Staying Hungry and Humble

Some people are drawn to a real estate career by the image of wealth. Holiday travel and expensive cars are fine, but real success over time takes staying hungry and humble. In my Coaching Tip today I’ll tell you what that means and why it’s important.

Your real estate career can bring you financial success, but to stay hungry you have to know what you want. Instead of spending your income on symbols of success, invest in security for the future. Most of all, put that money into growing your business. The team you build, coach and mentor will help you build your business. A great agent also understands the importance of being of service to their customers. It’s all about their needs and situations, and how you can help them. Being humble in your work will help you build the relationships and longevity you need for long-term success.

A business that’s not successful has a lack of vision or a shortage of capital. It’s up to you to stay focused on your goals and manage your profits wisely. The key to staying hungry is a desire to be the best you can be. Put the right people in the right positions so you can do your most inspiring, challenging and necessary work.

It’s also important to balance your private and public life to serve your customers and still do things that are important in your life. Your image should reflect stability and substance, not vanity and consumption. Being humble and approachable will help you connect with customers through empathy with their desires and concerns.

Your greatest competitor is yourself. Your challenge is to get better every year. And you’ll achieve true success through staying hungry and humble.

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

The Talent Bench

Who is your next hire and how do you find that perfect fit for your organisation? In this month’s Growth, Leadership and Management Tip I want to talk with you about the importance of building your talent bench and how to make sure that’s happening inside of your business.

Suddenly having a vacancy is not the time to start looking for someone to fill it. Prospecting for talent is an ongoing process. You want to have new hires in mind far in advance of needing to bring them on. Remember that the people you hire really shape your business and help you grow, so recruiting the best talent ahead of time is crucial. That’s what your talent bench is about. Not only will you be looking at people who apply for positions inside of your business, you’ll be actively seeking talent as well. Build relationships and interest along the way and keep in touch with prospects so that when you do have that vacancy you’ll know who to call immediately.

Improve your talent bench by knowing the skillsets required for all positions inside of your business and keeping lists of potential hires that can best fill those roles. The people already working for you are always progressing so you’ll need to fill their positions as well as hiring members for new teams. Having an impressive recruiting campaign to send to all your prospects regularly and consistently will generate interest and drive momentum for people who are interested in joining you.

You must maintain a long-term vision and make a commitment to stay out of scarcity mode. Foster the talent you have whilst seeking and recruiting quality prospects for your talent bench. And make sure everyone inside of your business understands that you’re always prospecting and recruiting. You never want to miss out on an opportunity to bring in great people for the future.

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 54 — Receiving Feedback

This High Performance Podcast for Real Estate Agents features Josh Phegan and Alexander Phillips on the benefits of being receptive to feedback from clients as well as coaches, trainers, and other agents. Alexander tells how there’s always more to learn no matter how long you’ve been an agent. Josh advises having a growth mindset, then both share some of their greatest career lessons around communication, relationships, scheduling, and target goals.

Giving feedback to others is also valuable and they discuss how and when to do that effectively. Josh reminds to praise publicly – criticise privately, and closes with the suggestion to be coachable and be a good coach.

Learning the Key Numbers of Measurement

The only way to know how well – or how poorly – your business is doing is through measurement of key numbers. In my Coaching Tip today I’ll tell you which numbers to watch and why they matter.

Tracking all of your numbers is important, but there’s one number you need to focus on above all else: Appointments. Everything you do depends on booking appointments, from listings to personal meetings with customers. Just 3 appointments a day means 60 in a month, and every one is an opportunity for a listing or a referral.

There’s just one other significant number to watch and that’s your open for inspections each Saturday. Set a minimum number and work to reach it – then set a higher number. Opens are your best lead generator for new clients as well as people you already know and will grow your database steadily. All your signboards and sold stickers in yards increase visibility and social proof in your marketplace, too.

Without measurement you can’t know where critical changes and improvements are desperately needed. By focusing on appointments booked and open for inspections – the numbers that really determine your progress – you avoid distraction and wasted effort on minor tasks. Take care of these key numbers and success in all areas of your business will follow.

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

Ep 53 — Negotiation Skills

In this High Performance Podcast for Real Estate Agents Josh Phegan and Alexander Phillips tell how negotiation skills need to stay fresh and adaptable. Alexander starts with considerations that affect the way he negotiates, especially communication with buyers. Emphasising percentage over price and knowing how to motivate clients to make a timely decision are crucial skills. Josh describes the psychology of transaction vs. transformation, and how to employ humour with the percentage close. Alexander stresses getting the details of the transaction set so there are no delays once a decision is made.

Ego Fullfillment vs Financial Security

Are you investing in your confidence or your ego? My Coaching Tip today is about avoiding vanity spending and increasing your financial security so you can grow your business and your confidence.

When you first begin to see some success in your real estate career it’s so easy to feel that you deserve a flashy car and expensive clothing, especially when you see so many other agents doing it. It’s an attractive image and you want to present that way, too.

There’s nothing wrong with wanting those things and having them, but you’re going to feel a lot better about them if you’ve built a firm foundation for your business first. And true confidence will take you much further in your career than an overfed ego.

Confidence expands in direct proportion to the size of your bank account, and here’s why: The more money you have in reserve, the more you can do with no worries in your business and your life. Building a great business requires reinvesting some of your earnings back into it. Are you investing enough in your business, or are you putting your financial resources into cars, clothing and image to feed your ego?

There are 3 levels of financial stability: Safety, Comfort and Entrepreneurial. Getting barely into safety mode is not the time to buy a $130k car. Even at comfort level you’re just maintaining. It’s when you reach entrepreneurial status that your confidence can really carry you higher.

Once you have enough of a financial buffer that you can take some risks and cover your losses without really feeling it, then you can enjoy some of those high-level rewards. By then you’ve truly earned them.

So when you’re making those decisions around how to allocate your financial resources, consider whether you want to throw money into boosting your ego instead of investing in your confidence and financial security. Maybe today you’d be wiser to hire on your first assistant with those same funds so you can grow your business instead.

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

Ep 52 — Navigating an Election Year

This High Performance Podcast for Real Estate Agents features Josh Phegan and Alexander Phillips talk about navigating an election year. This can have local and global impact on real estate markets, and Alexander describes ways he maintains numbers when the political climate is uncertain. Josh reinforces knowing what’s coming up a year ahead and being able to adapt to any outcome. They discuss the use of fear and scarcity to bring clients to a timely decision, and also using election uncertainty in marketing headlines.

Alexander shows how working through times that other agents step back and wait gets you higher numbers, and Josh emphasises maintaining momentum before going on holiday and letting your team handle business while you’re gone.

Getting over Fear, Procrastination and Distractions

You know you’ve got potential, but you’re just not accomplishing as much as you should. In my Coaching Tip today I’m going to tell you how to overcome fear, procrastination and distractions with focus and momentum, and make every minute count.

A winning real estate career requires confidence, but when you’re operating from fear you’re not going to make it. You must have clarity around your goals, your purpose, and what success looks and feels like to you.

Let’s start by defining work time and holiday time. If you know you have time off at regular intervals it’s much easier to stay on task when it’s time to work. Schedule all your holidays 12 months in advance and stick to that schedule to make sure you have that time to re-energize.

You’ll utilise your time according to how you look at it. Procrastination takes hold when your time is undefined, so make sure you follow a daily schedule so every minute is structured. Not only will you get your work done, you’ll also have the time you need for the important things in your life.

Achieving focus and momentum in your work is really quite simple. Do these 2 things consistently:
• Generate leads
• Track your numbers

Our membership program includes tools that make it easy to measure critical numbers and realize consistent growth and performance. When you schedule your days make a task list for prospecting in the morning and meeting appointments in the afternoon, but also set times for exercise and nutrition so your energy stays high.

Your time is valuable so teach the people around you to respect your schedule. But first you have to take time seriously yourself. To end the cycle of fear, procrastination and distractions you need clarity around your goals and your vision of success because you can’t focus on what you can’t see. And you have to know what needs to be done before you can do it.

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

Ep 51 — Having a Great Business Life and Personal Life

In today’s High Performance Podcast for Real Estate Agents Josh Phegan and Alexander Phillips focus on building a great business life and personal life. Alexander tells how he maintains balance in his own life and business through planning. Josh notes that you need to know what success looks like to you and how you’ll know when you’ve achieved it, as well as knowing what’s most important to you in life. Alexander talks about the importance of eating well to maintain energy all day, and lists other activities he uses to stay sharp.

Josh advises getting intentional around how you spend your time as this determines what you can achieve. Alexander then outlines how he manages long-term success, relationships and personal development, and Josh sums up with systems that allow you blocks of time to slow down and enjoy your life.

Narrowing your focus

If you’re not enjoying your work every day then you’re probably not doing the work that’s important. My Coaching Tip today is geared to help you decide what your most important work is and how to make sure all the work gets done.

One of the hardest things for a lot of agents is letting go to grow, but with all the daily tasks that must be dealt with in your business you can never grow if you’re trying to do everything yourself. There are only a few crucial activities you should be working on, and you have to stay focused on doing only those things.

Lead generation is the most important part of your business, and prospecting is your number one task. It’s booking appointments and meeting with clients every day that drives your momentum and gets you listings. If you’re trying to do prospecting and client work as well as administrative tasks, you simply can’t build your business.

Doing too many tasks means you’re not very good at any of them. You have to specialize in prospecting, face-to-face work, and especially in listing presentation skills. You’ll then need to hire someone else to do the rest of the work that’s necessary, but that you shouldn’t be doing yourself.

Make a list right now of tasks you’re currently handling yourself and put those tasks into categories. List the work you enjoy most, the work that’s simply mundane, and then jobs you really hate. The only tasks you should be doing are the ones you truly love. The mundane and irritating tasks are the ones you’ll hire an assistant to do for you. It’s that simple.

Focus on doing the work that’s important, have other people do the rest, and you’ll easily maintain energy and momentum towards growing your business.

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