Tag Archives: ‘Maya Saric’

Curing Mondayitis: The first steps to becoming a Sales Star in real estate!

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This is it, the last straw; it is the season for change. Your current career is not challenging you, nor motivating you. And someone hit you on the head for saying this but you are sick of getting paid to kill a 9 to 5 Every. Single. Day. Of. Every. Single. Week

So your morning routine probably starts off with something like this: “*Disgruntled moan* Another boring day at work!” When Friday comes you sing along to that terrible “Friday song” by that terrible teen. Come Sunday anxiety rises and your body feels a little heavier.  So why are you still there? Well because it’s normal to go: “Don’t we all hate Mondays? Aren’t we all bored endlessly by work?” You just don’t have a choice, right?

…Not right. You do have a choice. A choice to (finally) step out, turn things around, revolutionise your world.

We know you have seen them, pulling up in a fast car, professional and sleekly dressed, closely shaved (for the men) or for the ladies, wearing those pair of heels you have had on lay buy all year? These People-that-radiate-confidence walk out holding their “For Sale” sign, and you think “They are working on a Saturday….what torture!”

But do they look like they’re being tortured? They’re smiling, beaming with confidence, shoulders back and heads held high. They don’t look like underpaid, grumpy employees forced to work – no, they’re victorious and loving it. They love what they do because they know they are first-rate.

Ok…fine, not all real estate agents look like this, but those that do are “THE STARS”. Franchises are fighting over them, people are buying from them, and YOU wish to be them. But the fact is that these stars are only 10% of the population. That’s right, only 10% who started a career in real estate actually have the ability to sell!

They are rare individuals in the commercial world, and they are cannot settle within a boring job where they are not exploiting their full abilities. Does this sound like you?

We know it is not easy, sales in real estate can be hard and risky; with a high failure rate in recruitment it can be a bit disheartening. On the other hand it can be one of the most rewarding and well-paid jobs you will ever have…if you get it Right.

So what if we told you if you could be within the 10% of people in the population who CAN in fact sell, in real estate terms, “a Star”, and you might not even know it yet!

Why waste you’re time wishing and wondering what if? When you could be among the few out there who do it RIGHT.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to pursue a career in real estate but you are unsure because you don’t have the experience or it’s so different to your current field that you think no one will take you seriously?

We can help you!

Before committing to a career in Real Estate let us answer these questions for you, before you waste a single day job hunting or working in the wrong job!

  1. Can I sell (even if I never have)? How can I know this NOW, both for my own confidence and for the confidence of the employer?
  2. What specific training do I need to really get my career going?
  3. Which office is the best for me to start my sales training and invest my career in?

So you’re thinking you want in?

Now there is a way of clearly knowing your sales ability and fit for Real Estate selling (or alternative products) before you even walk into the offices of a Real Estate agency for an interview or waste thousands of your own dollars getting your Certificate of Registration and basic sales training.

We have an independent, industry accepted, standard test for Sales IQ that you can take to ensure that you are suitable to take this journey. This assessment is called the Sales Inventory Profile, or SIP.

Many real estate businesses across Australia are using SIP to hire new agents.

Take control of your career and plan your own sales training program.

What you get when you complete a SIP

  • The Comprehensive Report is a 14 page document that will clearly answer that first question “could I become a Real Estate agent?” You can show this report to prospective employers in place of a Résumé (CV) or include the SIP Certificate of Sales Potential with your résumé or CV.
  • We have also given you the first of a five-part training program called “Emotions in Selling” to help you begin your sales training.
  • We will also provide you with a guide on how to assess which agency you want to work for and how to present yourself to the Principal to ensure that you get the job.

To find out if you can be a star in Real Estate start the assessment now!

Go to www.salesinventoryprofile.com

Scroll to the bottom right hand side of the home page and click inside the 3rd grey box.

Press the blue ‘Start Now’ button and you will go to a registration page.

Once you have started the questions it is best to do them all at once, the average time to finish is 30 minutes but some folk do take longer. You can stop, log out and come back anytime if you need to from the top of our home page by entering the username and password you choose for yourself when you completed the registration page.

Only when you finish all the questions will be transferred to complete the payment and then you will need to log-in again on your home page to:

  1. See your report and download as many copies as you need at any time in the future
  2. Use your login to apply for jobs that require a SIP
  3. Below the report on your SIP log-in screen will be a link to the first Emotions in Selling education module
  4. You will receive your ‘How To Get Started In A Career In Real Estate Guide’ in a separate email from us. When the Guide is updated you will automatically receive the latest versions for free.

What is the real upper limit for personal income in Real Estate?

Many recruitment adverts for real estate agents say things like ‘uncap your income’ or ‘unleash your income’ or ‘rocket boost your income’. But is that really feasible?

Actually yes. There are plenty of real estate agents in suburbs across every city and the smallest country towns whose personal income is $500,000 or more per annum before tax. That is possible for the truly well suited and you will know from your SIP score if you are in this group.

That is the top 10% of all the people who ever started in real estate that are that well suited and after 5 or more years in practice they are earning that level of income. There is a further 10% of all starters who may take longer to reach their potential and will then be earning around $300,000 per annum, also a very good income compared to a doctor or a lawyer who also invested 5 years in learning their profession.

But if you are in the other 80%, give yourself a break. There are plenty of other great products to sell where the sales capable range is much broader and you can still earn $100,000 plus in the same time period. Join a different industry, with a product that is better suited to you and be much happier.

Check out some jobs from our Jobs section and press the APPLY NOW Button to start your assessment. I truly hope you find this journey of taking control of your career as exhilarating as we do!

All the best for your Success.

Maya Saric, Sales Psychologist | Connect with me on Facebook    

More info about SIP here

Check out our Sales Jobs listings for your next big opportunity

A Brief Guide to Starting a New Residential Real Estate Agent

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Ensuring the new recruit realises all their inherent capacity without getting demoralised or exhausted before they reach their full potential.

By Maya Saric

Managing Director Corporate Coach Australia P/L  | 0407 005 290

Introduction

The purpose of this document is to outline a specific model for how to help and organise a new person entering the world of real estate listing so they can learn the process and make a respectable income towards the end of their first year. The process outlined here may take more than a year considering the nature of the market, their energy and the assistance that an experienced agent is able to give them.

If you have used SIP to recruit your new sales person then they should have the energy and style to succeed; the remaining variable is the quality of the training they receive in their first year.

The method we are proposing here is only one of a number of methods to induct new staff into a residential listing role. However we believe this method has the highest likelihood of success.

Defining a separate territory for the cadet

Define a set of streets that will become the new cadet’s territory and which will be prospected exclusively by the new agent. They will be provided with all office generated leads in this territory within three months of starting and the defined territory will remain the agent’s indefinitely.

Effective territory definitions are very important to creating harmony in a sales office and allow for easier lead dispute resolution. It is best to define your entire geographic area into individual territories of equal worth before hiring additional staff. We suggest defining the worth of each territory by the number of and sale price of the total transactions in the previous year.

If your business has a large enough reach then set each territory at a maximum of 2000 doors. The objective is to have territories that can generate adequate personal income while being small enough for the cadet to engage each household personally every quarter. A territory that is bigger than 2,000 doors – especially in the first 12 months – is not a good idea as it will dilute the agent’s effectiveness and or the territory’s viability.

List street names on a sheet/spreadsheet or copy a map and highlight the boundaries. Be as clear and as specific as possible.

Partnership with an Experienced Agent

The trainee agent needs to be partnered for a planned 12 months minimum with an experienced busy agent who is either the Principal or an experienced agent who is good at listing, but may not be actively prospecting.

Why partner the cadet with the principal?

Principals will have the greatest interest in the development of this person. As principals want this person to succeed as quickly as possible so they will spend the time helping them analyse each situation they have just participated in and plan new activities for the cadet that re-enforce learning. The Principal is also the most willing to have them fly free at the end when they show an interest and the ability to work as an independent agent.

Are they a cadet or a PA?

Having the cadet work as a simple helper or admin support person to the experienced agent will not provide enough exposure to the sales process to allow for effective learning to become a listing agent.

If you have hired an effective listing agent, (i.e. SIP hunter style,) but do not allow them to get stuck into learning the components of their ultimate role quickly they will lose their energy and may leave your business before exhibiting their real capacity. Also people with stronger hunter profiles are not inherently well suited to being in an administrative role and will make mistakes and underperform, further disillusioning themselves and you. You have hired them to become a listing agent and they need to be in that processes as fully and quickly as possible within the effective control of an experienced agent.

When to use an independent coach?

Many principals do not have a strong background as listing agents having come into their owning businesses from property management or commercial real estate. If they were once a listing agent and are now just too busy with the daily running of a large office to go back into a proactive sales role. In this case I recommend you use an external coach so that the cadet has someone to turn to on a daily basis in the first few months.

When to use an experienced agent who is not the principal?

An experienced agent who is not doing enough prospecting is often motivated enough to have a trainee partnered with them, someone who can set up appraisals for them. While they will need to share their commissions with the cadet (see section below) the extra appraisals will still make this attractive.

But this has the drawback of having poor habits rub off on the trainee. It is for this reason that this option is suggested last, if a selling principal or independent sales coach is not available.

The other problem is that an experienced agent may not be interested in the trainee’s long term development, only wanting them to prospect, for more appraisals and thus listings. To overcome this you may hire the new person with the intention of them being a long term partner agent with a cadet style phase so there is no loss to the experienced agent when this person has become effective. The issue then is forming effective long term partnerships.

Finally a busy experienced agent does need a real PA. However putting the cadet in that role will fail to give the experienced agent adequate support and will in turn demoralise the cadet because hunter style cadets are not well suited to administrative work.

How long does this partnership last?

The partnership stands for a minimum of 12 months or until it has listed AND sold a minimum of 10 properties or a minimum of 12 months. This will then have given the new agent two advantages:

  1. The cadet will gain enough experience with variations of appraisals, listing meetings and buyer negotiations to be able to deal alone with the majority of complications that they will face in the market.
  2. Ten examples of their selling capacity to validate their ability to potential vendors in the future (i.e. their name on ten boards and old marketing material samples). This can be critical for them in responding to vendors who want “the local real estate stars to sell their property, not some unknown rookie”. This success with 10 properties in their own territory removes the ‘rookie’ tag!

We don’t suggest a maximum duration. It is acceptable for this partnership to last longer if the two individuals so choose with a title change from cadet program to partner selling, to give the cadet a sense of progression.

First two listings: Who will do each part?

Open for Inspections: Together, i.e. cadet with experienced agent.

First buyer phone follow up after open homes: Cadet only as they are already experienced on the phone. (Ideally within the same day of the open and to a script agreed with the experienced agent).

Private inspections (especially return viewings): Together.

Negotiate close with serious buyer: Experienced agent with cadet listening if possible.

Prospecting

It is very important that you get staff into the habit of doing two hours of prospecting every day from the beginning. There is nothing more important to learn or habit to develop. If staff do not establish this habit early in their career with you it will be near impossible to achieve later.

The first two weeks

The focus of the cadet’s work from the first day is learning how to prospect. Ensure you have a few tested sample scripts, a database and even a professional coach ready for the first week the cadet starts with you.

Go through the sample scripts with the cadet and provide examples of wording in your own style to get them going. Be sure to explain that he or she needs to evolve their own style and to use the sample scripts and your style as starting points.

The first three months

The most important mission in establishing an effective listing agent is to teach them to prospect and develop good work habits for a career in selling.

When to prospect and how much?

Ideally 2 hours on the phone and 2 hours on the road each day.

One of these sessions should be in the morning the other in the afternoon/early evening for summer time, with the review meeting with you and other administrative tasks in between. Be careful not to give the cadet too many administrative tasks to hide inside of.

Letter box drops do not count within this prospecting time so should be done before or after working hours. Doing your own letterbox dropping is a great way to get to know your suburb and see relevant changes but it is not effective for the generation of MA’s which is the priority in the first stage.

Mix up the routine each day of which activity is performed at which time to help the cadet identify a pattern which suits them and gives the best results in their target market. If you are phoning mobile phone numbers, within reason it may not matter what time of the day it is, but you will find better days and times of the day for catching vendors at home for door knocking depending on the demographics and size of your suburb.

How to teach prospecting?

All forms of prospecting feel weird to anyone who has never used them before. Acknowledge this with the cadet in the first week and assure them that with a few weeks practice they will settle into a comfortable groove with one or more of the recommended methods. Within six weeks they will think it’s easy and boring. The boring element remains forever.

Start the cadet off with a few types of prospecting methods only until they develop their own style and you see their strengths. They will have no strengths when they are first starting so they will need to use the same system for six weeks before deciding it doesn’t suit them. The only real definition of which style suits them is the one that gives them the three MA’s or more per week in the least amount of time.

Three prospecting methods

Cold Calling using a public database of property in this territory. Develop a script with them.

Door Knock inside their own territory (See survey style prospecting system from SIP as an example method).

Previous Buyers in this territory or from agents no longer in the business (if no conflict exists with another agent). That is, old open for inspection sheets. How old? The return (chances of locating a listing) on people who were looking in the last six months is more likely (i.e. they haven’t bought and thus sold yet) but any age is possible and it’s a good excuse to establish contact.

How long to stay in prospecting only mode?

The first two weeks are basic training. Then we recommend a minimum of ten weeks or longer if they are not consistently achieving 3 MA’s per week.

We call this 12 week period the “prospect” only stage and it has a different recommended remuneration plan.

Targets

Activity: 50 contact calls (Phone- cold, cold MA’s, old buyers or door knocking) per day.

It is better to state this as a daily target rather than 250 per week. A weekly target looks daunting to some and gives others a sense of their being ‘plenty’ of time

Outcome: Three Marketing Appraisals booked (i.e. time and day agreed with the vendor) per week.

Manage activity Reward outcomes

Set clear KPI’s for activity (see suggestions above) that is realistic for the first few months and reward for over achievement of these. Setting the performance bar low and having over achievement rewards creates a baseline or floor level of activity that is sustainable indefinitely while stating your expectations that you are planning on them to be doing more than this.

Manage their activity on a daily basis starting with a 20 minute formal in person review of their work. After a few weeks you may drop this to a formal sit down review twice a week plus daily ‘quick catch-ups’ ideally in the middle of the day which can be by phone or in person.

What time of day to conduct reviews

We recommend middle of the day, preferably before lunch and definitely before 1 pm. This is for both the formal 20 minute sit together session as well as the two to three minute quick chat. This has several positive effects:

  • There is less dread to starting the day if yesterday went badly
  • If the morning is going badly you may be able offer some wisdom to make the process easier for the afternoon, or suggest they change to a different prospecting method
  • Reassuring them after a few hours of work will give them additional energy for the afternoon

Salary and Commission

First one to three months:

Straight salary at the rate for administrative staff. Do not start cadets from day one on debit/credit as it’s too discouraging when they don’t have the skill to achieve listings. Being on debit credit too early means they are in catch-up mode for many months which reduces their feelings of success for the early sales. Given that positive re-enforcement from success provides the extra energy to achieve more success you do not want cadets feeling defeated by having completed a training phase. Without a training phase they are unlikely to succeed or help with existing listings no matter their suitability.

Prospecting only phase

This is before cadets start attending the MA’s they have generated and is designed to reward them for learning to prospect well. We suggest the admin salary plus a piece based incentive:

$50       for booking MA’s

$100     for MA’s they booked that becomes listings.

$100     for more than 3 MA’s conducted in any week. (‘Conducted’ still counts if the experienced agent fails to attend)

Cadet shadow selling with experienced agent

For the first ten properties sold where the original MA was generated by the cadet in the experience agent’s territory, share available commission 50/50 with the experienced agent.

This is no matter how little work the cadet has done toward closing the listing or the sale.  In the first few properties sold, the bulk of the work (after prospecting) is being done by the experienced agent. This ratio should reverse by at least by the fifth property sold.

In the case of other listings in the experienced agent’s territory not initiated by the cadet but where the cadet assists in the sale of the property (i.e. runs the open, manages buyers etc,) the cadet receives 20% of the experienced agent’s commission.

Cadet selling to own territory with help

Where the cadet continues working under the oversight of the experienced agent into the second year, (or for the duration of the partnership,) but is now working in the cadet’s own territory the cadet and experienced agent shall share available commission 50/50.

Where, after 12 months, the cadet begins working independently in their own territory they can choose to return to the 50/50 split with the experienced agent. The cadet and experienced agent may choose to do this irregularly for unique situations where the cadet feels insecure completely alone or for planned absences by either party.

Training Programs for the Registration Certificate

Real Estate Institute of New South Wales http://www.reinsw.com.au/

Real Estate Institute of Queensland http://www.reiq.com.au/

Real Estate Institute of Victoria http://www.reiv.com.au/

Real Estate Institute of South Australia http://www.reisa.com.au/

Real Estate Institute of Tasmania http://www.reit.com.au/

Real Estate Institute of Western Australia http://reiwa.com.au/

Real Estate Institute of Northern Territory http://www.reit.com.au/

Real Estate Institute of Australian Capital Territory http://www.reiact.com.au/

To grab your own PDF version of this Guide:

  1. Click on the link below
  2. You will be redirected to a new page – then, click on the link “Maya’s Guide to Starting a new Cadet Residential Listing Agent-PDF”
  3. Save your PDF copy
  4. Enjoy!

Maya’s Guide to Starting a new Cadet Residential Listing Agent-PDF


Q&A: What is the role of ‘High Expectations’ score in selling?

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Answer:

Having Expectations (EXP) at or over 73%  is the biggest component to being a mega ‘hunter’, i.e. someone who can sell new business in a big way regularly.

These are people that can drive themselves consistently through all the tasks and obstacles that is the daily grind of selling. The absolute biggest obstacles that slaughters most new business Sales people are inertia and boredom during cold calling. This hence explains why the old ‘self-starter’ is so popular. Many sales people are great at hitting their targets when they have clear and pressing deadlines, or work in a call centre with autodial – but leave them alone or give them undefined time limits and they slow down and get lethargic.

Many people can stomach the tough stuff intermittently but being able to do it day in day out as instinctively and unflinchingly as brushing ones teeth is what gets some to the very top. Only a small percentage of the people we have ever tested  with the Sales Inventory Profile are that high. In fact, cold calling are what Sales people find scariest.

To be able to stomach cold calling we recommend to all our clients that they hire candidates with EXP over 68% as a minimum and develop good sales management techniques run great sales meetings and have clear weekly KPI’s to help their ‘almost’ mega hunters still get mega results. But if your sales staff need to work alone from home or a remote office without daily sales management they will need EXP to be well over 70%, and ideally over 73%

Unfortunately, good sales management techniques are also rare in most organisations. So, if you work alone (either for yourself or from a distant office), or are the boss and still selling, then you’re dead without them.

Watch our SIP Comparison Report or access our User Guide if you’ve got any more queries!

Are your staff developing trust or creating fear with your clients?

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Are your staff developing trust or creating fear with your clients? Have you ever wondered why clients DON’T buy from you when the call seemed to be going well?

I have launched my new workshop that is changing the way we sell in Real Estate. It is called Emotions in Selling – Helping clients make strong decisions.

I have developed this content from 25 years of selling having been a sales trainer and Coach for half of that time and from knowledge of how the brain works learned in my degree in Psychology. So the content is clearly anchored in understanding the workings of the mind first then translating that to the specifics of your sales situations.

I’m a bit over trainers who teach how to execute specific actions that have worked for them. Some parts of my training do include specific actions but I believe if you understand the intent of the underlying process you will be able to adapt the action to your own style and execute them well and so get the advertised outcome for yourself. If you just blindly copy others (even if the technique you are copying is absolutely fabulous) you don’t get the same outcomes they did because your situation is never exactly the same.

Content:

  • Understanding the neurological structure of the brain and how the flight/fight mechanism drives all decision making. We will review the progress of data arriving from the senses (hearing sight etc) to the two levels of thought processing; emotional and logical.
  • How to uncover the buyer’s personal perceptions of safety and the decision process they are using in order to guide them to use your service. If you contradict this process and trigger even the smallest feelings of fear they will reject you and your product.
  • Learn how fear and anxiety can turn your clients’ thoughts from caterpillars into pythons and how to prevent this so that the caterpillars turn into butterfly’s instead.
  • Learn how selling your own home is the scariest decision a person may ever make and how to guide them safely through their anxiety to a stable decision to list with you.
  • We will look at very specific strategies to maximize your message and they way you present it so that your clients are able to process safely through their emotional filter to make effective decisions that will not unravel when they continue to think about the situation after you have left or when they hear new data from your competition.
  • Importance of the customer doing at least half of the talking during the sales process in order for the purchase to be stable. Using the magic wand technique that helps a buyer express their needs so you can discuss the real value to them of your offering
  • How to manage your clients fear response to help them to continue to listen and have the ability to buy from you.

I believe this program will up skill the sales effectiveness of the entire office as well as providing more sales energy and focus. I encourage my clients to have all staff in their business sit in on it as everyone in a sales organization participates at some stage with our clients whether they are vendors, buyers, landlords or tenants. Most importantly each client interaction contributes to the reputation of our business and builds trust for our brand.

I’m offering to run a two hour session for just you or your team for just $750 +GST conducted at your office. Call me, Maya, for more info on 0407 005 290

For more articles on Trust in selling, check out our Emotions in Selling (EiS) training series here

Emotional Engagement during an Appraisal

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Selling without emotion is hard work!

Emotion stimulates the mind 3000 times faster than rational thought. The brain is structured in such a way that the emotional processing (instinct) starts responding first and creates much stronger chemical reactions then the logical processes, which are triggered much later. The emotional processes are designed to turn on the flight or fight (or freeze) mechanism and are on a 24/7 hair trigger for anything that creates fear.

It’s an emotional world we live in. Many people say we live in a rational world but nothing could be further from the truth. Emotions drive our behavior; the world is driven by emotions. Rational thought leads customers to be interested but it is emotion that sells.

Capturing minds is one thing; capturing hearts is quite another.

The most successful sales involve strong emotional connections between people. People don’t actually make life decisions on clear logical grounds. We often decide first and rationalize second. We are emotion based creatures that are first and foremost run by our fears and instincts. Our brain has been designed so that logic cannot easily override our emotions, especially strong emotions.

The better you target that human instinctual connection with the vendor the easier the sales process that follows will be. You need to start targeting their emotions the second you walk across their threshold. Given we sell Real Estate at a very intimate, personal level (in their homes) you have the opportunity to connect with them not in a brash, blatant way but in a simple and very profound manner.

To maximize your chances of getting the listing you must first connect with their hearts then later you can rationalize with their minds. Remember that the fear emotion has the strongest effect on the decision making process. You need to connect very directly with their fears in a way that explicitly helps reduce their fears.

So what are you selling that you need to be emotional about before you get the listing? Until you have secured the listing you have just one product: YOU.

Who are you? (some standard stuff, you need to tailor this to you):
• A committed member of your local community.
• A professional real estate agent of XX years standing.
• A highly experienced sales person who knows how to sell the value in each and every property.
• XX years young, e.g. through your own midlife dramas with plenty of drive and ambitions (people want personal content i.e. who are you?)
• You’re a specialist with Blue Bay Real Estate.
• A Licensed Agent partnered with one of the area’s most successful agents.
• Educated and raised in this community.

BUT of what value is that to them? How do you meet their emotional needs?
How does that make you the right person to sell their castle? How can you reduce their fears? You have to translate these things into specific benefits to them, in their context.

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