Are you a ‘don’t have time to plan’ broker? Having been a manager and regional manager for two decades (yes, I really am getting that old….), I know how difficult it is to sit down and slog through writing a business plan. So, I’ve been working hard for you to make it fast easy—but accurate as a blueprint for 2011.

The ‘Spring Ahead’ Approach to Get it Done

For my business planning webinar for NAR’s Learning Library (you can look at it at the Library, where it will be archived), I created four steps to think through a business plan. What’s great about analyzing with these four steps is that you are making immediate decisions for your action plan for 2010. So, as you draw conclusions from your analysis, use a template to get those action plan ideas in place. You’re virtually done, then, with your plan.

Four Steps: Two Down, Two to Go

You “got cracking” on those first two steps to business planning that I gave you in my earlier blog. Now, let’s tackle the last two steps. Admittedly, you won’t have an in-depth plan with these steps, but, you will have thought through the most important aspects for you to get ready to tackle.

Step three: Evaluating YOU. Rate yourself in the various management areas: recruiting, selection, coaching, training, retention, staff management, etc.

What have you mastered? What do you want to improve? This becomes your personal/professional training/coaching program for next year.

Step Four: What if: Complete this sentence: ”If I did these three things next year, I would increase my productivity and profitability”:

Now, you have your ‘big rocks’ for your business plan for next year done.

Business plans: Active and Breathing, or Stuck on a Shelf?

You’re not making a business plan as a financial plan to get money from a bank. You’re not creating this wonderful, mushy visionary plan. You’re thinking about your specific situation, and then creating an action plan. You will actually put these actions into your monthly and weekly schedule, and act on them! This is the plan you will revisit at least monthly, to measure your actions and results against what you planned.

Make it an action plan and you will get into action.

P. S. Use this same approach with your agents. Provide them a format and template to analyze their last year’s business. That gives them the answers to the next year’s action plan (that spring ahead approach I mentioned).

If we’re doing our best to serve our clients, we may think all agents do as well. Not…

The recent survey by the California Association of Realtors shows some stunning and alarming trends about customer service expectations and delivery. In 2005, Internet consumers rated their overall satisfaction with their agent at almost 90%, while traditional buyers rated their overall satisfaction at 37%. However, in the ensuing years, the ratings have plummeted. In 2009, both Internet and traditional buyers only rated their overall satisfaction with their agent at 4%!  (The ratings of Internet and traditional buyers now are equal). In other words, consumer expectations of what an agent will do for them are just not being met. In fact, value received for what the consumer paid the real estate agent was at only 4% for all buyers.

Trends Collide: Consumer Expectations Rise While Agents’ Abilities to Meet Those Expectations Shrink

While consumer satisfaction levels are going down, the number of ‘dual career agents’ (I call them part-timers) continues up. What’s the result? Low customer satisfaction! I know. You’re going to tell me that you met a part-timer once that did a great job. Of course. But, as you and I know, that’s the exception, not the rule. And, let’s not think ‘inside-out’. The consumer’s satisfaction here is the only one that counts. They pay our commissions. And, commission rates are falling because they don’t feel they’re receiving value from what they are paying.

Time for our Leadership to Set some Standards

What’s your standard for work completed by agents in your office? Are you okay with “just turn in a couple of sales this year”? Or, are you concerned with the consumer experience? If we don’t start thinking about that, we will be replaced by something consumers can count on—those darned computers! (I hope not!). However, if the consumer is paying us, we must decide what he is paying us for (and it isn’t because we use technology……).

Here’s my list of valued services. What’s yours?

• Dedicated service throughout the transaction
• Prioritized knowledge not available just on the Internet
• Immediate communication and continued first-level service
• Exceptional negotiating skills
• Loyalty, putting the customer first, rather than another job first

The Internet and Agent Knowledge: Almost Neck in Neck on Consumers’ Minds

By the way, in the CAR survey, 54% of the consumers surveyed thought the information they got on the Internet was less useful than what they got from their agent. Does that sound good to you? To me, it sounds very bad. Almost half of the consumers think the Internet is just as good as your live agent! So, let’s get to cracking and get our agents performing past the standards we set. Why? Because the consumers have already set the standards—and they’re higher than what we’re allowing. Let’s put the industry back on track toward pride in excellent service. Let’s knock the consumer’s socks off with prioritized knowledge, attention to the transaction, and exceptional service. We can do it, and brokers must lead. Now.

Are your students nodding off as the day goes on?  Do you frantically wonder how to keep their attention all day?  The answer is not what you think it is.  Last week, I taught my Instructor Development course to real estate professionals and affiliates.  I’ve taught this course for about 15 years.  Here’s the biggest misconception students come in with:

If I just learn how to be a more captivating speaker, I can keep the students’ attention for hours on end.

NOT!  In today’s frantic world, the person in front of everyone cannot hope to hold students’ attention for more than 10 minutes at a time!  If you think I’m wrong, just count the number of commercials in a TV break.  These commercials are down to about 15 seconds a piece.  The images go by so fast you can scarcely count them.  In fact, we’ve become a society of easily distracted, multi-tasking, not very focused beings (watch pedestrians or drivers in action with a cell phone).

All the Focus Doesn’t Have to Be On You

So, what are you going to do to hold students’ attention?  You are going to implement some teaching methods called alternative delivery methods.

Alternative delivery methods include all methods used to teach that are NOT lecture-based. Examples include: town hall, task force, case study, role play, and action plan.

Give your Students some Credit

People who lecture their way through a day (or days!) either:

1)    Just don’t have any repertoire of alternative teaching methods,

Or,

2)    Just don’t think the students can be involved with theirs and others’ learning.

How to Teach through Student Involvement

Instead of talking through each point you have on your PowerPoint slide or on your outline (boy, is that riveting!), use town hall, task force, case study, and role play methods to teach the lesson.  In order to use these methods, you may need to take an Instructor Development course, which will each various instruction methods — then practice using them in class.  You’ll find your students know much more than you think they do about what you’re teaching.  You’ll be able to clarify points of concern, use the talents in your class, and actually provide a stimulating, active learning environment.  The result, your students will be energized all day.

Resources: Knock Their Socks Off: Tips to Make your Presentation the Best Ever and The Ultimate Real Estate Trainer (visit: http://carla-cross.com/)

Do you know the best motivators for YOU?  Even though the market has improved in many areas, real estate professionals are still very challenged in getting their businesses back on track.  Or, if you’re new to the business, you’re probably experiencing some negative vibes from many of the seasoned agents in your office.  How are you going to motivate yourself to get into the swing of the market, and to meet your goals?

We’re Not Motivated by What We Think We Were

In his new book, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, Daniel Pink lays out a persuasive case, backed by extensive scientific studies about why the traditional “carrot and stick” motivational methods just don’t work for us today.  This is especially true with real estate professionals.  Why?  Because, we work for ourselves.  We have to be self-starters, initiators, and tenacious in our pursuit of our goals.  That means that in order to be successful we have to be motivated something other than promises of material things.

Why Money Doesn’t Work as a Motivator

First, as Pink points out in his book, money and/or material things are good short-term motivators.  (Read Herzberg’s studies on short and long-term motivation.)  In fact, just take a look at the number of real estate agents who are motivated to visit an open house when there’s food!  But, as Herzberg and others have pointed out, money is a lousy long-term motivator.  You may be aware of this if you’ve ever tried motivating your kids with money — or other treats (the carrot and stick).

I know, you’re thinking, “If I just had more money, I would be fine.”  So, let me ask you, what are you willing to do to get that money?  Generate leads more regularly?  Make more sales calls?  We all know that lead generating is the answer to that money problem.  Yet, the vast majority of agents avoid lead generating as if it gave us some chronic disease!  So, money is just not an effective long-term motivator.

The Best, Deepest, Strongest Motivators We Can Use to Motivate Ourselves

Pink shows, via extensive studies, that there are three driving motivators that we should put to work today to fire ourselves up, keep those fires lit, and achieve what we want to achieve. They are:

• Autonomy
• Mastery
• Purpose

Questions to Ask Yourself to Fire Yourself Up

About Your Autonomy

Are you in charge of your own business, or are you waiting for someone else to tell you what to do?

Do you expect your manager to make you go to work, or are you self-directed and self-starting?

Are you disciplined in your business, so you can enjoy that autonomy?

Seth Godin, author of Tribes, says about autonomy: “The art of the art {of autonomy} is picking your limits.  That’s the autonomy I must cherish.  The freedom to pick my boundaries.”

About Your Mastery

Are you working just to get by, or are you consistently working to get better?  What do you want to excel at?  How does that translate into your business?

About Your Purpose

What excites you so much that you can’t sleep at night?

Is there a way to translate that to your real estate business?

“The desire to do something because you find it deeply satisfying and personally challenging inspires the highest levels of creativity, whether it’s in the arts, the sciences, or in business,” says Teresa Amabile, Professor at Harvard University.

What motivates you?  Do you know?  How do you know?  What if you’re motivating yourself in the wrong way?  (Many managers unknowingly de-motivate with their strategies!)

Do you feel like you’re suffering from “communicationitis” (which is caused when you get 467 too-many emails, 97 extraneous pieces of mail, and 47 solicitation calls – from charities, of course)?

You’re not the only one. Consumers are feeling really, really over-communicated with. Have you noticed that those emails and cards that you’ve been sending seem not to be opened or read? Maybe it’s because we all have been communicating the same old messages, in the same old way (just listed and just sold cards, anyone?)

It’s Time to Put on Some New Shoes

In his terrific book, A Whole New Mind, Daniel Pink builds a strong case for why right-brainers will rule the future. He says, that technology is easily copied, and I agree. But, creativity is not, because it uses a human brain – just one human brain at a time. In fact, as the old song says, “There will never be another you.”

Pink notes that technology jobs have moved overseas. But, those jobs where creativity counts big are the “next big thing” for Americans. It makes sense, then, that we must develop our  “right brains” to communicate more effectively – and create better value for our clients (how would you like to see your commission rates go up for a change?).

Creativity and the Real Estate Professional

In his book, Pink gives an example of a card he received welcoming the new buyers into the area. But, the agents didn’t include the selling price. They didn’t brag about themselves. They didn’t say they were “number one in service”. Instead, they told the story about how they had helped an elderly seller get her home ready to be sold. They told how much the new buyers treasured the history of the home. It was creative; it was personal; it was relational.

Building the Relationship with Creativity

Technology doesn’t build relationships, you do. In my new presentation, YOU–the Brand, I help real estate professionals see how to go from “cold communication” (Internet inquiries and emails) to warm relationships. We explore how to take your natural talents and skills and turn them creatively into real estate success. Until we can create high trust, we can’t form a relationship. The relationship blossoms into long-term business, referrals, and a solid career.

Suggestions: Read Pink’s book, study creativity, try new ways to communicate (compose new messages and explore different goals), and recognize that keyboards don’t form relationships, people do.

What Tickling the Ivories has Taught Me About Creativity

If you’ve heard me speak, you know I make many references to music – and even tickle the ivories, many times with someone from the audience. As a pianist since age four, I recognize the power of music, coupled with the performer’s creativity, to “speak” to audiences, to touch their hearts. Our jobs, as real estate professionals, is to crash through the barriers of the hardware and software, to reach past the barriers of cold communication, and have the goal of creating a long-term, trusting business relationship.

Here’s to your creativity explorations!

My best,

Carla Cross

Do you lead meetings? Do you want to do buyer or seller seminars? Do you present to two or two hundred? Managers, trainers, and even agents sometimes have to present in front of three, to hundreds, of people. Unfortunately, many who have to get in front of others lack training and dread the thought of it! It doesn’t have to be frightening, though. Take a look at the three ‘pro’ speaker tips below to make your next time in front of a few, or many, enjoyable, memorable, and equally enjoyable for your audience.

Grasping Skills Makes us Competent—and Confident

The very best part about performance is that anyone can get better at anything through learning skills and practicing them. I learned that as a pianist/flutist, and I’ve seen it over and over again, no matter what adults think! (I taught adults piano lessons, so I know all the barriers that get in our way!) Just keep in mind the quote I read from the great UCLA basketball coach, John Wooden:

It’s what we learn after we know it all that counts.

Three Powerful Speaker’s Tips

1. Vary your delivery. Don’t lecture for more than 10 minutes. Adults just don’t have that long an attention span (too much on our minds!). Change it up. Use various “alternative delivery methods”–methods to teach rather than lecture. In my Instructor Development course, I help students learn these teaching methods by modeling them so they can observe me teaching. Then, we de-brief on what we did. Finally, each student teaches a short module using creative methods, and the rest of the students provide feedback. (We really only learn when we do something.) Doing greatly increases confidence–and competence.
2. Anticipate adults’ fear barriers to change. When you want to change adults’ perceptions, beliefs, or knowledge, don’t just start talking to them. You may just cause them to shrink more into their beliefs, and to defend it (have you observed students who live to argue with the instructor?)

How to tackle the ‘old belief’ challenge:

Prepare students to learn something new. For example: Use a ‘true-false’ or ‘multiple choice’ to start the presentation, or to check learning. I do this in my IDW course in the middle, and ask students how they would have answered at the beginning of the course–and then contrast that with their new perceptions and learning. It creates lots of ‘ah as’ with them, and further cements their learning experience.

3. YOU are the medium, not the visuals. Don’t just read from the PowerPoint on the screen (and, just as onerous, provide the student with the PowerPoint as the “outline”.) If an instructor does that, I feel I want to just take that outline and leave. I can read, thank you! Too many real estate instructors rely on PowerPoint to do the teaching.

Your Right Brain Can Save the Day

Effective teaching is much more than just talking. It should be creative. Use all the “attention strategies” at your disposal (that means to get them into your repertoire).

Suggestions:

Use props, stories, various audio-visual aids, handouts to control the audience “contour”. I learned this as a musician playing for dancing. You direct how you want the audience to dance, and you ‘contour’ the whole experience (slower to faster, then back to slow). As a great instructor/ facilitator, you can direct your audience in an awesome learning experience. It just depends on the skills you bring to the table.

Check Out These Resources To Help You Gain Skill and Confidence

Very few people seem to be born with innate talent for getting front of people. However, for most of us, it’s a matter of gaining and practicing the necessary skills. Here are some methods to get skilled, and raise your confidence level dramatically:

Join Toastmasters. It’s inexpensive, and will provide you skills and practice.

If you get serious about speaking, look into joining your local chapter and national organization for speaking professionals, National Speakers’ Association. As a long-time member of both my chapter and the national organization, I highly recommend it for both skill and marketing development.

It’s Worth the Effort

Most presenters/trainers aren’t in it for the big bucks (where are those big bucks, again?). They’re in it to assist others. Gaining and practicing presentation skills helps us give back better. The bonus: deep appreciation from our audience. We’ve even been known to change lives for the better! No amount of money can provide that sense of accomplishment.

Are ‘dual career’ agents hurting you and your business? In Stefan Swanepoel’s publication, Trends Report 2010, he calls the real estate licensee with another job the ‘dual career’ agent. That’s what we used to call the ‘part-timer’. Although ‘dual career’ sounds much more important than ‘part-time’, the result is the same:

Less time to devote to the consumer. The conflict that an agent feels when he has another job is causing the consumer to rate our service lower than ever before.

Dual Careerists Are a Growing Trend

More and more real estate agents are getting second jobs to make ends meet. In fact, the 2009 National Association of REALTORS® Member Profile says that 26% of REALTORS® stated that real estate was not their only occupation. (I’m sure that many more licensees that aren’t REALTORS® have other major sources of income). In addition, less than half of all REALTORS® surveyed reported that real estate was their primary source of household income.

Is the Dual Careerist Doing the Industry More Harm than Good?

Having been an agent, manager, and owner a long time, I know how difficult it is at times for an agent to ‘hang in there,’ put their heads down, and keep working through tough times. It’s a great temptation, and a relief for many to take that other job just to ‘tide them over.’ From the broker’s perspective, too, keeping the agent at least licensed with the brokerage to get that one transaction seems to be better than losing that one transaction. Several problems accrue, when the agent gets another job:

• The agent’s mind, energy, and dollars drift away from the needs of the consumer because the agent must focus on another job
• The agent can’t keep up on the technical, legal, and business developments
• The consumer demands just can’t be met when the agent is unavailable for large blocks of time
• The broker must carry a much bigger responsibility for the agent’s transactions

What We Need to Do About This Trend?

Managers: Set standards so you are living out that vision you took all that time to write in that business planning course! Do you have agents with you who are not dedicated? Do you have agents who don’t practice in the way your company wants? If so, you are ‘shattering your image’ and greatly hurting your chances to recruit. Fix it while you can.

Agents: Go to your manager and ask why the ‘dead wood’ (a horrible term, but, the consumers have told us to get rid of them, and we’re not listening.) is still there. What benefit do they provide you? What benefit do they provide the company?

Short-Sided: It May Destroy

Our Industry Unfortunately, our industry has spent too much time on the immediate, and not enough time on the long-term. One of the easiest ways to see this is to look at the low producers and part-timers we’ve kept as licensees. Why? Because we think they may sell a home or two before they get discouraged.

There is Leadership Showing the Way

There is a growing trend to upgrade the industry. Take a look at what industry leaders are doing right now. They are putting standards in place, training and coaching to get people to their standards, and are counseling out those who just aren’t meant—or committed—to a career in real estate.

Support on Putting Standards in Place

For the last year, I’ve done lots of work in helping companies put standards in place. Although it’s challenging, it’s absolutely critical if we are to protect our business models as we like them!

Note: See Four Steps to a Stunning Standards-Based Organization, a webinar I did for the National Association of REALTORS® Learning Library.

What Do You Think? Do you believe managers should keep anyone who wants to be kept? Let me hear your opinion–and, if you have a solution, let’s share it with our industry!