"My listings are not selling! Jim, what should I do Next?" by Jim Miller

Notes and Recording from this week's #MMPT:

So, I asked, “Do you feel you are leaving opportunities on the table in all 3 of these areas?”. With no hesitation, the agent said “There is no question I am missing out on opportunities”.

So, I then said “What if you create a specific goal for all 3 categories….you could live off your repeat and past clients, pay for your retirement off of all of your referrals and pay down debt with your inquiries and open house visitors”?

The light went on! There was excitement and all of a sudden this agent is now relating the major core parts of their business to 3 separate parts of their life.

….the key was that there was excitement. If you are excited, you don’t let opportunities pass.

Sometimes, it is simply about re-framing your goals until you find an avenue that excites you.

Do you love to travel? Great, keep your head up on find 2-3 opportunities within your listings that you would have let slip through the cracks before.

Do you want to pay your new condo off in 10 years instead of 30? Great, go build a geographic farm that will pay off your mortgage.

Want a 2nd home or investment property? Great, get motivated and work your database consistently.

By connecting what you love and desire in your life to separate parts of your business, you might just find that excitement needed to grow your business.

I know one thing: There are lots of opportunities out there for growth. You just need to go find them. To put the action in to grow your business, you need to create excitement and motivation and momentum.

….maybe this approach will garner the same excitement as I got from the agent I discussed the idea with last week.

During one of my Thursday coaching classes, I took the hour to discuss how to build a "Geographic Farm". Listen to find my tips.

As I’ve told you, most agents do not come to me when things are going great. I get the calls and drops in when business is slumping or when a deal goes south. Honestly, most of my coaching and training is built to help agents avoid major slumps in their business. BUT! There are always going to be situations out of your control. Situations where experience and skill will make no difference in the outcome. DEALS WILL DIE for reason no fault of your own. You can’t control it but you can control how you react to the situation. You can mentally prepare in advance for the inevitabilities of our business. If this career in real estate brokerage was easy, we’d already have been disrupted.

The key is to build a mindset that is realistic and tough enough to navigate our industry. Some of your work needs to happen before the deal even dies

During this class, I work with the group to identify their "3 Rocks of Marketing" or their top lead generation techniques.

I had this question come up on Friday when one of our agents told me how much she appreciated the “Introduction vs Referral Script” that I’ve consistently been teaching in my Take Flight Mastery classes. I heard several times last week that this approach has really worked for those agents that implement it. Before the end of the call, I’ll definitely review it with you again.

….but first, I want to say a couple of things about scripts. I use that term because there isn’t a better one. I personally don’t like to think of us as “salespeople” because I think that has a negative connotation as well. Let’s just all agree that there are some legacy terms that we still use. You know how I feel about the word referral.

Anyway, “scripts”, in this instance should really be used as a way to properly communicate to your clients your true intentions. As a relationship based agent, your goal is to make sure that your clients are taken care of in a way that makes them feel positivity attached to your brand and feel overwhelmingly comfortable introducing you to their friends, colleagues and family members.

As your coach, in many cases, I start asking the questions back to you.

When things are going well, what do you find that you are doing consistently?

Tell me about your day? Are you using the Daily Time Management form?

Tell me about your last deal. Where did you meet them?

What are you doing to put yourself in more of those situations?

When was the last time you were in your CRM?

When was the last time you sat down and reviewed your goals and tried to internalize them?

How do you ask for introductions? When was the last time you asked for one?

When I start to ask these questions, many times the answer to the original question asked of me comes to the surface. The reality is that success comes from doing the basics really well, consistently over a long period of time. Yes.

What seems so easy to do sometimes are the hardest things to do.

You know, doctors and dieticians are suggesting with scientific proof that most health issues derived from the intake of too much sugar and carbs. We all know it, but why is it so hard to accomplish? Because we’re addicted. Our bodies crave and need sugar.

How do we break through? We have to take tiny steps each day and create new habits. I love what Rachel Hollis said in her books and specifically in the latest edition of Success Magazine……“Take one bad habit and address it for 30 days”. Just one. In 30 days, layer on another bad habit and attack it. And so on……

Be patient. In business, you need to do the same. Take one area that you can have the highest impact and focus on that for 30 days. Boom. Now add another layer. Boom. Add another layer. In a year, you’ve got 12 new amazing habits.

All the while, you’re creating that momentum you seek along the way.

During this class, I take on the topic of Relationship and Database Management. Build your business through staying in touch with your clients long term.

“Jim, how do I get everything done and keep everyone happy?” I tend to get this question a lot this time of year and the reality is that you probably can’t and won’t keep everyone happy all of the time.

What I feel I’m being told when I get this question is, “I’m exhausted mentally because I’m trying to be everything to everyone and I seem to always put myself last in that equation”. Boom, there it is. That is the root of the challenge. How do I get everything done, keep everyone happy, especially myself?

Now, I am not a therapist. I come to you today as one that has not always, or will be, perfect in this area. I’ve failed more at it than most, but through that I have found a few performance hacks that help me. I hope to give you good insight today; as much out of my failure than any success.

There are four areas that I would like to chat with you today and I’ll describe them in no particular order because they're all important...