THINK BIGGER! An eBook "collection" of some of our best sales and prospecting articles to inspire real estate industry professionals made with s t n e t n o C f o e l b Ta 1. Editor's note 2. 41 (Not So) Crazy Things to Make You Stand Out as A Real Estate Agent 3. Think Bigger 4. The Gift Of Listening And The Power Of Presence 5. The Awesome Human Manifesto 6. The Top 10 Qualities Of The Top 10 Percent 7. Nine Simple Ways To Take Your Email Open Rate Through The Roof! Editor's note John McGrath, one of the greats of this industry is known for the expression "think bigger". But as any coach will tell you, the only 8. Think Bigger (Part Two) way to get bigger, if you are in real estate sales, is to prospect more. Which is how this eBook came about. 9. Tactical Listing For this very good reason, one of the most requested topics is Elite Agent Magazine always on the topic of prospecting. 10. and from Soakers: are over Youthe past This is aSkimmers, collection of mySceptics favourite articles the magazine Reaching Them All? couple of years that will give you some great ideas for making better connections, growing your database, talking to more people and ultimately listing more property. Topics andEvery Contributors 11. Worth Second We've kept this ebook a bright and energetic mix of contributor articles, quick tips, and inspirational interviews with some real life case studies in the mix. But remember, nothing happens without action take these lessons and 12. Community Engagement: 5-Business Building implement like crazy! Ideas 13. Three Questions to Improve Performance Samantha 14. 50McLean Top Tips from Transform Editor Elite Agent Magazine eliteagent.com.au 15. Subscribe! s g n i h T y z a r C 4 1 (N o t S o ) s a t u O d n a t S u o Y to M a k e t n e g A e t a t s E l A Rea s Peter Hutton shares hi E! OR M Y AN T NO S? EA SHORT ON ID er the competition ov al pe ap ct in st di d give your bran & Hutton Peter Hutton, Hutton top tips on how to WOULDN’T IT be nice to stand out? Really stand out so that you become one of the top five per cent of real estate agents in your area? Standing out from all the other agents can be a hard thing to do, especially with all the noise your competitors are making. But the truth is that it’s not that hard when you consider what everyone else is doing. I’m talking about the ‘same old, same old’ stuff agents do, like free property appraisals (boring) or offering ‘our free real estate newsletter’ (ah, no thanks). So here are 41 ideas that will help you get noticed, build a list, get your foot into more doors and list more properties. 1. Create a survey – find out what your prospects want help with. Create a blog and share information that will help your prospects. If you’re not a writer that’s fine: use video or have someone else supply you with the content, like Agent Marketing Wingman. 2. Refuse to follow the trends even when doing so would provide a quick fix of attention. Keep being yourself. 3. Big vs. little: increasingly people don’t like big. They fear being treated as unimportant. If you are small use this to your advantage. Being small you may be the underdog, but people love the underdog – play this up! 4. Find your ‘Unique Selling Proposition’ (USP) and tell the world what it is. Your USP should include the three Rs: Reality, Reward, Risk. For example, Domino’s Pizza: “You get fresh, hot pizza delivered to your door in 30 minutes or less – or it’s free.” 5. Don’t be a go-getter, be a ‘go-giver’. Be willing to give of yourself. It’s about being of service to people and giving them what they want. 6. Offer an incentive to get leads. The Law of Reciprocity says that when you give something to someone, they will reciprocate the gesture. For example, offer people a free eBook as a gift and in return ask for their names and emails – see #9 below. 7. Find your ‘Big Why’ and core values and let them be your compass to every decision you make going forward. You’ll need to know this before you can craft a cool USP. 8. Craft a ‘listing magnet’ and generate a massive list of future sellers and landlords. Mine was an eBook I wrote called The Key: 21 Secrets To Selling 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. Your Property For More which I gave away for free. Return phone calls and emails. Don’t make people wait. Make sure your CRM has an auto- responder built in so you can set up an automated email trail to nurture your leads. People love to belong. Make them feel like they’re a part of something. Invite them to special ‘Your Name Here’ community gatherings, for example cinema nights, Friday night drinks at the office, and so on. Own your niche. Stop being a generalist and be a specialist. This will make it easier for prospects to trust you. It will also give you greater cut-through with your prospecting and marketing. Treat every person at your open homes like a prospective seller. That way you’ll be giving them a first-hand experience of how you’ll be handling their buyers when they list their home with you. Never lie, not even little white lies. Don’t mislead people by sugar-coating things. Be sincere, honest and speak with integrity. Being the nice guy may not be serving your clients. Far better to speak frankly to a client even when the news isn’t good. Salespeople who tend to challenge people’s perceptions and assumptions outperform those who don’t. Focus your prospecting on future sellers; only about five per cent of agents do this. All the rest only target ‘now’ sellers. Obviously, if everyone’s targeting ‘now’ sellers it’s very competitive. Use educationbased-marketing to build a list of future sellers. 17. Give away branded umbrellas at open homes when it’s raining. 18. Offer a free handyman service to help prospective sellers get their home ready for sale. 19. Start saying ‘no’ to the wrong kind of business. Sometimes you have to give up something to get something. That also means stop trying to be all things to all people. 20. In your competitor’s strength there’s weakness. That is, don’t compete by playing their game; look at their USP and do the opposite. Play your own game. 21. In many markets it often turns into a ‘two-horse race’. So if there’s already someone in the first spot, aim to occupy the second spot. If there are already two dominant agencies or agents in your area, be the wild card. That means be that person people go to for a second opinion because they know you’ll have a different point of view. 22. Work from a busy café where all the locals go. I knew a lawyer who did this; he ran little ads in the local rag calling himself ‘The Coffee Shop Lawyer’ and offered free 15-minute consultations while at the café. If you do this, wear a name tag and have your laptop branded so people can recognise who you are. 23. Optimism is infectious, as is enthusiasm. How can you weave more of this into what you do? 24. The Law of Expectation: create an expectation that your service will be exceptional. 25. The power of stories: use case studies in your newsletters, writing them like a top- notch news reporter would. Make them human, engaging and conversational. 26. People love to play, so use quizzes, contests and puzzles to engage people. 27. Realise your prospects are making all kind of assumptions about you, your company, your results and your service. Take advantage of the positive assumptions. Turn around the negative ones. 28. Create your own signature copywriting style so your listings stand out on sites like realestate.com.au and domain.com.au. 29. Stop spamming people. Start using ‘opt- in-prospecting’ instead. 30. Offer a guarantee. When you lower or remove the risk altogether for prospects to do business with you, you’ll make it easier for them to say yes and give you a go. 31. Build traffic to your website by basing it on a dynamic blog structure. That’s what I did with my real estate agency, and we received between 10,000 and 13,000 unique visitors to our website a month! That’s a whopping amount few agencies enjoy even today, putting our little independent agency’s website into the top one per cent in the world for traffic (source: alexa.com). It got us a lot of leads, of course, and lots of listings. 32. Challenge your perception. Stop thinking everything is written in stone. It’s not. Open yourself up to greater possibilities, and start taking some risks to stand out in the crowd; it’s your perception that creates your reality. 33. Be consistent in everything you do. The easiest way to stay consistent is to use your ‘Big Why’ and values as your yardstick against all the marketing and prospecting you do. 34. Stop copying your competitors. Replicas never earn as much as an original. 35. Write a list like this about something your prospects will find helpful or interesting and put it on your blog. 36. Send out five handwritten cards a day to people in your area, congratulating them on having such a beautiful well-kept front yard. 37. Reward loyalty. Spontaneous gestures to clients go a long way and give rise to referrals (refer #6). 38. All great books are written to answer a question. Authors call it the ‘central question’. In the same way, great brands are based on answering a central question that their clients want answered. What can you do to answer your prospects’ most pressing needs, desires, and central question? 39. Be hyper-relevant to your prospects. Stop bombarding people with stuff they don’t need or want. Everything you use to market yourself must be relevant to them. For example, do a six-month market wrap-up report, specifically for their street or apartment building. 40. Innovate. Innovate. Innovate. Never stop innovating. Make a decision now that you’re going to do everything within your power to take your brand to the next level. r e g g i B k n i h T thought d n a r to n e m , H C A O C Y REAL ESTATE INDUSTR exclusively to d n a y kl n a fr ke o sp th leader John McGra need be ts n e g a s y’ a d to y h w t Elite Agent abou ut current o b a ls e fe e h w o h ”, rs “straight-talke arketing, m y rt e p ro p d n a ls a rt o developments with p In Part One of y. it n u m m co d n a , ty ri agent ethics, integ s how agents e ss cu is d n h Jo , w ie rv our two-part inte e industry th in s e ir m d a e h o h w can ‘think bigger’, and right now. Samantha McLean What do you feel have been the most significant changes in the industry in the last 12 to 24 months? Well, digital, has of course marched forward once again. Over this past year, the Internet portals have become a more critical part of every marketing program, every agent’s life. We’ve also seen the stakes raised in terms of industry competition. There are really good agents, both franchise and independent, who are doing some great work, and therefore there is going to be even more pressure on those people who have failed to reinvent themselves. There are still a lot of – let’s call them ‘mature age principals’– who have probably failed to make changes within their business for some time. I think that this market is going to become even more challenging if people are not really getting up to speed with the times and with what’s happening with the better agents. Last year at AREC you quoted Tony Hsieh from Zappos, saying “Whatever you’re doing, think bigger!” What are the things you think agents should be ‘thinking bigger’ about right now? Start with the basics of personal productivity and performance. The average agent in Australia probably sells a dozen properties a year, or close to that number. In a good agency, and certainly some in our businesses, they are selling 100 to 150 properties a year. Whatever your current productivity is, you need to be looking at an increase in your expectations of yourself. With the tools available now for database management and other cloud/internet-based tools, most people should be three to four times more productive than they’ve ever been. Even if they’re doing nothing else except leveraging the technology that is currently available, that alone should really be making people far more productive. Now, if people are simultaneously redesigning themselves as well as using technology, I think there is an incredible opportunity for massive uplifts for some smart agents. I talk to people who are selling 15 or 25 properties. I say, ‘Let’s have a conversation about how do you go to 50, to 100’, because at that point you’ve got a serious business and you’re a market leader. You’ve got momentum. Thinking bigger, whether you’re a principal or an agent, comes down to increasing the output of your business. I also feel you can now take a slightly ‘more obscure’ view of thinking bigger, in terms of starting to think about what difference you can make in your community. We’re real estate agents, part of the building blocks that build communities. There is a big opportunity here going forward. Very few industries (unless you are the local shopkeeper) get to see such a wide cross-section of the community. We introduce new people. We shift families around, inside our communities. We get to touch a lot of families within a large geographical area. There’s an opportunity to think bigger about your own personal performance, and how you, as a participant in the industry, can really leverage what you do and how you do it, and make a difference in the community as well. I feel that anyone who hasn’t tapped into that, who’s not aware of it and concerned about it and treating it as an important part of the future, is out of touch. There are two things today that I believe are absolutely non-negotiable. One is an agent’s integrity and transparency, which still to this day seems to elude too many people in our industry. The second one is the area of the environment, sustainability and the wider community. As a successful member of any business community, whether you’re a real estate agent or not, you should have those things on your radar and work out what you can be doing. From a business point of view, it makes total sense that people want to deal with ethical brands and organisations who care about the environment. It is just good business, and even more importantly, it’s part of being a good human being. This is where some of those who are not reinventing themselves are becoming out of touch. Who in the industry do you admire most right now? I admire a lot of people, for different reasons. I’ve got some great friends and mentors in the industry. Michael Sheargold has been a great friend of mine, and a close confidant, for many years. He’s doing some great work with his training and coaching. There are a few independent businesses around Australia I really admire. Shannon Whitney, has done a great job with his business (BresicWhitney), which is fantastic. Shannon used to work for me a long time ago, and I’m very proud of what he’s doing. I think Matt Hayson at Cobden Hayson is doing some phenomenal work in the Inner West, and the quality of their marketing and what they’re doing across the board is really world class. There are plenty outside NSW as well: Ouwens Casserly in Adelaide are doing tremendous work; Phil Harris is doing great work. Those are some of the independents that I’ve referred to previously, the likes of Marshall White, Jellis Craig in Melbourne. Those businesses are all world class. I like to think of McGrath as a slightly larger-scale business that is also world class. Whether you’re a one-man operation, or a 50 or 500 office group, there is the opportunity in Australia to do work that’s nothing like anything else in the world. A lot of good businesses are now starting to show that. You talk a lot about agents creating a ‘world-class experience’. What does that involve? Start with the basics of ethics and integrity. Number one: Agents need to tell the truth, the whole truth, all the time. I think most agents do tell the truth but there are some who don’t and that’s of grave concern to me. I hear stories from customers, and within the industry, of some of the activities that go on. These discussions even happen in the corporate training room sometimes! I’m livid at the fact that there are people who are so outdated in their thinking. They tell the vendor what they want to hear, and then tell the buyers less than it’s worth, and bring them all together at the auction and ‘condition the vendor’; all this antiquated old-speak, yet there are individual agents, offices, and I fear, possibly even brands out there who think this is the way to go. I am an evangelist for people just going hard on the truth… and not just the truth, but straight talk! Google has changed the world in which we live. It’s made people expect things immediately, and expect direct, clear answers to their solutions and problems. The real estate industry, or a small part of it, still thinks that it holds the key, and withholds information. It thinks that this way it remains in a position of power. I have a view that the consumers want information, the way they want it, where they want it, how they want it, when they want it. Even things like price guides; 66 to 70 per cent of our properties are auctions carrying price guides. I wish it was 100 per cent, to be honest. We’ll get there, eventually. I keep talking to the industry, whenever I speak at events, and I often ask, ‘Why don’t you use price guides?’ Someone goes to the trouble of ringing you up, and you say ‘It’s 600,000 to 700,000’. Why can’t you just put that in the advertisement? It makes no sense not to; it’s old-fashioned. It shouldn’t be that difficult. Another thing is frequency of communication: nowadays there’s no excuse. You’ve got regular telephone, instant messaging, Internet, mobile communication, Skype; there are so many ways to keep your customers, buyers, and sellers well informed, frequently, in an unfiltered, clear, direct manner. Again, these tools didn’t exist when I started in real estate. Most of them didn’t exist more than a decade ago. I think agents have got to recognise that the tools are there to a) increase their productivity, massively; and b) to increase, simultaneously, the quality of their service to their clients. Some of agents are still in the ’80s, or the ’90s. They’re still thinking, ‘Well, if I get 25 sales done, that’ll be good. If I give my vendor an occasional update, that’s enough.’ People don’t want occasional updates. Unless they’re getting married, or having a baby, or having some other incredibly important social and family moment, selling their home is going to be the most important thing on their mind. Some agents still wait until they’ve got some good news before talking to them. I say, ‘Don’t wait until you’ve got good news! Give your clients constant updates, so they know where they stand; and then they also know you’re working on their behalf on a daily basis.’ If I’m selling your house and you don’t hear from me for ten days, you’re quite possibly going to make the assumption I haven’t done much for ten days. If I’m giving you daily updates, (when I was selling was certainly my benchmark), you know I’m still working. I say to my team ‘it’s about the frequency’. For me, that’s what people deserve when they’re selling their property. g n i n e t s i L f O t f i The G f O r e w o P e h And T P re s e n c e lling author of se st e b L A N O TI A N R TE ACCORDING TO THE IN Stephen R r D , le p o e P e iv ct fe Ef The 7 Habits of Highly the intent to h it w t o n n e st li le p o e Covey, most p your own ve a h u yo If . ly p re to t ten understand, but the in ll attention, fu r u yo e ls e e n o e m ng so agenda instead of givi ost out of this m e th g in tt ge n o t u o you may be missing powerful tool. Tanja M Jones, tmjcoa ching.com.au Recognised as one of TIME Magazine’s 25 most influential Americans, Stephen R. Covey was one of the world’s foremost leadership authorities, organisational experts and thought leaders. In my personal experience, his ideas could not be truer. Many of us think we are really good listeners; we do all the right things; we make eye contact, nod and are seemingly engaged. But, more often than not, we are actually listening to our ‘internal voice’ that is agreeing, disagreeing, judging and assessing what the other person is saying. Depending on the nature of the conversation, we are often also preparing our response, crafting our defence or sometimes completely distracted by our mental ‘to do’ list, including the bills we need to pay, the calls we have to return and the birthday card we’ve forgotten to buy. The Gift of Listening is the ability to really ‘be over there’ with others; to have them feel that you are deeply engaged in what they are saying and interested in their perspective. When we leave our own agendas or concerns behind, especially with respect to time we leave other people feeling valued, honoured and deeply appreciated. This simple act builds a good foundation for effective relating. Whether you are a director, in sales, property management or administration, the Gift of Listening is a powerful way to deepen connection as it elicits trust. It is a brilliant tool to use, both internally with teams and externally with clients, stakeholders, families and communities. Many of us have heard that it takes seven seconds to make a first impression. This means potential buyers have decided whether they like you, trust you and want to work with you, often before you’ve even had the chance to say ‘Hello’. So how can we elevate our ability to connect, and what are the best ways to increase likeability? How can we increase the probability of successful listings and problem-solve effectively in property management? BE PRESENT Some 98 per cent of what we do stems from our subconscious, which is always trying to resolve tension. It is constantly sorting through our thoughts, feelings and physical state. When we are worried we are in the past; if we are experiencing anxiety we are concerned for our future, yet all we can ever be is right here, right now. People can feel it when you are ‘with them’. International bestselling author Eckhart Tolle writes extensively about this in his acclaimed book The Power of Now. The best way to be present is to dissolve the tension that exists in our subconscious. This is a powerful practice to do before a listing presentation, attending a meeting, calling an auction or phoning an upset tenant or landlord. HOW TO DISSOLVE THE TENSION Step 1 Observe and acknowledge your thoughts. What you are thinking right now? Just stop and notice what’s on your mind. There is no need to attach to your thoughts, just witness them and release them. Step 2 Observe andacknowledge how you feel. Stop right now?’ and take a moment to notice what’s obvious. Are you anxious, frustrated, happy, tired or stressed? Simply acknowledge your emotional landscape, breathe deeply and let it go. Step 3 Acknowledge your physical body. Take your awareness to anywhere you feel tense or sore; perhaps you have an injury that you’re managing. Drop your shoulders, relax your belly, take a breath and let go. This process sends a simple yet potent message to your subconscious that you have ‘witnessed’ the tension, therefore it doesn’t have to spend all its energy resolving it; it can simply be. This creates stillness and expands your state of presence. Once you are present you are able to truly be with another. The Gift of Listening is the ability to listen beyond the content and tune into the deeper context the person is offering. CONSIDER THE THREE LAYERS OF LISTENING Layer 1 What the other person is saying, the actual words they are using. Layer 2 What they are worried about – the things they want to avoid or are concerned about. Layer 3 What they’d love, their desires, plans and dreams. Most of the time we are not really listening; when we do respond we usually go straight to the second layer and unconsciously activate the concerns of others. You want to avoid doing this as it only amplifies their stress levels. Really good communicators respond with empathy. International bestselling author and Ted Talk sensation Dr Brene Brown says that “empathy fuels connection and sympathy drives disconnection”. She highlights that there are four qualities to empathy. 1. Perspective taking: the ability to take the perspective of another person and recognise their perspective as their truth. 2. Staying out of judgment: this can be a hard one for many, as we like to be right. 3. Recognising emotion inother people. 4. Communicating the emotion back to others. To demonstrate empathy and truly build connection you need to have others feel that they have been clearly heard by you. The way to achieve this is by‘reflecting’ what they’ve said. So when it comes to listening try this method. Step 1 Show up and be present. Step 2 Actively listen for what they’d love. Step 3 Respond by first acknowledging what they’d love then come back to their concerns and reflect them with empathy. n a m u H e m o s e The Aw M a n if e s t o Ultimately, be in the moment with others, for this moment is a gift; that’s why it’s called the present. ecome the b to o d n ca u yo s g in One of the greatest th best human e th e m co e b to is e b best agent you can you can be. Jet Xavier, jetxavier.com LET’S BE honest; the real estate industry can be a very egocentric and dominated space, filled with people only out for their own needs, when in fact it should be the other way around. For years there has been a bad taste in the mouth of the general public about the industry. Well, thanks to a few people, it is changing. Many agents are realising that authentic engagement and integrity based on high levels of professionalism are key. Here is what I call the awesome human manifesto. It is a set of principles and rules for inspirational living and expression. Use this manifesto to live your life at the awesome level, not the average level. THE AWESOME HUMAN MANIFESTO 1. Be humble, stay grounded: no ego required Get over yourself. There will always be somebody better, smarter, more good-looking and more successful in some way than you. Leave your ego at the door. You are not defined by it; you are defined by your humility and the way you carry yourself in all areas. There is humility in assertiveness, but in ego arrogance. Become a person who is not driven by ego but uses it in a way to empower others. The ‘what’s in it for me?’ generations are gone. It’s about we, not me. 2. Stay positive, be happy: it’s a choice so make it daily Positivity is an energy that is contagious. Spread it around! Nobody likes a grump and a negative person. If you want a culture to change, fill it with positive people. If you want productivity to increase, inject enthusiasm and positive energy into the mix. If you want your business and world to change then get positive and happy. 3. Give back and contribute: you wouldn’t be alive if it weren’t for others What have you done lately for others? Your partner, family, friends, community, world, universe? Look outward, not inward. Give back in whatever way you can, as much as you can. The law of reciprocity, the law of giving all, supports a more understanding and abundant world from which you will benefit. 4. Be grateful and give thanks: stop striving and never arriving You can’t take it with you when you’re gone, so why keep striving for more when you already have enough? Take what you need, not what you want. Look around and see how incredible life is and the opportunities you have now. Be happy you’re alive. 5. Don’t complain, take responsibility and stop making excuses: attitude is everything When you complain, you can’t be taken seriously because you have absolved yourself of a foundational human trait: self-responsibility. The world is the way it is in many ways because nobody wants to take responsibility. It is always somebody else’s fault, not ours. Who cares whose fault it is? Just stop complaining about it. 6. Be a problem-solver and solutions master: create win-win, not win-lose Don’t give up, fault-find or ignore issues. Deal with them with a solution-focused mind. Get feedback, find help, get support. Work out a way to make it work. 7. Create optimal vitality: always be energised and respect yourself When you don’t eat right or have a level of health and fitness that is suitable, then you are disrespecting yourself. You drag yourself around from one hour to the next, rather than be filled with vitality. There is no excuse for being unhealthy if you are able to achieve it. 8. Work with purpose and resolve: build a life, not a job follow your passion You get one life; why waste it doing something you’re not happy doing? Following your dream is not about achieving the holy grail of success. Following your passion and dream is about exactly that, following what you’re passionate about, regardless of the outcomes. Did the great artists paint to become famous? No; they painted because it was within them and they could not hold it in. 9. Live life by design, not by default: be authentically engaged What did we live for before Hollywood? What did we live for before industrialisation? What did we live for before religion? We lived for the moment. Are we living a true existence, or a fake existence based on what we think we should be doing? Are you living to regret or to celebrate? 10. Make a difference and leave a legacy What will they say about you in 200 years? Why are you living? What difference are you making? Whose life are you impacting? What examples are you setting? Are you leaving the world a better place? Becoming an awesome agent is most definitely an inside job; work from the inside and you will see a positive change in your results. s e i t i l a u Q 0 1 The Top 0 1 p o T e h T f O P e rce n t ness coach si u b d e ct e sp re a is MICHAEL SHEARGOLD pleted over m co s a h e H . rt e xp e and performance oes your d w o H r. e re ca is h in ns 7,000 coaching sessio the top 10 st in a g a p u ck a st y it attitude and productiv ry? per cent in the indust ichaelsh Michael Sheargold, m eargold.com I’D LIKE TO SHARE with you the 10 success qualities of elite agents. As you review them, ask yourself, ‘How well am I applying this success quality?’ and give yourself a score out of 10 for each one. From there, build yourself a simple action plan based on what you are going to start doing, stop doing and continue doing to make the biggest difference in your results. 1. BUILD A WINNING ATTITUDE One of the things to recognise is that you must have a great attitude – one that’s positive and motivating. Your attitude creates your world view; it’s what you put out before you get anything back. What is your winning attitude? Can you tweak it, hone it and improve it so it’s a can-do attitude? 2. GET SUPER CLIENT-FOCUSED The fastest way to get you what you want is to help your clients get what they want. When you’re client-focused, you tune in to them. Ask yourself, ‘How can I deliver great service and help my clients achieve their goals?’ In real estate, it’s the ultimate win-win-win situation: when the seller wins and the buyer wins, then you win. Good service also kicks into gear the best marketing in the world – word of mouth. 3. BECOME MASSIVELY ORGANISED AND FOLLOW THROUGH Your level of organisational skills has a huge impact on your success. You might be a great communicator, but if you’re not great at following through on the commitments you make that’s going to get in the way of how people perceive you. It won’t be a communication issue; it will be an organisational issue. So how organised are you? Are you putting the right things in at the right time to produce the right results? It’s not the hours you put in that count; it’s what you put into the hours! 4. GROW YOUR LEVEL OF PASSION Being passionate about helping people and passionate about this business is critical to your success. This allows you to explore and grow your knowledge. When it comes to talking to new clients or potential clients, an average agent might stop after the first question; but you’ll ask two or three more because you’re passionate about helping people and genuinely interested in their situation. 5. DEVELOP A HIGH LEVEL OF CONFIDENCE This is about bringing your confidence into play. If you lose confidence in a property or client, I can pretty much guarantee that’s going to show in the way you communicate. So make sure you’re playing the confidence game. That means you have positive anticipation – you’re going to have a great open or a great auction.Confidence is driven by your level of knowledge and the skillset you have developed. A great strategy here is to explore areas of knowledge and skill improvements you know would make a difference to your confidence. 6. MAINTAIN HIGH STANDARDS OF EXCELLENCE Without a doubt, the best agents in the business have high standards of excellence – the standards they choose to operate by. This communicates to those around them so they start to step up to the plate as well. A great strategy here is to ask yourself and the team ‘Where do my/our standards sit?’ If you haven’t done any work on this area, I strongly recommend you do. 7. LIVE WITH HIGH ENERGY You might think this is similar to passion, but it does have a twist. More than anything else people buy your energy! Your energy is influenced on many levels, but do a review of your balance, sleep, exercise and food management. All of these have a significant impact on who you are and the energy levels you have. Interestingly, anyone can have high energy on a few calls, but elite agents have the ability to turn up their energy for the 120 calls they’ll make this week! 8. BE AN INFLUENCING AND COMMUNICATION LEGEND A great influencer doesn’t have only one way to communicate. It’s all about different strokes for different folks. Your style needs to adapt to your audience: a young professional couple, an elderly couple, or someone who’s gone through some hard times would all need handling differently. It’s about your ability to tune in to their wavelength. How much work have you done in improving your communication, influencing and negotiation skills? 9. DEVELOP YOUR OUTCOME AND DEAL FOCUS People tend to think that negotiations start when someone says ‘I would like to buy this property’. But the best in the business understand that deal focus begins now; on an initial phone enquiry, for example. ‘I strongly recommend you put this property on your shopping list. It would absolutely be on the top of mine if I was looking for a property along these lines. Can I ask you a couple more questions to understand your situation a little better?’ You become engaging and help people marry the property – it really builds amazing momentum. 10. UPGRADE YOUR WILLINGNESS TO LEARN Where can you improve? How can you tweak that strategy? This is about making learning essential, so you’re focused on getting smarter faster. The key here is not to attempt to improve everything at once. Focus on three to five improvement areas that will give you the biggest return on investment, then find someone who can help you build that skill. That could be attending a workshop, jumping online to grab a resource or bringing coaching into the mix of your success strategy. These 10 success qualities are vital tools to have in your toolkit. Rate yourself (or if you’re game have someone else rate you) to identify your greatest opportunities for improvement. You’ll also see where you’re strong and look at how you could build on that even further. o T s y a W e l p N in e S im n e p O l i a m E r u Take Yo e h T h g u o r h T R a te Roof! te of your email ra en op e th g n si ea cr DID YOU KNOW THAT in has the potential to ts n oi p ge ta n ce er p w broadcasts by just a fe th of a 20 per or n g in h yt An ? gs n ti lis a win you a heap of extr good. If you have a ed er d si n co is te ra en cent email op to 25 per cent, up at th ge ud n n ca u d yo thousand contacts an potential clients e or m 50 h it w d te ec n you’ve just con hq.com.au Ray Wood, bestagents Done correctly, email is the most powerful and affordable direct response marketing there is. In the last 10 years I’ve sent millions of emails and I’m always checking and testing to make sure my open rate stays high. We now have amazing software programs that let you customise your message with the recipient’s first name, include images within the email body, add specific links for the call-toaction and, perhaps most importantly, tell you which recipients actually opened your message. In fact, the more you customise and personalise your message, the greater the chance that your email will be opened. If your recipient suspects a generic ‘blast’ or is not engaged by your subject line, they’ll trash it before even getting to your content. So why go to the time and trouble of creating an awesome message if it’s only going to be opened by a few potential buyers or sellers on your list? Here are a few tricks and tips I’ve picked up along the way to help you take your email open rate through the roof. 1. WHO IS YOUR MESSAGE FROM? Sending emails from an address like info@ or sales@ will guarantee you a poor open rate. Your recipient can tell when the message is part of a bulk send. It’s too impersonal and you’ve just missed a great opportunity to give them the VIP treatment.Effective email that cuts through the white noise to connect with your target is also about effective brand building. I’m not talking about the colours of your logo; I’m talking about you. Your email is a great opportunity to speak one-on-one with a valuable contact and build your brand with engaging copy and an interesting message. Promote yourself, not some faceless admin email. 2. ENGAGE WITH YOUR SUBJECT LINE When President Obama used email as a central marketing method for his second term campaign in 2012, the subject line with the highest open rate simply said ‘Hey’.When it came to fundraising, his digital marketing team tested dozens of variations each time before email blasting the tens of millions of subscribers on their list. Some of the subject lines they used were: ‘Some scary numbers’, ‘Do this for Michelle’ and ‘I would love to meet you’. Interestingly, the single email that raised the most money (almost 2.7 million dollars) had the subject line ‘I will be outspent’.Using your contact’s first name in the subject line will also boost your open rate because you’ve just personalised the message. If you want to slaughter your open rate, use ‘March Newsletter’ in your subject line. Nobody has time to read stuff any more. We are all time-poor and battle the clock on an hourly basis in the never-ending fight to boost personal productivity. The word ‘Newsletter’ has hard work written all over it and will quickly be dismissed. You’re better finding something within your news and creating an interesting angle around it. Get creative, have fun and watch what happens. I believe the ‘from’ name and email subject are the two main reasons why email is or isn’t opened. 3. REACH OUT WITH INTERESTING NEWS If you receive an email from someone you know, chances are you’re going to open it because you believe it contains news a friend thinks is important to you. It’s worth spending the time to come up with an interesting angle for your subject line.Mystery or intrigue in a question works well (‘She said what?’), as does numbering your message in points like the way I’ve presented this article. I’ve learned odd numbers work well and will increase readership (‘7 ways to guarantee a higher sale price’ or ‘5 things you must do before going on the market’). Ten never works, for some reason.Increasingly, video is a compelling way to connect with your market. It lets you communicate your passion, authority and expertise. I love what luxury seaside agent Christian Bartley at Bellarine Property (Vic) is doing with video. He promotes his brand beautifully in a fun and innovative way while showcasing some awesome listings. His passion and authority shine through. 4. AVOID THESE! Avoid all capitals. Sending a message with a word or words in caps is the email equivalent of screaming at your recipient. And nobody wants to be screamed at. If you need to emphasise something, use bold or italics. Also avoid using the words free, help, per cent, off and reminder in your subject line, as tests show these words will have a negative effect on open rates and also wake the fire-breathing spamfilter monster. 5. GET TO THE POINT Waffle kills. Trust me! If you’ve seen my Direct Mail Power program, you’ll understand the formula used to arouse interest and curiosity with your offer to generate a response. The important thing is to get to the point with your email. Write like you speak. There’s no need to be formal. You’re looking to become a trusted friend and build a relationship here, not serve a subpoena.People feel they need to supersize their lists with lots of words, but long copy is a brutally painful chore few people will tackle unless it’s a story they can’t put down. The mission is to connect and engage. You want your reader to leave thinking they’ve got value and that investing time to read your message gave them something. 6. GIVE TO GET Some of the most productive real estate prospecting emails cut through by offering something of relevant value. Remember to use the word ‘complimentary’ instead of ‘free’ or a phrase like ‘On the house’. Your offer may be a report offering recent sales in your area or advice for buyers and sellers packaged in a report, book or ebook. 7. USE EVENTS AND DEADLINES ‘We just want to share the love’ could be a good Valentine’s Day email. ‘Cheap money’ would talk about an interest rate cut. Event emails work because you are leveraging your message by using the power of a well-known day or event. When it comes to deadline marketing, one of the best emails I have ever used employed the subject line ‘Do you want to be sold by Christmas, (first name)?’ 8. USE EMAIL AS JUST ONE PART OF YOUR TARGET MARKETING Most agents rely solely on email and ignore the other awesome contact methods. At Bestagents, some of our best prospecting campaigns use a combination of email, SMS and phone calls.Don’t forget, your contact is being bombed with a zillion messages every day. When you increase the ways you reach out, you increase your chances of connecting on a much higher level. Most agents just use email because it’s cheap and easy. Getting on the phone and following up is harder and more time-consuming – but that’s where the gold is, folks. 9. DOES YOUR EMAIL SOFTWARE GIVE YOU STATS? It’s impossible to test the effectiveness of your message if your email strategy consists of copying and pasting a bunch of email addresses into the Bcc field of an email. Let me give you the heads-up: If you’re not using the very best real estate marketing software, your competitor probably is. No doubt he’s impressing the heck out of a potential seller who’s probably on your list as well.Top agents are top prospectors, and top prospectors set themselves up with the very best tools and systems. Your real estate CRM is your future business pipeline. If you don’t have one, can I suggest you get one? If you have one but every time you use it you feel like throwing something, get rid of it and find something you love to use. Seriously… life is too short! t r a P ( r e g g i B k T h in Tw o) , John talks w ie rv te in E IV S LU C X E IN PART TWO OF OUR ness in the last si u b th ra cG M e th f o about the success lture, cu y, it n u m m co n o d n sta 12 months. He takes a nts should be e g a re e h w d n a g n ti e property mark xt year. e n e th r fo y rg e n e ir e focusing th Samantha McLean McGrath as a business has a strong focus on culture. Can you tell me a bit about that, and why that’s important to you? We focus primarily on two things - values and skills. Some agencies don’t focus on either; some focus on one or the other. We’re very fixed on values. Integrity is non-negotiable. If you step outside, you’re swimming outside the flags and we don’t want to have you on the team. We really walk our talk here. If someone doesn’t live up to our expectations, we show them the door. We push for excellence: better marketing, better open for inspections, better auctions. Everything that we do, all the key touch points in our business, we’re pushing hard on a daily basis. Coaching, training and development are all really important. Not only are we doing a lot of workshop training in groups, but we do an enormous amount of one-on-one personal development with each individual. The numbers at the other end, be it two billion or whatever you do as a business in a good month, are a manifestation of lots of good people doing lots of good work on a daily and hourly basis. We’ve got product teams who are working on our innovations and the kind of products we’re representing, making sure its the best photography we can do, the best floor plans. We’ve got a quality control team that’s ensuring that everything we’re putting out into the marketplace is as good as it can possibly be. What is your focus for the next twelve months? Digital is one of the big focuses for us, as it should be for all agents right now. We’re launching a new website; working with REA and Domain, we’re focused on how we can have our clients featured as prominently as we possibly can. That’s a very big part of our future. Looking at the next one to three years. we’re also hoping to become more familiar, and hopefully more successful, in the social space. We’re up to about 50,000 Facebook likes. We’re really focused on building a customer base that likes to keep in touch with us via social platforms. We have Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram and Facebook. While we see social media as a terrific way to keep in touch with our customers; those who want to hear what we’re doing and read about the latest activities, we don’t use the social channel as a sales tool but more as as an information and education tool. Community is always on our radar as very important; not just the environment, but what could we be doing as good corporate citizens? We’re now in 60-odd regions around Australia, so two to three hundred communities. Who could we help? It’s not just about writing a cheque to sponsor a soccer team. It’s about what else can we be doing, within the community? We’re very fortunate: the communities support us, but you have to give back to keep that cycle going. Let’s talk about digital marketing and the portals. What advertising strategies should agents be using in the market today? We have a philosophy of ‘less is more’ as far as the portals are concerned. We try and focus on the activities, the partnerships and the channels that give us the best return. If you try to do too many things with too many people you end up getting distracted, so we’ve placed our bet very firmly on REA and also Domain. I’m on the board of REA so I know that they are absolutely focused on providing the most traffic, the most eyeballs, the most visitations and the best quality technology experience for REA’s customers. Domain is still a very important channel for us in a lot of our markets, especially in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, and North Shore, and parts of the inner west. It could be that as many as 98 per cent of listings are now online, are either on REA or Domain. We educate and encourage our client base of vendors that investing one, two, three, four thousand, depending on the area you’re in, to be at the top of REA and Domain is vital; just like in the old days when, unless you were a full page in the Wentworth Courier, you probably weren’t serious. You’re probably still going to be a full page in the Wentworth Courier; but you’ve also got to be a premier or a highlight property on the two major portals. As a vendor, you sell a house every ten years. You’ve got to bite the bullet and invest what you have to invest to make sure every potential buyer around the world looks at your property. Our job as agents is to steer them the best way we possibly can. There are lots of other smaller players in this space now; and one of the great things about our lives is technology, and social media and connectivity. One of the greatest distractions, and therefore detractors, of our life is also connectivity, social, media and technology. If you don’t put some very firm boundaries up, work out who you are as a business and what you want to support and believe in, I think you’re going to end up being distracted, diluted and confused. Let’s focus on the vital few, rather than trying to keep pace with every single option in the marketplace. Apple is one of the great businesses in my lifetime to have emerged and triumphed in the world of commerce. One of their great skills is innovation, but a greater skill is discipline and focus. A lot of people think of Apple and say, ‘Oh yeah, they’re very innovative and a great customer experience’, which is true. But if you dig deep into Apple, their greatest skill, above everything, is being incredibly laser-focused on the few things that make the greatest difference. As a vendor, you’ve got to accept that if you’re going to sell your property this is not the time to be nickel-and-diming, and trying to get the marketing cost down as low as possible. You should be saying to the agent, ‘Is there anything else I need to invest in? Any other publication, you think?’ One extra buyer could make you $20,000 or even $50,000. It’s an interesting time, because the agents who really understand marketing and can sell it well, and educate their clients about the real benefits to them, are going to get the better result. They’re going to get more sales. Agents who are not comfortable with selling marketing need to review their selling strategy and realise that marketing is, now, a core skill, and a core part of selling. Is there is a role to play for print, moving forward? Certainly, for the time being, the answer is yes. Some vendors say to us they don’t want to be in print, especially the younger ones. It seems that you get a lot more interest if you’re in both than if you’re just in one. If you’re only going to be in one, it should be digital. If you’ve got the money to invest to be in both, my recommendation to every client is to be in both. They say, ‘John, you have 75 per cent of your inquiries coming from digital.’ I say, ‘I know, but 25 per cent are coming from somewhere else. That can mean a lot of money for you. It could be someone who’s not online. They’re not actually even looking. They pick up the Wentworth Courier, or Inner West Courier, from their local newsagent or from their door, start flicking through it, and find their new home.’ What would you say to agents who feel as though the future is a place where they may be cut out of the transaction by the portals? Oh, stop worrying about it - I’d be far more worried about my service levels! I think the portals have no desire to be real estate agents and the transaction will not happen without the personal involvement of agents. Vendors need good advice. There’s plenty of information online about medicine, and law, and accounting, but people still go to doctors, lawyers and accountants, because they want to speak to an expert who can talk them through the options and help them decide. They just do plenty of research online. That’s a fantastic thing. We’re finding that clients who are coming to us nowadays are better educated than ever before, both buyers and sellers. I’m not losing any sleep about the role we play, because I think that role will always be an important one. Properties don’t show themselves. Properties don’t negotiate themselves. Vendors don’t really want to try to negotiate. They’re not expert negotiators. People need to be told about styling, and how they should best present, and what the buyers are looking for. People need to understand the right pricing. If you go to market at the wrong pricing, you can burn all your potential interest in the first four weeks. I believe you still need, on top of all the great information available online, an expert to help you diagnose the situation and give you daily advice. All this chatter about real estate agents being made redundant – the ones who are going to be made redundant are those who are not connected, because they’re not utilising databases, they’re not giving great service, they’re not accessible, they’re not providing enough information in real time. That’s nothing to do with the internet cutting them out. It’s going to be due to their inability to change. I say to people, ‘Don’t worry about the internet. It’s not going to take your job away. What is more likely to take your job away is failing to reinvent yourself elsewhere in your business.’ T a c t ic a l L is t in g tred tactics n ce tn ie cl W O H S IN JOSH PHEGAN EXPLA ry time. ve e g in st li e th in w l il and preparation w Josh Phegan, joshpheg an.com.au TACTICS ARE the key to delivering a winning listing presentation. Just as footballers would never run onto a field without a game plan, real estate agents should not approach a listing presentation without preparing their tactical approach. The listing presentation is your chance to win potential vendors over, to persuade them you’re the best agent to represent them. You need to be clear, confident and able to back up your sales pitch with real-life case studies that matter to your vendor. The best way to do that is to show them the numbers. There is a difference between the presentation you want to give and the information your customer needs to hear. It’s important to show your skills and back them up with social proof; key statistics, and what they mean to the client and their world, will win every time. You might use case studies of properties you’ve recently sold and highlight the high selling price and low amount of vendor discount, for example. Another good option is to showcase a low number of days on market or a high amount of enquiries, including inspections, second appointments, contract requests and offers. Other examples may include auction bidding records where you link each bidder to a form of marketing; open home registers with key buyers highlighted, or a list of your last 20 sales. All of these demonstrate your ability to close a sale and deliver a great price, which shows your client they can trust your advice. You can also use this method to pitch a sale type you want your client to consider. The key is to focus on showing what you can do for your vendor. When delivering your presentation, back your verbal claims with strong visuals such as charts, tables and graphs. Research tells us that people take in information better when they can see as well as hear it. If you take printouts with you, you can leave a longer-lasting impression and vendors can study your numbers multiple times. Tactical listing also makes for a more complete and interactive presentation, which can help ensure your vendor feels comfortable with you and senses that you are listening to their needs. They feel part of the conversation rather than as though they are being ‘talked at’. One thing to be cautious of is going over the top and appearing to do the hard sell. You can avoid this perception if you keep your presentation real. Don’t act; let vendors see the real you and keep all your examples genuine and related to them and their needs. It’s also pertinent to ask questions of your vendor, such as ‘If one of those buyers made the decision to buy your home, what would that mean for you?’ Asking questions puts your client first, and if they know their needs and wants come first they’re more likely to choose you as their agent. Now that’s a good tactic. s c i t p e c S , s r e m S k im u o Y e r a : s r e k and Soa ? l l A m e h T g R e a c h in ad ys we re a w t n re fe if d e th S E S CARL QUESTED ANALY g needs to n ti e rk a m r u O . n o ti a and process inform can this be w o h so s, p u ro g e re appeal to all th achieved? Carl Quested, agentm ail.com.au WHEN AGENTS create their marketing, they rarely have a consumer testing group set up to check their message is on point. Usually they’ll write something they themselves would like to read, get it spell-checked and away it goes. But as consumers (agents included) our reading style and the way we digest information generally falls into one of three categories. 1. Skimmers – This group has no time to sweat the small details. They want the meat and potato, not the veg. They want to know what is going on in the shortest amount of time. They are generally very decisive, and will make their decision based on the information they have at hand right now, rather than go searching for extra details. Sceptics – Sceptics want to know who you are, and what it is that makes you qualified to tell them anything. This group will be looking for detailed testimonials, statistics and cold hard facts. The sceptics are the type who will research review pages and read feedback before making their own decision. 2. Soakers – As the name suggests, this group will soak up every single detail you provide. They are likely to reread everything, and are the most likely to hold on to something to go back to later. Don’t be surprised if they contact you to let you know about a grammatical error; they just can’t help it. They are also likely to continue searching for information if it’s available. If you read any of those three statements and found yourself nodding your head, the chances are you write in the same style. What you need to do is to recognise that and make sure all your letters, blog posts, social media and so on cater for all three groups from now on. Each of these groups likes a certain style and presentation. SKIMMERS: Clear headlines Subheadings that tell the story quickly Bullet points with key concepts Summary of the story Clear call to action – tell them what you need them to do SCEPTICS: Testimonials – lots of them (don’t worry, the skimmers will ignore them) Hard facts with numbers and percentages Links to research from other trusted businesses or sites Directions to find further information, testimonials and reviews SOAKERS: Make the story rich in detail and compelling Any statistics and data need to have features and benefits Make them feel comfortable about re-reading and keeping your communication for future reference Provide links to further reading, community pages and so on. If you need to get feedback from those in the other categories to yourself, just give them this magazine and watch how they consume the information. Is it a fast flick through the pages? Do they glance at it and frown in distrust? Or do they bury their head in the pages and not come up for air? IDENTIFY YOUR CURRENT MARKETING STYLE You can now look through your existing client base, and even your desired client base, and identify which of the three attributes are most often displayed. You will find that, on the whole, each group is likely to have the same attributes, whether they are investors, empty nesters, young professionals and so on. The idea is not to write the copy based solely on them, but to make that your primary focus and then adjust it to include the other two less prominent groups. This is also where segmenting your database and customising your message can play a massive role. SEGMENT YOUR DATABASE Any good CRM these days will give you the ability to segment your database based on any number of different profiles, from pet owners to families with children, downsizers, and so on. This can be via tags created on the record, or separate lists created for each one of your categories. Now you can take it one step further and segment it based on reading style. How do you do this? The answer is testing. You will only get to learn people’s reading style over time by testing different types of copy to see which one they are most receptive to. It is a good idea to code your marketing, so that when you receive responses you can use these codes and overlay them against previous campaigns to see which is most effective with whom. TEST AND MEASURE Like all worthwhile activities, building relationships takes time. You won’t necessarily get the perfect balance on your first communication. The good thing is that the more attempts you make the more you build up points in the relationship bank account – as long as you keep your content relevant, interesting and don’t constantly badger them about selling their home. You can test whether certain headings will be more responsive to sceptics, or whether an image is more compelling to the skimmer. These are subtle changes that can have big impacts on your response levels. And make sure that you only test one change at a time. It takes discipline and patience fully to understand your audience; resist the urge to change your document completely, as you will not be able to identify what it is that made the difference. FURTHER READING If you want to learn more about buyer behaviour, I have come across a couple of really good resources. Firstly, a study conducted by Google called Zero Moment of Truth – www.zeromomentoftruth.com. It is a great study that talks about the number of interactions and hours of content that people consume before making their buying decision. Secondly, a book called Buyology by Martin Lindstrom. This book studies the human psyche and the role of the subconscious mind in what we buy. It can be a bit scientific and geeky, but getting deep on understanding who your audience is can be a very powerful tool. Remember, you’ll see Skimmers, Sceptics and Soakers everywhere, and they’re out there reading your stuff. d n o c e S y r e v W o rth E al estate is re in rd a e h y rl la u g re S ONE OF THE LAMENT ay, says d e th in e m ti h g u o n e that there is never y. How well are rt e p ro P e ll e B f o n to Caroline Bolders ry? you managing your dia Caroline Bolderston, B elle Property REAL ESTATE IS an unpredictable business. One phone call can throw out your entire plan for the next 12 hours, yet I firmly believe that we still have the power to achieve what we need to every day. I have seen over time that the industry elite tend to carry out their daily functions by removing excuses and taking ultimate responsibility for their actions. The most important concept to adopt in work and in life is the 80/20 rule. Accept right now that you can proactively control 80 per cent of what occurs in your day; the remaining 20 per cent will cover situations that demand immediate action. There are four key elements that I believe can help you take control of your time and become more proactive. FOCUS ON ONE THING Are you using your time effectively and making the most of the hours in your day? Have you looked at each day of your week and mapped out a mental or written list of your important C o m m u n it y 5 : t n e m e g a g n E g n i d l i u B s s e n i Bus Id e a s recurring activities? Prioritising the non-negotiable activities and actions for each day allows you to ‘check in’ each morning before you leave the house and be clear of what must be achieved by midday.g Use is findin ss e n si u b g in o d f o rt a steer you through the day and ensure E pto ST EXPENSIVlist MOpersonalised THEthis nja M Jones Ta le ic rt a is th In . ts n one thing at a time, and importantly the right clie g new pindoing keeare andyou tegies that ra st n o ti ra o b a ll co ve right creati ple time. sim vethe res fiat athing sh e minds and th to in d n ra b r u yo n sitio ully poCONSCIOUS aningfBETTER meMAKE DECISIONS unity. m m co l ca lo r u yo f rts o heaHow many decisions do you make each day? Hundreds? .au Thousands? The answer ismimpossible to define; we make a ching.co Tanja M Jones, tmjcoa multitude of subconscious decisions every day, like simply getting out of bed each morning. As we can’t account for every decision we make, it’s important to become more aware of conscious decisions, those that are IT CAN BE HARD to stand out in a taking up more of your time. Next time a thought or task enters noisy estate crowd, where your mind,real consciously ask yourself ‘Is this urgent orevery can it brand to be Facebook, seen and heard. wait?’ This wants applies to checking getting involved in an office viewing something on YouTube. Withconversation a little orthought, however, it The is decision is yours, ensure your you are making the best and use of possible tosobuild database your time. strengthen your position in the ELIMINATE DISTRACTIONS community at the same time. Warning: this next suggestion may take you out of your comfort zone! 1 HOME IMPROVEMENTS Many offices are paying for advertising in their local papers to introduce a new staff member or promote their services; the The best thing you can do to keep your mind focused on a trouble is so is everyone else. current task or train of thought is to turn off your desktop and If you want to be relevant and have people look forward to your mobile phone alerts. communication, create a local community advertising campaign For the‘We majority this pushes boundaries, especially in aan called love homes’. Rathermany than talk about yourself, create era being contactable at allenter times is an expectation, but call where to action where people simply your monthly something to give! you checking your emails competitionhas to win homeAre improvement services provideduring by you.a This could include gutter cleaning, window washing, lawn mowing, listing presentation? If not, then why do you feel compelled to carpet steamevery cleaning, pet of grooming, cleaning or, to in cooler check them minute the day?pool Make a choice limit areas, a trailer-load of only woodcheck delivered winter (along your distractions and yourfor emails three or with four a big bag of amarshmallows!). times day for 30 minutes at a time. Simply create since value adopting propositions your local service I have found thiswith practice several yearsproviders, ago my where they supply the service in exchange for the local advertising days are more efficient. You will often find that when you get to you purchase. People will begin to interact with your brand and your emails many of them have already been resolved, look forward to what comes next, while you’re building goodwill allowing you to allocate your precious time more effectively. and growing your database. The added bonus is the ‘happy snaps’ you can takeIN, with the winners OUT and local businesses on the day of MORNINGS AFTERNOONS delivery. This is great content tocareer, share on socialmyself media and in the Four years into my real estate I found operating following promotion. reactivelymonth’s every day, jumping from client appointments one minute to letterbox dropping the next. Making prospecting calls 2 COMMUNITY ALLIANCE PROGRAMS became secondary as I only time toput react to the constant Make your sponsorships reallyhad count and practices in place to interruptions and distractions that Imagine arose throughout measure your return on investment. taking youreach localday. sporting president out for lunch and asking them what their vision I wanted to be more proactive and efficient with my time, so I for the club is and what they need to improve facilities and started to cluster all face-to-face appointments in the services. It may be a new scoreboard or goalposts, or to update afternoon, about an hour of parking and travel the change which rooms,saved for example. time to and from the office. The overwhelming advantage of Let them know that one ofday yourthis core values is to give back to the structuring your working way is that you dedicate community and invest in the such healthy of future dollar-productive activities as lifestyle prospecting, client nurture generations. asking them, ‘How would you like to and bookingImagine appraisals all before midday. generate $10,500 for your club, while adding value to your It’s an amazing feeling go home thethat endthey of each day members, all at no cost to to you?’ It is at likely will be knowing you achieved more and have the results to prove it! interested. Ask if you can show them how and then share the design of the alliance. Let’s say they have 700 members. Let them know that for every member who lists and sells with you, you will give them $300. Let’s say conservatively that you convert five per cent; that is 35 people. This equates to $10,500 to the club, and you then have your name positioned on the scoreboard or on a highly visible location on the grounds. Not all clubs will be happy to share their database with you, but they may consider sending the introduction letter on your behalf. Ask the President to kindly write an endorsement paragraph to be included in the letter. You then introduce yourself, share your ‘why’ and introduce your offer. This program design can be repeated for any sporting club, business association, charity or group in your municipality. 3 TAKE IT AWAY For many hardworking Aussie families, Friday and Saturday nights are takeaway nights. Imagine buying fish and chips for a family for an entire year (one night per week)! Strike a deal with the owner of a local business to simply place an entry box on the counter for one month for people to enter the draw. The winning family receives a branded card to the value of $50 per week to use for twelve months. In exchange for the investment, negotiate with the business owner to install a Perspex fixture in a bare space within the shop where you can place information on your current homes for sale. This will give people something to read while waiting for their dinner to be cooked. It positions you front and centre to a hungry audience every week and the idea can be repeated at any local takeaway business, including pizza and Chinese. 4 CONNECT WITH COUNCIL Make a solid connection with the local Economic Business Development Manager and let them know you would like to regularly communicate why your community is a great place to live, work and play. Work actively with your Council to share the future developments, local events, business services and facilities within your demographic. Keep your database informed via your newsletter and share the information on social media. If there are any major developments happening that have a lot of people asking questions, do what Dib Chidiac (Raine & Horne) did and write a report that provides an insight into key changes, with updates on the impacts and benefits to homeowners and investors. Make the report available on your website, promote it on social media and encourage your local business networks to share links to download. Check Dib’s website for the example: dibchidiac.com.au. 5 FOR ART’S SAKE – A CALENDAR THAT COUNTS Nowadays most people use their phone for their family planner. One way you can create something that is not only meaningful but can become an annual community event is to provide an opportunity for all your local artists or photographers to submit a piece for consideration in your annual calendar. Create a judging panel to select the final 12 and release the calendars at an exhibition within the local community. All the artists will bring their family and friends and can sell their originals, while you sell the calendars for a small fee to raise funds for a local charity. Seek advertising sponsorship from local businesses to help pay for the printing costs and make the calendars big enough for people to actually use (not one-sided DL). o t s n o i t s e u Q e T h re e c n a m r o f r e P Im p r o v e This is a good project for a dedicated administration team member as it will take some time to set up; but it could become a great hallmark event for your community. art thinking st to e im T : IN A G A R A IT’S THAT TIME OF YE in the year to ke a m to ke li ’d e w ts about improvemen s are that ce n a ch e th , le p o e p st come. If you’re like mo ive and more ct u d ro p re o m e m co e you want to b ethod is a m rt ta -S p e e -K p to S e h successful overall. T e rapid se d n a se a ch e th to t fantastic way to cu change in results. Samantha McLean KNOWING YOU’D like to be a more productive, dynamic person and actually accomplishing that are two different things altogether. That’s where it helps to have a tried, true and simple method in your corner working for you. The Stop-Keep-Start Method is a proven process that has helped thousands of people become more productive. It’s an excellent way to ask for useful feedback from your manager, and a great tool for self- assessment as well. Let’s take a closer look at what’s involved and discuss the ways you can put it to work for you. WHAT IS THE STOP-KEEP-START METHOD ALL ABOUT? Also sometimes called the SKS Method for short, Stop-KeepStart is a simple way to decide what parts of your life are serving your ability to be productive, what parts aren’t and what should be added to the mix for best results. You begin by asking yourself three sets of questions in order: 1. What do I need to stop doing because it’s hindering my progress? 2. What should I keep doing because it’s really working for me? 3. What do I need to start doing in order to reach my goals? This method was first conceived by Brigham Young University professor Phil Daniels. It’s notable for being reassuring and action-oriented. It’s also prized for being a quick way to get organised and spring into forward motion, as well as asking for feedback from others which can help you self- assess and determine which way to go next. WHAT SHOULD YOU STOP? When you ask for feedback, or think about the feedback you’ve received from others in the past, consider whether or not there are any common threads. Have people consistently told you that you need to stop keeping to yourself so much? Are there things that are not dollar-productive that you could drop? Feedback you hear again and again tends to contain at least a small grain of truth, especially when it comes to tendencies that don’t serve you. Take a moment to consider seriously what kinds of opportunities you could create by working on certain tendencies or behaviours. Ask yourself how stopping the notso-good stuff will help your professional life – or your personal life, for that matter – evolve for the better. Don’t be afraid to ask others for clarification as to why they made certain suggestions as well. WHAT SHOULD YOU KEEP DOING? All of us have things we’re already absolutely nailing and we should keep doing those things. However, we need to become fully aware of what they are. Consider what clients, colleagues, friends and family members consistently tell you they appreciate about you. What can you do to continue nurturing these behaviours and building on them in the future? What skills can you work on to take advantage of these natural tendencies you clearly have? It’s also important to consider whether you’ve ever been surprised by anything people have consistently complimented you on. Ask yourself why you were surprised. Are there ways you could continue to build upon these unique strengths? WHAT SHOULD YOU START? Last but not least, assess what behaviours and mindsets both you and other people feel you could stand to add to your overall repertoire. Consider what skills, information or additional training you might need in order to be successful at adding these traits and behaviours. If you don’t fully understand why a given person may have mentioned something in particular, ask them to clarify. It’s also important to assess whether the suggestions that might be most beneficial frighten you at all. Is there a particular reason why you may not have explored these possibilities for yourself at some point? Consider how you can overcome your apprehension to get past those fears. Stop putting productivity off! Get started today. There’s no time like the present. MOVING FORWARD SUCCESSFULLY Once you successfully use Stop-Keep- Start to assess and consider possibilities for future change, it’s time to get active as far as the practicalities involved. When you consider the suggestions from all three lists, do you see common threads? How can you leverage your existing skills to help you develop new ones and continue to evolve both personally and professionally? SKS is a simple exercise to be sure, but it’s also effective. You too can join the multitudes it’s already helped. Have a think about how you can get started today. To give you some examples we asked hockingstuart’s top performers what they were going to stop-keep-start doing in 2015. 1 HELEN YAN, SALES AGENT HOCKINGSTUART BALWYN Winner of hockingstuart Agent of the Year STOP I found that a lot of quality time can be lost in administrative work or doing menial tasks myself, such as letterbox drops. While these are necessary facets of the business, it’s not productive for me to be doing them. They don’t help me improve my customer service and hence don’t assist with driving referrals to the business. KEEP In 2014 the majority of my business came from referrals, which are increasingly important in real estate. I’ve found the biggest driver for referrals to me personally has been my strong commitment to customer service. Assisting clients with all aspects of the sales process and being available to help them outside of normal business hours (such as showing them the local area, helping them set up in the neighbourhood, enrol their kids in local schools, and so on) has proved to be a point of difference for me. START I’m going to find ways to reduce my unproductive activities and spend more time doing dollar-productive work. For me, that’s time with customers, whether it’s speaking to them on the phone or having face-to-face meetings. I believe that real estate is more about service than sales. If you provide the right level of service, the clients will sell you and the houses sell themselves. 2 NIGEL O’NEIL, CEO Winner of REIV Award for Corporate Promotion and Communications STOP 2015 is the year to stop worrying about things I can’t control. As a CEO I can control my communication, staff management and business and recruitment strategies. But there are so many market variables in real estate which are simply out of our hands. KEEP Running a successful business requires a sharp mind. This year, I created positive habits in my life to keep the mind and body fit – this helped me maintain effectiveness throughout the year. START Customer service is the key to any successful servicebased industry, and effective communication is a huge part of this. We plan to work with our offices to develop processes to assist them with databasing, perfecting their listing and OFI presentation skills and going ‘back to basics’ on client liaison to ensure these relationships are really strong. 3 MARK ZAMMIT, GENERAL MANAGER OF HOCKINGSTUART BENTLEIGH AND DIRECTOR OF PROPERTY MANAGEMENT Winner, hockingstuart Agency of the Year STOP This year we’ll cut back on direct marketing. Most of our business comes either through existing clients, word of mouth, or our solid brand reputation – we’ll focus our energy where it’s most effective. KEEP Last year we undertook an analysis of both our sales and PM divisions. For sales, we looked at the origin of our business leads. We also analysed our rent roll, assessing what each client is worth to the business. It took four months but allowed us to understand exactly what is and isn’t profitable, and why. This led to numerous successful negotiations of new contracts without losing a single client. We plan to continue similar analyses in 2015 to help us reflect accurately on our business processes. START We’ve just employed an experienced business development manager, and believe that’s the right path for us for growing our business. You can never underestimate the power of having an additional perspective to shake things up. m o r f s p i T p o 50 T T ra n s f o rm gine from a im r ve e ld u co u yo n We learned more tha period. Here is k e e -w 12 a r ve o s e ch our Transform coa r coaches and u o th o b m o fr s p ti p a rapid fire 50 to our Super Six. Samantha McLean 1. What got you here won’t get you there. What got you to 12 or 16 sales is not going to get you to 100. But there is potential for radical change. John McGrath 2. When you get as serious about your commitment to prospecting and the other activities that are key to your business as you are about attending your own auctions or your own open for inspections, that’s when life starts to change. John McGrath 3. Don’t be afraid of changing; be afraid of not changing. Embrace it, enjoy it, love it. John McGrath 4. Start with why. Willpower will get you so far. Whypower will help you move mountains. Claudio Encina 5. The only thing that will get in the way of your success is you. Your principal won’t, the economy won’t, your colleagues won’t, the sharemarket won’t. You have to be ready to get out of your own way on the way to success. John McGrath 6. Retention is higher on video. One of the most impressive things Kim did was to send us a video before the listing presentation, which really set her apart from the other members of the Super Six. Maria and Manos Findikakis 7. Use a combination of professional video and ‘self-created’ video. Sometimes you need to be nimble for things like testimonials and neighbourhood updates, and you don’t have time to call a video crew. Save them for the planned shoots, and get really good at using your smartphone with the right tools to get a professional result. Helen Mitchell 8. When you use video over a period of time, the audience feels like they have already met you. This inherently builds trust. Helen Mitchell 9. Don’t use vertical video and lift the camera up a little higher. It instantly drops a few pounds and gives you a much nicer frame around your face. Helen Mitchell 10. When you begin to achieve stuff you haven’t yet allowed yourself to believe in, you start pulling it back. So best you start believing in stuff that is incredibly exciting and empowering if that is where you want to be. John McGrath 11. I have never been disciplined or structured and as a result was always reactive rather than proactive; I wasn’t performing as a true rehearsed professional. Now I get up early and exercise in the morning four days a week. I still don’t find it easy but I’m hoping that will change. My time management has improved thanks to structure, repetition and practice. Kim Bamford 12. I had prevented my success going any higher due to my beliefs in myself. Atthat point I was still blaming everybody and everything else. Later (after the first session with John McGrath), once I got home and thought it over properly, it made sense to me and really made me think differently about setting my goals much higher. Kim Bamford 13. Have a smaller farm area and pay attention to consistency rather than the ‘spray and pray’ approach. Get to know the neighbourhood and let a focused area get to know you. Claudio Encina 14. Stand up when you make calls. It completely changes your energy and tonality. Get a standup desk if you need to. Smile before you dial. Claudio Encina 15. Feel the fear and do it anyway. Jet Xavier 16. When you are making your OFI calls, do them on a Saturday afternoon and start your script with the time of the open. ‘Hey, great meeting you on Saturday at 10.30 at 23 Smith Street, Balmain.’ It forces the person on the other end of the phone to think about where they were and what they were doing. Claudio Encina 17. Don’t interrogate the client. Choose three to four questions to get them talking. ‘What was the last home you wanted to buy but just missed out on? What was that home like?’ Claudio Encina 18. My listing presentation has become more structured. I normally try and find out what the client wants before we sit down anyway to build a path on which to talk about this. Now I have more structure than before. I’m able to focus on stats that CoreLogic showed us which I didn’t know about before, and this has helped clients pick the right price before listing. Zac McHardy 19. We have now set up a new network system for between sales and property management. Each time a property is empty they will let us know, and as a sales team we now call the landlord and give them a market update on the home. Zac McHardy 20. Use a call to action letter regularly in your BDA and make sure it contains images as well as text. Images get much more attention than text alone. Claudio Encina 21. Don’t just view the people you meet as buyers or sellers. They might be an investor or a tenant and therefore still have value in your business. Fiona Blayney 22. If you don’t know where to start with digital marketing, Google yourself. Fifty-nine per cent of people will look you up online before they pick up the phone. That is what we call the digital interview. Steve Carroll 23. My struggle with confidence and self-belief was changed through some of Susanne King’s words. Changing perspective, managing highs and lows, setting a new standard for myself, upgrading my identity to where I want to be, getting out of my comfort zone. Now I know what I need to do. Melinda Allamby 24. My listing presentations have now been taken to another level. My presentation now shows the owners why I am the best agent for them and what sets me apart. I like to provide owners with up-to-date information about recent comparative sales, what is on the market, and general suburb information. I use RP Data Professional which is amazing, with all the information only a click away. Melinda Allamby 25. Working with Campaigntrack on social media optimisation has been great. They are ensuring that my profile is professional and consistent throughout every platform. I want people to know that I am an experienced expert in my field and able to freely provide relevant information to them. Melinda Allamby 26. Maintaining contact with clients: the frequency of prospecting/nurturing calls is vital. Too often and you will potentially irritate the client; too infrequently and you will most probably fail to impress them. Time of day, the length of the phone call, your manner/tone (how familiar, friendly or businesslike you should be) and ensuring you have been informative, helpful and/or had excellent market knowledge are all important in their own way. James Tostevin 27. Acknowledging significant moments in your clients’ lives (birthdays, death in the family, professional achievements, birth of children, etc) is important, but remember to be selective with all of the above; unless you know the client exceptionally well then acknowledging any of these things can be interpreted the wrong way. James Tostevin 28. It doesn’t matter what level you are at, you should have a mentor. Many believe that once they are a high achiever in their field that they don’t need to call on anyone to lead or guide them. My opinion is that this is a gross misconception. We can always be improving. There is always a slight adjustment that can be made, if not a vast adjustment, and often having someone to ‘bounce’ off or call on when you’re stuck is imperative to progress. Kate Strickland 29. A lot of real estate agents are reluctant to pick up the telephone. It’s not a skillset problem; everyone knows how to physically pick up the telephone. That’s where you need to become mindfit. Jet Xavier 30. You need to find those things that you’re not confident with and do them repeatedly. If that’s prospecting calls, then consider chaining yourself to that telephone and make enough calls until you are confident, so that confidence can drive a different and more positive behaviour. Jet Xavier 31. If five per cent of a rent roll turns over each year, it is well worth breaking down the silo with your property management team as 80 per cent of existing clients will sell with the same agent. But there needs to be a great internal relationship for that to work. Fiona Blayney 32. Always make sure you can write down the names and addresses, off the top of your head, of 15 people you are going to call today. What is their timeline and destination? Remember, if you can’t remember them, they can’t remember you. Josh Phegan 33. Celebrate when things don’t go so well or according to plan. Celebrate the fact that you have learned something. Susanne King 34. Don’t look at your goals when you are not feeling good. Then you mentally associate your goals with a negative feeling and that impacts your ability to achieve them. Look at your goals when you are feeling good! Susanne King 35. Agentbox has been great for planning my daily calls; now I log in first thing in the morning and I have a list of activities and calls for the day. It has only been a short time, but I’ve already found my day running a lot more smoothly and deadlines a lot less daunting! Ben Munro Smith 36. Make sure you clearly know these three things about your potential vendors/buyers: Problem. Timeline. Destination. Why are they moving? Does it need to be before a certain date? Where are they going? This will focus you on the five to 10 people you need to speak to today to move you forward for success. Josh Phegan 37. You wouldn’t go running without doing some stretches to ‘warm up’ and it’s just as important to warm up yourvoice before a presentation. Try saying the tongue twister “Red Leather, Yellow Leather” over and over. Shelley Horton 38. Confidence to me is about being prepared and practised so I am game-ready every day, no matter what the situation. As Shelly Horton said, “Everyday for six weeks I dressed so I was camera-ready, then when the opportunity came up I was ready to walk right onto set.” I want to be able to do just that: be ready to act when the opportunity arises. Ben Munro Smith 39. Don’t let self-doubt put you off course; when it raises its ugly head - squash it fast. Jamie Van Le 40. If you want to smash this Transform thing out of the park, you actually just need to get more appointments. Josh Phegan 41. Potential and capacity. If you are at 50 per cent of your potential and 100 per cent of your capacity then you can never achieve your full potential. Look at fitness (physical and mental), systems and people to expand your potential. Josh Phegan 42. If you have a great listing presentation then you will find an opportunity to go and do it. You’ll probably find five. Confidence will drive that. Josh Phegan 43. Don’t call it Vendor Paid Advertising, call it Vendor Investment Marketing. It changes the conversation you have with your vendors so that both you and the vendor see value in the marketing that you are proposing. Marketing is an investment, not a cost. Stuart Benson 44. Overstressed? Take a shot of lime juice with a coloured salt first thing in the morning; it does wonders to calm the adrenal glands, which will help you cope better with the day. Emily Schofield 45. Really observe your vendors and buyers when you meet them. You can change your communication patterns to match who you’re talking to in a way that makes sense to them, you’ll click more and you’ll be able to find out more about what that person is really looking for. Charmaine Keegan 46. Make rejection your best friend. Million Dollar Agents have been rejected more times than you have tried. Tom Panos 47. Do a search in your email inbox for ‘?’ Grab those emails and look for questions from clients and answer them on video. Put those videos on YouTube and your website with a transcription. This strategy alone will do wonders for both SEO and getting found on the Internet. Josh Cobb 48. Fill in your agent profile on realestate.com.au. Last year 250,000 emails were sent via social profiles and the lion’s share of them went to the 41 per cent of profiles that were complete. And it’s free. Steve Carroll 49. Make sure that your ideal week includes the five areas of your life – good health, good business, spiritual, finance and family goals. Claudio Encina 50. As Josh says, keep the phone calls quick. Once you’ve got rapport, you don’t need to keep building it. Jean Paul Elsing For more tips and to catch up on all of the coaching videos visit eliteagent.com.au/sales-transform-2016. Subscribe! If you liked this book subscribe to the print magazine at eliteagent.com.au/shopnow. Are you from NSW and need CPD points? Send an email to support@eliteagent.com.au we will provide you with information on how achieve this through myrealestatecpd.com.au. LEARN FROM THE BEST View more on our website made with