In our last post, we began talking about how to prepare for the next shift in real estate. In today’s post, we will cover the first 6 of the 12 tactics necessary to not only help you survive the shift, but also to thrive during it. These tactics are taken directly from Gary Keller’s book Shift: How Top Real Estate Agents Tackle Tough Times. Let’s jump right in:
Tactic 1: Get Real, Get Right, Mindset and Action
Zig Zigler said, “You need to do a check up from the neck up.” You don’t have a chance in hell to survive a shifting market if your mindset is not straight. Do not bury your head in the sand and pretend it’s not happening. Gary Keller says to survive a shift, you must decide to run towards what you want most, rather than run away from what you fear the most. We can’t control the market, but we can control how we respond to the market. One of the most piercing truths I read in this book is, “Not everyone will survive the shift, but some will, and anyone can.” Make the decision, right now, to not only survive a shifting market, but to see the opportunities and thrive during it. Your growth is going to come from taken the appropriate actions and doing what needs to be done. Do not get bogged down in negativity, just get to work and hustle.
Tactic 2: Re-margin Your Business- Expense Management
When the market is up, and the sales seem to never stop, we tend to lose track of our bottom line. Many business operators make the mistake of confusing cashflow for profit. As revenue increases, we tend to increase our spending. At this point, we don’t always look at the return each expense brings in. Some expenses that we take on have a negative return, and we either don’t notice it, or justify it. When the market shifts, we need to reduce expenses just as fast, if not faster, or we will lose our profit margins. Without profits, you can kiss your real estate business good-bye.
Tactic 3: Do More With Less- Leverage
According to Keller, when the market turns, it’s time to roll up your sleeves and work both smarter AND harder. Your organization must shift with the market, and a downturn is a great opportunity to revamp your business including both your systems and your people. Now is the time to evaluate both your talent and your systems, upgrade, and top grade both. The biggest takeaway in this chapter is this: “Up markets conceal, and down markets reveal. In order to be able to do more with less, you must be certain that the less can do more.”
Tactic 4: Find The Motivated- Lead Generation
Keller opens this chapter with “Fewer leads, fewer showings, and increased days on market, the minute these signs show up, you need to take notice.” This is typically the beginning stages of a shift, and supply is about to outpace demand in a big way. The leads will be fewer for everyone, which means you must focus on doing everything you can to generate more of them. A shift simply means the motivation of buyers and sellers has changed. This means fewer people who are ready, willing and able to move, and it means you need to up your efforts to seek out those that are still motivated. To have sales, you must have leads. . Take a look at your current lead generation methods and figure out what is working, and what isn’t, and then put a focused effort into the areas that are working.
Tactic 5: Get To The Table- Lead Conversion
Lead generation is just part of the equation. If you can’t convert the lead into an appointment, what is the point of generating the lead in the 1st place? Keller states: “Your success in a shifting market will hinge completely on your ability to convert motivated leads into appointments.” The process for lead conversion is simple- first you need to capture the lead; next you need to connect with the lead, by building rapport, either over the phone or in person; and finally, you need to convert the lead into an appointment. To set an appointment, you need to know what to say, and then what to do. By mastering your scripts and dialogues, as well as your objection handlers, you will know what to say. Then, it is just a matter of having the systems and checklists in place to know what to do.
Tactic 6: Catch People In Your Web- Internet Lead Conversion
Your website needs to be consistently earning you appointments with both buyers or sellers. If it isn’t, you need to make a change immediately. You must first create ad maintain a strong internet presence. You can start with just a template website at first, as this doesn’t have to be an expensive, custom site. It must have a clean, professional look, one in which the site does not look cluttered. Your site must have the ability to capture a potential lead’s information in a way that persuades a call to action, such as “your home value,” in other words, avoid real estate jargon and keep it simple. Having a compelling or memorable website domain name will help here as well. Most likely, you will have more than one site, including “yourname.com” as your personal branded site, but you will also want a site specifically for attracting buyers and sellers such as “BuyYourAreaHome.com or SellYourAreaHome.com. There is a lot of information that needs to be discussed on generating traffic to your site, and I will be writing a post specifically on this topic in the next few weeks. For now, make sure your site is clean and welcoming, and has a strong call to action.
Okay, we made it half way through the list of tactics to not only survive during a shift, but to thrive as well. I know it can feel a bit overwhelming. Remember this…if you take the approach that your business must always be ready to change and adapt, you will begin to get comfortable with the idea that change is not only good, it is profitable. As long as the basics are strong, every other element can adapt, and the adaptation begins with you.
Until next week…