Articles
What can I Share? Not ‘What Can I Get Selling’
One of the most effective ways to grow your business is to have your existing clients refer new business to you. After all, they are already using your services and continue to do so because they are satisfied in all respects.
People do not have a natural mind set to look for opportunities to refer our ‘service providers’ to colleagues, friends or family. The focus is often on what am I getting not what I can share.
By referring a service provider to someone within your sphere of influence you are achieving three key things.
• You are giving your friend or colleague a chance to use a service or product they may not have been aware of if you had not brought it to their attention – a gift to them!
• You are supporting someone who is currently doing business with you (your service provider) and feeding them additional business.
• And you are fostering a reciprocal arrangement which will start to lead to mutual referrals between two parties that already understand each others businesses. A chance for you to get some business back!
Referrals work in such a simple way but it requires that you first train everyone around you to refer, remember it is not a natural state for them to think this way. This can be done in a couple ways, by referring to them first and by association they will start to see the rewards from this practice. Give and you shall receive!
And secondly by constantly asking all those around you if they know anyone who is thinking of ‘needing your service’ in the near future? A key point here is you are not hounding the person you know to do business with you, you are asking them to refer you to anyone they know who is thinking of needing you in the near future.
Once you get a referral it is very powerful, the new client comes to you with ‘advocacy’ the blessing of your mutual contact, and in many instances will not even bother to get your competition in the door for a comparison. The business is yours!
We have a natural filter in place that stops us seeing this ‘potential business’ which is right in front of us every day.
So we need to first train ourselves, then all around us, to open up this filter and to start looking for potential clients through the people we already know and are already doing business with.
To ensure that you start thinking this way, the first step is to make it a new personal minimum standard to simply ask every person you are in contact with if they know anyone who could use your service in the near future. That’s everyone, even the person at the grocery store checkout, or your lawyer, or your mother! Leave no one out of the equation. Everyday we walk over ‘Fields of Diamonds’ and don’t see these opportunities because we are so busy working to create business, when if we just asked…….?
Old fishermen never lie …..
(Things I’ve learnt about the real estate business from fishermen) written by Tony Rowe
Spend time in a boat with a fisherman and you are bound to get some advice. I’ve spent some time on the Manning, Hastings, Clarence and Richmond Rivers over the years – and some of the advice the old fishermen up along the coast dispense can easily be applied to the real estate business.
They’ve got a lot to say about life, or business, or the universe, when they’re telling you about fishing.
Fishing is a recreational pursuit for many Australians. It is the largest participation sport in the country.
My Dad loves fishing and he’s passed that on. He knows a bit about it, and has dispensed his own advice about how to catch particular fish over the years. He used to beach fish, but doesn’t any more. He would rarely go “black fishing” when we were kids – but likes to now. We used to go fishing on the river bank – but now he’s got a boat. He likes to catch flathead, whiting and bream, but won’t eat them.
He knows what bait to use; where to get the bait (live or not); and knows where the “fish are biting” (even if they’re not, he reckons he does!).
Applying the same principles to the real estate game, a good fisherman can catch whatever they are fishing for. If they have the skills (or know where to get them); if they can apply the knowledge; if they have the right gear (or know where to get it); then it’s likely they’ll eat a hearty meal of good sized fish – as regularly as they like!
The parallels are yours to draw. See how the lessons of fishermen apply to the real estate industry.
There’s a fine line between fishing and just standing on the shore like an idiot.
~ Steven Wright
1. You really need to know what you’re fishing for
a. whatever you’re fishing for, you need to know what it is
b. what it likes to eat
c. when it’s likely to be around
d. what will make it come out of the water for you
2. Decide on the right location for the fish you’re after
a. deep sea, lake, beach, surf
b. river mouth, mountain stream, fresh water, salt water
c. boat or shore
3. Have the right bait
a. know what the fish you’re after like to eat
b. flies, live bait, fresh bait, frozen bait, smelly bait
c. is burly needed
d. make sure the bait is secure on the hook
Good things come to those who bait. ~ Author Unknown
4. Have the right gear
a. rod, reel, handline, net, trap
b. hooks, sinkers, floats
c. dress for the conditions (& recognise that they might change)
d. waders, hat, “aeroguard”, chair
e. have a tackle-box that’s full of options for changing conditions
5. Sometimes the gear gets tangled – know how to sort it out
a. The line can get tangled when pulling ‘em in
b. Be careful when landing the fish, that the line is out of the way
c. Use a net if you have to, to land them
The solution to any problem – work, love, money, whatever – is to go fishing, and the worse the problem, the longer the trip should be. ~ John Gierach
6. Sometimes, you’ll hit a snag – know how to deal with it
a. Hazards are everywhere (rocks on the bottom, floating debris, seaweed, etc) – keep an eye out for them; avoid them if you can
b. Have a contingency plan and supplementary equipment – in case you have to cut the line & lose some gear
7. Don’t jag the line at the first feel of a bite
a. Fish can take your bait, but not the hook
b. Be patient and let the fish swallow the bait (& the hook)
c. Different fish take the bait in different ways – some “strike & run”, others “suck it & see”
d. Make sure the fish is hooked, before you reel it in – or you might lose the bait, your hook & the fish
8. Know the habits of the fish
a. Have an idea where the fish you’re looking for might be
b. “Big Game” fish won’t be found upstream
c. Fresh Water cod won’t be caught off the beach
d. What bait they’ll swallow usually depends on what they like to eat
9. Know the tides
a. It affects when the fish will bite
b. It affects what gear you might use
c. It impacts on the success of your trip
d. It can affect whether you get home!
10. Keep an eye on the sky
a. The weather can change quite quickly
b. That can impact on your capacity to catch the fish you’re after
The charm of fishing is that it is the pursuit of what is elusive but attainable, a perpetual series of occasions for hope. ~John Buchan
11. Big fish are harder to catch than small ones, but you get a bigger meal
a. “Small fish are sweeter” – but they take more bait, more time, more effort, have little bones (which can cause problems for you)
b. When it comes to fish, size does matter!
c. A big trout is better than a small one!
12. Don’t go after bream on a full moon
a. You won’t catch them – they’ll see you see them and go away
b. Small brains they might have, but they still know to run from a predator
13. Bag/size limits are important
a. Ensure there’s a sustainable future for the activity you enjoy so much
b. Leaving the little one in the water for a while longer, means they‘ll grow up into bigger ones for later
c. “There’s plenty of fish in the sea” – being selective about what you catch can be an important distinction between the professional and the amateur
14. Don’t make too much noise; you’ll scare the fish away.
a. It’s quiet in (and on) the water – keep it that way
b. Let the bait & the gear do the talking
15. Be patient
a. That’s part of the exercise
b. Relax, wait, “chill”
c. Good things come to those who wait!
d. Enjoy the experience anyway – full bag or not, enjoy the fishing!
Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. ~ Henry David Thoreau
Skills can be developed; opportunities come our way; circumstances change. The message of people who fish – old & young, men & women – remains pretty much the same: It is a pursuit all can enjoy – if you have the right gear and the right approach, a fishing trip can be just what the doctor ordered!
Tony Rowe is General Manager of Corum Training, a specialist provider of training to the property sector in NSW. Corum Training has fully qualified trainers with extensive knowledge, expertise & experience in the delivery of assessment & training services in real estate across Australia and New Zealand.
Tony can be contacted on 1300 793 723 or www.corumtraining.com.au
Unleashing The Idea Virus
Seth Godins Book ‘Unleashing The Idea Virus’
For your Free Copy download it here.
Godin himself notes that much of the content of his book (and his earlier Permission Marketing) seems obvious. Yet, as he goes on to show convincingly, that which is obvious has rarely been practiced. When you read Godin’s thoughts about permission marketing and ideaviruses, they may sound obvious yet almost all marketers continue to throw huge sums of money at old-fashioned interruption marketing. The infamous peak of this was the spurt of expensive Superbowl ads by transient e-tailers.
Like his previous book, Godin’s Unleashing the Ideavirus entertains the reader while successfully setting off bursts of ideas along the way. Rather than marketing at the consumer, Godin’s approach seeks to maximize the spread of information from customer to customer. The book provides the expected examples of successful ideavirus marketing, then develops a recipe for concocting your own ideaviruses. In order to show how to make your idea infectious, the book examines what makes a powerful ’sneezer’, how ‘hives’ work, and applies the concepts of critical velocity, vector, medium, smoothness, persistence, and amplifiers. As Godin shows, the now-familiar idea of viral marketing is one very specific form of ideavirus marketing. Most businesses will not be able to engage in true viral marketing, but all can use the ideavirus approach.
While you may finish Unleashing the Ideavirus thinking that you really did not learn anything drastically new, it is unlikely that you will feel that you’ve wasted your time. Godin has once again written an enjoyable book that cleverly packages important ideas that have obvious practical use. Any book like this that causes the reader to continually stop and rapidly jot down ideas to implement is well worth the hour or two it takes to read.
Reviewer:Max More, Ph.D. from Marina del Rey, CA USA
Getting out of your own way
One of the major obstacles we have to overcome is our selves. We simply get in the way of our own journey.
This style of obstruction comes mostly from our belief systems, what we believe to be true, even if it is completely wrong. For many of us, these beliefs, about what is fair, the way things work, or what we deserve or can expect, are in place by the time we reach our late teens. The problem is most of them are wrong, in some cases not just a little bit off the mark but up to 180 degrees away from reality.
Carrying around these beliefs is in effect a disability, as it restricts us in our ability to make an informed decision about the next best move forward.
Often our beliefs are passed on by those around us. These people may be seriously under qualified to give an opinion and they just continue their cycle of belief through into us. What they know and believe may once have been true; but could now be a generation out of date, and has long been passed by with the advance of discoveries in technology, science, medicine or finance, to name a few.
The dream we have, to achieve something specific in our lives, can be easily quashed by someone near to us who doesn’t believe it is possible and voices that opinion. A dream can be diverted or diluted by someone who wants to protect us from failure and so convinces us to take a safer option. The result in the end can be a journey much further away from our original goal, so far in fact that the end result is the ‘other person safe dream’, not ours.
Many wonderful singers, who as children may have taken the brave step to sing out loud only to be told, it wasn’t good enough, or to be laughed at for trying, quietly retreat away, never to sing again.
When people pass comment about us, they are telling us all about themselves. The person, who told the child they couldn’t sing, didn’t want to sing themselves. Or did want to sing, but didn’t have the courage. They passed on their beliefs and fears to the child. The result a disaster for both parties!
So the first step to success is being careful who you share your dreams with, make sure they are people who will support you on the journey, and that they will be able to put wind under your wings.
The next step is to ensure that if you need advice; to only get it from someone skilled in that area. Why would you take financial advice from someone poorer than you? Why would you take medical advice from a builder, or take real estate advice from a restaurateur.
So you can see how others can affect your journey, and that can be much easier to see because you will have someone ‘external’ to blame.
You need to remain totally focussed on the outcome of your goal or your dream and no matter what, no matter who tries to divert you, who tries to dilute it or who tries to contain it or whoever tries to quash it, you remain true to yourself and to your dream!
But what about yourself? The number one internal terrorist to achieving your dreams!
The last step is to deal with your internal conflict, and perhaps the greatest hurdle to overcome, is getting started then sticking to the plan. A test I like to use when I have to complete a task that I don’t really want to do, but needs to be completed to get me one more step closer to my end goal is the ‘Pleasure or Pain’ test.
It is simply this, no matter how bad the next task is, how much I fear it or how much it puts me out of my comfort zone, – will the end result be more pleasurable of more painful to me.
If it is going to be more pleasurable then I do it. If the end result is more painful I don’t. Everyone will have an opinion about why it can or can’t be done. You will be bombarded with facts and figure, opinions, strategies and ideas but….
Just remember this!
“If the dream is big enough – the facts don’t matter”
The Power of Written Testimonials
Sales people often make the big mistake of trying to build a successful career on their own, without any help from their ‘Sphere of influence’.
Well a big part of that Sphere of influence is their current and previous clients. These people, if you have done your job well should be very happy with your service and the results you have achieved for them.
It’s just not practical to have everyone phone up your past clients for a reference so the answer is to ensure that you obtain a written testimonial that can be used many times, over and over again, during your sales career
The best time to ask for a testimonial is in the ‘post deal’ 24 hours of euphoria’. A good technique is to simply ask your clients if they were happy with your service. The answer will undoubtedly be yes!
At this point the trick is to ask the vendors straight up if they would be happy to give you a written testimonial to use at your next client appointment?
Of course they will be willing, but a big mistake would be to leave the request at that, in the hope that at some time in the future the testimonial will arrive in the mail.
No, the best solution is to let your clients know when your next appointment is, and that you would love to collect the testimonial from them prior to that, so you can use it to get this new listing on-board.
Perhaps it is this Thursday at 5pm. This clearly gives the vendor a time frame to work within and they will feel obligated to perform to this measure.
If they need help with writing one, you may like to leave your current testimonial book with them to give them some ideas of the style of writing that is required. Another good idea is to have the testimonial ‘undated’ so that it remains timeless.
You may collect a large amount of testimonials this year, but they don’t look to good a few years later. It says you were good back then, but are you still good now?
Getting the content right is important too. You may also like to prompt the vendors to mention how well you negotiated the price for them, or how the marketing campaign was such a success? How creative your marketing was or how reliable and efficient and you were.
If you employ assistants it may be best not to have their individual names included in case they later leave, making this letter out of date too? Perhaps just mention ‘your team’
Create a series of books with copies of all your testimonials, (keeping the original safe and sound) have at least 10 ready to go, so these can be sent out with your presentation.
You will need to have a few in the system, as not all of them will come back, especially if sent off to out of town clients.
What is a written testimonial worth? I estimate that each letter is worth at least $20,000, probably double that. Quite simply it can mean the difference between getting the business and missing out all together.
Using a testimonial book is a powerful selling strategy, especially if you know you are up against a competitor who the client is yet to meet; The script here is to remind the client to ensure they ask the other sales person to show them their testimonial book. And if they can’t produce one, then to ask them why?
Robert Yates once said
“It is amazing what can be accomplished when nobody cares about who gets the credit.”
Teamwork
One of the most difficult things for a business to do (but one of the most important, as well) is to develop a strong team ethic and a whole team focus on the activity of the business.
It can have a serious impact on the success of a business operation if there is a “team of individuals”, rather than “individuals who are part of a team”.
There is no “I” in “team”, so if there is a person on the team who does not understand the contribution, importance and functions of all the other members of the team in the success of the team – then that is likely to be where a problem occurs in the cohesiveness of the team, and therefore, in the effectiveness of the business operations.
Being part of a team means more than wearing the corporate uniform or logo. It is important to have a shared understanding of, and commitment to, the goals of the organisation.
This shared focus has to come from all those who are part of the organisation – senior members of the team pass their knowledge and understanding of the team culture onto newer members of the team. This transfer of culture and spirit is a time-honored tradition!
To fill a vacancy on the team with an “outsider” who has not had some induction to the way the organisation functions can be a recipe for disaster. Even a “marquee player” (a crowd favourite, capable of bringing lots of additional sponsorship dollars) can be a liability if the other members of the team and support personnel are put offside by the marquee player’s attitude and behaviour.
We could draw some pretty interesting sporting analogies from this. Any sporting team relies on the collective contribution of all members to achieve success. Stronger performers stand out, but they can also be called upon (relied upon, if it’s a good team) to compensate and accommodate the weaker performers until the weaker members are able to reach the required standard.
It doesn’t take long for most people to recall some sporting team or event where the result was not what was expected – and the result was determined by the team not functioning as it should have on the day, or by an individual not performing up to the standard expected. There may well have been many explanations for that sub-standard performance, but fact remains, the team lost!
Training & development is essential. Performance under “match conditions” is desirable before the real game. It would be foolhardy to put an unknown performer into a grand final situation without having been trained and tested for their skill level at some stage prior to (or as part of) the selection in the team.
Role plays, scripts & dialogue training, presentation skills all contribute to the “tool box” of skills of the polished performer. Some require less training than others; there are some “naturals” in most fields; but mostly what is required is hard work and plenty of preparation before someone is able to claim the mantle of “expert” – or even to claim to be “proficient”.
To be able to provide a development pathway for junior staff is a great incentive for business to lift their staff retention rate. There’s plenty of discussion about how to deal with Gen X-ers and Gen Y’s. Baby boomers are not necessarily the easiest in the world to deal with either. An individual approach is generally required in this industry – one size does not fit all.
An attitude of “my way or the highway” is likely to generate some significant staff turnover and the costs to any business associated with a high staff turnover rate are not small! It might be worth the investment to ensure the people selected to work for your organisation are suitable in the first place, and that there is a serious induction program, possibly a mentoring program, and most definitely, some regular monitoring of progress with a view to developing staff skills so that they don’t become another turnover statistic.
Real estate is a people focussed industry. The “marquee players” all have very effective support teams working with and for them. They have become “marquee players” because of the development processes and programs that they have gone through. Their skill and knowledge was gained, usually, over a long period of time. There are very few instances of an “overnight success”.
A development pathway for staff should encourage both formal and informal learning. Sometimes, new staff learn more via the informal pathway, than they do in a formal situation. It is important to recognise the value and import of both.
“Monkey see, monkey do” may or may not be what is required in your agency! It all depends on what monkey sees! Formal development can occur in staff meetings or mentoring sessions; it could even happen in a CPD session (if you are lucky!)
Correct selection of mentor/trainer/coach is important to the success of any development program. The coaching staff have a major influence on the outcome of an athlete’s performance. Going beyond the sporting field, film directors and orchestra conductors also impact on the actual performance of those under their care. So it is with the principals, Licensees-in charge, and/or office managers when it comes to effective and efficient agency operations.
“Climate control” is an essential element to the smooth functioning of any business. It is especially so in a real estate office where pressure can mount pretty quickly in a variety of circumstances. This needs to be controlled. Climate can also be defined as morale – and if morale is high, then things will flow smoothly. If morale is suffering a little (for whatever of a myriad of reasons) then it can turn the heat up quickly – often without much of a cause!
Team morale is important. Victories should be celebrated and shared. Those who have contributed should be recognised. Losses should be shared as well – a burden shared, is load lessened.
The whole team has contributed (in varying degrees, of course) to the outcome in some way, shape or form. Whether it was a victory or a loss, the outcome should be analysed and lessons learnt from the whole process. What worked well? What could do with improvement? What strategy/technique should not be repeated under similar circumstances? If the “post mortem” is kept positive, then the outcomes will be beneficial to the whole team.
The team culture is an important consideration as well. The beliefs, rituals and values that underpin how things are done are as much a sign of your business principles and practices as the branding and logo of your business. The development of a team culture, and the projection of that culture to the community your business services, is important to the longevity and success of that business.
Business owners should focus on the team outcomes. Individual performance is important too – and a development process is important to the achievement of the team goals.
Use whatever development processes are suitable (training, coaching, mentoring, role plays, demonstrations) but remember, they are tools – a means to an end. The end result is the success of the business – and the individual performances that lead to the success of that business are important and should be recognised and rewarded.
Everyone can find areas for improvement. Sometimes, large-scale change is required. At other times, specific pressure points require attention. This may involve individuals, organisational units or processes. Whatever it is, review and revise constantly to ensure you “stay ahead of the game” and ahead of your competition.
Tony Rowe is General Manager of Corum Training, a specialist provider of training to the property sector in NSW. Corum Training has fully qualified trainers with extensive knowledge, expertise & experience in the delivery of assessment & training services in real estate across Australia and New Zealand.
Tony can be contacted on 1300 793 723 or www.corumtraining.com.au
The Charity Auction Report
In the 5 page report find out how to organize and run one of the best community marketing strategies in the real estate industry – the Charity Auction.
We all know that to often real estate agents are labeled as, take, take, take but now is the time to position yourself as one of the few that actually give back to the community that funds your personal success. Find out how to get started in community marketing, how to gather people around you to create this event and most importantly how to promote it to be an annual must attend event in your town.
An event branded by you, owned by you, but for the benefit of the people in your town.
Fast track your community marketing program by ordering your copy today and get started this very week to select the charity who will benefit from your efforts.
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This is eaxctly it. It's not about the price or the house it's the reason why they are selling. 
