Are lead generators the way of the future

If consumers were surveyed on their biggest issue with real estate agents, the answer would most likely be the lack of follow up and relationship building. This seems to be an ongoing issue in our industry and the changing market does not seem to have an impact on agents’ habits. In every business, one of the key KPI’s for agents in prospecting. It’s simple – two hours a day of prospecting calls will provide results. However, the key feedback I get from sales managers and business owners is that many agents simple won’t do this. So, as an industry, do we continue to accept it as the norm that or do we take this responsibility away from the agents completely? Do we need to head down the path where we have lead generation teams who make all the calls, hand the leads over to the sales agent who is then charged a fee for this service? This model guarantees that the calls are made and that other added services are sold to the client such as property management and mortgage broking. It’s the McDonalds upselling theory of “would you like fries with that”. We know many agents don’t sell finance or property management, resulting in a loss of prospects to the business. The question then becomes who builds or holds the relationships with the clients? Agents will push back on handing over the client relationship to a third party and when they leave they often take the relationships with them. Therefore at the end of the day, does it not make sense to ensure that the relationship with the client is first and foremost with the business and not the agent? Who in the business then builds this relationship – a faceless third party or the agent, or both? Or do we then build a hybrid system where the lead generators make the calls and we hold the agent accountable for building and maintaining relationships based with people they have transacted with and the lead generators keep in touch with others? These are all interesting questions. The even bigger questions becomes at what point will these calls be outsourced to call centres in the Philippines and India. I know of a number of businesses outside of real estate who do this quiet successfully. The usual objection is that how is someone offshore going to build relationships but if the agents are not making calls who is building these relationships. As the market changes it will become more and more important for businesses to capture that gold dust which is the business that flows out the holes in the bucket because agents are not returning or making calls, doing follow up from OFI’s, responding to emails in a timely manner, not using a CRM to help build relationships and therefore have a listing and selling graph that has extreme highs and lows. Maybe lead generation teams is the way of the future for our industry.

 

Single focus at being the best

Does your business and the people who work in it have a single focus on being the world’s best at what they do? Too often we get distracted by our competitors, the market, other team members and life in general. If you are the best at what you do others will copy, your challenge is to stay focused and remain the best.

What are the actions your team are taking to ensure that they are the best at what they do? Getting them focused is a start however the actions that are taken will define the results you get.

I was recently in Jaipur, India and I saw four shops next to each other, each selling the same product. What fascinated me was that the customers still seemed to go to the first shop.

It turned out that this was the original “Lassi Wala” (yogurt drink) and due to his success three others had opened up in competition but were unable to provide the same tasty drink, service and experience. He sold nothing else just lassi.

When you have the best of something – for example, product, service, team – people will flock to you no matter who enters the market to compete with you.

Be noticed, be the best

A successful business today is innovative, resourceful, agile, connected and memorable. It is what keeps a business alive, fresh and in growth mode. However it also means that you are constantly evolving and changing which, for many, can be quiet challenging.

Growth of any business is dependent on culture, environment, standards, goals, accountability, technology, your relevance to the client, customer service and that “wow” experience that engages clients and creates raving fans for a lifetime.

Same or standout?

To our clients we all look the same. What sets us apart is our service delivery and how we make the client feel at the point of interaction.

From the customers prospective, your business exists only to create value for them.

Clients are looking for an experience that engages them with your business.

How are you standing out to your clients, are you providing the same or similar level of service as your competitors?

There is a hotel in Hong Kong called the Upper House. What makes this hotel a standout is they have given their team permission to delight their clients and create memorable experiences every opportunity they get.

Check in is done in your room via an iPad; you receive gifts when you depart with a handwritten thank you card; everything in the mini bar is included in the room rate.

Does your team have permission to delight your clients? Do they understand what that looks like?

The Importance of being relevant

What did we all do B.G (before Google)? Have you ever wondered why Google has had the immense success? One of the reasons is their ability to stay relevant and be a trusted advisor.

When you execute a search within milliseconds are number of solutions are provided to you that are relevant, we trust the information provided. Notice also cleverly placed marketing and advertising that may pop up depending on what you may be been researching recently?

How are you being relevant? Many of us will do letter box drops, door knocks, place ads in the local paper, send out recently sold/listed letters however the success rate from these activities can be quiet low. These are hit and miss activities as you don’t really know who is ready to sell, buy or rent, therefore your ability to be relevant is non-existent.

How do you become relevant?

Build your database, call your clients regularly, record the data, build a relationship, ask the right questions and when your clients are ready to move you will become relevant because they know you, like you and one would hope trust you.

Building a database from open for inspection attendance – current and past, past clients, your circle of influence is much easier and has a better return.

The trick for most is have the discipline to make the calls, ask the questions, record the data, have performance measures, coaching and accountability in place to keep them on track.

The Dip is where you create success

There is a book called The Dip by Seth Godin that is worth a read. I am reading it a second time and here are some of the interesting insights.

We all want the best, for example if you went into an ice cream shop you are not going to say give me the worst tasting ice cream there is please. Often you may have a taste test of several flavours before deciding on the best one for you.

How often in a restaurant when you are not sure which dish to choose you ask the waiter what is the best one.

Or if you are say hiring a receptionist there is no way on the planet you will choose to employ the person who interviewed and presented poorly.

Well you are not the only one who constantly searches for and expects the best, we all do. And there is only room at the top for a few. Scarcity makes being at the top worth something.

So when someone chooses to sell or rent their home through you they are going to select the best agent for them. What is best for them right now based on what they see as their critical needs. As the agent are you finding out what the critical needs are of your clients?

Now to be the best it takes a lot of training and focus and determination. How often do we get told don't quit what you are doing, try harder, focus more, train more and the end result is often the same. Extremely fustrating.

The book "The Dip" talks about strategic quitting. Most people will quit when the going gets tough. What you need to understand is when is the right time to quit and the right time to stick.

Cast your mind back to when you first started your job, you were excited, making calls was something you looked forward to, hell you were even prepared to door knock with that winning smile just to get traction. Your perseverance paid off initially and you were rewarded with appointments and listings. Everyone in the office cheered, you rang a bell or got an award and it was fun.

Then you hit the dip. You haven't had time to make the calls because you were out doing appraisals and opens. Your database hasn't been updated because you simply have not had the time or you are not good at using the system.

You are busy, actually busy doing not much. You started out wanting to be the best in the world but right now you are way off it.

You start to focus on things you can't control... the market, no interest rate cuts, no one at opens, Europe is a mess, China is slowing down.

Or worse you start to make excuses... I cant, it wont work, I should, I may........or the best one yet... I am a realist.... in whose reality?

If these symptons sound or feel familiar then you are in the dip. 

It is at this point that you will either strive to be successful and actually make it or like so many other before you, you will quit or fail.

Becoming a CEO of any organisation is not an easy road. From personal experience there are a number of dips along the way; some quite huge.

The choices when you hit the dips are to push through, make the changes, go harder, quit the stuff you need, to just buckle down and survive is not actually an option; that's what others do; not the best.

The dip is where success happens. If you are pushing hard through the dip, changing things along the way,  putting time energy and focus on where you want to be and how you are going to get there then you are probably well along the way to become the best.

You need to get through the dip in an exceptional way.

Today as it gets harder to find buyers and deals are harder to put together make sure that you don't make the mistake of having the attitude with potential buyers "if this one isn't interested I am going to have to call the next one on my list". Because guess what your buyer will pick this up and move on themselves. You would have heard many trainers tell you that selling is a transference of emotions.

As the market continues to soften you will constantly be reviewing your business in terms of costs, investment, people... however now is the best time to re-invest, why because everyone around you will be cutting back to simply survive. Run your business as if you have had a 20% drop in your market place, ask your agents to consider the same, you may be suprised at the results.
If cant see yourself getting through the dip and you intend to simply just keep showing up and doing the same stuff you have been then you may as well quit now.

However if you have done your market research, understand what you need to do to be the best in this market, prepared to make shifts, changes and be held accountable, know what you need to quit doing then you are well on your way to being successful and being the best with the other few who have pushed through the dip.

The Year That Was

It’s only a few weeks left to the end of the year and it’s a great time to reflect on the year that was. It certainly has been a compelling year and there have been laughter, tears, stress and more tears perhaps.
Before we sit down to the traditional turkey or the great Aussie BBQ on Christmas day now is a good time to reflect on the year that was. Not just from a personal prospective but what’s happening across Australia.

Many of us can get into the Henny Penny stage and think that the sky is falling down and it’s all doom and gloom, however once we put things into prospective we quickly realise that this is not the case at all. So let’s take a ride through 2011

Reflection on 2011

• We started 2011 with the hope that the GFC was well and truly over and bring on the good times
• Major Tsunami in Japan killing thousands
• Devastating earthquake in Christchurch levelling a beautiful city
• Osama bin Laden the most wanted man on the planet killed
• Gadafi killed
• Floods in Brisbane, Victoria, Fires in Perth, cyclone Yasi
• Carbon tax and flood levy introduced
• Mass killings in Norway
• 2 interest rate cuts
• Crisis in Europe
• China economy starts to soften
• Borders and Angus and Robertson placed into receivership
• Riots in Villawood detention centre
• Virgin Blue rebrand to Virgin Australia
• Ash clouds from Chile ground flights in Australia
• Gillard Government signs “Malaysian Solution” deal
• High court judge rejects “Malaysia Solution”
• Census was held this year
• Daniel Morecombe remains found
• Ned Kelly remains found
• Visits by various royalty
• Commonwealth Head of Govt meeting held in Perth
• Qantas grounded
• Barrack Obama visits
• Geelong wins the AFL grand final
• Sea Eagles wins the NRL grand final
• All Blacks win the world cup
• Dunaden wins Melbourne Cup

The real estate market this year has been described as stable, flat, changing, challenging, soft…. Auction clearance rates have hovered between 50-70%, the much anticipated interest rate cuts have not really had an impact as yet and we all await for the new year to see if there will be further cuts to stimulate the economy.
Harcourts NSW is had an interesting year and looking at the figures overall we have performed well as a network in a changing market.

Harcourts NSW comparison 2010 to 2011

Sales Volume	58.97% ↑
Average Number of Sales Consultants	30.18% ↑
Average Sale Price	5.68%↑
Number of Properties SOLD	50.96%↑
Total Number of Properties Listed	29.67%↑
Auctions listed	37.44%↑

Refection on you
Now let’s focus on you, how have you performed this year in comparison to your business plan? In comparison to 2010 have you improved? What are the key areas you need to work on for 2012 to have an awesome year?

Work on your business plan now so that when you return in 2012 you have laid the foundations of success and most importantly ensure that you have someone to hold you accountable.

The customer has moved from passenger to pilot

I was catching a flight from Sydney to Melbourne and saw an ad that had the title - The customer has moved from being a passenger to pilot.
How accurate is this tag line. Our clients are now dictating to us the services they want, when they want it and how they want to receive it.
The mantra Customer is King has one premise in mind and that is no matter what we design - product, systems, processes etc we have one key focus in mind and that is the customer.

Your brand no matter how strong will not create loyalty or develop great customer relations. Your people do this.

Your clients today are doing all their research on you, the company, what others are saying about you on face book or google and then basing their decision on who they will meet that will best meet their needs at the time. These needs will include price, emotion, reason for buying or selling.

The customer is also extremely knowledgeable and they want to be treated as "kings".

How much effort are you putting into your customer service processes and experiences. When ever a client chooses to interact with your business it needs to be an experience, your people need to understand what the experience looks like and nail it every single time.

Here is a quick audit check for you:

• what is the face you and your team present to your customer?
• do your people know what this face is and believe in it?
• one size does not fit all, you have different types of customers, does your experience cater for this?
• do you and your people actually know what your customer wants before they ask for it; and the only way to find this out is to stay in touch and have an awesome database and contact plan in place?
• when the clients transacts with you is the experience a memorable one and how do you know if it is?
• how are you measuring customer service in your business?
• have you actually asked your customers what they want?
• have you told your customers the results and changes of those surveys you constantly send out?

As a customer when I interact with any brand in my mind they exist in that moment in time to only create value for me and I expect the best.

Value however is different for everyone and it constantly changes. Therefore for those of us in client facing industries we need to be constantly finding new ways to price our goods, be innovative, tap into the emotion of the transaction. Remember the balance of power is in our customers hands.

We need to change the way we think, from charging a fee to sell a home to merging your product and service together that provides the customer with not just value but an experience they simply cannot walk away from. Something that goes beyond a simple sales transaction.