Showing posts with label B-School Highlights. Show all posts
Showing posts with label B-School Highlights. Show all posts
How to Increase Production While Spending Time Away from Your Business
Transcript:
Most agents believe that you can't give up evenings and weekends and still be successful in this business. This is like any agent you know. We all think it's a tough business where you have to work these times to succeed. However, this isn't true and there are some solutions to this problem.
The first thing you can do is to set boundaries within your business. You have to realize that business is not that important and there is much more to life than selling homes.
Working hard to be present in everything you do is another solution. Kick butt when you go to work and make an impact on your employees and your clients. You have to work hard in your business, and then when you go home you have to work just as hard to be present within your family life.
The third solution is along the same lines as the second one. Maintaining laser focus is important for keeping your business in your business. Whatever happens at work, you cannot bring that home with you. Your home needs to be filled with love and you have to be committed to maintaining a healthy relationship. If you're on your laptop in bed, your wife is not going to be happy and that relationship will slowly crumble.
Realize that your family doesn't want another sale - they just want you.
Justin Udy is a great example of how someone can back away from the business and focus on life outside of it. I'm really proud of Justin, and he has made great strides in this regard. He began selling homes in 2006 and was doing well, but was constantly maxed out by his business.
He has two children and a wife, and he was damaging his relationship with them. He came to me wanting a way out, and that's what he found by implementing systems and processes that allowed him to exit his business. After nine years in the industry, Justin is now putting his personal goals above his business goals.
He admits that he still struggles managing business and family, but he has taken multiple steps in the right direction. He removed his phone number from the MLS and also actively tries to spend less time anchored to his phone or computer.
Sorry, You're NOT That Important
Transcript:
A common myth in real estate is that your clients always need you and they always have to talk to "Lars." The problem here is that most agents actually believe that exiting production is not possible because clients demand that you work with them personally.
There are multiple solutions to this. You can build systems and infrastructure that will help to support your exit. In terms of the standard of care that your team provides to your clients, you should have the capability to exit the business.
You must also take time to work ON your business rather than IN it. Michael Gerber has a great ebook about this called The E Myth.
You need the confidence to step out of your business. Part of this is realizing that you're not that important to it anymore. You have to design your business where it has a life of its own.
Lastly, you have to realize that there is more to life than grinding out deals and making sales.
We can look to Clayton Gits for an example. He started his career in 2005 and his team was doing well, but his life had been taken over by his business. He was attracted to this program because he knew it would allow him to manage his life according to his wishes. His listing system was built in order to allow him to step out and spend more time with his family. Clayton has two small children and a wife, and he knew he needed to make a change.
Your clients don't need you as much you're led to believe.
Why You Don't Have to Be Good at Building Systems to Build a High Production Team
Transcript:
Today we cover Myth #3: You have to be good at building systems.
The problem is that most agents don't think they're systems people. They believe that in order to build a leveraged business, you must have experience building systems. This isn't true.
There are at least four solutions to this problem:
- You don't have to be a designer -- you have to be an installer.
- Tracking is crictial -- ROI, cash flow, and agent productivity.
- Database is a simple but powerful tool many agents overlook.
- Categories of improvement -- move needle in areas of your life.
One of the tools in Real Estate B-School that you'll get access to is the Business Tracker, which I essentially paid over $10,000 to develop. It tracks ROI for all your marketing pillars, your 90-day cash-flow forecast, your agent productivity, and everything else you could possibly want to get visibility into your business.
A good example of how this myth isn't true is Kevin Yoder's business. He was a solo agent for 10 years and only started a team in 2011. When he started he working with us, we identified the fact that he built his team on a shaky foundation with weak systems. We helped him implement systems including how to use a database and segment it, organizational strategy, business tracker, and buyer agent accountability. Over the last year, he has seen a 50% improvement with foundational systems and is now focused on personal and professional areas of improvement.
"Even though we grew -- we doubled in volume year-over-year for three years street -- the systems we had in place were a complete mess," Kevin said. "That led me down this road of slowing things down and identifying which systems need to be put in place and which ones we had that were faulty and insufficient. I also wasn't tracking my numbers very well. I realized that this is not the place you want to be if you want to be a business that breaches $1 million in gross revenue. To make that happen, I needed to align myself with somebody who had done that before, who had really great systems and process, and understands exactly where I'm coming from. That's why we aligned ourselves with Lars: he's been in the trenches."
Kevin went on to say, "Everything from our database -- the way we were categorizing our clients, segmenting the database, putting in place a business track -- was addressed by Lars's program. It's all-encompassing. He had us put together something for both business and personal development. Taking the time, slowing down, taking the time to do the exercise, getting back into reality, and then reviewing it daily has made a huge impact not only on my personal life, but on my business." He added, "That document made it hard for me to not hold myself accountable."
How to Build a Leveraged Business in Only One Year!!!
Transcript:
MYTH: It takes years to build a leveraged business. This is false! So, of course, this picture is sort of tongue-in-cheek; there's an older person getting into their car with a walker. We don't want to be that real estate agent that still has to show homes into their seventies and eighties.
Problem: Most agents believe that it will take 10, 15, or 20 years to build a business.
There are examples of agents in the markets who have been in the business forever and that's how they built a leverage business and they were able to exit production.
Let's talk solutions...
A lot of this is a mindset thing. We have to suspend disbelief and let go of bad habits and bad thoughts. If you can inspire, enlist, and train talent, you can exit production. It doesn't matter how long you've been in the industry.
The third solution is to focus on recruiting. Your job is to recruit, train, and coach forever and always. So it's a shift, right? Building a real team. Ultimately, take the focus away from your job as a producer to developing yourself as a leader.
Tom Nickley out of Orlando, Florida has a real cool backstory.
He started out in the wine industry, 11 years in that industry, and he mastered prospecting. 300 dials a day was required in that position. Started in real estate only in September of 2013. He knew coming into it that he wanted to build a team, but he didn't know how. His first year, he did 43 deals all by himself, including closings, listing management, marketing, all of that.
He joined B-School Coaching to implement tracking and accountability systems and ultimately build a self-managed team. He will do over 100 sides this year. He's opening a second office and expecting to double production. A really cool success story used my systems very early. Let's hear from Tom Nickley:
"I saw an ad in the paper for alcohol sales and I figured, "Sounds good to me!" Right out of college, I gave it a shot. So I spent 11 years in that industry, learned a whole lot - more than you could imagine - about prospecting. It was 300 cold calls a day every day to successful people. Calling FSBOs and expireds is nothing compared to calling people on the phone and trying to sell them wine they've never heard of before.
"Lars, kind of like you getting out of a very successful career to get into real estate, I had a very similar experience. I left the wine industry and got into real estate, but I couldn't jump directly from wine to real estate because I was the breadwinner for the family at the time and I needed some income. So actually, my first year in real estate started September 2013. I was working another full-time job at the same time, but it allowed me to do real estate during the day. I was working at night.
"To really start focusing on working on my business. I think the game changer for me might be a bit different than for other people because I think I'm at an advantage because I was brand new. I was brand new to real estate. I was brand new to having a team. I didn't have bad habits. I didn't have agents that had bad habits that I had to undo. So he really instilled in me - the first call that we had, Lars said, 'Listen, man, with everything you've got with your background and everything, you could do in your first year what it took me three years to do.'
"And he said, 'Go out and hire three to four agents, teach them your systems, and work on them. Work on teaching them how to be successful at these things and you'll build a business that way.' And I did it the next day. The day after the first phone call that we had, I took myself out of buyer business. I haven't been out with a buyer since the day you and I spoke the first time."
Grow or Die! How to Exit Production & Build a "Real" Real Estate Business
Transcript:
I'm going to unpack this for you here - there is a lot to look at. This is The Real Estate Business Navigator and it really helps explain how I went from "Survival mode" to ramping and scaling my business to then leading and ultimately exiting production and day-to-day responsibility, and now I'm transitioning to the true business ownership phase and I have more of a consultative role in my business.
Exit Phase
The "Exit" phase is the realization that you're not that important. My pastor recently delivered a sermon titled "You're not that important." Realizing your business can run without you is either a liberating thing or a scary thing. For me, it was liberating. I knew I was providing a lot of value to my staff and I wanted to keep moving up in this ascension. But a lot of team leaders get scared at the thought of what will happen if they stop doing listings or showing up to the office 6 days a week. It's a tough pill to swallow.
Vision and mission must be part of the team's DNA at this point, embedded in the culture. Your leadership skills need to continue to be developed and you need a key operations person at this point. You probably brought them in the lead phase, but at this point they are really stepping into their own and if they are the right person, they will really take on all of the day-to-day operations.
The organizational strategy must be clearly articulated to the team. The team has to understand there is a strategy when it comes to not just the sales or marketing strategy, but organizationally there is a strategy you are following and your job in this phase is to really focus on margins and controlling costs and looking at cash flow. It's always a risk in a growing business. Even a service-oriented business where we don't own our inventory.
We have a business tracker tool that is included in B-School that effectively cost me over $10,000 to build out, but it monitors everything in my business like cash flow, ROI, agent productivity, monthly and forecasted profitability. Really cool tool.
Own Phase
Then it's the "Own" phase, which is all about mindset. Going from being in the business and exiting day-to-day to becoming a true owner. This is what I have done in my business. Most team owners won't ever take this step. They just feel like they have to keep showing up at their business. This is a mindset issue more than anything else. There are tons of examples for companies that don't have the leader showing up. Apple continues to run without their leader. Sam Walton is not around anymore, but Wal-Mart continues to thrive.
It helps to have faith that many companies run without the owner working in the business. The sales leadership role must be filled to avoid dysfunction. In order to continue growing our company, our plans is to go from 425-450 sides this year to 1200 sides by 2020, and organizationally we now have an operations lead and a growth expansion lead. You have to have that role filled with a quality person to continue to grow and avoid dysfunction.
Big Hairy Audacious Goal, or "BHAG," must be clearly articulated for the team to see something bigger in their future. We actually just had an off-site with my team and our BHAG is 1,200 sides in 2020 with 5 offices. Our really big BHAG is 10,000 sides per year. So ten 1,000-unit teams in ten different markets. At this point, all day-to-day operations and sales leadership functions have been delegated, and I'm only doing weekly senior leadership meetings. Two one-on-ones and a 3 person meeting.
Weekly Team Rhythm. Our Tuesdays are active listings and appointment review from 9-10am, buyer agent meeting 10-11am, team meeting 11-11:30am and then personal development for the entire team from 11:30-12:15. Then I do my one-on-ones, my senior leadership teams, on Friday's we do huddle, twice a year we do off-site. Having that rhythm ensures that the team remains healthy and stays in growth mode. It really is a grow or die sort of thing.
How To Become a World Class CEO By Hacking Your Inner Leadership Skills
Transcript:
During the “lead phase” of the Real Estate Business Navigator, it’s your job to step up as a leader in your organization. A huge failing factor for most people in this position is a lack of leadership skills.
Delegation is a crucial shift that requires Dollar Productive Activity, or DPA. Know what your hour is worth! You need to make decisions on what you can’t focus on, such as e-mails and telephone calls. In terms of who you’re going to manage, you should list appointments based on priority.
Hiring the right admin is key to maintain high client service levels. You’re probably still selling at this point, but your exit is near. That’s your goal. Your job is to stay focused on the prize. You must continually communicate your vision and your exit.
My team has seen this diagram. Three years ago, they knew what I was building. They knew I wanted to lead-exit and become an owner. They saw this document before.
Accountability and tracking systems are crucial. I often see teams, even small ones, they don’t feel comfortable with accountability or tracking. In business school, we had tools you need, such as position agreement, individual game plan, 30-day fast start, buyer lead management policy, and lead management protocols. There are models for tracking systems, like the Client Pipeline Report or Weekly Activity Tracker for buyer agents. You need these systems to scale and grow your business.
You have to start seeing yourself as a CEO compared to a producer or manager in the middle of it all. You need to develop leadership skills. It’s not something you’re both with. There are natural born leaders, but leadership skills can be learned and developed.
Four Ways to Make More Money in Less Time
Transcript:
Let me ask you a question: Do you really believe that it is possible to become a true business owner and get off the transaction treadmill once and for all?
Obviously I have done this before so my opinion is a little biased. However, I have five myths that I'm going to go through. These are taken from people who have gone through real estate B school and from the experiences that they had.
The first myth is that you have to put in more hours to make more money. A lot of real estate agents think that their income is a direct function of the number of hours that they work. There are a lot of different solutions to this myth. In my business, 99.9% of the daily activities run without me being there or doing anything. We're actively growing the business and I work on Tuesdays when I'm in town.
One thing that I've always been really good at is with making choices with my time. I consistently focus on dollar-producing activities. This means if you think that you're worth $50 or $100 an hour, you should think carefully about how you're spending your time.
Another good solution for this problem is to train your buyer agents well so that you can leverage them in your business. Separating yourself from the buyer side is important because those transactions suck up a lot of time, and you'll be working strange hours.
It's also important to remember that you need to enjoy the ride and appreciate the journey as well as the struggle. Building a business isn't easy, but the rewards are huge.
Now we're going to hear from Sean Hellmann, an agent from Albuquerque, NM. He started part time in 2004 but went full time in 2007, and that's when he began to shift his focus. He was always a solid producer but he was sacrificing a lot of his time. In the last 12 months he has managed to cut his hours by 40%. Last year he sold 40 homes and this year he expects to sell 80. He systematically implemented the 4 core building blocks, and he's seen a lot of success from it.
Sean says that lacking focus on a weekly basis or a monthly basis is something that he struggled with. He admits that he wasn't all that focused, and that now he always thinks of what dollar-producing activities he could be partaking in. Prospecting has been huge to his business, and he recommends everyone implements a system for prospecting every single day. Sean also says that placing a positive focus on his goals is something that helped him complete them. Working hard to be able to eat dinner with his family at the end of the day is one of those goals that keeps him focused and productive.
Sean has also implemented my 90 day onboarding system for buyer's agents. That was a big hang-up for Sean, but this has been immensely helpful for him within his business. He's also taken my advice that you always need to be recruiting for new talent. Sean wants to add more agents to his team so that he can work his way out of production and have peace of mind that his team can take care of the day to day business.
Two Powerful Tools to Revv Up Your Referral Business
Transcript:
I want to give you a free gift today that's meant to jumpstart your progress in the referral business. The referral business builder is my free gift. There are two different things in it. One of them is the referral card, and you need to give it to your graphics person so that they can recreate it for you.
This reminds me of an experience I had with a Cutco salesperson, and this is why I asked my graphics guy to create a brochure that asked for referrals. But back to Cutco - this salesperson sold us $650 knives that we didn't need, and she said she was referred to us by a friend, although she wasn't actually referred by anyone.
When she was collecting our credit card information, she drew the numbers 1-10 on a sheet of paper and then 11-20. She pushed the piece of paper towards me and told me they're having a contest, and that if I gave her 10 referrals tonight, she could win a trip to Mexico. I didn't give her any referrals right away, but I took that piece of paper and made these cards.
I recreated these cards to tell people that we're regrowing our business and we need help. There's a special number on it to track these leads, and we offer them a little incentive to refer people to us. You should give these cards to your clients four different times throughout the transaction: when they agree to do business with you, when they go under contract, when they close, and then 30 days after when you're doing a follow-up call. Put them all over your office and make a habit out of using these cards. This will double, triple, and maybe even quadruple your business.
The other tool for you is a testimonial that we use at the end of every transaction. We congratulate them on selling their home and ask them to rate how we did in helping them. The first question we ask them is how likely they are to refer a friend to The Lars Group. We also include a $10 Starbucks card to thank them for their patronage. We actually get a lot of these filled out, and we get a lot of 10's, but the 5's 6's and 2's are the scores that are important because that's your opportunity to learn how you can improve your business. Unhappy clients are valuable, and you need to get on the phone with them right away to work out those issues.
Use these tools and let me know how they're working for your business.
Scale Your Business With Organized Systems from the Start
Transcript:
I’m going to unpack this here. This is the Real Estate Business Navigator, which helps explain how I went from survival mode in a corporate job to building my business to improving my operations. Now, I’m shifting towards business ownership. My job now ultimately helps agents ascend this mountain with less time, frustration, and wasted money.
The "Ramp" Phase
Now, we enter the “ramp” phase. You’re getting busy. You’re feeling hopeful about your process. However, your time is not your own. Business dominates your time from weekends to every moment you check your phone. You can’t even unplug for a few hours. At this point, you’re doing it all yourself. You’re starting to realize you have to concentrate on DPAs, or dollar productive activities. To solve this wrenching dilemma, hire a quality admin to get relief from buyers. Most agents, even the top talent, don’t move past this phase and burn out.
The "Scale" Phase
The “scale” phase initiates an organized business system. If you don’t handle this stage properly, you’ll get overwhelmed easily and quickly. Agents hide behind successful business to cover up an unbalanced life. You could suffer from a serious lack of home life balance or poor health. They might claim finding buyer agent talent is tough to find, but might not look in the right places.
Still, you’re the major producer on your team. Fortunately, building systems provide sustainability to keep stepping up the ladder. It’s likely your admin staff is getting stretched thin, so you’ll need to compliment their work by adding talent. Consider a virtual assistant. The ultimate vision is that your business should take on a life of its own!
The Power of Influence in Business and Life
Transcript:
Let’s look at the influence model here quick. The world’s most influential people have three things in common. One, they teach us how to think. Number two, they challenge us, and number three, they role model the way.
Let’s grab the worksheet here, you guys can work through it on your own. Did you ever read Think and Grow Rich, Martin Luther King, or Mother Theresa, in terms of being very conscious about sharing with others how they think about a given topic. It’s their articulation that make us follow, believe in, and admire them.
Think of a person or group you’re trying to influence. Maybe it’s a seller prospect. Here’s some phrases to keep in in mind:
I could influence this person or group if I could get them to think in the following way…
- The way I could get them to begin thinking this way is…
- To get them to think this way, they’d have to believe…
- To get them to stop thinking in competing ways, they’d have to believe…
- The benefits they would get in thinking this way are…
- If I could just get them to realize that pricing their home at market value is the smarter idea, that’s awesome.
- The way I could get them to begin thinking this way is to objectively look at the data.
- To get them to think this way, they’d have to believe that pricing their home too high will lead to a worse outcome with less money.
- To get them to stop thinking in competing ways, they’d have to believe that I am a trusted professional and the advice I’m giving is for the purpose of a better outcome.
- The benefits they would get in thinking this way are they would get their home sold quicker and for more money, with less hassle.
This is a challenge for people to raise up because it demands they take accountability for their production. Your ability to cash commission checks isn’t based on my team's ability to hand out business to you, it’s based on your ability to get in there and call for a few hours a day.
It helps them believe they are in control of their future. The way I am going to communicate this challenge to them is maybe to make a game out of it.
Then they role model the right way. People who are really good at influencing role model the way.
Think of a person or group you are trying to influence.
- If I'm going to be more influential with this person or group, they would need to believe I am a person who leads by example, sold 70 homes in a year, prospected for 12-15 hours a week.
- The best parts of who I am, that I have to show and demonstrate to them are…
- The reasons I am willing to become a better person in order to serve this person or these people are…
Keep It Simple & Quit Wasting Your Time Chasing Squirrels!
Transcript:
Most of you know that the systems you learn here are very, very basic. Most of you are going to resist the fact that the solutions are so simple, but they are! You have to pick a handful of marketing pillars and technology platforms and stick to them. Focusing your efforts on a few simple tools and strategies will ALWAYS win over constantly trying new things. Most agents are looking for a quick fix, the next best CRM, paperless platform, or lead generation platform. Don't fall into this crippling trap - you will constantly be losing momentum.
Think of the Darren Hardy example. If there is water three feet underground, you have to pump really hard to get the water to come out. You're pumping and pumping - you're pumping so hard you think your arm might fall off. And then, the water comes and you relax a bit while the water keeps coming steady. It's the same thing for new technology and marketing pillars in real estate; you need to commit to a few things and work them hard. If you take your hand off the pump, it's going to take a lot of work to get the water flowing again. It's exhausting to jump on and follow all the new things coming out every other day. You need to have you BS meter so high that you question every time someone comes up to you with "the next best thing." It's usually too good to be true.
This bit of information with pay for your entire B-School training if you take the fact that you can't chase every squirrel that comes your way to heart! You'll always be losing momentum if you keep shifting what you're doing to get business!
Creating a Killer Sales Process
Transcript:
I want to cover a process all of you should be doing. The whole point with sales, and we know this as agents, it's really a consultative process; there is no hard close. If you really serve your clients and position yourself properly going into a buyer consult or a listing appointment, you're going to get the sale if it's the right appointment.
The goal of an optimized sales process is a responsive, confident customer who recognizes that value of your product and an inevitable sale. More often than not, selling is more convincing, cajoling, and struggling against resistance. Selling focuses on your and what you need; if you're thinking about what you need to do next to make the sale, you are not focused on the customer. This mindset helps us to be present with our customers and serving them rather than moving them along a sales funnel.
Think about your services from the customers' perspective. Give them what they need and you won't have to sell. Typical selling focuses on short horizon and a single transaction. You want a relationship and that's what customers want too. You want to maximize lifetime value and ask yourself whether the process is going to deliver an experience that the client is going to appreciate.
Customers are made, not born. You'll create a customer every time you use a needs-based selling system that delivers the emotional impact and credibility your prospects need to be comfortable with their purchase. That means they have to experience the sincerity of your intentions and believe what you say; you must really be focused on their needs.
Your selling process speaks volumes about your intentions; if customers are pressured, pushed, or manipulated, they'll know your selling process serves you and not them. As crazy as it sounds, you have to become indifferent to the sale and focus instead on the process; do the best job you can of accommodating your prospects' decision making needs and let the chips fall where they may.
If you've done your job well, you'll have communicated your intention to create a long term relationship dedicated to satisfying your customers' needs. Bottom line: you'll convert a high percentage of your leads to customers and they'll know that you've made it your business to put their needs ahead of your own.
Ask yourself where you are now. Establishing a baseline is an important first step before you dive into innovating your sale process; don't skip this step - it's the basis for the work that follows. Another pitfall is the belief that it's impossible to systematize sales - people often say it's too individualized or too relationship, skills, or personality driven. Just as with other areas of your business, there are patterns of action and thought that repeat themselves over and over.
There are patterns in how your customers act and think and how you or your people respond to prospective customers, some of which work better than others. By getting a clear picture of your current sales process - where it begins, where it ends, and the mains steps in between - we will be able to design an optimal sales process.
How to Transition Your Business into a Corporate Model
Transcript:
Principal Agent Model
On the top of each of these diagrams is you, or me. This is where I was when Tia was my client care person here. Chris was my first buyer agent hire at the end of 2009, and it was the 3 of us. In the 2010 time frame, we had an average of 2-3 buyer agents at a given time. I was the principal agent, still out producing everyone, and that was in 2009-2010.
Team Leader Model
This is when I'm still involved in production, and I'm managing the admin team as well as the sales team. I never had agents that did both sides, I always had buyer agents and listing partners. We had Tia working on buyer closings and a different person working on seller management. We had a client care coordinator, who became my admin services manager. This is basically what we ran in 20011 and 2012. I hired a listing specialist in 2011 and another in 2012. The admin team was taking a little more form as well. In 2010, we just had Tia. In 2011, we hired the listing manager, an inside sales person, and we ended up separating the client care into buyers and sellers. That's the team leader model.
Corporate Model
This is where I'm at currently. Keeley is my sales manager and Chari is my operations manager. Under Chari, we have a seller client care person, a buyer client care person. We don't have an on-staff photographer anymore, so there are a couple people under the gray box on the left side, a part time person that kind of helps with operations.
On the sale side, we have 4 existing and 3 new buyer agents. We have a couple new listing partners. One of our new buyer agents is now transitioning over to the listing side, and we have a couple inside sales people. One is offshore helping Keeley generate sellers leads, and one is in our office on the buyer side.
That's what we look like right now. In 2012, I stepped out of production, hired Chari for an operations manager role, and promoted Keeley to sales manager.
Focus on Generating New Business Every Day!
Transcript:
I think we covered this in the last section, but you have to develop new ways to generate business literally every single day. It will correlate directly with your ability to build a sustainable business. You need to be producing yourself, and you need to have that culture of new business generation every day. This comes from a combination of lead generation, management and conversion. All of these parts are critical and they must run like clockwork.
Lead generation and lead conversion must be a part of your culture. You have to talk about it all the time, and it must be a fun part of your culture. We run contests all the time, especially with referrals. We have a Go-for-no! contest where we see who can get the most referrals in a month. The winner was awarded $100 shopping spree at a local mall. If you have a team already, this is an easy way to get them to generate leads, you just have to make it seem fun and laid-back.
This year, 86% of my business is generated with my team, instead of with my agents. Part of it is that my agents are so busy that they don't have time to go out and gather leads, but your team may be different.
Outsourcing lead conversion can be tricky. If you choose to do this, you still shouldn't replace your ISA. If you're a solo agent you should always be focusing on your own lead conversion. You must really emphasize this to all of your buyer's agents as well, they're going to have to act as your own ISA. Once you have four or five productive buyer's agents, then you can probably go ahead and hire an ISA.
Now, one thing that you have to focus on as your business begins to get bigger is: "Is this the best use of my time right now?"
Bear with me as I go through this math exercise. For me, my goal was to net $500,000 by working 2,000 hours per year. Essentially I would be worth $250 per hour. When you're worth $250 an hour, you need to shed everything off my plate except for a few extremely valuable, dollar-producing activities. Marketing and listing appointments would fall under this, as well as some advertising.
You need to know what your time is worth, so whatever your number is, divide it by 2,000 hours, or 1,000 hours if you want to be honest because sometimes you just won't work that much. Once you figure that out, your whole world will change. You won't want to do your own yard work, and you won't want to do your own laundry. I'm not saying you should stop doing those things, but you should realize that you're better off doing things that are valuable.
I value my time at $1,000 an hour, so I'll farm out my time if I need a room painted or if we need our yard cleaned up. It drives my wife crazy, but it's just what happens when you figure out how much you're actually worth.
How Do You Want to Leave Your Legacy?
Transcript:
Let me take you through the 10 Human Regrets & 10 Human Victories, as outlined in the book The Leader Who Had No Title. Really pay attention on these, because hit close to home, especially if you know someone at the end of their life who might have some of these regrets.
The 10 Human Regrets
1. You reach your last day with the brilliant song that your life was meant to sing still silent within you.
2. You reach your last day without ever having experienced the natural power that inhabits you to do great work and achieve great things.
3. you reach your last day realizing that you never inspired anyone else by the example you set.
4. You reach your last day full of pain at the realization that you never took any bold risks so you never received any bold rewards.
5. You reach your last day understanding that you missed the opportunity to catch a glimpse of mastery because you bought into the lie that you had to be resigned to mediocrity.
6. You reach your last day and feel heartbroken that you never learned the skill of transforming adversity into history and lead into gold.
7. You reach your last day regretting that you forgot that work is about being radically helpful to others rather than helping only yourself.
8. You reach your last day with the awareness that you ended up living the life that society trained you to want versus leading the life that you truly wanted to have.
9. You reach your last day and awaken to the fact that you never realized your absolute best nor touched the special genius that you were built to become.
10. You reach your last day and discover you could have been a leader and left this world so much better than you found it. But you refused to accept that mission because you were just too scared. And so you failed. And wasted a life.
10 Human Victories
1. You reach your end full of happiness and fulfillment on realizing that you are all used up - having spent the fullness of your talents, the biggest of your resources, and the best of your potential doing great work and leading a rare-air life.
2. You reach your end knowing that you played at a standard of concentrated excellence and held yourself to the most impeccable standards in each thing that you did.
3. You reach your end in noisy celebration for having the boldness of spirit to have regularly confronted your largest fears and realized your highest visions.
4. You reach your end and recognize that you became a person who built people up versus one who tore people down.
5. You reach your end with the understanding that while your journey may not have always been a smooth one, whenever you got knocked down you instantly got back up - and at all times, never suffered from any loss of optimism.
6. You reach your end and bask in the staggering glory of your phenomenal achievements along the rich value you have contributed to the lives of the people you were lucky to serve.
7. You reach your end and adore the strong, ethical, inspirational and empathetic person you are into.
8. You reach your end and you realize that you were a genuine innovator who blazed new trails instead of following old roads.
9. You reach your end surrounded with teammates who call you a rock-star, friends who say you’re a hero, and loved ones that call you a legend.
10. You reach your end as a true Leader Without a Title, knowing that the great deeds you did will endure long after your death and that your life stands as a model of possibility.
How I Mastered Buyer Lead Generation & Conversion
Transcript:
Let's talk about my early years in real estate. I started part-time in 2007, right when the market was turning, although I didn't realize it at the time. In 2008 all I focused on was low-cost, no branding, and buyer lead generation. I ran classified ads offer free lists of homes with a simple call to action. Distressed sales were big back then.
I was also using a very simple script to call leads and get face-to-face (think of the gold brick). The one thing that I see is that agents, wherever they are in the business, they never really master the buyer side or the listing side. I think mastery of the buyer side and the seller side is important. However, I lived and breathed lead conversion for the first 24 months, and I was simply willing to do what most other agents were not willing to do.
At the time I was coached, and I was good at time blocking already, I was blocking off Tues and Thursday evenings from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. I was working really hard, and I've learned since then that there are way better time blocks. There's lots of different splits that you can do, and you just have to find the one that works for you. You don't need to use the ridiculous time blocks that I'm using.
I also set up simple systems for buyer lead management in Top Producer. After the first year and a half or so, I hired Tia, and she's still with me as a buyer closing coordinator. That was kind of the tipping point in this business. She basically handed everything that I didn't want to handle. She did the paperwork for closings, and every listing I took she took it and put it on the market. She helped out a lot with marketing and advertising support. She worked from home when I was working from home, and it wasn't always pretty, but it worked. I was ready to offload everything that wasn't sales related or team-building related. I really didn't care how things got done, I trusted that they would just get done.
When I talk about the 'birth' of my team, it starts in 2008 when I got the Boomtown platform (I was actually their 9th customer) which uses similar direct response principles and it got me a lot of leads. I called leads anytime between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. It didn't matter what I was doing or where I was, and it really got to be too much. I was drowning, so I got back on Craigslist and hired Chris in September of 2009.
He had a great work ethic, and he saw the vision and was willing to trust me and follow me. We divided and conquered. We called leads, showed homes, and just made it happen. He busted his butt alongside me, and I admire him because he's still with me. He's having his best year ever right now. Before he worked with me he sold 2 homes, and in his first year with me he sold 27 homes.
Why A Great Leader Doesn't Need a Title
Transcript:
I want to do a quick book review of the book “The Leader Who Had No Title.” I believe it’s a must-read for team leaders. I highly recommend you read it, and I believe it’s available on Audible as well.
Too many people go to work with the mindset that to be a leader they need to work their way up the company ladder, get the title or position they seek, and then they can be leaders. This is the wrong approach according to Robin Sharma (author).
The foundation principle of this book is self-leadership. Anyone who understands this can lead regardless of his or her official title in an organization.
According to Sharma, “leaders are those individuals who do the things that failures aren’t wiling to do - even though they might not like doing them either.” Too many people pay the sad costs of mediocrity and forego the spectacular rewards of being a leader.
In the story, the main character (Blake) has conversations with four unorthodox leaders. Each of these individuals works in a position that - based on conventional wisdom - would not be considered a leadership position.
Each conversation brings out key principles that can help “ordinary” people become true leaders:
4 Major Themes
1. You need not title to be a leader: Success (business and personal) is something that’s consciously created. To lead without a title “you will have to be unrealistically persistent and wildly courageous.”
2. Turbulent times build great leaders: Challenging times in both business and life give us great opportunities to learn and transform ourselves. “Problems and difficult days are actually good for you.”
3. The deeper your relationships, the stronger your leadership: “Leave every single person who intersects your path better, happier, and more engaged than you found them.” Time spent forming deep relationships - in all aspects of life - will pay dividends down the road.
4. To be a great leader, first become a great person: Training and strengthening your inner leader will help you perform at extraordinary levels. The key is learning to lead yourself. In our world we define success by the things we have, not by the people we’ve become. The more self-awareness we develop the more likely we are to grow and help others.
Again, this is a book you have to pick up, but in case you don’t, I’m going to go deeper into the main leadership themes.
Theme 1: You Need No Title to Be a Leader
Anna - a member of the housekeeping staff at a high-end luxury hotel. Anna teaches Blake about personal responsibility and the face that you need no title to be a leader. Anna (as well as all the other teachers) gives Blake an acronym to help him remember what she has told him and help him apply it to his life.
Her acronym is IMAGE
Innovation
Mastery
Authenticity
Guts
Ethics
Theme 2: Turbulent Times Build Great Leaders
Ty Boyd - a 5-tyme world slalom skiing champion. Ty talks with Blake about how turbulent times build great leaders and how many people resist the opportunity to show personal leadership because of the fear they have about exceeding their abilities.
Ty’s acronym is SPARK.
Speak with Candor
Prioritize
Adversity Breeds Opportunity
Respond vs. React
Kudos for Everyone
Theme 3: The deeper your relationships, the stronger your leadership
Jackson Chan - ex-CEO of a multibillion dollar technology company turned gardener. Jackson’s message to Blake si that the deeper your relationships the stronger your leadership.
Jackson’s acronym for Blake is HUMAN.
Helpfulness
Understanding
Mingle
Amuse
Nurture
Theme 4: To be a great leader, first become a great person
Jet Brisley - massage therapist to the rich and famous. Jet’s lesson for Blake is to be a great leader, you must first become a great person.
Jet’s acronym is SHINE.
See Clearly
Health is Wealth
Inspiration Matters
Neglect Not Your Family
Elevate Your Lifestyle
Let’s close with a quote from Robin Sharma:
“The farmer has patience and trusts the process. He just has the faith and deep understanding that through his daily efforts, the harvest will come. And then one day, almost out of nowhere, it does.”
How to turn Uncomfortable Growth into Massive Success
Transcript:
Alright, so just some final thoughts on "The Ride" here. Every single step of this process over the last 6, 7 years, I was uncomfortable because I was stretching myself and trying new things. But I do think people are drawn to me as a leader. I don't mean that in an egotistical kind of way, but I'm real. You can tell, that on these calls, I admit my faults as a leader and my mistakes and I lean into my strengths. My ability to snatch up in front of my team and inspire them to bring out the best in them and the ability to be a business owner and manage systems.
I realized over the years that people need to be led. Not that they can't do things themselves, but most of the population needs vision, guidance, and leadership. Along the way I had a lot of intense fears and extreme discomfort, but remained focus on the vision of building a business. There are a lot of businesses that operate without the original person that set the business up. Walt Disney is one of the best examples. Our family's first Disney trip was a year and a half ago, and those experiences are just unbelievable. It's still his name on it, but he's nowhere to be found. That's what we are building at The Lars Group. If you get an awesome buying or selling experience, Lars built what you're getting, but Lars isn't involved in delivering the day to day of it.
My main takeaway is that anything is possible with focus, a plan, and consistent action taken every day. You have to decide what you want, set out a general plan, do hard work, enlist, and inspire others and make it happen. Like I said, with everything we talk about, your ability to take action, in this section specifically, is as much about visioning and seeing where you are today and the steps that you'll go through. There are some key points I went through in this first section here of module 4 and your ability to take action, even if it's just mental shifts on what we discussed, is super key to your success here.
How to Set Agent Expectations with a Position Agreement
Transcript:
I want to run through our Position Agreement, and this is getting buy-in from your team and their ongoing commitment every year.
Let’s get into the Position Agreement:
So you found the ideal candidate and you got them back in the office. Huge disclosure here is that I’m not an attorney and cannot give any legal advice; please consult an attorney before using this document.
This document is provided to you as a tool here, but ultimately you’ll want to consult an attorney before using this.
This is basically plug-and-play; you can replace the logo and team name and brokerage. It’s a fill-in document, so we print this out and write in the names manually. You can also use DocuSign, but we prefer the physical copies.
There are certain legalees in the general stipulations upfront. There’s a separate compensation structure, Duties, Property of The Lars Group including leads, clients, et cetera.
Database Procedures, Scripts and Databases are our property, and we have a minimum commitment of one year. Anything in progress becomes property of The Lars Group. We’d pay out the compensation, but we’d take out a $500 admin charge.
Covenant Not To Compete - which is kind of sticky - but we have some programs where we don’t want them to just go start their own thing and take our programs. We put a 20-mile radius and they can’t take these things for at least 2 years.
Expenses covers expenses, disclosures, those sorts of things.
Then it says the attached Schedule A, B, and C shall be part of this agreement. Schedule A is the Duties of OSA & Minimum Standards of Performance.
Results Inherent in this Position. To consistently acquire customers (and create raving fans) through buyer and seller consultations, prospecting, follow up and contact with personal sphere of influence. To assist in all aspects of the sales process. Through consistent communication and follow-up, assist buyer and seller clients with their real estate needs. To work in conjunction with office staff to oversee agreement to closing.
Then we have general sort of Duties of our Outside Sales Agents, both for buyer and seller OSA’s, as we call them. There is some repetitive stuff in here in terms of who owns the leads, turning contracts within 24 hours, when and how to communicate, attending coaching meetings, and payment structure.
It’s important that if you pay out files, you shouldn’t be doing it more than once per week; it’s too disruptive to the office. I can’t emphasize that enough.
You have to sell at least 2 homes per month, or 6 homes per quarter. If you’re not doing that, you’re losing us money. Not necessarily through expenses, but opportunity cost.
Then we have two Schedule B’s - one for each a Buyer OSA and a Listing OSA. B-School Members have the full Microsoft Word version of this document they can make changes and print the PDF.
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