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.

So, you have a buyer who is bound and determined to get a killer deal on some real estate, huh? He’s heard-tell of this here “buyer’s market” and wants to get himself a piece of that action. Even if it takes all year…

Sigh.

We’ve all been there. Worked with buyers who, in our opinions, were unrealistic about the extent of this here buyer’s market and the depths to which sellers are willing to go to offload their properties. They’ve listened to late-night seminars or their Uncle Charlie who provided “expert” advice on how to properly offer on a property (asking price MINUS repairs needed MINUS profit desired MINUS margin for risk MINUS 25%-for-good-measure) without regard for whether or not the asking price is reasonable or not.

They want a deal. And they want you to help them get a deal.

So, you find them exactly what they say they’re looking for. A well-priced home in a good location that needs just the right amount of work to satisfy their need for adding value with cosmetic upgrades.

Yay, sez you! Yay, sez your buyer!

You head for the offer table and the buyer wants to offer low. Really low. Obnoxiously low. Ridiculously low. Unreasonably low. (I’ll stop now, you get my drift).

What do you do?

Write ‘er up.

Yep, write it up as per the instructions of your client. No fussing, no arguing, no defending the asking price. If your buyer wants your opinion, he’ll ask for it. Not to say you can’t provide market data if he seems at all interested, but in most cases, especially early on, he won’t be. He wants a deal and he’s certainly entitled to go after it.

Why shouldn’t you try to talk him out of low-balling?

• The buyer is the boss. It’s his money and he has the right to spend it (or not) the way he sees fit. 
• You never know what the seller will accept. If you tried to talk your buyer “up” and the seller accepts his low offer, you’re toast in the credibility department.
• The buyer hired you to be on his team. His wants are your wants. His preferences, your preferences.
• If you argue with your buyer over offer price, he’ll wonder if you’re in cahoots with the seller or listing agent, again, jeopardizing your credibility.

Of course, it’s up to you to decide if you want to continue working with the low-balling buyer! You are certainly entitled to end the relationship if it’s not satisfying to you, just as he’s entitled to make whatever ridiculous, unreasonable, obnoxious offer he wants to. But before you fire a low-balling buyer, consider this…

Think of all the good that can come of this experience!

Um….what good, Jennifer?

Tell ya what – I’ve overstayed my welcome on this blog today, so I'll open the floor to your comments. Any thoughts on why you might not want to fire that bottom-feeding, low-balling buyer o'yours?

I'm currently reading a book written by an entreprenurial coach (that is, a coach who helps entrepreneurs) and just read a passage that struck me. He says that he can tell within ten minutes of talking to an entrepreneur-wannabe if they have what it takes to succeed. When he explained what he meant by that (keep reading), I was reminded of a similarly-themed blog I wrote back in early 2008, called "Reading Between the Lines of My 'Fan Mail.'" (Copied & pasted below).

What the author described as the common denominator among the not-gonna-make-it entrepreneurs was a tendency to immediately start throwing out objections to entrepreneurhood, with no attempt to or apparent interest in finding ways to overcome the objections. He cited examples such as "But I don't have a website!" and "I'm scared to speak in public!" "I don't know how to market myself!" etc.

A real estate agent not-gonna-make-it entrepreneur might say things like: "But I don't know anyone!" "I don't have a website!" "I don't know how to market myself!" "I don't have a nice-enough car!" "No one is buying or selling real estate in my market!"

Are these things true? They very well may be! And, frankly, they might be true enough to dissuade you from becoming an entrepreneur (real estate or otherwise) right now. That's actually part of the natural mindset of a true entrepreneur - to evaluate the opportunities and challenges to determine if moving forward is a viable path to success at this time... or not.

But when the "evaluation" ends at "But.... " it may be a clear indication that the person "but'ing" is not suited to be an entrepreneur. AND THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT! If self-employment isn't for you, that's nothing to apologize for - there's certainly nothing wrong with NOT being suited for self-employment. My very own husband doesn't have an entrepreneurial bone in his body and I think he's a perfectly productive and worthy member of society ;-] 

So, if you frequently struggle with your decision to be a real estate agent, try watching your self-talk for awhile to see how you deal with the obstacles that arise in your day-to-day. When challenges arise, do you immediately look for solutions (usually best sought in the mirror), or do you sigh and attribute the challenge to something unsolvable... and leave it at that?

Just something to think about!

And here's that blog from 2008... 

I must be honest - getting fan mail from loyal readers is my very favorite thing about being a writer. I wake up every morning to several emails from people who have read my blog or my books and just want to say thanks. To all of you who write ... I hope you know how much your notes touch my heart.

Often in these notes, the writer tells me his or her story and often asks for advice. I'm happy to give it, when I can, and those who have written me can attest that I do almost always respond. It's fun for me and heck, I have books to sell, so the more happy customers I have, the more books I'll probably sell.

I hesitate to continue because what I'm about to say may make some of my readers a little uncomfortable.

Reading between the lines of the notes I receive, I'm pretty sure I can tell who is going to make it and who isn't. Now, I obviously don't have any cold hard data to support this claim, but I'm confident I'm right. There is a HUGE difference in attitude between agents who have the mojo to survive and those who don't. Between the agents who truly understand (or at least truly WANT to understand) the process of exchanging real estate and those who just want to know how best to get clients FAST. Between agents who have the confidence in themselves they'll need to project a can-do attitude... and those who are just desperate for a sale.

I wish I could provide some examples so you could see the difference, but obviously that would be indiscreet. My point is that if it's this obvious to me that someone is struggling -- simply thru their written word, I imagine it must be even more obvious to those in their day-to-day world - those who (whom?) the agent is depending upon for his or her professional survival.

Mojo is really important. Confidence is really important. Knowledge is really important. And you wanna know how you get some Mojo? It's not that hard... Knowledge... leads to Confidence...which leads to Mojo.

Keep those cards and letters coming (yeah, right, I probably just scared most of you away!)

It's a common complaint among our ranks that we often work "for free," especially these days when buyers are fussy, sellers are frustrated and closings are more tenuous than ever. We can work for months on one transaction only to watch it fall apart due to factors beyond our control, leaving us uncompensated for all that time, energy and gas money.

While I have some issues with the opinion that all that work was "for free," that's not my topic du jour.

Today I want to pontificate about our resistance to providing a "free" CMA (comparative market analysis). That it's unprofessional to "give it away" so that the seller prospect can take our information and run with it, possibly even giving it to another agent who offers a lower fee and uses our hard work to procure a sellable listing.

Nonsense.

If you go to my website (www.sellwithsoul.com), you'll see enough free stuff* there to keep you busy for hours, maybe days. Some of that free stuff (actually, most of it) took ME hours (even days) to put together, some of it at a not-insignificant cost.  I imagine there's enough free stuff there to get you 75% of the way toward knowing everything I know about running a successful real estate business without selling your soul to do it.

Why do I give so much away?

Well, there are two ways to market yourself to your potential audience. You can TELL them how great you are... or you can SHOW them how great you are. Which approach do you think might be more convincing?

When you cheerfully provide a thorough, professional market analysis to a seller prospect, you're demonstrating that you are a competent real estate professional who understands his or her market; as well as opening the door to further discussion, which builds rapport and further proves your competence and professionalism. Sure, you could TELL the seller that you're professional and competent, but that CMA will say it far more convincingly.

Will the seller prospect "use" your CMA against you? Maybe, maybe not, but so what if they do? If they do, it has nothing to do with the fact you gave it to them and everything to with something ELSE. In other words, doing the free CMA only enhances the chances (hey, that rhymes!) that the seller will honor you with his or her business, but if they don't, it's not BECAUSE you did the CMA, but rather in spite of it.

Do some readers take my stuff and run with it, without ever spending a dime in my bookstore? Sure they do, and I'm fine with that. But if my website were just one big promo for Jennifer Allan Hagedorn and how fabulous she is, I'm pretty sure a whole lot fewer dimes would find their way to my bookstore and bank account!

_____

*Here's some of the free stuff you can find at SellwithSoul.com: a sample listing presentation, 2X/month teleseminar shows, listing and buyer checklists, three newsletter/mini-courses, an abridged version of Sell with Soul, a 7-day free trial of my Savvy Prospector program, sample client  and SOI communications, a forum... probably more but that's what I can think of right now!

I get emails all the time from newer real estate agents who want to know how to "pick up clients."

(Don't we all?!)

But there's something about that phrase - "pick up clients" - that makes my nose wrinkle. While I obviously get the gist of what they're asking, and I realize the pressure new agents are under to prospect, generate leads and yes, pick up clients, something about it just sounds a little icky to me.

But what if these agents adjusted their goals FROM "picking up clients" TO "finding people to serve"?

When you strive to "pick up clients" - you're coming from a position (and attitude) of YOUR need for business, with nothing in it for those potential clients you're hoping to pick up. When you strive to "find people to serve," you're coming from a position (and attitude) of a DESIRE and ABILITY to solve a problem for someone who needs your help.

Which approach gives YOU more confidence in yourself as you're prospecting? And which approach gives your audience more confidence in you that you might just be the right (wo)man for the job?

Just something to think about...

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Last September I posted a blog called "To Photo or Not to Photo" where I raised the age-old question of whether or not to put your (hopefully) smiling face on your business card. (I vote YES).

One of the comments on that blog was something along the lines of "Can anyone actually demonstrate that their picture on a card resulted in business for them?" Excellent question! My response to the commenter was:

"There is no one magic bullet to success. Clients come in from dozens of sources - I got a listing once because my lawn guy saw my RE/MAX signs in the back yard. So, is your business card in itself an important part of your marketing strategy? Probably not - at least, I hope no one is relying on a business card to generate business for them. But if one open house visitor remembers me over the other agents he met that day because my photo was on my card, I'll consider that a valid testimony. If one cross-country real estate agent I met at the NAR convention sends a referral my way because she was able to remember me out of the dozens of other agents she met, again, that's certainly worth having my photo on a card."

My point in revisiting this debate today is to reiterate that real estate clients find us in many different ways. And when they do, they each bring with them the potential of a significant paycheck - in some cases, even a year-changing paycheck. Depending on your market, your average commission check could be $3,000, $5,000 or even $10,000! Therefore, just one missed opportunity to capture one potential client could cost you $3,000, $5,000 or even $10,000! Not to mention all the business that potential future satisfied past client would send your way...

(Um, still not seeing your point, JA-H).

Okay, getting to it now.

If you miss opportunities to capture potential clients on a regular basis with silly little omissions, carelessness or even (gasp) laziness, you could easily cost yourself $100,000 in the next twelve months (assuming 20 missed opportunities at $5,000 per).

What might those 20 silly little omissions, carelessness'es or even (gasp) laziness'es look like?

Ahhhhhh... Watch This Space for further discussion. (But in the meantime, feel free to share your own thoughts!)

It's funny - I notice that the questions that come into my in-box often have a common theme... one month it's grouping and categorizing your sphere, the next it might be getting feedback for showings, the next maybe it's making open houses more productive.

Well, this month's most popular topic seems to be about expanding one's sphere of influence without being a pest about it.

Just in the last week I've been approached by three different agents who realize they need to beef up their spheres of influence - and quickly - but don't know how to do it without coming across as pushy, desperate or mercenary. So, they're finding themselves hiding out at home being decidedly UNsocial, and then kicking themselves every evening for failing yet again to Meet More People.

Wanna know what I told them?

I told all three to go out there in that world AS A SECRET AGENT instead of venturing out into that world, business card in hand and elevator speech fired up ready to launch at every opportunity!

What? Are you serious, Jennifer? You're telling agents to BE a Secret Agent? You're nuts.

Maybe. ;-]

But here's the thing. No one out there in that world cares one bit about your real estate career until/unless they care a little bit about YOU. And when you head out with grand intentions of handing out business cards and delivering elevator speeches, you're gonna scare people. (In fact, I got an email from a real estate agent over the weekend who was nearly arrested for too-aggressively prospecting at a local Target! But that's a story for a different day).

These three agents who wrote to me knew this deep inside - they knew that they'd make other people uncomfortable if they pushed their agendas (and business cards) onto people prematurely, which is why they were having trouble motivating themselves to do it.

So, my advice to them to BE a secret agent went like this: "Go out into the world every day, be pleasant to the people you find there and keep your mouth shut about your career UNTIL/UNLESS someone asks you what you do. At that point, they CARE (at least a little bit) and you're free to answer them enthusiastically."

Will you miss a potential prospect or two by keeping your mouth shut? Perhaps. But I doubt it. And the more pleasant you are to more people (sans sales pitch), the more likely it is that those people will ask you about yourself and actually care about your answer!

I just started working with my wonderful graphics gal on the cover design of my next book, Prospect with Soul. I have a wide variety of visions of how it's gonna look; what elements I want to include, what message I want the cover to convey, what font I want to use for the title and subtitle, etc.

We're in Phase One right now. I just sent over a whole mess of stock photos I grabbed online with explanations of why I like each and think it would be a nice concept to consider.

So, as it stands at this very moment, the cover of Prospect with Soul may include my SWS Zen rocks... an ecstatic woman throwing her hands in the air... a businesswoman in a yoga pose looking out over the ocean... a beautiful sunset... a glorious blue sky... some bamboo... my SWS Daisy... a starburst... some water ripples that wrap around the book and... and... and...

In other words, I'm all over the board. In the end, the cover of my book will likely be something completely, utterly different from what I have in my mind's eye right now.

Is my graphics gal frustrated with me? I don't think so. She knows it's a necessary part of the process. To explore different concepts, try them on; see how they feel. I throw out an idea; she sends me back a mock-up of it. She's perfectly aware that everything we're tossing around today will likely be tossed right out the window tomorrow. But she's not rushing me or pressuring me to commit to a concept just yet; she's playing along, again, because she knows, yes, it's part of the process.

It's the same with home-buyers, of course. They come into the game with an idea of what they're looking for, perhaps based on nothing but where a friend told them they should live or a fantasy of what they always imagined their dream house to be.

As you show them homes, their vision of that dream home may change and evolve. They may want to explore other neighborhoods or school districts. They may want to consider other property types or floor plans. They may want to raise or even lower their price range. They might even, <gasp> decide that they want to change their timeframe.

It's all part of their process and we aren't going to rush them through it. Or, at least, we shouldn't; it's not in their best interest, or, frankly, in ours. If the buyer feels uncomfortable pressure from his real estate agent to make a decision before he's ready, he may very well find himself a new real estate agent. Or perhaps he'll make an offer on a home he doesn't really want, and later have an attack of buyer's remorse (and we all know who gets blamed for that!).

Respect the process. And everyone wins!

It's a never-ending debate as to whether or not to include a photo on a real estate agent's business card. Some say yes; some say no (duh, that's the definition of a debate!).

Although it's interesting, when you ask the question in a public forum, I've noticed that most answer in the negative, explaining that "no one cares about your face" or that "doctors and lawyers don't have their pictures on their cards," or simply that "it's unprofessional."

And I get that. I do. Somehow it seems like unnecessary vanity to have your smiling face on a business card as if "anyone really cares about your face anyway," right?

Well... here's the thing.

Most people are really "bad with names." Just ask ‘em, they'll tell you straight out. Whenever I speak publicly, I always collect business cards from my audience and put them in a fish bowl because I like to keep my audience awake during the show by randomly giving away books and CD's. After the show, I'll go through the business cards one by one and spend several hours sending personal notes to the audience members I remember interacting with. Let me say that again - that "I remember interacting with."

99.9% of the time I only write to agents with photos on their cards. Because they're the only ones I liked? Of course not. They're the only ones I remember.

From a fishbowl full of hundreds of business cards, I can almost always remember every conversation I had with the people whose cards have a photo. The conversations I had with people without photos are completely forgotten. Sorry.

People remember faces. Ugly faces, pretty faces; doesn't matter. They may not remember the name that belongs to the face, but they know if they've seen a face before.

And the fact is, real estate agents are a dime a dozen. You may be doing an awesome job handing out your business card, but rest assured that your competition is, too. And if the "other" card sitting on someone's desk has a photo and yours doesn't, which agent is more likely to be remembered by that person?

So, go get a kick-a$$ photo of yourself and don't take the chance of being forgotten!