The Power of Focus “You get what you focus on”, “inspect what you expect”, “if you chase two rabbits, you get neither” - - all clichés that are intended to convey the importance of the power of focus. Focus is defined as: a center of activity, attraction, or attention; a point of concentration.
The Pareto Principle is widely recognized as the management standard for prioritizing time and tasks. The Pareto Principle (also known as the 80-20 rule) states that, roughly 80% of results come from 20% of activities. If you are a Realtor® identifying your 20% activities can be a daunting task. There are more than 197 “to-do’s” that an agent performs on a routine basis. So how do you find the dollar PRODUCTIVE activities that will propel your business forward? I’m glad you asked! Leads, Listings and Leverage!
First and foremost, lead generation. Gary Keller has an awesome statement that he often makes: “If you are too busy to lead generate . . . you won’t be”. Leads are nothing more than cultivated relationships. In a shifted market such as the one we are experiencing now, MARKETING is not the answer for building your business. PROSPECTING is. With the economic uncertainties that are taking precedence in peoples’ minds, they need someone they trust to advise them. A postcard does not build trust, but a thorough needs analysis does. And you can only conduct an analysis of needs if there is a relationship in place that is built on mutual respect and trust. Real estate is a contact sport, and if you are depending on a third party of any type to contact past clients for you, I promise - -you are losing market share.
Second in importance is acquiring seller listings. Not only is market share measured in listings, but it is the number one lead source for buyers! The more listings you have, the more buyers are interested, the more your phone rings. I cringe every time I hear an agent say “but I don’t like listings . . . I like working with buyers”; and I think to myself, without listings, how do you expect to get buyers? Most agents are fearful of working to obtain listings because they are not confident in their skill set and have no systems in place to service the listings they acquire. The answer for “listing phobia” is to find a mentor or coach who can help you with your listing presentation, scripts and dialogues and systems. Otherwise, you will never become comfortable with becoming a listing agent, and you will always be dependent upon others to bring you leads.
Third and finally, is leverage. The simplest definition for leverage is help or assistance that makes you more effective. When it comes to leverage, there are three avenues for finding leverage:
1. Business Systems. Anything that is a repeatable process should have a system. This goes for everything from answering the telephone to submitting paperwork to your brokerage to staying in contact with your clients. Do you have systems, or are you “just winging it”? Winging it is for the birds.
2. Business Tools. I was flabbergasted recently when an agent from another firm called our office and demanded that our agent he was working with hand deliver documents because he refuses to use tech tools. No fax, no email, no text messaging. IMHO, every Realtor should at a minimum have a smart phone (BlackBerry, I-Phone, etc), e-fax, SMS capabilities, IM capabilities and the ability to send documents as a .pdf. These tools are not tremendously expensive, but they are tremendously effective.
3. People: People are the most obvious form of leverage. You may say to yourself “I can’t afford an assistant”. Hiring an assistant is not the only form of people leverage. As a Realtor®, you have a cadre of professionals already surrounding you. The question is, are you utilizing them? Your trusted vendor partners should be called upon to provide excellent service to your clients and feedback and input on your systems. Do you meet with your vendors on a regular basis to clarify expectations and to gain understanding of how they conduct business? If not, you are possibly missing one of the most important ingredients in your recipe for success.
The bottom line is, a Realtor’s® 20% activities are the things that cannot be effectively delegated: building relationships (lead generation), increasing market share (obtaining seller listings) and leveraging time for maximum effectiveness.
For complimentary review of your real estate practice, please contact me at paulamosley@kw.com.
Last week, I had the pleasure of attending SHIFT tour with KW founder, Gary Keller. Gary is a brilliant business man, and had some very profound insights:
• Get used to the real "now". Things are not going to go back to the way they were in 2002-2005. It was a facade.
• It's okay to be a real estate "salesperson". You need to learn to MOFIR (make offers for immediate response). MOFIR's of the moment could be for first time buyers, investors, and move-up buyers. IDEA: create a "best buy list" for each group, and market them to your past clients, and sphere.
• Look for a minimum of 10:1 return on marketing dollars.
• Be the local real estate market economist of choice. Know your local numbers, learn what they mean and be the voice of the marketplace.
• Ever thought of doing open houses for REO's? Post your cell # on large signs to capture buyers ("bank owned, call me for information XXX-XXXX"). Become the REO neighborhood information center (why is grass so high, why are there stickers on the window, etc.)
• Go to work everyday. Get dressed, time block for your important activities, lead generate, and get into an accountability relationship)
• Take advantage of social media to network (facebook, twitter)
• Don't hang around negative people - - use words of life, practice unconditional love and turn the news OFF
• Tell the truth. Bad advice in today's market can be catastrophic. Good or bad news is better than uncertainty. Don't make the delivery of bad news personal.
• Make decisive choices. Trying is failing with honor. Surround yourself with supporters. Track your results.
• Understand that YOU can make a difference in your clients' lives. Save families from foreclosure, save marriages. You are needed NOW more than ever.
• It's called a buyer's market for a reason.
• You should implement 33 touch accelerator - 2 emails and 1 call per month.
• If you are confident, it's easy to make calls. Have something good to offer, and it is really easy to call and tell people about it.
• Average is not a great place to live.
• You do not succeed your way to success, you FAIL your way to success.
• What will separate you from your competition is your willingness to do what they will not.
• You can do anything you want if you write it down and come up with a plan
• Never give up! Down is the opportunity to get up!
• You are on this planet to grow spiritually. You have to learn to see down as up, spiritually
• Success is inside of you, let it out!
• When you fail - ask: what happened, and what do I do now?
• If you take action, you can get anything you want within 5 years
• Success is how high you bounce after you hit the bottom - - George Patton
• There are no rags to riches without the rags
• You may not realize that sometimes a kick in the teeth is what's best for you
• Your greatest moments often come after your greatest defeats
• Japanese Etymology for CRISIS is danger + opportunity
• CRISIS: Circumstances Requiring Immediate Shift In Strategy
• Stop obsessing about what is wrong, and focus on what you have that is working.
• We all stink when we start anything. You practice and make time in your day to improve.
• Most realtors want to play the gig (show and list property) instead of practicing (lead generation)
• Change is going to come. It can happen to you, or you can embrace it and deal with it.
• Recession = 2 consecutive quarters with a drop in spending. Real Estate entered recession in Fall of '05
• 50% of homes being sold are to first time buyers, and that # is expected to increase by the end of '09
• You have to do EXTRA to achieve AVERAGE results in this market. What would you have to do to achieve extraordinary results?
• Rule of thumb: for every 10k in price drop, interest rates will increase 1%. The increase in interest will overshadow waiting on the price to drop.
• You have to price ahead of the market
• If people are buying now, they are either dumb, or have a dumb realtor (ouch)
• When the tide goes out, it exposes everyone who is not wearing a bathing suit (the market exposes the agents who are not skilled, and should probably never gotten into the business)
• Why be average when you can be exceptional?
• Always remember, you are striving to have a great career, and not just a great year.
The Six Fundamental Secrets in the SHIFT:
• Little effort becomes habit and leads to little results. Big effort becomes habit and leads to big results. Choose the results you want, then choose the effort.
• Average and below do only what they like to do; people who are above average do what they don't like to do.
• Take responsibility for the outcomes in your life. It's not up to everyone else to create the life you want; it is up to you.
• You've gotten where you are because of what you do. . . and you will stay where you are because of what you do (good, bad or indifferent)
• "It is not necessary to change. Survival is not necessary." -- W Edwards Deming
• "If your ship doesn't come in, swim out to meet it". - Jonathan Winters
• There are no longer enough transactions to go around. Some of the Realtors and real estate companies will not survive.
• Real estate is an industry of perspective. Your role is to be there for the client when things go wrong, not when things go right.
• You need a database. If you don't have a database, you have no relationships . . . and therefore, no business.
• 50% of all sales happen before noon.
• Time management is money management. The way you manage your time will determine your money.
• Most people are not chasing success, they are avoiding it.
• If Realtors do not have active buyers and sellers, that means they are not "working" (lead generating).
Mind Your Own Business!
Most Realtors® believe that because they earn a license that they have simultaneously become a Real Estate Business owner. They have confused having a business with being a part of an industry. Dave Ramsey often says that if you are running a business that is not profitable, you don't own a business . . . you have a really expensive hobby.
Here are some indicators that will help you determine whether you are truly running a business:
Mindset and Attitude: Your mindset predetermines your responses to situations. It is the filter through which you see life. If you are a Realtor®, yet you refuse to exercise self control and mastery over time and task management and lead generation and conversion, you are fooling yourself.
Commitment: Business owners are committed to their business. They continually make investments in that business. They have dedicated office space, state of the art tools, and they are at the cutting edge of industry techniques. They have a course of action that they have charted, and they stick to it.
Focus: Undivided focus and attention to your goals. How well do you know your numbers? How close are you to achieving the goals you set at the beginning of the year? Do you focus on dollar productive activities? Is your business prospecting based and marketing enhanced, or are you one of the bazillion agents who are praying that your phone will ring?
Business Plan: Goals without a timeline and a plan are a wish! If you are a full-fledged business owner, you should have a business plan that contains objectives, budgets, staff/leverage, lead sources, targeted marketing strategies, educational needs, proven systems and models and action plans.
Capital: Legitimate businesses have capital accounts and budgets. They spend by design, not by default. And, they have a rainy day fund. Most Realtors® do not. That is why there was a mass exodus from the industry at the end of 2008 and the beginning of 2009. Companies and agents did not have capital set aside to fund them through the market shift.
Models & Systems: Economic Models (how much money they need to make, and how they will make it), Lead Generation (to help them generate the leads and convert them into dollars), Budget (expenditures that they will have to make to support the budget) and organizational (staffing and leverage to support the tasks necessary to power the other models).
Scorecards / Goal Boards: It is imperative to track your progress DAILY so that you know how far off track you are. Visually define your goals so that tracking is easy! Be able to reconcile every activity with associated results. If actions are not producing results STOP doing them!
Accountability: If you are not holding yourself accountable for results, you are not running a business. Do you do it? Do you own it? No excuses!
Coaching/Consulting: The most successful athletes and businesses hire unbiased, knowledgeable coaches or consultants who will hold them accountable to focusing on dollar productive activities and achieving results. Their mantra is: efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things. Coaches help you become more effective!
Do you own a business? If so, continue to improve it! If not, do you want to? If so, become learning-based, study proven real estate business models, and take the appropriate actions based on where you are today. It will be worth it!
For a complimentary business evaluation, contact me at 615-431-4701 or by email at paulamosley@kw.com or visit my website: rockstarsdothemodels.com.
I offer business consulting services to agents in and around Sumner County, TN. Call me today for a complimentary, confidential consultation about taking your career to the highest level.
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