairs and price adjustments, plus what other circumstances in their lives may be motivating the sale).
4. For Sale By Owners (FSBOs) – As with Expired, FSBO’s have identified themselves to the world as someone wanting to sell a home. However, their choice of selling without an agent is their way of saying loud and clear, “hey…money is a really big factor for me in this process.” If you fail to address that important needs of the FSBO, you won’t be taking many FSBO listings.
5. Homeowners in Distress – These potential sellers may have had a hardship in their lives (like a job loss or divorce), may be hard pressed to keep up with their mortgage obligations, and may wish to sell to “get rid of” the problem…or to simply to save their creditworthiness. Compelling call-to-action ads / letters / signage can be effective with distressed sellers as is checking public records for any “lis pendens” recorded.
As with most aspects of real estate, there are lots of ways to win…but virtually all of them require consistent effort over time. Be clear in your chosen method and strategy and stick to it like white on rice. You’ll be rewarded handsomely.
(*) BluePrint by iGetSales is an intuitive, easy-to-use, customer relationship management and productivity tool developed by real estate agents, for real estate agents. Try BluePrint FREE for 30 days by clicking here.
I am wondering if I am the only person who is guilty of this.
I find myself examining a person’s behavior and thinking to myself that if they would only do (insert my great advice here), then they would not have those problems in life or business. It is amazing how I can come up with the perfect answers for others and really believe they should follow my advice because I know my advice will bring about success. And then it occurs to me that I can give great advice to others, believe every word, expect them to follow it, and yet have a hard time putting my own “great advice” into action.
I don’t know about you, but in the real estate business, I have been told over and over again if we would just stay in contact with our database, nurture the heck out of our clients, and ask for referrals, we would have a strong healthy business. Why is that so hard? What are we lacking? Is it a good real estate software program, some fancy real estate marketing piece, something else, or magic?
When I find myself in this place it reminds me of the times that I have complained about my jeans being too tight yet have not stepped on the scale in months. Then when I do step on the scale, those extra pounds (not sure how they got there) clue me in very quickly as to why my jeans are now tight and uncomfortable. Well, the same thing for sure happens in business. You wake up to find that the phone has stopped ringing. Where is all the business? What happened to the “magic?”
This brings me to the importance of practicing “self-analysis.” Just like we step on the scale regularly to see if that number is going up or down, we need to check in with ourselves to see if our daily habits are working for us or against us. Imagine if we took a quick assessment at least once a week and asked ourselves questions like this:
- Did I have a written goal and plan for the week?
- Did I meet my goal for the week?
- If not, what do I need to change to better my results next week?
- What time am I starting work each day?
- What time do I start making my calls and am I consistent?
- How many appointments did I go on this week?
- How many new referrals did I get from my clients?
- Is there anything else I can do to create more real estate business for the future?
So coming full circle, this need to know where one’s business is going, how it’s currently going, and whether we’re taking care of the folks in our database the way we know we should is the reason we created BluePrint.
If you’ve ever shaken a fist in the air upon hearing that a past client just bought a new home with another agent, you owe it to yourself to check out BluePrint. If you follow the very simple follow-up method that BluePrint is built around, you’ll never again wonder “what if I had just spoken with them sooner…”
Check it out and in honor of our futile quest for “the magic”, sign up with the promo code magic for a 30-day, no obligation test run.
