A Fresh Approach to Real Estate Rookie-hood with Jennifer Allan

There was a featured blog here in the Rain a few weeks ago advising agents to devote 80% of their time prospecting for new business and 20% dealing with current business (i.e. active buyers and sellers). This isn't the first time we've seen this advice and it won't be the last; in fact, most Big Name training programs proclaim that a real estate agent's primary job is to prospect; that agents should vigorously resist the temptation to abandon their daily prospecting when clients call with pesky, administrative, non-income-producing problems to solve.

But I can't help but wonder... If a real estate agent's primary job is to prospect... and if the job our clients have hired us to perform for them can be done in a few hours a week... how on earth do we justify charging fees in the thousands and thousands of dollars?

Hold that thought while we return to the advice to devote far more time to prospecting than to serving...

Let's say that all this focused prospecting is paying off, and an agent is gathering an impressive book of real estate business - 5, 10, 20, 40 active buyers and sellers. Bravo! 

But, hmmmmm, just because the agent now has more clients to serve doesn't add hours to the day, so if he insists (as he's advised to do) on sticking to his 80/20 plan (because it's working so well!), his current clients are obviously going to be receiving smaller and smaller slices of his care and attention.

"But," the Power Prospector protests, "if I don't make prospecting a priority in my business and I do focus on my current clients, down the road I'll find myself with an empty pipeline and I can't have THAT! So, even if I'd like to do the job I promised to do I'd prefer to provide great service to my clients, I can't because I need to ensure that I always have new business coming in."

Well, um...

I'm guessing your current clients wouldn't think much of this argument, especially as they're feeling more and more neglected by the agent who promised them the world in service - and isn't delivering. I'm guessing they aren't singing his praises around the water cooler or at yoga class. I'm thinking that if they knew his business model was predicated on spending the vast majority of his time searching for, preparing for and pitching to his future clients instead of taking care of THEM, his current clients, they might have thought twice about hiring him in the first place.

Here's the thing. Taking proper care of your clients takes time. Your need for a full pipeline doesn't change the fact that you made promises and commitments to the buyers and sellers who believed you would take great care of them and their real estate needs. Believe me, they did NOT hire you because they were impressed by your prospecting prowess; they hired you because you assured them you'd take better care of them than any of the other agents they considered honoring with their business.

The bottom line is that if you can't handle more than X number of active buyers and sellers without sacrificing your service to them, then I guess you shouldn't be looking for more business when you already have as much as you can properly take care of.

Now let's go back to the first concept in this blog - if you're only devoting a few hours or even a few minutes a week to your clients, don't you think they might start to wonder what on earth they're paying you so much money for? And IF WHAT WE DO FOR OUR CLIENTS IS SO EASY THAT IT ONLY TAKES 20% OF OUR TIME OR WE CAN HAND IT OFF TO A $12/HOUR ASSISTANT, are our services really worth the fees we charge?

You can't have it both ways. You can't say, on one hand, that client care is simply a collection of administrative tasks that can be handled in your spare time or by an assistant, and THEN in the next breath declare that your client-care services are extremely valuable and should be well-compensated.

For the record, I don't believe that what we do is easy and I do believe we deserve to be well-compensated... as long as... we're doing the job we were HIRED to do and giving it our full attention.

I'll continue this soon, but please share your thoughts with me!

RELATED RANT
If Real Estate is So Easy, How Do You Justify Your Fee? 

I’d already been rather distressed this last week about something - and the timing is unfortunate because I have so many other things to do besides rant and rave and whine and fuss about my Issue du Jour (or du Week?) ... and then I saw Leslie Ebersole's excellent featured blog called "Mocking Me Won't Make Me Buy" and was inspired to put my rantings and ravings and fussings on "paper."

In the last 7 days, I’ve received no fewer than 12 emails or calls from real estate agents who are frustrated with the messages they’re getting from their high-priced "coaches" telling them that WHO THEY ARE isn’t good enough and unless they change WHO THEY ARE, they’ll fail. They’re paying Big Bucks for this message to be delivered to them on a regular basis and they seem to think the advice is warranted - that they truly aren’t good enough.

What a number that message is doing on their psyches! I have to wonder… maybe this is being snarky… but I have to wonder if that’s the intent – to play on the agents’ insecurities so they’ll keep forking over the $200/month, $500/month or even $1,000/month for coaching that seems intent on convincing the coachee that they’re, well, not good enough!

Now, I’m not talking about simply encouraging these agents to work a little harder, or work a little smarter or be a little more consistent. No, as far as I can tell, these programs are advising agents to venture WAY out of their comfort zones into places that they REEEALLY don’t want to go – and for some reason the agents aren’t making the connection that something that creeps them out might be wrong for them!

Here's the thing. Hiring a coach and writing him or her big check doesn't change who YOU are. If today you're creeped out by an approach to prospecting or deal-closing, don't think it's going to be any different tomorrow just because you signed up for an expensive program. You'll still be creeped out, I promise.

As I’ve said once or twice or a dozen times… if something feels wrong to you; if something makes you feel icky and dread getting up in the morning – it’s WRONG for you! And you don’t have to do it to succeed, no matter how much money you just paid someone to convince you that you should or how much they try to make you feel inferior for hesitating! You CAN succeed by being wonderful, extraordinary, one-of-a-kind YOU, I promise!

Okay, rant over. For now.

Especially for Rookie Agents (but everyone is welcome), this teleseminar show is about what happens (or SHOULD happen) between the time you get your new seller client's signature on the listing agreement and that glorious day you go under contract.

Contrary to what some seem to believe, there are a LOT of things that a listing agent can (and should) do once the sign goes in the yard, way above and beyond the 3P's (Put a sign in the yard, Put it in the MLS, Pray). Things like communicating with the seller every day during the first week and on a regular basis thereafter. Making sure the seller approves your MLS listing. Keeping up with market activity in the area and ensuring the seller knows you are. Checking in on your listing in person every week or so. Verifying with the HOA what the seller told you about it. Soliciting and communicating showing feedback. Updating your photos when the season changes. And so much more.

You do these things not only because they make your seller happy (which is certainly not an insignificant reason!) but also because the more in touch with your listings you are, the more likely they're going to sell, and when your listings sell, everyone wins. 

So, on November 10th, we'll discuss all these things a listing agent should be doing during the listing-to-contract phase, based off of Jennifer's New-Listing Checklist which you can review at the SWS VIP Lounge here: www.SellwithSoul.com/vip_lounge.html.  

During the show we'll cover topics such as:

• What you need to do right away once you have a signed listing agreement
• What you need to make sure your seller does prior to going on the market
• What you need to do one week, two weeks, three weeks (and beyond) after the list date
• What sorts of things (and when) to communicate to your seller throughout the process
• How to communicate feedback
• Proactive steps to take to head off problems before they arise
• And... whatever else we think of to tell you about!

Sound like fun? If so, please mark your calendar and join us on November 10th!

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THE DETAILS
Date: Thursday, November 10th, 2011
Time: 8:00am Pacific / 9:00am Mountain / 10:00am Central / 11:00am Eastern
Duration: 60 - 75 minutes
Equipment Needed: A computer with a high-speed connection and speakers or a telephone.
Cost: Free, but you must register, below. 

REGISTER FOR THE SHOW HERE!

REGISTER FOR THE SHOW HERE

It used to be that the inspection period of a real estate transaction was biggest hurdle to overcome once your buyer (or listing) were under contract. Get through the inspection and sigh with relief - you're heading for a closing!

Well, that may not be the case today, but it doesn't mean that inspections aren't still a painful process for everyone, and are responsible for their fair share of failed real estate transactions. And when a sale falls apart due to inspection issues, everyone loses - the buyer, the seller, the lender and of course, both agents involved.

Sure, there are some properties that are simply in such poor repair that unless your buyer is Joe Handy(wo)man or your seller is Mr(s). Cheerful Moneybags, the deal should crash & burn. But most of the time, inspections kill the sale not because the home is a money pit, but because emotions and egos get in the way... and down the proverbial toilet we go.

But the good news is that YOU, as the buyer or listing agent, have a whole lot more influence over the outcome of the inspection than you may have given yourself credit for. You CAN hold these sales together (if it's the right thing for your client, of course!) and do your part to help everyone happily continue the journey toward the closing table.

So, if inspections have been a deal-buster for you in the past, or if you're a new agent and aren't really sure what your role is during the inspection process, please join us for a frank discussion about Inspections and How to Survive Them. 

THE DETAILS
Date: Thursday, October 13th, 2011
Time: 8:00am Pacific / 9:00am Mountain / 10:00am Central / 11:00am Eastern 
Duration: 60 - 75 minutes
Equipment Needed: A computer with a high-speed connection and speakers or a telephone.
Cost: Free to attend live, but you must register below!

REGISTER FOR THE SHOW HERE

I recently released two newsletter mini-clinics especially for aspiring real estate agents - that is - real estate agent wannabe's who are not yet licensed, but hope to be someday. The first is called "So You Wanna Be a Real Estate Agent" and was created to help people decide if real estate is a good career for them, and the second - "So, You're ALMOST a Real Estate Agent" is about helping pre-licensees (those currently in real estate school) figure out what they can be doing NOW to prepare for that happy day they hang their bright shiny new real estate license on the wall of their new office.

Anyway, since I released the two mini-clinics, I've been contacted by several aspiring agents asking for my advice on the whole pre-rookie experience. Guess what the number one question is?

"Should I start putting together a website?"

My answer is always the same (I tend to be predictable that way). I say NO (although I do advise them to get a domain name for email purposes).

Here's why.

Brand new real estate agents have a lot to do. A LOT. They need to be learning about their real estate market. They need to be mastering their contracts and disclosures. They need to become intimately familiar with their MLS and their contract software. They need to understand how the buyer process works from showing to offer to contract to closing. They need to put together a plan to market their listings and decide how to structure their fees. They should be shadowing other agents on showings, inspections, appraisals and closings. They should be creating their team of great lenders, inspectors and handymen. They need to be reconnecting with their spheres of influence and creating transaction checklists. They need to learn about short sales and foreclosures. They need to learn how to properly price homes and create coherent, compelling, persuasive CMAs. They need to choose a contact management system and learn how to use it.

PLENTY to do.

Now, if there were unlimited hours in the day, unlimited dollars in the bank and unlimited energy in the proverbial gas tank, then sure, let's add "creating a website" to that list. But the reality for most new agents is that there is not unlimited time, an unlimited budget or an unlimited supply of energy, so a little triage is necessary.

(By the way, if a new agent is finding that they DO have plenty of time on their hands, something is WRONG! Take a look at that list above and determine what it is you aren't doing... and do THAT).

Your website can wait. For now, just sign up for your broker-provided site, do the minimum required to not look like a slacker, and focus on creating a great product (that would be YOU) so that when the time comes to Create Your Website, you actually have something compelling to say about that great product!

The moral of the story - rookie agents - mark "Create My Website" off your list of Things to Do Today. Whew - one less thing!

Especially for Rookie Agents (but everyone is welcome)!

Our next SWS teleseminar show is about what happens during that mysterious period between writing an offer... and receiving your commission check. While rookie agents sometimes receive lots of training about how to SHOW houses and maybe even about how to write up offers, they are rarely given much guidance as to their duties and responsibilities once their buyer is under contract/in escrow heading for the closing table. And there's a lot going on behind the scenes!

But here's the thing. The process of getting from Contract-to-Closing varies significantly across markets. In some areas, attorney involvement is common, even required. In others, attorneys aren't involved at all except in very special circumstances. In some markets, the property officially changes hands at the closing table; in others, the new owner must wait for the paperwork to be filed and recorded. In some areas, the inspection period allows the buyer to terminate the contract for any reason whatsoever; in others, they must give the seller the opportunity to correct any deficiencies they find.

My point is that any non-market-specific class about how the period from Contract-to-Closing works will unfortunately be imperfect due to such variances. But that doesn't mean we won't do our best to help our new agents better understand the process!

On September 29th, we'll have three agents here in the SWS Virtual Studio, from three different geographic locations, describe the Contract-to-Closing process in their market. We'll have an agent from the Northeast, one from the Rocky Mountains and one from California. During the show we'll cover topics such as:

• What you need to do immediately following contract execution
• What you need to make sure your buyer does immediately following contract execution
• How, why, when and with whom to follow up throughout the process
• Your role during the inspection period
• Proactive steps to take to head off problems before they arise
• What your responsibilities are prior to, during and after the closing
• And... whatever else we think of to tell you about!

Sound like fun? If so, please mark your calendar and join us on September 29th!
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THE DETAILS
Date: Thursday, September 29th, 2011
Time: 8:00am Pacific / 9:00am Mountain / 10:00am Central / 11:00am Eastern (Please show up a little early to get settled in.) 
Duration: 60 - 75 minutes
Equipment Needed: A computer with a high-speed connection and speakers or a telephone.
Cost: Free to attend live, but you must register, below. 

REGISTER HERE

Have you ever heard the little ditty about the “What's the Best Time to Plant a Tree?”

25 years ago.

What’s the next best time to plant a tree?

Today.

Put another way – What, one year from now, will you wish you’d done today?

Or even another way – What, one year from now, will you be thrilled you did today?

Do that. Today.

So tell me… what’s on your To-Do-Today list that you’ll be tickled with yourself for doing one year from now?

As promised... here is the follow-up to my earlier blog about what to do with your contacts once you've loaded them up in your contact management system to maximize the likelihood that your sphere of influence (the people who know you) will support your real estate business. If you'd like to read the first installment where I covered Steps 1-6, here 't'is: http://activerain.com/blogsview/2454716/so-my-contacts-are-loaded-what-now-

In a nut, Steps 1-6 had you going through all the names in your database to identify any missing bits of information, then categorizing your contacts as Group One, Group Two or IDK's and then creating sub-groups.

By the way, if you'd rather just watch the video of the whole webinar, you can do that here: www.sellwithsoul.com/cms-contacts.

So, here are Steps 7 and 8:

Step 7: Research all the missing bits of information that you identified earlier and fill them in on each contacts' profile. Facebook is a great resource for email addresses and birthdays, BTW.

Step 8: Concurrent with Step 7, identify each person in their profile as a Group One, Group Two or IDK, as well as any sub-group they belong to.

(Depending on your contact manager, this last step can probably be done on a "mass" input basis.)

Once you've completed Steps 7 and 8, you should have a relatively complete and up-to-date database (wasn't that fun? LOL). If you stay on top of it, you'll never have to go through this entire exercise again, although I believe it's a good practice to print out your database and review it a few times a year, just for kicks.

So, now, it's time to start reconnecting with the people whose names are in that database.

Depending on your business model and future plans for your sphere of influence, you may want to send out a "reconnection letter." I won't talk about that today because it would take too long, but I have a live workshop coming up this fall on the subject.

But whether you send out a mass reconnection letter or not, there are several things you can be doing to reconnect with your sphere of influence, starting now!

Here's what I would do.

First, I would print out my Group Ones (my social network) and go through the list name by name to see who I feel like reconnecting with in the next week or two. The cool thing is that your "mood" will change week to week, so NEXT week, you can go through the list again and be drawn toward completely different people. I'd try to go out for coffee or drinks with two or three people a week until I'd had a face-to-face with all my Group Ones (or at least attempted to, thus making contact).

As I'm going through my list of Group Ones, I'd try to remember the last conversation I had with each person to remind myself where we left off in our friendship.

Then, on an ongoing basis after each social encounter, I'd immediately write down something we talked about that I can follow up with in a few days or weeks, and enter that follow-up as a task in my contact manager. For example, maybe my friend told me she was getting a new puppy over the weekend; I could call the next week to see how it's going. Or maybe a friend tells me her mother has been ill - I can follow up in a few days to see if she needs anything.

What about your Group Twos (your "everyone else" contacts who aren't in your social network)? Well, I communicate with my Group Two with postal mailings and mass emailings. I don't try to socialize with them or make personal contact unless I have a bona-fide reason to, but my Group Two was always a significant source of business for me, even without the face-to-face/voice-to-voice contact.

So, that's the show for today ;-]. Hope you enjoyed this little mini-series on What To Do Now That Your Contacts Are Loaded!

To read more about my Contact Management ramblings, just go here: www.SellwithSoul.com/contact-management.

Excerpted from Chapter Ten of "If You're Not Having Fun Selling Real Estate..."

I used to be afraid of the word “negotiate.” I considered it, paradoxically, to be both beneath me and also over my head. My vision of a master negotiator was someone who was expertly manipulative, who had the attitude of one of my first clients: “It’s not a good negotiation until both sides feel some pain.” I pictured a cheesy salesperson in an expensive suit making his opponent feel inadequate and inexperienced so that she eventually gives in against her will.

I wanted no part of that!

On the other hand, I was also intimidated by the concept of becoming a good negotiator. I read books on the Art of Persuasion and Negotiation and found the methods to be interesting but not terribly practical. When I’m having a conversation with someone, I simply can’t intentionally steer the conversation in the direction I want it to go using rehearsed scripts. And, frankly, being a girl, it’s important to me that there is a mutual trust in any conversation I have—y’know, that whole feminine relationship-building thing.

So, for years, the idea of being a great negotiator wasn’t something I was interested in becoming.

But you know what? Somehow I became one without even trying. No, not by listening to subliminal sleep tapes, reading books or taking an expensive weekend course, but rather by trusting my own common sense and understanding of human nature.

***

I hear from agents all the time who say they "hate the negotiation part of real estate." Yikes! While negotiating may not be the most important skill we possess (although then again, it might be!), it's certainly something we should be reasonably competent at, and therefore, not hate the thought of!

And becoming a reasonably competent negotiator really isn't all that difficult - a lot of it is common sense and common courtesy.

So, if you find yourself dreading the negotiation process during your real estate transactions, let us help. On August 18th, I'll be joined in the studio by Blake Farley, an SWS'er who has discovered the joys of Negotiating with Soul. We'll each share our tips and strategies for getting your clients what they want -- without alienating the other side!  

THE DETAILS
Date: Thursday, August 18th, 2011
Time: 8:00am Pacific / 9:00am Mountain / 10:00am Central / 11:00am Eastern (Please show up a little early to get settled in.) 
Duration: 75 - 90 minutes
Equipment Needed: A computer with a high-speed connection and speakers or a telephone.
Cost: Free to attend live, but you must register, below. You may purchase a recording afterwards for $3.99 in the SWS Bookstore.

REGISTER HERE

Excellent rebuttal post to my recent blog which included advice to shut up and write up a low-ball offer for a buyer instead of trying to talk him out of it. Brenda (very politely) called me on my stance, and it appears that 100% of the comments so far agree with her and not me (hmpf!). ;-]

Actually, I'm glad she made an issue out of my advice AND that her blog was featured because it gave me the opportunity to clarify my opinion on the matter (both in my own head and here on my blog)!

If you didn't catch this on the Active Rain Gold Star page already - Enjoy!