What is the one quality that most massively successful people share?
Specialization! Think about it. Doctors specialize in every part of the body imaginable. Podiatrists, cardiologists, neurologists, and many more specialized doctors pursue successful careers. Attorneys also practice a multitude of disciplines within the profession. Many lawyers make great livings dealing with only one narrow area of the law. By doing one thing extremely well, all these people make their careers. They use their strengths to full advantage.
Businesspeople are really starting to take on this concept, particularly in real estate. Today, many of the top agents are specialists in one field or another. One markets luxury homes only. Another spends her efforts helping people buy their first homes. They take time to gain certifications and other ongoing training in their specialties. They focus their marketing efforts on one to three niches, around which they center their business.
The benefits of a highly specialized mindset are far reaching. First and foremost, as a specialist, you are able to provide the very best available service in your specialty. Great service leads to repeat business, which leads to less effort spent on prospecting. Marketing costs are also lower when marketing a niche rather than city-wide mass marketing.
Of course, there may be aspects of business that an agent just doesn’t care for, but are necessary. That’s where teams come into play. Great team leaders learn to delegate the duties that they are weaker at or simply do not enjoy. A smart agent will spend their time doing the tasks they are strong at, like dealing with clients and negotiations, and will delegate escrow or some other task he or she doesn’t enjoy to a team member that excels at it. By funneling tasks to the team members who enjoy or are skilled with them, the team maximizes its strengths. Its energy and enthusiasm is raised, too, because everyone is working on the things they enjoy.
Life is short. Why not make the most of it by creating a business that nurtures your skills and desires? Hire and train a team that complements your skills. You’ll have more success, more happiness, and more time for your the things you care most about.
-Gina
Related Posts: Finding Your Niche, Strategies for Brand Development, Find the Right Prospects with the Right List.
Showing posts with label Time Management. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Time Management. Show all posts
Becoming a Billion-Dollar Agent
What does it take to become a billion-dollar real estate agent? Logistically, it requires you and your team selling 50-million dollars every year for 20 years. However, the systems and mindsets such prodigious success requires are somewhat easier to achieve.
Bernice Ross lays out some of the key traits of real estate's biggest earners in her Inman News review of Steve Kantor's new book, Billion Dollar Agent -- Lessons Learned. Let's look at some excerpts from the review.
"What does it take to sell a billion dollars worth of real estate? Steve Kantor's new book, Billion Dollar Agent -- Lessons Learned, contains a revealing series of interviews with elite agents who have sold a billion dollars worth of real estate or are en route to do so. What's particularly intriguing is how forthcoming the agents were in terms of how they built their businesses, what their ratios were of referrals to new business, and most importantly, what they actually did to achieve this level of success.
A key theme in the book is to build your business on your passion and to delegate everything else. You cannot succeed at this level without a strong support team. Another important theme is that the billion-dollar agents wished they had hired their first assistant sooner. A sizeable majority saw an immediate increase in their business when they hired their first assistant.
Another shared trait is having written goals. According to Brad Korb at RE/MAX in Burbank, Calif., 'Ninety-seven percent of those who have written goals achieve them. Only 3 percent of those without written goals achieve their goals. Write down your major definite purpose in life every day and write 10 ways to get to it. … I have business goals, workout goals, spiritual-time goals, family-time goals and financial goals.'
Billion-dollar agents also take time to 'work on' their business rather than just 'working in' their business.... This process is especially important in achieving high levels of production. Taking time to plan allows you to create systems that save time, create order in your business and improve efficiency.
Kantor draws an interesting distinction between what he calls 'hunters' and 'farmers.' Hunters actively prospect for new business by calling on expired listings, for-sale-by-owners and door-knocking, and continuing to call Web leads until they make personal contact. In contrast, 'farmers' rely more on regular contact within their sphere of influence. Based upon the interviews, a sizeable majority of the billion-dollar agents were hunters. As Kantor puts it, 'Almost every billion-dollar agent is a hunter -- an extreme hunter. You would not go hungry on an island stranded with a billion-dollar agent. If there is meat running around the island, they will hunt it down, close the deal and bring home the bacon.'
Another shared characteristic is that these agents are voracious learners. They are always hunting for the next idea that will improve their business. Many of them also have both personal and business coaches. A high percentage attributed their success to the coaching they received.
It's not all business for these agents, however. Over half are actively involved in charity or in other events that allow them to share their abundance with those who are less fortunate than they are.
What holds ordinary agents back? According to Billion Dollar Agent -- Lessons Learned, the most commonly cited reasons were:
1. They fail to follow-up.
2. They lack negotiation skills.
3. They don't put the clients' interests first.
4. They lack listening and communication skills.
5. They don't stay in regular contact."
Related Posts: It's About Speed, The "P" Word.
Bernice Ross lays out some of the key traits of real estate's biggest earners in her Inman News review of Steve Kantor's new book, Billion Dollar Agent -- Lessons Learned. Let's look at some excerpts from the review.
"What does it take to sell a billion dollars worth of real estate? Steve Kantor's new book, Billion Dollar Agent -- Lessons Learned, contains a revealing series of interviews with elite agents who have sold a billion dollars worth of real estate or are en route to do so. What's particularly intriguing is how forthcoming the agents were in terms of how they built their businesses, what their ratios were of referrals to new business, and most importantly, what they actually did to achieve this level of success.
A key theme in the book is to build your business on your passion and to delegate everything else. You cannot succeed at this level without a strong support team. Another important theme is that the billion-dollar agents wished they had hired their first assistant sooner. A sizeable majority saw an immediate increase in their business when they hired their first assistant.
Another shared trait is having written goals. According to Brad Korb at RE/MAX in Burbank, Calif., 'Ninety-seven percent of those who have written goals achieve them. Only 3 percent of those without written goals achieve their goals. Write down your major definite purpose in life every day and write 10 ways to get to it. … I have business goals, workout goals, spiritual-time goals, family-time goals and financial goals.'
Billion-dollar agents also take time to 'work on' their business rather than just 'working in' their business.... This process is especially important in achieving high levels of production. Taking time to plan allows you to create systems that save time, create order in your business and improve efficiency.
Kantor draws an interesting distinction between what he calls 'hunters' and 'farmers.' Hunters actively prospect for new business by calling on expired listings, for-sale-by-owners and door-knocking, and continuing to call Web leads until they make personal contact. In contrast, 'farmers' rely more on regular contact within their sphere of influence. Based upon the interviews, a sizeable majority of the billion-dollar agents were hunters. As Kantor puts it, 'Almost every billion-dollar agent is a hunter -- an extreme hunter. You would not go hungry on an island stranded with a billion-dollar agent. If there is meat running around the island, they will hunt it down, close the deal and bring home the bacon.'
Another shared characteristic is that these agents are voracious learners. They are always hunting for the next idea that will improve their business. Many of them also have both personal and business coaches. A high percentage attributed their success to the coaching they received.
It's not all business for these agents, however. Over half are actively involved in charity or in other events that allow them to share their abundance with those who are less fortunate than they are.
What holds ordinary agents back? According to Billion Dollar Agent -- Lessons Learned, the most commonly cited reasons were:
1. They fail to follow-up.
2. They lack negotiation skills.
3. They don't put the clients' interests first.
4. They lack listening and communication skills.
5. They don't stay in regular contact."
Related Posts: It's About Speed, The "P" Word.
What is Your Time Worth?
Do you feel like you need 30 hours in the day just to catch up? Many agents find themselves stretched thin with responsibilities, without seeing the financial payoff for their efforts. Dirk Zeller shares steps to making your time worthwhile in his article in Broker Agent News:
"The first step to time mastery is knowing what you are worth per hour. By knowing what you actually get paid per hour, you will be able to make wise decisions about your activities. To figure out what you make per hour, take your gross commission (that's before company split) and divide it by the number of hours worked. To find hours worked, take the number of hours you work in a day, multiply by the days you work in a week and the number of weeks you work per year, and then divide that into your gross commission.
If we know our value per hour then we will be able to evaluate what we do on a basis of "Does it really pay me that amount per hour?" Let's say you make $50 an hour. There are only certain activities in selling real estate that will pay you that $50 per hour. The rule is if you would not pay someone $50 to do it, neither will anyone else—which means that you will not be earning your $50 an hour doing those specific activities. For example, making flyers, inputting listings into magazines, putting together bulk mail, and typing letters are all activities that I think would not pay anyone $50 an hour. We all know these have to be done. The question is do you have to do them? The second question is can I spend less time doing them?
We are all squeezed by time. We all can feel there are not enough hours in the day. We all feel the tug of our family and business and the battle for abundance in both areas. If you truly want to find a few hours daily, do this next action plan.
We call this exercise "Task Analysis". What you are doing is taking a look at what you clearly do each day. Not guessing what you are doing but knowing what is happening. Take an old day timer page and make a few copies. Then every 15-30 minutes, write down what you are doing. Track this process for 2 weeks. This process will enable you to know with certainty where you are investing your time. You will be amazed as to the allocation of your time. For most Agents who have completed this task, they find 10-20 hours weekly that can be better spent. That's anywhere from 25%-50% increased efficiency when fully implemented. To know what that really means to you in dollars, multiply your gross commission by 25%. That is what you can earn in addition this year without more expenses and without the latest marketing gimmicks. The best part is that you are in total control of that number. The market, your broker, the buyers and sellers have no effect on your ability to increase your income by the amount you wrote down.
Work diligently on the task analysis process. Really track the activities and the time invested in each. Then, at the end of each week, add up the time spent in each activity. Ask yourself these questions:
1. Am I getting paid ____ per hour for each activity?
2. How can I reduce the time I am spending in each activity that pays less than ___?
3. Do I really need to do this activity?
4. Can I get someone else to do this activity?
Knowing what you are worth per hour and what you are investing your work time in are the first two steps to time-mastery. Once you have started down the road to time-mastery, you are moving toward sales mastery and then life mastery. Know that your time is the most valuable resource you have. Start the process to reclaim more of it today."
"The first step to time mastery is knowing what you are worth per hour. By knowing what you actually get paid per hour, you will be able to make wise decisions about your activities. To figure out what you make per hour, take your gross commission (that's before company split) and divide it by the number of hours worked. To find hours worked, take the number of hours you work in a day, multiply by the days you work in a week and the number of weeks you work per year, and then divide that into your gross commission.
If we know our value per hour then we will be able to evaluate what we do on a basis of "Does it really pay me that amount per hour?" Let's say you make $50 an hour. There are only certain activities in selling real estate that will pay you that $50 per hour. The rule is if you would not pay someone $50 to do it, neither will anyone else—which means that you will not be earning your $50 an hour doing those specific activities. For example, making flyers, inputting listings into magazines, putting together bulk mail, and typing letters are all activities that I think would not pay anyone $50 an hour. We all know these have to be done. The question is do you have to do them? The second question is can I spend less time doing them?
We are all squeezed by time. We all can feel there are not enough hours in the day. We all feel the tug of our family and business and the battle for abundance in both areas. If you truly want to find a few hours daily, do this next action plan.
We call this exercise "Task Analysis". What you are doing is taking a look at what you clearly do each day. Not guessing what you are doing but knowing what is happening. Take an old day timer page and make a few copies. Then every 15-30 minutes, write down what you are doing. Track this process for 2 weeks. This process will enable you to know with certainty where you are investing your time. You will be amazed as to the allocation of your time. For most Agents who have completed this task, they find 10-20 hours weekly that can be better spent. That's anywhere from 25%-50% increased efficiency when fully implemented. To know what that really means to you in dollars, multiply your gross commission by 25%. That is what you can earn in addition this year without more expenses and without the latest marketing gimmicks. The best part is that you are in total control of that number. The market, your broker, the buyers and sellers have no effect on your ability to increase your income by the amount you wrote down.
Work diligently on the task analysis process. Really track the activities and the time invested in each. Then, at the end of each week, add up the time spent in each activity. Ask yourself these questions:
1. Am I getting paid ____ per hour for each activity?
2. How can I reduce the time I am spending in each activity that pays less than ___?
3. Do I really need to do this activity?
4. Can I get someone else to do this activity?
Knowing what you are worth per hour and what you are investing your work time in are the first two steps to time-mastery. Once you have started down the road to time-mastery, you are moving toward sales mastery and then life mastery. Know that your time is the most valuable resource you have. Start the process to reclaim more of it today."
Looking Towards 2007 and Beyond
I use to be jealous of my sister. She is a professor at an east coast university, Old Dominion in Norfolk, VA to be specific. Every year she has three opportuntities to start over: January, June and September. She gets to put a lesson plan together and then gets to follow a path to educate her students. If she follows the lesson plan, her semester has been a success. Wow, a plan that doesn't change every 4 hours. I think I miss that -- sometimes.
I use to think that in business you never really got to start over. You just kept plugging away. But, reality is, in business we get to start over each and every month, day, and in some cases each and every hour!
My goal moving forward is to look at each moment as a NEW YEAR. I get to come in to the office and focus my efforts on doing the things that I need to to do to reach my goals, whether they be yearly, monthly, weekly or daily. (It's a sickness, I know.)
Whether I like it or not, in business you have to focus on the moments. You have to focus on doing what you need to do today... this day... to reach your numbers for the year. If you don't do what you need to do today at this moment, your numbers on December 31 will be off. It stinks, but it is reality.
I equate this feeling to running a marathon that never ends. I think that goes back to how I was raised. My dad would pat us on the back and tell us what a great job we did on whatever it was... winning a racquetball tournament, or making good grades. The next thing out of his mouth was... "what's next?"
In business, stopping to relish in your success too long just gives your competition the chance to pass you by. While we all need the time to rejuvenate and refresh, just remember, that if you get stuck in what you just did, that allows someone else to take the opportunity and run with it. If it isn't me, it will be someone else... and frankly... it should be me. AND, it should be you.
Have a great New Year... I mean day... I mean moment!
I use to think that in business you never really got to start over. You just kept plugging away. But, reality is, in business we get to start over each and every month, day, and in some cases each and every hour!
My goal moving forward is to look at each moment as a NEW YEAR. I get to come in to the office and focus my efforts on doing the things that I need to to do to reach my goals, whether they be yearly, monthly, weekly or daily. (It's a sickness, I know.)
Whether I like it or not, in business you have to focus on the moments. You have to focus on doing what you need to do today... this day... to reach your numbers for the year. If you don't do what you need to do today at this moment, your numbers on December 31 will be off. It stinks, but it is reality.
I equate this feeling to running a marathon that never ends. I think that goes back to how I was raised. My dad would pat us on the back and tell us what a great job we did on whatever it was... winning a racquetball tournament, or making good grades. The next thing out of his mouth was... "what's next?"
In business, stopping to relish in your success too long just gives your competition the chance to pass you by. While we all need the time to rejuvenate and refresh, just remember, that if you get stuck in what you just did, that allows someone else to take the opportunity and run with it. If it isn't me, it will be someone else... and frankly... it should be me. AND, it should be you.
Have a great New Year... I mean day... I mean moment!
It's About Speed
I'm a marketer and I'm a manufacturer and in the manufacturing world it's all about speed. AND, it's really the same in the marketing and sales world as well. How fast can I get a new listing? How fast can I find these buyers a home? How fast can I get my prospecting calls made?
The reality of life is that time is finite. You never get a moment back. If you could complete a task in 2 hours, but you spend 3 hours doing it you have LOST the opportunity that hour had to offer you. You can calculate the cost of that hour very simply. Many people would tell you to take your gross income, divide by 50 (weeks in a year with a 2 week vacation) and divide that by 40 (hours in a week).
I tell people to take the gross income YOU WANT TO MAKE, divide by 50 and divide by 40. That is the true opportunity cost as far as a sales person goes.
Here are my 5 advice points for a sales person trying to attack their market FAST...
Don't spend hours working on a marketing plan - or days - or weeks - or months. I've had clients who have spent years trying to get "the perfect plan together". Call someone who can help you make it happen FAST. Of course I'd like you to call Mail Print - but whether you pay my team to do it or you pay someone else to do it - just get it done.
When you have a bunch of calls to make, get through them as FAST as possible. If you can dial at a rate of 20 dials an hour and you have 100 calls to make, see if you can get it done in 4 1/2 hours. Get somewhere quiet, focus, have your list together and sit down and get to dialing. I know you hate it, no one loves it, but it is the sure path to sales success.
Get a monthly mailing program going to your past clients and key referral sources. YES MONTHLY. Don't waste your effort on quarterly or every other month. Would you spend $8 on a client? Of course you would... That's all it costs to mail to a client every month for a year. Set it up and get it done. Of course, Mail Print can help with that, but whether you use MPI, do it yourself or pay someone else to do it...Make it happen!
Get away from non-winners. If you work in a bullpen setting and there are wannabes around you - you know the type of sales people (and I use that term loosely) I'm talking about - the ones who read the paper and think great thoughts, but never take action and make only moderate incomes - get away from them. Beg your way into another area - or work out of a conference room or at home. Surround yourself with success and it will help drive you forward.
Do at least three specific things each day to generate new business. These must be things that you can control. Decide what those three things are and make sure that you do them. Here are a few things... (the xx's are a number that you determine you can achieve)
The reality of life is that time is finite. You never get a moment back. If you could complete a task in 2 hours, but you spend 3 hours doing it you have LOST the opportunity that hour had to offer you. You can calculate the cost of that hour very simply. Many people would tell you to take your gross income, divide by 50 (weeks in a year with a 2 week vacation) and divide that by 40 (hours in a week).
I tell people to take the gross income YOU WANT TO MAKE, divide by 50 and divide by 40. That is the true opportunity cost as far as a sales person goes.
Here are my 5 advice points for a sales person trying to attack their market FAST...
Don't spend hours working on a marketing plan - or days - or weeks - or months. I've had clients who have spent years trying to get "the perfect plan together". Call someone who can help you make it happen FAST. Of course I'd like you to call Mail Print - but whether you pay my team to do it or you pay someone else to do it - just get it done.
When you have a bunch of calls to make, get through them as FAST as possible. If you can dial at a rate of 20 dials an hour and you have 100 calls to make, see if you can get it done in 4 1/2 hours. Get somewhere quiet, focus, have your list together and sit down and get to dialing. I know you hate it, no one loves it, but it is the sure path to sales success.
Get a monthly mailing program going to your past clients and key referral sources. YES MONTHLY. Don't waste your effort on quarterly or every other month. Would you spend $8 on a client? Of course you would... That's all it costs to mail to a client every month for a year. Set it up and get it done. Of course, Mail Print can help with that, but whether you use MPI, do it yourself or pay someone else to do it...Make it happen!
Get away from non-winners. If you work in a bullpen setting and there are wannabes around you - you know the type of sales people (and I use that term loosely) I'm talking about - the ones who read the paper and think great thoughts, but never take action and make only moderate incomes - get away from them. Beg your way into another area - or work out of a conference room or at home. Surround yourself with success and it will help drive you forward.
Do at least three specific things each day to generate new business. These must be things that you can control. Decide what those three things are and make sure that you do them. Here are a few things... (the xx's are a number that you determine you can achieve)
- Hand out XX business cards each day.
- Make XX calls to past clients.
- Make XX calls to current clients.
- Make XX calls to prospects.
- Flier XX houses each day.
- Reconnect with one person from your past.
- Send XX hand written notes each day.
I know many top sales people who have a list similar to this that they've created and each day they do not go to bed until they have achieved three of the business generating tasks on this list. They also make a game out of this action that they play with themselves. "Can I get my three business building actions done by noon?"
With all that said... do what you need to do to be successful and do it FAST!
Posts related to the topic: Cost-Effective Marketing Teqniques, The Power of Direct Mail,
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