Late last night I received THIS from a form filled out on my website:
I read about Russell starting Realtor Training, I would like to know if he can set up an automated program for me to follow and use here in Victoria Bc. I sold 11 million dollars worth of real Estate in 2006, I would like to double that over the next 12 months or more. Cheers, hope to hear from you soon!
And tonight see this post from Greg, where the question is:
I would like to know if anyone has a great listing generation system that works, day in and day out. My goal is to gross $600,000 over the next 12 months. I know this is a big topic. I am keen to to see what you respond with.
Both questions are basically the same – how can I easily NET about 500k a year. Please send me the answer. Thanks!
There are a number of things you can do to generate leads. The effective things require either your time or your money. For example, I use radio and TV advertising to generate lots of “come list me” calls. It is very expensive. Last year I paid over 600k just for my media ads. You can start with less – when I started, the first year on radio I paid about 20k. The next year about 40k. Geographic farms are a common way to generate leads. Some agents buy them from companies. Working one’s sphere of influence is another common lead generation method – contacting a “known database”. One way or the other you will spend time, money or both to generate leads.
To go big one must do one of these two things: prospect effectively or market yourself effectively. Pick one.
Do I plan to ever attempt to put together some sort of package of “steps” – kind of a one-size-fits-all to provide to other agents? No. You can get one here if you are interested in such useless crap. Is there a way to become really successful in real estate with a small amount of effort? It can look that way sometimes but I don’t believe it ever actually happens.
The component parts of getting listings are:
1. Prospecting OR marketing (or both).
2. The listing presentation
3. Closing techniques
The most important one – by far – is # 2, the presentation. If you have a fantastic presentation you will always be quite willing to prospect and / or market yourself. Any serious unwillingness to prospect or market yourself stems directly from having a weak or non-existent listing presentation. Any agent who needs to rely on “closing techniques” to obtain listings also has a pretty weak presentation.
Is it going to take a long time to get a really good presentation put together? It will take at least 30 presentations just to get your “sea legs”. Agents who only list their friends, family and buyers who already trusted them do not know how to list They think they do and many of the ideas they have formed about “how it is done” will only work well if the seller happens to be a friend, family or a happy buyer. Now if you can generate enough repeat and referral business that you’re satisfied – you’ve got a great job; dealing only with people you like and (relatively) low expenses too. Refining and improving your listing presentation is something that should only stop when you stop. I am still fine tuning ours – and we went on over 1,100 face to face interviews last year (took 612 listings).
Do you need a listing presentation booklet that you leave with them? Yes. Do you need a pre-listing package that they receive prior to your arrival? Yes. Do you need to know multiple answers to every possible objection they might have to listing their property with you? Yes. Do you need to know how to establish the correct selling price of a home and be willing to not take the listing if the seller won’t list it at that price? Yes.
Are there four main and vital points in the paragraph above? Yes. Am I going to address each of those points now? No. But those things are what you need to become skilled at if you want to net a half million a year or more from listing. Life is improved on a gradient – usually a little better then a little better. You can make a wonderful income while you are learning. You can make a lot more once you’ve learned it. What anyone who wants to become a good lister would need to address first is their listing presentation. I believe it is foolish to waste much money on advertising for seller leads before one has learned what to say when the phone rings. If you would be taking that call on your cell phone while you are out showing properties then the calls stand an excellent chance of being butchered even if you knew what to say.
The place to start is to look over what would be your “Ideal Scene”. If you could make your business ANY way you wanted – really – what would it look like? Flesh that out. What would the individual stats be? Not just the gross income but how many closings would you have (your current average price sale), how many listings would it take to get that many closings? What would be your percentage of buyers? What percent would be listings sold? If this seems like too much “work” look over what reasons you have for NOT wanting to achieve it. Get rid of those.
If it seems like I’ve ignored the main questions – I really haven’t. I promise to take up the four main and vital points in our future video and audio that will all be available. But sitting behind any of that making a damn bit of difference would be your complete willingness to create a great listing presentation and to work out the specific details mentioned in the paragraph above.
Brian Brady says:
>Is there a way to become really successful in real estate with a small amount of effort?
It really is work. There is no “magic pill”
>and we went on over 1,100 face to face interviews last year (took 612 listings)
Rejection is a part of that ascension to success. In the case of an experienced and proven broker, 45% of the presentations end up with a “thanks for the info”
Excellent marketers work smarter Those “smarts’ don’t come without trials and errors, refinement of skills, copious analysis of activities, and dare I say, a commitment to the craft of salesmanship.
April 2, 2007 — 11:51 pm
Greg Swann says:
I came into the office tonight and Cathy was on the phone with a listing prospect. (Came in from a web form elicited from the custom sign and marketing effort for a listing she did several months ago.) She was asking questions and, as I listened, I thought, “Wow, those are really great questions.” She was working from Tami Spaulding’s Pre-Listing Questionnaire from last week’s StarPower event. But she went the questionnaire one better, asking questions that were not on the form — highly detailed, motivation-testing questions. She closed hard on price and on the risks, in this market, of pricing mistakes. Truly a masterful performance. In a year’s time, she’s going to be a champion lister, and I attribute it all to your good influence.
April 3, 2007 — 12:44 am
Russell Shaw says:
Your comments here are like music to me. And a classic example of why I am so high on Starpower. Cathy seeing Tammy (who is great agent and a really nice person) could identify with her. Both her materials and her.
Taking a pre-listing questionnaire (which every agent needs to use) and “owning it” and improving upon it is exactly the view of someone who is truly on the way up.
For me, it was a Re/Max agent out of St. Louis named Vince Siemer. He was 35 when I met him in Chicago at a Starpower event about 15 years ago. Vince did about 180 deals and then the following year bumped it up to 220 transactions. That seemed so sky-high to me at the time. He has been retired for the past 7 years, living in New Zealand. I don’t know that I took any of his “information” – but I sure did get a different viewpoint. I remember coming home bragging to Wendy about how I was in a bar with him and that he had laughed at my jokes. At first, it wasn’t clear to her what my point was. At the time, it wasn’t to me either. 🙂 But something was now “different”. I was going to do what Vince had done. I was going to take a LOT of listings too.
April 3, 2007 — 2:43 am
Christoph Schweiger says:
This post is exactly what every “newcomer” to our industry needs to read. Thanks a bunch for condensing a good recipe for success into a short and sweet paragraph.
April 3, 2007 — 7:42 am
Cari McGee says:
>If you have a fantastic presentation you will always be quite willing to prospect and / or market yourself. Any serious unwillingness to prospect or market yourself stems directly from having a weak or non-existent listing presentation.
Wow, thanks Russ. I always thought I had a great listing presentation, but you’re right. If I truly did have one, I wouldn’t be afraid to go out and get the business. This ties in perfectly with something you said on the podcast with Greg and Cathy…I control the hustle factor. I KNOW how to get the business, just go out and get it. Thanks, again.
April 3, 2007 — 9:40 am
Rob says:
“such useless crap.”
Its true!
April 3, 2007 — 9:47 am
Austin Realtor's Wife says:
Don’t you find that people get into Real Estate expecting to be paid for doing nothing more than play 40 hours of golf every week? It’s amazing the misconceptions people have about the industry- it is a very tedious (yet rewarding)job and, as Brian said, there is no “magic pill” for earnings despite what any spam email tells you! Agents that hold this belief are the ones that sit behind a desk and expect leads to generate themselves because they simply turned on their cell phones!
Russell, I love that you put actual numbers on your marketing and other efforts; sometimes people need a reality check (or inspiration as the case may be)! 🙂
April 3, 2007 — 1:15 pm
Chris says:
Wow more gold!
Here is a queston, I have never been on a listing presentation, I have not yet taken a listing, I’m a brand new agent. But I want to be an excellent lister, and I don’t care what amount of effort that takes.
Where is a good place to start with a listing presentation? I have Tom Hopkins book, but is their a good up to date one online somewhere? IE “this is an ideal listing presentation from start to finish, these are all the points you need to hit”. I think if I get the bones, I can probably expand on it, change it a bit for me and make it work.
The top agent in my city sold 150 houses last year. Figure an average house is $400k around here. She is the top dog, so thats who I am aiming for lol!
April 3, 2007 — 8:29 pm
Joshua Aasgaard says:
I worked for Vince Siemer as his Creative Promotions Director (I created all farm direct mail pieces, billboard, magazine and newspaper ads) when he took the business from 14-18 million, and he retired in my third year working for him. It was the most fun job I’ve ever had, though I’ve loved the businesses I’ve run since, and credit much of my success to him, at least my success-orienteed attitude.
My advice to anyone who is just starting out is to invest in the materials Howard Brinton seminars sells, but the marketing packet as well as listing presentation information. I know the marketing materials packet costs $250. It’s well worth the investment. Going to the seminar is worth it as well. But nothing matters, unless you take an implement what you learn.
I’m not an angent, because I don’t want to work that hard or make that much money. I’ve very happy to help other people become wealthy while I enjoy my middle-class life, where I work 8 months a year and take two months off to travel. Nonetheless, I highly encourage anyone who has a dream to make it big, to take the little steps every day (LIST, NEGOTIATE, SELL) for the next 12 years, and you too could retire very comfortably.
April 18, 2007 — 6:05 am