Congratulations!  Your business is kicking butt and you are getting overwhelmed…this is a good problem to have!  So who should be your first hire as a real estate agent?  You should hire a buyer’s agent to run buyers around so you can focus more time on listings, right?

Right?

WRONG!

This is a classic mistake most agents make when they are ready to expand their business.  They realize that running around with buyers is taking up too much of their time, so logically they think they will replace this aspect of their business, and everything will start running smoothly again.  However, what is really slowing you down and costing you time (income producing time) is your administrative work.

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Do you want to be successful in real estate?  Whether it is sales, investing, or a combination, the fact is all you really need is one point of differentiation to give yourself an unfair advantage over your competition.

I began thinking about this concept thanks to a podcast I came across about wholesaling.  You may be thinking I meant a podcast on real estate wholesaling, however this was about wholesaling in the financial services industry.  Now, I am going to be completely honest here and tell you that the reason I stumbled upon this podcast was because I really did think it applied to wholesaling as a form of real estate investing!  Cindy and I have created a new investment company (more on that in future posts), and one of the facets will include wholesaling properties to investors.

As soon as the podcast started, I realized it was not about real estate wholesaling.  However, one of my mentors has always said that he spends a lot of time learning about other industries, and then thinks about how to utilize what he learned by applying it to real estate, so that is exactly what I did.

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Should I join a team, or be a solo agent?

I get asked this question several times a month from both newer agents, and agents who are a few months out from truly breaking through and becoming a rising star.  It’s a great question, and like most good questions, the answer is it depends.

In this post we will cover the pros and cons to both being an independent real estate agent, as well as being an agent on a team.

Independent/Solo Agent

First, let’s go through the PROS of being a solo or independent agent:

• You get to keep 100% of your commission (minus any office splits)
• You don’t have to answer to anyone
• You don’t have a minimum quota to hit
• You choose how to spend your time, whether it be prospecting, networking, etc.
• You have full control over how you set up your marketing
• You can create and manage your personal brand with more flexibility
• You can create your own systems and processes, tailored to your personality style
• Your schedule is based solely on your personal discretion

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Here we are, the 3rd and final post in this series on applying “The Art Of War” to your real estate business.  If you haven’t caught up on Part 1 you can do so here, and if you just need to read Part 2, you can do that here.

Let’s jump right in to the material.

Chapter 9: The Army On The March

“Do not move up-stream to meet the enemy.”

Your position is everything, especially when you are negotiating.  It doesn’t matter if you are on a listing appointment and you are negotiating the listing price, or the seller, is trying to get you to negotiate your commission to a lesser amount, do your best to maintain your position.  Once you give in, and cross the line into ‘non-profit” territory, you are fighting the enemy up-stream.  You are losing your position of strength, and most likely you will make concessions that will ultimately cost you and your client more money in the long run.  Keep this rule in mind when negotiating any aspect of real estate.

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In the last post, we began talking about applying The Art Of War to your real estate business.  This post will cover the next 5 chapters, following the same format as the prior post.  If you haven’t read the previous post, you may want to start there.

Here we go!

Chapter 4: Tactical Dispositions

“Security against defeat implies defensive tactics; Ability to defeat the enemy means taking the offensive.”

Security against defeat is needed in any battle.  However, here you are fighting not to lose.  When it comes to defeating the enemy, we are fighting to win.  Think about that for a moment and you will see there is a difference.  It seems subtle at first, however, the more you ponder it, you will see the difference is worlds apart.

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The Art Of War.  Some of us have heard of this legendary playbook on military strategy.  It is believed to have been written somewhere between the 4th and 5th Century, by a famous Chinese military strategist named Sun Tzu.  Contrary to popular belief, this is not a prove fact, as some believe there was no Sun Tzu, and it simply a collection of Chinese military theories.  It really doesn’t matter in our case, because all we want to do is apply the teachings in The Art Of War to your real estate business.

I know, I know.  You are probably saying to yourself: “Pete’s finally lost it.”

I mean, really, am I trying to equate selling houses to going to war?

Well, yes, and no.

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Why choose us?  This is the whole point of creating a kick ass pre-listing packet.  So you can prepare your clients to work with you BEFORE you actually go out to meet with them for the first time.  The goal of the pre-listing package is to answer as many questions for your clients, before you meet with them, so you don’t have to have a 2 hour listing presentation, doing your best dog and pony show as to why you are the #1 agent for the job.

When done correctly, it also arms your clients with powerful questions to ask any other agent (your competition) they may be interviewing as well.  The goal of this package is to better your odds of walking in that listing appointment and saying: “Other than price, is there anything else we need to discuss today, before we sign the paperwork?”…and getting them to say “No, we are ready to sign!”

You can shave anywhere from 1 to 1.5 hours off of each appointment this way.  If you are putting in the effort to prospect, using your scripts to the fullest, and closing for daily appointments, you may just save yourself between 5-10, or more hours a week!  Do the math and work out your individual earning per hour when you reduce that time down.  You are probably going to see you will be earning more than most other professionals per hour this way!

Do you know what the best part is?

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What are your limiting beliefs?

I know, I know, this post was supposed to be about having a kick-ass pre-listing package, as mentioned in last week’s post.  However, I was listening to a podcast on Bigger Pockets this week, and the guest, Natali Morris, was talking about limiting beliefs, and how to beat them.

As part of an upcoming course I am creating on being a Rock-Star real estate agent, I will be covering mindset.  You have heard me spout about the importance of mindset before, and limiting beliefs has a major impact on mindset.  Hearing Natali on that podcast really resonated with me and I began thinking about my own limiting beliefs, both past and present.  I also began thinking about those beliefs of my colleagues, partners, and agents around the office, whose conversations I hear from time to time.  We all have these beliefs.

So I will ask the question again, what are your limiting beliefs?

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Wouldn’t it be great to win the listing before you even give the presentation?

You’ve been there, right?  You walk into the home, and you say, “Mr. and Mrs. Seller, other than price, is there anything we need to go over before we sign the paperwork?”

Their response?  ” We are not ready to sign anything yet!”

Yikes.  Here comes an hour of doing your best dog and pony show, trying to convince the seller that they should list with you.

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What is your “Big Why?”

 

Do you have one?

 

Do your goals, both small and big, short-term and long-term, align with your Big Why?

 

As I sit here on the beautiful beach in Maui, at The Westin Resort and Spa, I am contemplating these questions more than ever. Specifically, I am re-evaluating whether my goals are in-line with why I am striving to hit those goals.

 

It started when I was young. Most kids love playing in the snow. They love getting days off of school because of the bad weather. Me? While I liked playing in the snow for a little while with my friends, I hated the cold. I hated the idea of losing a day of school, because I knew if we lost too many days, my summer vacation would be shortened.

 

I have never been a fan of the Winter.   So you may be saying to yourself, as an adult, why don’t I just move somewhere warm all year round?

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