In This Issue...
Words of a Champion
Dirk Zeller
CEO
Real Estate is a full-contact sport. The trend over the last few years has been to de-personalize your practice. The Internet has provided the consumer with choices and options they never had before. It has also created a more stealth relationship between the prospect and the Agent. The technology explosion has changed some aspects of the business, but other aspects will never change.
Simply put, the growing technology enables us to create more potential leads and automate almost everything. There are many Agents and real estate firms that are trying to automate the sales process and customer service.
In the end, people crave customer service and human touch in their transactions and relationships. Many of us are missing the mark with regard to our relationships in our transactions. People will always do business with someone who cares about them and wants to help them. The personal approach to selling and customer service will never be replaced by technology solely.
Technology helps you create a greater amount of leverage, but it will never replace a well-scripted, consumer-focused sales professional. You have to find a balance and marry the two together if possible. There is a technology program that I will be sharing with you in a couple of weeks that does that beautifully! It is a high tech but highly personal system that will transform the way you stay in touch with your clients. Stay tuned…
To Your Achievement of Greater Success in 2009,
Dirk Zeller, CEO
RealEstateChampions.com
P.S. Justin knows it's a Jewish holiday Thursday and he plans to email you the recording, if you've registered for the call.
P.P.S. If you haven't already signed up, make sure you reserve your spot today for my new webinar, "How to Become a Champion by Thriving, and Not Just Surviving in Today's Tough Marketplaces". I'll be giving you some of the most important tools, strategies, and tactics that you need to be implementing in today's tougher marketplaces so you can effectively thrive and increase your income while other Agents are struggling. We only have 500 spots available, so make sure to reserve your spot today!
If you’re tired of struggling to keep up with the changes in your marketplace, it’s time that you find out…
Over the past year, I've made it my main goal and have been working extremely hard to give all my faithful Coaches Corner™ subscribers and customers the exact tools they need to thrive in today's down marketplaces, rather than just survive in them.
It's very important to have a clear focus and to implement strategies that have been proven to work in times like these. You don't want to be like the majority of Agents who are simply doing the same things over and over again and expecting better results. When the markets change, you have to change with them!
So today, I'd like to add another important piece to the puzzle with an exciting new Webinar that gives you some of the most critical tools, strategies, and tactics you need to be able to:
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Develop the key mindsets necessary to successfully navigate and thrive in a slow marketplace |
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Identify the Buying and Selling trends in a tough market |
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Acquire and use the tools necessary to attain and sell listing inventory in a slowing marketplace |
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Learn new effective lead generation strategies that you can begin to tap into right away |
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Realize and utilize the many opportunities that you can take advantage of (and that your competition doesn't know about) in a tough marketplace |
Date and Time:
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Wednesday - October 29th , 2008
1:30pm - 3:00pm Eastern
12:30pm - 2:00pm Central
11:30am - 1:00pm Mountain
10:30am - 12:00pm Pacific |
Click Here to Find Out How You Can
Thrive in Your Market Today
Scheduling for Success
Real estate Agents seem to work off a floating schedule – if any schedule at all. They work when they want to work and play when they want to play. For most, there is no regular pattern of work time. The trouble with this approach is that it leads to low productivity and low earnings.
The most successful people in any profession are usually highly scheduled. Have you ever met a successful doctor who tells patients to “come on in any old time”? No, doctors have highly scheduled lives. They have blocks of time divided into specific time increments set up for seeing patients. They know how many patients they need to see each day to create the lifestyles they choose to live. Why shouldn’t we run our businesses the same way? It’s certainly more efficient than the way most of us run our businesses now.
To be successful, you must “time-block” your day. This scheduling is one of the first disciplines we work on with our clients. We help our clients understand that they (not their buyers, sellers, and prospects) control their schedules and that certain activities should be blocked into one’s daily schedule. These activities should be done only during those blocks of time. You need to schedule time daily to prospect, to follow up leads, to negotiate contracts, to return phone calls, to make listing presentations, to show property, to plan your business, to meet with staff, and to follow up on escrows. These activities should be clearly blocked in your schedule at specific times. The better you “time-block”, the more effective you will be. How effective you are, in turn, relates directly to your bottom line. The better you adhere to your “time-blocked” schedule, the more success you will have in sales.
You need to remember to allow for a little “flex time” or “play time”. You will need some time to relax and decompress mixed into your schedule. This relaxation time will enable you to stay focused and sharp during the “up time”. Giving yourself 15 minutes of “flex time” every two to three hours should be sufficient to break the tension or to catch up, so you can stay “time-blocked”.
Your focus must be on getting people to move into your schedule. You need to move listing appointments into your specified time blocks; to show property during normal business hours, instead of at all hours of the day and night; to have regular times when you speak with or meet face-to-face with your lender and escrow Agent regarding files in process. How much time is wasted playing telephone tag with people with whom you do business on a regular basis?
I know that a lot of you are saying, “How do you do this? You can’t get people to do this.” I don’t believe that. I had a strict “time-blocked” schedule for years. I required people to meet with me on my terms and in my schedule; it can be done. The first step is to decide that you are going to do it. The next step is to give your prospects and clients the opportunity to meet with you in your schedule. Rather than asking, “When do you want to meet?” or “What’s good for you?” ask them to meet you at specific times within your schedule. Give the client a choice between two times. You will be amazed to see how many people will select one of the times . . . doing business with you on your terms. You have now set a new work standard for you and your clients. You are the one in control, not your prospect or client.
Take back control of your business and your personal life. “Time-block” your way to both personal and professional success. Your family will be glad that you did.
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The Skill to Focus in the Moment
A Champion has the skill to focus in the moment. The power of focus enables some people to accomplish greater production in a shorter period of time. Whenever we achieve a new level of success in life, it is preceded by a focused period of exertion. Focus always comes in front of any success. The most successful people have an enhanced power of focus.
The most significant challenge to a Real Estate Agent’s career is the distractions of the business. The structure and distractions make it difficult for an Agent to have the time and mental energy necessary to focus to build one’s business. The tight rope balance between being available to clients and especially prospects for new business and the need of time spent in planning, strategizing, and implementing tactics has caused most Agents to fall.
My counsel is that a Champion Agent has at least 90 minutes weekly allocated to planning and strategy time. That time is really golden and must be protected. It is our focus time to improve our business. It enables a Champion Agent the opportunity to focus without distractions. The distractions will only intensify as business expands. It is better to establish this Champion habit before your business expands exponentially. When you set aside this time, be sure to turn off all access points to you: the access points of telephone and cell phone, pager, even your e-mail. If you hear the ding of, “You’ve got mail”, that split second of time can take you out of focus, and you won’t get the focus back for five to ten minutes. I have clients who leave their office and go to a conference room or leave the real estate office entirely. I have one client who goes to the library down the street. The reason is he can’t go home because of small children, and he doesn’t do his planning time consistently enough when he stays at his office. Find your place to get in the zone and focus.
When you decide where this 90 minutes of planning time will be in order to increase your focus, treat it as an appointment. Do not let anything invade the time. It’s an appointment with your business and yourself. I often tell clients it will be their most important appointment of the week but the easiest to cancel. Too many business owners have goal diffusion. If we have goal diffusion, it makes it difficult to accomplish what we desire. Goal diffusion is when we have too many goals we are working on at once. We don’t have the clarity of our objectives and plan to be able to focus with depth and intensity on our accomplishment. We don’t have the prioritization of the goals laid out with clarity, so we struggle taking them to completion.
The higher your position or ownership in a company (this includes entrepreneurial companies like real estate), the more growth you are experiencing along with increased responsibilities and staff, the higher the probability of goal diffusion.
To increase your focus in the moment, segment your time into smaller segments. Insert specific activities inside those smaller segments. By single-mindedly focusing on one task rather than multi-tasking, you increase your focus and results. Multi-tasking is a buzz word we have all adopted for doing a lot of things at once. It, by definition, runs contrary to focus. How can you really focus on 20 things at once? Multi-tasking is really a recipe for failure in business. It opens the door to distractions and lost productivity.
We must take an honest look at our ability to focus; to immerse ourselves in a mental state that takes what we are working on to completion before we move onto the next project or activity. Do you have the skill of focus that you need to become a Champion?
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What Gets Owned Gets Done
Ownership is the real buzz word in team building. If an individual has ownership of production numbers, a project, or a solution to a problem, they will work to create a more successful outcome for the team. If they feel personally vested in the results, customer satisfaction, and financial performance, the net results for the team will always be better.
Ownership does not mean you have to give up a financial stake in the company, stock, or anything that would equate to a true percentage of ownership in the company. Having ownership is a feeling of a perceived position of power and decision making that connects with a feeling of pride and reliance on them for the success of the team, a particular project, or a specific client.
There is a balance between ownership and entitlement. Entitlement can happen when the member of the team injects too much personal pride and assumes the view or stance that they are irreplaceable; that the team could not function without their contribution. Team members who adopt the entitlement mentality are a danger to themselves and to the success of the team. As the real team or business owner, you must move swiftly to cure the entitlement mentality. It’s truly like a highly contagious disease that can be caught easily by anyone who is exposed to it. To wait for it to run its course, as you would for a cold or the flu, could cause death to your team. At the very least, it will create a short-term sickness for all on the team.
Ownership is empowerment to the team member. You are giving them their own area and results to control. A Buyer’s Agent could own the results of a subdivision you are representing or the open house results. They could own the interactive voice response system for lead generation. They would need to respond promptly when calls come in and track the results they achieve in contacts, leads, appointments, and revenue from the IVR system. Breaking the responsibility up into specific areas or divisions of your business creates an ownership mentality.
For example, I have a number of Champion Lead Agents who have teams that have a division head for each area of their sales operation. They are running large teams, and these division heads in the sales area report to them and are responsible for sales, appointments, leads, conversion ratios, and contacts in each area. I have some clients who have divisions in new construction and development; expireds; FSBOs; buyer seminars; farming; professional relationships like divorce attorneys, probate attorneys, financial planners; and foreclosure properties. These division leaders have the ownership mentality and are building a revenue creating division for the team using the name recognition and power of the team. In the end, what gets owned at any level gets done.
Dirk Zeller
CEO |
Dear Champion Real Estate Broker,
One of the greatest frustrations for an Agent once they’ve elevated themselves to the Broker/Owner/ Manager position is providing consistent & timely Real Estate Training that gives their sales staff the “knowledge to compete and the skills to win!” Celebrating its fourth year, the Champion Performer Series™ has become a Broker’s favorite for providing LIVE Monthly Training Events to their entire offices.
This series of monthly and semi-annual training programs is designed to deliver timely, time-tested & proven, meat-and-potatoes training that you and the Agents in your office can use right away to grow production numbers and overcome obstacles you may be facing in current market conditions... Learn More.
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