by markjohnson | Nov 3, 2019 | Action, Appointment Setting, Growth, JPAR, Outcome Goals, Performance, Perseverance, Process Goals, Real Estate, Taking Action, Top Producer, Weekly Newsletter
These statistics will shock and surprise you. So, get ready. We recently did a blind study on incoming leads. 85% of the new leads received a follow-up, 15% got crickets.
So what is the psychology of the 15% of sales professionals that never follow up on a new lead? Even more shocking is we found that of the 85% that did make the initial follow up, only 25% made a second attempt! And of that 25%, only 12% made a third attempt. So what’s going on here?
It’s the voice inside your head. It’s a growth vs. fixed mindset.
- 2% of sales are made on the first contact
- 5% of sales are made on the third contact
- 10% of sales are made on the fourth contact
- 80% of sales are made on the fifth to twelfth contact
Persistence is the key to your success. In a study specifically related to real estate sales, sales professionals that made three attempts vs. those that made five or more attempts had more than a $100K difference in annual income.
Today we are bombarded with information. We are in information overwhelm. But that does not mean someone doesn’t want to buy, sell or invest. It might be, like me, right now, it isn’t a high priority.
Staying connected is the key. Using content from tools like Keeping Current Matters can help, yet so can a casual check-in call, text, or video chat. It’s you vs. your baby, and nothing is in your way except for your growth vs. fixed mindset.
by markjohnson | Oct 20, 2019 | JPAR, Newsletter, Perseverance, Process Goals, Real Estate, Results, Success, Sucess Goals, Tips, Weekly Newsletter, Work
Behind every success story is a back story. Perseverance.
Thomas Edison – his teachers, said he was “too stupid to learn anything.” He was fired from his first two jobs. He made 1,000 attempts before inventing the light bulb. When a reporter asked, “How did it feel to fail 1,000 times?” Edison replied, “I did not fail 1,000 times. The light bulb was invented with 1,000 steps!”
Henry Ford went broke five times before he succeeded.
Albert Einstein did not speak until he was 4, did not read until he was 7. One of his teachers said he was slow, unsociable, and adrift forever in foolish dreams.
Coaches Tom Landry, Chuck Noll, Bill Walsh, and Jimmy Johnson accounted for 11 of 19 Super Bowl victories from 1974 to 1993. They also share the worst record of first season coaches in NFL history. Their collective record as first-year coaches is one win and 45 losses.
Speaking of football – remember Vince Lombardi? An expert at the time said, “He possesses minimal knowledge and lacks motivation.” Lombardi would later write, “It’s not whether you get knocked down; it’s whether you get back up.”
Babe Ruth struck out 1,330 times, yet he made 714 home runs. He said, “every strike brings me closer to the next home run.”
Michael Jordan was “cut” from his high school basketball team.
Cyclist Lance Armstrong was cut from his high school football and swim teams. He turned to cycling and finished last in his first race as a professional.
Van Gogh – sold only one painting during his life to his sisters’ friend for $50.00.
Abraham Lincoln went to war as a Captain and returned as a Private. He failed at business. As a lawyer, he was too impractical and temperamental to be a success. In politics, he was defeated in running for congress, in his application to be commissioner of the general land office, for the senate on two occasions and, for the Vice Presidency. He wrote a letter to a friend, “I am now the most miserable man living. If what I feel were equally distributed to the whole human family, there would be not one cheerful face on earth.” Two years later, he was elected as President of the United States, where he successfully led the country through its greatest internal crisis, the American Civil War, preserving the Union, ending slavery, and rededicating the nation to nationalism, equal rights, liberty, and democracy.
by markjohnson | Sep 30, 2019 | Goal Setting, JPAR, Monday Blog, Process Goals, Real Estate
With 12 weeks remaining in 2019, the question I’m asking is, “are you getting the results you desire?” Whether that answer is yes, no, or maybe, today’s blog will help close the year strong.
If extraordinary results are a product of your actions, to sell more than I suggest ignoring your sales goals and trust the process. Say what!? Let me explain.
We all feel the pressure to generate results. What if the source of lost sales is focusing too much on the RESULT than the PROCESS? Doing more of the wrong things pushes you away from your goals. The finish line isn’t where the race begins.
Top performers prepare to win by becoming more process vs. result-driven.
When the movie Moneyball came out, it introduced how subtle changes to player lineups can dramatically impact how teams interact and perform. If you understand the data behind those nuances, you can improve your odds of success significantly. The same principle applies to real estate sales.
“Trust the process, you must.” – Yoda
The purpose of all your real estate marketing is to produce more appointments. Appointments are your moneyball. What processes do you have in place to create consistent quality appointments or referrals each week? Whatever marketing method you choose, consider this:
- Forty conversations lead to…
- Four appointments that lead to…
- One, two, and in some cases three signed contracts.
What you measure, you manage. Regardless of the stage you’re in your sales cycle, the best salespeople have a success formula they trust. That includes a formula around the right amount of tracked, quality activities. Simply put, are you measuring the number of conversations you have, that produce appointments?
Stop focusing on WHAT you do & start focusing on HOW you do it.
The most important metric to track in your marketing and sales effort is the number of discovery meetings or appointments you set. Your ability to set the appointment is critical to your success. Of course, what you do and say during those meetings has a tremendous impact on your sales efforts, and whether they are productive and effective. But the essential piece of the puzzle is just setting enough appointments in the first place.
A couple of tips to drive more appointments:
- Reach out during “off hours.”
- Use multiple media – I once made an important meeting via SnapChat
- Follow marketing’s lead – home value reports, market reports, and how to or community guides.”
- Leverage referrals
- Master the key questions
- Are you curious about the new value of your home?
- Have you had any thoughts of selling?
- At what price would you become a seller?
- Just curious, do you know anyone interested in selling or investing in Real Estate?
- Ask more often
Next steps? Align Your Actions and Behaviors:
- Know your daily number
- Roleplay/practice daily with a partner
- Daily prospecting for referrals and appointments
- Weekly Open Houses
- Geographic and Demographics Mailers and Events
- Track and report your numbers daily, weekly
- Change the process and behavior or change the goal?
Process-driven people are more consistent in their results. They are intentional about everything they do, and how they do it, rather than living in a constant state of reaction, pushing for the results.
by markjohnson | Jan 27, 2019 | Best Practice, outcome, Outcome Goals, Process Goals, Sucess Goals, To-do List
Outcomes matter.
The problem with the traditional to-do list is that it’s about tasks and not about outcomes.
An outcome could be something like: “increase revenue by 25%” or “build a relationship with specific people.”
There is no single task that will cause the outcome. There is arguably a set of tasks that could build up to it.
Concrete, measurable outcomes are better than vague ones, but some highly desirable outcomes can only be qualitatively stated (like relationships) and cannot be quantified (like the number of appointments).
So for myself, I am working to get better at linking my daily tasks to the outcome via process goals. More importantly, I am also trying to nail down this art of defining the process that leads to the desired outcome.
For you that might be 3 or more NEW appointments each week. So I’d rather see something like this:
Create 3 or more new appointments each week… then list the task, there process to support that outcome.
Creating 2 or more closings per month between now and the end of the year and then list the associated process that will lead to appointments that will lead to signed agreements.
Deepen my relationship with 4 people… then list people and the process that will achieve that outcome
Make sense?
What are your key outcomes and associated processes for this week?
PS: You might want to check out a recent blog on the difference between outcome goals, process goals and performance goals.
