30th of June 2010

As if you needed reminding, it's Financial New Years Eve, the numbers are in and the books are closed for another year.

If you've had a good year, congratulations!

If it hasn't been up to par however, looking at that last P&L can be a tense and anxious time.

When you look at your bottom line for 09/10, ask yourself this - is there anything there that couldn't be solved if you GML?

GML is the catchcry I use whenever a problem crops up in any of the real estate practices I work with. There are very few problems that can't be sorted if you GML. It'll put a smile on your face and a spring in your step, guaranteed.

What is GML? Get More Listings. That simple. Need higher visibility in your area, more money, more profit, more anything? GML.

I know a few people who have a had a great year because I worked with them on The Biggest Lister. The team from Coronis Realty, particularly Sean Carter and Adam Empringham, Eddie Ly from Pestana, Emily Heffernan from Modus Realty and many more have all done great numbers in The Biggest Lister, getting high 30's and into the 40's per quarter. That's double digit listings per month, again and again.

As we speak Mark Vinogradov from Shire Castle Hill is sitting on 16 for June with a few presentations left to do today. 20 isn't out of the question!

If those sorts of numbers wouldn't help your bottom line, I don't know what would.

The next round of The Biggest Lister kicks off tomorrow, and you can put your hand up by clicking here. Everyone who registers will get one-on-one advice with the single aim of double-digit listings every month. It might take a month or two to get you there, but there's no reason why you can't join the ranks of Sales Trainer Elite.

If you're worried about your numbers being published and that they might be a bit embarrassing, firstly we'll help you build your confidence along with your numbers.  But beyond that, only the top listers will be shown on the site.  Only you and I will know where you stand, but it's my aim to have you on the leaderboard.

Speaking of which, we're also going to launch the Sales Trainer Accreditation System in July. There'll be three levels, Sales Trainer Producer, Sales Trainer Professional and Sales Trainer Elite. This won't be just bragging rights, this is something you can add to your resume and to your presentations to establish yourself as one of the best in your field.

If you're looking at your bottom line with dread or simply want to do better in '10/'11, start by clicking here. GML makes so many problems disappear.

27th of May 2010

We've just added one of the most requested resources to Sales Trainer Aids, a clever little tool that assists in building your recommendation portfolio.

Members can now log onto to Sales Trainer Active and access an ever-expanding list of recommendation templates, already cutsomised with your name or company details ready to copy and paste.

Of course, templates alone won't do it for you - there is a complete explanation and methodology for collection, attribution and use. 

Everything you need to build a killer recommendation portfolio!

Just log into Sales Trainer Active and have a look in the Library under Aids. 

 PS: And Property Marketer subsribers can look forward to an enhanced version with more templates and a ready to print portfolio tailored to your prospect which will be available next week.

3rd of May 2010

Sean Carter began his real estate career just 2 years ago. Prior to this he was working as a teacher, a job that he was dedicated to, although he says it limited his earning capacity. Frustrated by the lack of advancement opportunity in teaching he decided a real estate sales career might be worth a go.

As luck would have it Sean chose the right company to approach as a new starter. This gave him an advantage on the road to success in his new career since they provided extraordinary support for new hopefuls via Sales Trainer.

Sean asked questions, studied technique and dialogue and used all the tools and equipment made available to him through Sales Trainer Active including later taking the opportunity to throw his hat into the ring with The Biggest Lister competition.

The Result?

In quarter one's competition he took off well in the first month with immediate DOUBLE FIGURES of eleven listings for July '09, then fell off the pace with eight in August and then finally just shy of double figures in September with nine giving him a quarters' total of Twenty Eight Listings.

Quarter two was a struggle (as it is when you seek to break mental barriers) even though he started out with eleven for a second time in the month of October. In November, Sean grinding his way on a daily basis, got home with eight listings and then in December disaster struck - he fell into the Christmas holiday trap posting a lousy three listings for the month (Adam Empringham posted 8 that month to win the second competition). And so Sean posted Twenty Two Listings for the March quarter.

At this stage it would have been easy to just simply give up. After all, an average of 25 listings for the quarter is not all that bad huh? It is not 'king of the hill' or 'cock of the walk' material but hey you can make a good living with that sort of productivity.

But Sean didn't want to be seen as second best - no sir! He stayed the course knowing he had it in him to win and that should he stay focussed, determined and dogmatic in his belief that he would succeed. This was the year that he had themed 'Time to Kick Arse!'

This was to be Sean's moment, time to make the leap to greatness. Sean jumped into January with sheer enthusiasm resulting in nine listings. In February there are twenty eight days and 'kicking butt' would see him list a property every two days at fourteen for that month. And with momentum comes the windfall. Once he hit his stride there was, and still is, no stopping him. In March Sean went up there with the elite - 18 individual listings for the month! Need we say more?

Sean Carter, The Biggest Lister with Forty One Listings! Congratulations!

When trying to break the sound barrier, after the loss of many aircraft and pilots lives, success eventually came down to Chuck Yeager dropping maximum throttle when on the cusp of the sonic boom and he said, 'All we had to do was poke through for the smoothest ride ever. All along we thought the barrier was in the skies when really it was in our minds...'

It is no coincidence that Sean said a similar thing when I spoke to him this morning, 'I knew 11 was easy I just had to break 12. Once I did it got even easier to get to 14 and then my confidence was such that before you knew it I was doing 18.'

'I eventually got to the point where I was saying why wouldn't you list with me rather than why they should'

And sales? Well he only did 19 for the quarter with twelve in a single month. What a nice problem to have - huh?

So what can we learn from this? That you can overcome the mental barrier and it starts with simply making the commitment.

Email in your total listings numbers for last quarter month by month. Include your total for the month of April. Your results will only be published if they are fantastic.

And what do you win? Aside from the earnings derived from DOUBLE FIGURES you will also receive a testimonial pack and entry into Sales Trainer Elite.

C'mon get involved and win prosperity - permanently!

23rd of April 2010

ANZAC DAY 2010

They went with songs to the battle, they were young.
Straight of limb, true of eyes, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them...

16th of March 2010

One of the first pieces of dialogue we put on Sales Trainer Active was a quick snippet designed to instruct your front-of-house staff on the proper method of collecting data from callers as well as what data to collect.

Every month it's one of the most accessed pieces on the site and it's no wonder; this can capture huge amounts of data without really trying, but it has to be executed correctly otherwise you'll miss leads, potential listings and have holes that will render what you do get, useless.

The dialogue has now been expanded to include the rationale behind it, written dialogue examples and a sample for that you should use to collect the data.  The form format is particularly important.  It provides a structure that ensures nothing is forgotten.

To enable our communication system supplying the Market RoundUp, letters, offers, SMS sales in real time to our Origin Clients (known as past or established), Gestation Sellers, Active Clients and Listed Clients we need two essential pieces of data.

These are of course the…

MOBILE TELEPHONE NUMBER 
+ 
EMAIL ADDRESS 

Simply relying on these to be secured by the sales staff and receptionists is not enough.

It is necessary to Train, Test, Trial and Monitor the reception to have these two pieces of data as their goal.

Having achieved this any other data secured is a bonus but the mobile and email is the primary goal.

Train + Test

Have a look at the download or listen to the dialogue and you'll see (and be able to demonstrate to your front office staff) how to secure the data by expecting it. There are no ‘may I have?’ or ‘can I have’ rather simple commands followed by a courteous thank you as the data is surrendered.

You’ll notice we suggest in the absence of a salesperson, that the reception provides general information on property listings to the enquiry.

Provided we have secured the essential data this presents no threat to the business.

Trial + Monitor

We then need to count the data entry as to those we secure and those we don’t with an aim of 100% success. The communication benefits are immeasurable in cost, speed and their effect on productivity.

You can have a listen to the dialogue here, and download the accompanying manual with the sample collection form here.