My professional purpose is to help you, the broker, optimize your productivity and help you become the best version of yourself. Why? Because happy brokers sell more real estate. I do that by helping you handle challenges and opportunities that you face every day. If you can effectively manage certain situations that arise on a daily basis, you'll be more productive, live an optimized life and, in turn, live a life that is the best version of you.
Today, I want to remind you of the 1 foundational principal that will drive your success and help you create a predictable and enjoyable business.
It has been a crazy couple of weeks since I last got on and discussed what was on my mind through a MMPT. There has been a lot of changes in my personal life that are major mile markers that I will always remember when I look back on this thing called my life. Anytime there is big change, I tend to find some nuggets of wisdom in those experiences.
First, my eldest daughter started college. She's thriving but her absence has left a daily void in our household. It's quieter and , in a lot of ways that's nice, but it has taken some time for us to adapt. Second, we got a completely different daily routine with my youngest being in a high school and and for the first time in 14 years, we aren't driving to the middle school that both of our daughters attended. That too is a good thing and we've handled that adjustment in stride. Also and unfortunately, we had to say goodbye last week to our family dog, Tucker. For those of you who have lost a pet know how excruciating it can be on so many levels.
Again, the reason I led with these developments is that I have been reminded over the last couple of weeks how lessons in business and life need to be learned or relearned during times of vivid change. I've been reminded to be grateful for every lesson that comes my way. As I've wrote this MMPT, my gratitude intensified.
The main point of my MMPT today is to remind you that YOUR CLIENTS NEED YOU. They need you to really understand their situation and the importance of why they need to move. Nobody just moves from one property to the next because they want to or because its fun.
The specific story I want to share with you today is example of how life reminded me just how important it is to make your family, friends and clients feel taken care of. From a business stand point, it solidified my belief/guiding principle that strong relationships with your clients is the one and only foundational principle that will support and strengthen your business over time.
Over the Labor Day weekend, Tucker's condition deteriorated quickly. We had him in and out of the vet the previous week but despite that, it became obvious that that his condition was worsening. I had come back to Chicago from our Michigan home on Sunday so Lizzy could prepare for the week ahead and get settled in. Amy stayed in Michigan with the dogs. I got a call from her first thing on Tuesday morning with the news that Tuck could not get up and she couldn't move him. I jumped in my truck, dropped Lizzy off at school and drove back to Michigan, picked up Tucker and got him in the back seat of her car. Meanwhile, she had called vet offices without much luck for immediate help we needed. We were desperate. Finally, she was able to get through to University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine where he had undergone a previous surgery and follow up care. Despite them being full, Amy was told by a doctor "We will make it work. When can you get here"?
These words from their doctor, gave us so much relief in that moment. I'll never forget them. "We will make it work. When can you get here". We will be forever indebted to them for helping us with Tucker over those final hours of his life. They never put any pressure on us to make a decision one way or another on how we should proceed. They made room for us, took special care of our pup and did all of the necessary tests so we could make the decision we had feared since he was diagnosed with bone cancer earlier in the summer.
After all of this went down and I could really reflect on what happened, I just stepped back and said to myself, "Wisconsin is a special place. That is how you take care of people". As real estate brokers, isn't that exactly the fiduciary responsibility we should have for our clients. Most of our clients, in some way shape or form, are struggling with the decision to buy or sell. A person's home is filled with memories and the change can be emotional for some. No matter who you are working with, it's almost always stressful. So, this story reminded me of how important it is that we remember that we are not just in the business of selling homes, we are primarily in the business of guiding people through incredibly stressful process and we should manage the capacity of our business so we can always say to our clients:
"Of course. I've got you covered. When can you meet?"
So, you may be thinking to yourself. "I'm just so busy trying to get through the day. How do I create that level of service for every client and their transactions?"
It starts by knowing exactly what you are capable of doing on a daily basis based on the demands of the position and building a business around the following proven models and concepts :
- First, build a vision for you and your business. How do you want to live and who do you want to become? The answers to those questions become your filter.
- Know that the maximum amount of transactions that one individual can handle is 25 transactions per year or 25M in production which ever comes first.
- The maximum amount of clients an individual brokerage business can handle the right way is 100, your TOP 100 with all your other contacts being marketed through social media, email marketing and direct mail.
- When you hit the threshold of 25 transactions a year or 25M in production, you need to bring on 1 person to help you with your business. I like the concept of an Assisting Agent that helps in the field helping to prepare the listings, showings, appraisals and inspections. You need to add another person for every 25 transactions and/or 25M in production.
- Once you hit 100 people in your TOP 100 that "know you, like you and trust you" as their real estate broker, it times to strengthen your TOP 100.
- You need a database. If you don't have a list created and categorized, you don't have a real estate business, you have a hobby.
- Create boundaries in your business. Price point and geography (location) are 2 great places to start.
- If you don't have the capacity, you can and should refer the business out that does not line up with your strategy.
- You should have referral partners in those markets that you don't serve consistently. Be prepared to refer the business to someone who has the skill and time to really care for that client. That referral partner might be a buyer's agent on your team.
- You don't have to nor should you work with everyone. Make strong decisions based on your ability to really create value.
The key to building a relationship based business is that your clients know that you authentically care for them. You must create the systems, processes and capacity so you can support your clients like the U of Wisconsin helped us. They were there for us and they delivered on a result with a distinct feeling of hospitality. Let me explain it a different way just to further make my point. A really well run relationship based business can best described by using the "Disney Theme Park" model to operating a business. At DIsney World, the consumer only sees the magic of Mickey, Minnie and the princesses around the park but underground there is another full city where their employees operate the parks and make the magic happen. Your clients should only see the magic of your skill, experience and care for them. Underneath it should be all of your systems, processes, software, database and team running every detail needed to run a successful, relationship based business.
....but what I was reminded of this past week is that nothing else matters if you can't create a sense of calm and trust for your clients. They need to know that you care for them and they should never feel like they are a commission check. Your clients need you. If you create this level of service, lead generation will never be a problem. Your challenges will be how do I create capacity to protect my "me time"?
Amy and I are both so grateful that Tucker's last hours were in a place that truly cared fo him and us. We'll never forget U of Wisconsin and despite being an extremely busy and in demand organization, they created the capacity to help us and I'll never forget their words:
"We will make it work. When can you get here."
