Real estate is a numbers game

Real Estate is a numbers game and often we fail to understand what the numbers are telling us, we start to work in a comfort zone or get busy being busy and don’t stop to smell the roses....as such!

What is she talking about... well if you are in a business development role or manager of a department with BDM’s I would like you to consider the following thoughts:

We often measure the success of a BDM via List and Lets and I don’t disagree with this at all however we need to consider listing in isolation as well.

A BDM is equivalent to a sales person and the success of this role is very much dependant on qualified leads we obtain and then our follow up.
Recently I have noticed that a number of BDM’s are very busy doing a large number of appraisals however they are simply not meeting their targets. When we strip the data back what we find is that majority of the appraisals are being conducted for sales agents who are providing a value add service to their clients. Unfortunately many of these clients are not in the market to rent their properties however the BDM is counting these as appraisals. Therefore the strike rate is quite low and they are being taken away from what potentially could be other dollar earning clients.
Perhaps you should consider calling these rental valuations instead of appraisals.

Another consideration is that our industry is seasonal and if you are overly dependent on sales appraisals as the sales market quietens so will your property management stock levels and we are about to go into our busiest times.

Your role as a BDM is to generate leads and convert these into listings. Your key focus must be on lead generation otherwise you simply become an order taker. Without qualified leads there won’t be any conversions.

When was the last time you reviewed where your leads are coming from, is this source sustainable long term, what will potentially get in the way, are there other lead sources that you haven’t worked on as yet.
The world of social media if used correctly provides you with a whole new world of lead sources. It is viral enabling you to reach masses in just one click of the mouse. It is no longer about word of mouth but world of mouth.

Other areas you may want to review or consider are how well you work with your sales team. On anyone weekend how many people do they come into contact with who are investors and potential clients. Develop up a system that enables the sales team to share data with you enabling you to add these clients to your pipe line in your database system.

Your database is critical to your success as a BDM. Ensure that it is up to date, reminders set for contact times, tasks and actions.

A marketing and prospecting plan is a must. Today it must be a combination of on-line and off-line campaigns that are consistent in the message and regularity.

What I urge you to do is understand your numbers. Here are some stats that you should be tracking:
• Total number of appraisals conducted
• The source – sales referrals, walk ins, call ins, internet,
referrals, database, OFI’s, Adv/Mkting, Boards..etc
• Appraisals not listed and why e.g. other agent, not ready, self
manage, selling, fees.. etc Then the key thing here is to place
them into your pipeline and ensure you keep in touch with them on a
regular basis.
• Take over managements – who from, why
• Re-lets
• Lets for the month
• Let only’s
• Properties lost for the month and why
• Total properties under management
• Vacant properties with boards/without boards

Realistically in this market the properties will be leased what we need to make sure is that we keep stock levels up.