Manager Corner: Race for the Finish

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Fourth-quarter lead-generation activities ensure referrals in the new year.

By John Voket

During a time of year when many real estate professionals suffer from a seasonal condition known as "the phone isn't ringing-itis," smart agents seize the opportunity to maximize the fourth quarter. Instead of coasting through the December holidays, savvy brokers motivate their agents to tap into the spirit of the season and generate leads that will pay off in the form of closed business come the New Year.

But that doesn't mean there's anything wrong with making every holiday season a special one for your family and loved ones, emphasizes Buffini & Company trainer and former broker, Rick DeLuca.

"Everyone needs to be respectful of family holidays, but it's important to make sure year-end holidays don't cause us to unplug for the entire month of December," DeLuca warns. "If you don't keep the momentum going, you will feel the heat in January."

Planning to Succeed

As a broker, DeLuca's office held a business-planning meeting in the fourth quarter for not only agents and support staff, but secretaries, couriers and spouses as well.
"I think the best way to emphasize the significance of having an individual business plan is to discuss the company's overall plan for 2007," he explains. "It's important for everyone to understand and be on board about what you expect in the New Year."

DeLuca suggests that every agent begin drafting a business plan for the coming year in the fourth quarter. In this plan, agents should project not only the annual income they're aiming for, but also the daily, weekly and monthly activities they'll need to focus on to deliver their goals.

"Agents should do some small group planning, reconvene as a full group to look over those results, and then create a final personal business plan draft for the year," DeLuca advises. Lastly, agents should work closely with their managers to refine it and build accountability.

DeLuca also recommends an exercise that encourages agents to write down each transaction they completed the previous December (including the name of the buyer, seller and location), and where each lead came from (i.e., open house, past client, fellow church-goer, advertisement, etc.).

"At the end of the meeting, take all of these forms and the following week, give each agent a pie chart to show where his or her business came from. What jumped off the page at my company was that more than 65 percent of each person's sales came from their referrals, their direct sphere of influence," DeLuca explains.

Don't ‘Play Office'

Fighting the urge to coast through year's end is clearly an uphill battle.

"You have a generational issue where people think they need to work, even come into the office, but then take off mentally-I call it just ‘playing office,'" says DeLuca. "But if you take time off, take time off. Stay out of the office, because you won't fully be able to enjoy recharging if you still come in."

At year's end, DeLuca's managers enhanced office morale and helped reinforce good lead-generation activities by holding friendly contests where agents didn't need to compete with each other to win. These contests were based on activities, so anyone who completed a minimum amount of calls, personal notes, or database additions, received a gift bag or gift certificate.

"It's critical for managers to help their teams focus on activities, not results," DeLuca explains. "Usually we find that results exceed expectations when the activities are followed loyally and enthusiastically. In my experience, when I focused on these activities with my agents, I couldn't help but be affected personally as well; I think it's that way for most brokers."

Direct Your Energy, Envision Success

DeLuca believes the most difficult aspect of maintaining a successful referral-based business is expending your energy on the 50 to 100 most influential people in your database, and keeping your energy there.

"People tend to want to spend energy, and a substantial amount of time, on new people. But those 100 A+ people each know 100 to 250 people," he says. "In my early days of using the referral system, I envisioned myself standing on a ladder looking at a line of my favorite 100 people, and behind each one of them was another 250; each time I was able to reach one of those 250, it generated 250 more leads. That is truly the way this system works."

Serious About Growth

An interview with Joe Newby, founder and president, Home 2 Home Real Estate Service, Meridian, Idaho

By John Voket

Though you haven't always been in real estate, you have lots of experience in lead generation from your prior career, correct?

Yes. When I started selling, I was the sales manager for a moving and storage business. I was also working part-time as an agent. Six years ago, I met Brian and joined Coaching on day one. Within about four years, I was making more working part-time as an agent than I was at my full-time job. I became a full-time broker two years ago.

What do you tell your agents about the right way and the wrong way to generate leads?

I don't believe in open houses-the most important thing is writing notes and making friends. Pop-Bys are great, too. We had one agent who worked a long day delivering 100 Pop-By holiday gifts last Christmas. This produced a tremendously successful early spring for that agent, because she had planted the seeds a few months earlier. For our new agents, who are always struggling a bit more financially, I host an event every 90 days that they can bring all their clients to. We're just getting ready now (at press time) to have a huge family Halloween Party. When the agents see the benefit of how these events work for me as a broker, they usually decide to do it themselves. They draw their clients to our company by doing a Pop-By and inviting them to one of the parties, and then follow-up with written reminders and thank you notes if the client comes.

How else do you generate leads?

We also host tours for out-of-state visitors that we have identified as potential clients for specific planned communities, since they are relocating for employment by one of our regional companies. Many of these clients rent before they buy, so it helps us turn the renter into a buyer. Having that existing relationship compounds the return.

How has the 100 Days to Greatness® program helped your company grow?

I heard about 100 Days at a Turning Point retreat. (Up to that point, I had been using Brian's tapes as our company training program with my original five or six agents.) After just a year of utilizing 100 Days for both recruiting and training, I was working with 25 agents, and 100 Days had become a requirement for employment. We've more than doubled our agent roster in the year since. (Newby had 60 agents at press time.) We're projecting $30 million in sales by year's end.

How do you network to find new agent prospects and how do you keep agents motivated?

I go out to schools and talk about this training program that has helped us attract top candidates for our agent force. I normally meet three to four perspective agent candidates a month in a 10- to 15-minute visit to a regional real estate training school.
We just had a mini-event in our office in which we focused on Brian's Win the Day concept. I see it as a way of keeping our agents from spending energy worrying about unnecessary things. This frees them up to do what they have to do-generate leads.

Discussion Forum

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NEED AGENTS / & REFERRALS	13	JohnMcArdle
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