Productivity in Balance

Hiring - First Step

You've decided it's time to hire someone to help you in your business.  Actually, let's go back - the biggest question I get is "is it time to hire an assistant"?  When you are doing all you can do and leads are still falling off your desk (and you're probably not having any fun anymore), it's time to get some help.  My first bit of advice is to outsource as much as possible: photography, transaction coordination,  look to your escrow company and their marketing rep for printing, etc. 

The next step is to hire an administrative assistant.  HEAR THAT?  Not another sales person.  Hire an administrative assistant.  If you hire another sales person to convert leads you've just created more paperwork and follow up to be done and you still have no one to do it. 

Your first step in hiring this assistant is to define your needs.  An easy way to do that is to sit down and make a list of all of the non-dollar productive activities you do in the course of a day/week/month.  Which things can a great administrative assistant do for you so you can do more dollar productive activities like lead generation and negotiating contracts?  What are the job standards and requirements? 

Once you have your list, it's time to think about the skills, attitude, and behavioral style that would best suit these tasks.  I recommend learning about the DISC Personality Profile and making it your best friend.  You should be able to create a Missing Persons Report on your ideal candidate. 

That's your first step!  It's an important one, do not skip it or short cut it.  Get some coaching to help you through it.  It helps to have someone who can look at your business from 30,000 feet. 

Yours in Success,

Rj

Cool Free App - April 2012

Ok, I don't know how this one escaped me.  An agent just told me about CloudOn and it's FABULOUS!  All of your microsoft docs, spreadsheets available to you on the iPad and it connects to Dropbox!

I love it!

How To Be In Two Places At Once!

The purpose of business is to fund the perfect life. A perfect life is living until you die. Really living!

Living? Hmmmmm... is that giving up your week-ends to show a buyer that 20th home? Is it writing up the 12th offer and hoping THIS one gets accepted? Of course not. Buyers are everywhere, so how can you be in two places at once?

I'm offering a class on April 26th to discuss leverage - specifically how to use a Showing Agent instead of hiring a Buyer Agent. Come and learn the duties, the compensation model, and the follow-up system needed to maximize this amazing piece of leverage.

DATE: April 26, 2012

TIME: 1:00 - 2:00pm (lunch is included)

WHERE: The Holiday Inn at Ocotillo (NW Crn of Alma School and Ocotillo Roads in Chandler, AZ)

RSVP: rj.myers@cox.net or 602-350-1967

4th Quarter, Here We Come!

Wow, this year is flying by.  I don't know about you and your team, but I have so much to plan and accomplish by the end of the year so that 2010 is even better than 2009!  As the Team Leader for Keller Williams Legacy One Realty, my job is a lot like any Rainmaker on a Team.  I just have a larger team - but all of the same fundamentals apply! 

Here's my To-Do List for today... see if any of these items need to be on yours:

1.  Prepare to teach my "team" how to use Contact Types in their database (I'm teaching this class on Friday)  Rainmakers have to do this every time they hire a new team member and then spot check to be sure its being done consistently - If you don't know about contact types, please come to my class on Friday - or email me and I'll send you my power point.

2.  Start to plan my ALC Retreat for October - this is like your Team Advance.  If you don't know what a team advance is, please look for an earlier blog that I posted.  This is a critical event! 

3.  Plan for our Goal Planning Clinic in November.  We're bringing in an instructor from Texas.  I have found that when you're doing a team advance or any type of goal planning clinic, it's best to have a 3rd party facilitate. 

4.  Start to plan to implement the BOLD Program for our agents to ramp up so that productivity is high going into 2010.   This is going to be FABULOUS!  Here's what our agents will learn:

• Overcome your limiting beliefs
• Set BOLD goals
• Learn how to deliver powerful scripts that naturally influence people to work with you
• Build an abundance of leads into your business
• Incorporate time-saving strategies and techniques that will take your business to the highest levels
• Discover the benefits of a life by design!

And BOLD gets results. The 18 agents participating in the pilot program made 295 appointments, got 128 listings and closed 93 deals during the seven-week program. 

5.  Build a course to teach Rainmakers how to hold a Team Advance so that they can either do it themselves, or at least be highly prepared when they hire someone else to do it for them. 

And then I have some other items to plan for team building and morale, such as:  dinner for the my group of agents who won the Survivor Challenge (lead generation game we played), our self-defense class on Saturday because September is REALTOR safety month, signing birthday and anniversary cards, and planing a special event for my board of directors (my Agent Leadership Council). 

I'd love to know what you have going on through the end of the year! 

All the best!

Eating the "Elephant" with Time Blocking

Eating the "Elephant" with Time Blocking

by Walter Sanford

Without making time for the most profitable activities, I can tell you exactly what will happen -- you are going to be spending time on the most urgent items which are almost never your most profitable activities. The reason why my lead generation book is so popular with top agents is because it points to the direction of the most profitable activities in real estate. One needs now to decipher how to implement these activities on a consistent basis.

Read the entire article at:  http://realtytimes.com/rtpages/20090115_eatelephant.htm

Three Key Questions in Your Business

There are three key questions that every entrepreneur asks about their business.  It seems simple really, however when you sit down to get the answers, you may realize just how critical these three questions are. 

QUESTION 1:  Who are the PEOPLE you need in your business?

For example, who are the five people on your team?  Even if you are a solo agent, you have people on your team.   Escrow officer, lender, home inspector, office transaction coordinator, broker, etc. 

Who are your five "Raving Fans"?  These are people who consistently refer business to you, and/or they are the ones who would never think of using another agent.  Once you identify these raving fans, ask yourself how much attention are you giving them?! 

Who are your 5 wealth determiners?  Again, how much attention are you giving these people? 

Who are five agent colleagues you should be hanging around?  Remember, studies show we become like the people we hang around most.   

QUESTION 2:  What are the TOOLS you need in your business?

What are the tools you need to take your business to the next level?  Contact management database, tracking forms, website, technology, time management & goal setting tools, accounting & financial management, etc. 

Make a list of your top five tools.  Make the most important number one.  Don't go to number two until you have number one in place.  After you get the top 5 tools, re-evaluate and come up with your next list of five. 

QUESTION 3:  What are the SYSTEMS you need to put into place to increase your business or streamline your business so you have more free time? 

I believe you'll find that your list of needed systems will match your list of needed tools.  For example, if getting a real estate specific contact management program is your first order of business under "tools", your first system will be how to consistently add 10 new contacts into your database per day and how to systematically tag your entries for email drip campaigns, mailings, and seasonal gifts/mailings. 

Other examples of systems would be 8x8 plans (eight touches in 8 weeks) for FSBO's, Expireds, general "mets", etc.; geographic farm plans; CMA systems; etc. 

Try asking yourself these three key questions any time you want have a new goal.  For example, let's say you want to hold a Home Buyer's Seminar but don't know where to start.  Start by asking yourself who are the people you need:  the title company to host the event, your lender to attend the event and answer questions, etc.  What are the tools you need?  You need invitations, a list of invitees, sign in sheets, hand out material, etc.  Finally, what are the systems that would help you with this event?  How about a follow up systems for the prospects who attended your event?  How often will you contact them and how will you contact them? 

I hope you enjoyed learning about the three key questions.