Vital signs (often shortened to just vitals) are a group of the 4 to 6 most important signs that indicate the status of the body's vital (life-sustaining) functions. Pulse, blood pressure, temperature, respiration rate are a few of these “vital signs” of life.
Days worked - With 365 days, when counting M-F “working days” there are typically 250 days considered “Working Days”. What I want to emphasis is this, when we take a step back, and realize we have 250 days or 2000 hours (if working an 8 hour day) to accomplish our goals it puts into perspective there is an ample amount of time to achieve our goals. So, if we’re falling short, why? The first area most people falls short is having a clearly defined business plan/goals set. In fact, most studies tell us that only 3% of us have written goals. One of the most famous studies from the book What They Don’t Teach You in the Harvard Business School, by Mark McCormack posed this questions and research: Why Do 3% of Harvard MBAs Make Ten Times as Much as the Other 97% Combined ? The answer is a simple question: “Have you set clear, written goals for your future and made plans to accomplish them?” Interviewers asked new graduates from the Harvard’s MBA Program and found that :
Ten years later, the interviewers again interviewed the graduates of that class. You can guess the results:
So, all that to say be encouraged! We have an ample amount of time to make our goals a reality. We simply need to be sure to have written goals and a plan to make it all happen. This is where a mentor, coach or accountability partner comes into the equation. Often, I will hear someone make the comment “I can’t afford to have a coach” I’ve always said, “how can you afford not to have a coach?” I can assure you that you are losing more money than you would ever invest in having a coach. Look at it from this angle, what aren’t you accomplishing that you could be with the right coach and guidance? Something to think about.
Hours Prospecting/Lead Generation - This is by far the #1 issue for most Real Estate Agents. What’s interesting, is if you look at any other sales job, this is expected as a normal part of the job description. However, for some reason... I haven’t yet figured out, people get into Real Estate Sales and think prospecting is optional. That is the issue, we have to STOP thinking it’s optional. Here’s the issue, you’re an independent contractor so really, who is holding you accountable but yourself? It’s been my experience; we will do more for someone else than we will do for ourselves. Again, why a coach is so important to have running with you. So, a fair question is - how many hours do you have to lead generate? The answer is going to be based on your goals. So...we can begin to see how we are going to have a challenge if we don’t have a clear understanding of the first vital sign. I have always compared this to any other process, let’s look at working out. If you haven’t been exercising, it wouldn’t be advisable or realistic to suggest going out and running 5 miles day one. However, you could go for a 15-20 minute walk today. In a few weeks increase to 30 minutes and before you know it, 45-60 minutes is your norm. It’s time on task over time. So, start with 30 minutes of lead generation, move to 45 and then up to an hour. You will know when you can move on to the next level. The goal is to get to a solid 2 hours a day. Why let’s look at the next two vital signs that will help bring some clarity as to why. Remember; it’s NOT a sprint, this is a marathon, and when we pace ourselves we’re going to accomplish more than having spurts of great days, followed up by weeks or months of nothing.
Attempts Made - When I am working with a client, having them track how many attempts made (dials, doors knocked etc) .helps us understand the ratio of attempts to live contacts. This will vary depending on the source you are prospecting to. We have to be honest with ourselves, I recently was on a coaching call with an agent and this person said “this isn’t working” so, we dug in and discovered that there wasn’t even enough attempts taking place to have any positive results happen. Give yourself a chance to win. You can use whatever system you want, I always found just making a hash mark on a piece of paper while I was lead generating worked for me. Then, transferring this to a spreadsheet. The vital sign here is just to have an accurate count of how many attempts you are making each time you are prospecting.
Live Contacts - I think that is funny, live contacts … it’s not as though we’re talking to people that aren’t alive. What we’re talking about on this vital sign is of the attempts, how many of these result in a conversation? It’s important to have defined what a contact is before you begin. I have always used this definition “A contact is a decision making adult (18 years or older) where you have had a conversation that included a direct real estate related question such as - Who do you know that is looking to buy a house, sell a house or make an investment in Real Estate that I can contact (today, now, this week). It doesn’t have to be more than this, of course if more that’s even better. The key is we’re making a direct attempt to generate a new lead or appointment. I don’t consider email, facebook or texting a contact. Why? People tend to respond differently when they are able to “hide” behind technology AND as we’ve discussed in previous episodes, eliminates 93% of communication since all we’re working with is the “words” which is 7% of communication. The goal? It again, comes back to your goals in step 1. Let’s look at a few examples: 250 days worked, 5 contacts = 1250 contacts in that year. 250 days worked, 10 contacts = 2500 contacts in that year. 250 days worked, 15 contacts = 3750 contacts in that year. In all cases, if only 1-2% resulted in a sale this would satisfy 90% of agents goals.
Leads Generated - So, with all the efforts in the first 4 vitals, you will begin to build what we refer to as a “pipeline.” If you don’t have a pipeline of leads, you essentially don’t have a way to forecast what you will be putting into contract and closing in the next 90 days. Also, a key thing to remember in about this vital sign is that the large majority of your appointments will come as a result of following up on your leads. It’s only reasonable to understand that as we’re making our daily calls that the people you come in contact with may not be “ready” to go today and yet do have plans to do something real estate related in the near future. When I work closely with a client, I like to track their top 10 leads. I know if we’re tracking the top 10 leads, monitoring their motivation and discussing ways to move them forward in the process they will be constantly opening new business and closing sales. So, how many great leads do you have now? Depending on your closed sales goal, the definition of a great lead will vary. If you are looking to close 12 sales in a year, you may look at leads that are within 90-120 days as a viable lead. If you have a goal to close 50+ deals, you may be looking at leads that are ready to go inside of 30 days. The key here is the more business you are closing, the more likely you will have a smaller time window for what you call a “great lead.”
Are You An Eagle or A Duck?
No one can make you serve customers well….that’s because great service is a choice.
One man, Harvey Mackay, tells a wonderful story about a cab driver that proved this point.
He was waiting in line for a ride at the airport. When a cab pulled up, the first thing Harvey noticed was that the taxi was polished to a bright shine. Smartly dressed in a white shirt, black tie, and freshly pressed black slacks, the cab driver jumped out and rounded the car to open the back passenger door for Harvey.
He handed my friend a laminated card and said: ‘I’m Wally, your driver. While I’m loading your bags in the trunk I’d like you to read my mission statement.’ Taken aback, Harvey read the card. It said: Wally’s Mission Statement: To get my customers to their destination in the quickest, safest and cheapest way possible in a friendly environment…This blew Harvey away. Especially when he noticed that the inside of the cab matched the outside. Spotlessly clean!
As he slid behind the wheel, Wally said, ‘Would you like a cup of coffee? I have a thermos of regular and one of decaf.’ My friend said jokingly, ‘No, I’d prefer a soft drink.’ Wally smiled and said, ‘No problem.. I have a cooler up front with regular and Diet Coke, water and orange juice…’ Almost stuttering, Harvey said, ‘I’ll take a Diet Coke.’ Handing him his drink, Wally said, ‘If you’d like something to read, I have The Wall Street Journal, Time, Sports Illustrated and USA Today.’
As they were pulling away, Wally handed my friend another laminated card, ‘These are the stations I get and the music they play if you’d like to listen to the radio.’
And as if that weren’t enough, Wally told Harvey that he had the air conditioning on and asked if the temperature was comfortable for him. Then he advised Harvey of the best route to his destination for that time of day. He also let him know that he’d be happy to chat and tell him about some of the sights or, if Harvey preferred, to leave him with his own thoughts.
‘Tell me, Wally,’ my amazed friend asked the driver, ‘Have you always served customers like this?’ Wally smiled into the rear view mirror. ‘No, not always. In fact, it’s only been in the last two years. My first five years driving, I spent most of my time complaining like all the rest of the cabbies do. Then I heard a personal growth expert on the radio one day.
He had just written a book and said that if you get up in the morning expecting to have a bad day, you’ll rarely disappoint yourself. He said, ‘Stop complaining! Differentiate yourself from your competition. Don’t be a duck. Be an eagle. Ducks quack and complain. Eagles soar above the crowd.’
‘That hit me right between the eyes,’ said Wally. ‘Dyer was really talking about me. I was always quacking and complaining, so I decided to change my attitude and become an eagle. I looked around at the other cabs and their drivers. The cabs were dirty, the drivers were unfriendly, and the customers were unhappy. So I decided to make some changes. I put in a few at a time. When my customers responded well, I did more.’
‘I take it that has paid off for you,’ Harvey said.
‘It sure has,’ Wally replied. ‘My first year as an eagle, I doubled my income from the previous year. This year I’ll probably quadruple it. You were lucky to get me today. I don’t sit at cab stands anymore. My customers call me for appointments on my cell phone or leave a message on my answering machine. If I can’t pick them up myself, I get a reliable cabbie friend to do it, and I take a piece of the action.’
Wally was phenomenal. He was running a limo service out of a Yellow Cab. I’ve probably told that story to more than fifty cab drivers over the years, and only two that I know of took the idea and ran with it. Whenever I go to their cities, I give them a call. The rest of the drivers quacked like ducks and told me all the reasons they couldn’t do any of what I was suggesting.
Wally the Cab Driver made a different choice. He decided to stop quacking like ducks and start soaring like eagles.
Customer Service 101 - 6 areas to dominate as an Real Estate Eagle. With 1.2 to 1.3 million Real Estate Agents in the industry, how are you differentiating yourself from the ducks on the real estate pond?
1.Your Skills - Communication - can clearly articulate what you need to convey to another party. The other part of communication is accurately receiving information, not making assumptions/jumping to conclusions. People - works well with others - a pleasing personality. Versatility - someone who has the ability to adapt to many and ever changing environments/situations, Problem Solving - the ability to think through issues that arise and find ways to effectively and efficiently resolve them in a timely manner, Pricing - our ability to objectively assess value and do so in a manner that would be consistent with the trends and current market conditions, Negotiating - know when to speak and when to listen. Has the ability to listen for cues and can zero in on opportunities that work in your favor. This is just a short list and gives us an idea of the complexity and range of the skills our clients are looking for in an agent - that is an “eagle” agent.
2.Your Attitude/Mindset - Where’s your focus? Do you typically find fault with things or are you looking for solutions? Are we focused on being learning based or caught up in the media and daily drama going on in the world? Are you living in fear and worry or are you empowered and optimistic about the future? Why do I mention these? They ALL come into play when we’re going about our daily routines and interacting with buyers, sellers, other agents and vendors in your market. It’s how we show up to our listing appointments and at our buyer consultations. Ducks are quacking about how all the reasons they’re unable to hit their goals and the eagles are making things happen in spite of the market and any personal challenges they're facing.
3.Your Work Ethic - Being an Eagle means outperforming your competition with your work ethic. It’s how you show up and do your job. Being an eagle means you go the extra mile, not cutting corners and looking for the easy way out of things. Being thorough and paying attention to detail. It’s also the little things like being accessible and responsive. I learned many years ago and have made it a philosophy to live by - it goes like this - we often come to a fork in the road, one has a sign posted “the hard road” the other “the easy road” and...when we take the easy road it always gets harder and when we select the hard road, it typically ends up being easier. That said, it’s unlikely anything worth doing will be easy. Having a solid work ethic also means you stick with things and don’t give up. I think a major contributing factor to being successful is just staying the course. When you stop and start and stop and start, moving forward is slow if even at all. Think about it, what would happen if we drove like that? We’d get nowhere fast while burning a tank of gas.
4.Your Compassion - Ducks are self-absorbed and out for numero uno, themselves. Eagles rely on their leadership training and influence to look for what's best for everyone. Eagles think Win-Win or no deal. We need to remember that moving ranks up there as one of the top most stressful events that takes place in our lives. When we step back and realize we’re not getting our clients at their very best. We have the opportunity to show our compassion, patience and be supportive in the process. Always remembering to remain the calming force in our transactions, focused on solutions, not the challenge. Eagles do this by putting others needs ahead of theirs.
5.Follow-up/Follow Through - It’s amazing isn’t it, when we come across someone that actually follows through on what they said they’d do we’re taken back and impressed. It’s a sad commentary that it takes so little to stand out in today’s business world. Eagles keep their word and their commitments. Even if they don’t have an answer, they will call and tell you they don’t have an answer. Ducks go out of their way to avoid responsibility, aren’t organized and haven’t the moral conscious or regard for other people's feelings and needs. Be an eagle, just do what you say you will do and that in itself will cause you to win more often and dominate your market.
6.Your Overall Professionalism - the skill, good judgment, and polite behavior that is expected from a person who is trained to do a job well. Eagles are professionals, they take the high road and do what’s right instead of being concerned with being “right”. This means taking all aspects into consideration, including representing the entire industry and its image. A true professional is a class act and respected by not only their clients, also by their peers. I say it often that agents need to remember that we’re not working against each other in the business. Yes, we are representing our clients and need to do so at the highest level. In doing so, keeping top of mind to work with and through the agent on the other side of the transaction to get all parties on the same page, or at least as close as possible, in a professional and respectful manner.