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3. Marketing Yourself Over the Holidays

1. Why Listing Agents Make the Big Bucks

In almost every single territory throughout America it's the agents who consistently obtain the highest number of listings in the area who usually end- up making the most amount of money. There are people who can make a great living focusing on working with buyers and lessees but, generally speaking, the people who are successful at obtaining a high number of listings are normally the ones who make the big bucks.

Why is this so? Why is it that great listing agents are normally the ones who are the top earners in the territory? One of the biggest reasons for this is the sheer nature of how our business works and the fact that agents who choose to become excellent at listing properties are focused on doing the activities that are virtually guaranteed to make them more money than any other agents in the territory.

Once an agent obtains an exclusive listing on a property he or she is almost guaranteed a commission if the property is priced right to sell or lease within the listing period. Now here's where it gets interesting...listing agents have at their command an entire workforce of agents in the territory assisting them in making money on their listings. These are the agents who are running with buyers and lessees to try and find the right property for them. And typically in a normal transaction an agent other than the listing agent will be the one representing the ultimate buyer or lessee. I'm guessing that this happens 75-90% of the time depending on the listing agent and the company that he or she works for. So what listing agents are doing then is focusing on enrolling property owners in listing their properties with them so that all the other agents in the territory can then do the work and find the people who will actually buy and lease these properties. All in all if you're a listing agent it's a pretty good system!

So what we see then is that listing agents' time is very well spent. By focusing on listing properties they minimize the amount of time that they actually waste. They usually know within a matter of days after making a listing presentation whether they will be the agent exclusively marketing the property for the owners... or not. Their success becomes both a numbers game of working on a system that leads them to making more and more listing presentations combined with a devotion to honing their craft of continually improving their listing presentations along the way. When they combine making more listing presentations with increasing their percentage of successful listings obtained along the way they really have attained something quite special.

Now contrast all of this with how agents who work with buyers and lessees often end- up spending their time. These agents will typically run on a non-exclusive basis with prospects who are looking at properties with other agents also. In these situations agents can spend weeks or even months of their time showing properties to these prospects and in the end have nothing to show for it if the prospect ends- up successfully finding a property through a different agent. And when this happens it can really, really hurt, too. You've lost your time, you have no money to show for it, and you can feel like you've just gone a couple of rounds with Mike Tyson.

With listing agents their activities are structured so that they know in a very short period of time whether or not they will have the listing on a property and therefore have a great opportunity to make money. But the agents who represent buyers and lessees can go for weeks and months spending their time hoping to make money and in the end make nothing. This is why listing agents are normally the most successful agents in the territory. So much more of their time is focused on developing exclusive relationships that are almost guaranteed to make them money. It is rare indeed to find buyer and lessee agents who only work with their clients when a signed exclusive agreement is in place. But those agents who only work with their clients under this kind of arrangement, similar to the listing agents, can find themselves making a great deal of money year after year also.

As an agent one of your goals must be to maximize the productive use of your time. When you're working with people on a non-exclusive basis you're guaranteed to be throwing a great amount of your productive time completely out the window. Property owners recognize that exclusive listings are the norm on their side of the transaction but buyers and lessees don't necessarily see it this way on their side. That's why listing agents, by focusing on obtaining the exclusive representation that property owners are accustomed to giving, continually lead their territories in the amount of money they make each and every year.

2. Master Getting Your Clients to Take Action

When I was new in the business back in the early 1980s the manager of the company I was working for decided to pair me up with an agent who had 40 years of experience in the business. His name was Dave Smith and I must say that in working along with Dave I received an education on how to become successful in real estate sales that was unlike any other education I had ever received.

In my early years in the business I was very focused on having market knowledge. I figured that if I really knew what properties were on the market and what their fair market value was that this would be the key ingredient to my becoming hugely-successful in our industry. But what I learned through working with Dave proved that I was definitely not on the right track...

In talking with Dave around the office I could tell that he didn't have as much current market knowledge as I had about what properties were currently available what the prices were for the properties that had recently sold. And yet I would consistently observe Dave close one deal after another in a seemingly effortless manner. But I couldn't quite understand how the heck he was doing it!

It wasn't until years later that I fully recognized Dave's special talent. Dave was a master at getting his clients to take action. He was amazing at getting people excited about real estate opportunities and this excitement led to his clients buying, selling, and leasing many, many properties through him.

I will never forget the day when he and I were canvassing together knocking on the doors of many different warehousing and manufacturing companies. Dave always took great pride in fine-tuning his rapport skills with new prospects and in a matter of about 45 minutes we had accumulated free makeup for his wife from a cosmetic manufacturer, free oriental noodles from an Asian food manufacturer, free bananas from a produce company, and a free trophy from a trophy manufacturing company, too. Dave was truly a master at quickly endearing himself to his clients and prospects and he told me that day with a smile on his face that I should "never walk away empty handed" when canvassing. He truly loved meeting people face-to-face and building great business relationships with them.

One time there were three beautiful brand new buildings that were about to be built in our territory and they were being marketed directly through the developer himself. Dave had already pre-sold one of the buildings and another agent in the territory had pre-sold another one. Now there was just one building remaining...

Dave recognized that the one remaining building was going to be absolutely perfect for one of his clients. He drove the client to the site where the new building would be built and the client definitely liked the location. However, t he client was having great difficulty visualizing what the building would look like and whether or not it would be effectively designed for his business. So Dave got the client back in his car and drove him straight over to the developer's office.

When they arrived at the office Ramon, the developer, was booked solid with appointments for the next several hours. But Dave was also aware that Ramon was very close to making a deal to sell the one remaining building to another buyer. So Dave insisted that his client wait with him in Ramon's reception area until Ramon could find the time to meet with them.

One hour went by. Two hours went by. And at sometime between two and three hours of waiting Dave's client insisted that Dave take him back to his office. But Dave, keeping his eyes focused on the ball and trusting his intuition, would not oblige his client's request. So it was after four hours of waiting that Dave and his client were finally able to meet with Ramon. 

Ramon showed them the plans for the building and discussed all the wonderful customized features that he could provide specifically for the man's business. And at the end of the presentation Ramon told both of them that the property would be sold to the first person who gave him a non-refundable $50,000.00 check, and that he was expecting a check in this amount to be delivered to him from another buyer in just a few hours. Dave's client swallowed hard, thought for a few moments, recognized how long he had  been looking for the right building to expand his business into, and then pulled-out his checkbook and immediately wrote Ramon a non-refundable check for $50,000.00.

Now while Dave's bold and gutsy action in this story may or may not be exactly how you would have responded in this same situation my point in telling this story to you is this:

Having great knowledge of the market in your territory is something I highly recommend for you. But having great market knowledge is not nearly as important as having the sales skills and intuitive know-how to constantly get your clients to take action NOW.

Knowledge is great, but it's getting your people to take ACTION that's going to make you the money.

3. Marketing Yourself Over the Holidays

Yes it's true that the holidays are almost here and I want to mention just a few words about sending-out holiday cards to your clients and prospects. Everything you say and do makes a statement about who you are as an agent to your clients and prospects. And the truth is that most people wait until the last minute to mail out their holiday cards to their prospects, clients, and friends each and every year.

So if you want to make a great impression on your clients and prospects mail-out your holiday cards early. If you mail your cards several weeks before Christmas this can definitely create a very positive impression of you. I know that I'm always impressed whenever I receive my first business holiday card from another company. This usually happens sometime between December 1st and December 10th. I'm guessing that your clients and prospects will be impressed with you if you do the same also.

So mail early and enjoy the benefits of creating the impression that you are a real estate agent who plans in advance and gets the job done early!

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