How to grow and work with assistants

When you get really good at doing what you do more people are going to want to use you. As more people want to use you it means there will be demand on your time than ever before. So how do you really grow a great business as an individual sales person and really get that level of momentum and traction that you need?

The first thing you’ve got to do is you’ve got to know the milestones for growth. Inside of the Australian real estate industry there’s a couple of milestones that are really important. The first one is writing over $300,000 in gross fees. Once you’ve done about $300,000 in gross fees and you’re turning 30+ transactions a year on an average fee of $10,000 per property that means that you’re now starting to get enough momentum to put on an assistant. You, plus an assistant is a great place to be. And usually we’ve seen people with an assistant write anywhere up to 60, 70 transactions a year. So somewhere in or around that $600,000 to $700,000 mark before they then put on their second assistant to then grow their business well and truly over a million dollars in fees.

It is possible for an individual agent to do that number of transactions on their own but they’re really going to be owned by their business. Without having someone else, as part of the team, there is a lot of leakage through not really following through on his or her systems and processes.

If you’re ready for growth then putting on an assistant is a natural, landmark step for you to move to that next stage.

When putting an assistant on you need to think about:

• What are they going to do for you?
• How are you going to work with them?
• What does success look like for you both? And how will we know when we’ve achieved it?
• How do you get the most level of productivity?

Putting on an assistant is one of the most important things that you’ll do, but you’ll need to make sure that you really know how to work with them. Most agents tend to take their foot off the accelerator, when in fact you need to put on the accelerator at double as soon as you put on the assistant.

The great thing about putting on an assistant is that you can choose the type of work that you want to do. You need to be out there and in front of clients and the more that you do that the more income that you will generate. You can have an administrative-style assistant who’s just going to help you purely from an admin perspective, or and assistant that can even prospect, and at best, list. Imagine a system where you built your business based on some really scalable and simple systems and then you’ve got yourself to a point where like literally you could teach the entire listing and prospecting process so you could have other people out there in the market for you.

What does your database look like?

Your database is one of the most vital elements inside of your business. Whether you have been in the industry for 30 years or are just starting out, understanding how to categorise and evaluate your lists of buyers, sellers and clients can really maximize the growth of your business.

The largest category in your database is Buyers. This includes buyers who are also property owners. Some of them are likely landlords of properties you manage. You want to use your database to regularly keep in touch with these people. In order to make that process most efficient, you want to maintain a current database, which means maintaining only currently active buyers in that Buyers category. But you don’t want to lose track of those people completely. Instead, buyers who are not actively buying need to be moved to a different category.

When a buyer completes their real estate transaction they can usually be entered into a new category inside your database called Potential Sellers, which also includes all the people who attend your open for inspections and who own property in your areas. Your long-term goal is to get to know all of the potential sellers in your marketplace. Potential sellers will eventually move into a new category called Market Appraisals once you actually meet with them, see their property, and build enough of a relationship with them to know something about their reasons for selling. From there these people can become your Current Clients.

You need to know how many current clients you can comfortably and effectively work with without overloading your capacities. One way to gauge this is by average days on market. If your days on market tend to be longer, then you can carry more stock at a time. If you turn over properties more quickly, then you can afford to carry less stock. In either case, you always want to list more stock than you sell.

The final category inside of your database is Past Clients. These are the people you have actually bought and sold property with. They can be the most valuable people in your database because they become clients for life. Your Past Clients category is one that you want to keep growing year after year.

You will use all these database categories to measure your progress because the success of your business is reflected in the size and quality of your database. It’s a good idea to review the numbers of buyers, potential sellers, market appraisals, current clients and past clients every week and compare those numbers with the past week to keep up with what is happening with the growth of your business. It all comes down to the simple fact that working with those people is what turns them into your buyers, sellers, and clients for life.

What does your database look like?

Your database is one of the most vital elements inside of your business. Whether you have been in the industry for 30 years or are just starting out, understanding how to categorise and evaluate your lists of buyers, sellers and clients can really maximize the growth of your business.

The largest category in your database is Buyers. This includes buyers who are also property owners. Some of them are likely landlords of properties you manage. You want to use your database to regularly keep in touch with these people. In order to make that process most efficient, you want to maintain a current database, which means maintaining only currently active buyers in that Buyers category. But you don’t want to lose track of those people completely. Instead, buyers who are not actively buying need to be moved to a different category.

When a buyer completes their real estate transaction they can usually be entered into a new category inside your database called Potential Sellers, which also includes all the people who attend your open for inspections and who own property in your areas. Your long-term goal is to get to know all of the potential sellers in your marketplace. Potential sellers will eventually move into a new category called Market Appraisals once you actually meet with them, see their property, and build enough of a relationship with them to know something about their reasons for selling. From there these people can become your Current Clients.

You need to know how many current clients you can comfortably and effectively work with without overloading your capacities. One way to gauge this is by average days on market. If your days on market tend to be longer, then you can carry more stock at a time. If you turn over properties more quickly, then you can afford to carry less stock. In either case, you always want to list more stock than you sell.

The final category inside of your database is Past Clients. These are the people you have actually bought and sold property with. They can be the most valuable people in your database because they become clients for life. Your Past Clients category is one that you want to keep growing year after year.

You will use all these database categories to measure your progress because the success of your business is reflected in the size and quality of your database. It’s a good idea to review the numbers of buyers, potential sellers, market appraisals, current clients and past clients every week and compare those numbers with the past week to keep up with what is happening with the growth of your business. It all comes down to the simple fact that working with those people is what turns them into your buyers, sellers, and clients for life.

Secrets of Agent Marketing with Matt Hayson

There are actually two kinds of marketing you need to know how to do well: property marketing and agent marketing. In today’s Coaching Tip video, Josh Phegan will be talking with Matt Hayson of Cobden & Hayson about getting results with both.

Most agents already know how to do effective property marketing, which focuses on presenting the property itself in an attractive manner. This includes photography, video, floor plans and written copy that involves the customer personally and emotionally with the property. Agent marketing should also be part of your property marketing as it is actually more important to your business overall.

Agent marketing is about promoting your business as a brand. You may be presenting a specific property, but also include an emphasis on your agency’s handling of it. You should also be directly presenting your agency regularly and consistently throughout the marketing calendar to keep your name and business fresh in clients’ minds. Consider that past appraisals and clients are not often targeted for continued marketing, but they have been proven to be a valuable source of new business for you. Also look beyond traditional email distribution to options such as direct mail newsletters and online videos that demonstrate your knowledge and effectiveness as well as offering accessible information to previous and potential customers.

It is consistency and currency, plus a solid marketing plan for both property and agent marketing, which will put you in the forefront with your real estate business.

What works better for you?

Prospecting is basic to your business, so it is important to know the best approach to take with it. There are two different kinds of prospecting: relationship-based prospecting and geographic-based prospecting.

With geographic-based prospecting you start by targeting an area of properties where you think you want to work. You get contact information for everyone who lives or owns property in that geographic area and you send a copy of your market report to as many of them as possible. Hopefully from this offering you will be able to book a few market appraisals, proceed to some listing presentations and end up with property listings.

Relationship-based prospecting focuses on contacting all the people you already know, working with them wherever their properties may be, and in the process forming new relationships with them and through them to expand your possibilities. What you hope will happen is that you are able to sell a high-level property to someone who then has a property you can sell in another market at another price point, then sell that buyer’s property elsewhere at yet another price point, and so on. In short, the more people you meet with trade-ins, the more of both buyers and sellers who are market-ready you will meet, and thus the more business you can do.

Which approach is better – geographic-based prospecting or relationship-based prospecting? The industry tends to use the geographic approach more often. However, building upon relationships with as many people as you know and can meet does in fact expand your possibilities, and is not limited by the boundaries of a given area or market. Every person you meet is a buyer or tenant, a seller or landlord, and they all have to live somewhere. Their status expands your opportunities, whether now or in the future.

Thank you for joining us for today’s Coaching Tip, and we hope to see you again next week.

Prospecting With Recency

Here is a prospecting exercise I learned from a highly successful Potts Point real estate agent named Jason Boon.

Get a pen and paper. Write the numbers 1 through 30. Now list 30 people you know you need to talk with next. We call this technique “Recency” because those 30 people are potential clients you probably met fairly recently and need to start prospecting right away. Jason does this every morning, and follows up by making phone calls and appointments around his list.

Part of this process is about actual prospecting, but another function of the procedure is to weed out all those other people you have met, but that you probably won’t be able to do business with for various reasons. Making a list of people who are most likely to be buying or selling real estate in the next few months helps you to focus on actual prospects instead of wasting time pursuing dead ends. The people you want to connect with are the ones who have registered to bid at auction – who have showed up for a second appointment on a property – and people who have returned your phone calls. These prospects are already active and most likely to buy or sell property within the next 3 months. And if these people have come to you they are already attracted to your business. It’s your move now to complete that connection. Don’t waste those opportunities – if you want to succeed in this business, work these Recency lists every day.

Thanks for joining us for today’s Coaching Tip, and watch for more every week.

The key elements for a successful auction

Selling by auction can be stressful, but there are several things you can do before auction day to alleviate some of the stress. Mostly you want to make sure your buyers will be fully prepared to bid and buy property. Having buyers who are qualified and confident will help assure that properties receive the very best sell price possible.

Communication with your buyers and sellers is vitally important, and you need to dialog with them well before the auction. You can help buyers decide how much to bid by making current pricing information available to them. In many states and countries there is legislation in place that limits what you can and cannot quote, and you need to know what your local legislation involves, but you can certainly show buyers examples of properties currently on the market and what they are selling for.

You can also explain the auction process, make sure buyers know what is required of them before they can purchase, and help them through the steps they need to take in order to be financially ready before auction day. That would include seeing their mortgage broker, having their deposit in place, knowing the terms of the deal they are interested in, and being registered to bid if that is required.

Another bit of information you can use yourself is to find out who has requested copies of contracts to be sent to a solicitor for review. As this involves a substantial fee, you know a buyer is interested in a property if they have made this request. Overall, if you know your buyers are fully prepared, then you can feel confident that they are serious and will actually show up and bid on property.

One decision you have to make is when to actually sell the property. Sometimes it is in the best interest of the customer to sell before the auction depending on offers you may receive on the property. If no one is showing interest in a given property prior to the auction, then it might be best to put the property on the market. Then again, if you know there will be multiple bidders for the property it might be best to let it go to auction. Your own experience can help you judge how quickly you think you could sell that property in the marketplace, and whether sending it to auction might result in a faster sale. And you can always consult with a specialist to help you make that decision if you are unsure.

Thank you for joining us for today’s Coaching Tip. We hope to see you here again next week!

Stay Ahead by Prospecting Daily

You may not realize it, but if you want to be doing a successful business next season, you need to be working on that right now. How far in advance are you prospecting for potential leads now so that you can move on them when they become available?

You should be working 3 to 4 months in advance at all times, collecting leads, prospecting daily so that you have a steady pipeline of new opportunities coming in to you at all times. Find the people who are ready to come to market now. Find the people, too, who are thinking about selling so that when they decide to move you will be ready to move with them. Some of the best people to check up on are market appraisals you have done, not just within the last three months, but anytime in the past. Prospecting is a continuous process – you should be doing at least one core session a day, three if possible, with people in a position to take their property to market and sell it.

When you have properties working it makes a difference not only in the way your business works, but in how you feel about the work you are doing – and that success is projected to your potential customers in the way you present yourself, even the way you interact on the phone. So always be prospecting, always be working on something new, stay ahead of the curve and your positive actions will attract more customers.

We hope you’ve enjoyed today’s Coaching Tip and will join us again next week.

Critical Skills for Your Success

There are three critical skills you need to have a handle on inside your business: Prospecting, finding and winning potential sellers, and selling the properties. It is important for you to do an audit of your business in order to discover the critical components you have in place, and identify those you need to cultivate.

The details that are covered by prospecting for sellers, selling yourself to your customers, and delivering a successful presentation are interconnected and dependent on each other to make the whole process work. Included in the mix are buyer work, vendor work, leverage, understanding your financials – not to mention building in time for yourself!

You need to know what your lead sources are and how to work them, and have a source for potential sellers that you can bring to the marketplace.

You also need to be able to communicate with customers about fees, marketing, pricing, terms, and method of sale. You have to make the initial contact and talk with the vendor before meeting with them. When you arrive at the property you will discuss why they are selling and what their personal needs are, pitch to those needs, then cover marketing and the selling method, discuss pricing the property, discuss your fees, and then close with the customer comfortably. All the while you must sell yourself and your brand.

One of the best ways for you to approach your business audit is to have a quiet, thoughtful look at all of the skills you know you have inside your business right now. When you have that picture, then you can think about areas where you need to spend time to improve your performance in the marketplace. For example, if your listing presentation needs work then you have to bring that up to par so that you can prospect more. And you will prospect more once you are confident that you can win that business with your listing presentation.

We hope you’ve enjoyed today’s coaching tip, and look forward to seeing you here again next week.

Asking powerful questions and why using trial closes are so important

One of the most important elements inside of a listing presentation is tactics. One key tactic is the “trial closure” because it allows you to test how ready your customer is to enter the market with you. You do this by simply asking some important questions.

Know beforehand the kinds of questions you want to ask according to the structure of your overall listing presentation to an individual customer. You will be able to weigh their level of engagement not only by the answers they give you, but also by their level of involvement and interest in the process. Are they also asking questions of you? Are they talking actively? Is it clear they understand what you have been discussing with them?

You can use trial closures in several instances, the first being their selection of an agent. Ask them if they would be ready to appoint an agent today if everything else was signed off on to start. If they say “yes”, then you have a good indication that they are on board with you. This is much better than reaching the end of the listing presentation and still not knowing if they want you to represent them or not.

Next you want to see if they understand your recommended sales method and agree with it. So ask them when an auction would work for them, or when an open for inspection would be convenient. If they respond with dates and times without hesitation, then you have another indication that they are comfortable with the sale method and with you.

Your next trial closure can be about marketing. Ask your customers when it would be best to send the photographer and videographer through the house, when they think the sign should go up, where they think the property should be marketed first, etc. Then ask them if they have a spare key. If they hand you the key then you can have even more confidence that they will be signing with you.

A final trial closure question could be about pricing. Simply ask them how they feel about a specific price. Would they need to see a higher price before moving forward?

Trial closures are all about leading up to an endpoint with enough information to actually do business. They have to be done throughout the listing presentation, though – you can’t wait until the end of your presentation and then throw out a random trial closure. You have to use trial closures tactically and consistently to know that you are building the right relationship with your customer. Engagement is your greatest tool for making the connection that will win customers, and there are four simple questions you need to ask your customer:

  1. How would you like to see things perceived?
  2. What would you like to see happen from here?
  3. What do you need to know from me?
  4. How can we best work together?

These four questions should really bring your listing presentation to a powerful closure.

We hope you enjoyed today’s coaching tip and look forward to seeing you again next week!