Now is not the time to sit back and see how things turn out. You’ll be left behind.
Last year 18% of agents changed firms across the US and a recent survey from Inman news 39% of agents plan to switch brokerages this year-up 56% from those who shared a similar desire in 2023.
Old math / new math – regardless of what number you believe – that’s a lot of movement and right now somewhere between 25% up to 39% of your own agents are looking to make a move.
Why?
Uncertainty … with all the changes, all the news are you LEADING or going SILENT?
What’s missing?
52% want more referrals and leads
44% want better training and education
42% want more support
What’s on their “must have” list?
93% want to be connected to a trusted/recognizable brand
88% want top-notch marketing and advertising support
82% want leading edge technology and tools.
Look this is what we do – if you need help we should have a conversation. Yet, in the meantime I’d leave you with this: quickly go on the OFFENSE immediately to re-recruit the keepers.
Identify who in your office is most likely to leave and proactively start re-recruiting them. Find out what they’re missing and fix the problems before it’s too late.
Energized Recruiting: If you have strong solutions in the areas where agents are feeling deficits, step out in confidence and get connected to as many prospects as possible.
Use the survey findings as a guideline to prepare scripts and talking points that address these issues.
Plan talent attraction events that highlight your expertise in the areas where they are feeling deficiencies.
Embracing Discomfort: The Unseen Catalyst in Sales Success
In the realm of sales, discomfort is not an intruder but an inevitable companion. It’s the tightrope walk between sticking to the status quo and venturing into the unknown. Yet, it is within these moments of unease that the seeds of success are sown. Every instance of discomfort brings with it a pivotal moment of choice, and it is the caliber of these decisions that sculpt our sales narrative.
The Crossroads of Comfort and Growth
Sales professionals often find themselves at a crossroads. One path is paved with the familiar – the techniques and strategies that have worked in the past. The other path is less traveled, lined with the thorns of uncertainty and the promise of growth. Choosing the latter requires courage, for it is a journey through discomfort.
The Decision Dilemma
When faced with discomfort, the decision we make can either propel us forward or keep us tethered to our current state. It’s a delicate balance between risk and reward. The right decision, often the one that feels the most uncomfortable, has the potential to unlock doors to new opportunities and relationships.
The Role of Integrity
Doing the right thing, especially when it’s the hardest, speaks volumes about one’s integrity. In sales, this might mean walking away from a deal that doesn’t align with your values or pushing for a product that truly benefits the customer, even if it’s not the easiest sell. It’s about putting long-term relationships above short-term gains.
The Impact on Sales Approach
Embracing discomfort can dramatically transform our sales approach. It encourages us to be more empathetic, to listen actively, and to engage with our clients on a deeper level. It pushes us to innovate, to find solutions that are not just effective but also ethical and sustainable.
The Uncomfortable Truth
The uncomfortable truth is that discomfort is not to be avoided but embraced. It is a catalyst for growth, a test of character, and a builder of trust. As sales professionals, when we choose to do the right thing in the face of discomfort, we don’t just close a deal; we open a realm of possibilities where our integrity and our success are inextricably linked.
In the end, the quality of our decisions in the face of discomfort defines not just our sales success, but our legacy in the business world. Let us choose wisely, act boldly, and embrace the discomfort that heralds the dawn of achievement.
His mother, no longer able to provide for him, turned him over to the foster care system. At 22, he was homeless with a two-year-old son to care for.
The only way he could go was up. With $700 start-up cash, he pursued his vision.
Paul Mitchell hair products and eventually Patrón tequila.
One of the most significant traits of his success, he says, was overcoming rejection.
“You’ve got to be prepared in life for a lot of rejections.”
Pointing to a time, he had to sell encyclopedias door-to-door to put food on the table. Many doors, literally, closed in his face. As a result, he came to expect rejection, which proved to be beneficial, as he learned this:
“You must be just as enthusiastic on door 51 as you were on door 50, even if all 50 of those doors are closed in your face!”
John Paul DeJoria’s journey from homeless to entrepreneur and philanthropist – now you know…the rest of the story.
#WinTheDay
Resistance is normal. What you do about it creates the future!
Recalling today a fun conversation I had with a military pilot instructor, who emphasized the importance of situational awareness in his training, the cliff notes?
Situational awareness vs. target fixation.
Target fixation is an attention phenomenon where an individual becomes so focused on the target (or a goal) that they increase their risk of crashing into the target or it places them at greater risk of ignoring other factors going on around them.
As the name implies, situational awareness is simply knowing what’s going on around you and involves at least three key steps:
1. Perception of what is happening
2. Understanding of what has been perceived
3. The use of what is understood to think ahead and act accordingly
Whether it’s sports, art, or business, understanding target fixation vs. situational awareness will serve us all very well.
Two of my sons are UC Irvine Anteaters, yet this blog is about a different type of ant. The ant of automatic negative thoughts.
A number of years ago, I had the honor of meeting Dr. Daniel Amen, and I later learned he coined the term – Automatic Negative Thoughts (ANTs) – in the early 1990s after a hard day at the office. That day he had several very difficult sessions with suicidal patients, teenagers in turmoil, and a married couple who hated each other.
When he got home that evening, he found ants had infested his kitchen. As he started to clean them up, an acronym developed in his mind. He thought of his patients from that day – just like the infested kitchen – his patients’ brains were also infested by Automatic Negative Thoughts (ANTs) that were robbing them of their joy and stealing their happiness.
Dr. Amen wrote a book about the brain, but it’s not just about the brain; it’s about how your brain affects your body, and how your body affects your brain. He explains that every time you have a thought, your brain releases chemicals.
Every time you have a sad, hopeless, mad, cranky, unkind, judgmental, or helpless thought, your brain immediately releases chemicals that make your body feel awful. Your hands get cold and wet, your muscles get tense, your heart beats faster, and your breathing becomes shallower. Additionally, Dr. Amen writes the activity in your frontal and temporal lobes decreases which negatively affects your judgment, learning, and memory.
The opposite is also true – whenever you have a happy, hopeful, loving, kind, or positive thought (or even just an “I’m okay” kind of thought), your brain releases a completely different set of chemicals. Your hands get warmer and dryer; your breathing becomes deeper and more regular; your muscles relax; your blood pressure decreases; and your brain works better. So what can we do about ANTs?
Just as there are a many species of ants in the world, there are different kinds of negative thought patterns (ANTs). Here are a few that Dr. Amen says we can all learn to identify:
Fortune Telling: Being masterful at predicting the worst, even though you don’t have any evidence.
Mind Reading: Where you arbitrarily believe that you know what someone else is thinking, even though they didn’t tell you. Many people do this, and more often than not it gets them into trouble. It’s a major reason why people have trouble in relationships.
Guilt Beatings: Thinking with words like should, must, ought, and have to. The words we use to talk to ourselves are very important.
Guilt is not a very good motivator for change.
Telling yourself “I should go see my grandmother” rather than “I want to spend time with my grandmother” only serves to make you feel negative.
Blame: Whenever you blame someone else for the problems in your life, you are a victim, and you can’t do anything to change it. Stay away from blaming thoughts and take personal responsibility for changing the problems you have.
Labeling: Calling yourself or someone else a derogatory name. This diminishes your ability to see situations clearly, and labels can be very harmful.
Next steps?
Whenever you find yourself feeling mad, sad, nervous, or out of control, write down what you are thinking. Then identify which ANT species is infesting your mind and talk back to it. Challenging negative thoughts (killing the ANTs) takes away their power and gives you control over your thoughts, moods, and behaviors.
Regardless of where you are on your goals year to date, there is still time to produce more this year. If your desire is to close the first half strong; not be broke on July 1, and be prepared for an amazing back half of the year,back half of the year then you gotta read this.
3 killer strategies…
Up your seller education game;
Portray trust and
Regardless of YOUR age, appeal to millennials.
Some time ago I had the honor of attending the Zillow Premier Broker event in Chicago, IL. The Zillow Consumer Housing Report was an amazing value add, and at least 3 major trends stood out for me.
Trend 1: Up Your Seller Education Game
Zillow’s research shows more than half of all sellers have NEVER sold a home before. It’s a totally new experience for them. Place yourself in their shoes: Are they scared? Are they apprehensive? Are they afraid of being taken advantage of? Do you think they wish they knew more than they do? That answer would be YES to all of those.
So, let’s look at what that means to you and me. This is one stat begging you to proactively help educate your prospects and, in the process, attract more referrals and more listings.
For those of you with extensive experience, you could write up a report like, “4 Ways To Maximize The Value Of Your Home” or “3 Essential Facts Every First-Time Home Seller Must Know” and offer them on your lead capture landing pages.
Promote them by running Facebook ads in your target communities, along with a video about how you’re passionate about educating sellers. For those of you with less experience, you can hire out these reports to content writers in your area… check out FIVERR or #GTS = Google That Stuff!
Practical ideas to consider:
Informative Direct MailCampaigns, like: The benefits of a “Home Warranty Sellers Coverage” policy
Short special reports and white papers, like: Best Home Improvements• Determining Your Homes Value• Value Of A Pre Sell Home Inspection• Benefits Of Partnering With A Hyper-Local Expert, Like Me!
Educational seminarsor zoom sessions
Short videosto walk people through the process with a call to action to reach out to you
Quick seller tipson social media with a call to action to reach out to you
And while it may be their first time, today’s sellers have access to more data and best practices BEFORE they reach out to possible selling agents. They are looking for a strategist with the market knowledge, marketing skills, and legal know-how to do the heavy lifting that will get them from sale to closing.
Some of the activities “self-starting sellers” get a jump on before engaging with an agent include home improvements (50 percent), coming up with a list price for their home (39 percent) and securing a home inspection (25 percent).
Trend 2: Ensure Your Marketing And Promotions Portray TRUST
Eighty-six percent of consumers say trustworthiness is “extremely” or “very” important when choosing an agent. When your biggest asset is at stake, you want to trust the person guiding your transaction.
So, let’s think about what makes someone trustworthy. Or better yet, let’s discuss who we don’t consider trustworthy:
Complete strangers• Salespeople who only show up when there’s something in it for them
Obviously, the more familiar people are with you, the more they are naturally likely to trust you. So, if 86 percent of consumers are telling you that you must be trustworthy to even be considered, what’s that mean to you? It means you need to be putting yourself in front of prospects over and over and over again to create that familiarity that breeds trustworthiness.
Do you have more than 5 testimonials and endorsements?• Do you create a “social proof” marketing piece that shows what OTHER people say about you?• Are you visible and involved in the communities you serve?• Are you marketing to the same neighborhoods consistently or jumping around to wherever you take your next listing?• Does your website or your marketing give any insight into who YOU are as a person, or do you come across like a real estate robot?
All of these questions lead to huge opportunities to build trust with homeowners so when they decide to sell, you’re already in that “extremely important” category of being trustworthy.
Trend 3: Regardless Of YOUR Age, Appeal To Millennials… Nearly 50% Of Your Future Business May Depend On This!
Millennials – that generation between the ages of 24 and 38 – account for 42 percent of all home buyers and 61 percent of all first-time buyers, according to Zillow’s report. These folks were raised on the Internet. As a result, they’re accustomed to Amazon-level service and ease of use. You know that experience: Where you order something late Friday night and somehow it shows up on your doorstep on a Sunday morning! That’s the standard you’re up against when you work with 42 percent of buyers. So here’s the big question:
Are your services and systems up to that standard?
If your answer is no, it’s time to adapt how you do things.
Strive to make working with you as easy as ordering from Amazon. Where can you streamline? What can you eliminate? What more can you do prior to meeting with a buyer to make the process smoother? What “extras” can you provide to make your service more beautiful? We all need to be asking ourselves these questions and refining our systems on a regular basis because that standard isn’t reversing course anytime soon. It’s only going to get higher and higher.
There you have it… 3 killer strategies… up your seller education game; portray trust and regardless of YOUR age, appeal to millennials.
To resonate with prospects, you must understand their pains, problems, desires, and triumphs.
In the game of real estate leadership and sales, resilience and mental toughness are key players.
When obstacles arise, our performance hinges on the quality of our preparation and training. But how do we cultivate resilience? By understanding the factors that can steal it away, we empower ourselves to navigate the journey from chasing perfection to creating progress.
Here are seven ways individuals inadvertently rob themselves of resilience:
1. Ignoring Emotional Signals: Leaders sometimes miss the mark by dismissing their emotional cues. Instead of suppressing feelings, we can embrace the “accept, reflect, and redirect” model, allowing emotions to guide us.
2. Avoiding Self-Reflection: Neglecting introspection limits our ability to manage stress and adversity effectively. Self-reflection helps us uncover triggers and develop coping strategies.
3. Seeking Quick Fixes: Resilience isn’t a one-time fix; it’s a continuous practice. Avoid distractions and invest in the necessary work of building adaptive mechanisms.
4. Isolating: During tough times, leaders may withdraw from support networks. Connecting with others provides valuable perspectives and bolsters resilience.
5. Neglecting Self-Care: Prioritizing physical, mental, and emotional well-being is essential. Neglecting self-care leads to burnout and compromises our ability to bounce back.
6. Ruminating on Failures: Dwelling on past setbacks without extracting lessons hinders resilience. Break the cycle of self-doubt and negativity.
7. Resisting Change: A fixed mindset impedes resilience. Embrace adaptability, and navigate change with confidence.
So, a few questions to consider:
Which one of these habits do you (your agents, your clients) fall into?
