Author: Special Contributor

Become a top agent in any market: Winning strategies to double your income in 2023

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by Sherri Johnson

As you maximize the remainder of 2022 and prepare your business plan for 2023, I want to share six proven success strategies. They will help you double (or even triple) your business, work less while making more, experience less stress, be more proactive and build a recession-proof, financial crisis-proof and virtually anything-proof real estate business.

For your next 10 deals, set weekly and monthly lead goals. Most agents look at how many homes they have sold in the past tense. You need to be totally focused on future opportunities and be hyperfocused on where your next 10 deals are coming from. Have your agents focus on building a pipeline of potential listing and buyer leads. They need to focus on NEW business, and not just focus on what they have sold or focus all their time on closings. Focusing on “lead” goals ensures you are always looking for more client relationships for the months to come.

You’re sitting on a gold mine. Build your $10, $20, $50 or $100+ million pipeline of buyer and seller leads. You have more lead opportunities than you realize. Go through your database of clients you sold homes to, open house registration lists, emails, texts and your CRM, and build your pipeline. You will be so amazed what your total pipeline is worth in potential business. Keep track of these leads and convert them into appointments. Download a complimentary e-book at www.goldminepipeline.com, and start using it immediately to grow your pipeline quickly.

Avoid the “three eggs in a basket” mentality. Don’t make the mistake of only paying attention to and servicing 3-5 seemingly “A” motivated buyers. The proverbial roller coaster ride of selling a house one month, then not selling any houses after, ensues. If those people buy a home, great; you have a couple sales and closings. But now you have no pipeline and must start over prospecting. When you always have a larger, wider-cast list of potential buyer and seller leads, you will create listings and sales, prompting your own success.

Sell 3-5 homes from every sale. You should be selling 3-5 additional homes for every listing or sale by maximizing those listings and sales and generating buyer and listing leads from those sales. Too often, agents are only focused on the sale at hand — the sale that they just completed, and that is the end of it, and no further opportunities were created. This is the case with most agents.

Create a 95%-referral business. Top agents create clients for life. They also create more business opportunities from their clients and create a 90-95% referral rate. Their business is coming from their services, their relationships and their constant connection with their sphere of influence and clients. Everyone they create these relationships with knows their unique value proposition and willingly refers everyone they know to buy and sell through this agent. You can create clients for life and referrals from your sphere by being intentional with a plan. Top agents connect with their sphere and client base at minimum twice per month. These connections can be digital, mail, phone call, text, in-person meetings, client and sphere appreciation events, email … the list goes on and on. Create your intentional plan to connect with your clients, your sphere and your vendors, and create value for these people. You can create a VIP loyalty group and thank your referrals with fantastic gifts and surprise value.

Set a weekly listing appointment goal. If you set only one goal every week, that one goal should be to set a weekly listing appointment goal for a certain number of listing appointments you schedule in your calendar. This is the highest-dollar-producing activity you can do for yourself. Hit this number each week, and you will be a listing machine. For example, if you set a weekly goal of having four conversations or appointments to see homes and talk to sellers, that equates to 16 listing appointments in a month. You will list upward of six new listings per month. This strategy works and will double your listings.

Sherri Johnson is the CEO and founder of Sherri Johnson Coaching & Consulting.

Does recruiting REALLY solve everything?

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By Ken Goodfellow

For years there has been a pat answer from many in the know — that whatever problems you are having with your brokerage could be solved with enhanced recruiting. As a brokerage owner (in the past), I bought into this theory, and my group was highly focused on growth through recruiting.

All good, right? Not entirely. If you are great at bringing talent in BUT not great at keeping them, then there’s an issue. The time and effort it takes to acquire new talent are extensive. New talent energizes (if they are the right choice) and helps with growth. Attrition, on the other hand, must be kept under control, or you are wasting your time. Whether you make the decision or they do, normal attrition makes sense and will strengthen and make your brokerage more attractive. However, if the number of people walking out the back door is high or sometimes exceeds those coming in the front door, there’s a problem.

It’s critical that you have a plan for retention. Brokers can be guilty of dedicating resources to acquiring new talent and using limited efforts to retain those who are already successfully working in our brokerage. Our agents do the same thing! I see marketing budgets all the time that pour resources into acquiring new clients while past clients get little attention.

Let’s talk about some ideas on how to retain the great talent we have.

Recognition: A program that recognizes people for performance, initiative, kindness or any other desirable trait or action is golden. We all want to feel that we are noticed and celebrated within our group and in the outside world. For example, years ago, companies were implementing the “Fish! Philosophy.” My wife helped implement this in 14 offices in Detroit, and it was really effective. One of the principles was “make their day.” The awareness of making someone’s day special was everywhere. This is a powerful message and contributes greatly to a strong culture.

Culture: When you have a great culture that is celebrated and lived daily in your company, people will notice, and it does help with retention. Sit down with several people in your company (sales, admin, management) to explore your existing culture, what you want it to be and how you make that happen. Establishing a “culture club” can help revitalize how we work and play, and after what we’ve been through for the past couple of years, it’s a great time to explore how to make your culture dynamic and inclusive.

Skills training: For many, the last few years were a blessing and a curse. Business exploded, and many people had the best years they’ve ever experienced. However, what I am seeing right now is that skills have slipped dramatically and desperately need work. You likely have many people who have few years in the business and are now struggling to survive. Help them now before someone else offers them a lifeline. A weekly training calendar is essential.

Sales meetings: If you can hold a magnificent sales meeting, my hat is off to you. Too many meetings are boring, lack meaningful information and can be considered a waste of everyone’s time. I have attended many sales meetings and asked hundreds of agents what they think of their office meetings. The responses are generally not very positive. Meetings should be well planned and communicated to all in the company.

Here are a few meeting components that are popular:

• An agenda should be distributed before the meeting.

• Have and needs — this will create revenue.

• Reward those who attend and/or arrive on time — small prizes like coffee gift cards.

• Contests — many see these as old school, but when you have them create teams, it works; peer pressure takes over, and the desire for recognition kicks into high gear.

• Learn a skill — handle an objection, let someone present a problem and let the group solve it.

• Share the stage — you don’t need to be the one running the meeting; recruit leaders in your office to take charge.

• Technology — there’s usually someone in the office highly skilled in videos, farming, condo resales, etc; have them contribute a mini training session at the meeting or a teaser for a full-blown session during the week.

• Remind them — who are you? What is your vision? Why are they there? Our people may be looking for the next shiny thing when we’ve had it all along but forgot to remind them.

• Motivational — something meaningful that highlights how we feel, behave and treat others is a great way to end the meeting.

My last piece of advice for retention is “help your people grow.” This is what many people hire me to do, and I love doing it. If you can help your people create a plan, coach them through implementation, review what isn’t working and celebrate their wins, why would they go anywhere else!

Coach Ken Goodfellow
Ken@CoachKen.com
www.CoachKen.com