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#2 – A Tale of Two Agents

ON A BEAUTIFUL SUMMER DAY… 3 years ago, two real estate agents began their careers. They were very much alike when they started out, these two people…

Both had big dreams for success. Both entered the business because they liked working with people and wanted a “profession,” not just a sales job. Both wanted more control of their lives, with no upside limits to their earnings potential.

And more than anything, both dreamed about building a lasting business and secure future… and the freedom to live life on their terms.

Today – 3 years later – things are quite different for these two agents…

The first agent is “doing just what he was taught.”

He lives off one-time transactions. He knocks on doors. He mass farms. He sits floor time. He runs ads. He interrupts strangers in elevators and grocery lines…

He’s spent a small fortune on advertising, seminars, celebrity coaches, canned web sites, FSBO services, pumpkin seeds, recipe cards, and other gimmicks to help build his business.

Still his production is like a roller coaster – one month high, the next crashing toward the ground. As soon as one deal is closed, he’s searching for the next… and the next… and the next…

Almost daily he experiences the agonizing grind of being just another ripple in a sea of agents… a “salesman,” rather than a trusted professional. Almost daily he faces rejection and abuse from disloyal prospects and clients who treat him like a low-priced commodity.

And almost daily he wonders where he’ll be in one year… two years… five years from now at this deplorable rate.

Worst of all, he’s in real estate “no man’s land,” making too much to quit and not enough to keep going. He’s frozen, bewildered… and adrift – and the dreams he once had are now a sobering memory.

The second agent started her real estate career at the very same time, but this agent did something different…

Rather than “playing the odds” and chasing a cold, brutal market, this agent discovered ONE small “strategic secret,” a simple, yet little-known marketing strategy that made all the difference…

As a result, she learned how to direct her energies like a laser beam onto the most profitable segment of real estate clients, and capture and close them at an astonishing rate.

So rather than working hard, she learned how to work smart.

Today her simple system provides her an average of 8 new, quality clients a month… more than 90 transactions every year – with No Prospecting… No Rollercoaster Commissions… No Rejection and No Frustration.

Her production is as predictable as the sun rising even in a tough market. Ninety six percent of her business calls her, and her “net” income (the money she takes home!) is in the top 2% of agents nationwide.

She has the cool confidence unseen in most agents… the kind of self-assurance that can quiet a room when she walks in.

She’s respected by her clients and envied by her peers. She’s not concerned with competition, market changes or future recessions.

She has carved out her own Personal Market Share – a source of clients and income she can rely on… in good and bad markets… for as long as she practices real estate.

But she has more…

She owns a real, lasting business, not a “sales practice.” Her business has allowed her to buy a gorgeous home, drive any car she wants, fund a secure retirement, and to live life on terms she sets for herself.

And she has more free time than ever. Time for herself… precious time with family and friends… time to enjoy the richness of life. She has control.

One single marketing secret based on one proven reality. That’s all it took to put the sparkle in her eye.

That’s what gives her the calm assurance of knowing she’s taken care of business… fulfilled her dreams… and earned the right to be called “rich.”

Step back for one moment and ask yourself…

Which of These Two Scenarios
Sounds More Like Your Life?

If you’re like 96% of agents, it’s likely your answer will be closer to the first scenario.

That’s the bad news.

The good news is you can easily join the elite 4% of all agents simply by understanding and applying three revelations about your marketing… revelations you’re going to learn right here.

Real estate is primarily a relationship business. It’s not a technology business. Not a cold-call numbers game. Not an “image” business.

The single greatest reason why anyone will do business with you is because they either know you personally, know of you from a referral, or learn about you from a credible source. That’s because…

People Buy From People They Know, Know About,
Respect, Trust, and Like on a Personal Level…

Remember, according to the National Association of REALTORS® “Profile of Buyers and Sellers,” approximately 74% of all agent business comes this way.

So how can this apply to your business?

We can “reduce” this entire strategy into three important “Profit-Multiplying Revelations”… revelations that can quickly multiply your production… cut your stress and strain by a huge amount… and practically force your production to grow year-after-year…

Profit-Multiplying Revelation #1:
STOP cold prospecting and mass-marketing… and START focusing your time, energy and money (like a laser beam) on the creation and/or selection of a SMALL, HIGHLY-MOTIVATED MARKET OF PEOPLE MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND TO YOUR CONTACT AND PRE-DISPOSED TO DO BUSINESS WITH YOU.

Stop playing the single-transaction, rabbit-chasing game most agents play. Stop subjecting yourself to humiliation, rejection and embarrassment created by cold, manual prospecting and “low results” marketing.

The single greatest asset in your real estate practice is also the one most overlooked.

I see agents spending tens-of-thousands-of-dollars on “low-potential” advertising and promotions to the cold market… when the secret to a lasting, ever-growing income is sitting in their client files, address books, community groups, compatible service professionals, and in their own minds.

Am I saying you should abandon your homes ads, target farming, “just listeds”, “just solds,” and other promotions?

Absolutely not. There are proven elements to make these kinds of promotions generate enormous leads and clients for you. But 96% of agents have no clue about them, so their marketing hemorrhages cash with no results.

What I am saying is that you need to prioritize your prospecting and marketing expenditures (time, energy and money) in the most productive way possible.

Your marketing promotions will have the greatest results when targeted to people who either know you or know of you in a positive light. And the one market with the greatest potential of all is the one YOU create.

Yes, it’s a list of PEOPLE WHO KNOW YOU ALREADY: your past clients, your friends, family, neighbors, members of your PTA you work with, community boards you serve on, your church or synagogue, and those who would KNOW YOUR NAME if mentioned to them. You want to …

PRIORTIZE Your Marketing Efforts According to
The “QUALITY” of the Prospect to Respond
and Do Business With YOU

Think about how you make purchase decisions in your own life…

People… first and foremost… always rely on a person or product in which they have an existing relationship – whether it’s your dentist, your florist, or the toothpaste you buy.

Why do we do this?

Because we’re all creatures of habit… because we don’t like to make mistakes in life. We like predictability. We like to know we’re making good decisions.

Which is why we primarily want to deal with someone or something we already know and can trust.

Does this make sense?

Success in marketing starts with your mindset. Every person you know… either personally or professionally… has the direct or indirect ability to send you an on-going flow of clients.

That’s why you need to develop a mindset that’s constantly open to accumulating and cultivating people into your “House List” and progressively improving upon the relationship.

How to do this?

It’s easy. It doesn’t take long to put into action. And it is absolutely fail-proof when you apply it.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

I don’t want to overwhelm you with too many ideas at one time. I want to give them to you at a rate where you can think about them and absorb them deeply into your mind.

In my next article I’m going to share with you Profit-Multiplying Revelation #2, then # 3. These are probably the 3 most important distinctions you’ll ever learn for growing your business and improving your lifestyle.

REMEMBER… my goal of the first part of my articles (Part I) is to open your awareness to these marketing ideas and concepts – to build your “marketing aptitude.”

In Part II I’m going to show you, step-by-step, the fastest and most effective way to build your “house list” and cultivate it for non-stop, ever-growing business.

And as you grow your list, your production continues to grow automatically – like a snowball rolling downhill: as it gets bigger, it rolls faster… and as it rolls faster, it keeps getting bigger and bigger.

Sooner than you think, your practice hits a point I coined called, “Critical Mass™” where your client-flow and production become consistent as spring-flowers bloom year-after-year.

I’ll talk more about Critical Mass™ in an upcoming article. But for now I want you to understand the astounding power of this simple revelation.

Today’s Action Plan:
Take a look at all the things you do to generate clients in your business. List them out.

They could be: advertising, cold prospecting, farming, sign riders, info tubes, floor time, just listed/just solds, referral promotions, bus benches, etc.

Now, take that list, and prioritize it according to which method produces the best results for you. If you don’t track where your clients are coming from, you need to start – this is the first step in maximizing your marketing dollars (and profits).

So if you haven’t tracked your results, for now just give an estimate and list them out – from most effective to least effective.

Next, look at how much money (or time – which is money!) you spent on each of those items.

Finally, take the amount of money (or time) you spent on those items, and divide it by the number of transactions each one produced – and you’ll have a “basic” idea of the efficiency of your marketing.

Here’s a prediction: if you do this exercise correctly, you’re going to find that the promotions that produced the very best, most efficient “results” for you (the most clients for the least effort and money) were those to people who either knew you personally, knew of you, or were referred to you.

Sure, you may get clients from your home ads, your web site, farming or other means, but the most efficient will always come from your “house list.”

How efficient? The Direct Marketing Association research says that marketing to your “house list” is at least 16 TIMES more efficient and profitable than marketing to the “cold” market.

So start thinking of all the people who could go into your “house list”… all the people who would know your name if mentioned to them. Start accumulating these folks either on 3 x 5 cards or a database.

Soon I’m going to show you exactly how to create your database, and build your house list in record time – then I’ll show you how to quickly harvest explosive and lasting business from these folks.

It will astound you.