THINK
BIGGER!
An eBook "collection" of some of
our best sales and prospecting
articles to inspire real estate
industry professionals
made with
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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:
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some great ideas for making better
connections, growing your database, talking to more people and ultimately
listing more property.
Topics
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Contributors
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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!
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Ultimately, be in the moment with others, for this moment is a gift;
that’s why it’s called the present.
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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.
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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.
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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!
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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.’
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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.
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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.
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Caroline Bolderston, B
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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
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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
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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.
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it The
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ensure your
you are making
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use of
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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
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s
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u
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m
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o
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r
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P
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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
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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.
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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.
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