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

Posted on 13 December 2012 by Maya Saric

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!

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?
What specific training do I need to really get my career going?
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:

See your report and download as many copies as you need at any time in the future
Use your login to apply for jobs that require a SIP
Below the report on your SIP log-in screen will be a link to the first Emotions in Selling education module
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

The Value of Recruiting with SIP for the Real Estate industry

Posted on 21 November 2012 by Maya Saric

Do you know how the costs of hiring the wrong people for your company? It’s not a pretty sight going far beyond the money spent on recruiting and training. Think of your own time wasted and the energy levels of your business as more of the wrong people join the team.

Here’s how SIP will ensure you avoid those costs and hire effective sales staff…

The first mistake hiring managers make is to assume that all sales people fit all sales roles. They may do a great job of selling themselves at the interview but how good will they be at selling your service?

SIP scoring system helps identify people with each of the different selling styles for the following positions:

Sales

Listing Agent (this one is the hardest for you to spot in advance because of the high need for prospecting which is a very rare capacity, so this role carries the greatest risk of miss hiring)
Buyers Agent or Partner Agent
Commercial Agent

Property Managers

Property Managers
Property Officers
Leasing Officers

Sales support

Receptionist (this really is a listing agent style but with need for the prospecting capacity)
PA’s to listing agents or Property Managers
Other – i.e. anyone who helps at Open’s or otherwise relates regularly to either buyers or vendors, or supports the sales process, like manages marketing programs

Once you have clarity on who you really need for your role, the SIP Candidate Management System (CMS) will save you time on recruitment and analysing candidates. Here’s what we do:

a) All candidates are visible permanently in one place and not scattered over many weeks in your in-box. This ensures that they are:

Quick to find
Accessible by all managers not just the one who has their email on the advert
No double handling (i.e. forwarding to each other)
Never deleted
Keep track of all communication by everyone with each candidate,
Includes resume and cover letter in one file per person.

b) Bulk communication facilities.

With a few clicks you can communicate with the entire candidate population by sending either standard emails that notify them of the progress of their application or write your own emails to suit your situation.

All emails sent to each candidate are in their ‘Notes’ and visible as a status against their name so you need never wonder where you are up to with each one.

We understand that your Brand is highly important. So SIP allows you to get the above all easily and quickly done, whilst still maintaining your professional image:

a) Applying through our website (a structured form followed by a serious test) clearly shows your job is a serious one with a professional sales organisation which is much more satisfying for a candidate embarking on an important new career, rather than sending an email to an unknown organisation through SEEK.

b) Candidates receive two auto-emails from the SIP website to identify the progress of their application; when they complete the registration form and when they complete all the questions.

c) The bulk action emails, especially the ‘sorry’ one, gives them closure on what happened or is still happening to their application.

Get your name out there with our Advertising Service! Writing professional copy for advertising is a skill that has a huge direct effect on the outcome of the recruitment process. Lifeless, short adverts focused on what is important to you don’t attract high quality individuals no matter how strong your brand is. There are hundreds of adverts being launched everyday by your competitors and you need to stand out amongst them to speak directly and effectively to the people you need for your business.

We write hundreds of specialist adverts a year so we definitely know what we’re doing and what’s involved. Here’s what you get:

a) Emotionally engaging adverts that sell you and your position to attract more AND better candidates who are keen on you, and not just ‘having a go’.

b) Fresh adverts for each new role type tailored to appeal to people who are suited for that sort of work.

c) Work load management so you won’t need to do a thing after the advert is written as well: we load the advert to SEEK, track advert effectiveness, make changes if necessary and respond to stray candidates who apply directly to ensure all candidates are processed equally.

Want to know more about SIP? Have a watch of our short SIP Report Comparison or read our User Guide if you’ve already got one.

Watch some videos on SIP: https://mayasaric.com/2013/05/20/best-sales-recruitment-tool/ Want to get started? More information here: https://mayasaric.com/2012/09/19/sip-report-comparison/ https://mayasaric.com/2012/01/28/sip-sales-recruitment-training-coaching-programs/

A Brief Guide to Starting a New Residential Real Estate Agent

Posted on 14 November 2012 by Maya Saric

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:

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.
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:

Click on the link below
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”
Save your PDF copy
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?

Posted on 24 October 2012 by Maya Saric

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!

Q&A: Is there a better day to start a job advert?

Posted on 24 October 2012 by Maya Saric

Answer:

Things I know about sales candidate activity on SEEK: Sunday to Thursday are better than Friday and Saturday.

There are less adverts released on both Saturday and Sunday. As more adverts are released your own advert gets pushed down. This is really important to the success of your advert as candidates don’t need to go past page one to find good jobs to apply for in most markets. For this reason we always pay the extra $20 to be at the very top for a full week even in categories where we don’t get pushed off page one for a week or more naturally.

So if the objective is to maximise candidate enquiry the longer you can stay at the top on a good candidate activity day the better…so combined that makes Sunday better (equally good day as Wednesday and Thursday for candidate traffic but lesser new jobs pushing us down). That is why we recommend we wait till Sunday if possible. I organise my adverts during the week and load them to SEEK but press ‘play’ on Sunday when I get up. It takes me 2 min.

All of that is my knowledge of how candidates behave in sales roles. I am assuming a similar pattern for admin roles as currently in Sydney there are 186 ‘ sales’ roles versus 150 for ‘Administration’.

Next Q&A: What does the “High Expectations” score in SIP say about Sales Skills?

SIP Report comparison

Posted on 19 September 2012 by Maya Saric

Can we make Ian Thorpe a football player?

Posted on 7 September 2012 by Maya Saric

What has Ian Thorpe to do with Sales? Well, essentially, we can also ask:

Can a good sales person sell anywhere?

Hello! This is Maya Saric, Sales Psychologist and Inventor of SIP, Sales Inventory Profile.

I’m about to create every video making mistake in the book. I’ve got noise in the background and too much lighting and the sound of the wind on the microphone. Hopefully this will come through well enough that you’ll be able to understand it but I wanted to capture an idea before it was lost and I thought you might appreciate the nice boats in the background if you can indeed see them.

There is a belief that all sales people who are good at selling can sell anything and in any context and often people promote really good account managers to become BDMs or really good BDMs to become account executives and nothing can be further from the truth.

Sales reps are good at, those that are good, are good at particular parts of the sales process or in particular styles of selling because that’s where their attribute match is best so we know from SIP that some people are better at performing new business environments and some are better in account management and we know from SIP and our 4000-5000 existing clients that if you mix them up you get a bad result – you can’t make a farmer hunt and if you do make hunter farm, they get bored and knacky with you.

I’d like to use an analogy about why you can’t make someone who’s good in one field perform well in another. Here is something that’s true, let’s use athletes, really good, high competition World Class athletes.

I’d like to take the swimming group first, high quality world class swimmers, the end talks of the world, have great cardiovascular fitness. Their heart and lung capacity is awesome, and that’s a requirement of a sprint-style sport and swimming is certainly and some distances in swimming more so that others but it’s generally speaking a sprint style sport and you need high cardiovascular heart and lung capacity.

There are lots of other sports that need high cardiovascular lung and heart capacity that are sprint based on land. Let’s use football as one of those, one of my favourite sports or past times is to watch football and if you’ve ever watched a game of football by the end those guys are really sweating and their hearts are raising and you can see that they’re breathing heavily because they’ve done stacks of sprinting in that last 80 minutes. But could we make Ian Thorpe into a football player? No. Despite having that particular aspect in common, the other sport, the football, requires a whole bunch of other skills that are equally important; skills in terms of tactics, ball handling, precision, etc. Tactics that are or components that are not in swimming (even a tiny little bit) and the same is true of sales jobs.

A good sales new business person, BDM, has to have a level of agility and intuition almost about the sorts of information they need to give out in any point in time versus account managers who need to precise, and planned and detailed. If they’re going in to see their clients for the third year in a row or their businesses even if they’re new, they need to know what has happened over those three years and what have been the consequences, what have been the highs and lows and where we’re up to today and what’s next. If they’re whinging it or hoping that their client will give them a tidbit of information that will make the whole story become transparent and capable of closing, they’ll get shot, they’ll get thrown out.

A new business rep has to rely on that ability because they often don’t have the ability to research in any great detail, some ability yes, always some ability, but not in enough detail to be able to predict and ask questions that pinpoint specific issues. They have to have a conversation and they have to ask questions and they have to be prepared to assimilate really quickly on their feet the answers that they’re getting in order to formulate correctly the next set of questions and get better and more precise details from which to close the sale.

I’d like to suggest that if you are good at selling, that you find out why you’re successful and make sure that you use those skills consciously and proactively or if you have a team that’s really good or a team in general, find out what their strengths are and structure your team so that they utilize those strengths to the maximum potential. We could work on fixing their weaknesses but that is such a slow process. The best effect you’ll get, the greatest increase in sales performance you’ll get is by using what you’re good at more often.

So Maya Saric, Sales Psychologist and Inventor of SIP – thanks for your time.

Want to know more about BDMs vs Account Managers?

No age limit for SIP

Posted on 27 August 2012 by Maya Saric

Question: Is it okay for a 15 year old to complete a SIP?

Answer: There are no age components in the Sales Inventory Profile or SIP.

SIP will give you as accurate a result regardless of how much experience in the business world you have, including none. The test has been developed to a middle level of English comprehensive so a native English speaking 12 year old will be able to fully understand the questions.

I asked my family and friends with teenage children to do the test some years ago when we were validating it before the launch in 2008 and so I know it works for teenagers. The legal age for working is, I believe, 14 and ¾ years, so again a 15 is ok. I don’t think there is anything on the SIP site that specifies age limitations. We do ask for their birthday as a way to validate their identify but it is not used in any way for the calculations. I don’t tell my clients to think about the age as such when considering people for job applications, rather the life circumstance of the individual and how that impacts their ability to perform your job.

I encourage our clients to offer the program to all local high schools and TAFEs (or any other full time school institutions in your area) whether they are themselves hiring or not as a community service for free. The process includes the families to come to your office to pick up the reports in person so we can verify their identity and we are not releasing reports to the wrong person or allowing them to be read by others.

I suggest you staple a ‘with complements’ style page with your branding over my report as this document will most likely end up in being saved in the house for years as the kids finish school and start applying for jobs.

Want to know more about SIP? Watch our short video or learn more about SIP’s Value and Advantage, a video on SIP Reporting or have a look at our pricing list here.

Einstein’s Theory of Selling

Posted on 24 August 2012 by Maya Saric

I love this quote from Einstein:

Everything is Energy and that’s all there is to it. Match the frequency of the reality you want and you cannot help but get that reality. It can be no other way. This is not Philosophy. This is Physics.

Long before he and many other Physics Scientists proved this to be the truth and said so in public, we have known this to be intrinsically true because…well it is true. It has become part of our consciousness long before anybody was able to articulate it quite so elegantly.

We know it as affinity or being able to relate to each other and being on each other’s wavelength. If you’re on somebody’s wavelength, you’re intuitively able to connect with them and understand them. There are lots of great phrases from the past such as “Walk a mile in my shoes” that tell us it’s important to be in sync with somebody.

How does this relate to selling?

Certainly, there is a very special definitive level of energy required for people to make purchases and sales buying decisions. A Sales person needs to be able to bring a prospect to that level of energy first before they start to close or for the prospect to be confident to buy. If a customer is confident and clear about what they’re doing then they will proceed with the sale and make a decision without having second thoughts and withdrawing later.

But if your prospect is confused, fearful and anxious or just nervous, they will resist making any decisions. If you, the sales person is able to force a decision in that moment, maybe because of some extraordinary technique or external circumstances are forcing them to act faster than their abilities to confidently choose, that decision will be unstable. That customer will withdraw from the sale as soon as the circumstance, or the sales person, has changed. This is why many legal contracts now have a seven day ‘cooling off’ period.

In order to bring a customer to a level of confidence and clarity, there are lots of great sales processes to be followed. But any salesperson who attempts to close a prospect where that particular clarity or energy level isn’t present will in fact be creating more grief than it’s worth for themselves.

Using Einstein’s Theory of Energy, selling then becomes a process of ‘energy matching’ starting with recognition of the prospect’s level of certainty or uncertainty at the start of the sales conversation and effectively leading the client to the confident energy state required for buying. As Einstein said, when you help your client “match the frequency of the reality (confidence) you want and you cannot help but get that reality (sale).”

Considering a career in sales?

You must read this article and check out what Eliza, our sales team member has to say about changing from being a Business Analyst to a Business Development Manager

21ST Century Sales – Can you increase the chances of employing people who can actually Sell?

Posted on 22 August 2012 by Lesley MacKenzie

Q: WHAT IS THE QUESTION THAT AFFECTS PROFITS AND IS ONE OF THE TOP ISSUES FACING BUSINESS OWNERS TODAY?

A: HOW CAN I HIRE SALES PEOPLE WHO WILL NOT FAIL WITHIN THEIR FIRST YEAR.

Today there are normally two ways of looking for staff, either by advertising yourself or using a recruitment company/employment agency. There is always the “friend of a friend” method of recruiting but the rules for engaging any member of staff should apply in all three cases. A typical scenario when searching for new sales staff (in fact any staff) is figuring out the need for hiring someone new, writing an advert which is placed in the local paper or online and waiting for responses. Alternatively you ring an agency which takes down information about what you are looking for in an employee and they go off and look for someone for you. All this takes time and effort on your part. Some of this is essential as a precursor to hiring; some is not.

Starting off with a rough idea of what you are looking for in the needed position, you write a job description and then make several attempts to write an advert which will attract the right “caliber” of applicant.

Let’s take Real Estate as an example. A typical advert for a real estate sales person looks like this:

Real Estate Sales

Are you passionate about real estate?
Are you self motivated, well presented and reliable?
Are you a good communicator?
Do you want to be respected and appreciated?
Do you want to be part of a team?
Do you want great sales support?
Would you like to pay NO franchise fees?

Applications come flooding in! They say things like “five years selling software”, “highly motivated and a self starter”, “a degree in Computer Science”, “retail selling experience”!

You think this is great until you have to start creating a shortlist of people you may be interested in. You don’t have time to go through them all, but what choice do you have? Maybe you should have hired a professional after all?

So, what does reading all those CV’s tell you?

They’re often not independent, objective and possibly incomplete
They describe what someone thinks you should know
Maybe it’s been polished by a recruitment company
It’s what they did in the past. It’s not about what they can do in the future
NONE of it means they can and will sell real estate
It’s boring and it’s wasting your time!
They can’t validate an individual’s potential. At best they contain clues that require interpretation
If a candidate has no previous selling experience just what is it in their résumé that will identify their selling potential?
If you have a great quantity of them you will spend huge amounts of time reading and studying information that is often of marginal value

Conclusion: RÉSUMÉS Drive Poor Recruitment Practices!

Having spent all that time and money trying to hire someone yourself you decide to use the services of an expert. So you spend even more time going through yellow pages or word of mouth to find a suitable recruitment company that says they will do it all for you. I know from personal experience (on both sides of the fence) this is not always the case! There are many excellent recruitment companies around (I’ve worked in at least four myself) but psychometric testing is not always used and if it is, it’s used as a last check rather than a way of creating the shortlist.

First of all they will want to clarify in their minds exactly what you need. They will develop an advert to attract the most suitable candidates for the role, a unique marketing campaign is created and appropriate candidates targeted. Typically, a tailored marketing campaign can involve a range of specialist services such as:

Database Targeting
Online & Print Advertising
Media & Strategy
Candidate Referral Program
Head Hunting—Strategic Roles

Then they qualify; drawing upon a broad list of potential candidates. The recruitment consultant will then conduct telephone interviews that will consist of qualifying questions designed to indicate suitability for the position.

Then they justify—up to around 8-10 appropriately skilled candidates will be shortlisted for face-to-face interviews. Alternatively, overseas or interstate candidates will be extensively interviewed by phone or video conferencing sessions.

Then they verify—a complete background check will be conducted on the most highly rated candidates to confirm their qualifications and professional work history, as well as clarification of residency status and criminal history.

Then we have simplify—a shortlist of 2-3 highly suitable candidates will then be submitted to the client for the purposes of the formal interview process.

Next comes satisfy—should a candidate meet with your expectations and an offer of employment is made (subject to references), the recruitment consultant will conduct two final reference checks and submit the results to you.

Almost finished—the employment offer is confirmed in conjunction with the candidate’s acceptance. As the contract of employment is finalized, the candidate is prepared for the resignation process.

Finally—an appraisal with yourself and the successful candidate is conducted 6 weeks into the probation period to determine success.

Phew!

Question: What’s wrong with all this information?

Answer: Everything!

The failure of a high percentage of new start sales people in the first six months is alarming. This failure can cost you, the business owner, up to $20,000 dollars in direct or indirect expenses like training, printing etc for each unsuitable candidate chosen and then there’s the lost sales opportunities! It all adds up when you think about it in these terms.

Even worse, reading résumés can mean throwing away the sales stars of tomorrow because their résumés are poor, or don’t have the right clues, or maybe (and here’s the big one) there’s nothing in their past worth putting in a résumé. We all know great real estate sales people whose past gave NO clue to their future sales potential!

There is an easy solution to this problem!

Using a specialized psychometric testing process which is done before you even get to see résumés allows you to go about the business of making money without the frustrations associated with hiring new employees.

Emotionally engaging advertising will attract candidates to your company.
The advert drives candidates to the testing website so the first result of this is that you see if the candidate is motivated enough to complete the registration and then complete the test.
Candidates must complete tests taking up to forty five minutes.
Only candidates who really want your job will complete this process.
You end up with reports based on automated, online, multi-search functions; sorted firstly by their SCORE!
No need to read dozens of RÉSUMÉS, or go by “gut feeling” and first impressions!
You manage and select candidates easily and decisively online, so personalities don’t come into it.
You find people who can sell based on their score, nothing more!

You can then read the CV and set up interviews with people you know are able to sell, fit in with the management style for your organization and feel confident about the choices you make as they are based on extensive research and backed up by results.

The bottom line is that specialized psychometric testing undergone right at the beginning of the recruitment process saves you time, money, frustration and ultimately gives you sales people who can sell and who will achieve BETTER SALES RESULTS.

PLEASE STOP READING RÉSUMÉS—THEY ARE BAD FOR YOUR BUSINESS!

Author: Lesley MacKenzie

WHO CAN SELL? Find out by emailing lesley@salesinventoryprofile.com

Human beings, by changing the inner attitudes of their minds, can change the outer aspects of their lives—William James US Pragmatist philosopher & psychologist (1842 – 1910)

USER GUIDE: THE SIP CANDIDATE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM (CMS)

Posted on 22 August 2012 by Maya Saric

WE HIGHLY RECOMMEND YOU PRINT THESE INSTRUCTIONS OFF AND USE THEM TO MANAGE YOUR CANDIDATES.

CREATING YOUR SHORTLIST

WHAT’S THE FIRST THING I SHOULD LOOK AT?

In the pale yellow row above all the candidates is a series of headings e.g.:

App Status SP Sc Name Exp. (years) Industry Report/Date

SP: this is their SIP Sales Potential Category 1 to 4, ie what sort of sales role are they suited to. We think this is the first issue to consider when short- listing candidates; what sort of sales person are/will they be?

Your SIP representative will also work with you to further define the category preference for your role to a specific score range. Contact

WHAT DO I DO NEXT?

Consider in more detail the candidates who fall within your preferred Category and scoring range.

Have a look at their Report, and /or Details from the blue bar next to their name.

Report is their Comprehensive SIP Report, download or read online.

Details will tell you basic information like; name, where they live, contact details, experience, DOB etc.

TAKING ACTION WITH YOUR CANDIDATES

SUMMARY

Good candidates: mark as BOLD and send Interview Request email
After you interview a candidate mark them as Interviewed and write your thoughts in the Notes section
Unsuccessful candidates: send them a Send Sorry email
Candidates you are not sure about: leave as Standard and send Pending email

WHAT IF I DON’T RATE THEM AS A GOOD CANDIDATE?

You need to get them off the list so you don’t waste your time. Here’s what to do to deal with people you don’t want to interview:

Send them a SORRY email to notify them they are not on your short-list.

Click on the box next to the candidate (far left just before the empty App Status column) or to select them all click on the box to the left of App Status in the pale yellow row. Now all the candidates should be selected with a tick next to them.
Then select the Select Bulk Actions drop down box at the top of the page and select Send Sorry Email, then next to it select Do Action. Change subject headline to identify your business e.g. Sales Career at XYZ.
Then click Send. You have now advised all the Archived Candidates they have been unsuccessful.

Mark them as ARCHIVED to remove them for your current view.

Click on the box next to the Candidate (far left just before the empty App Status column) or select all the candidates by clicking the Select All button on the immediate left of App Status in the pale yellow row above all the candidates.
Then select Select Bulk Actions drop down box at the top of the page and select Mark as Archived, then next to it select Do Action. After a few seconds all these unwanted candidates will have been removed from your Active Candidate list.
If you need to view them again for any reason select the blue Show Archived and in a few seconds the page will refresh, if you scroll down you will find a box called Archived Candidates.

THIS WAY, ONLY THE CANDIDATES YOU ARE INTERESTED IN STAY ON THE ACTIVE CANDIDATES SCREEN.

WHAT IF I RATE THEM AS A VERY GOOD CANDIDATE?

Send them a REQUEST FOR INTERVIEW email, so that they ring you to organise a suitable time to meet them in person

Click on the box next to the candidate (far left just before the empty App Status column) or select multiple candidates.
Then select Select Bulk Actions drop down box at the top of the page and select Mark as Favourite, then next to it select Do Action. In a few seconds all these candidate(s) will be Bolded to stand out so you can find them quickly.

WHAT IF I’M NOT SURE ABOUT A CANDIDATE?

Just leave them until you are. They are not Bolded (strong candidate) and they are not yet in the Archived Candidates (candidates you don’t want).
Get back to candidates at least within 7 days of them applying. If you are not sure within that period they are most likely not suitable, better to wait even if it means advertising again then waste time of candidates who already don’t look good.

WHAT IF I’M TAKING A LONG TIME TO GET BACK TO THE GOOD CANDIDATES?

Send them a PENDING message.

Either click the box left of their name or if you want to communicate with the entire Active Candidates list click the Select All button on the immediate left of App Status in the pale yellow row above all the candidates.

Once selected click on Select Bulk Action from the drop down box. Select Send Pending Email Select Do Action

The message headline for the email defaults to your account name and you can over type this if you prefer, then select Send

Now all the candidates know they are still under consideration. This is important as many employers DON’T communicate with candidates very well, this creates bad will and they will apply for other jobs even if they preferred to wait to hear about yours!

WHAT IF I HAVE ARCHIVED A CANDIDATE BUT WISH TO RETURN THEM TO THE ACTIVE CANDIDATES?

Should you need to move anyone from Archived to Active Candidates simply:

Select Bulk Actions from the drop down box at the top of the page and select Mark as Standard, and then next to it select Do Action.

USING CANDIDATES NOTES

What to do: Writing Notes on our site in the tab labelled ‘notes’ on the name row for each candidate.

Every email sent from our site is automatically copied in here, I suggest you copy any replies you get into here and delete them from your email system.

All summaries by a SIP staff member will be written in here and you will receive an email letting you when it’s ready.

I suggest you also put into here:

Any emails you get from candidates directly to your email system into here and delete them from your email system.
Notes on when they are due for an interview, were they punctual etc.
Notes on your thoughts on them following the interview.
Other information or communications (eg by phone) you have about this candidate, like feedback from referee’s

Why:

Everything to do with this candidate is in one place FOREVER, this can be important for legal reasons as well as making things simpler on the way through the recruitment process.

Everyone on the recruitment project can see where you are up to (other relevant managers, the SIP support staff, your HR manager, your biz partner etc) and we won’t have to chase you if any of us need to pitch in and help like if you are away etc.

HOW DO I KNOW WHAT COMMUNICATIONS I HAVE SENT TO ALL MY CANDIDATES?

There are two ways to keep track of this.

Look in the Notes in the Blue Bar. Here are all the messages you have sent.
Under App Status there are codes that tell you what the last action was with this candidate. The codes are:

ISSUE: They need to do the test again. Most likely because they didn’t finish it.
CUS: You sent them a custom message of your own, perhaps asking for more information
PEND: Let them know they are still in the running.
REJ: They have been unsuccessful and are no longer being considered for your role
INT: Interview
CV: Resume
REQ: Request

HOW DO WE USE THE SEARCH FUNCTIONS?

By selecting Search either inside your PRK (group of candidates) or at the top of the page you can customise your search criteria e.g. show me anyone who took the test between certain dates, like two weeks ago, or people that speak Chinese in Hurstville etc.

Once you have entered your criteria click Search then Close at the bottom of the Pink Search page. Any candidates meeting your search will be displayed.

HOW DO I GET ALL THE CANDIDATES BACK ON THE SCREEN AFTER A SEARCH?

When you wish to return all candidates after you complete the Search, click on the Blue Show All at the top of the page.

READING THEIR RÉSUMÉ AND COVER LETTER

The system has provided candidates the option to upload both a résumé and cover letter. If they have done this then the tabs on the row with their names will show the words résumé and cover letter in red type.

If the candidate has uploaded a RÉSUMÉ this can be downloaded by selecting RÉSUMÉ in the blue tabs.

Do not be discouraged if they do not have a resume. Some of the best candidates for your role way not have a resume written for good reason and you don’t want to wait for them to do this and apply for other jobs where they will be taken seriously.

Also some of the worst sales people have magnificent resumes full of interesting details (sometimes true even) well formatted and spelled checked.

Relying on resumes is not necessary to short-list your candidate and action their application, that is bring them in for an interview.

Emotional Engagement during an Appraisal

Posted on 11 October 2011 by Maya Saric

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.

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6