In This Issue...

• Planning Like A Champion
• 7 Steps of Effective Prospecting - That Works!
• Lead Generation Machine - Become One!
• The Most Important Positions in Team Building - Period!

Planning Like A Champion

Stay the course daily.  One of the biggest challenges that I see all our clients struggle with is when the increase comes and we feel out of control.  When you have more business than you can handle.  When there are more leads, appointments, listings and sales, and you panic.

Step one is to take a few deep breaths and make sure you are militant with your planning time.  Make sure that you get the time that you need to plan and implement your way to the next level.

The natural reaction is to stop the flow or slow the flow of new business.  Don’t do that!!  We are not fixing the problem we are only diverting the source to someone else.  If you don’t get those leads, someone else will.  Try to get them and refer them to someone else.  Take the 25% fee.  Remember 25% of pure profit will help your bottom line.  I just had this discussion with a client and she would be making over $1000 an hour for herself calling past clients!  Stay the course.  Continue to do what created the increase. We are trying to establish a habit.  The habit is the key.  If you have developed the habit you can replicate the results.

Step two is to tighten your qualifying process.  Tighten up who you will work with, and the motivation they need to have to work with you.  Only pick the best possible clients and refer the rest.  You will be able to do more in less time.  This is the reward for calling your past clients, expireds, FSBO’s, whatever you were doing. You only have to work with the most motivated ones.

To your achievement of success in life,

Dirk Zeller
CEO
Real Estate Champions, Inc

P.S. You may think that this message may be out-of-date or not timely with the way markets are across the country. I have to humbly proclaim however, that the vast majority of our coaching clients are seeing increases in their businesses and are struggling with too much increase. Would you like to find out how coaching with us can benefit you, click here now.

P.P.S. 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.

"What Would Owning a Master Coach's Blueprint Help Your Team Become?"

The Champion Real Estate Team™

Sequels to movies usually stink! Don't you agree?

They hardly ever live up to the original in the series. Book sequels however, are often better than the original. It seems that authors tend to evolve in their ability to convey their strategies, ideas, and concepts such that the reader tends to benefit more from each book in a series.

"This Book Takes You to the
Next Level of Success"

Well, today I'm proud to announce The Champion Real Estate Team™. It's the follow-up sequel to my greatest work to-date, The Champion Real Estate Agent™.

The first in the Champion Book Series™ laid the ground work of the advanced real estate agent tactics that 20+ years of blood, sweat, and tears produced.

"Packed with How-tos, Systems, Strategies...
That Will Transform Your Business"

The Champion Real Estate Team™ takes you to the next level in Real Estate Success - the one I believe (as well as many other Real Estate Experts) is the key to a successful future if you're in Real Estate Sales... the Real Estate Team!

This book is really a step-by-step blueprint of how to establish a well run team. It is packed with how-tos, systems, strategies, processes, and ideas for implementation that will transform your business. Having personally established one of the first multi-assistant teams in my region, I have seen the evolution of real estate teams for over fifteen years. My experience in applying these strategies in the initial stages of my business, along with the hundreds of other agents' team practices I have coached in the last nearly ten years, has created this book.

Come Join Me for a
Personal Book Tour Here

 

To your achievement of the next level of success in life,

Dirk Zeller
CEO
Real Estate Champions, Inc

7 Steps of Effective Prospecting - That Works!

There are strategic steps to being great at prospecting.  I have capsulated these in what are called the seven F-words of prospecting.

The 1st step is to Find:  We have to find a place to do the prospecting.  Finding a place is one of the biggest challenges in prospecting.  This place has to be quiet with minimum distractions.  We need to have an environment that is controlled for the prospecting to happen.

We also must find a time to prospect.  Most Agents try to fit their prospecting around their day, rather than fit their day around their prospecting.  Those who have no set time for prospecting do not do it.  Going to the same place at the same time helps to form the habit.  Prospecting is about discipline and habit.  The habit and discipline make up for the lack of skill.

The 2nd Step is to Forget:  We need to forget all the previous failures we’ve experienced.  We have all had days when the results were not what we had hoped.  We have all stared at the phone for an hour trying to make the first call.  We have had times when we did not feel like prospecting.  Forget about your previous failures.  Start fresh today.  Make the effort now to pick up the phone and call a past client or someone in your sphere.  Take the action that needs to be taken.

The 3rd Step is to Fight:  We must fight all the hindrances and distractions.  Your mind and other people will create more disruptions than you can imagine:  “I can’t make calls until I call these three people back about our deals in closing,” or “I have to get these flyers made for these listings,” or even “I have a hang nail, and it will be hard to dial the phone, and it might get infected.”  The reality is, any distraction or hindrance will do.  You have to fight them off with a passion.  The people who are effective at prospecting have just as many distractions as you do, maybe even more.  They are just more effective at fighting them off.

The 4th Step is Focus:  The ability to focus comes before one acquires success.  If you examine the most successful people, they have the ability to achieve intense focus.  They have developed the skill to be in the moment, to focus completely on the task at hand.  By applying the discipline of daily activity, you can build the muscle of focus.  By finding a spot and finding the time, you give your mind the opportunity to focus on your prospecting much easier.  One technique I used to intensify focus before prospecting was to rehearse my scripts and dialogues.  This rehearsal helped me to work and warm up before making the first call.  The practice session put me in a more focused mindset.

Step #5 is to Follow:  Follow a plan of action to create a plan for your day that places prospecting in its proper place.  This means doing the prospecting when you have the most energy and intensity.  Many of us fail to plan our day for success.  We let the day unfold.  Never start a day before you plan it out on paper.  We must create a plan to follow.  Often our time is tossed like a small ship on a huge ocean with no means of steering, going wherever the winds and surf will take us.  We react to the problems and crises all day and, in the end, wonder where all of our time went.  Control the day; control the time.

The 6th Step is that we must be Faithful:  We must be faithful to ourselves and our commitments: faithful to do the prospecting daily, to diligently commit to prospecting daily for a specific time frame or specific number of contacts.  When you are faithful to your objectives, you will win every time.  When you are faithful to prospecting, the results are astounding.  The law of accumulation kicks in on your behalf.  This law states that everything accumulates; that all your positive actions accumulate to build momentum and exponential rewards.  It’s amazing how a few contacts every day repeated over time can bring forth staggering results.

Let me share two examples of the power of the law of accumulation.  The first has to do with wealth.  Wealth is what most people desire.  I only know of few people who don’t want to acquire great wealth.  One of the benchmarks of wealth is becoming a millionaire.  To possess a million dollars is relatively easy.  If, at the age of 20, you put $2.78 away each and every day into an investment account that achieved reasonable interest, you would be a millionaire by the age of 65.  Now, who in today’s society couldn’t save $2.78 a day?  Even someone flipping burgers at McDonald’s could find $2.78 a day to invest.  In other terms, it’s forgoing a Starbuck’s latte a day.  The law of accumulation is clear and easy to apply.

We have a coaching client who took this challenge of the law of accumulation very seriously.  He committed to calling his sphere and past clients and making ten contacts a day.  After eight months, he had almost tripled his income from the previous year.  He more than doubled the number of units sold over the previous year.  His edge was that, in those eight months, he could count on one hand the number of days that he failed to hit his ten contacts per day goal.  We must be faithful.

The Last F is Finish:  Finish what you start.  You have to run the whole race all the way to the finish line.  No one remembers who was ahead at the 90-meter mark of a 100-meter race.  The winner at 90 meters has to win in the last 10 meters, or he’ll lose the reward.  Finish strong, finish focused, be faithful to yourself, and finish!  Don’t accept anything less than going all out at the finish of the race.  If you make a goal of five contacts a day, don’t do four.  Do five!  Don’t accept anything less than the goal you have set.  Accept nothing less than your best.

For more information on coaching programs Real Estate Champions has to offer you click here now.

If you're tired of wasting your time with wishy-washy buyers, and would rather have a system that takes you completely through the entire Buyer Conversion Process so that you maximize your effort and time, you've got to check out...

Convert and Commit the Buyer...
...Every Time!™

With the vast majority of agents in North American doing more transactions on the buyer side than the seller side, we need to now make sure that we are converting on every possibility we have in the marketplace. Every viable lead that is created must be converted to íncome producing closed transactions. This program is conservatively worth an extra $100,000 in gross commission income for you! Don’t miss your chance at mastering control and commitment of your buyer’s prospects.

The 'Convert and Commit the Buyer... Every Time!™' Series will teach you how to:
	• Get Control of the Buyer Appointment from the Start • Only Work With the "A" Leads – Use a Buyer Qualification System • Qualify Like a Master Buyer's Agent (Save Tons of Time) • Champion Agent's Buyer Interview - 41 Questions that Will Save You at Least 41 Lost Transactions Wasted With Lookie-Lou Buyers • Use a Master Coach's "Exchange of Commitments" Conversion Tactic • Master the Art of Dealing With Non-Qualified Prospects • Handle Objections to Getting the Appointment (BUYER SCRIPTS) • Explain Agency to a Buyer (SCRIPTS) • Handle if the Buyer Wants Representation (DIALOGUES) • Explain the Exclusive Retainer Agreement - Lock Them In (SCRIPTS) • Handle Objections to Signing a Contract - 10 Scenarios (SCRIPTS) • Find the REAL Reason Behind a Buyer's Objection • Plus much more, including 62 pages of tools, handouts (the same ones Dirk uses), scripts, and dialogues you can use as your own.
You'll receive:
	• Dozens of Buyer Worksheets/Forms for Buyer Conversion • Complete Buyer Counseling Interview • Dozens of Scripts to Increase Buyer Conversion • Prospect Interview Worksheets • 4 CDs - Audio Training • 1 CD-ROM Workbook

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

Lead Generation Machine - Become One!

We are in the lead generation business.  If you want to take control of your life and your business at a greater level, you must set up a system to generate great quantities of leads.  By always having great quantities of leads, it will allow you to be highly selective in the people you work with.  The truth is you will only be able to help a handful of people with regularity.  These handfuls of people should be the best and most motivated clients – the ones who are sold on you and your system.

If you focus on being a lead generating system, you will not have to rely on others to refer business to you, and you will reduce call reluctance.

By using the technology in the automated ads industry, you can create leads 24 hours a day.  This helps you create three to five times as many prospects than if they would have called your office.  The reluctance of the consumer to call you is removed.  You will then receive their phone number to return their call.

The key is to position yourself at the front of the line.  You want to run point in this arena.  You want a steady flow of consumer direct leads. 

You need to elicit your team of affiliates to participate and pay for this service.  You can do a mini-commercial like “Brought to you by ABC Mortgage, AAA Pest Control, A-2 Title and Escrow Company.”  You can cover the cost for all (or a major portion) of this service by well-placed affiliates' mini-commerce deals.

If you work jointly with your mortgage partner, you can create tremendous response.  If you can advertise and create a plan for people to call your mortgage partner, you will remove even more reluctance.  The truth is buyers will always look at us as salespeople.  That is unavoidable no matter how we position or package ourselves to some people.  The buyer can look to your mortgage partner as a consultant.  This will enable your mortgage partner to have the inside fast lane to commitment by the buyer.  Do not fail to enlist the power of your mortgage partner. 

Seven Strategies for Call Capture Technology

1. Maintain the system, so it works well:  Constantly update your system with new information and services.  Also, check that there has not been a problem with the technology.  You want your prospect to continue to call you for your services.  They will not call if it is not working properly.

2. Track and know your numbers efficiently:  Track your number of “hits” per listing, total “hits” per week, and what types and areas are receiving the most response.  Track the number of appointments you set from the number of contacts you make, and then the number of actual sales versus the appointments set.  This will enable you to plan the return you can expect against the work and cost.  You will also be able to give solid feedback to your listings.

3. Callbacks must happen within 24 hours:  The truth is people will not remember that you called unless you list them right away.  The longer you wait the success rate of setting an appointment dramatically reduces.

4. Script questions to find out about the prospect:  If you are not well scripted, you will spend too much time on the phone before you find out if you can help them or not.  You need to be able to articulate a valid reason to set an appointment with you at your office.  You cannot help them all.  You are only looking for the best ones.

5. Once you have received their commitment to work with you, you need to call them every workday:  By regularly contacting them, you will keep them in your corner.  They will understand quickly that you are looking daily for their new home.  They will not question your intention and focus to help them achieve their dreams.  They will not speak with another Agent again.

6. Create more value in your mailboxes:  Offer other mailboxes that are not just property descriptions.  There are services and information you can offer them such as “How to prepare your home for sale”, “What to look for in an Agent who is going to sell your home”, and “What really sells your home.”  This will provide information to your prospects and create a higher level of credibility for you.  You will also gain more information about your prospect.  If your prospect is listening to “How to Prepare Your Home for Sale”, you know they are thinking about selling.

7. Do not neglect your mortgage partner:  They can be the key for vast amounts of new business.  This alliance can be fruitful for both of you.  They have a much different public perception than REALTORS® do.  Use this to your advantage.Do not neglect to tap into the technology that will enable you to be a lead generation machine.

If you'd like a referral of a great call capture service I recommend, go to CallCaptureSuccess.com.

The Most Important Positions in Team Building - Period!

There are a series of positions that carry more weight than others.  The positions and how and who you fill them with will either cause increased sales or a plateau in sales.  The quality of the people in these positions determines the attitude or altitude of the business.  They will also determine the level of freedom that you will experience as the business owner.  These positions are your first assistant, office manager, lead manager, and lead or head buyer’s agent.  These four positions will hold the key to your success as a team established business.  I want to deal with them in order of hiring and implementation.

It is possible for one person to hold more than one of these positions.  You could have your first assistant elevate themselves to office manager status.  It is possible that the position of lead manager and lead or head buyer’s agent could be held by one person.  That situation is far less likely, however, than your first hire becoming an office manager.

1. Your first assistant

   This one can make you or break you in the short run.  The wrong person will never devastate you in the long run, but the havoc that is created both personally and professionally can have consequences for some time.  I have seen agents, after one poor hire, swear off assistants forever!  I have seen others trudge down the road determined to succeed at this “assistant thing” but making the same errors time and time again because they didn’t pause to evaluate what they did wrong in the hiring and training process.

   Your first hire of an assistant can shape your attitude toward building a team.  Anything that has the potential to control your attitude has the opportunity to significantly influence your success.  This person will be the cornerstone of the foundation for your team.  If there are flaws in character, cracks in skills, fishers in their attitude, you will have to replace them in the future in order to grow.  Let me say that again – You will have to replace them in order to grow!  There is no more important person than this first hire.  Your investment in direct income producing activities depends on it.  You won’t be able to increase your leads and your business if this first hire isn’t outstanding.  That means you need to invest time, care, and diligence to guarantee the right person is hired the first time.

2. Your first buyer’s agent

   The next most important hire will be your first buyer’s agent.  Selecting the right one with Champion growth capacity is essential.  In small companies, because the work environment is closer and more intimate, there is a greater level of tenure views, which can lead to entitlement.  Too often, longevity of service in small companies plays to great of a role in advancement at the expense of performance.  If your long-term goals are to build a team with multiple buyer’s agents, the first one hired will assume that, because of tenure, they should lead, coach, and train the other buyer’s agents.  When, in fact, they might not be best suited for that job. 

   In selecting your first buyer’s agent with the future of your business in mind, someone who has the capacity to lead will help you avoid the leapfrog of bringing someone in from the outside.  Too often, when we are forced to bring in a lead buyer’s agent, we lose our first buyer’s agent, or even multiple buyer’s agents, because their ego won’t allow someone who is new to the team to become their boss.

3. Your lead manager

   This is probably the most important position that no one else talks about.  There needs to be a person to manage, track, process, convert, and hold salespeople accountable for the leads they receive.  The lack of conversion of leads by salespeople in real estate is one of the largest losses of revenue in the business.  The conversion rate on leads by salespeople is really pathetic in real estate sales.  Even Champion Teams convert at very low levels compared to the leads that are generated.  The Champion Lead Agent has a higher conversion ratio, but the other agents under them are frequently all over the map.  The lack of effective categorization and conversion of the leads means the lead manager’s position could be the most important position of all.

   Teams that have implemented the concepts and systems of an effective lead manager have been very effective at using their lead manager to dramatically improve the categorization, tracking, management, and conversion of their leads.  The teams I coach have seen conversion rates quadruple because of the lead manager and the strategies and systems we coached them to establish.

   This lead manager’s role could also be to track and administer the leads; to hold the buyer’s agents and listing agents to effective follow-up reporting; to distribute the leads and information to the sales agent.  They do this through monitoring the calls and activities in your CRM.  At least once a week, they are checking all the different categories of leads and what follow-up is taking place.  They are looking for which sales agents have hot leads, how hot they are, how committed they are to doing business with the team, and what the timeframe to a contract is.  This person is on the team to wring out more revenue from leads the team has created.

4. Your sales-oriented lead manager

   Some of the teams I coach have taken the final step to having a sales-focused lead manager.  The reason is the larger the team, the more training and turnover of buyer’s agents they experience.

   Champion Team Rule – The larger the team, the more training and turnover you will encounter.

   Every time you turn over a buyer’s agent or salesperson, your training time will increase.  The lead conversion ratio for your team will drop, as well.  You will be investing good leads with someone who won’t be able to convince a larger segment of the leads to buy or sell because that new team member isn’t skilled enough.  The amount of wasted leads and lost income is staggering.

   Having a sales-oriented lead manager can ease some of that burden.  The sales-focused lead manager takes all the calls.  They take all the ad calls, sign calls, and Internet leads.  Their job is to remove the buyer’s agents from the equation of lead conversion and lead follow-up.  The lead manager handles all the leads until the appointment is scheduled and conducted.  They handle all the initial calls and follow-up and book the face-to-face presentation to secure the exclusive right to represent contract for someone else on the team.  We have seen the conversion and number of appointments booked to conduct buyer consultation interviews skyrocket when someone is trained well to the Champion level in this position.  The benefit is that you only have to train one person to the Champion level, not ten.  You will be establishing more consistent and higher conversion ratios of leads to appointments because one person, your expert, is handling all of the inbound sales calls.

   Obviously, this one person won’t be able to handle the calls 24 hours a day/7 days a week, but they will handle them for a significant amount of the possible work hours in a five day week.  The sales-focused lead manager position is very seamlessly integrated with an IVR system or call capture system to increase your flow of leads and tracking of those leads. 

5. Your administrative office manager

   The value of an administrative office manager is felt most by you, the lead agent/CEO of the company.  By having someone make the more routine decisions that encompass any business, it will free you up to be more productive.

   A successful office manager will further help you invest more time in direct income producing activities.  They will help collect the data, information, and research that will enable you to make better decisions on the major items your business is facing.  This allows you to just deal with evaluation and analysis, which lowers your time invested.

   They also will act as your intermediary between the staff and yourself.  Many teams have the organizational structure where the lead agent has everyone reporting to them.  This approach creates a lack of focus, lack of intensity, and general overwhelmed feeling for the lead agent.  It’s as if the lead agent is regularly being placed in a taffy-pulling machine every time they leave their office.  It’s hard to get jazzed about securing more leads and business when you are worn out from the demands of working in your business.

   The office manager position reduces the amount of time you will be forced to work “in” your business.  Working “in” your business is the servicing and administration tasks.  All of these functions are fundamentally what an employee of your company does.  The owner of the company shouldn’t engage in them.  The goal of having good systems, checklists, and staff will lower the time invested “in” your business.

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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• Prospecting?

• Lead Generation?

• Listing Presentations?

• Scripts & Dialogues?

• Objection Handling?

• Converting?