In This Issue...

• Growth of a Champion
• Customer Service Doesn't Equal Accessibility
• Creating Sales and Sales Volume Comparisons
• How Are Your Sales Skills? - Take Our Quiz!

Growth of a Champion

True growth in life happens when we are willing to risk and stretch our abilities, when we are willing to put it on the line for change.  It is easy to get comfortable being around the same crowd, doing the same thing we have always done.  We can often get attached to a system or activities that will only lead us to the same result we have always gotten.

We have to be willing to risk where we are today to get to where we truly want to be.  By venturing out we develop skills of strength that will build us up and make us stronger.  Napoleon Hill said, “The strongest oak tree of the forest is not the one that is protected from the storm and hidden from the sun.  It’s the one that stands in the open where it is compelled to struggle for its existence against the winds and rain and scorching sun.”

The challenges you are facing right now will make you stronger.  Move forward and take them head on.  Step up to the challenges.  Step up to the opportunities that lie just beyond the challenges.  You may be in darkness, but the light is right around the bend.  When you overcome the obstacles facing you…you will then be able to drink in the sunlight of accomplishment to recharge your battery.

To your achievement of success in life,

Dirk Zeller
CEO
Real Estate Champions, Inc

P.S. We've left Case Study #160-07 up of Agent "X", so if you haven't viewed it yet go check it out now. ... click here

"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-to's, 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-to's, 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

P.S. The book is now in stock!!!

Customer Service Doesn't Equal Accessibility

For 30 years we have been taught, as REALTORS® we must be there for our clients.  I hear it all the time from Agents across North America; “I want to be there for my clients.”  What does ‘be there’ mean?  Does ‘be there’ mean we are available 24 hours, 7 days a week for our clients?  Does it mean that we miss soccer games, tee ball games, and piano recitals?  For many Agents that is exactly what it means.  Many of us equate access with service.  We have been trained for years that access is the primary vehicle of customer service.  We feel we need to be there at all times for our clients.  We grant them access to our lives whenever they want it.  They can, and will, take over our business, if we let them.

I want to share with you a new concept.  Access has nothing to do with customer service.  There are many professionals we do business with on a regular basis who are less than accessible.  A skilled doctor cannot be contacted via phone and respond right away.  A skilled doctor is busy with other patients and will get back to the caller during the course of the day.  A professional attorney may be in court, in a conference, or taking a deposition.  We don’t expect them to return our call immediately.  I would certainly question the ability of these two professionals if they could get back to me right away.  That would tell me they are not very busy.  It would cause me to question their capabilities.  Yet, being phone available is like a badge of honor for a REALTOR®.

Ben Franklin said,”If you want a job done right, ask a busy man to do it.”  Ben understood the perception of industrious diligence.  He also understood human nature.  When Ben Franklin was a young printer, he was seen daily on Market Street at noon pushing a wheelbarrow stacked with reams of paper.  After becoming successful he later shared that the paper was not in the wheelbarrow because it needed to go somewhere, but it was there to promote Ben as a busy man.  He created a public perception of value through his daily wheelbarrow walk. If we can meet with clients at all hours of the day and night, they will begin to wonder if we have any other clients.  We are not promoting being a busy REALTOR®.  To clearly separate access from customer service, here are a few steps:

Step 1: Set Boundaries

Your clients will respect you if you set specific boundaries.  Set boundaries on your time away from selling real estate.  Take out the days off, the family activities, the time with your spouse, and the time for you.  You must plan that process before the week begins.  The most effective way to set boundaries is work off a set schedule.  A set schedule allows you to create each week to be exactly the same as the week before. Create specific boundaries for your client by taking your home phone number off your business card.  Other professionals don’t give out their home number.  Turn your cell phone and pager off at specific times each evening.  Set boundaries for your clients to follow regarding your time and time with your family.

Step 2: Treat everything as an appointment

Once you have set boundaries, treat everything as an appointment.  Your time with your children and spouse are the most important appointments you have.  Don’t infringe on your family time.  Your appointments to work out, to read, and to relax are your time; don’t break those appointments.
           
You also have appointments in your workday.  You have appointments to prospect and lead follow-up.  These have a tendency to get pushed out of the way by clients.  If you allow that to happen, you will see a drop in your business in 90 days.  If you miss those appointments today, the effect is not felt for 90 days when you have no closings. It’s easy to let other things move into those prospecting and lead follow-up appointment slots.  You have to fight the urge to take care of clients in those times.

Step 3: Set specific times to return calls

Most of the calls we get are not important.  They are someone trying to give us what they deem as urgent.  They are rarely important and rarely must be handled now.  Most calls can wait a few hours to deal with.  Set specific times when you return calls.  I would suggest once in late morning and once toward the end of the day.  Tell people you are in appointments and you will be retuning calls at those specific times.

If you're tired of bouncing through your Real Estate Career with Yo-Yo Production Numbers and finally want to take control of your own Real Estate Success, it’s time that you check out:

The REALTOR®'s Ultimate
Business Planning Kit™

I am really excited about this brand-new program for two reasons...

#1) Most agents (less than 5% of the several thousand I’ve met) never construct a firm business plan to execute in their business. That’s right! A majority of agents only have a few loosely held goals, wants, or even just dreams of what they hope to do with their business.

#2) The second (and my favorite reason) is that I've teamed up on this program with one of the best minds in real estate. This man (who I'll reveal to you in the program) is truly one of the best real estate agents and business owners in the world!

When he and I met about eight years ago... Click Here.

The 'REALTOR® Ultimate Business Planning Kit™' Series will teach you how to:
	• How you can build your Real Estate Business into an asset that can be sold in the future • How to play the odds in your favor like a casino - you too can become the house •Why spinning the lead generation odds will lead to better income, results, and time off with your family • How to determine & then double your hourly rate which in turn will reduce the number of hours you have to work to make the same amount of money • The #1 way to change the odds of success in your Real Estate Business • Why most agents suffer from “lead bulimia” • 3 Keys to overcoming the hurdles that litter the small, narrow, rocky pathway to super success • 4 Rules of Business Expansion and how to apply them to your business • The largest opportunity in Real Estate today that 87% of Agents completely missed last year • How one simple strategy increased my client’s market share by over 49% in the toughest real estate market in 10 years. • How you can transform your thinking, actions, execution and planning to the level of a successful business person • Three steps to easing the rapid process of real estate market change • The right way to plan your own financial independence
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	• 6 CDs - Audio Training (7+ Hours) • 1 CD-ROM Workbook

Find Out How To Grow 313% & Reduce Costs Per Transaction By 40% Now

Creating Sales and Sales Volume Comparisons

Evaluating your performance against the statistics of other agents or companies in your market segment is a great starting point, but it is rarely enough to uncover your unique edge or point of difference.

When you compare your numbers to MLS stats for the number of units sold, number of listings taken, number of listings sold, and total sales volume in your market area you arrive at a picture of how you did compared to the market at large. However, chances are good that your business is focused on certain segments of the total market – likely you specialize in certain neighborhoods, certain price ranges, and even certain types of residences. To uncover your edge, you need to segment, or what I call slice and dice, the market-wide numbers. For example:

• You might shrink the geographic area down to a concise neighborhood or region in order to compare your own performance with market performance in that niche region.

• You might expand the geographic area to include several neighborhoods or even towns in which you operate.

• You might want to analyze real estate activity only in a certain price range.

• You might choose to focus only on a segment that includes a particular property type.

Using statistics ethically and to your advantage

When you compare your sales performance with that of other agents, sometimes you will want to show how well you rank in terms of all sales in your entire market area, and sometimes you’ll want to focus on your dominant position in a specific segment of the market. You can expand or contract the portion of the market you focus on, so long as you’re drawing a valid conclusion that you explain clearly to your client.

For example, consider an agent who is making a listing presentation to sellers in a specific development. She knows that if she presents her track record solely in the seller’s home area she will rank squarely in the middle of the agent pack. Hardly a winning position.

However, if she expands the market area to include the seller’s development and the development called Arrowwood, her ranking will shoot strait up to the top of the list, since she outsells her nearest competitor two-to-one in the Arrowwood area. She decides to show her sales performance based upon market activity in both developments. When presenting her findings – and her dominant market position – she explains to the sellers that she expanded her market study to include transactions in Arrowwood as well as in the sellers’ development, because most buyers consider both the developments when selecting a home of the type the sellers’ will be listing.

Her approach put her in a strong position. But it was also ethical, clearly explained, and the basis for a valid comparison that was useful to her and to the sellers.

Often, the largest company in a market will account for the largest sales volume and sales numbers, creating a strong market presence that eclipses the performance of small companies and individual agents. If you face a David and Goliath situation, reach down and pick up the stone of per agent productivity to put in your slingshot.

Calculate per agent productivity by dividing a company’s total performance by the number of agents working at the firm.  You can use this calculation to bring listings taken, listings sold, total unit volume, sales volume, or buyer-represented sales down to a per agent basis. Suddenly, Goliath won’t look quite so dominant.

Always know the average agent success numbers for your marketplace. These are the numbers you want to eclipse by the end of your first six months in the business – at least.

Know the Big Three statistics and know exactly how your own performance stacks up against market averages. I tell agents: Know thyself and know thy competition is the first rule to follow when you want to acquire a competitive advantage.

Then, once the numbers are in front of you, compare your performance to the market area average. Ask:

• What doesn’t look good at first glance?
• Where are you falling behind?
• If you broaden or shrink the criteria, does your positioning improve?
• How can you craft a position from which to sell if you’re stuck with these stats?

How Are Your Sales Skills? - Take Our Quiz!

It’s time for all real estate agents to embrace the fact that we are salespeople.  Too many salespeople have what I describe as role rejection when it comes to their career and the success producing activities.  We are in sales.  We sell our representation services to prospective buyers and sellers.  Too often, I encounter real estate salespeople who try to disguise the fact that they are in sales.  Are you really skilled at sales?  Are you able to effectively convey scripts and dialogues with power, intensity, and passion?

Champion Team Rule – Champion Performers are people who are able to be most honest with themselves about their skills and deficiency in those skills.

The ability to be introspective and look at your strengths and weaknesses will help you achieve Champion level performance in life.  Far too many of us are too busy trying to cover our tracks to hide our deficiencies.  To become a Champion, you must face your weaknesses, admit them, and search for help in strengthening them.

If you want an objective view of your ability, aptitude, and attitude toward sales, I have included an evaluation process that I have used successfully to diagnose areas for improvement.  It incorporates the use of the four probabilities of success to establish areas of improvement.  I want you to pause right now and rate your habits, disciplines, and viewpoint on the following tasks that occur with regularity for a real estate salesperson.  Apply a scale of one to ten for each task; score from one to ten for each task based on your knowledge, skill, attitude, and historic activity level.

Self-Evaluation of Personal Selling Tasks

Rate yourself for the following tasks on a scale of 1 – 10 in each of the four areas.

AREAS

1.      Your Knowledge of the task.
2.      Your Skill in performing the task.
3.      Your Attitude in performing the task.
4.      Your historic on-going Activity consistency in performing the task.

Now that you have scored each task, take a look at your weakest task areas, giving greater weight to the prospecting and lead follow-up tasks.  Greater weight of importance must be given to those tasks because, if you struggle to produce leads, you won’t be able to make sales presentations because you won’t have prospects to work with.

Decide what you are going to do with this new found truth.  What areas and tasks must you attack ravenously to improve in the next 30 days?  Establish clear-cut goals and time lines to raise your performance that is lacking in key areas and key tasks.

Earl Nightingale, the famous success trainer, said, “We will all be successful in life based on our ability to sell.”  He was not making a statement specifically to salespeople but to everyone.  His statement holds true for every profession imaginable.  The most successful doctors, dentists, attorneys, or accountants are world class salespeople.  They are highly effective at selling their ideas, strategies, beliefs, and service to their prospects and clients.  As a salesperson, your objective in sales is the same.  You must be able to create prospects and sell them on the validity of your views, solutions, and service model to earn a commission check.  The quality of your sales skills will determine the quality of your sales career.

Your sales skills will influence the four ways to increase production.  Your sales skills will influence the number of contacts you make.  The better your skills, the more likely you will increase your number of contacts over the competition.  The better your sales skills, the more likely you will select more personal and effective methods of making contact with potential prospects.  You won’t be as tempted to hope that your e-mail and direct mail campaigns become your biggest lead sources.  The fear of periodic personal rejection will not stop you from making more effective personal contacts either face-to-face or phone-to-phone.  These more personal contacts have a much higher probability of success than any direct mail or e-mail marketing campaign ever created.

Because of your sales skills, the quality of your prospects will be much higher than most agents’.  You won’t waste your time with low quality prospects.  You will recognize the tire kickers much faster and remove them or disqualify them from wasting your time faster.  It also won’t cause you heart burn to do it because you know clearly how to create more leads with regularity because of your sales skills.

Lastly, because of your sales skills, the quality of your message and delivery of that message means you will convert a higher percentage of your presentations to income.  This high success rate only feeds your confidence.  When your confidence goes up, your competence goes up, as well.  Because of your confidence, you will close more effectively and more quickly, which leads to less time invested per sale with the opportunity to make more sales.

These are all positive outcomes that salespeople experience when they focus on the improvement of their sales skills.  Want to join this elite group of Champion Agents?  There will always be room for more.

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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Here First!

by Dirk Zeller

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• Prospecting?

• Lead Generation?

• Listing Presentations?

• Scripts & Dialogues?

• Objection Handling?

• Converting?