In This Issue...
Words of a Champion
Dirk Zeller
CEO
You'll notice this Words of a Champion is different from our traditional style...
...and there's a good reason for this.
See, like a thermometer, my inbox is constantly under pressure from Agents searching for *hot* new ways to make some cool *cash* and today's message will get your mercury rising!
So today's change in style comes because a friend of mine, Justin Zimmerman, a REALTOR (in Florida) gave me the thumbs up to share his powerful video on how you can "Jott" your way to more sales with less stress.
It's pretty amazing stuff!
*After watching this, you'll learn how to turn your ordinary phone into a FREE mini-virtual Assistant, who's always listening and *never* forgets a thing.
*As a Broker or Team Leader, you'll learn new ways to mass communicate with Agents, Teammates, and even family members on urgent matters.
*And the best is…the Agent at a cocktail party who, without a pen or business card, manages to detail a complete prospect's wish list and goes on to close a respectable $527,000 sale a few weeks later. Click Here.
Oh yeah, it's completely free and you don't even have to give your email address, but if you do...
Justin promised me he'll send you other valuable free videos and success stories to help you grow your business.
To Your Achievement of Greater Success in 2009,
Dirk Zeller, CEO
RealEstateChampions.com
P.S. I just got news *not even public yet* that next week there's going to be a live MegaProducer call hosted by the technology guru guy who made that video above. Even in this market, not just a few, but lots of Agents are finding their niche and taking over new and abandoned market share. Click Here.
This call is going to rip apart the misconceptions and debunk the negative myths and prove once and for all if there's a will there's a way to survive-and-thrive.
P.P.S. If you do nothing else next week to grow your business, click this link to register for the FREE call. I was promised by Justin that this call is pure education and absolutely *NO selling* of any kind. The phone system can only handle 250 slots, with this advanced notice I'd quickly register. Click Here.
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:
I am really excited about this 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. I now have a chance to solve the #1 reason why most Agents fail to achieve a high level of success in their businesses...
#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.
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• 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
Don't Wait - Create
Don’t passively wait for business and success to come to you. Proactively create business and make success come to you. Too many Agents have let the market over the last few years create all of their success. Recently, it has been pretty easy nationally to make a very good living selling real estate. You could have been passive and been okay. In today’s marketplace, with changing inventory levels, more cautious buyers, and rising interest rates, you just can’t wait – you have to create. You must proactively and consistently prospect for leads. Most Agents never prospect proactively. Let’s look at the truth; we mail things out and rarely pick up the phone or get face-to-face with anyone. Most Agents do lead follow-up, which means they follow-up on leads that came to them. They use passive techniques to create leads. We must also proactively create leads and proactively follow-up on our current leads. I tell Agents all the time, “If you need a boost in your production inventory, call all of your leads, even the longer term ones.”
The vast majority of a Champion Agent’s new listing inventory in a given month comes from their pipeline of leads. If you want to change your inventory level of listings, first go to your leads. Then start to prospect to build up your pipeline.
Sell prospects on “service presentation” meetings
This is an area we need to improve on. We rely on sending large quantities of information via e-mail rather than getting face-to-face. We have to focus on getting face-to-face with all prospects, even if they are six months out. The way to best determine if the lead is outstanding is the face-to-face meeting. It’s also the thing that most other Agents they are talking to are not doing. The tightest connection you can create will be from a face-to-face meeting. In a service presentation meeting, you are not doing your full listing presentation; you are trying to determine desire, need, ability, and authority.
Prospect, Prospect, Prospect
In this marketplace, more time is needed in prospecting. It will take:
More dials to = same amount of contacts
More contacts to = same amount of leads
More leads to = same amount of appointments
More appointments to = same amount of contracts
More contracts to = same amount of revenue
It might not be fair – It is what it is
Far too many Agents over the last few years have been totally reliant on one area of business: the “wear it like a badge of honor; I’m a ‘by referral only’ Realtor.” While I believe referrals are essential to a healthy business, they are not the lifeblood of any successful business. Relying on 100% of one’s revenue from one source is not a sound business practice. Even having 80% to 90% of one’s income from one source leaves the business vulnerable to market shifts.
When the public’s consciousness for real estate is at an all-time high, referrals generate significant revenue. When real estate is not the main topic of conversation at every cocktail party across North America, fewer leads and opportunities are created through referrals.
“There is a rude awakening about to happen for a
significant segment of successful Agents.”
Let’s look at a real-world company, recently in the news, that had to declare bankruptcy due to their customer mix coming from predominantly one source. Delphi recently declared bankruptcy because their biggest customer is General Motors. More than 60% of their sales are made to General Motors. Due to the problems at GM and high labor costs, Delphi was forced into bankruptcy.
Many Agents await that same fate because of an eventual drop in referrals. The time to expand our streams of leads and income is now. Once most Agents realize the reduction in the number and quality of referrals due to a lower consumer demand and awareness for real estate, it will be too late. The time to act is now.
Resolve to add one new income stream in the next 90 days. I caution you to only add one. The natural tendency is to try a whole bunch. Focus on adding one with excellence rather than a whole bunch poorly.
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Managing An Open House - After The Open House
A successful open house requires a well-chosen and presentable home, a well-organized host, and an impeccable follow-up plan so that no prospect gets lost in the post-event period. This article focuses on the part after the open house.
Following the open house
Promptly after the open house, send hand-written thank you notes to every single person who provided you with contact information. In today’s world of e-mail and computer-generated correspondence, the power of hand-written correspondence is multiplied many times over.
When following up, don’t assume that your event was the only open house your prospect attended. I can guarantee you that this isn’t the case. Realize that you’re in a competition with other Agents, and one way to prevail is to prove that you are the one most skilled at lead follow-up. Once your hand-written note is received by your prospects, take the following steps:
- If the prospect requested additional information, or you offered to provide specific information, send it promptly. But send it separately from and following your hand-written note.
- On the afternoon or evening of the day that your hand-written note arrives in the mail, place a phone call to the prospect. If the open house was on a Sunday, your hand-written note should be in the mail on Monday, and you should make your phone call the next day, usually on Tuesday. The objective of the call is to book a buyer presentation appointment in your office.
- Later that same week, probably on Thursday or Friday, phone again. This time, tell the prospect that you have found a property that is similar to what he or she is looking for in a home. Explain that you would like to meet to evaluate its suitability. Aim to have the meeting take place in your office. Remember, you are in competition with other Agents. Whoever gets the prospect into their office first dramatically improves the odds of acquiring a commission check.
- Repeat the previous step weekly for a few weeks. If you are not able to get the prospect into your office within a few weeks, the quality of the prospect is probably lower than first thought. It’s probably time to cut loose and move on to more motivated buyers.
When you prospect at open houses, among the leads you acquire will be some people who are hoping to move but never will. I call these hope-to prospects rather than have-to prospects, and it’s your job as an Agent to determine which prospects fall into which category. That way you can turn your time, attention, and talent to the needs of the more motivated prospect group.
Keeping low-cost contact with “iffy” prospects
Sometimes you will want to maintain relationships with moderately motivated prospects, in hopes that they will choose to work with you when they are finally ready to buy or sell.
A good, low-cost way to stay in touch with these contacts is to send an e-mail version of your real estate newsletter or some other form of cyber-correspondence that costs you no dollars for delivery or printing.
Don’t expect a high percentage of these long-term prospects to convert into listings or sales based on this contact technique, but your cost is almost non-existent, so any success will be nearly pure profit. Be reasonable with your expectations, though. If you achieve a 3% return, consider yourself fortunate.
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Hiring Experienced Buyers Agent - The Proof In the Pudding
Many Lead Agents are too trusting when it comes to hiring experienced Agents to be their Buyer’s Agents. They frequently take too much at face value, rather than checking. In hiring a Buyer’s Agent who has experience, you want to ask them about their previous production. You want to know the units sold and sales volume in the last few years. You also must know the sources the business came from. Were all the sales handed to them from the Lead Agent, or did they create their own? Were they effective in converting ad calls, sign calls, and open houses to sales? How did they do with the Internet leads they were given? Were there sales that came from Internet leads? Getting the units sold by sources will provide you with the facts of their skills today.
You could potentially go to the MLS to see their production in the last twelve months. Some companies and Lead Agents, however, want all the production under their name exclusively. Require them to provide a transaction record from their Broker. You might even want the Broker to certify the results. There are a number of organizations that need a transaction record from the Broker that is certified when applying for membership or attainment of awards.
If they are unable to furnish some type of transaction record, ask them for a 1099. There are many of you who are thinking, “I couldn’t do that” . . . Why not? They are asking you for a position with your team that is a highly valuable and prized position. They are trying to negotiate the best commission split possible for themselves. Based on that, they are a player and will bring income to you and the team that you don’t currently have now. They should be willing to prove that they earned what they say they earned; that they are worth what they claim; that there isn’t any puffing of numbers to make themselves look better to either negotiate a better deal or even just secure the position you have offered.
Champion Team Rule – There won’t be a miraculous improvement of their sales performance in the first thirty days because they are with you.
Their sales performance, in the short run, will be about what it had been. You must see what they have actually done in the past because that’s what you should expect from them for the next forty to ninety days. There might be a few exceptions to this rule, but they are infrequent. Tell them the proof is in the pudding.
Lastly, ask them for their conversion rates. Typically, what are the ratios from an ad call, sign call, or open house? How often do they get the client to come to the office for a buyer interview? When they have that interview, how often are they able to secure an Exclusive Right to Represent Agreement? Most of the experienced Agents you are going to consider will not be able to respond to any of these questions. This give you an opening to set the standard with them that you track everything; that you would expect them to embrace your system of tracking activities and results to be on the team. You also want to be clear that, because of the tracking, you will be able to help them be a far better Buyer’s Agent and make more money. All of these are true. Also, because of the tracking, there is no place to hide. Their effort and results will be out in the open. You and they will know, without a shadow of a doubt, how they are really doing. They won’t be able to hide or cover their tracks if they are off on their activities and production.
½ Theory – cut everything they say in ½
If you are considering an experienced Buyer’s Agent who cannot or will not provide a reasonable level of proof of their previous production, you will need to apply the ½ Theory. The ½ Theory states that no matter what they tell you they did in production, you cut the number in half. I am not saying that all Buyer’s Agents use fuzzy numbers. I am saying if you cut their production numbers in half, you won’t get burned. They will probably have done at least that much in production.
If they are worth hiring based on half of the undocumented numbers, you probably have someone who is really worth having on the team. You will want to act quickly to sign them up. You can’t make the mistake of taking everything at face value.
Dirk Zeller
CEO |
Dear Champion Real Estate Broker,
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September 11th, 2008
