by andrew | Oct 10, 2018 | Best Practice, Goal Setting, Mindset For Success, Real Estate, Success, Success From Scratch, Sucess Goals, Top Agent, Top Producer
Gabe Abshire, CEO of Utility Concierge is our guest this week on success from scratch. Gabe shares his “EOS,” the entrepreneurial operating system where the concept is based on each successful business having a visionary and an implementer. Or in real estate, a team leader and an operator. Gabe shares his secrets for success and how those can apply to your real estate practice. He also shares the value proposition of Utility Concierge and how that can add value to you and your clients.
“We want to make it simple. We provide a one-stop shop for your clients’ utilities needs to make the moving experience smoother.”
– Gabe Abshire, CEO of Utility Concierge
Need a coach that can help you build your EOS? Get free consult at www.travisrobertson.com/jpar
by andrew | Oct 8, 2018 | Best Practice, Coaching, Dreams, Goal Setting, Mindset For Success, No Regrets, Real Estate, Sucess Goals
Every picture tells a story, and that’s true of today’s blog post photo. Take a look… that image just may have hit home for you as it did for me.
I have few regrets… yet recently I happened to be in a business meeting where we moved the chess prices around the board yet did not address the true underlying issue. Instead, I chose the path of least resistance… the path of comfort instead of the harder truth. Conflict was avoided yet so was the real growth opportunity. Can you relate to a similar situation in your business or life?
While comforting lies can be, well, comforting, they won’t help us get through a challenging situation in a way that serves our mutual best interests. Comforting lies won’t help you grow. So, if your desire is to be the best version of you, switch the line you’re in. Move from the easy line of comfort to the more challenging line. The unpleasant truth will equip you with the feedback to make the best next step. The next best course of action given your circumstances, desires, and dreams.
As a mentor, coach and consultant here’s what I know: “a coach is someone who tells you what you don’t want to hear, who has you see what you don’t want to see, so you can be who you have always known you could be.” Let’s be that person this week for all the people we influence.
#WinTheDay
by andrew | Sep 10, 2018 | Appointment Setting, Best Practice, BluePrint Of Success, Priorities and My Time, Productivity
There are 80 working days left in 2018. Depending on how many days you work, how many holidays you celebrate and so on, you have about 80 days to wrap up 2018. 80 days…
How do you want your bank account to look like on January 1st of 2019? Do you want a bigger bank account or a smaller one? I suspect a bigger one… so let’s get to work.
Whatever your goal is, NOW is the time to make that happen. The next 45 to 55 days will be critical for setting yourself up for strong close to 2018 and a fast start to 2019. What you do in the next few days and weeks will determine the size of your bank account on January 1.
Let’s face there are two types of agents today… hobbyists and CEO’s. This blog is not intended for part-time agents or those that work real estate sales as a hobby. For those of you that run your business like a business, those of you that know your daily number and know what it takes to generate one sale… this article is for you.
How many families or investors do you want to serve between now and the end of the year?
How many contacts do you need to make to drive that number? One rule of thumb is 40 to 1.
What systems do you have in place to create the result you desire?
Write down the number of sales you’ve made so far this year.
Write down the source of those sales.
This is your system… a system will produce what a system will produce, nothing less nothing more. If your system is not producing the expected result, it’s time to update your system.
A couple of things to consider
- Decide Now. Decide now how many days you will work, how many days you will be off and how many “flex days” you’ll have between now and the end of the year. Decide if you will create an investor campaign to take advantage of year-end investment buyers. And, decide now how many listings you will earn between now and the end of the year.
- Diversify your lead generation sources. Too many of you rely on ONE maybe TWO lead sources. 4 to 6 sources of business is a minimum standard. Don’t add them all at once, start with one get it working and stable then add another until you reach 4 to 6 sources. In any market, more lead sources will serve you better than fewer lead sources. Relying on 100% of your business with one lead source in a shifting market is a formula for disaster.
- Up your CRM game. At JPAR you have a world class CRM kvCORE as part of our base package. You also have Top Producer and Commissions Inc. at a preferred rate. So, there is no excuse for not having your CRM update date and working for you.
- Delegate. Is it time to find some help? An office or virtual assistant. Your highest and best use is prospecting.; lead generation; going to appointments, and negotiating contracts. Everything else can be delegated. Scared? Get resourceful, many new agents I know are sharing a fractional assistant to split cost yet keep them fully employed.
- Target Market Clarity? Any market rewards the hyperlocal expert. Are you an expert in a community? Are you an expert in a profession like Nurses, FBI agents, CPA’s? It’s probably time to expand your targets and diversify.
- Real Estate Play Book. Complete our JPAR real estate playbook ASAP. It is full of practical ideas you can execute immediately.
So, I’ll leave you today with three more things:
1. Cash… cash is king. Are you building your cash reserves? Reducing bad debt? Investing in marketing? (Hint: You can do all 3.)
2. Knowing what you know now, what immediate adjustments do you need to make?
3. Have you started a small weekly accountability group with like-minded, goal-oriented CEO’s like yourself? If not, what are you waiting for?
#WinTheDay
by andrew | Aug 27, 2018 | Appointment Setting, Best Practice, BluePrint Of Success, Coaching, Goal Setting, Priorities and My Time, Staying Relevant, Success, Sucess Goals, Top Agent, Top Producer
How would it feel if you could help 50 families buy, sell or invest in real estate every year?
A system will produce what a system will produce… nothing less, nothing more. So I’m curious, what is your system producing for your business? Are you happy with that result or do you want more? If you want more, read on.
Are Your Systems Producing Reliable Results?
Let me clarify. For some of you reading this blog, losing weight might be an example you can relate to. Losing 10 pounds is a GOAL. Changing the way you eat for life is a SYSTEM. Many of you have a goal of helping 20 or more families buy, sell or invest in real estate this year. That is a GOAL. What systems do you have in place to ensure that outcome?
So let’s review first why you need systems in place. Unless you are a hobbyist in real estate, you’ll need systems for:
- Consistent quality – for you, your clients and your partners.
- Simplifying your workload – like a checklist for a pilot, you don’t have to always guess what needs to be done next
- Saving time – less time wondering what to do and more time doing it
- Highlighting inefficiencies – with the right systems in place you can see what’s working and what’s not
- Growing your business – serve more people, make more money
As a real estate broker and later as a real estate business coach, I’ve seen, reviewed and put into practice virtually every system out there. In my current view of the business, the perfect place to start is with Gary Keller’s three L’s from The Millionaire Real Estate Agent: Leads, Listings, and Leverage.
Next-level agents – those that run their business as a business – implement real estate systems to handle each of the three L’s. Let’s dig in.
LEADS
Leads are the lifeblood of your real estate practice. Without leads, you have no clients and no deals. Systemizing your lead generation and conversion processes will result in more clients and more successful transactions. One such system is outlined in The Millionaire Real Estate Agent, which outlines a system to move prospects from your outer circle to your inner circle.
In the book, we learn 2 prospecting categories and 11 marketing categories to choose from and implement. Exploring all of them would spread you too thin, yet having a plan to start with one and “add one” each quarter is a solid process to build a strong real estate practice.
Lead systems include:
- Eight by eight – everyone you meet goes into a campaign with the purpose of establishing a relationship. Once a week for 8 weeks you make some type of meaningful contact. Text, follow up call, email, social media direct message, handwritten note. Get creative and systematize it.
- Thirty-Three Touch – everyone you know goes into the 33 touch program. 18 touches via newsletter, cards or drop-offs; 8 thinking of you touches; 3 telephone touches; 2 birthday touches (both partners); 1 touch each for a special holiday. Get creative – old media and new media – and systematize it.
- Twelve Direct – for those people you have not met in your target market area. 12 direct contacts a year. Get creative and systemize it.
Move Prospects From Your Outer To Your Inner Circle.
Your business is just math – depending on market conditions, your skills and results you will need to increase or decrease your formula:
For every 12 people on your “met” contact database – when you follow this system – you can reasonably expect to net 2 sales… either a direct sale or a referral for a sale. Do you want to do 5o sales this year? Then a solid database of 300 people using this system can produce that result.
For every 50 people in your “not met” database you can reasonably expect 1 sale. You want to do 5o sales this year, then you’ll need 2,500 people in your not meet database.
LISTINGS
If you want to run an efficient real estate business, focus on gaining more listings, not more buyers.
Listings require less time and allow you more scheduling flexibility… you don’t have to work around the clients’ schedules nearly as much as with buyers. You can also be more confident in your ability to collect payment as a seller’s agent than as a buyer’s agent. We’ve all had buyers cut us out of a deal at one time or another. And even with a buyer’s brokerage agreement, forcing payment of commissions can easily get contentious. It’s a headache you just don’t need.
One of the best resources I’ve run across for a listing system is Hoss Pratt’s book LISTING BOSS
So work with well-qualified, sense-of-urgency buyers, but focus your efforts on earning listings from sellers.
Listings systems include:
- Creating Home Value and Neighborhood Activities campaigns
- Listing presentations: what can you show prospective sellers during your listing presentation that will distinguish yourself from your competition and help your sellers feel comfortable contracting with you?
- Staging: how will you help your sellers stage to sell?
- Property marketing: how will you promote your new listings? In our market, your marketing needs to be like the new home builders.
- Client communication: when and how will you be in touch with your sellers while the property is on the market and under contract?
LEVERAGE
Leverage is all about finding and utilizing resources to help you scale your business.
Perhaps you could spend more time landing more listings if you hired a transaction coordinator to manage the paperwork for your pending deals. Or you could spend more time on income-generating activities if you hired an assistant to handle the administrative aspects of your practice.
Leverage your resources to help you serve more clients and increase your revenue.
Leverage systems include:
- Assistants: what tasks can you delegate to an assistant (as an employee or even as a freelance virtual assistant)?
- Buyer agents: as your business grows, you may find you need a designated Buyer’s Agent to handle your buyers.
- Automation software: can some of your tasks, like social media posts or email campaigns, be handled by automation software?
- Your CRM… without a solid CRM and CRM process you are not in business you simply have a hobby.
Feeling overwhelmed? Good, that’s the place where all growth begins. Break it down into small chunks and get started today. If you have not read my article Delegate, Automate or Eliminate, now would be a good time.
Need a business coach? Schedule a consult with us today.
#WinTheDay
by andrew | Aug 13, 2018 | Burn Out, Life On The Wire, Rest, Sharpening The Saw, Stress, Work
I’ll rest when I’m dead…as driven business owners we’ve probably all said this phrase at some point in our careers.
JP and I were reflecting the other day on the amazing group of teams, agents, and staff that have joined us to create their business within the business. We are blessed to be surrounded by the best of the best. We are blessed to work in an industry of such dedicated, loyal and giving professionals that provides so much opportunity and fuels so much of our economy. Yet as self-employed, driven entrepreneurs many of us live life on the wire and are highly prone to burn-out.
Normally we write about increasing productivity, tips and hacks to make you more productive. Yet today, let’s review rest: the power of rest… the necessity of rest and the purpose of rest.
Consider this… if you are not fully rested and charged you can’t serve your clients at the highest level. Yes? So taking time to sharpen the saw, to rest and recharge is a way of better serving your clients. And if that’s not a good enough reason for you, then consider that science has proven that working too much can be counterproductive and even hazardous to your health. Any testimonies?
So as self-employed entrepreneurs – with no guaranteed paycheck – how do we balance work and non-work activities? It’s not easy, yet in his book “Life On The Wire” my friend Todd Duncan contends the last thing we need amid life’s inherent imbalance is another attempt at a how-to formula for perfect balance… equal parts work and life. In fact, he argues that such a holy grail does not exist. Instead, he has issued a more pragmatic formula he calls purposeful imbalance: the process of purposefully leaning toward work without sacrificing life and purposefully leaning toward life without damaging your business. It is precisely the way a tight-rope walker makes his way across a one-inch rope without falling.
I’ve turned to FORBES magazines council of coaches for some advice and here is what they have to say.
7 Practical Tips To Avoid Burnout and Reduce Stress
1. Get Curious About Self-Care
One strategy to reduce stress is to get curious about self-care. Self-care is about getting clear on what’s important to us and what will recharge our batteries. An easy way to do this is to explore a hobby we have been interested in, and approach it with a sense of curiosity instead of mastery. Allowing ourselves to “just play” can open up space we never knew we had. – Coach Jean Muhlbauer
2. Set Time Aside For Quiet Reflection
Set time aside daily for quiet, inner reflection in silence and solitude, followed by planning and organizing your day. Assess the actual value of your priorities and activities. Practice discipline in your focus to avoid distraction. Each morning, evaluate your past day’s success and adapt accordingly. – Coach Jay Steven Levin
3. Spend At least 15 Minutes A Day In Meditation
One practical strategy a modern professional can easily incorporate into their life to reduce stress is to schedule at least 15 minutes a day to meditate. This may sound like an overused idea, but that does not diminish its impact or effectiveness. While there is empirical data to support the positive effects of meditation, one does not need data to experience it first hand. Give it a try. – Coach Sharesz T. Wilkinson
4. Develop A Personal Daily Ritual
One strategy that just about everyone can do to help reduce stress is to develop a personal and practical ritual that you can do every day. For one of my clients, it’s having tea first thing each morning at a table or location away from her work desk. Some of my clients have incorporated nightly journaling or even an afternoon 20-minute nap. The key is to find something relaxing and stick to it! – Coach Trellis Usher
5. Hit The Pause Button More Often
Do you hit the pause button often enough? When you do, you can think through and adjust a communication, determine if you are working on the right priority versus just working, and most importantly, see the forest versus being caught in the trees. – Coach Janine Schindler
6. Accept That Stress Is Of Your Own Making
Our work with very successful CEOs and senior executives allows them to appreciate that stress is of our own making against some ideal, what we perceive others think of us, or unrealistic expectations. We have the same amount of time as everyone else and freedom on how we choose to use that time. Most importantly, we have freedom in how we choose to perceive our own performance and accomplishments – Coach Dave Garrison
7. Live In The Now
Living in the now is a great way to reduce stress. Focusing on the future creates anxiety, and thinking about the past creates regret. Furthermore, the future does not exist because when it arrives, it arrives in the present moment. The only thing that exists is right now, and focusing on the present moment and situation directly in front of you can significantly reduce your stress. – Coach Jason Johnson
So there you have it – 7 practical steps – from 7 world class coaches. Do you have something to add to the list? Share it in the comments below. For me, I frequently rely on what’s written in Matthew 11:28-30.
Our desire this week, and every week is that you take time to rest and recharge… so you can better serve you, your families, your clients, and your community. Rest well, my friends.
#WinTheDay
