The top 1% are lifelong learners, and curious. Millennials are leading the way in continuous learning.
Learn more, earn more.
In a world of rapid change and increasing complexity, the winners will be those who can keep their L>C. That is, the learning rate must be greater than the rate of change and greater than the rate of their competition.
“Ancora Imparo.” This translates to: I am still learning. ~ Michelangelo
What does your real estate practice have in common with toothpaste?
More than you might think.
Example – What would happen if I squeezed a toothpaste tube with the CAP on?
You and your business have a capacity, and that capacity is only as good as the systems you have in place. My favorite saying is: “a system will produce what a system will produce, nothing less, nothing more.”
What systems in your business are at or near capacity?
Are you squeezing the tube with the Cap on?
What SOPs (operating procedures) do you need to have in place, so your business is flowing with the “cap off?”
In 1955, Northcote Parkinson came up with the theory that the demand for an economic good expands to match its supply. In economics, this is called “induced demands.” It’s why, for example, expanding roads never actually reduces traffic congestion because more drivers show up to fill those extra lanes.
The same is true for work, hobbies, and school.
Work always expands to fill the amount of time you make available to complete it. For example, if there are six months available to complete a project, you’ll spend six months working on it. Give yourself only one month, however, and you’ll get the same amount of work done in one-sixth of the time.
Lesson 1:
Assign a time frame to everything. Ask yourself and your team: “how much and by when?”
Lesson 2:
Lead with profit
In traditional accounting models, sales growth is what leads to profit; what’s the saying: you have to spend money to make money. But what happens is you can sacrifice profit for the sake of growth. Ideally, we can do both… yet in a shifting market… our task is clear:
Lead With Profit
Flip the script: profit leads to growth.
“More growth can happen when there’s less money.”
Say that again.
“More growth can happen when there’s less money.”
Become More Resourceful
When there’s less supply available, we become more innovative in extracting more value from what remained. So, taking our profit first and having less money available for operating expenses facilitates growth because it forces us to be innovative.
Lead With Profit – How?
Effective lead generation
Lead conversion
Number of Size of Transaction (per person productivity)
Cost of lead, cost of a sale (client acquisition cost)
More referrals – Google My Business (reviews and your closing photos) and more
Reduce the break-even point and or raise prices
A system – your systems – will produce what a system will produce, nothing less, nothing more. If you are not getting the results you want: be hard on the systems and soft on the people.
Lessons from an NBA coach: “We are learning to win!”
Several years ago, I had lunch with NBA Coach Scott Brooks (Oklahoma Thunder), and my notes came up in my memories today; they are just as relevant now as they were then:
Never accept NO as it relates to your dream
Create a BURNING desire to get to your goals and break them down into daily activities
Can’t is not a word. There is always a way… get resourceful and figure it out
Character counts: being a good role model of integrity, honesty, and giving back all matters. Your players watch you.
Don’t be afraid to have tough conversations, even with your superstars
Focus on the process and the activity; the results will follow
When going through a losing streak, we focused on the fundamentals and the mental state of “we are learning to win!”
Learning to win!
#WinTheDay
Process goals perform the best
PS: Looking to increase your real estate team or office recruiting game? Book a demo to find out how we can 5X your ROI.
Making any change in your business is all about taking action. The top 1% leverage the compound effect by taking small steps to win the day.
Action verbs in your purpose statement can be helpful in taking daily action, like this one:
“To inspire and guide myself and others to create a fulfilling and hopeful future for themselves and others. My activities, intentions, and goals emerge from this basic purpose.”
I love inspiring, guiding, and finding hope in the chaos.
What action verbs inspire you?
#100DaysOfSuccess
PS: Looking to increase your real estate team or office recruiting game? Book a demo to find out how we can 5X your ROI.
Equinox’s campaign “We Don’t Speak January” caught my attention. Equinox did not offer new members the opportunity to join on January 1st, which made a statement about the type of member they wanted. In their words, “it’s not you; it’s January.”
The company called the month of January “a fantasy, delivered to your door in a pastel-colored box.” The point they wanted to make is you are not a New Year’s resolution. Your business doesn’t start at the beginning of the year. And that’s not what being part of Equinox is about.
After some criticism and media buzz, the company doubled down on the campaign by posting, “January is a language we don’t understand…” followed by:
January wants you to start something you should already be doing
January needs a new outfit before it can begin
January stalling, short-cutting, and giving up are not who we are
January will not text you back next month
Around the same time this campaign broke, I had some update calls with brokerage leaders from across the country, and they don’t do January either; say what? I heard different words from them, like:
Talent attraction vs. recruiting
Selection vs. sponsoring
Clarity of vision on the type of office they are creating
Bold. These leaders are attracting the ideal type of associate selected to join their office. They were clear on the characteristics and types of agents they wanted and did not want. Empowering.
What’s the saying, “all agents are agents, yet not all agents are REALTORS®.” Do you want them all or just the ones that match your culture?
The Equinox campaign ended with “we don’t speak January – and neither do you.” What about you?
It’s not you; it’s January.
PS: Looking to increase your real estate team or office recruiting game? Book a demo to find out how we can 5X your ROI.
The acquisition of Realtor.com could boost competition, says Mark Johnson, Co-Founder of CoRecruit and former CEO of JPAR – Real Estate.
I recently had a call with Candace Evans, the Founder and Creator of CandysDirt.com, and she asked me if the CoStar and Move proposed acquisition was a big deal. My answer was yes! The rumor on the street – started at the Inman Connect Conference – is a possible acquisition price of $3 billion dollars, and that certainly is a big deal.
My business acquaintance and friend, Steve Murray, co-founder of REAL Trends, said, “I’m not convinced a sale would have a meaningful impact for real estate brokerages. These firms think if they control the information, they’ll control the distribution of buyers and sellers to agents and change the economics to where they’ll be getting a bigger share of the commission dollar. I suppose all those things are possible, but Zillow hasn’t been able to pull it off.”
Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation purchased Move Inc. for nearly $1 billion in 2014, followed by the 2018 acquisition of the Austin, Texas-based lead-generation firm OpCity. CoStar has spent more than $2 billion on residential real estate deals over the last decade, beginning in 2014 with Apartments.com and later acquiring Homesnap in 2020 to launch Citysnap. CoStar’s market cap has more than doubled since 2018 to $32 billion, compared to Zillow’s $10 billion.
You never know the true motivations of sellers and buyers, yet for Move, it could be cashing out at the right time to focus on other aspects of the business, and it seems CoStar might be taking advantage of a strong cash position and difficult market conditions to make a strategic acquisition at a favorable price. CoStar understands the business and has a strong track record of adding value. A new owner always brings new ideas and new innovations, and that typically drives more competition. And competition always creates more favorable pricing for users. For agents, teams, and brokers, this could be really good news.
Across the industry, you are seeing major players acquire tools and technology to serve the consumer and the agent from the contemplation of a home sale or purchase all the way through to closing, funding, and post-sale support. So this will not be the last acquisition we hear about as the big players in the industry want to capture a larger share of more services within the nearly 5 million homes sold each year.
There seems to be today an endless array of conference opportunities for agents, team leaders, and broker-owners. Inman Connect, both New York and Las Vegas are two worth considering. This year’s New York event did not disappoint with something for everyone to learn or network.
Katie Lance from Katie Lance Consulting delivered a powerful update on social media, Facebook Live and Video. In her talk, Katie pointed out that Facebook Live is more effective when promoted ahead of time and when you engage the audience with polls or surveys. For short-form videos, Katie recommends obviously to be quick, to the point, have a hook and use appropriate hashtags and captions.
For agents, one of the favorite sessions was the session on “How To Win Listings In A Competitive And Challenging Market.” For company leaders, the CEO connect session was powerful, and team leaders participated in sessions on growth. Of special note, Ryan Serhant spoke to every person who wants to be a real estate agent regardless of race, gender, handicap, military status, or personality style. Rayna said, “even if you have no personality, you can sell real estate to anyone, anywhere, anytime.” Virtual replays are available to purchase on the Inman website.
A hot topic at the bar and after parties was the possible acquisition of REALTOR.com from MOVE by CoStar.
So regardless of what conference you attend, you might want to consider my 4 Step Post-Conference Guide. Professional conferences are an unparalleled opportunity to build your network, get new ideas, deepen connections, get out of your routine, and shake things up.
Yet so many of us fail to act… why?
Because you probably went home with loads of information to digest and a feeling of being overwhelmed. So, plan a post-conference action plan that empowers you. The key to a successful post-conference routine is taking ACTION.
Here are 4 steps to maximize your conference investment:
Network post the event– Don’t forget those connections you made. Close the loop, follow up, and build relationships for referrals, accountability, and more.
Leverage your social channels– How can you communicate your time investment to show potential customers your commitment to excellence and serving them at the highest levels? Make your public posts about serving your customers and potential customers better.
Organize your notes into a checklistfor the items you are committed to act on and share them with an accountability partner, mentor or coach. Do you have a checklist? A checklist not only helps you get more done, but your brain loves them. According to research summarized by best-selling author Maria Konnikova, here are some of the reasons why:
Your mind seeks organization. Lists tap into our preferred way of receiving and organizing information at a subconscious level; from an information-processing standpoint, they often hit our attentional sweet spot.
When we process information, we do so spatially. For instance, it’s hard to memorize through brute force the groceries we need to buy. It’s easier to remember everything if we write it down in bulleted or numbered points.
Your mind wants to categorize. We can’t process information quickly when it’s clustered and undifferentiated (like in standard paragraphs). A list feels more intuitive.
Your mind wants to know how long this will take. The more we know about something—including precisely how much time it will consume—the greater the chance we will commit to it.
List completion is self-reinforcing. We recall with pleasure that we were able to check something off the list. This makes us want to go back to the list for another dopamine hit.
Do your brain a favor and break down what you learned and your action steps into a series of checklists.
Take action NOW! –don’t wait! Nothing good happens when you wait.
So, there you have it, 4 steps to win the post-conference game.
