I often get asked from agents in the area, “What should I focus on?” The answer is pretty simple but also a bit detailed: whatever works to grow your profits.
Michael Gerber calls them Rain Maker Activities.
At the end of the day, there are only 3 ways for you to grow your business:
- Increase the number of transactions.
- Increase the size of the transaction income.
- Increase the number of times Clients come back and buy from you (clue: does not have to be real estate).
Where do MOST of your transactions come from? Most transactions come from CLIENTS! A client is a buyer or seller who signed an agreement to work with you exclusively. So to increase transactions, increase the number of clients. BUT, as I said, the details are a bit complex.
First, you don’t want EVERY or ANY client. You want those who you identify with and that believe YOU are the one to help them and value your services. You know exactly what I am talking about. We all have had Clients that were downright mean, rude, and disrespectful – no matter what you did right. At the end of the day, you would be better off without these types because they rob you of precious energy and these types take up too much time, meaning YOU MAKE LESS MONEY.
My Exclusive Marketing Systems FOCUS ONLY on generating prospects that value YOU and YOUR time and THAT is WHO we hand to the agents on my team.
This leads me to Number 2 on the list of areas of focus:
Increase the amount of money you make per transaction.
Most agents think this means selling a more expensive house, since most get paid a percentage commission. That may be fine, but what if homes in a higher price range are in low demand? It makes no sense to have 20 $500,000 listings if buyers don’t want them and instead want $175,000 homes. Good way to go broke in a hurry pursuing real estate NOT in demand and a good example of being IN the real estate business instead of being IN the Marketing Business.
Most agents simply charge whatever they are charging because “that’s the way ALL the other agents do it”. BUT remember, agents are not your clients or even your prospects. In fact, last time I checked most agents are broke or going out of business, 80% fail, so I sure would NOT be doing what the majority is doing.
This does not mean you should be ignorant of competition and pricing. Your job is to BEAT your competitors by providing a better value. Start by testing your prospects. At your next listing appointment, ask for .5% more or work up in .25% increments. Until you get push back that is a diminishing return. When that begins to happen, add on MORE value to justify the fee. A simple example there is to demonstrate results.
Sellers will pay more to the agent who has buyers. And guess what? We have A LOT OF BUYERS. All of the agents on my team never attend a listing appointment without our buyer list, and it is long!
In fact, according to recent surveys, my team’s commission is on average a FULL 1% higher than the areas average agents. This is one of the reasons WHY the AGENTS ON MY TEAM MAKE MORE MONEY!!
Would like to increase the amount of money you make, literally overnight? I will show you exactly how the agents on my team earn 3.5% to 4.5% from buyers and list homes for
7% to 8%.