A Fresh Approach to Real Estate Rookie-hood with Jennifer Allan: June 2009

Visit most real estate training sites and you'll pretty quickly see references to being a Superstar or a Champion or a Hero or a Top Producer or some other high-falutin' descriptive term for a tippy-top level of real estate production. You'll see testimonials from agents who bought whatever system is being marketed claiming to have tripled their income or hit the half-million mark in commissions or sold 167 houses their first month on the program.

Wow. That's something. I'll admit to being intimidated by such marketing, both as an active real estate agent AND a real estate trainer myself. Gee, I never made $500,000 or sold 300 houses in a year. Neither has anyone I've ever coached or mentored or trained.

Do I believe the claims? Sure I do - no real reason to believe that such levels aren't attainable just because I never did it or know anyone who did.

But I don't believe that the majority of agents are going to see anywhere near those production levels, regardless of what system, program or philosophy they follow. No, not even in a good market.

And that's okay! I have a loyal following of several thousand real estate agents who don't want or need to set the world on fire - they just want to make a consistent, comfortable living, doing business in a manner they're proud of, making more people happy than unhappy. They also want to have time for their families, their hobbies and their naps. They don't want to be Power Prospectors who generate business 14 hours a day and then hand it off to their harem of assistants and specialists on their way out the door to drum up even more.

Hey, there's nothing wrong with wanting to be the Top Dog in your office, neighborhood, city, county or state. But if you don't, that's okay, too. There's plenty of room (and commission checks) here in the middle for those with slightly less-grand aspirations.

So, don't fret if you doubt you'll ever be a Superstar. You're in very good company.

 It's DONE!
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I have a new soapbox that has fired up my blogging energy... doncha' love it when that happens? Off we go...

I had an interesting meeting last summer with a real estate agent who started in the business the same year I did, in the same company. That year, he was the Rookie of the Year ... and I was runner-up to him. Neither of us recall who was third, of course!

Anyway, we literally hadn't run into each other since that awards ceremony in the mid-90's. Oh, I've seen his name around and he's seen mine, but we've never actually talked. We both went on to have successful careers and to set our individual worlds on fire (in our own minds anyway) and are still alive and kicking, almost 13 years later. Good thing.

So, last summer, we had the opportunity to chat about our respective careers. Since his dad had been a mega-producing broker at the time this guy (let's call him Skip) entered the business, I always assumed that his success had been handed to him. Au Contraire!

Skip explained that his dad wouldn't even let him in the door of his real estate office until he had, get this, worked for a year as a copier salesman. After that, he had to get his appraiser's license. Only then did Dad allow him to hang his new real estate license. But that was only the beginning - the boot camp then begun. Skip had to call all 600 of his dad's past clients, had to knock on 20 FSBO doors and call 20 expired listings per week. He had to hold two open houses every single Saturday. I'm sure there was mass-mailing and advertising tossed in there, too, but he didn't mention it.

And, voila! Skip was Rookie of the Year!

At the same time, I was taking my friends to lunch and attending social events with my future-ex-husband. I did some open houses and returned phone calls in nano-seconds. That was about it for my prospecting efforts.

And voila! I was the Rookie of the Year Runner-up!

Truth be told, Skip blew me away in production. He sold something like 70 houses that first year to my 25. But I was pretty darn happy with my 25 and I was enjoying the heck out of my new real estate career. So, for me, it worked. Had I been forced thru Skip's boot camp, I wouldn't have made it past my first month.

Fast forward to today.

Both Skip and I have had successful careers. We've made a lot of money and have consistently been top producers in our offices. I'm sure he has a lot of plaques on his "me wall," as do I.

But our approaches are still vastly different. He said he has to sell AT LEAST 100 houses a year to be profitable - that is, to support the systems and staff he's put in place. He HAS to cold call, he HAS to door knock, he HAS to prospect, prospect, prospect to stay afloat. He said that if he only has 5 closings in a month, he's in deep financial doo-doo. 

Me? Well, my "best" year was in 2001 when I sold something like 70 houses. But you know what? That year, I brought home less than 40% of my gross commissions (not counting taxes) because the cost of maintaining that level of production was astronomical. A few years later, I sold "only" 35 houses and netted exactly the same amount, working half as hard and taking on only half the risk. Hmmmmmm.

Today, my business is very simple (and cheap) to run. It's just me, myself and I. No assistants, no buyer agents, not even a free-lance transaction coordinator. I don't advertise, farm or SEO. Due to my strong sphere of influence and past client database, I have a steady stream of good business. Will I sell 100 houses this year? Uh, no. But do I work 60 hours a week? Nope. Haven't done that in years.

I imagine Skip's annual income is close to a million, if not more. Mine? Nowhere close to a million! But do I feel as if I'm been blown away by my fellow Rookie? Not really.

I don't ever want to be in the position of having to be a mega-producer in order to survive. I just want to take on the amount of business I can handle all by myself, the amount of business that I can easily attract using the soulful methods and philosophies that have always worked for me.

I must be getting old...

 It's DONE!
The Sequel to Sell with Soul
AVAILABLE NOW! 
Order Here

As the Introverted Real Estate Agent's New Best Friend (I just made that up), I give out a lot of advice on how to make a real estate career work even if you aren't the most outgoing, charismatic social butterfly in town. The other day I was asked about the appropriateness of adding people to your mailing list (either email or snail-mail) without their permission. Spam issues aside (we're talking about people we know, not strangers), many introverts are hesitant to begin any structured communication with a friend or acquaintance for fear of annoying them.

I get that. Oh, how I get that. I agonize over my mailing list every time I send something out, whether it be to my real estate Sphere of Influence or my Sell with Soul readership. I wonder if I'm communicating too much; if I'm wearing out my welcome; or conversely, if I'm not communicating enough and my audience has forgotten who I am. I worry about the appropriateness of including a little promo for my next product or new listing. Conversely, I worry that if I don't, I'm not fulfilling my duty to myself to effectively market my stuff.

It's easy to over-think such things and end up doing nothing. Which is a bad plan. So, if this sounds anything like you, here are a few thoughts to put your mind at ease...

First, ask yourself if what you're getting ready to send out is something you're proud of. If it's something you'd enjoy receiving in your mailbox or inbox. Or, egads, if it's some cheesy newsletter or sales piece that you'd toss without reading if it were sent to you.

If your communication is something you are proud of and would enjoy receiving, then move on down to the next point. If it's not, if you're actually embarrassed by your effort, then you need to honor that gut feeling and return to the drawing board. Because, in my opinion, sending something cheesy or dorky is NOT better than doing nothing at all! But that's a topic for a different day.

If you're pleased with your piece, send it out. To everyone. Here's the thing. A few might be annoyed or feel spammed. That's a fact. But most won't. The vast majority won't. If you're sending out good stuff, most will enjoy it and be impressed by you. Which is good for business.

I'd rather impress 10 people and risk annoying one than take the chance of some other agent getting my SOI's business because I was worried about the one...

A few months ago I was approached by a state Realtor association - New York, maybe. Well, it wasn't actually the association; it was the marketing firm for the association, trying to sell me ad space in their magazine.

The nice man with the heavy New Yawk accent threw out a bunch of numbers and statistics and options, trying to entice me to spend several thousand dollars advertising in the magazine. Readership, distribution and such. Oh, several thousand dollars is out of your budget? Okay, well, we also offer very effective classified ads for a fraction of the cost (but still several hundred for a 3-line ad or something like that).

Okay, well... I've spent a lot of money on advertising in my life and I can honestly say that NONE of it has worked for me. In fact, it's rare that it even pays for itself, much less generates a profit. But, hey, I'm open to new venues for business, so I made this proposal to Mr. New Yawker:

"Sir (okay, I didn't really call him sir), I'd be happy to give your magazine a try, but I don't have that kind of budget to risk and in my experience, print advertising is a waste of money. But if you're sure that an investment in your magazine will pay off for me, how about you run an ad for me for a few months and if it generates business for me, I'll be delighted to pay for it. And, obviously, if it's producing results, I'll continue paying for it."

Well, as you can imagine, that didn't fly. Didn't expect it to, but thought I'd give it a shot.

I guess when you work in an industry where you only get paid if you perform; you're much less excited to pay upfront for something that might NOT perform. And, since so much advertising simply doesn't work, I'd love to see the marketing/advertising industry adopt a policy of showing US the money before asking for ours...

Crazy? Maybe. But I'm from Missouri - the Show Me State!

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A few months ago, I posted a Help Wanted ad for a graphics designer on www.Guru.com. If you've never used Guru - it's a wonderful resource! Basically, it's on online database of freelancers who are looking for work.

Anyway, within 24 hours of posting my ad, I got at least 30 responses. Complete with resumes, pricing estimates and requests for further information about my project. All 30 responders seemed to sincerely want my business and not a one of them lectured, belittled or condescended to me.

Well, duh, you say, they're after your business, why on earth would they be anything but delightful in their first encounter with you?

My thoughts exactly.

Well, last night, one of my SWS readers sent me a link to a thread on Trulia. I'm not familiar with the Trulia forums, but it appears that it's a place where regular people post questions to the real estate community, hoping to get answers. (again, duh).

On this particular thread, the buyer was simply asking for information about a listing she found online. I was stunned at the level of lecturing, belittling and condescension expressed by the responding real estate "professionals." More than half of the responders sternly advised her to speak with a mortgage broker before "bothering" (okay, that's my word, but the message was clear) a real estate agent. Another instructed her to better educate herself on the process before looking at homes, and helpfully provided links (surprisingly, not even to his own material, but stuff from NAR). Only two agents actually offered to show her the home, but even they seemed disinterested in becoming her favorite real estate agent.

I gotta ask... WHY are these agents wasting their precious time on the Trulia forum if all they're going to do is alienate the prospects they're supposedly there to find?

Are graphics designers on guru.com more desperate than real estate agents (HA!) and therefore only grudgingly concede to being polite, enthusiastic and responsive? Whereas we in the real estate industry are so buried under a pile of qualified buyers and motivated sellers to the point where we simply don't have a minute to spare to be polite, enthusiastic and responsive?

ROFLMAO. I crack myself up.

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