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Words of a Champion

When a market slows and softens dramatically like it has across the country, we have to change. 

When the marketplace gets more competitive, the one area every Salesperson needs to focus on is their time.  Your time is one of the products you are selling to your clients and prospects.  In a good marketplace, you can be sloppy with your time and still earn a comfortable living because of the momentum of the marketplace.  I often ask Agents around the country how much their business is up and they usually respond with a dollar amount or percentage.  My next question however, is how much is the market up in your area?  Often the Agent’s growth in business is less than in their market.  Is that the case for you?  To determine if you caused the growth in your business, subtract the market growth from your production growth.  If we rely on the market to improve our income we are in trouble.  What if the market increase doesn’t come for a while?

Your ability to increase your income is contained in your skills and your time.  Time is the true commodity we trade in life.  We trade time for the money we earn.  We trade time to construct and build relationships.  We trade time for increased knowledge.  The real asset is our time.

Charles Spezzano, the accomplished author said, “You don’t really pay for things with money.  You pay for them with your time.  In five years I will have put enough money away to buy that vacation house we want, then I will slow down.”  It will take the effort of five years, for Charles to acquire the house.  In other words, 1/20th of his life will be spent to acquire the house.  If we translate the dollar value of anything we want into time, it really brings its value into focus.

I have bought many things in the past that cost me too much of my time for the return that I received.  Translate what you want into dollars and then see if it is worth the time you will need to give up.  Is the new Mercedes worth the year or more of your time you would have to sacrifice to drive it?  Is the bigger house worth 5 years, 10 years or more of your life, to live in?  Your time is the commodity you trade daily.  How you trade it and use it will determine your level of success. 

You and your time have a value.  Are you making the trades daily that increase your value and the value of your time?  Having the belief and self-confidence in yourself, increases the value of your time. 

M. Scott Peck said, “Until you value yourself, you won’t value your time.  Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it”.  This week focus on your biggest asset, your time.  Be sure to trade it well daily.  Then take 10 minutes each day and evaluate how you did.

 

To Your Success,

Dirk Zeller, CEO
RealEstateChampions.com

P.S. If the top producing Agent in your marketplace offered to let you use his/her listing presentation as your own, what would that be worth to you? Well, I'm going to give you a peek at the Listing and Pre-Listing Presentation Package and tactics that I used to sell 150+ homes a year and an average Agent used to achieve... (full case study on the next page). This is by far the most requested and anticipated program I've ever produced here at REC, so make sure to take a look further today...

P.P.S. I also wanted to let you know that I'm working very hard on a brand new program dedicated to a subject I believe is crucial for you to have in your business right now - powerful scripts and dialogue. It's going to be packed with scripts that have been proven to increase the production of Agents in today's markets - you'll have the ability to streamline your business with scripts that will instantly conquer many of the problems and situations you'll face in today's tougher marketplaces. So make sure to keep an eye out for the email announcement in the coming weeks!

 

Increasing Sales Production Through Quality of the Message

When you break a Real Estate Agent’s business down, there are only four ways to increase production.  There are four proven avenues toward increased gross revenue.  The four ways to increase production are:

Number of contacts
Method of contacts
Quality of the prospect
Quality of the presentation

When you begin working on any one of these, you have taken the step to becoming a Champion Agent.  Once you have raised your level of the performance in each of these areas, you can call yourself a Champion!

Quality of the message

I feel this is where the Champion Agent really excels over other Agents.  The message you present is essential to your success.  What you say and how you deliver your message in tonality and body language influences the results you achieve.  It’s the edge that your other Sales Agents don’t posses.  If they were that skilled at sales, they probably would not be a member of your team.  You will need to address this aggressively and promptly when bringing any Sales Agent on your team.  I think we have gotten too far removed from the sales aspect of real estate sales.  In the end, homes are not bought but sold.  Professional representation services are not bought but sold.  We have to sell to be at the Champion level.  Most Agents have never taken formalized sales training of any kind.  They have taken a couple of weeks of introduction to being a Real Estate Salesperson that their broker provided . . . that’s it.

When sales skills go up, income goes up.  There is a direct correlation between sales skills and ability and income.  I know there is a large group of skeptics reading this.  Let me illustrate my point.  To be successful at any profession, no matter what profession you select, you have to achieve mastery of the primary tool of the profession.  There are other secondary tools that help, but the primary tool is the cornerstone or capstone to success.  Without mastery of it, you will always be brushing up against a ceiling of production; you will never explode through.

My father was a dentist for over thirty years.  As a successful dentist, he had one primary tool that he worked for years to master and a lot of secondary tools.  As secondary tools, he had explorers, drills, polishers, Novocain, a dental chair, lights, scrapers, probes, amalgam fillings, sealants, gold crowns, different types of adhesives, x-ray machines . . . you get the idea.  All of these were secondary tools.

What is the primary tool of a dentist?  What is the one tool that must be controlled to let all these other tools work their magic?  For a dentist, it’s his hands.  A dentist without skillful hands as his primary tool isn’t a good dentist.

As a Real Estate Salesperson, you have laptops, blackberries, Internet sites, lock boxes, lock box keys, marketing pieces, mailings, flyers, customer relation management (CRM) software, computers, tracking forms, your car, your clothes, MLS, and countless other secondary tools.  What is the primary tool of a Real Estate Salesperson?  For a Real Estate Salesperson, it’s the words that you say and how you deliver them.  The message you present and convey either causes the prospect to work with you or repels them away.  All the other secondary tools will not make up for a lack of skill in the primary area – the words that you say and how you deliver them.

Most Agents invest far more in their wardrobe than they do in themselves and their skills.  I have listened to hundreds of very good Agents’ prospecting, lead follow-up, buyer consultation, and listing presentation tapes.  I have never gotten one initially one that I thought was awesome.  The tapes I have listened to have come from some of the best Agents in the world.  That’s why I can say confidently that the vast majority of you reading this article, even if you are doing a lot of production, have a message or presentation that is not very good, either.  I am not trying to cause you to toss this article aside, never to pick it up again, by making such a bold comment.  I am merely trying to get everyone to face the facts of how important our message is and what we need to do to change it to improve our business.

I had a client I worked with for a number of years who was an excellent Agent in Cleveland, Ohio named Sheri Nasca.  Sheri was one of the best salespeople I have ever worked with in terms of sales skills.  She was forced to move and restart her business all over again in the Chicago area.  She did sixty closed sales her first year in Chicago without knowing a soul.  She was able to do it because of her superior sales skills.  I think sixty units your first year in production without market presence, a sphere of influence, or past clients is outstanding.  Sheri did it because she is the consummate professional in her sales skills.

A professional football team will practice for forty to fifty hours a week in preparation for a sixty-minute game.  How much time do you invest weekly to practice your craft of selling?  Most Agents will spend at least $500 on a good suit, $75 on a quality shirt, $75 on a nice tie, $12 on socks, and $200 on a quality pair of shoes.  All tolled, we will invest nearly $850 to walk out the door dressed for success.  Yet, we won’t spend a dime on what matters most – our mind and our sales skills to create, convert, and service our customers well.  The message you present and its quality are imperative.

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Persistence

I was asked recently what the one skill is that a REALTOR® needs in order to be successful.  That was a tough question.  The one skill…I thought about it over and over.  There are so many skills Agents need to be successful.  We have to have good presentation skills, marketing skills, negotiating skills, objection handling skills, technology skills.  Then it hit me.  All those skills pale in contrast to this one:  Persistence.  It is the one skill that will make up for our deficiencies in all the other areas.  It will allow us to win in life no matter what obstacles are placed in front of us.

Calvin Coolidge, our 30th President, said it very well, “Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.  Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.  Geniuses will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.” 

It truly is a noble skill to have the ability to move forward when everything around you is collapsing and meeting the challenge head on and grinding through the competition.  We are all professionals, or we aspire to be a professional.  The definition of a professional is someone who does something, even when he doesn’t feel like doing it.  Many of us know what we need to do; yet we don’t do it.  We spend our time looking for the one step that will change our life, rather than using the path of persistence to win.  We look around for the magic answer that will solve all our problems.  Do you realize that over 80% of the late night infomercials are centered on “get rich quick or lose weight instantly”?  We live in a liposuction society where we want abundance-yesterday.  We don’t want to do the diligent, persistent work to achieve success.  My friend Zig Ziglar has a great line: “Life is like a cafeteria.  First you pay, then you get to eat.”  It’s not a restaurant where you sit down, get served, and get your fill.  When you are full and satisfied, then the bill arrives.  You have to pay before you receive the reward. 

Persistence is crucial to ultimate success in life.  To learn the skill of persistence, you must first learn to persist in the little things.  The first step for mastery of persistence is the ability to decide and have the clarity of decision that you will do it or else.  Start with persistence in your eating habits or workout habits. You could even just select one thing or task you need to do today.  Then make sure you complete it before the end of the day.  Don’t ever end your day before you get it done.

We often select too many things or set the bar too high too early.  This will cause us to fall short, and the negative self-talk will begin.  The journey to run a marathon begins with a walk around the block.  Start with the walk around the block and, in a few days, go twice around.  Then in a week, you can do four times around.  By the end of the month, you will be able to walk a mile.  The process in business is the same.  Start with calling a few past clients or sphere of influence. Call five people a day.  You don’t need to do four hours of prospecting.  That’s like running a marathon without training.  If you managed to actually do it, which would be rare, you would be so sore and tired and spent.  You would be worthless for a week.  Build the skill of persistence. 

The best technique to learn persistence is to just start.   The truth is it’s the start that stops most people.  Just beginning is the biggest barrier for everyone.  Getting your sneakers on and stepping on the treadmill or picking up the phone the first time is never as bad as our mind makes it out to be.  Once you begin, you pick up momentum and that positive self-talk of accomplishment.  My father taught me a saying many years ago.  It is a saying about persistence. It’s a saying that exemplifies his life.

Once a task has begun,
Never leave until it’s done.
Though the task be great or small,
Do it well or not at all.

Persistence is, by far and away, the skill that we need to master.  It is the one skill that guarantees success in both your personal and professional life.  There is no substitute.  Remember, it is the start that stops most people.

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Seven Steps of Effective Prospecting

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.

We can all learn to prospect more effectively.  Make sure that you find the place and the time.  Don’t dwell on past failures; forget them.  Be determined to fight for your time and fight for your focus.  Create and follow a great plan of action.  Be faithful to yourself and to your clients and family, and finish what you start.  You will find success knocking at your door in a short period of time.

 

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