Basics Versus Extras

The best thing you can do as an agent is to get clear about basics versus extras. In this Coaching Tip, I’m going to talk about what they are, how they differ, and how you need to prioritise your focus for success.

Building your database is simple, but it’s fundamental to running a great business. Those people you enter and categorise are your audience. You want to get the right marketing to the people who need your help through their transformation. Nurturing your database is about being in the conversation when it counts for listings and sales. It’s about how to communicate with the client over the phone to book those appointments that lead to conversions.

Your job as an agent is to improve conditions for the client. Ask the right questions so you can help them make better decisions and get their best results.

Too many agents don’t really look at the marketing they’re putting out. They just copy each other. They bypass the basics and instead focus on the extras, like their social media activity and their own image as a successful agent. That kind of marketing is all about the agent. It doesn’t relate to the customer at all.

What you want to communicate to your customers is that you can meet their unmet needs because you understand where they’re at. You’re the agent who will help them through their situations regardless of market conditions. You do this by getting clear on basics versus extras. Focus on getting face to face with the customer and making sure you’re hitting your listings numbers. This approach will change everything on the inside of your business and make you an incredible agent.

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

Ep 96 – Rejection, Resilience, and Becoming a Great Agent

In this High-Performance Podcast for Real Estate Agents, Josh Phegan and Alexander Phillips talk about rejection, resilience, and becoming a great agent. Alex offers tips to prepare to build resilience and become really good at what you do, beginning with making better calls to reduce rejection. Josh comments on getting out of your own head and thinking about the customer. Alex tells how to get over a bad situation and move into a good position of continuing to grow your business. They then discuss the importance of renewing your energy and ways to do that.

They discuss staying resilient when setbacks get bigger as your business grows larger, and Alex gives an example of things going wrong and how to handle it without panicking. Josh ends with advice on understanding the psychology of what’s happening in a given situation.

What Is It Like to Join You?

It’s what you do on the first day, first week, first month, and the first year that sets your new hire’s expectations for the rest of their career inside of your organisation. In my Growth, Leadership and Management Tip this month I’m challenging you to get clear on what is it like to join you, and what you can do better.

From the moment you first meet a new recruit you create the joining experience they have with your company. Do you know what it’s like for them in terms of your speed of execution, your letter of offer, and your follow-through? You must provide the training they need to understand your systems, how you communicate and function as a team, and how they will contribute to the culture of your organisation.

Don’t let your best talent become lonely in business through lack of communication and wasted potential. Make sure everyone is clear about job roles and not loaded to capacity with tasks that aren’t even part of their job. You need to map out their career journey starting with a basic training plan that covers systems, communication, expectations, forms, processes, and touch points you deliver to your external customers.

The next time you put someone on, list all emails, the letter of offer, touch points and training they require. That will become your checklist for onboarding new people. Then collect feedback from those people at intervals through their first year to learn about questions they had, challenges they faced, and conversations they needed to have. Add those concerns to your checklist and use that information to provide the ultimate internal client experience journey when people join your brand.

It’s up to you to set the experience curve for what is it like to join you. Set high expectations for yourself and for them. Deliver on your promises, and most of all, place them in positions where they will feel empowered to drive change in their personal lives as well as their career. Help each one become the type of person that they’re capable of being. That’s the very best experience you can share.

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

Thinking About the Next 20 Years

What you do as a real estate agent is not about right now, and it’s not about you. In my Coaching Tip today we’ll be thinking about the next 20 years because that vision is important to everything you do inside of your career.

In real estate you need to learn to take a long-term approach to maintaining the energy you need to be consistent as an outstanding performer. You have to know what you’re doing well enough that it shows so that people will want to come and work with you. You have to think about the level of service you want to provide over the next 20 years in order to be relevant now.

Start with getting the information you need to be relevant to your customers. To do that you must ask the right questions the right way. The answers you get will tell you the customer’s motivations, help you build your database, and give you clarity for growth.

Thinking long-term will help you adapt to change, and develop a degree of energy and tenacity that people will want to buy. You’ll also get better at shifting people into a position to become sellers by showing them their ideal aspirational home through social retargeting.

It’s understanding what you’re doing for the customer that makes the difference between a transaction and a transformation.

When you start thinking about the next 20 years you’ll realise that you’re not just making sales, you’re helping people transform into their next major stage of life.

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

Ep 95 — The Importance of Goals Inside of Business

This High-Performance Podcast for Real Estate Agents features Josh Phegan and Alexander Phillips on the importance of goals inside of business. Josh notes the challenge of getting motivated, and Alex tells why it’s important to set goals and maintain a high level of performance. Josh elaborates on goal setting vs. goal getting, dealing with distractions, and thinking of what you really want in the long term. Alex then tells what keeps him hungry for ever greater successes in his business.

Josh explains clarity of purpose and the role of mentors and tormentors in helping you stay passionate. Alex tells how to set mini-goals to give you structure and accountability, and Josh advises getting an early start for energy and momentum.

Price Quality Time Triangle

If you’re going to deliver quality service with a quick turnaround time, you have to charge the right price for that service. In my Coaching Tip today I’ll tell you why it is with price vs. quality vs. time, you will always have to sacrifice one of those three.

We’ve seen a lot of fee discounters coming into the Australian marketplace, whilst at the same time in New Zealand almost everyone charges a set 3.95% fee. They can command that fee because they understand their value.

Too many agents don’t understand that lowering their price means they also have to lower their quality or speed. You simply cannot deliver all three at the same time.

You can’t be quick, high quality, and cheap on price because you need additional people or additional resources in order to deliver high quality and speed. Those people and resources aren’t free, so you have to decide what it is you really want to do. Are you going to negotiate based on your pricing, or on the high quality of service and speed of transaction you provide?

It really comes down to the types of systems you have in place, the quality of your marketing, usability of your database, and the quality of the training base you provide for your team. Think price vs. quality vs. time, and make sure you know exactly where you’re positioning yourself. Know what it is that you deliver to the marketplace so you can be deliberate around your pricing.

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

How Your Brand Positions the Fee

If you want to be the Louis Vuitton of your market, you can’t get away with performing like a reject shop. My Coaching Tip today is all about how your brand positions the fee, and making sure you’re providing the level of service that you charge for.

The brand experience you provide to your customers determines where you can set your fee. From the marketing materials you give out at the listing presentation to the way you run the open for inspection, everything you can do to make the process easier and anticipate needs before the client even knows they have them is important.

Customers aren’t impressed when they go to a store in one location, and then have a different experience at the same store in a different location. You want your brand experience to be consistent with what you do. Consistency makes a massive difference in the way you’re perceived in the marketplace and thus where you set your fee.

You probably have competition from some fixed fee agencies that offer a cheaper price, but they’re also cutting back on quality and services. Think of how you want to be seen and make sure you’re providing a high level of service in your customer experience journey. Make sure everything you do at a marketing level sets you up for success in the customer’s’ eyes.

The touch points that determine how your brand positions the fee include basic things like proper forms, visuals, and dialogue. These create a much better experience through presenting information in a compelling way. Keeping everything simple for the customer will encourage them to make a decision in your favour.

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

Ep 94 — How to Lift People Up Inside of Your Team

In this High Performance Podcast for Real Estate Agents Josh Phegan and Alexander Phillips talk about how to lift people up inside of your team. It’s about handing over control to other people. Josh notes two key ways to do that and Alex tells how he does it with his team. Josh warns against losing trust and killing confidence by doing it wrong. Alex outlines some key skills for your people to learn for success as their career progresses, and Josh explains how to deal with objections and resistance. Alex then talks about when and how your people should learn to do a listing presentation.

Josh details specific points people need to learn, and Alex estimates how long it should take for a new agent to eventually write a million dollars. Josh wraps up with mentorship that focuses on taking time and having the patience to build a quality team.

All About Systems

The key to providing a consistent brand experience is all about systems. In today’s Coaching Tip I’ll explain the simple systems you need to identify, put in place, and teach your team so everything gets done properly.

A system is a way of doing things that produce consistent results and minimises your margin of error. With good systems in place, everyone always knows what they’re doing in the way they work. There are 4 simple systems you should be using: checklist, form, dialogue, and visual aid.

There are 2 versions of a checklist: Read and review is a general list of things to have in place before performing a task. Read and do is an ordered list of steps you actively take to accomplish that task. The order of steps can be critical so be clear about the sequence.

Some people confuse the form with the checklist, but the form is a capture tool to record important information you need, such as customer information during a market appraisal. You should use a form during your prospecting calls, and it’s helpful if there are prompts on the form to help choose the right dialogue.

Great dialogue determines whether you get the commitment, book the appointment, and generally get the customer to agree to whatever you’re proposing. Visual aids help support your dialogue and clarify your message. Visuals can include headings, brochures and case studies to make your presentation even more influential.

Thinking about what you can do to make a better form, a better checklist, a better dialogue, or a better visual aid is all about systems. Putting those systems in place and using them every day will make it easier for your customers to decide in your favour, and ultimately lead to better fees.

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

Ep 93 – What To Do In the 48hrs After the Listing Presentation

In this High Performance Podcast for Real Estate Agents Josh Phegan and Alexander Phillips talk about what you should be doing during the 48hrs after your listing presentation. Alex tells what his agency does, and how your customer is thinking about your actions post-appointment. Josh details ways to close the presentation with follow-up actions, and Alex tells how to look keen without looking desperate. Josh notes the effectiveness of assumptive close questions for progressing the client without being pushy.

Alex talks about how to handle losing the listing and still win referrals or future business, and Josh reinforces to be gracious in defeat as that is still a career-building moment.