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“The time to make friends is
before you need them.”
John Wooden Certainly there are games that you
can play alone and sometimes there is a great value in playing a game
that is solely determined by your expertise alone. And it’s true that
the happiest people are those who are concentrating on being their own
personal best, instead of proving something to the rest of the world.
But the synergy that happens when others are included in the playing,
when there is a team, expands the accomplishment and fun. “Never go it alone.”
Lee Iacocca! In corporate business, a hot trend is Relationships. There are whole departments focusing only on this: CRM, Customer Relationship Management. You've heard real estate is a numbers game. I passionately believe that it is easier to win the Real Estate Game when it is a relationship game instead of numbers game. One of the most common reasons for agent burnout is…what used to work: just focusing on numbers, is returning less and less. The agent must do more, harder faster, just to keep up with what they used to be able to do. If less effort……. more results sounds appealing, building your team is key. With the new rules, new players may come from unexpected places. What new players could give you a stronger team? Think not only of the obvious
people, but include everyone you do business with. People like to do
business with people they know and like AND with people who do business
with them! Be creative in designing a list of 100 people who could be part of your team. New Players, New
Positions
Traditionally the top agents have made some alliances with other real estate related partners, such as your title company and your loan officers. Here is a chart you can use to identify these people.
Grow Your Network
Now, let’s expand the team! There are, undoubtedly, many merchants or services that you use that would be good to add to your team. People like to do business with people who they know, like and trust AND people who do business with them. So over the next month, keep this list with you and each time you spend money somewhere, consider adding that person to your list. I’ve started this list for you. Expand it with additional categories that fit your life and business. These people will usually be others who are building their businesses and would benefit from some mutual referrals. Expand Your Guru
Status
You are already the Guru of Real Estate to a group of people. Maybe it is a small group of past customers, clients and your family. Or, maybe you have done a good job at creating a niche for yourself with a large group and you are THE GOLF COURSE PRPOPERT GURU in your town. Regardless of how successful you have been in the past, the conscious expansion of products, services and people to serve your niche will make you more valuable and increase your guru status. Who are your ideal clients are? Who are those clients that you most often serve?
Where you are farming or prospecting? What hobbies or interests
do you enjoy? What are the
common demographics of the people who are in these categories? What
services or needs might be valuable or of interest to them? The list
below is to brainstorm these potential team players. If you are a golfer, it could be the
golf courses, the golf shops, the golf pros, etc. If you farm a neighborhood, all the small business owners, entrepreneurs or service people who live in that neighborhood or want the business of those living there. These three charts give you 100 contacts. It is estimated that every person has an average of 200-250 people in their sphere of influence. You are shifting your focus from looking for the client to focusing on people who may know and refer a client. Your sphere is then greatly expanded. If you add 2 new team members each week will expand it to over 100 by the end of the year! This is a more profitable and fun way to prospect than cold calling. Once you have expanded the team, it
is important that you make them feel important and part of the team. An
ongoing program and automatic system to stay in contact, to reward and
to send as many outgoing referrals as you can is critically important. |
