Could you improve your business by listening to successful
people?
I am sure you could. Unfortunately, you don’t have enough
time to listen to hours of podcasts, watch educational videos, and read every
new business book on the market.
Here’s how I can help …
Over the next few editions of AGENT INSIDER I will introduce
you to thought leaders that inspire me. I will pick topics they published and
summarize them for you, so you can implement them in your business.
Let me start with Adam Contos. In the past he was with the
Marine Corp, ran a Swat Team, and developed the Safety Training For Every
Realtor (SAFER).
Now, he’s the CEO of RE/MAX.
In his podcast he challenges listeners to begin every day by choosing to do the things that will set them up for success. The podcast is called Start with a Win.
In a recent episode Adam explained the 5 reasons why
Realtors or other businesses fail.
Top 5 Reasons Why Realtors Fail
Success is not happening by accident. The key to becoming
successful is taking a look at your failures …
1. No System To make your business predictable you need systems to generate leads and to provide high quality service. You may get lucky with some friends or family hiring you to list their home, but without a system you won’t attract new clients consistently.
2. No Accountability If no one holds you accountable you will not achieve your goals. While employees have a boss, who tells them when to show up and what to do, as a business owner you need to be accountable to yourself. Find an accountability partner or hire a coach.
3. No Action Without consistent implementation nothing’s going to happen. Did you ever listen to a motivational speaker explain a new marketing strategy that would help you get more clients? But you never got to implement the strategy? You can’t be just watching – you have to start doing!
4. No Follow-Up The majority of business comes from repeat customers and referrals. It’s much easier and less expensive to stay in touch with previous clients than buying internet leads or door knocking a neighborhood.
5. No Value Many sellers don’t see value in your service, so they ask you to lower your commission. Do you know how to explain and deliver value to a seller? What’s valuable to people is helping them with their challenges. No value means you are a commodity – just another Realtor – and sellers will choose the lowest bidder.
I am sure you heard these 5 reasons before. Treat them as a
reminder and keep them top of mind so your business will thrive.
Click here to listen to the full (20 minute) episode or go to Itunes or Stitcher and search for Adam Contos or Start with a Win.
PS: If you did not have a chance to complete my survey or if you simply forgot about it, click the button below!
There’s an old saying among Realtors: “you have to list to last.” This holds true today as it did 20 years ago.
Why You Must Focus on Listings
If you are exclusively working with buyers, you are probably very busy. Buyers demand a lot of your time, mostly on weekends and evenings. That’s when they are off work and want to look at houses.
The best way to gain leverage and work more regular hours is by focusing on listings.
You can service more listings than buyers at the same time.
And most of that work can be accomplished during weekdays, so you don’t have to
run around every weekend showing houses and submitting offers.
What’s Your Magic Number?
The magic number is a concept promoted by real estate coaches Tim & Julie Harris. It represents that number of active listings you should have at any time to reach your financial goals.
Let’s say your goal is to earn $12,000 a month and assume
your average commission is $6,000. So, you need 2 closings a month to achieve
your goal.
How many active listings do you need to sell 2 homes a
month?
Depends on the Days on Market plus time to close. DOMs is
currently 47 in our MLS. Add another 45 days from contract to close, and you
end up with 3 months.
You will need 6 active listings at any time to reliably
close 2 a month.
If you keep your listing inventory at 6 throughout the year,
you will likely achieve your goal of 24 sales and make $144,000 a year.
Your magic number is 6.
How to Reach Your Magic Number?
The hardest part is to create your initial inventory of 6
listings.
Implement 3 listing strategies and focus on the most
motivated sellers – home owners who must sell, like Expireds, FSBOs, Probate,
and of course your sphere.
Once you reach your magic number of listings you just need to replenish every listing you sell with a new one.
If you want to increase your income to $18,000 a month,
simply increase your listing inventory to 9.
You can learn more about the magic number, why you should be a listing agent and not buy online buyer-leads, and why profitability is more important than transaction count by listening to the MAGIC NUMBER EPISODE of the Tim & Julie Harris Podcast.
December 31st is one of the most important days for entrepreneurs.
On this day you can create tax deductions that count for the
whole year. (Please talk to your tax adviser or accountant to verify my
suggestions.)
It is also a great day to review the transactions you closed
in 2018, figure out how much you earned (before and after splitting commissions
with your broker), and analyze which lead sources are most profitable for you.
6 Actions to Take on the Last Day of the Year
1. Buy Business Equipment
like a new laptop or cell phone and pay with your credit card. You need to put it in use today, so don’t order online. Most likely you can write off the full purchase price in 2018 and pay off your credit card 45 days from now.
2. Pre-Pay Bills Due in January
As long as you send the check today you can deduct it as a business expense for 2018. This includes property taxes on rental properties that are due on January 20, 2019.
3. Delay Income
by pushing the payout of your final closings to January. Less income in 2018 means lower taxes.
4. Make a Donation
to your favorite charity. Most take credit cards online. Even if you can’t deduct it from your taxes, it makes you feel good and you help others in need. Looking for a good charity to donate to? Check out Charity Navigator.
5. Analyze Your Closing
Prepare a list of all transactions you closed in 2018. If you don’t have a spreadsheet yourself (you should!) you can download the list from the MLS. For each closing ask yourself where the lead came from and how much money (if any) you had to invest in marketing to generate this lead.
6. Set 3 Goals for 2019
I suggest you set a goal for how many transactions you want to close and how much you want to earn (profit). Then set a personal goal (like a trip you want to take with your family or the new car you want to buy). As you can imagine, setting 3 goals for 2019 is not enough. Write down specific actions you will take in the first 10 days of January and prepare a detailed plan later this week.
We appreciate all of you who support Columbus Real Estate Coach and continue to embark on greater success in your real estate career! Good luck in 2019!
Our office is small, our agents are dedicated and hard-working, and we focus on growth and productivity throughout the year.
But … we also have a lot of fun!
Last Friday we had our annual Christmas Party at the RAM Brewery in Dublin. The secret gift exchange was one of the highlights of the evening – see pictures below.
On a more serious note …
… as the year comes to an end I would like to share with you 3 tips to win more listings in this changing market.
Strategies to Get More Listings in 2019
Next year will be different than 2018. Over the past few months we saw how the housing market began to “normalize”. This means fewer buyers, higher inventories, longer list times, and more frequent price reductions.
In the second half of this year sellers accepted 5% discounts to get their homes sold (as compared to less than 1% in spring). According to NAR, 77% of homes will sell below list price in 2019.
Here are 3 strategies you should implement to get more listings.
1. Listing Presentation Skills
In a changing market you must use dialogues with confidence during your listing appointments. Experience, confidence, and honesty will win the day.
Confidence comes from practice. You need to practice your scripts. It’s best to practice with your coach, mentor or another agent, NOT with the client.
Tom Ferry published a great article (including video) on this topic: Pricing, Positioning and Being Direct.
Click here to watch the video and learn his killer scripts!
2. Go After Expired Listings
Many sellers have unrealistic expectations about the value of their homes. They are holding on to the believe that their house is worth more than their neighbor’s.
More listings will expire in the next few months than during all of 2018.
The good news is that most of the homeowners still want to sell. They already committed to sell with an agent. They just did not find the right one, yet.
These sellers are disappointed with their current Realtor. They are looking for new ideas and for an agent who confidently tells them what needs to be done to sell their house.
This is an excellent opportunity for you to shine. If you solve their biggest headache, i.e. sell their house, expireds will love you and become a great source for referrals.
3. Align with the Best Brand
As listings become harder to sell, homeowners will look for agents working with a reputable brand. It gives them confidence. They see the brand as the key to a successful sale.
The days are gone when anyone with a license could get a listing by discounting their commissions.
The personal brand you created through social media is great for referrals from your sphere, but it’s not enough to win listings in a competitive market.
Sellers want to be represented by a professional working for a well-known, global brand.
This fall the majority of Susanne’s listings came from sellers who fired their agents. They were looking for someone they can trust to get the job done.
RE/MAX was a big reason why Susanne received these calls.
I hope these tips will help you make 2019 your best year ever. If you are looking for a change, because you want to grow your business, you need a trusted brand behind you, or you want to personally work with me, don’t hesitate to call or text me at (614) 395-7375!
Staying in touch with the contacts in your database is one of the most important tasks of any business owner. We know we need to do it. But most agents don’t do it consistently. You want to keep it personal and encourage leads to call you when they are ready to buy, sell or refer a friend.
Let me show you 3 methods to automate the process.
Method 1: Personalized Mailers
Snail mail is still an excellent way to stay in touch with your database. It is more expensive than the other methods, so fewer agents use it consistently. That’s why you will stand out.
I like postcards, because the receiver sees the information right away. It’s best to send “sticky” content, like calendars, home improvement tips, even recipes. People will save these cards and keep your information handy.
Handwritten notes and hand addressed greeting cards are best for people you know well, because they will likely open the envelope.
With email you have 2 options: you either set up a drip campaign to automatically send ready-made emails to your list, or you write a weekly newsletter (like this email).
A drip campaign is totally automatic – once it’s set up. In our business we use a 30-week drip for listing leads with tips on how to get their home ready to sell. Drip campaigns take effort to set up, but once they are ready, you simply add names and emails.
The weekly newsletter option requires regular work. You have to sit down and create content every week. You must be consistent. The benefit is the currency of the information you provide. It also allows you to re-purpose the content for blog posts and videos.
Texting has become the best way to reach people. Only 35% of people pick up their phone if they don’t recognize the number, and email open rates are less than 20%.
There are services to automate texting, so you can send personalized messages to all your contacts. They even allow you to create drip campaigns that send texts on a regular basis.
On November 1st a group of 118 motivated sellers emerged in a niche that was almost forgotten during the hot seller’s market.
I am talking about homeowners who are committed to listing their property with an agent. The total market value of the properties they own is $ 29,067,937 with a commission value of around $1,744,076.
Would you like to learn how to grab a small part of this opportunity?
As you can see below, I am talking about expired listings.
The Comeback of a Targeted Niche
Expireds have skyrocketed as of November 1, 2018. And this is just an indication of what’s coming. As the market shifts it will be harder to sell houses, and more listings will expire.
This offers an exceptional opportunity for agents who know how to market to expireds and convert them into fresh, new listings.
Do you want to learn how to convert expireds? This is one of the topics I’ll cover during the Marketing Masterclass on Nov 14.
When homeowners list their properties and the listing expires, they are already committed to selling with a Realtor. They just need to find the right one.
Many agents don’t pursue expireds, because they assume, they have unreasonable expectations. You may believe that they don’t listen to their agents and that they are demanding too much money for their properties.
Maybe. But that’s not always the case.
Some expired listings simply need new positioning, new pictures, better staging, a fresh description, and a new sign in the yard.
What Does It Take to Convert Expireds?
Skill and persistence. Both are completely under your control.
There are many ways to market to expireds: you could call them, knock on their door or send postcards and letters.
When you talk to the seller you need to find out why they believe their home did not sell. There are only 3 possible reasons:
location
condition
price
You probably can’t change the first two, so you’ll need to “re-position the property” at a competitive list price.
Learn the Skills to be Successful
It takes skills and persistence to convert expireds.
I can teach you the skills: strategies to get expireds to call you, so you don’t have to door knock or cold call.
You will have to commit to persistently market to them and convert them to listings!
Don’t miss the Marketing Masterclass on November 14, 2018!
