Dealing with Buyer Enquiry

Addressing email enquiries is necessary, but it can eat away at your time and keep you from doing the work that’s most important. You must respond to buyer enquiries in a timely manner because you never know who is going to become an active buyer. This is especially challenging if you manage all of your business hands-on. This Coaching Tip will explain how to maintain your schedule while handling those consumer questions.

If you must reply to emails personally, then train yourself to type faster. Speed will get you through those replies quickly so you can move on to your real work. There are training sites online that will measure how fast you type and offer drills to help you increase your speed. Keep in mind, this is the least preferable method, but your situation may require that you do it.

Most enquiries are basic repetitive questions. You can use this redundancy to streamline your process. Note the questions you find yourself answering over and over, and make templates of your responses to them. Then you can simply choose the proper response template, change the recipient name and property details, hit Send and you’re done. You can also have forms, videos, brochures and property files ready to attach.

As your business expands, bring on an assistant to perform these tasks for you. Frankly, as an agent you should not be doing email at all. Enquiries must be answered, though, so hire someone to handle all that so you can focus on your most important work. You do need to know how many buyer enquiries you are receiving each day and get their contact information so you can call them. Your assistant can prepare a daily report for you with this information.

Set up an email address that you share with your assistant so you can check progress on incoming emails, and can deal with critical messages if your assistant is away. The point is not to let email interrupt the primary tasks you need to accomplish.

The more active your business is, the more enquiries you will receive. Even with an assistant you need to automate. There are database systems that automatically add contacts into the database and generate follow-ups. Batch your email processing and schedule a time for that to happen.

Stay in control of the time you spend directly with email and don’t let that time expand into the rest of your schedule. Remember, it’s the time you spend with your clients face to face that matters most.

Make sure you look into our Josh Phegan Company membership, Master Class Program and  Prospecting School, all coming up soon.

I hope you’ve enjoyed today’s Coaching Tip, and I look forward to seeing you here again next week.

Becoming the Trusted Advisor

To be your client’s trusted advisor, you have to perform like one. That means advising them: lead them through the buying/selling process and help them make the best decisions about their property. In some cases you need to make those decisions for them. That is, after all, what they’re paying you to do.

Too many agents hesitate to make necessary recommendations to progress clients, and the result is lost sales. Worse, the agent loses credibility. You want to be the real estate professional your client expects you to be. Tell them what they need to do, and execute with confidence and professionalism.

Now, you’re human and you will have days that you don’t feel the enthusiasm you should about a listing or a client. You can’t let your client down by acting on your feelings; their experience with you has to be stellar throughout the process, so be resilient, keep it real, and stay positive.

Maintaining communication is vital, so make sure you are consistently touching base with your active clients. Call them every day with information they can use to understand where they are in the process and what the market is like so they can make better decisions and feel more confident about moving forward with you. Temper good news with the realities of the market. If there’s bad news, give it to them straight, but also offer solutions and direction to keep them on track and progressing.

Beyond staying upbeat with your clients you also have to project vitality in your presentation of the property and your dealings with everyone you work with around it. Stay active and competitive, use your phone and your contacts to generate prospects, and maintain momentum to get the property seen and sold.

Being decisive and confident are key not only to progressing your clients, but also to clearing your stock and preventing properties from sitting dormant. Offer solid recommendations, make necessary decisions, call your vendors every day, and be the trusted advisor and professional agent your clients need you to be.

Make sure you look into our Josh Phegan Company membership, Master Class Program, Prospecting School all coming up soon.

I hope you’ve enjoyed today’s Coaching Tip, and I look forward to seeing you here again next week.

The Importance of the Red Pen

Consistency is key to achieving your goals, and that begins with you setting an example for your team. Sometimes corrective action is still necessary, so this Growth, Leadership, and Management tip is all about how to get your team on track, and how I use my red pen for positive reinforcement.

Consistent performance really isn’t hard to achieve if you maintain a standard for performance over time. Taking a measurement once a month or once a quarter isn’t enough, though. To keep your people motivated they need clear weekly goals, and they need to know you are tracking their performance around those goals. This is where the red pen comes in.

Now, when most of us think of a red pen we have a negative response based on fear of punishment. This is not the way you want to motivate your team. You want them to feel confident and to gain expertise. That comes about when you give them a goal each week and pace them so they can achieve it.

Keep it simple: the only number you need to focus on is listings, because if they list they will sell. Set a number of listings for each sales person to achieve each month, and then break that down into a weekly goal. I set a target of 8 listings per month for each sales team member. That’s 2 listings per week, so I make a numbered list from 1 to 8, and I underline a day every 7 days with a red pen. That is the day they should have reached 2 listings for that week.

If an individual is behind on their listings by the 14th day it’s time for a performance chat. Your approach to this is critical: fear of reprisal is not a good motivator. Instead, talk with them about why they feel they are not meeting their goal, and ask how you can help them to get back on track and catch up. Then continue by marking the 21st and 28th days of the month in red, and if they need help again, you provide it.

These specific go-forward conversations will build good relationships with your sales people and establish a pace for them to maintain consistency over time. This simple system of tracking listings will allow you to build a great business.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this month’s Growth, Leadership and Management Tip, and I look forward to seeing you here again next month.

Ep 12 – The Importance Of Great Marketing

In this High Performance Podcast for Real Estate Agents, Josh Phegan and Alexander Phillips talk about marketing that gets results. Alexander begins with the effectiveness of marketing that addresses the needs and concerns of potential clients, asking the right questions and creating a vision of possibilities. Josh suggests ways to be more customer-based in your approach, and notes opportunities you may be overlooking for targeting your campaigns.

Alexander then talks about working ahead of the curve and channelling your marketing budget where it will count most. Josh reminds us of the importance of using the phone and doing it well, and Alexander follows with tips on marketing to people you already know as well as attracting new customers. Finally they discuss attention-getting design elements, and the necessity of marketing frequently and consistently.

How big is your database?

You’re missing out on incredible opportunities if you don’t know how big your database is, track on your growth, consistently progress customers, and use those contacts to boost your numbers. Let’s start by reviewing your 9 categories:

1. Buyer to buyer hit list
2. Potential sellers
3. Market appraisals
4. Seller hit list
5. Current clients
6. Past clients who have bought from you
7. Past clients who have sold with you
8. Referrers
9. Landlords

Next, always know how many clients are in each category because every one of them is an opportunity – especially your past clients. Too many agents never revisit the people they have bought and sold with, and that’s a big mistake. Remember, anyone you have handled a property for in the past will buy or sell again, often within a year or two.

Considering that at least 10% of your past clients will be buying or selling each year, that’s hundreds of missed opportunities if you’re not keeping in contact with them. Your challenge is to stop doing business the way you always have done and getting the same meager results. When you see just how much business you’re losing by overlooking the wealth of possibilities sitting unused inside of your database you will be willing to make the changes you need to leverage those opportunities.

Open for inspections must be evaluated each week as well to see how many visitors are past clients, potential sellers, market appraisals and landlords. If they’re coming through your current properties then they are active. Don’t let those time-critical opportunities slip past you.

Keep in mind that selling is not your only concern. You need referrals, and past clients are your greatest resource in that area. But if they don’t remember you – or worse, you don’t remember them — they won’t refer you. Never get caught out treating a past client as a new prospect. You must maintain relevance and frequency with all of those relationships so they will send customers to you. Always be working towards progressing clients through your categories. Get familiar with your database, make those calls and book face to face appointments with them.

I hope you’ve enjoyed today’s Coaching Tip, and I look forward to seeing you here again next week.

Ep 11 – Building And Maintaining Your Database

This High Performance Podcast for Real Estate Agents focuses on building and leveraging your database. Josh Phegan and Alexander Phillips discuss which details to include about each client, why categories matter, and the importance of mobile access to your database. Alexander tells why he uses a headset in his office, and how he manages incoming information whilst driving. Josh outlines a system for keeping client details current and available, and Alexander explains how grouping calls helps you stay focused.

Next they discuss how a shared system keeps your team members informed about who clients are and how to handle each one. Alexander tells how he remembers clients he has forgotten quickly when they call. They end with advice on how to treat every client appropriately to build rapport and maintain relationships.

Marketing to customer objections

Marketing savvy is core to being a great agent. Today I will show you some of the best marketing devices for addressing customer objections. Every client has them and you have to get past that to progress them. And the best way to do that is to make their fears and concerns work for you.

Learn to view every client objection as a marketing opportunity. The key is to address those objections up front, even before the client brings it up, and present a solution. You already know a lot of those barriers because they are frequent. A big one right now is the lack of properties for sale in the current market. Considering that each seller is also a buyer, people are afraid that they won’t have a place to go because they aren’t seeing properties they want to buy.

Market yourself as the agent with a solution. Demonstrate confidence by stating the issue and offering to resolve it. Use a headline like, “Reluctant to sell because you can’t find something to buy? Then call me now because I’ve got the answer.”

Another method is to target customers who can work for you. For example, to make your listings stand out from the other mundane just listed, just sold ads, use a headline like, “Someone on your street is about to sell. To find out who is selling and why, call us now.” Not only is this approach compelling, it will especially draw in customers who gossip. They like to know what their neighbours are up to so they can tell everyone they know. That’s immediate word-of-mouth promotion for you.

Watch the news for marketing ideas. Using reports about the real estate bubble and when it’s going to burst, you can build some very effective marketing campaigns. I have found that carefully structured direct mail pieces work well in reaching potential clients directly. You can put hesitant customers’ fears to rest whilst leveraging more progressive clients looking to capitalise on timely opportunities.

Don’t overlook the power of a dynamic ending for your marketing message. Your headline draws them in, but your ending hook should trigger them to call you. One method is the if/then technique, such as, “If you’re thinking of selling – or even if you’re not quite ready – then call us today and let us help you sort it out.”

Use these guidelines to produce outstanding marketing messages that work for email, video, direct mail, and any other media you employ. Use multiple formats to reach consumers wherever they hang out, and focus on providing value by anticipating their needs even before they perceive them.

Make sure you look into our Josh Phegan Company membership, Master Class Program, Prospecting School, and our incredible Blueprint Event, all coming up soon.

I hope you’ve enjoyed today’s Coaching Tip, and I look forward to seeing you here again next week.

Ep 10 – Getting Past Negative Emotions

Today’s High Performance Podcast for Real Estate Agents features Josh Phegan and Alexander Phillips on how to handle the setbacks, rejections, and negative emotions every agent experiences in their career. Alexander offers tips for quality of life and business specific challenges, and Josh adds the importance of resilience and having a support system. Next they discuss avoiding negative influences in your life and generating a positive attitude.

Josh suggests keeping lists in your mobile phone of your goals and achievements to help keep you focused. Alexander gives examples of how he stays motivated and optimistic, how other members of your team can help you sort things out, and specifically what he does to recover from a loss quickly.

Diary Management

Your diary is a tool to keep you on track with calls and appointments. To be a great agent you have to manage your time and keep your energy up in order to do the work that’s most important, and that work starts first thing every morning. In fact, it starts as soon as you wake up.

Follow a routine every day, from when you will wake up, to your first call session, to your meal break, and down to your last appointment. You must be consistent or you will lose momentum very quickly. Remember, mornings are for prospecting and afternoon is for appointments. Whatever time you can start making those calls, do it every day at the same time.

Set a goal to book at least 3 appointments every day. Do 3 call sessions each morning and be done in time for your meal break. Always take your meal break to refuel and rest so you are fresh and energetic for your appointments, which you will meet at your designated times each afternoon. End your day on time so that you can be home to take care of your personal needs. A routine like this will set a rhythm for your life that will carry you through smoothly for years to come.

Of course, you will sometimes find yourself with unplanned extra time. Be ready for this by knowing how to make that time productive. You can always make more phone calls, so keep a current list of people you need to be in touch with.

As you go through your day, document everything in your diary. Use this coding system as you are booking your appointments:

BAP – Buyer appointment
LAP – Listing appointment
MAP – Market appraisal

Entering these codes with the client name and street address allows you to track on the kind of business you have done, who you have spoken with, and which properties were involved. You can then review your week, month and year by pulling up these coded categories to review how many buyer appointments, listing presentations and market appraisals you had in any time frame. You can then compare these numbers with last week, or last year, to see how you are progressing – or pick up the pace if you are falling behind.

Just 3 appointments a day over time will build your business; book even more and your success will skyrocket. But if you don’t set a routine and manage your diary you will never know how you are doing, or do all the work you must accomplish. It’s that simple – and that vital – to your business growth.

Make sure you look into our Josh Phegan Company membership, MasterClass Program, Prospecting School, and our incredible BluePrint Event, all coming up soon.

I hope you’ve enjoyed today’s Coaching Tip, and I look forward to seeing you here again next week.

Ep 9 – Chase List

In this High Performance Podcast for Real Estate Agents, Josh Phegan and Alexander Phillips explain how keeping a chase list of new buyers in the marketplace helps you focus on progressing those clients. Alexander expands on ways to leverage the list throughout the year according to seasonal activity in the market. Discussion continues with deciding who to put on your list and why. They then discuss timing and the relevance of the list-to-launch timeline.

Progressing the client is part of that timeline, and they talk about determining how quickly that process needs to flow depending on the market and the client. Josh describes how to generate a sense of urgency to progress clients and drive rapid exchange of properties, and Alexander expands on being relevant in working with individual clients. Josh ends with detailing how to structure the chase list and which information goes on it.