Ep 86 — Procrastination and Distractions

This High-Performance Podcast for Real Estate Agents features Josh Phegan and Alexander Phillips on procrastination and distractions, and how to stop technology from pulling you away from the game and work for you like it should. Alexander lists some common distractions and tells how they affect your productivity. Josh demonstrates why you should remove social media icons and silence notifications on your phone. Alexander outlines activities you should focus on to increase productivity, and Josh reinforces the necessity to stay in the moment.

When the goal is clear there are no distractions. Josh stresses that you must be clear on your goals, and Alexander tells why you should start with small goals and build up over time as you gain confidence. Is what you’re doing today taking you where you want to go?

Being Present

It’s critically important in building a great business to stay focused on the critical work you need to do. My Coaching Tip today is about being present. I’ll tell you how to remove distractions and stop procrastinating so you can make every minute of your workday count.

Being present means being in the moment, but that’s become hard to do with social media and phone notifications taking your attention away from the work at hand. The best agents have rid themselves of all their distractions and procrastination, and have learned to focus in short, sharp sessions that’s make a massive difference to the way they work.

One of the first things you can do is turn off all the notifications on your phone. The only notifications you should keep are your SMS and calendar prompts so that you get on the phone, do the calls and get in front of clients. It’s all about taking those actions that will substantially build your business.

Procrastination and distraction happen when you’re not confident about the work you’re doing and don’t have clarity on your goals.

Every minute you spend that’s not with an A grade customer is a minute you don’t get to spend doing other things in life that you want to do. Get rid of the things that aren’t helping you get where you want to go, and focus on things that get the results that pay.

One of the best ways to improve your focus is to work inside of 45-minute sessions. Use the timer you get with your Josh Phegan Membership. Then you can easily measure the number of calls, the number of connections, and also the number of appointments that you’re booking. You can also clear all of your email, get your filing done, or any other task in short sessions. Being present is key to doing one task at a time and doing it well the first time.

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

Ep 85 – Employee Mindset vs. Owner Mindset

In this High-Performance Podcast for Real Estate Agents, Josh Phegan and Alexander Phillips explain the difference between the employee mindset and the owner mindset and how your thinking affects your drive to succeed. Alexander talks about your vision for the kind of structure and culture you want your agency to have. Josh notes ways employees and owners visualise success, and how a commitment to becoming an agent long-term changes the way you think. Alexander reinforces the need for long-term thinking and willingness to learn.

They discuss details of employee thinking as self-based vs. owner thinking, which focuses on success for the agency as a whole. Josh ends on going all in on your agency’s systems and procedures, building relationships, and avoiding individual power pyramids.

Vendor Work and Reporting

As your vendor’s agent, your job is to take control, help them make the right decisions and get their properties sold. In my Coaching Tip today I’m talking about the vendor work and vendor reporting that will help you get the best results for your owners.

Understand that this is probably the first time your vendor has been on market for some time. This may even be the first time they’ve sold a property. Your simple, reliable communication and recommendations will make a massive difference with them during the offer and acceptance process. You’ll set expectations during the listing presentation, but you must be willing to go back in to reposition the property if necessary.

Advise and educate your clients around current properties on the market, sale prices and buyer expectations. Advocate for the best method of sale to maximise the sale price for your client, whether auction, for sale or off-market. Speak to every single one of your owners every business day. Avoid long days on market by positioning properties to be seen as the best value in their price range. And don’t lose enthusiasm or make excuses if it doesn’t sell quickly. Your client needs you to really work with them – stay present and consistent with communication and advice.

I can’t stress enough the importance of good quality vendor work and vendor reporting. What’s really important is that you’re clear about your specific recommendations for marketing, sale method, pricing, timing, and approach to working with buyers. Be firm in getting them to make a decision when it has to be done in order to get their properties sold.

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

Opportunity Gaps

If you’re really honest about the status of your business you’re going to see room for improvement. Today my Growth, Leadership and Management tip is about finding your opportunity gaps and planning to grow past them.

The most fundamental area of growth that too many businesses overlook is around recruitment. Just like a sports team, you must always be bringing in fresh talent. Every year that your company grows you must evaluate team members, renew contracts or trade players, and keep upgrading the quality of your talent.

Recruitment also prevents stagnation. You may have the perfect team today, but the profile changes as people retire or look to move on. Often an owner simply loses the drive to continue building their team.

Do you have the right people in the right roles to meet current changing conditions? Are you transitioning those roles, adding new ones, and remaining adaptive to those changes? Does your administration allow a smooth, efficient process for doing business?

It’s easy to get so focused on listings and sales that we become tactically excellent but strategically negligent. It’s critical to find your opportunity gaps and plan for growth if you’re going to build a great business. Just address 3 things every 90 days and you’ll have 12 projects nailed for the year to rapidly reshape your business and increase your earning capability.

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

Feature Interview – Alexander Phillips & William Phillips Part 2

This is Part 2 of our Special Live Project High-Performance Podcast featuring Josh Phegan, Alexander Phillips and William Phillips. Continuing from Part 1 they discuss specifics of building the database vs. nurturing it. The next question they address is why they make so many calls, numbers of calls per day, and what they talk about with those clients.

Next, they discuss using appointments to build relationships and the importance of buyer work, with an example from a recent exchange between a client and several agents from the same office. They close discussion with emphasis on the importance of getting to know your marketplace and being visible, and offer tips for doing that, especially if you’re a new agent.

What Do You Measure Yourself By?

Really growing your business is about focusing on measuring just one or two key things. In my Coaching Tip today I’ll tell you what to do to get that growth you’re capable of. Let’s begin with this simple question: What do you measure yourself by?

In Phil Knight’s book, The Shoe Dog, he says, “You measure yourself by the number of people that measure themselves by you.” That means being a role model inside of your industry. A lot of agents are set on increasing income for short-term gratification. They want to look successful on Instagram and build that image of affluence when they should be building their true net wealth. The conditions of the day won’t always be as great as they have been the last five to six years.

To be a great agent you need that level of stability that ensures you know how to adapt regardless of market conditions. That’s why you need to measure yourself the right way, and the best benchmark is the number of appointments in your diary every week. In my training sessions I teach the 3/15/60 method:

Book 3 appointments every day, which gives you 15 appointments a week for a minimum of 60 appointments for the month.

The other number you can track on is your open for inspections every Saturday. Five to six opens each week gets you three to four listings and sales each and every month. And that income will put you in the position to put on your first assistant.

There’s a system and a formula for everything in your business. If you haven’t achieved the level of growth you want then get focused and put better systems in play. One of the best ways to learn those systems and to get clear on what you measure yourself by is through training at our Master Class Programs and the Josh Phegan Membership. Start measuring those key things you must have so you can fully live out your potential.

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

Feature Interview – Alexander Phillips & William Phillips Part 1

This is a special holiday edition of our High Performance Podcast featuring Josh Phegan in a live interview with Alexander Phillips and William Phillips. Today’s discussion took place at the 2016 List Sell Negotiate event. They cover a list of questions for the audience beginning with database size and time it takes to build it. That segues into how to build a nourished database.

They talk about building and maintaining relationships, using data for client qualification, and taking a long-term view. They do a role-play around how to interview a visitor to an open home to get the information you need to qualify them as a buyer or seller, now and for the future. They emphasize following up in a timely manner. Discussion then continues in Part 2.

Getting Back to Financial Safety

Having money put aside really does change the way that you work as an individual. In this Coaching Tip I’m talking about getting back to safety and out of panic mode with your finances.

You need to be in a position in your life that your income is greater than your expenses. The problem comes when you feel really successful and start to spend what you’re making. Before you start spending that extra money coming in, calculate what it costs for you and your family to live each month, then triple that amount. This is the minimum savings you should have in your bank account. This is your first level of safety.

Next, decide how much savings you need to feel comfortable and put back that amount. Then project on how much you need in order to become entrepreneurial. Here, you won’t be depleting your savings if you buy an investment property or a house, and putting undue pressure downwards on your assistants and yourself because suddenly you’re in panic mode not having that cash at call.

You owe it to yourself, your team and your customers to buy yourself that knowledge that everything’s going to be okay, for you and for them. Yes, it’s tough to start that savings account when you’re a new agent working to just meet your current expenses, but as soon as you start to earn good money make sure you start saving some. With enough reserve income you have no worries around whether or not you’ll survive. You will.

Keep yourself in a position of safety so that you can help people make better decisions around selling their properties now or waiting for the right time. You can give your best advice because you don’t need to make the sale. And that’s where your position is most powerful.

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

Ep 84 — Why Age Is Not a Barrier

In this High-Performance Podcast for Real Estate Agents Josh Phegan and Alexander Phillips tell why age isn’t a barrier. Josh notes that agents may think they’re too young on the one hand, or too old on the other. Alexander explains how to counteract perceptions other people may have about age with demonstrated knowledge and confidence. Josh states that capability and competence are what people are looking for, and advises getting skills and knowledge from great mentors. Discussion continues around ways that mentoring helps.

They discuss how to combat complacency as you get older, and stay fit and healthy to remain competitive. Josh ends with a reminder to have a vision for a bigger future than your past, and stay hungry to achieve it.