Jedi Knights.
This month, two of our Leadership Groups experienced our new Sales Framework Masterclass and the feedback score from 28 estate agency owners and directors was 9.8/10.
If I was to summarise the comments into one sentence it would read: “I’ve been in sales all my life but will now look at our sales process completely differently.” Our facilitator kicked off each session by suggesting there are only three ways you can increase the number of sales you’re currently making:
- Work harder, longer, do more.
- Work smarter. Identify the prospects most likely to convert and invest more time with them – separate the wheat from the chaff.
- Become a Jedi Knight of persuasion.
Let’s take a quick look at these three options.
1. Work harder. For several years, Preston Baker have tracked the number of calls made by each negotiator and the total length of conversations. They now have irrefutable proof that more calls made leads to more conversations and in turn more sales. Every month the league table for new sales mirrors exactly the scores for calls and connects. This option works very well.
2. Work smarter. Over a decade ago, Romans launched their “Romans Direct” call centre and like Preston Baker measured all activities. Within a few months the Direct Team became the number one source for market appraisals and this was principally due to effective database prospecting. Smart agents know that their best leads are already in their database whereas the less effective prefer to chase the shiny new prospects who, let’s face it, all turn up looking hot but more often than not end up not transacting on this occasion. Working your database is the smart option and also works very well.
3. Become a Jedi Knight of persuasion. It staggers me how few people choose this option. The vast majority of agents either have little or no ongoing training believing they’ve learned it all and there’s nothing new. Many of our members think differently. Just this month I’ve heard many reports from across the country of instructions at record levels, 20% or more up on last year. I’ve seen agencies with conversion rates of 85% listing to exchange. For one of our members, 40% of income is now coming from FS and there are others catching him up. In one Group alone, half the members have increased fees to an average of 1.6%+VAT or more. These performances have all been achieved by training teams to become better at the things that matter. For some it’s taken many months, years even, but the pursuit of excellence is paying off handsomely. Jedi Knights make a market in every market.
One of our values is to “Seek Third Alternatives” and in this instance I’ll offer a fourth. Train yourself and your team to become Jedi Knights. Then set them to work on your database and as they achieve better and better results I guarantee they’ll want to work harder – winners always do.
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