| A Magnificicent Obsession | ||||||||
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Things got interesting when we looked at the next group that had a “marketing focus” (they actively market to a geo farm or target demographic or group 2-3 times a month). They averaged 22 transactions, $13.2 million in volume and $292k in GCI. Then the most astonishing results. Those that had a “SOI focus” (working a SOI is considered their dominate activity). They averaged 65 transactions, $19 million in volume and made $453,295 in GCI. All three groups worked 46 weeks a year. All three groups spent roughly the same amount to market or promote themselves. All three were a cross section of the US, various brands and companies, and marketplaces. The only difference as a group was what they focused on. What makes one agent make $180k vs. $450k? Why did one group out-perform the others if they all did similar things?
They constantly looked for ways to go above and beyond. When others send Christmas cards to their data base they send birthday cards – to their SOI’s children. They learned to care about the things their clients care about. They pamper, care for and make their clients feel like they are the most important people on the planet. One stand-out invited his “Top 15″ on a trip to Tuscany for 10 days to ride Vespas. Total cost $50k. Total reward – unfathomable. These clients had already referred 5+ closed transactions each. It’s fair to say that he’ll get at least 5 more (5 x average price of 2.5 million x his average commission x 15 people = $1.875 million in commissions). This group considers their primary job to spoil their sphere. They sell houses. They are good at it. They understand people are more important than transactions or houses and that lesson has paid them very, very well.
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| PS. Have you seen our individual agent and team program that combines coaching, advanced marketing strategies with hundreds of pieces of personalized print ready marketing collateral, specialized training, and all the tools you need to get into the top 1% of agents nationwide? Check out YourRECoach.com for more the details. | ||||||||
| Recommended Reading – | ||||||||
| Copyright 2007-2010 – Mastery-Coaching.com and Chris Pollinger – ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. | ||||||||
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We did a composite of our Mastery Coaching clients through our proprietary business analysis tool which we do annually to track our client’s business (and our success or failure as coaches). We found that the average client that had a “prospecting focus” (they spend 10 hours a week or more actively prospecting) closed an average of 16 transactions with an average volume of $7.8 million. Their average GCI (gross commission income) was $180k. Not bad given the market conditions the last 12 months.
It’s boiled down to their focus. What they focused on allowed them to develop into their magnificent obsession. While the first group got really good at scripts dialogs and overcoming objections, the second group developed great ads and mailers that made the phone ring, the SOI group became obsessed with being thoughtful and providing delightful surprises to their people.
There’s an old sales adage that says “People buy from people they know, like and trust,” and public relations (PR) is one of the most cost-effective ways to build the awareness, goodwill and credibility that help influence buying decisions. Not that we would suggest that REALTORS® use PR to the exclusion of all other marketing tactics, but a healthy dose of PR, combined with a little advertising, direct mail, or other tactics, can provide a big sales boost for many small businesses.
These are three of the most helpful words you can read while looking at a large map and unsure of where you are.
It’s with this in mind that we are launching our completely re-developed business analysis tool (
weeks” class. So, we throw the newbies to the vultures (vendors who sell BS products that do nothing but line the pockets of the vendors and serve as filler our nation’s dumps). We let them sling mud on a wall and see what sticks and hope against hope that they will be one of the very few fortunate ones who will survive the first three years.
the country’s defenses budget. Those massive advertising dollars don’t buy you anything; they just keep you from losing your market share to your competition. Think 10% of your CGI to dedicate to your overall marketing budget to spend annually with ½ of that going to advertising.
Consistency is absolutely key. Consistency will trump all other factors. Rule of thumb is 1 x week for the first 10 weeks then every 10 days until you have 35% market share or more. Only then can you go to 2 x a month. With that said, I will tell you that in our media planning with clients we stack the mail to reflect the coming trends in production. For example, we do less mailing in November and December (1 piece each) and save the extra pieces for February and March which is 6-8 weeks before the busy listing season. It’s a game of impressions a year and keeping top of mind. Anything less is a waste of money. 
Budget before you get started. Budget for a year at a time. We encourage clients to take 15-20% of their gross commissions and put them into their marketing budgets if they are wanting to grow (10% if they want to maintain). Out of the money that comes in, we allocate and take on mail campaigns is 12 month intervals. Only take on the amount of houses that you can dedicate and be consistent for a 12 month period. It is better to have a smaller number of homes and do it right than run out of marketing funds or cut corners.
There are good books, and there are great books – Ries and Trout wrote a great book about marketing that apply across industries and has some tremendous application to the real estate business. Here are the lessons summarized from the 
weeks” class. So, we throw the newbies to the vultures (vendors who sell BS products that do nothing but line the pockets of the vendors and serve as filler our nation’s dumps). We let them sling mud on a wall and see what sticks and hope against hope that they will be one of the very few fortunate ones who will survive the first three years.
First, if I asked how much of your business comes from your SOI, you’d probably tell me that it is 70-90%. Although that is true, it is very hard to use that in a meaningful way when we are trying to grow our net income. With our coaching, we use the yield number. You would work through your individual yield during your initial coaching session and re-visit it annually during your yearly check up so you can stay on track. But as a reminder, your yield is how many transactions out of every 100 SOI relationships you generate a year.
When I’ve been invited to speak to a group of REALTORS® one of my first questions is “WHY” are you in the real estate business? You may think it surprising, but more that 70% of the time, the answers I get are:
For what it is worth, here’s some of the lessons I’ve learned from blogging –