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  • The Clear Brain System – Step One in Creating a Raving Fan Base

    The Clear Brain System – Step One in Creating a Raving Fan Base

    Dear readers: When I write this weekly blog, my routine is to cycle through the Master’s Program modules for inspiration. This week, I’m on Module #8, ‘Generating Referrals.’ 

    At the same time, I’m producing version 2.0 of our first two modules, and I’ve flipped the order. Module #1 is now:

    The Clear Brain System – The Ridiculously Simple Way to Become Super-Organized in One Day

    So, I’m staring at the new module’s script, and suddenly, it hits me. I’ll simply copy the opening monologue into this week’s blog!

    But what does being Super-Organized have to do with Generating Referrals?

    Read on and you’ll understand!

    The Clear Brain System

    We’re in a business where it’s easy to become overwhelmed with the sheer volume of details that need to get done every day.

    When you’re overwhelmed, you make mistakes, forget important details, and worst of all, you’re more easily distracted, and your ability to concentrate is diminished.

    There are 100 little details to take care of in every Real Estate transaction, and if you mess up one, guess what your client remembers about their experience with you?

    You might think that one small mistake was no big deal, but if it’s the only thing that prevents your client from becoming a raving fan, it’s a very big and costly problem.

    Even if you don’t make a mistake, merely being competent will not be enough to create a raving fan in most cases.

    Being Competent vs. Being Amazing

    Let’s say you go to a store, you find what you’re looking for quickly, and you buy it.  You’ve got nothing to complain about in terms of the service you received.  However, you’re completely unaware of that store’s logistical and hiring practices, which are the foundational reasons you had a good experience.

    You’re satisfied with the service you received but was that enough for you to get on the phone and tell all your friends they must shop at that store from now on? Not likely.

    It’s the same in Real Estate. The public isn’t aware of 75 out of the 100 details you handle when completing a Real Estate transaction. They see 25 details which you handled competently. Is that enough to turn your client into a raving fan? 

    Nope. People don’t recommend you for being competent. They recommend you because you’re amazing. 

    And, they recommend you because it makes them look good.

    That’s why you need to do 125 little things. You do more. You do better. You do things that nobody else does. That’s how you differentiate yourself.

    Building a Raving Fan Base

    As a professional REALTOR®, building a raving fan base should be your #1 career goal. After all, when you have a never-ending stream of incoming referrals, this business gets a whole lot easier and way more fun!

    That’s the central theme of my entire course; building a business where you are so awesomely skilled that you quickly build a team of fans who are continually raving about you and sending you referrals.

    But no matter how sincere you are about delivering exceptional service, creating a raving fan base is impossible to achieve if you don’t first have outstanding organizational skills.

    Here’s the good news: No matter how messy you are right now, becoming super-organized is not difficult or tedious. It’s the opposite of that. It’s easy and liberating. All you need is a simple system to follow.  

    That’s why I developed the Clear Brain System, specifically for REALTORS®.

    If you’d like to learn more, click here.

  • How to Accomplish Waaaaay More with an Accountability Partner

    How to Accomplish Waaaaay More with an Accountability Partner

    Ah, the life of a REALTOR®. Being your own boss is the best, right?

    That’s what we all thought before reality set in, and we realized that everyone needs a boss, whether your boss is the proverbial Bill Lumbergh or you.

    It turns out that being your own boss is hard.

    I mean, let’s face it. If you don’t listen to your boss, those TPS reports will never get done! ‍

    But seriously, what about all those projects like revising your listing presentation, updating your website, or cleaning up your database?

    Those things have been on your to-do list for how long now?

    The hardest part about being your own boss is doing the stuff that doesn’t have an immediate pay-off.

    Like fixing your website, for example. 

    You know you need to do it. You know there’ll be a massive payoff when you finally get it done.

    (If you don’t know this, read The HUB of Your Marketing and WHY it Sucks)

    You’ve got a pile of other projects to get done too, but there are always a hundred other things that need your immediate attention, so guess what?

    The big stuff never gets done.

    Hey, I’m not trying to make you feel bad!

    If you’re a good REALTOR®, you’ve probably trained yourself to be a “rapid responder,” which is a good thing.

    But reacting to whatever is going on 100% of the time and devoting 0% of your time to work on larger projects (without distraction) is a bad thing.

    You need to find the balance between being a “rapid responder” (good) and “getting stuff done” (also good).

    It’s not uncommon to be a good REALTOR® and a lousy boss of yourself. 

    The problem is if you want to be a GREAT REALTOR®, it’s necessary to be a GREAT boss, too.

    If you’re a lousy boss of yourself, the first step is to admit it. You don’t have to go to a meeting or anything. Just repeat after me:

    “I’m a lousy boss of myself.”

    Say it out loud.

    Congratulations! That’s the first step. You’re on the road to recovery!

    The second step is to learn and implement some basic organizational skills.

    To get started on this, it’s helpful for many agents to have an accountability partner.

    This could be another agent in your office or a friend from another office.

    Consult ‘The Google’ for best practices on choosing a partner and structuring your meetings, but here are my top two rules, which I learned from the experience of doing the opposite.

    #1. Whether you’re meeting in-person, over Zoom, or on the phone, always follow a strict agenda.

    Start on time, end on time, and know what you’re going to talk about before you start.

    #2. Don’t allow your meeting deteriorate into a BS session.

    You can schedule a BS section as part of your meeting if you want, at the end. But it’s business first. Follow the agenda.

    Once you’ve got a partner, the two of you will need to learn some skills about how to be more productive, beyond just forcing yourself. 

    “OK, we’re both going to have new websites before next Monday!”

    That’s just setting yourself up for a relapse. You’ll be ‘Lousy-Bossing’ again before you know it.

    Instead, why not set your first goal with each other as something like this?

    “Let’s both explore a different productivity idea, implement it, and discuss it at our next meeting.”

    One step at a time, my friends. You can do this.

    This article was inspired by module #2 – Getting Stuff Done – part of the Agent Skills Master’s Program. 

    In the ‘Getting Stuff Done’ module, I explain step-by-step how to use ‘Rules and Routines’ and ‘Appointments with Yourself’ to massively increase your productivity, minimize distractions, and find the right balance between being a rapid responder (good) and getting stuff done (also good).

    Here’s another article inspired by the same module: How to Be the Boss of Yourself

  • The $100,000 Commission

    The $100,000 Commission

    Has this ever happened to you?

    You procrastinated, preparing for a listing presentation. Then, you got super-busy right before the appointment, so you slapped together the CMA at the last minute.

    Now, you’re glancing at the comparables at the stoplights on your way over.

    You’re not too worried because your best referral source recommended the clients, and it sounds like a slam-dunk.

    You meet them, and you make a good connection. You really like them! They’re smart, super-nice, and attentive to your presentation. Not to mention they’ve got a great house!

    Sure, you stumbled over a few questions. It wasn’t your best performance ever, but everything seems positive, and they’re going to give you a call the next day. 

    On your way home, you feel a bit bad that you weren’t better prepared, but you’ll make it up to them by proving they made the right choice. You’re already looking forward to how you’re going to market a great listing.

    You get the phone call:

    “I’m sorry, but we’ve decided to work with a different agent.”

    Oof! That one hurt. Super-nice people, a premium listing, and worst of all, you feel like you’ve let down your best referral source.

    Not to mention the $10,000 commission, down the drain. 

    Plus, what about all the lost future referrals you might have gotten from these new clients?

    You know darn well you lost the listing because you were over-confident, and you didn’t prepare as thoroughly as you should have.

    Hey, we’ve ALL done it. I’m no exception.

    I can’t fix what’s already been done, but I can tell you how to ensure it NEVER happens again. Here it is:

    Treat EVERY appointment like it’s worth $100,000.

    Think of your listing appointments as a game of chance. One out of every ten is going to be worth $100,000. It might be the million-dollar listing, or it might be the tiny apartment condo. The odds are exactly the same.

    I’ve personally sold tiny, low-commission properties that turned into total commissions of WAY more than $100,000.

    How? Because of the string of referrals that started with me doing a great listing presentation for a young couple, and then delivering a fantastic result on the sale of their simple, inexpensive condo apartment.

    Over the years, I got referrals from them, their parents, and then an explosion of referrals from referrals. 

    You NEVER know from where a string of referrals is going to originate.

    If you prepare for every listing appointment like it’s worth $100,000, you WILL earn an extra $100,000 quicker than you think.

    But it’s not only your attitude. You need better skills, too. Work on them both!

    If you need any further convincing, think about this:

    That one lost commission could have been the BIG one. Don’t let it happen again.

  • The Ridiculously Uncomplicated Follow-Up System (RUFUS)

    The Ridiculously Uncomplicated Follow-Up System (RUFUS)

    You know what’s insane?

    Spending thousands on marketing and not having a reliable Prospect Follow-Up System.

    Or worse, forgetting to follow up with a referral or a hot lead you met at an Open House.

    Oh sure, you talked to them once.  Then two months went by, and you noticed a new listing.

    “Wait a minute. That address seems familiar.”

    Yup. They listed with someone else.

    Has this ever happened to you?

    You get busy, you forget, you write notes on scraps of paper and lose them. You have no follow-up system, whatsoever.

    It’s time to resolve this outrageously expensive problem, once and for all.

    Let’s keep it as basic as possible for now. In fact, let’s use a Ridiculously Uncomplicated Follow-Up system (RUFUS). Here’s why:

    If you can’t follow a simple system, you’ll never train yourself to use a more complicated program, such as Follow-Up Boss (which I’m told is excellent).

    As with any computer software, what comes out is only as good as what goes in, so training yourself to use a “manual” system first, is a good stepping stone towards something more robust.

    That said, even when I was earning in the high $800,000’s in yearly commissions (as an individual agent), the following simple spreadsheet is the only system I ever needed to keep track of ALL my leads.

    Open up a new spreadsheet and label the columns as follows:

    Column A             A, B, or C indicates the importance level.

    Column B             First name(s)

    Column C             Last name(s)

    Column D             Date of the most recent contact attempt – Update this every time you add a new note so you can sort your list newest to oldest or vice-versa

    Column E             Notes. What did you discuss, and what was the result? Just keep adding new notes at the front of the cell (not at the end) preceded by the date. The latest entry will always be visible, and you can review older notes if necessary.

    Column F / G      Email(s) 1 and 2 – List these in the same order as you list their first names in Column B

    Column H / I       Phone number(s) 1 and 2 – Same thing.  Always list information consistently.

    Now, start adding your leads into this spreadsheet and train yourself to review and update it daily. If you haven’t made the plunge and done the Master’s Program yet (including Module #2 – Getting Stuff Done), figure out your own way to force yourself to do this! It’s important!

    When you do this daily, all your prospects will be top-of-mind, and I guarantee you’ll NEVER forget to contact a prospect, ever again.

    HOW and WHEN to contact your prospects is another topic covered in this previous post. Please check it out to learn more.

  • Marketing Your Marketing

    Marketing Your Marketing

    There are two distinct marketing functions in Real Estate:

    1. Marketing your Listings and;
    2. Marketing Yourself ‍

    A lot of advertising in Real Estate is under the guise of selling a property, but the true intent is to market yourself and your services. For example, if you’re advertising a listing on Facebook, what do you think the chances are that some random buyer is going to notice your listing, fall in love with it, and buy it?

    The chances of that happening—although not impossible—are about as close to zero as you can get.

    That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t advertise on Facebook. You should!  If you’re not on social media, you’re neglecting a critically important tool that every agent should be using.

    The point is, even though the line can be blurred sometimes, there’s a difference between marketing your listings and marketing your services.

    Let’s be clear about this. What exactly ARE your services, from a potential seller’s perspective?

    They want to know exactly HOW you’re going to get them top dollar for their home, right?

    That’s why I believe advertising yourself should be mostly about HOW you market your properties, or, as I call it:

    Marketing your Marketing!

    The first step is to learn how to BE the BEST at marketing your properties. When you achieve that, ‘marketing your marketing’ is easy!

    Too many agents want to know what they should do to promote themselves, but when I ask them to verbalize what makes them better than the other 5,000 agents, they’re dumbstruck.

    What about you? Can you clearly define exactly why you’re the best?

    When you can, your marketing plan becomes obvious. You won’t need to ask me to make something up.

    Learn how to be better at your job, FIRST.

    THEN, market yourself. It’s way more fun AND rewarding.

  • 1,440 Minutes

    1,440 Minutes

    You get 1,440 minutes EVERY day, folks.

    What will you do with yours?

    Let’s knock off half your minutes (720) for sleeping, eating, grooming, and spending quality time with your family.

    Whatcha gonna do with the other 720 minutes?

    If you waste just 5 minutes an hour for 12 hours, that’s one full HOUR of lost productivity every day.  But only super-humans waste only one hour per day! ⏰

    Here are a few of the most obvious time-wasters:

    • watching TV
    • surfing the web and social media
    • watching useless videos
    • obsessively checking your smartphone and email

    Maybe you don’t do any of those things.  But here are some other insidious time-bandits:

    • making lists over and over again, but never getting started on important work
    • starting projects and never completing them
    • thinking about doing productive activities but accomplishing nothing
    • failing to install safeguards against constant interruptions
    • doing things that someone else could do in half the time for half the money
    • “working” on non-productive activities out of sheer boredom
    • over-analyzing things that don’t require any further analysis
    • failing to be PROACTIVE and thereby spending twice as much time as necessary REACTING

    Have you ever wondered how some people can accomplish TEN TIMES as much as you can in the exact same 1,440 minutes that you get?

    It’s because they don’t recklessly squander their time.  They perceive time as a valuable and precious commodity.

    I’m NOT saying that you should work, work, work, and never have any downtime.  Absolutely NOT!

    What I am saying is that YOU, my friend, should be in control of your life, not the other way around.

    When you are in control, you will eliminate at least HALF of your time-wasting activities, and you’ll gain between 120-180 minutes of productive time EVERY day.

    This is what I teach in Getting Stuff Done; how to have a purposeful, fulfilling life.  It’s arguably the most critical module in the entire Agent Skills Master’s Program.

    Here’s the good news.  Regaining control of your life is not only far more accessible than you think, but the more you do it, the easier it gets!

    You have precisely 1,440 minutes every day to spend however you choose.  That’s 10,080 minutes every week. If you spend just 1.5% (150 minutes) weekly on developing your skills and business systems, you will change your entire life.  That’s 30 minutes per day, Monday to Friday.

    Or, you could continue doing the exact same things you’re doing right now.  As an independent free-thinking person, you and you alone have the freedom to choose how you spend your 1,440 minutes every single day.

    How will you spend yours?

    Choosing NOT to ignore that question could be the smartest thing you’ve ever done.