10 Characteristics of Successful Agents – Part 2
Last week we covered the first ten thoughts I had on the millionaire real estate agents, and we’re going to cover 11 to 20 today. Before we start, I want to share with you—last week was really a fun week. We had just under 2000 attend our Production Retreat in Las Vegas. We were very lucky, because I had 86 of the 94 millionaires in the room. I had about 30 of them up on the stage at different times sharing ideas and thoughts. If you were there, thank you for being there. It was an incredible experience. You can stream it live if you want. Go to my website, www.mikeferry.com and look for the streaming portion of what we did.
We had in the room over 500 people that are doing over 50 deals a year, which when you think about, it is incredible. One of the brokers walked in and said, “I’d like to have those 500 people in my office!” I said, “Who wouldn’t?” Well the reason I’m telling you this is that we’re very lucky. We attract the best of the best of the best, not only to our coaching, but to our events. If you want to become one of the best (which I think you do, which is why you watch Mike Ferry TV) you may want to participate in one of our events.
10 Characteristics of Successful Agents (Cont.)
We’re going to cover points 11 to 20 today, of the 30 points. I’m very lucky to spend a good portion of my time with the most successful agents in real estate. I question them, listen to their answers, study their behaviors and activities. I hang around them and absorb what they do so I can share it with people like yourself. Understand, anything they can do, you can also do. It’s not “anything they can do, you can do better”. But anything they can do, you also can do yourself.
11. Work Daily to Keep Negativity Out
They work daily on keeping negativity out of their business and their personal lives. They control what goes on inside their heads. How do they control the negativity in the world we live in? Because there is so much negativity in the world we live in today.
One of the many advantages of the Internet and the fast paced exposure to things, people and ideas. We get to hear and see things instantly at any time. You can find out the weather in Baghdad or Sydney, Australia right now. You can find out if there was a car accident in New York City if you’re in Los Angeles. So that’s good, instant access to information.
The bad side of that is that the information isn’t always very positive. We have to learn to restrict the time we spend with negative people. We have to restrict the time we spend listening to the negative news, reading the negative news, etc, because as you know most news is not very positive. What keeps these incredible sales people that are making a million plus dollars a year so inspired, so on track, so engaged, is they limit negativity dramatically.
I coached three incredible fellows—John Ames, Josh Barker and Bernie Gallerani. They all earned several million dollars a year individuals as agents. What’s interesting is we never discuss the news. We never discuss what’s going on in the world. We don’t discuss anything bad, because there’s nothing bad going on in their lives. If you really question these three guys, they’re like me. They don’t know what goes on in the world, because they’re not reading the news! The positive thoughts they put in their head keep them productive and moving forward on a regular basis.
12. Always Stay Competitive
The millionaire men and women are competitive people. Now, that doesn’t mean they were a great football player, or they’re a scratch golfer in golf. They’re competitive because they want to win. What they want to do is beat the business plan they have set. They want to first achieve and then go past the goals they set.
I get asked all the time, “How do you deal with your competition?”
And I go, “What do you mean how do I deal with them?”
“Well you’re competing with a lot of other great speakers and coaches.”
First of all, it’s nice to have other people out there doing the work I do. But they don’t make any difference to me, because I’m competing against the business plan we have for my company. I’m competing against the goals we’ve set.
We set goals for how many people we want to have at the retreat. We came up short on our goal. Our goal is to have 2000 bodies in the room. I think it was 1965, so we lost by about 35. I can live with that. We had a goal to engage so many people in that room in the contracts that we have available for coaching. We surpassed it by quite a bit. I’m excited about that. I’m competing against the goals I’ve set. The millionaires are not competing against the competition. They’re competing against themselves and what they have planned.
Do you have a plan? Do you have a goal for 2019? Are you competing against that? If you are, you’re a competitive person, and you’re going to win more often.
13. Focus on the Big Picture
They focus on the big picture, the long term plans they have, and the long term results they want. Josh, Bernie and John—we talk about their three-year plan, their five-year plan and their ten-year plan. What do you really want from this business a year from now? What do you want from this business three years from now? Do you want to be moving from 25 or 50 to 100 to 150 transactions a year? Do you want to move from $65,000 in gross revenue to $300,000 in revenue in the next three years? You have to focus on the big picture, and it’s hard because many people around you don’t think very big.
14. Focus Energy into Business Goals
They’re focused, and they put their energy into their business goals. They’re almost obsessive in what they do. As I’ve said before, their attitude is “I can”. Their attitude is “I will”. Their attitude is not “I won’t because I can’t”. They’re obsessive by nature. They’re laser focused on their business plan. Their energy is put into accomplishing what they set out to do.
I have people say to me, “Gosh, you know some of these top producers are rude!”
And I say, “What do you mean?”
“Well, I’m in their office and they don’t talk to me!”
Well are you going to buy a home from them? You can list your home with them. They have a business to run. They have a plan. They’re obsessed with obtaining the plan.
15. Accept Failure as Part of the Process
They accept failure as part of the business, because it’s part of the process. I’m so amazed that somebody will say to me, “I was told no and I was just almost overwhelmed. I can’t believe that I contact this person they said no.” The millionaires accept the failure—the “No”—as part of the process. It’s part of what goes on in life.
Here’s what I said to the audience last Monday. We have just under 2000 people in the room. Half of those people are existing coaching clients, half are people that attend seminars. About 20 percent of the rest are people that are with us for the first time. I started the seminar with the goal to get 100 percent of the people to buy into 100 percent of what I taught on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.
Let’s face it—half the room is coaching clients, and I’m still trying to sell them on what they can accomplish. Half the room, I was trying to sell them on taking anything that I did and said, and use it to enhance their business and life. If I got 10 percent of those 1000 people to buy into what I was teaching, I thought it was a win.
I get rejected way more than I get accepted. My energy, my goal is to get more people like you involved in what we do. The millionaires are obsessed with getting the goal. They’re obsessed with putting their focus and energy into accomplishing the goals they set, which at times makes them not very friendly to people.
16. Exercise High Levels of Daily Discipline
They exercise high levels of daily discipline. Keyword, daily. They know that they have to be in the office a certain time. They know there’s certain activities they have to be involved in throughout the course of the day, and they’re involved in those activities on a regular basis. Their discipline is one of their greatest advantages, because it keeps them focused on their schedule, on their plan, on their ability to do a good job for their buyers and sellers. It makes them stay with the customer service levels they offer.
17. If Yes is Still an Option, Don’t Accept No
They don’t accept a “no” when a “yes” is still available. They’ll stop at a for sale by owner knowing they may not be home. They stop even though they may know they may be rejected, because they also know that there is a possible “yes” in that FSBO. They play the win game.
I want you to build your confidence. I want you to become strong and effective. Take a scratch pad and drive down the street. When you see a for sale by owner sign, stop your car. Write the address and put a check-mark as a win. Get out of the car and you walk up to the door. Put a check mark because you’re actually going to the FSBO. Knock on the door. Put a check mark, it’s a win. They answer the door, and you use some of the script we offer. It’s a win. You complete asking all the questions. It’s a win. What if they invite you in to look at the property? It’s another win. You set an appointment for later that day. It’s a win. You can win 10, 12 times before you ever actually make a listing appointment.
If you change your attitude (which is what the millionaires do), there is always a win and or a “yes” available.
18. Delegate Nonproductive Activities
Their greatest strength is that they delegate nonproductive activities to other people. If we take the real estate business and draw a little tiny dot in the middle of the paper that you can hardly see. That’s you making a sale, taking a listing that sells. Off that dot, there might be 7, 8, 10 extensions. Those extensions are the mortgage, the title, the escrow, the home inspection—all the facets of what has to be done.
Here’s why the millionaires make money—they’ll have an assistant, they have a relationship with a mortgage company, they relationship with the title company. A home inspector to do the work, a contractor of repair work has to be done. They have a obviously fire insurance company they recommend to their buyers and sellers. They delegate out all that work which is not their job. Their job is to find a buyer, sell my house. Their job is to find a listing and get it sold.
Then we have all these wonderful affiliate services around us whose job is to take care of the transaction once the transactions are made. Delegate means to give away, to give up authority, to give somebody responsibility. Delegate means do your job of creating revenue, and let all the circle of great people take care of the transaction.
19. Practice Skills Until Perfection
The millionaires are skills perfectionists. They’ve perfected their skills. What is the difference between an amateur and a pro? The perfection of skills. If you follow sports—football, baseball, basketball, golf—the difference between the pro and the amateur is the perfection of the skills. Want to have more confidence doing your job every day? Perfect the skills, and you’re going to have more confidence in doing your job every day. Perfect the skills, develop the confidence.
20. Presentation and Performance
They’re great at presenting themselves, and they’re great at presenting their services. In essence, it’s not just a listing presentation, it’s a performance. It’s all about the ability to present.
What is the difference between an entertainer on Broadway or on the Las Vegas strip who gets paid $500,000 per performance, versus somebody singing in a local bar with a jar hoping, to get a few dollars thrown in? Their ability to perform. Their job is to perform at a higher level. You’ve got to do whatever it takes to perfect your performance skills. Now you’re going to say, “well, it’s not who I am.” It’s who you have to become if you’re going to succeed at the level you want.
So there’s 11 through 20. Next week we’re going to cover a 21 through 30, and then we have a lot of great information we’re gonna share with you from the Production Retreat over the next 30, 60, 90 days.
It’s the 21st of January. Months go by fast. In nine days, one twelfth of the year is gone. How are you doing on the goals you’ve set? If you need some help, let us know.
Have a great week. Watch this message five times this week, and you’re gonna be more productive than you are today. Thanks for today.
Mike Ferry is the global leader in real estate coaching and training. Watch Mike each week as he discusses a variety of topics to help real estate agents and brokers. Grow your real estate business by improving your mindset, developing your skills and creating a plan of action to increase your production!
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