Understanding How .250 Hitter Out Earns .325 Hitter

by Jeff Brown

Real Estate Investments Broker

Author website

I’ll begin by encouraging brokers & agents to read and continue to follow Sean Purcell’s Super Team series. In my opinion it should prove prophetic and timeless. Why? ‘Cuz it’s about bank, and how to add 0’s and commas, the only thing that matters when the score is posted. The rest is like a bunch of artists arguing over being true to their spirit. 🙂

Alrighty then, how is it that there are players who strike out a lot, get 125 hits, and play just OK defense, yet make so much more than those rarely striking out, gettin’ close to 200 hits, and playin’ much better defense? The answer is simple, and it applies big time to real estate agents.

The answer can be found in the answer to another baseball question.

What team wins any baseball game?

A. The team with the most hits.
B. The team making the most spectacular defensive plays.
C. The team with the most runs.
D. The team with the most at bats during the game.

Yeah, we all know the answer. Then why do so many not understand how some .250 hitters could buy and sell .300+ hitters before breakfast is over? Stick with me here, ‘cuz this is hugely important when applied to those working in commission real estate.

Adam Dunn plays for the Reds and makes a staggering $13 Million a year. Incredibly, the guy could figure a way to strike out in a brothel. The season’s barely 2/3 over and he’s already K’d 110 times! That means when the season’s over he’ll have walked back to the dugout in shame over 150 times. $13 Million a year. By the way, since 2004 Mr. Dunn has averaged over 100 runs batted in, yearly. Apparently in baseball runs = bank. Go figure.

He hits .240 — your Aunt Fannie could strike him out on any given day — his defense is, uh, well at least he wears a glove. Yet he makes $13 Million a year. He gets over 500 ‘at bats’ each season. Sometimes over 550.

Let’s look at this through a real estate agent’s eyes. Uh oh. Little guy on shoulder beggin’ me to stop now.

So many agents get all tingly inside when they talk about all the leads their ‘system’ generates. Leads are good, let me be clear about that. In baseball parlance, leads are at bats. Big frickin’ deal. It simply means, as in Dunn’s case, his manager penciled him into the lineup most days, and he gets to bat 500+ times. Almost all players who are every day players get at least 500 at bats, some over 600.

It’s about as meaningless a stat as there is in both baseball and real estate. And no, I don’t wanna hear from all the agents about how their system does this or that. Most of us would have to move up two rungs on the ‘I care’ ladder to be apathetic about how good you are at generating at bats, uh, I mean leads. There are Von’s employees who last year in the real estate business generated 50 times more leads than agents currently bankin’ six figures by June. Where did all those leads get them?

The team with the most runs at the end of the game wins every time — no exceptions. The agent sportin’ the bank account with the most digits before slammin’ into that pesky decimal point wins every time — no exceptions.

Dunn puts runs on the scoreboard. Ya know what singles hitters are? They’re the guys who set appointments. They don’t put deals in escrow. Dunn does. Now, how much you gonna pay guys who’re really, really good at setting appointments for ya? How much are ya gonna pay the Reds’ manager for penciling Dunn into the lineup every day?

Right, usually not $13 Million a year. The name of the game in baseball is win. The way ya win is score more runs than the other guy. Follow the runs and you’ll find the money.

The name of the game in real estate is closed escrows. The way ya get more closed escrows is converting more leads than the other guy. Folks care more about what’s on the next episode of the Andy Griffith Show than how many leads you’re not converting. Ever get paid for a lead you didn’t convert? (And no, you can’t count leads you gave away. If you got paid, somebody converted them, right? Right.)

I’ll now ask a variation of a question I asked at Unchained.

If spectacular Susie generates 5,000 leads a year and makes $250,000 — And pathetic Paul generates only 90 leads a year and makes $350,000 — who wins?

Here’s where my buddy Sean Purcell comes in. If you’ve been readin’ his Super Team series here, (He just published entry 3.1 today.) you know he’s serious about this stuff. What he’s doing is creating a team much akin to baseball’s All-Stars.

Imagine you have the best appointment settin’ crazies in the business, and that whatever your doing to generate leads is more than adequate. We’ll call the appointment guys ‘table setters’. These table setters get buyers in, list properties, handle marketing, etc. In baseball they’re known as singles hitters. Punch and Judy hitters. It’s not meant pejoratively. Tony Gwynn was a singles hitter who hit a whopping 135 homers in 20 years. Yet he’s now a Hall of Famer ‘cuz he set the table better than most, hiiting .338 for those 20 years. Yet in his three highest paid years combined, he barely made what A-Rod makes in one year.

The guys on the team who actually put properties in escrow that close? We call those guys home run hitters — RBI guys — Money players. They produce what matters — runs that count on the scoreboard. Agents who actually generate closed escrows are called Producers. Those who keep score in real estate brokerage do so at the, uh, bank.

Wanna know why Ichiro gets 200 hits almost every year, is an All-Star every year, and makes $11 Million a year, uh, less than A-Rod? Simple: A-Rod knocks in 3-4 runs for every run Ichiro does.

It’s all about run production in baseball, and it’s all about bank in real estate.

Put together a Super Team, or even your own program that takes into account that at bats (leads) and guys on base (singles hitters/appointments) are what RBI guys (producers) use to knock in runs (paid commissions).

But until the RBI/Homer guy (Producer) actually does his thing? Your team is still gettin’ shutout, or in real estate lingo, you just went Oh-for-another-month.

When Greg talks about listing homes to sell quickly, he’s showin’ agents how to knock in runs. When Sean talks about Super Teams, he’s showin’ you how to slaughter the competition 10-2 month in and month out.

The moral of the story is simple as anything you’ve ever done.

Leads don’t mean #@!* if they’re not converted into closed escrows. Don’t believe me? Take a look at the San Diego Padres run production, then quickly glance at the NL West standings.

I rest my case.