In This Issue...

• Bob Bruss - Industry Icon!
• Establishing Awesome Service - For Superb Outcomes!
• Developing Referral Relationships - That Last!
• Clarity in Team Building - The Secret Ingredient!

Bob Bruss

We lost a real estate industry icon last week. I want to dedicate this week’s column to a man who wrote many columns in his life, Bob Bruss. Bob devoted his life to real estate and the people in real estate. He spoke with a powerful voice through his newsletter, syndicated column and numerous books. He educated consumers, real estate agents, buyers, sellers, and investors. Sometimes his commentary was critical of the real estate agent community and sometimes he championed the cause for real estate agents being treated professionally and ethically by consumers.

The one thing you know about Bob was that he would tell the truth as he saw it. He didn’t pull any punches in how he told it. You didn’t have to guess his opinion or views on the subject of real estate.

In all the years we both have been engaged in the real estate industry, our paths only crossed once in person last year. While waiting for a plane from last year’s NAR convention in New Orleans, I sat down next to an older gentleman that obviously came from the convention as well. We struck up a typical airport waiting conversation. The discussion turned to the convention and what we were doing there. I mentioned that I spoke at the convention and he graciously said, “Oh, then I probably recognize your name.” I indicated that it was possible, but I try to keep a lower profile with less time on the road because I don’t want to miss my children’s lives (My son Wesley is 4 and my daughter Annabelle is about 18 months). Then I introduced myself.

Bob got this large grandfather smile on his face I will never forget. He reached in his bag and pulled out my recently released book, The Champion Real Estate Agent, and said, “I’m Bob Bruss, thanks for sending me a copy.” Bob had been kind enough to review Success as a Real Estate Agent for Dummies earlier in the year to rave reviews. He said, “This book is the best book on real estate success written to date.” It was certainly high praise from someone of his stature.

We discussed The Champion Real Estate Agent book, the real estate market, challenges facing companies and agents in the future. Before long, our mutual plane to Denver was ready to board. It was an interesting experience meeting Bob, talking with him and then watching him read my book on the flight to Denver. When we got off the plane, he came up to me to wish me well with my writing and sales of The Champion Real Estate Agent. He then said, “I loved the story about your father, goals, and the big why in chapter 3. Few authors and speakers are willing to go out on the edge to share a story as personal as the one you did …thanks.”

We have sent notes and emails back and forth since our meeting almost a year ago. Not only will I miss his sage and wise counsel to such a wide audience, I will miss him as a colleague and a friend.

To your achievement of success in life also,

Dirk Zeller
CEO
Real Estate Champions, Inc

"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...
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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

Establishing Awesome Service - For Superb Outcomes!

A service encounter happens any time that a consumer interacts with a servicing organization. Every Website hit or incoming ad or sign call is a service encounter. When a prospect talks to you, your staff, your company receptionist, your closing coordinator, or your broker, owner, lender, escrow or title attorney, or anyone on your service team, that person is having a service encounter. 

If one person in the long chain of people who help you get your job done says or does anything negative, it affects the impression of the nature of the service you provide. There’s no way to separate yourself from your colleagues if they mess up. It’s even possible for your service to be tainted by those outside your service team. For example, say that a buyer uses a lender other than the one you recommend. If the transaction closes late and with a higher interest rate than originally quoted, that client will leave with a bad impression about the whole transaction and everyone involved in it. Your future business and referral opportunities will be affected by the actions of someone entirely outside your influence.

To direct your service toward superb outcomes, follow these steps:

1. Control service encounters by using your own people to conduct transactions. Direct and drive as much business as possible to the best providers. Work hard to convince the client to use people on your team when securing a mortgage or closing the deal. Some might call this “steering”, but I view it as taking care of your clients.

2. Make sure that your client works with lenders who know their stuff and are responsive. Be aware that the lender triggers the choke point in most transactions. Take time to counsel your client toward a resource you know will perform.

3. Have a plan for recovering from service disasters if necessary. If your client is reasonable, no situation is too far-gone to salvage. In fact, handle the problem well and you’re apt to turn a disgruntled client into one of your most vocal supporters. Take these steps:

• Do what is necessary to right the wrong.

• Find out from the client what it would take to turn the unsatisfactory situation into a satisfactory outcome. Ask what would it take for them to be delighted. Be cautious here. I don’t really believe that forgoing a fee or a reducing a cost ever creates a more satisfied client. The service and the cost are not linked at this stage of customer satisfaction.

• Avoid the blame game. If you point out that it was the client’s decision to use the service provider who caused the problem, you only make the situation worse. Conveying that “I told you so” is never a way to soothe feelings.

• Follow up. Eventually sore feelings will wane, but the only way to replace the negative impression is to make a better one through continuous and professional contact.  In the early stages after the sale mishap you may not see many referrals, but when they start to come through you’ll know that your service recovery plan was a success.

• If you can’t turn the situation around, don’t concede your profit. Some clients will only feel placated if they get into your pocketbook and win cash compensation. If you did something that caused them to be hurt financially, you might have to buck up.  Most of the time, though, that won’t be the case. I caution you, before you ever give up your hard-earned money ask yourself three questions.

• Will offering cash really turn this client into a raving fan?
• Is there another way to turn this client into a raving fan?
• Is there a reasonable chance that I will win future business and referrals from this person?

If your answers don’t cause you to feel confident that giving up money will net a future return at a low risk, keep the cash in your pocket.

I am an ardent supporter of Hyatt Hotels and a good part of the reason is because years ago they took a bad situation and turned it around. I’d flown to Tampa, Florida from Bend, Oregon, which entailed leaving at six in the morning and arriving in Tampa sometime after 7:00 at night. I was tired, hungry, and faced a full schedule the next day. From the airport, I called for the shuttle van three times before it showed 45 minutes later. My last call had gotten through to the manager on duty. She was sympathetic to my weary travel story, but I expected only an ear.

When I arrived at the hotel, which was less than ten minutes from the airport, the manager greeted me as I stepped off the bus. She told me she had already personally checked me in. She walked me to a wonderful room where wine, cheese, and fruit were waiting. While walking to the room, she took a genuine interest in my day and travel trials.  She later sent up a tray of desserts.  She knew how to create a raving fan out of what could have been a lost situation.  She had a great plan for service recovery. 

For more information on how our coaching programs can help you grow your Real Estate Business, click here now.

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The 'Convert and Commit the Buyer... Every Time!™' Series will teach you how to:
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Developing Referral Relationships - That Last!

Once you’ve received a referral, gathered information, and ranked the lead, it’s time to pick up the phone. The following advice and scripts will help you at each step of the lead-conversion process.

Making first-time contact

The first call is the hardest one. Until you make first contact you really don’t know the quality of the lead. It could turn out to be a huge business opportunity – or nothing at all. You have to hope for the best. The referral lead could result in years of business and an important new referral alliance, or it could go into the trash 60 seconds after you make the call. As you initiate contact with a new referral, heed the upcoming advice.  Know the two objectives of your first call or visit. 

The primary objective of your first contact, like the objective of any other first sales call to a new prospect, is to book an appointment. The first appointment might take the form of an exploratory session aimed at determining the wants, needs, and desires of the lead, or it might be an appointment to conduct a buyer consultation or listing presentation.

The secondary objective of your first contact is to open the door, establish trust and respect, demonstrate your knowledge, and establish your position as a reliable resource.

In your first contact, you’re not trying to make a sale; you’re just trying to achieve a face-to-face meeting.

Use the name of your referral source to open doors

The best way to get beyond your prospect’s defenses is to share the name of your referral source. By presenting the name of your mutual associate, you establish immediate rapport and credibility. In your opening statement, include a reference to your referral source using a script such as this:

“Hello, Mr. Smith, this is Dirk Zeller with Real Estate Champions.  The reason for my call is that your name came up in a conversation yesterday with Bob Jones with the Acme Delivery Company.”

Then continue by using a linking statement such as:

“He said you’re neighbors,” or “He said you used to work together,”

Or

“He said your sons play soccer on the same team.”

“Well, Bob Jones is a very valuable client. Bob knows I primarily work with referrals; he suggested I give you a call. He thought it would be worth a few minutes of our mutual time to see if we should meet.”

You could also use a variation like:

“Bob was pleased with the service I provided to him and his family.  He thought you’d like to evaluate how I might be able to assist you in the future.”

Converting referrals into clients or referral sources

Once you’ve established a solid opening connection, it’s time to ask probing questions that help you determine the wants, needs, desires, and expectations of the lead. Depending on your findings, the lead might result in a qualified prospect that you convert into a client, or you might determine that while the lead isn’t ready to buy or sell, or to commit to an exclusive agent relationship, the person is a valuable resource to be added to your referral database.

Personal visits and calls

Leads generated through referrals come with a higher client-conversion probability than leads received from ad calls, sign calls, or any other cold sources. Due to that fact, consider investing some additional time as you launch the relationship. Instead of, or in addition to a personal call, consider stopping by to personally meet your new leads in their home.  Once they attach a face and voice to your name they’ll find it more difficult to reject you or select someone else to represent their interests.

If a personal visit isn’t possible, aim to enhance the sense of personal connection through an increased number and frequency of calls.  It takes, on average, four to six calls for you to leave a lasting impression.

Written notes, e-mail messages and mailers

Between calls and personal visits, build a bridge with personal notes and e-mail messages.  Written communications will never replace the personal touch of phone calls or face-to-face visits, but in between live contact they do a great job of keeping the connection alive.

Send market updates, testimonials, letters from other satisfied clients, information on your current listed properties, and news about key awards or recognition you’ve received.

For more help with referral strategies check out my book The Champion Real Estate Agent Book.

Clarity in Team Building - The Secret Ingredient!

There are very few blueprints available to real estate agents who want to expand their business through the building of a team.  The people who have built teams have done so predominantly through trial and error.  My desire is to give you the initial steps of that blueprint to success.

Make sure you are clear on what you want your production to be like in units and sales volume in the future.  Go out at least five years (ten years would be even better).  You have to cross the finish line in your mind before you can begin the race.

To really be effective in designing the plan for your team, you must start with the plan for your life.  Far too many people who are trying to achieve success are focused only on business success, rather than life success.  Develop the skill or art to live an exceptional life, rather than just achieving monetary success.  To truly start with the finish, you must take a broader look at what you are trying to accomplish as a human being, business owner, parent, spouse, friend, etc.

Stephen Covey, in his book Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, introduced the concept of the need to start with the end in mind to the masses.  Fundamentally, that is what we are doing as we set goals in writing.  We are establishing the end before we write the chapters or the forward of the book of our life.  Many of the goal programs I have ever studied or evaluated have you writing your obituary.  That is certainly starting with the end in mind.  There is nothing on this earth that is farther out than our death.  Picking a time line somewhere in the future and working backward is an effective technique to establish the road map to your success.

What are the things that you want to accomplish before you take the final dirt nap on this earth?  What’s on your life list?  What do you want to do and accomplish before you are all done?  I will share with you one of my life goals.

I wanted to have two children – a boy and a girl.  This was written before all the pregnancy problems, fertility treatments, a miscarriage, and the eventual realization that Joan and I would be unable to have children as most couples do.  Without actively seeking an adoption, our son, Wesley, dropped into our laps like manna from heaven.  Our daughter was not quite as abrupt but was an equally miraculous blessing.  Goals and divine intervention are a powerful combination.

Goals are not to be evaluated based on the odds of getting them.  Many of us are too conservative in our approach to goals.  It’s not about what you think you can have or what is reasonable.  It’s about what you want.  If you let your imagination go, what would you desire?  If you could have anything you wanted, what would it be?  What would create joy, enjoyment, and pleasure for you?  What do you want to be able to buy and own?  What do you want to be recognized for?  Where do you want to live?  Do you need multiple homes?  Where would they be?  How would they be furnished?  Where do you want to travel?  What experiences do you want to have in life?  What skills or abilities do you want to acquire?  What do you want your business to look like?  These are all the types of questions we need to determine the answers to in order to craft our path in life.

STOP reading this article right now!!  Take out a clean sheet of paper and write out your goals, based on the questions I just asked.  I want you to write at least 75 to 100 goals that you have for the rest of your life.  Write out your business goals, financial goals, family goals, relationship goals, and spiritual goals.  Create a list of what you want to do, see, and accomplish before you are done.

Small entrepreneurial business owners struggle with clarity.  A real estate agent and even real estate team is a small entrepreneurial business.  Having clarity of purpose, goals, and team structure dramatically increases the likelihood that you will arrive at what you envision exactly as you imagined it and on the time line you established.  The sharper the clarity in who you are, what you desire, and what action must be taken to get it, the faster you will achieve it, the greater your accomplishment will be, the grander the life you will lead.

The truth in clarity is everything.  Clarity is the key reason that most real estate teams fail or at least fall short of their potential; the team leader didn’t invest the time to acquire the clarity needed for everyone to have success.  You either have clarity or you don’t; it can’t be faked.  The question is, do you have it?  If you don’t, what are you going to do about it?

You might consider hiring a coach.  It should be a company or individual that has designed a program specifically for teams or people who want to build teams.  An integral component of the coaching program must be helping you create the clarity of purpose in your business.  The coach must have been successful in creating and leading real estate teams in the past.  If the coach has never done it, they can’t coach it!  Don’t fall into the trap of hiring a generalist or one trick pony type of coach.  This is someone who coaches all different people in all different fields . . . the generalist.  The one trick pony coach or coaching company primarily has one area they coach in, such as relationships.  If all that was necessary to be successful were the skill to build relationships to generate referrals, wouldn’t every agent and every team sell hundreds of homes a year?  When it’s team coaching and team building, you need a lot more than that.

If you have not been able to establish clarity to this point, you might need some help.  If you think coaching is a possible option, go to our website at www.RealEstateChampions.com.  We are the only coaching company that has a specifically designed team coaching program.  You owe it to yourself to at least check it out.

In order to create clarity, you have to know what you want to accomplish first.  Then you have to identify the best route to achieve it.  Then you have to be open to new information, techniques, and strategies.  Once you find flaws, which you will, you need to elicit feedback and correct the course.  You will most likely have to self-correct, as well.  Sometimes, you may even have to abandon a majority of your plan and create and embrace another one.  Often times, this change is thrust upon you due to outside circumstances or outside forces that you don’t or won’t control.

For example, if interest rates went to 18%, outside circumstances would be created that a real estate agent or real estate team would not control.  I have clients in Michigan who have been affected by the challenges in the automobile industry.  Their markets have been adversely affected by the economic conditions in their local market area due to lost jobs.  Through clarity, coaching, and strategic adjustments, they have been able to grow their business even in the lean economic times.

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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