The Greatest Challenge in Your Business

You know, I see established businesses that have been around for years playing the game as though it’s their first year in the industry. In my Coaching Tip today I’ll show you that the greatest challenge in your business is realizing where your opportunities are sitting and how they can play for you. And it’s all so basic that you don’t even see it.

Too many agents don’t seem to know the most basic philosophies of creating a great real estate business. They’re not leveraging their relationships.

They’re not thinking about past clients and market appraisals, or where their landlords live. They’re not following up and working with possibly 20 years worth of prospects already sitting inside of their database. And they’re not prepared when an opportunity pops up at them.

Your business’s philosophy has a massive bearing on your potential for success. How do you generate leads? What simple disciplines do you follow? It’s all about how you actually work with customers. It’s about making lists and following up with those people, getting back face-to-face with them regularly, and staying relevant even when there’s no transaction happening.

This is what keeps your business moving. You’ll never run out of people to call on, to follow-up with, and to meet with every day. Forget about what your competitors are doing – worry about what it is you’re doing to serve your customers. This is the greatest challenge in your business: Three appointments per day, every day, to get in front of your customers. Do this consistently and the trades, the transactions – the magic – will happen.

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

Teach, Train, Test

To ensure that your people are operating at the highest standard to get conversions from the work that you do, my Growth, Leadership, and Management Tip this month is about the teach, train, test philosophy. This helps everyone understand how your business generates leads, what type of work your people do, and what they don’t do.

It comes down to playing to your strengths. Most businesses I work with generate leads through their personal network, open for inspections, past clients, and landlords. Just extracting from those leads alone changes everything that happens in your business. But those leads can produce much more than most agencies manage to get out of them.

For example, out of 3,000 visitors, one business may see come through their open for inspections in a month, 1,000 of those people own property in that area. But if they only get the residential addresses from 100 of those people it really impacts how relevant you can be to most clients in the quality of your communication with buyers who are also potential sellers.

When someone new comes into our organization, I feel it’s as important to explain what we don’t do as what we do. Letterbox drops, door knocks, and cold calls don’t make sense if you haven’t first worked with the people you already know. Really, how much time do people spend at the letterbox vs. time they spend online? Your people would generate more leads just following up on yearly check-ins with past clients.

You want to make sure your business and your people are visible wherever your customers’ eyeballs are. Teach, train, test is about making sure your team members understand your strategy and know the specifics around what it is that you do. Teach them your philosophies for generating leads, train them to use your dialogues to book appointments, and then test their proficiencies with those things. I’m a big believer in doing less, but doing whatever you do so well that it works consistently and reliably.

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 114 – Owner’s Pricing, Agent’s Pricing and Market pricing

In this High-Performance Podcast for Real Estate Agents, Josh Phegan and Alexander Phillips discuss differences in owner’s pricing, agent’s pricing and market pricing. Alex explains how he handles the hard conversation with the client in explaining those pricing variations and expectations. Josh introduces several scenarios including the competitor who challenges your price, working with client expectations that have no bearing on actual market value, and how to deal with setting a lower price on an expired offer when the client wants to maintain the original price, and how to offset the influence of an agent who is a chronic overpricer.

Alex advises using fee structure and case studies to defend your proposals and being direct when explaining owner’s pricing, agent’s pricing and market pricing. Josh covers questions he asks to determine how clients set expectations, and how he then advises them.

Assumptions Never Win

You don’t want to make that phone call because you assume that client doesn’t want to sell their house. In my Coaching Tip today I’m telling you that assumptions never win, and you don’t know what that person wants to do until you talk with them. They may actually need your help to decide what’s best for them.

A big part of your business is about understanding how to serve people by helping them make change happen. The number one influence toward change is FOMO – the Fear Of Missing Out. With the rise of social media there’s more FOMO than ever. People see others they know making exciting changes as it happens. That creates anxiety and motivation to make those changes themselves.

Use FOMO to drive that change for your customers. Before you put that signboard in a yard, call up the people you know in that market area and tell them about it. Give them that insider information and they’ll start thinking. Then when you do put up the signboard and the open for inspections start to happen, people in the neighborhood will look at their own homes differently. Discussions will happen in those households about selling and moving up to something better.

This is your opportunity to make those appraisal appointments and ask the right questions. Find their areas of dissatisfaction with the home they’re in. A great real estate agent is a master at working people into a frenzy to make change happen by helping them see what they really hate about where they are and create a compelling vision for the move upward.

If you’re hesitant to call a potential seller because you don’t think they’ll want to sell, remember assumptions never win. It’s your job as an agent to care enough about your clients to help them do what it takes to improve their quality of life for the future. Be there for them before they know they need you, identify their dissatisfactions, and offer them solutions.

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

Ep 113 – The Role of the Pre-List Kit

In this High-Performance Podcast for Real Estate Agents, Josh Phegan and Alexander Phillips talk about the role of the pre-list kit. Alex describes how this tool has evolved over the years and why it’s still relevant today. Josh advises around the power of simplicity in delivering the message, and Alex lists elements he likes to see in a pre-list kit. They discuss how to determine the ideal total read time, who should receive the kit. Alex outlines what goes into his kit, and they weigh in on digital format vs. delivering a printed kit to the customer.

Alex notes his kits are specific to the property but the same for each customer, and defines the role of the pre-list kit in the listing presentation, especially in demonstrating why you’re the agent the customer wants to hire to sell their house.

Simple Scales

You’ll build a great real estate career if you design your business from the start as though you’re already doing incredible numbers of deals. In my Coaching Tip this week I’ll show you the concept of simple scales, which means that the simpler it is to run your business, the easier it is to scale.

Building a big business requires putting systems in place that simplify what you do. When you’re just starting out 30 deals a year might seem like a lot. But if you work right now as though you’re doing 60 deals a year, it will change the way you run your business. You’ll learn to do 30-minute open for inspections and 10-minute vendor reports – you’ll simplify your business in order to get results.

A lot of agents consider their database to be their major lead source, but it’s really just the storage unit for those leads. Where did all those people inside of your database come from? Start weighing how many leads you get from buyer inquiries, past clients, people you already know, and people who come to open for inspections, as well as your social media sites. Discover where your greatest numbers of leads are actually coming from and spend most of your prospecting time supporting those activities.

Now, how you use those leads will determine the amount of business you can generate. Again, this is based on simple activities. For example, I send out these Coaching Tips every week and do a daily email. We make 50 connected phone calls every day, and we do podcasts regularly. But my number one staple is being great onstage. That means being great every time I’m in front of a client as much as being in front of an audience. For you, it means being good at what you do as an agent.

To achieve simple scales, learn to simplify the way you do business so that everything you do is consistent, reliable, efficient, and doable for everyone inside of your organisation, no matter how much business you’re doing.

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

Ep 112 – The Big Jump: Getting Fast Fee Growth

This High-Performance Podcast for Real Estate Agents features Josh Phegan and Alexander Phillips on the big jump to getting fast fee growth and how to get it inside of your business. Alex lists some of those things you need to do, advises having the confidence to do them, and encourages you to know your own worth. Josh details the process for setting fees and the different levels of service you can commit to deliver. Alex then advises on getting set up for growth in the next year.

They weigh in on planning and process, scaling your business and your team, and justifying your fees by demonstrating value. Alex wraps up with tips on helping an underperforming agent to get their fees up and giving your vendors more confidence around pricing.

Business is All About Intention

The Pareto Principle states that 20% of your actions drive 80% of your results. In real estate that 20% is all about the phone calls and other connections, you make that get you face to face with the customer. Business is all about intention and in my Coaching Tip today I’ll help you understand and take action around what really makes your business move.

We’re all time stuffed so we have to focus on those activities that influence people and profit us the most. That means getting your appointments up. Phone sessions every morning will get you in front of the client for sure. A lot of agents still rely on mail campaigns, but in the new economy people are no longer at their letterbox.

Be aware that the average Australian is, in fact, spending around 12 hours a week on social media like Facebook and Instagram. Many agents are finding they can make appointments through online communities now. If you’ve been avoiding exploring online opportunities it’s time for you to have a serious look at what you could do there.

Whether you’re interacting with customers by phone or through social media, it’s in the last 10% of the exchange that you push for the appointment, ask for their approval, and request an opportunity to come out and see them face-to-face. I’ve got some great little hook dialogues I’ll give you in the video to win that last 10%, and get you out to those properties and in front of the customer.

It’s when you really refine that clear understanding that business is all about intention – it’s about what you do, and don’t do – that ultimately gets the results you need and allows your business to scale.

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

Ep 111 – Agent Productivity and Where You Need It Most

In this High-Performance Podcast for Real Estate Agents, Josh Phegan and Alexander Phillips discuss agent productivity and where you need it most. Alex explores the areas where he needs to get the most productivity to keep things flowing inside of his business, and tells why it’s so important for agents to know what their lead sources are. Josh addresses the need for finding new lead sources, and Alex outlines ways to use productivity to improve buyer work and ensure sales.

They discuss focusing on what needs to get done, pulling your people up so they can be more productive and you can stay focused, and shifting your energy curve upward. Josh ends with knowing your priorities and avoiding distractions.

Simple Disciplines

It’s the simple things that will either take you where you want to go or bring you undone. My Coaching Tip today is all about those simple disciplines that keep you on track and progressing without having to think about it.

If you’re going to be good, then aim to be the best at what you do. No insecurities, no distractions, no procrastination. To perform at your best you need everything in its right place. Simplify daily tasks by creating a system to make sure basics are covered, like having your clothing clean and pressed, and having your food prepared and in the fridge. In my business we use the CAR method: set a cue, perform that action and you’ll get the desired result.

Planning your day is critically important and running to a routine makes that simple. Set a time to get to the office and make that first phone call, schedule meetings that follow a timed agenda, and get clarity on where everyone in your business needs to be. Prospect in the AM and do appointments in the PM every day. Set a day each week for specific meetings and caravans to view properties.

Change the way you think about those meetings, too. Instead of dreading them, see them as opportunities to influence your sales team to go out and sell every home you’ve got. Build that excitement, and make the connections around buyers and sellers in your marketplace right now.

Think about the areas of your business that stress you out the most and focus on relieving that stress. Do the work to get the appointments you need every week. Make sure you’re in control of your social media. Get help with your dialogue and delivery. Get clear on all you can do with the contacts and categories inside of your database. These are the simple disciplines – the systems and people – that make a massive difference to your business.

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