Did you know?
Helping and mentoring other agents will keep your skills sharp
Per the National Association of REALTORS Member Profile report, income level is highly correlated with expenses
REALTORS earning $10K or less had a median business expense of $2,220
While REALTORS earning $150K or more had median business expense of $35,750
The truth is, successful agents don't spend more because they make more, they make more because they invest more!
1. Set goals
S.M.A.R.T
What are goals?
A goal is a desired result you plan and commit to achieve
10. Leverage
Why should you set goals?
- Gives clarity to your long-term vision
- Focuses your acquisition of knowledge
Ben Kinney's Team Structure
Why should you build a team?
1. Without a team you're left vulnerable. If you get sick, hurt or take time off then you stop making money.
2. A team allows you to continue producing income regardless of how involved you are.
What should you know about starting a team?
1. Starting a team takes time and you have to build your business first
2. To attract other agents to join your team, you have to offer something of value. Examples:
a) A solid listing business generating buyer leads
b) The ability to generate listing and buyer leads for
your team through print and online marketing
3. Team means 'people'. Dealing with different personalities can be tough. Use the DISC test and only hire agents with the right personality fit for your team
4. Mean people suck! ... but sometimes you have to be tough and that can be perceived as mean
5. Running a team is not for everyone and that's okay
3. Your income potential is significantly greater when you have more like-minded people helping you
Download this worksheet
to help reach your goals
http://fathom.it/goals
BONUS
Set aside family and 'me' time to recharge your batteries. You'll be more productive and feel more fulfilled in your career!
9. Focus on listings
Here are a few facts to ponder
1. A buyers agent can only effectively handle 4 to 6 buyers per month
2. A listing agent can effectively handle 12 to 18 new listings per month
3. A buyer client may or may not refer another client to an agent
4. Listings generate buyer leads from sign calls and open houses
5. Listings generate more listings (sshhh... it's magic)
6. Successful listing agents will hire buyers agents to work the leads that are generated from their listings and take a 40% to 50% cut
7. Successful buyers agents will hire an assist to help them with the paperwork and marketing so they can handle 1 or 2 more clients per month
One more fact:
Almost every single highly successful real estate team was built around a successful listing agent!
That's not by accident.
1. A listing agent can effectively manage 3 times more clients than a buyers agent can handle which equates to more income potential
2. It's easier to build a real estate team around a listing agent than it is to build a team around a buyers agent
3. Listings generate additional real estate leads
Master Your Listing Presentation
1. Get to know the competitors in your market
and what they offer
2. Learn how to sell against each of your competitors
3. Offer something unique to the client that your competition cannot
- Examples: superior marketing, better communication, discounted listing if they buy their new home with you, guaranteed sale within 90 days or you'll sell it for free ... etc.
4. Make your presentation material look sharp because it will be the seller's first impression of how you'll market their property
5. Create a mobile version of your presentation for presenting on a tablet
6. Have past examples of listings you've done as comparisons to what the
competitor's listing looks like
Listing Presentation Tips
- If you do not have any good past examples, create a mock listing from a builder's model home and then create flyers, post cards, and permanently post it online (single property website or virtual tour).
- Show the seller what your listing looks like and then show them in real time what the other listings in the neighborhood look like in comparison ... watch the horrified look on their faces at how poor the listing photography looks and how poor the descriptions are and then ask which they'd prefer.
Want the best real estate photography?
Master Real Estate Photography
Invest in the following:
- High-end DSLR camera. They have larger sensors and produce dramatically superior interior shots ($600 to $1,000 for a good body)
- Ultra wide-angle lens. Everything claims to be 'wide-angle' but look for a lens that is as close to 10mm as possible. An ultra wide-angle lens can capture a half bath in full splendor and make a small room look wide open ($400 to $800)
- Photo editing software like Adobe Lightroom or Aperture ($200)
- Mounted flash ($150)
- Classes to maximize the camera's potential ($75 to $100)
The investment may be large up front but will pay for itself over and over again.
FACT:
Higher quality photos will-
- Generate more showings for your listings
- Generate more listing opportunities
- Win more listing presentations
- Improves self-esteem, aides in weight loss and cures insomnia
2. Be accountable
10 Steps to
Double Your Income
What are the benefits to having an accountability partner or coach?
- They will keep you accountable
Where should you be marketing yourself online?
- They can help you see your blind spots
- They can be a sounding board
- They can provide objective feedback
- They can be another source of creative ideas
- They can help you celebrate your successes
How can you be accountable?
More sites to build your online identity
- Share your weekly and monthly goals with someone else
Did you know?
- Great place to stay in touch with your sphere and remind them you're in real estate
- Did you know that YouTube is one of the largest search engines on the Internet?
- Set up weekly calls to discuss your progress
- Great place to grow your sphere
Coaching can increase an agent's first year production by nearly 300%
- Be honest about your progress
- Post videos of your listings on YouTube
- Get to know who your 'leads' are and how to sell to them
- Pinterest
- Trulia Voices
- Foursquare
- Guest blogging
- Linked In
- Twitter
- Instagram
- Record weekly market updates for specific communities
- Embed these videos on your blogsite for added SEO power
You have three options:
1. Hire a real estate success coach
2. Find a friend or another agent to
be your accountability partner
8. Establish your online identify
3. Marry someone who will nag you
Don't forget the listings
Tips for online domination
1. Take the time to really learn about blogging and optimizing your written content for search engine placement
- Many real estate IDX providers like Diverse Solutions and Spatial Match can provide you with the tools to display property listings on your blogsite
- A great way to identify yourself as a real estate professional and a market expert
2. Learn how to use tools like Snagit for capturing and annotating images and videos for use on your website and blog http://Fathom.it/snagit
- Allows you to target your marketing efforts on a specific community
3. Learn about Pay-Per-Click advertising and how to use it to supplement the traffic to your website
- Search engines LOVE content rich sites and place your site higher in the results pages
- Another option is to display a home search box provided by your current real estate website which pushes the visitor to your other real estate listings site
4. Invest primarily in lead generating activity and avoid systems that claim they'll immediately rank you number 1 on Google. The ROI is poor at best.
- Combine content with property listings and you have a recipe
for generating leads
5. NOTHING performs better than hard work and patience.
3. Time block
Did you know?
Per the National Association of REALTORS
Member Profile report, agents who put 40 to 60 hours per week into their business, earned 545% more income than agents that worked on their business 20 hours per week or less.
How to time block!
- Clearly define your time block
- Share your blocked-times with those who need to know
- Choose the best place for your task
- Use a timer to better focus
- Don't forget to include breaks as time blocks
Why is time-blocking important?
- Your brain needs time to adjust
- Better focus on your task
- Ability to track your productivity and see how it directly impacted your business
7. Brand yourself
4. Keep learning
Why should you brand yourself?
1. It's easier for someone to remember you if you stand out
2. As you grow your business, it's easier to build a team around your brand
3. Future Goal - Takes the focus off you alone which will allow you to focus on managing your team and not showing homes or going on listing appointments
4. Because all the cool kids are doing it
Choose a memorable name!
1. Play off your name or interests
- Tom Fresh = 'Tom Fresh Real Estate' can
become 'The Fresh Team' as you build your team
2. Choose a name that can grow with your business
- End the name with Associates, Team,
or Real Estate Group
- Avoid using just 'Realty' (implies brokerage)
3. NAR rule - You must always have
your brokerage logo on your marketing
Branding ideas
1. Create a memorable logo that reflects your
personality or that of your target audience
2. Use a professional logo service to create
your logo as a vector file. Very important
when creating marketing material
Examples from www.LogoTournament.com
- Spend 30 to 45 minutes learning every day
- Read articles from sources like Inman.com and Realtor.org
- Watch a David Knox video training every day (avg. 15 minutes)
- Meet with another Realtor for 45 minutes at least once a week to share ideas
- Earn REALTOR designations
Visit http://fathom.it/joshpicks
for Josh Harley's daily reading list
Why should you keep learning?
- More motivation and enthusiasm
- New ideas to enhance your marketing and sharpen your skills
- Better understanding of how the market is changing and how to adjust
- Potential clients will have a greater trust in your abilities to help them
- Most importantly, because I said so!
5. Network, network, network
6. Invest in your business
Money is not the only thing you need to invest!
You also need to invest TIME!
(Referrals, referrals, referrals)
1. Creating your brand/identity
2. Technology and tools that
will save you time or generate leads
4. Internet lead generation
5. Near future- Hire a virtual assistant
1. There are no better leads than a referral
- Once referred, you don't have to compete for their business
2. Almost everyone you know has heard about a family member, friend or co-worker planning a move in the last 12 to 24 months ... that's a LOT of missed opportunities
4. Each year, 5% of your referral base (people who know you) will refer someone who buys or sells with you IF you have a consistent referral marketing program
3. Unless you constantly remind people you are a real estate professional AND ask for referrals, they will not think to refer you
Why is networking so important?
What are some of things you should invest in?
Volunteer
work
Church
School
Did you know?
Youth sports
and activities
Clubs
Internet
Let's quantify that!
If you remain in contact with 150 people (meet for coffee, chat on the phone, etc.) then you would fall into an additional 7 to 8 closings per year.
FACT
It takes money to make money