The Phone Awaits

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Not many people work the phone harder than Jerry Maguire. We do live in a cynical world, and we do work in a business with tough competitors.  Phone calls are a big part of it.

Is your Android staring at you?  Does the iPhone mock you?  "I dare you to make a call!" - you might hear that smart phone making fun of you.  No matter the experience level, sales professionals all struggle with making calls routinely. Some days it's easy; many days it is a challenge.  Whether you call it  "The Hour of Power," "Dialing for Dollars" or "A Core Workout" - consider these tips to keep you on track:

• Be Organized: have your database open, phone numbers handy, and be ready to take notes.
• Define the Purpose: every call has a reason, know what yours is by writing it down before making the call. 
• Timer: you're working and time is money.  Try to keep most calls to 5 minutes or less. Be friendly and efficient.   
• Energy: schedule the daily call session at a time when you are normally energetic.  Take a quick walk, stretch a bit, and a few deep breaths before you start to raise your energy level. However, don't pant - that freaks people out on the receiving end :) 
• Visualize: before you dial, visualize your contact and imagine a very successful call. See it in your mind, grasshopper. Really, it's powerful. 
• Transfer feeling:  make your contact feel valued, appreciated, and important.  You know everyone wears a sign that says, "Make me feel special." Maybe you won't get a business result, but we can't go wrong by making someone's day. 
• Keep balanced: work your way up to ten calls daily, usually in sixty minutes.  When you reach that level, keep it there.  Rather than burning out in a few maximum sessions, finish with a little gas in the tank.  Better to have enthusiasm for the next session than exhausting the dialing fingers in one major event. 

The Next Step IS A Step To Greatness

So far in our series on great agent qualities we've discovered that they have systems for many of their repeatable tasks and service points.  Second, they take control of their time and shape it to their goals.  In this post, let's consider the next step to greatness.  Actually that is the quality: taking the next step.  Great agents are constantly helping prospects and clients take another step.  These agents understand that our work is not about inspiring action that moves a prospect from hello to closing in one catapult launch.  Nope, they know the critical value of small increments and how to encourage them.   Nobody likes to prospect, but helping people take the next, and correct, step is pretty exciting.  Great agents see every encounter with their network as an opportunity to help that member move forward.  It's a contribution not a pitch.  Let's consider a few points on how it's done:

It's essential, but not central:  Every conversation is an opportunity to move the listener to engage or endorse your service.  The problem is we don't want to be pushy and end up getting push-back.  Casual encounters merit casual proposals.  I love concluding random conversations with Buffini's line, "Oh, by the way...."   Great agents don't just let a casual conversant walk away, they complete that "Oh, by the way... "  with "I am hosting an open house this weekend," or "I just listed a home at ..."    By so doing they provide specific information and encourage the contact to take a step forward.

Ask leading questions:  effective questions can motivate the next step.  "Mr. and Mrs. NotSureIWannaBuy, what do you most want in a home that belongs exclusively to you?"  That question does not sign them up as clients, but it helps the prospect explore their motivations and goals with you involved.  The ability to ask questions that are direct, exploratory, and inspiring is an ability that great sales people possess.  Let's work on that skill daily.  Here's a good question for you:  What's the best question you asked today?  Gotch'ya! :)

Focus on THEIR goal:  Knowing your contact's goal - in life, in business, with family, and certainly in real estate is truly important.  It becomes valuable when you direct that information to help your prospect take another step in the right direction.  "Mr. and Mrs. Seller, I understand this offer requires you to bring cash to closing and move later than you wanted, but it does enable you to get your monthly budget in line with the income of your new job.  You did tell me that was your goal when we listed the home."  Great agents know the goals of their clients and network.   They work with that information to help those people take the next step in the climb to achievement.

The Most Important Time of the Year

I have to admit, during the peak of my selling days, I usually just coasted through November and December.  If  I had banked enough closings, you weren't going to see me to often in the office during those last 8 weeks of the year.  I wasn't working very much or with much intent.  Big mistake.  That always left me scrambling in early January.  My sense of fear about an empty pipeline was a very unhealthy way of launching each new sales year.  Kind of like getting the shock paddles to reboot my stalled prospecting heart. 


Recently I spoke with a successful agent about the seasonal trends in the Triangle real estate market.  She said something important: "I consider November and December to be the two most important months of the year for my business."  I asked "Why?"  She explained that she does intensive prospecting during these months.  It builds the foundation for the first half of the upcoming year.  Smart agent.  


So how do you do it? Here's a few tips:

• Get on the Party Train.  Host parties, attend parties, and even crash parties.  Make as many contacts as possible.  Consider it part of your daily work schedule, and portion your energy accordingly. 
• Party Speech:  How to you make a great impression at the Party? Stay away from the lamp shades and make sure that you have a memorable and powerful answer when someone asks, "What do you do?"
• Follow Up:  make a goal to collect three new names at every event.  Follow up the very next day with some nice-to-meet-you correspondence. Make sure those new names get into your database.
• Be Giving:  find ways to contribute.  It doesn't have to be a purchase, either.  Show up early to help, stay late to clean, volunteer some time, or even better gather a group to volunteer with you. 
• Clean Up that Database:  add, delete, and update your most important asset.
• Have A Lunch or Coffee Every Week:  meet past clients for end-of-year review or just to catch up and say Abundant-Thanksgiving-Joyful-Hanukkah-Merry-Christmas-Best-Wishes-Kwanzaa-Happy-NewYear, and enjoy the football.  
• Key Contacts:  provide a special gift, drop it by their office and never stay long, 5 minute maximum.  Your gift and thoughtfulness will be what lingers.
• Plan Ahead:  after making all these contacts, determine who needs follow up.  Have your plan scheduled for your return to work in early January so you KNOW what you're going to do on day 1 of 2011.  

There you go, some key ways to capitalize on the holiday season.  It's the most important time of next year.  

Make 'Em Glad You Called

Okay real estate agents, we are entering the dreaded time of year when prospects begin to say, "We're going to wait until the holidays are over to decide."  Yikes!  We need some activity now.  What's the solution?  One method is to make sure you are making sphere contacts routinely and effectively.  Here's a few suggestion for making the most of calls to your past clients and friendly contacts.

• Start by planning your call: What is the primary result you want from this interaction? Write it down and visualize that outcome as you dial each set of phone numbers. 
• Stand when you call- it will change the whole dynamic of your voice.
• Smile - again it changes the tone of your voice and the energy we bring to the call.
• Wear a Headset- it's hard for humans to talk without gestures! Wave those hands, raise your arms, and poke a finger or two to make some points.
• Remember the F.O.R.D model - ask about their family, occupation, recreation and dreams.
• Make your offer 10% of the call content, and make it quick.  
• Tell them the best things happening at your office.  Success, results,  and impact are always good to share.
• Close with a request for a favor.  "I have a favor to ask .... "  then state a specific way they can help you build your business.
• Three Minute Limit: your goal is to make calls efficiently; we've got a lot of people who need to hear from us.  Leave them wanting more rather than weary from an interruption.  Engage, Energize, and Exit.  

Now I have a favor to ask, can you share this post with another agent today and let me know how you are implementing?  

My Friends' Friend is my ....Network

Do you remember the person to whom you were introduced last week while talking with a friend at your daughter’s soccer practice? How about the name of the restaurant owner you met for the first time as a result of a lunch invitation?  Your friend ran into one of his friends while the two of you were attending a movie together. What was the name of your friend’s friend?

These are all examples of people to whom we are connected in a secondary fashion. These are people with whom we connect modestly by two or three degrees of separation.  Maybe you can’t quite remember today after meeting them last week, but surprisingly these groups of contacts have tremendous influence on us. We also can have significant influence on them. The friend of my friend is a critical force in our lives and businesses. That’s the conclusion of Drs. Christakis and Fowler.

This week I am reading their book Connected, a text about the surprising power of our social networks and how they shape our lives. In the opening chapter the authors present these fundamental rules of human networks:

• We Shape Our Networks – how many people we connect, how densely we connect to others, and how central we make ourselves within these networks.  
• Our Network Shapes Us
• Our Friends Affect Us
• Our Friends’ Friends Affect Us
• The Network Has a Life of Its Own 

So, what’s the big deal? Well, I don’t think you will find a list of easy actions to make your business grow by reading this book, but everyone in the real estate business has a network that determines our success level in the business.

I think one of the quickest ways to assess a Realtor’s performance, plateaus, and problems is to make this simple request: Tell me about your network. The number of people in the network and the business quality of those contacts are the most valuable asset of a real estate agent. Let's consider two primary ways to measure a network:

First, the number of contacts:  In most years 4-8 percent of Americans make a change in households. So if you know 100 people, there are going to be 4-8 individuals or couples moving in your network. Between one and two-thirds of these movers will make a real estate purchase in a year, which means we now have a pool of 2-6 prospective clients. If you captured all the leads, would this be enough business to support you? We can quickly see how the volume of our networks strongly influences the possible number of clients available for us. I recommend that new agents do everything it takes to create a database (names, address, phone, and e-mail information as basics) of 200 people within thirty days of beginning their careers. It will be difficult for a new agent to eat until she has this data in place. Experienced agents normally have 200-400 contacts whom they recognize by name if they randomly encountered these people in public. If you want an annual income of $80,000-120,000, make your target 500-700 people whom you know. These contacts must also know you from your systematic marketing campaigns.

Second, the purchasing patterns of the network:  When I started in the business all my leads were young couples with pre-school children. My average sales price was about 15% below the market.  I was building a successful practice, but I envied those agents who were matching or exceeding my sales volume with lower unit counts and much less effort. What was the problem? My network reflected who I was at the time. Until I diversified my network, I was unable to diversify my sales points and grow my income.  Knowing a lot of people is not enough to create success; knowing people who will purchase at your target points is also critical.

Here are a few diagnostic questions to help you assess your network and data:

How Many People Are In My Network? If your answer includes the words about or approximately, then you have a problem. If you have a database (note cards, excel spreadsheet, or software) then you can quickly determine the precise number of contacts that you have. It is important that you know the count and monitor it routinely. What does this number tell you? Does it need to grow?

What Is The Quality of My Network Data? Do you know what you need to know and can you easily access it? Experienced agents often have an adequate count in their database but the quality has deteriorated. If contact information is incorrect or you have no clue who this person really is, that data is not going to help you much.  In addition to the basic contact information, do you have birthdays, anniversaries, home purchase anniversaries, the names of children, and notes on your last conversation with them?

How Am I Building My Network? Set a goal of adding new contacts to your database each week. It takes specific time and deliberate effort to add the name, postal address, phone, and e-mail address for each new contact. However, once captured, you have an easy way to mail, follow up, and remind yourself of important ways to pursue that person. Any week that doesn’t add five new people to your database has been light on prospecting.

Do I Have Effective Tools for Communicating With My Network? There is no single tool for this process. Our culture is diverse and fragmented with multiple streams of communication. Approach communiction in two ways:

• Who merits specific and unique communication? For example: the lead call from your web site yesterday who plans to buy within thirty days. This person merits a specific contact process for closely monitored communications and results over the next week.
• Second, for those who can receive group communication, what tools will I employ? Online social networking, a regular postcard campaign, a routine of phone calls, hosting an annual event, meeting a group for lunch, video calls, instant messages or participating in a club – each of these allows for effective communication. How do you need to build and adjust your systems to communicate with large components of your network?  

Returning to the book, Connected, the authors provide a terrific web site with rich resources. You may want to try the analytical tool they provide for exploring your Facebook network.  Click here for that reference. It's fun and along the way you will begin to be influenced by their thoughts a bit, since as you enter the real of their network and influence.  Thanks for making me part of your network.

Here's a video intro to Connected,