New Generation Agent Productivity
The time is coming when we’ll look back at this Recession and acknowledge it as being the catalyst and breeding ground for the New Generation of Real Estate Professionals. Some astute practitioners were well on their way in making changes during the pre-recession days. Those changes were voluntary business decisions prompted by looking past the distractions of the housing bubble frenzy. What was voluntary then is a necessity today. Our old job description, the reasons why Buyers and Sellers needed our services, has been diminishing. A stark example is about information access. Many of us remember being the gatekeepers to the only source of inventory and statistics. Today, with a few clicks, the consumer can find out most anything they want to know not only in your market area but anywhere in the world! We could get into a somber itemizing of why consumers don’t need us and then enthusiastically offset those with reasons why they still do. I’m for moving solely and full force on the latter. The consumer does need you, now more than ever! But, most of them don’t know it because we haven’t adequately announced or evidenced our new job description.
These challenging times are an opportunity to re-invent YOU! Start with a bit of brain cleansing. It may be cluttered with old conventional wisdom and practice. Keep the knowledge but get rid of the stuff that doesn’t work anymore or is not getting the productivity results you desire. Next, get rid of the fence, the paradigms. Crumple up and throw out statements like; this is the way it’s always been done, I’ve never done that before and I don’t know anything about that. Your initial mindset is important to the re-invention process. This scenario may help in setting the stage: You have started a new business. Your Business Card has your name followed by Business Owner-CEO. Your slogan is “Everything Real Estate” under which there are the initials S.P.O.C. Your income source will be coming from Services rendered. In theory, you hired a person to head up that department. In reality you just hired yourself – the best. You expect productivity from that department. As a sharp business person you also embrace the Business 101 truism: a business may have the best products or services but if no one knows about it, nothing or very little happens! You need to hire a Marketing Department Head.
Let’s stop here and move out of the hypothetical situation. You are your own Marketing Department and there is a productivity issue here as well. But it’s not only about how many buyer or seller leads your marketing efforts develop. It’s about how many people know that your knowledge and acumen live up to that slogan “Everything Real Estate”. It’s about people knowing that you can help them wade through the information overload dilemma called the Internet. What’s important, what’s relevant and what does it mean to them and how do they use that information to make the best Real Estate decisions.
It gets deeper and starts impacting you as the Service Dept. Consumers are watching their spending and looking to cut expenses. Shouldn’t they hear from you that they may have a possibility to reduce their property taxes? When will that window of opportunity open up? What are the considerations? What’s relevant in presenting their grievance? How do they get started and what will be their best leverage in getting a reduction? They should be contacting you for an opinion and some direction because, after all, you are “Everything Real Estate”. What about this Loan Modification? What’s up with that? Sure they can read about the specifics, even download the forms, guidelines and procedures for free, but what if they’re not sure about what they are reading or comprehending? Shouldn’t they know that they can come to you for a confirmation or explanation of what they heard or read? And, while they’re there, maybe it would be nice if they could get those forms etc. directly from you. Give this a quick thought: We used text books during our education. How many times did a gifted teacher help us to get it and understand what we were reading? Your new job description should include Teacher on Everything Real Estate. What about the home owners in a market area community who are candidates or actually in a distressed sale position and need someone to talk to about what to do? Some of those home owners are lucky because they can call and talk to the area expert on “Everything Real Estate”.
It’s a toss up in choosing your terminology preference. Am I re-inventing myself or adding to my field of expertise? It doesn’t matter as long as you’re aware of the need to change, gain more knowledge and do it quickly. If you retain the lingering question of how is that change going to make me money now, you may not have fully cleansed. Our old way of doing business focused on doing something for immediate gratification – getting a Listing or Buyer appointment for example. I remember being told to keep cold calling until I got an appointment or to stick to the then conventional wisdom concept of mass mailings, which, tied in with the profound adage of “the more spaghetti you throw at a wall, the more will stick”. The numbers game theory has not changed. What has changed is the objective and methodology. Yesterday it was about the hunt and fishing for business. Today it’s about creating, expanding, maintaining and consistently promoting your identity as an “Everything Real Estate” expert, to as many people as possible as often as possible. It’s not theory or hype. It is fact and it works! People should know that you are capable of providing them with information to help on deciding whether to add-on to their existing home or to sell and purchase a larger one. What about home improvement considerations? Why are they thinking of doing them – pleasure, convenience, upgrade or adding value to the home? What does “over improvement” mean? They will know because they have you as their information source. “Go Green” is a recent buzz phrase. How can you tie it in with your market area homes?
Production has been associated with Buyer and Seller appointments, open and closed transactions. The New Generation Agents will add Marketing efforts to their productivity gauge. A small business marketing rule of thumb is that a consumer must see your name and message 27 times. Every three times they see it, they will get closer to a definite recognition of your name and association with what you do. This is not a formidable challenge when you consider the proliferation of blogs – neighborhood, city, local newspapers, your market area Real Estate blog, your website. Don’t neglect “hard-copy”. Contact the publishers of those “Freebie” magazines you get in your mailbox and see in store racks (non Real Estate related). Ask if they would be interested in publishing your short articles or bi-lines on home owner information and issues. Not as an Ad but as a contribution. All you ask in return is to be identified as the author with contact information and any websites where you have a presence. If you’re comfortable with public speaking, offer to be a guest speaker at any community organization meetings. Need some confidence? Invest in a public speaking course.
The bottom line objective is to pull the consumer out of their “pigeon hole” perception that all agents are the same and that you’re only needed when it’s time to buy or sell. In your personal marketing hold true to that visualized slogan “Everything Real Estate” and those initials S.P.O.C stand for Single Point Of Contact for Anything Real Estate. With that mindset and marketing productivity, wonderful things start to happen. Like immediate business, referrals, recommendations, future business and the earned recognition as the New Generation of Real Estate Professional.
Debra Asher is CEO of ProCalibre Associates, Inc. and President of Debra Asher Seminars. Debra is an internationally recognized Speaker and Personal & Company Performance Coach in the Real Estate Industry. www.ProCalibre.com. Contact Debra: DebraAsher@ProCalibre.com
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