In This Issue...

• Earn like a Champion
• Calculating and Analyzing Real Estate - Part 1
• First Step to Listing Success - Don't Miss It?
• Defining Core Values For Your Team - The Right Way!

Earn Like a Champion

With over half the year behind us and only a handful of months to a New Year, time has really struck me as a precious commodity.  Each of us needs to learn how to be better stewards of our time.  For most of us, time management is the difference between whether or not we achieve our financial goals.

Achieving our financial goals is based on how well we adhere to our daily schedule.  By utilizing our day to the maximum we will be able to earn what we desire.  The average person only puts 25% of his energy and ability into his work.  The world takes off its hat to those who put in more than 50% of their capacity.  It stands on its head for those few and far between who devote 100%.  What percentage are you using daily?  What level of energy and ability are you using to achieve your goals and desires in life?  Are you giving a 100% daily with a focused desire and time efficiency?  Are you focused on only doing the high payoff activities daily that will enable you to earn your desire income?

In Ephesians 5:15 Paul wrote, "see that you walk circumspectly not as fools but as wise redeeming the time for the days we are evil."  He was trying to say be prudent with your time.  None of us know how much time we have so Paul was warning us not to be foolish and think that we have an unlimited supply.  We only have 24 hours in a single day.  In that 24 hours we need to sleep or rest eight hours.  That leaves us with only 16 hours.  Don’t waste the 16 hours you have left.  It is very clear that fools squander their time because they feel they have an unlimited supply.  Wise people redeem their time daily.  If you redeem your time wisely you will get a bonus.  Time is the only thing that can never be retrieved.  One may lose and regain a friend; one may lose and regain money; opportunity that is once spurned may come again; but the hours that are lost in idleness can never be brought back to be used for gainful pursuits.

An action plan for all of us today is to determine the one thing that we do daily that is a low payoff activity.  What is the one thing we need to stop doing or to delegate to someone else?  Is it an activity that we can delegate to our staff, our affiliates, or just not do it at all?  What is the low paying activity that takes the most amount of time?  Resolve to stop doing that activity today. 

To your achievement of success in life,

Dirk Zeller
CEO
Real Estate Champions, Inc

P.S. The three areas that we'll focus our time on today are Calculating and Analyzing Real Estate, First Step to Listing Success, and Defining Core Values For Your Team. Any of these articles could help you change your life in 2007 if you'll read, absorb, and use the information. I challenge you to take a few minutes of your time to read this material. If you don't have time now, print them out and take them with you to read between appointments.

"Swanepoel Real Estate
Trends Report"

During the past year, the real estate industry has experienced unprecedented change and significant innovation. You’ve no doubt experienced it first hand.

The key to being successful in real estate, or any other career for that matter, is staying apprised of the trends in your industry. If you can see where things are heading, you can utilize new opportunities before your competition.

• Beating your competition to the next wave of opportunities
• Avoiding fads that could set your business back years
• Gaining valuable insights about revealing strategies you can use right now

Learn More Here

Calculating and Analyzing Real Estate - Part 1

Three key statistics reflect real estate sales success better than any other indicators. These statistics are: Average list price compared to average sales price, Average number of days on the market, and Average number of listings sold versus listings taken. In this article, we will take a look at Average list price to sales price.

This ratio quantifies your skill and success in achieving the result you and your client expected when you first placed a home on the market. By presenting a strong list price to sales price ratio, you clearly illustrate your effectiveness for your sellers. 

To calculate your average list price to sales price, follow these steps:

• Make a list of all your listed homes that sold and closed over a specific period of time, but not less than three months (one quarter).

• Add up the list prices of all the homes.

Let’s say that you listed three homes that sold in the last quarter. If those listings were priced at $259,000, $349,000, and $429,000, then you had a total listed inventory of $1,037,000.
 

• Add the sales prices of all the homes.

If your listed homes that sold last quarter closed at $245,000, $337,000, and $405,000, then your total sold inventory was $987,000.
 

• Calculate your average list price to sale price by dividing your total sold inventory by your total listed inventory.

Using the above example, divide $987,000 by $1,037,000. The calculation results in a list-to-sold ratio of 95%.  Based on your recent performance, a seller who lists with you can expect an average of 95% of the sales price.

• Ratio: Total sold inventory ÷ Total listed inventory = List-to-sold ratio

Your list-to-sold ratio proclaims from the mountaintops your level of success. It is one of the first calculations I ask a coaching client to figure. It establishes a clear benchmark of how an agent is doing at pricing and negotiating, and it provides a clear indicator of an agent’s skills, abilities, knowledge, and systems.

Regardless of the nature of your marketplace, the list-to-sold ratio for all good agents varies only by a few percentage points.

My view is that 95% is the bottom of the good range. An agent with a list-to-sold ratio of 95% loses $5,000 for every $100,000 in sales price. If you are selling a $600,000 home and settle for 95% of list price, the resulting reduction is $30,000! Aim for a ratio of 98% or above. 

Beyond achieving a list-to-sold ratio of 95% or higher, aim for a ratio that places your performance in the top tier of all agents in your marketplace. When you can prove to prospective sellers that you consistently achieve a higher-than-average percentage of list price for your clients, their decision to entrust their home sale to your expertise becomes vastly easier.

To determine how your list-to-sold ratio compares in your marketplace, follow these steps:

• Learn the average list-to-sold ratio for all agents in your marketplace. Most MLS services provide this statistic for each geographic area they serve. Call your local MLS office, your local board of REALTORS®, or ask your broker to acquire the information.

• Compare your ratio with the market average. For example, over my career, my average list price to sales price was between 98% and 99%.  My board’s average was between 91% and 95%.

• Use your outstanding performance to prove numerically that clients will net more money working with you than with other agents. If your average is 98% and your market average is 91%, then sellers working with you are likely to put 7% more in their pockets by listing with you.

If you’re a new agent with few listed properties, rely on your company’s list-to-sold stats while developing your individual performance. Whether you’re presenting your own or your company’s stats, however, you’ll want to present numbers that are higher than market averages; otherwise, they indicate serious problems with your business.

Your list-to-sold price discloses your skill in pricing a home properly. Obviously, if you take vastly overpriced listings and deal with the consequences later, your list-to-sold ratio will suffer accordingly.

The list-to-sold ratio is also a strong reflection of your skill in negotiating on behalf of a seller. In a neutral market, most initial offers come in at less than 95% of the list price. For instance, a home listed at $259,000 might generate an initial offer in the low $230,000s. Whether it sells at that price or higher depends on the listing agent’s ability to demonstrate to the buyer and buyer’s agent the value of the property, with the aim of bringing the offer up to $250,000 or even $255,000, at which point the list-to-sold ratio climbs back to 98%.

If you're tired of fighting for every listing and would rather have a system that takes you completely through the entire Listing Process, so that you walk out with the listing contract signed, you've got to check out...

How to Create and Deliver a
Dynamic Listing Presentation™

Get the Listing Every Time with these Step-By-Step Instructions, Forms, Handouts, and Scripts.

The difference between getting the listing and walking out with "We'll think it over and get back to you" is all in your listing presentation. If you walk in with Dirk’s time-tested & proven (by 1000's of Agents) listing presentation, you’ll walk out with the listing.

What would your life be like if you had all the winning scripts and dialogues to help you nail the listing presentation every time? Even better than that, what if you had the right seller handouts and scripts to help you get the listing presentation appointment?

The 'How to Create and Deliver a Dynamic Listing Presentation™' Series will teach you how to:
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You'll receive:
	• 4 Audio CDs • 1 CD-ROM Workbook

I Want to Learn How to Get The Listing on the First Appointment Every Time!

First Step to Listing Success - Don't Miss It?

The need for Agents to focus more on securing listings is at hand.  It is impossible to become a great listing Agent without investing time in prospecting for listings and practicing your qualifying and presentation skills.

One of the main reasons few Agents become successful as listing Agents is the fact that the amount of time they must invest into the listing side of the business is significant initially.  So, as Agents, we spend far too much time working with buyers, longing for more listings to come our way.  We hope and pray that listings will magically appear because we wish to be that Agent with 6, 10, or even 20 active listings.

If you are feeling that I am describing you, take heart.  There is a way out. 

Step #1 – Check your time allocation: 

For the next week, track your time invested into the listing side of the business versus the buyer side of your business.  In most cases, it will become obvious why your revenue is skewed to the buyer side.  Most Agents invest fewer than ten hours a week toward the listing side of their business.  They are often shocked and amazed when they figure out they spend 75%, 85%, or even 95% of their time finding, converting, and servicing buyers and wonder why 75% + of their revenue comes from buyers.  The first step is to check your time against your revenue mix.  It will most likely match up.

Step #2 – Invest for the future:

Anytime you make a shift in your business, the payoff will never be instantaneous.  You have to expect a transition time of 60 to 90 days.  This is the period of time that causes most Agents to never enact the change.  They are too immediate in their expectations of revenue needs.  They can’t afford to do even one less deal a month for 60 days to fund the future.  Changing your business from a buyer based business to a seller based business will take time.  The truth is there are only two options I can see for the 60 day to 90 day transition period.

Option A – Accept the transition period and likely revenue reduction because you are investing in a new business opportunity. 

Anyone who is truly growing, improving, and investing in themselves and their business must do this periodically.  I once gave up golf for a year to write my first book.  I recently limited my speaking schedule to create two new programs and write two new books.  To grow, we often need to give up short term revenue for long term success.

Option B – Ask for permission to go out of balance. 

Sometimes the Champion Performer must make the tougher decision that they must put in the extra effort necessary to move through the learning curve to success.  There are times in business when you are up against a changing marketplace or increased competition, or a unique opportunity has been revealed.  Often, these unique opportunities are time sensitive.  In these situations, a 40 hour work week might not be enough to continue to complete your normal business and access the opportunity, as well.

That is why option B exists: to, in effect, re-allocate time from another area of your life to work.  It is also why I say to ask permission.  You first have to ask permission of yourself.  Are you willing to put in the extra effort to receive the new and greater listing inventory?  Once you are willing, then ask other people who would be affected.  Ask your spouse or significant other, children, anyone who will get less of you.  When the whole team is on board in your personal life, the need to be out of balance is easier for everyone.

Set up a time limit for the duration of your out of balance time.  Most people and loved ones can endure being out of balance for 30 or 60 days; as long as they known how long it will be.  This enables everyone to share in the common goal and look forward to sharing in the greater success.  You might even set up a special reward for everyone to participate in who helped or contributed.  Maybe it’s a special weekend away for the family when the cell phone and pager are left behind.  There must be a reward for going out of balance.

Being a great listing Agent starts with the right strategy and right mix of time. It is impossible to become a dominant listing Agent without your time and focus being invested there.

If you'd like step-by-step strategies & tactics for getting the listing (including over 45 Scripts & Dialogues) check out my training program "How to Create & Deliver a Dynamic Listing Presentation™"... check it out here.

Defining Core Values For Your Team - The Right Way!

Core values are really a small set of guiding principles for your business.  They are essential beliefs of any organization.  They will not change but endure over time.  Most successful companies and teams decide what their core values are without regard to market influences.  The environment or change in market conditions shouldn’t change your core values.  If the competition increases, your core values endure.

“The core values embodied in our credo might be a competitive advantage, but that is not why we have them.  We have them because they define for us what we stand for, and we would hold them even if they become a competitive disadvantage in certain situations.”

~ Ralph S. Larsen, CEO of Johnson & Johnson

You and your team won’t have ten core values; you will have three, four, or maybe five.  That number makes sense because you can’t call something core if it is a part of ten other things.  The key question when evaluating what you are crafting is:  If the marketplace changed and my core values were a disadvantage, would I still keep them?  If you don’t say yes, then it’s not core.  I can answer for myself that if the training, education, and coaching market changed I would still believe in hard work and continuous self-improvement even if it was a competitive disadvantage.  The truth is at times it is a competitive disadvantage because it would be easier to sell a magic pill program over and over to the masses of agents as many people do.

Other questions you might use to ferret out your core values from your internal vault are:

1. What core values or core beliefs do you bring to work?
2. What core values did you learn from your parents?
3. Do you still believe those core values are valid?
4. If you started another company, would your core values change?
5. Do you think these core values will be valid fifty years from now?
6. If you had enough money, would these core values still be important to you?

Now, let me share the granddaddy of all questions for me.  It’s the one I used to really separate the values that are really at my core.

7. What would you tell your children your core values are?

What that question is asking is what you want them to learn through your modeling to them.  My children and yours learn more through observation than any other medium.  All the lectures carry little weight when actions on our part are inconsistent with the rhetoric.  These inconsistencies will appear at work, as well.  Your team and staff will see them as clearly as your children do.

If you state that honesty and integrity are core values in some form, what do you do when the waitress forgets to add a meal to the bill or the clerk only charges you for one shirt, not the two that you bought, and you know about it?  Do you call their attention to the mistake even if you have gotten home and discovered it then, or do you take your windfall and move on?  I am not making a statement as to what you should do one way or the other.  I know what I would do without hesitation, whether anyone was looking or not.  It’s part of my core values; it might not be for you, and that is a personal choice.  The real question is – Do you??

Having a firm set of core values will help you build a better team.  Your job, as the lead agent, isn’t to teach and coach your team members to your core values.  It’s to select people who share your core values – people who share passion in the same areas and values for life.

Nordstrom doesn’t hire people and endeavor to train them to be exceptional at customer service.  They hire people who have a passion for customer service and train them to refine and improve that service.  If they were to hire people who didn’t have a passion for customer service, there wouldn’t be all of these legendary stories about Nordstrom taking back snow tires and other items that they don’t even sell!

Your core values can be used effectively as a hiring and screening tool.  You can use them to make better decisions on team members and clients you work with. 

A few years ago, a client who was one of the top sales agents in Seattle called in very frustrated.  She was struggling with a particular client who brought a reasonable amount of business her way.  We had spent a session trying to create solutions to her challenging client.  In the next session, the situation was not any better, so I asked her one question:  “Does your client share the same core values as you do?”

That question stopped her in her tracks.  It didn’t take long for her to determine that he didn’t.  The struggle with the client became crystal clear to her.  It wasn’t a struggle over commission, honesty, or trust; it was a struggle over the fact that he did not have the same core values she did.  In fact, as they described it, they were not even on the same continent, let alone the United States, state of Washington, and city of Seattle.

My final question was: “Now that you know what you know, what are you going to do?”  I will grant you that is a tough question to face, but she did it without hesitation.  “I need to fire him as a client.”  I got an e-mail later that day telling what a positive experience it was firing this $600,000 seller.  She explained it as one of the best moments of her fifteen-year real estate career.

The truth is she might have been able to work with this seller and earn a commission.  It would have cost her a lot of her time, energy, emotion, and dignity.  I am also sure it would have cost her other business while she worked with him.  It takes tremendous amounts of energy and emotion to work in an environment that is inconsistent with your core values.  The price is too large both personally and professionally. 

If you'd like more information on how you can build your own real estate team, get your free copy of "The Champion Real Estate Team™ Guide"... here.

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