Hey RERAW Nation!
Wanna know how to thrive in an unstable market with high interest rates, lawsuits and all the fear about buyer's agents disappearing?
It's actually pretty simple.
Long email here but simple..
.. and, I'll just tell you all the secrets here.
It's a long post but I'm not holding back.. so suck it up and read.
First, let's go ahead and turn off the news and stop reading headlines for a minute.
The simple truth is that people move every day for a bajillion different reasons.
It doesn't matter what's happening in the world.
People are always on the move (pun intended).
Now that that's out of the way..
.. let's talk about what you need to do to not only be ready for 2024 but to put yourself in a
position to CRUSH 2024!
... and really any year thereafter for that matter.
THERE'S THREE THINGS YOU NEED TO DO:
1. Set goals.
STOP doing the same 'ole sh*t.
Setting goals isn't a Jiminy Cricket wish upon a star kinda thing.
You need to be intentional about it. And that means that you also need to be crystal clear on your numbers.
Expenses.
Know them.
What does it cost to live your life every month?
The #1 reason that agents go out of business is because they don't have enough money.
Call it a lead gen problem.
Call it a follow-up or conversion problem.
At the end of the day, if it's not happening and the agent fails out.. it's because they ran out of money and couldn't sustain.
Period.
So know what your personal and business expenses are.
Now, follow me here.. this isn't sexy but it's important.
Whatever your expenses are.. THAT'S what you need to focus on taking home FIRST.
If you can't pay the bills..
BYE!
Focus on that first.
When you're setting goals for 2024, set THREE instead of one.
And, make sure you set the goals based on NET dollars, not gross.
You start with NET and then back into the gross dollars needed and the deals necessary to bring it all together.
But you have to know the net NEED first to put it all together.
Goal #1 = NEED (this is survival)
It's not pretty but no sense in running after the million if you aren't even paying the bills.
Goal #2 = WANT (more ideal kind of life)
More equivalent to a 9-5 kinda feel.
You can have a day off, put money in savings, take a vacation and know that you're not gonna be paying it off for the next 20 years.
Goal #3 = PUSH (the stars align)
If you hit this one, you've got hard work and admittedly a little luck on your side.
Once you know how much money you need to take home to achieve each of these goals..
.. just divide the tax dollars Uncle Sam steals from you..
.. divide back in the broker split and anything else you take from your deals..
.. then you'll arrive at the total Gross Commission Income you need to achieve each of these goals.
Do a little extra math to know how many deals this will take and there you have it..
.. goals set properly.
2. Hidden leads.
This isn't your SOI.. but instead your database.
Big or small.
As agents..
We're masters at getting contacts into our database and then just leaving them for dead.
Come on..
.. I've done it too.
Someone never answers one of our few calls to try and connect..
.. or they do but tell us they aren't ready for another few months.
So, we set 'em up on a property search through the MLS and some garbage generic drip campaign in our CRM (if ya actually even use one) and then we leave it to chance.
"When they're ready, they'll call."
Then agents fast forward a few months and find a FB group to post some sob story in because they can't believe that this "lead" used someone else.
If you have a database of even 100 people who at some point expressed and interest in buying or selling..
You've got money on the table just waiting for you to grab.
So, stop trying to get new cold hard leads and work the ones who trusted you enough to get into your pipeline already.
Heck, even if you only have 30-50 you've likely got money left there.
I just did a training and taught agents how to approach their wasteland database that was filled with decomposing contacts.. and literally had an agent pull $5.5M in deals out in 24-hours that are now in the works.
.. oh.. and that was on just 38 contacts reached.
My buddy Mike did this too and by reaching out he found his database had $1.45M in COMMISSIONS already in it.
Bummer though..
$650k was lost from folks who already transacted while he moved on to getting new contacts into his pipeline..
.. forgetting the old ones.
Good news that the rest was still up for grabs and wanting help though.
So, keep up with your database.
It's not follow-up.
Look at it more like lead generating with hotter potential leads..
(little mental hack there, since we all hate follow-up.. right?)
Okay..
3. New lead generation.
You don't have to bang on doors.. cold-call or send endless postcards to make it rain in real estate.
You don't need to have a big network of people that know you and have a world of referrals coming your way.
Instead, you just need to think about what people care about.
Everyone moves at some point in their lives.
Why do they move?
What motivates them?
What problems do they have?
How can you solve those problems?
No gimmicks or smoke and mirrors.
Be a solution.
THAT'S your value.
Look at it like this..
We're taught (absolute crap) scripts for cold-calling expireds and FSBOs..
But nonetheless, we're taught to target them directly..
Right?
You wouldn't call everyone in the neighborhood trying to get an expired listing.
You'd just call the expireds..
Right?
So why, outside of those two niche audiences, do we stop speaking to specific problems/needs?
Or, when we do geographical farming, we just send postcards about market stats, new listings, sold listings and offer CMAs (like that's actually something people feel like they need us for these days ).
But not everyone will relate to what we're sending.
It doesn't make sense for so many.
A tenant doesn't need a CMA.
But, maybe they could learn something like.. how they don't necessarily need 20% down to purchase a home.
That's more valuable than some generic blast piece that says they can get a CMA on a home they don't even own.
Right?
So, we have to think about it.
Gotta actually talk directly to the audience.
And don't get me wrong, having your name out there is great.. but it doesn't make sense to mass blast and hope someone calls when you could save time and money targeting a more select niche audience and speaking to them and their needs directly.
Think about the type of people who live in any given community..
Tenants
Investors
Veterans
Move-up
Move-down
Empty nesters
Divorcing couples
Deceased
Relocation
Distressed
.. and more!
So when you start breaking it all into smaller categories..
.. you can talk directly to the audience's problem, build rapport and have a little more relatability.
...
And that's the jam..
Be clear on your numbers.
Work your existing database, so you don't leave money on the table.
And, when you need new leads/contacts to add to your database.. niche down and speak directly to the audience your targeting with a message they can relate to.
No worries what's going on with NAR lawsuits, ever changing market conditions, high interest rates, evolving brokerage structures and whatever else..
Simplify.
Find people with problems.
Talk directly to them about the solution to those problems.
Then, get hired as their agent to customize your service to meet the needs of their journey and BOOM!
The rest is just another commission check.
Now, in fairness.. that's a long ass email and even with that.. there's only so much detail I can go into here without writing an actual book (lol).
If you feel like you'd appreciate a deeper dive on this..
I'm hosting a COMPLETELY FREE training series November 7-9, 2023 from 12:00 PM - 2:00 PM Pacific Standard Time
And each day will be devoted to one of these three gems and we'll go DEEP to cover everything.
If you'd like to reserve a spot..
Visit this link: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/7416990609062/WN_PjIYrykoRt6THfsGvbRBBg
Or just [CLICK HERE TO RESERVE A SEAT]
👉Be sure to check the boxes to attend all three days.
Have a kick ass weekend.. and maybe see you soon.
Real Agents Work,
James Hoff
