Realtor© Secrets To Not Burning Out & Hitting The Wall

Wade Webb on February 3, 2021

realtor hit wall burn out2020 was an unprecedented year that challenged us all to be resourceful and work harder and smarter than we ever have before and some of you might be experiencing the dreaded “B word” – burnout and hit a wall? Or others have been so focused on keeping their real estate business afloat that they’ve ignored everything else – and are starting to pay the price. That’s why I thought it was a good time for a reminder that being successful means more than your income goals. It’s about the total picture, and your health plays a huge part in that. I for one can share that 2020 hit me with some covid cushion that I really don’t need. I am a huge believer that energy management is far more important than time management and without energy and vitality you cannot navigate any stormy sea like we had in 2020. Let me share with you some ideas on health and vitality so you can avoid burnout and kick start your 2021 full of the energy you need.

Health & Happiness Tip 1: Schedule Some “Phone Free” Time Off. There’s certainly the “grit” and “hustle” side of this business some people are attracted to. Some agents seem to relish it… touting how they’re available 24/7/365. I’d contend that’s not healthy (nor all that desirable), and you can’t keep it up forever. Sure… go hard while you’re working and give it all you’ve got. But make sure to take some breaks, too. One of the hardest things for any real estate professional to do is to turn off their phone, but it’s essential to your long-term success. The key is to plan some time off so you can inform the people you’re working with and delegate tasks that might need to be handled while you’re “off.” Reasonable clients will understand if your outgoing VM message explains that you’re taking a personal day and have a contingency plan in place for them. Will you do this? Can you put down your phone for a day? Let me know in the comments below.

Health & Happiness Tip 2: Get Outta Town. A change in scenery can be extremely rejuvenating. And it doesn’t have to be a big vacation. If you work in a city, you might need a quick escape to get out in the country, or to the ocean or a lake. Maybe a day in the local mountains, if you’ve got that opportunity. Breathe some fresh air and let nature’s healing effect revitalize you.

Health & Happiness Tip 3: Schedule Mini Breaks Through 2021. Like I said above, working 24/7/365 is not a prescription for good health. But if you’re not careful, this industry will force you into a hectic schedule where you’re always flying by the seat of your pants. Work expands to fill the time we allow for its completion, so the key is to set boundaries for yourself. Schedule a half day off on your calendar and then honor that. Or maybe it’s just a couple hours. The key is to build those “breaks” into your calendar ahead of time, because if you wait until you’re all caught up and it finally feels like you can take a break, well… you know. It’ll never happen. So put some “mini breaks” in your calendar today!

Health & Happiness Tip 4: Commit to a More Disciplined Health Routine. Are you working out? Are you eating healthy? Are you even thinking of these things, or do they take a back seat because you’re “too busy” to deal with them? Good health doesn’t happen without planning, effort, and discipline. I know you’re busy. I know it’s hard to fit workouts and healthy meal prep into your crazy schedule. But those things are essential to your long-term wellbeing. Make the commitment. If you’re struggling with this and just can’t seem to figure it out ask someone to be your accountability partner.

Health & Happiness Tip 5: Get More Rest. I know, I know… you’re probably laughing at the idea of getting more sleep because you’re burning the candle at both ends and can still barely keep up. But that approach can only take you so far. Without eight hours of sleep per night, you’re eventually going to start breaking down. So maybe it takes more steps than just going to bed earlier… maybe it’s time to hire an assistant and delegate some tasks… because your future health depends on it! Or maybe it’s time to introduce more systems and automation to your business, so you’re not hand-crafting every last element of a transaction when you don’t need to be. Whatever the case, make a point of getting the sleep you need – or know that you’ll pay for it later.

Health & Happiness Tip 6: Avoid the Energy-Sucking Vampires. Putting yourself in a toxic environment isn’t healthy. You know this. But it’s difficult sometimes. We all have those things or people in our lives that seem to inject constant negativity. I believe it’s up to you to protect your energy and not subject yourself to the energy-sucking vampires. Minimize your time in these environments as much as possible, and you’ll not only be happier, but more productive, too. Brian Tracy once said “Change your income by just changing your friends.”

Health & Happiness Tip 7: Be Intentional. What are you watching? What are you reading? What are you listening to? What is going in and what are you focusing on the majority of the time? I don’t know who said this but “Garbage in you get garbage out. Good stuff in you get good stuff out.” Watch, read, listen to the good content and be intentional about it at least 15 minutes a day and best time of the day is right at the beginning to set the day off right! I found that my ability to cope with the 2020 pandemic is purely based on this practice and know it will do the same for you in 2021!!

So excited and grateful to put 2020 behind and move to a healthy and happy 2021 and for us all to have the lives that we desire to live. Feel free to reach out to me about the strategies that you find have an amazing impact on your health and happiness in 2021.

 

Strength and courage,
Wade

Sharing A Covid Miracle For Small Business

Wade Webb on January 13, 2021

Dave Portnoy For so many years now I have shared what I feel is such an untapped market for real estate agents, the small business owners and service providers in our communities. Almost every agent focuses the majority of their time on P2P ( person to person ) marketing and never seem to tap into the B2B ( business to business ) marketing and build relationships and become their communities real estate professional of choice. Since the pandemic hit the world the need for supporting and serving the small business owner and service provider has gone to a new level. Think about it real estate agents are independent business owners and could do what we can to help them survive and develop relationships that may lead to business in the future and gain new relationship share and save the business community in our trading areas. I am not saying it is about personal gain, I am talking about stepping up and helping fellow business owners in need and let the universal principle of reciprocity take care of the rest. For more than a year now I have been watching social media celebrity and founder of Barstool Sports, Dave Portnoy. This wild and crazy, outspoken guy does the most hilarious pizza review, sports talk show and political rants that you will ever listen too. I am not sharing this with you to get agents to start watching Dave and his offside content but to share a story that just hit home with me over the holidays and feel it needs to be told.

Dave Portnoy managed to build an empire worth 120 million over the last few years with his social media influences and has been calling out the government and their lack of ability to support the business community all over the N. America. On December 20, 2020 one of Portnoy’s good friends calls him out and says to him “Why doesn’t he put his money where his mouth is?” In true Portnoy competitive fashion he does exactly that and creates a legitimate charitable fund called Barstool Sports Fund with $500,000 of his own money. The fund will assist business owners across the nation. All the business owner needs to do is prove their were a viable business prior to Covid, must still be paying all their employees and why they need the money for assistance and email, video or send a letter to Portnoy to be considered for the assistance. Now the best part of the story is in only three weeks this fund has grown to more than 20 million dollars and climbing from more than 140,000 donors and has already provided more than a 100 businesses with the funds they need to make it in 2021!! Watching the Barstool Sports Facebook page video posts, being updated every day by the way, when Portnoy facetimes the business owners and lets them know they will be receiving the funding is something so inspiring it can’t help but warm your heart and restore your faith in humanity.

I don’t share this story to ask you to dig into your own pockets and start a fund like Portnoy has. I wanted to give you all hope and encouragement to start 2021 and hope that you will find some way to make a difference in your business communities and grow your relationship share in your business in an untouched market for real estate agents and give yourself the greatest gift of making a difference in others lives when they are in the greatest need of their lives.

 

Strength and courage,
Wade

Realtors© Secrets To Making Your Calls

Wade Webb on November 25, 2020

When you think about it, there’s nothing difficult about picking up the phone and calling a few people. Right? It’s easy to do… and also easier not to do. And that’s the danger. So why do we have this reluctancy to picking up the phone and making a call? Why is it so easy for us to not make those calls? I talk with a lot of successful agents on a regular basis. And if I had to boil down what makes those people so successful, it’s not that they’re all insanely innovative and breaking new ground. It’s not that they figured out some marketing “hack” no one else knows. It’s not dumb luck. It’s one simple, common trait – they’re doing the work. They make the calls and contact the people and have the discipline to do it over and over and over even though it is not what they want to do nor is it glamorous but it is the key to their success. It goes back to one of my favorite quotes: “Do the thing, have the power.” –Emerson. Having the discipline to take consistent action is really what separates the winners from the also-rans in this business.

Today I’m sharing three ways to overcome that resistance to making your calls so you can start booking more appointments… consistently!

1. Get Prepared In Advance – I’m sure you’ve had this happen… You wake up with the best of intentions to make your calls. But before you actually begin, something comes up. Or you “remember” a more urgent task you should be doing (which, in reality, is just an excuse). Or you simply avoid it because you don’t feel like it. And over time, this failure to make your calls is absolutely killing your productivity. It undercuts your potential. It’s the biggest reason why agents ride that rich/poor rollercoaster and fail to create any predictability in their businesses. This often happens because you didn’t prepare ahead of time. A productive prospecting session begins the night before. You need to get everything prepared so there can be no distractions and no excuses to get started the next morning. The night before, be sure to gain clarity on things like: Who am I going to call? What’s the outcome I want to achieve? What scripts do I need to achieve those objectives? Answer these three questions at the end of each day, get everything ready, and you’re much more likely to follow through on your appointment setting calls the next day.

2. Get Yourself Charged Up – Half-hearted prospecting is not successful prospecting. Even if you’re not “feelin’ it” when the time comes to start making your calls, you need to know how to get yourself to a peak state. And it’s more than just mental. In fact, I think it starts with physicality. A great way to get that energy up is to move your body. Jump on a mini trampoline, do some jumping jacks or whatever it takes to get your blood flowing. Then comes the mental part of it… your affirmations and strategic questions to put yourself in a winning mindset. “I’m a lean, mean, appointment-setting machine!” “What do I love about my clients?” “What do I love about setting appointments?” Do this regularly and I guarantee you’ll have more productive call sessions and build some serious “appointment setting” momentum.

3. Share Your Results? – What’s your first response to the suggestion that you should actually publish the results of your prospecting sessions to the public? I suspect many agents will feel like, “I don’t want to do that. It makes me look desperate or like I’m a telemarketer.” Do you feel that way? Because if so, here’s my response: You’re looking at it all wrong, and your whole mindset around prospecting might be off base. Remember this: You’re not calling people to “sell” them something. You’re calling to check in, catch up, build rapport, answer questions, and inform people of market happenings. You’re calling because you care, and because that’s what trusted advisors do. Once you start thinking about it from that perspective, it becomes a no-brainer to follow up each session by sharing what you achieved on social media.

Imagine a post that says something along these lines in your Instagram Stories: “Just had 10 conversations with past clients and sphere… Keeping them informed on what’s going on in the market. Every day I do this to keep my clients informed. That’s what it’s all about!” Maybe you even sprinkle in some stats, like this: “70 calls made, 6 great conversations, 2 potential buyers and one homeowner considering putting their home on the market. Can’t wait to help them move on to the next exciting stage of their lives!” Not only does that show people that you care, but it informs people that you’re active and you have a system for finding buyers and getting first jump on listings… basically establishing that you’re the go-to “knowledge broker” for your market. A consumer who sees that every day in your Stories will definitely be impressed, and you’ll gain top-of-mind awareness in the process. So start doing it!

I am hoping these help build in some accountability for your prospecting sessions and make it easier for you to pick up that phone consistently and book more appointments! Let me know which one(s) you’ll start doing in the comments below!

 

Strength and courage,
Wade

It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

Wade Webb on November 18, 2020

realtor most wonderful time of yearWe are approaching the single most important time of year as it has been for each of my 25 years in the real estate business. As the listings and sales season start to temper we have the tendency to want to take it easy and relax but I am here to say… NOT JUST YET!!! This was the time of year where I took full advantage of my time and made the most of the market season. This time of year can be for some a difficult time in real estate or a time where the market gives you the greatest gift which is TIME. The time for you to do the things you know are important but the year has just been too busy to do those really important activities. One of my most impactful and meaningful activities for my business is what I called my “Holiday 100” My holiday hundred is my goal to personally visit 100 of my best clients and see them during the holiday season. 3 clients a day for 33 days.

Christmas Holiday Visit Plan Checklist  – Nov 23 – Dec 23, 2020
  1. Create the client visit list (anyone who bought, sold, asked for help in 2020, service providers, A clients )
  2. Gift – baking, wine, coffee mug, turkey, gift wrap, chocolate, etc. $15 budget
  3. Calendar or Day Planner or Christmas Card
  4. Year in review letter on holiday letterhead ( photo of the year on letter )
  5. Call in advance and book 45 minute visits. ( Max 4 visits a day )
  6. Rest of database just gets letter and Christmas card in mail

So in November, I would sit down and write out my year in review letter. I made a list of all the events and activities personally and professionally that happened to me and my family. I would write about my hobbies, my travels, my children and their activities, my wife and her year and all our successes and challenges in the past year. Find a favorite photo and place the photo and letter on holiday letterhead for my upcoming visits.

Think about it, we are in the relationship business and this letter invited my clients in to my personal and professional life. This helped deepen our relationship and find more items we have in common. They loved to read the letter every year. The next item was to have all my calendars delivered into the office by the middle of November to put my holiday letter and a calendar into large white envelopes. Then I would take my database and make a list of names and phone numbers of all my A and B clients. These are the people I would want to personally see from Mid-November until Mid-December… this was usually about 100 clients. Print their address labels out and place them on the envelopes with the holiday letter and their calendar.

If you prefer it also works well to write a Christmas Card or order a Day timer instead of a calendar with your year in review letter. Keep in mind the calendar is not the secret weapon to my success. Feel free to be creative too… it’s all about the relational contact and something to put in their hands to be Top of Mind. The final item was to find and purchase a hundred small holiday gifts. I chose Poinsettia flowers or homemade spiced apple cider mix, scented candle, bottle of mini bailey’s, holiday scratch and win ticket, homemade peanut brittle or Purdy’s chocolates… I tried to maintain about a $15 item budget. Now I have my Santa client pack ready and then came the most important part of all…

…Booking the appointments.

I would then take the time to personally call and set up a “pop by” holiday visit to their home in hour segments and I would stay for 45 minutes per client. I would let them know when I arrived that I had another visit within an hour so couldn’t stay too long. TIP – when booking appointments let them know why you are coming. If I called and left a message they wouldn’t call back?! When I called again I said I had a little something for them for the holiday season and they would say “oh, we thought you wanted to sell our house and were not interested so didn’t call you back”

The 33 day festive client visits were amazing. Clients were so surprised and would tell me they never thought they would see me again after our last real estate transaction. They were so pleased with the letter, calendar and small gift but most important was the gift of my time!! Ken Blanchard wrote in the book “The Generosity Factor” that we all have gifts to give. Our Time, Touch, Talents and Treasures. Never underestimate your greatest gift of “TIME”… your most precious commodity. Don’t just swing by and drop the items off. Stop and give the client your gift of time. This activity alone would set me up for a good month.

If you don’t think it’s worth the bother consider my February with 27 deals in 28 days and all of it from these appointments, leads and referrals for real estate from taking the time to share with my clients prior to the holiday season. I can’t tell you enough what this will do for your waist line, all those treats …..I mean you and your business but most important your relationship with your clients.

Strength and courage,
Wade

What’s Your Money Mindset?

Wade Webb on November 11, 2020

realtor money mindset“Identity is this incredible invisible force that controls your whole life. It’s invisible, like gravity is invisible, but it controls your whole life.” —Tony Robbins

One of the most powerful forces over us is our identity. Identify as someone who is fit and healthy? You’ll prove it by working out daily. Believe that you’re great at math? Then you ace those tests. And when you identify as someone who is “just not good with money,” you will prove that to yourself over and again by quitting a good job, spending recklessly or losing your wallet every few months. Humans are incapable of acting out of line with our identity and our subconscious works tirelessly to make us consistent—for better or worse. If you want to get rich, then, the solution is to change your identity. And THAT starts with changing your thinking.

 

Here are some questions you can ask that will do the trick.

1. What negative beliefs do you have about money? Dig deep for your own greatest hits. What do you believe about money that’s preventing you from having it? Do you have a rich uncle with horrifying political views and think all wealthy people must be like that? Money is only a tool, and wealth is not correlated to a person’s character or political views. How can you discover your beliefs about money? Pay close attention to the language you use. “I can’t afford it” is a mantra that shuts off your brain. Yes, you can afford it in some future state—you just need to get creative. A healthier replacement belief might be, “How can I afford it?”

2. Why do you deserve money? The most common block about making money is the feeling that we don’t deserve it. We tell ourselves in myriad ways that we’re not smart, kind, attractive, capable, experienced or fill-in-the-blank enough. Challenge that thinking. Make a list right now (yes, right now!) of all the reasons you deserve money. You might write down, like I did, that I deserve money because I’m a kind, ethical man with an abundance of integrity and that the money will be put to use for humanity’s good. Maybe you deserve it because you work especially hard, or take care of a sick loved one, are incredibly intelligent and capable, because you’ve paid your dues—or, because everyone deserves wealth and abundance, including you.

3. Who could I become with money? I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing that formative life lesson that is being broke. I’m grateful for the lessons it taught me, but I’d never want to go back there. As a broke person I was always stressed, which erased my sense of humor. I stopped seeing friends. I stopped buying new clothes and having a beer on a patio in the summer, which made me happy. I lost my self-confidence and self-esteem, and because of that, couldn’t possibly do great work. Learning how to create and grow wealth changed all of that and helped me become a more vibrant, generous, less uptight person—my real self. I like myself much more as a prosperous person. Who would you become without the guillotine of poverty hanging over your head?

4. Who could I help with money? A sole focus on yourself is a good recipe for ending up alone and miserable. The secret to a happy life is to constantly be contributing. We all want to be useful and that happens because of what we give, not what we get. If you had all the money you want now, who could you help? Could you pay off your parents’ mortgage? Send your daughter to the best school in the world? Be less stressed and a better partner at home? Give to charity? Find a reason outside of yourself for creating wealth, and the dollars will flow.

5. What has money already given you? There’s a psychological effect called “disqualifying the positive,” and it happens when we ignore good experiences and focus only on the bad. People do this often with money: We forget how much that money already does and has done for us and see only what’s lacking. We can combat this by literally counting our blessings. On a piece of paper, write down the amazing things you have or had in your life because of money—your home, car, education, lifesaving surgery or medication, vacations, toys, food, or gym membership. Thanks, money! When we remind ourselves of what money is capable of giving us, we appreciate it. And when money feels appreciated? Well it comes to visit more often. There Is Plenty to Go Around “The truth is that there’s more than enough good to go around.” —Michael Beckwith

There’s one specific money belief that’s probably more important than all the others, and it’s the complete opposite of what most people believe: There is plenty of wealth to go around. No, we’re not talking about printing money, we’re still on the subject of beliefs. If you think that wealth creation is a zero-sum game, i.e. that someone has to lose for you to gain, then you will always struggle with money. That’s the scarcity mindset. The truth is, wealth can be created out of nothing—just put an industrious pioneer in the middle of a forest and you’ll see. The economy grows not because of clever tricks by central banks, but because real people are creating real value for other people through a product or service. The pie is constantly growing, and when one person gets a slice, they don’t deprive someone else of theirs. Adopt this belief with full faith, and you’ll stop competing for wealth and start creating it.

 

Strength and courage,
Wade

The Power Of Leverage for REALTORS©

Wade Webb on October 28, 2020

power of leverage for realtorsDo you own a job or do you own a business? When you stop does your income stop? Then you own a job.

If you are generating business and income while you are away from real estate, then you own a business. One of the greatest challenges for most agents is leverage, automation, systemization and delegation.

This week we look at the question that all agents are seeking the answer to, “When and how do I hire a real estate assistant?” Some even go years contemplating whether or not it is the right time. Many people ask the same questions such as, “should I hire someone now?” and “can I even afford to hire someone?”

Now we know it can be scary to let someone into your business like that but in actuality, it needs to be done sooner than later. If you are constantly asking yourself if you should hire an assistant, then that alone should tell you that you need to hire someone. When it comes to affording one, if they are really doing their job, they will be making you a significant amount of money. Here we are going to break down when and how to hire an assistant through 3 different phases. Each phase comes with 4-5 questions and steps into ensuring you are using the right solution.

PHASE 1

In Phase 1 begin to ask yourself, “How do I know it is time to hire an assistant?” Like mentioned earlier, if you are asking this question, then it probably is necessary. You are clearly starting to become overwhelmed once you start even thinking about having someone to help.

Question 2, Do you stay up late doing non best use of time tasks, also known as “BUT’s”? These include very simple tasks that are more tedious than they are difficult. After a long day of meetings, going to open houses and meeting new clients, the last thing you are going to want to do is work yourself up on those simple everyday tasks you had to keep pushing aside because they weren’t a priority at the time.

Question 3, Do you have aspirations to grow beyond where you are now? If you have aspirations to grow financially or even from a team standpoint, you are never going to get there alone. The only way you are going to grow and get the most out of your potential is to have help. Asking for help can sometimes seem as a belittling standpoint but it shouldn’t be. Everyone at some point or another asks for a helping hand and so should you.

Question 4, Do you live in the clouds? Meaning, are you not able to implement in the way you need to? People who are in real estate, especially self-starters and entrepreneurs live in the clouds and you need to take this in account for needing the help with your brain storming.

Question 5, Do you know that you are losing business? The more you wait for help, the more projects you are going to have to shy away from because of how busy your schedule is. The longer you wait, the more money you are going to lose, period. Their job is not just to do the tedious and hard work, it is also to make you money. As they say, you don’t remember what you’ve forgotten.

PHASE 2

Now that you have finally agreed to yourself you need an assistant, it is time for phase 2. What are you supposed to look for when you start looking to hire?

The first thing you should be looking for is if they are detail and system oriented. In order to find someone who is, the best way is to make them follow multiple steps in the hiring process on the application. These can include: using a specific font size, only sending the application through a PDF, use a specific format, include this header and more. Now if they don’t follow the steps correctly you instantly know they are not good with following directions and are not detail oriented. In all, you are looking for a person who can get annoyed with a lack of order rather than too much detail or instruction.

The second thing you should be looking for is a naturally positive person. Now, this can be a little more difficult because in actuality, everyone is “nice” during their first interview. This is why you need to take it further and have multiple interviews in multiple settings. It is known miserable people can only act happy for so long until it takes one thing to take them over the edge. You need to be able to see how they act with more than one or two interactions with them to get their full personality and potential.

The third thing you should be looking for in a potential candidate is if they are self-driven. This person should be looking for ways to make your life easier. You want someone to anticipate everything so they can adapt to what is needed and what isn’t.

The fourth and final thing you should be looking for is someone that must be tech savvy and able to type. Now we’ve all seen how our grandparents and even sometimes our parents use a computer which is funny to us of course, but when it comes to hiring an assistant, it won’t be funny down the line when you are on a time crunch and they are still working on that first email. There are plenty of people in the world, especially nowadays with technology being as advanced as it is, that know how to use specific software and can adapt fast to new software.

PHASE 3

Moving on to the 3rd and final phase, you should now have hired someone but you don’t exactly know what to do next…

The first thing you should do is either take the time to properly train them or take the time to redo their work. You need to set aside time to be able to train them respectively because the quicker you train them, the quicker you will improve your business and make money.

Secondly, you need to give them clear expectations of what you want from them. You only have one chance to create expectation so think carefully. You want to set expectations such as what time they need to be there, the kinds of activities you expect them to do, what they should be able to do in a specific amount of time, etc. Be very clear in what you want out of them so then everyone is on the same page.

Next thing you want to do is teach them a marketing strategy to implement immediately. This is because it will shortly after bring your business making not only you feel good, but making them feel good as well. Try to teach them how to do things such as saving a search in a MLS, emailing listings, saving listings and similar tasks. All in all, they are adding to your business this way and it can only lead to great things.

Lastly, do NOT micromanage them! Many agents respond to this by saying, “but what if they don’t do it right?” Well, it is not that they won’t do it “right” it is that they won’t do it YOUR way. You need to let go of what you’ve been doing in the past to make room for the new because clearly something needs to change. Additionally, in most cases, they often do it better than you which may catch you off guard at first but you need to remember it is only making you and your business greater. You need to give them the freedom to be the person you hired them to be and let them do their thing.

If you haven’t already realized, there are only positive outcomes that will happen if you were to hire an assistant. After going through these 3 phases, you should see a massive positive change in not only the business but with you as a realtor. Now start looking for that assistant before all the good ones are taken!

Click to download your Free Guide To Hiring An Unlicensed Assistant –>> Agentsboost – Hiring An Unlicensed Assistant

Strength and courage,
Wade

Finding The Motivation To Finish 2020 and Start 2021 Strong

Wade Webb on October 14, 2020

realtor motivation finish 2020 strong2020, for many of us, has been a tough year in the real estate business, including myself. Many of you might not have heard a starting gun, but make no mistake about it… The race has begun. You’re in an all-out sprint to end the year. That’s how I’d encourage you to look at the time remaining in 2020. Whether you’re still making up for lost time or you’re striving to establish new personal bests, now is not the time to take your foot off the pedal.

It’s time to go hard.

Let me share some tips to keep you motivated… A new quarter is always a good opportunity to revisit your goals and establish some new commitments and promises to yourself. Maybe it’s one discipline you need to practice every day from now until 2021… Maybe it’s closing strong on the behaviors necessary to reach your 2020 goal… Whatever the case, it’s time to make some commitments and promises to yourself:

How many appointments will you book?

How many listings will you take?

How many closings?

How much revenue?

What about savings goals and money set aside for taxes?

It doesn’t have to be all about the bottom line, either.

So answer these questions:

What books do you need to read? Here are my recent recommendations.

What topics do you need to learn about?

What events will you attend?

What people do you need to know or follow?

Make Your Promises Public and hold yourself accountable to your promises to yourself. Once you’ve answered these questions, do not stick them away in a drawer. Do the opposite… Make it public information. Get them “up and visual” in front of you and your tribe. Track your numbers and measure your progress every day. The more emphasis you put on the numbers, the more you’ll follow through on the actions to achieve them. Remember, how you finish 2020 will also determine how you start 2021. Come January 1, will you be starting from a standstill, or will you be flying into the new year full of momentum? The harder you run in this sprint to the finish line, the better position you’re going to be in once 2021 arrives.

Which begs a few more questions you need to answer now:

When will you create your 2021 business plan? Reserve time on your calendar today!

Where do you need to expand your business to achieve your 2021 goals?

What resources do you need to achieve your 2021 goals? Is it time to start growing your team?

Take a Look at the Bigger Picture. Right now is also a good time to look beyond your business and check in on the equities of your life:

Health

Relationships

Spiritual

Wealth

Contribution

Friendships

Wisdom & Learning

Check out this video for more on that.

You might want to make a chart or simply ask yourself if you’re trending in the right or wrong direction in these categories. What do you need to work on to achieve better balance? You’ve Come A Long Way. Don’t Stop Now.

In closing, let me remind you how far you’ve come so far in 2020. Everything that’s been thrown at you, and you’re still standing. The strength is within you to persevere. I hope the questions I posed above provide the motivation to keep pursuing your goals throughout 2020. Don’t take your eyes off the prize. Keep going and make it happen!

Strength and courage,
Wade

REALTORS© It’s Time To Finish 2020 Strong….

Wade Webb on September 2, 2020

realtor finish 2020 strongI don’t know about you but the first few months of Covid19 seemed to just slowly drag on for me and then my summer seemed to just fly by and I cannot believe it is September 2020 already. We are beginning the last quarter of the year and for real estate sales professionals there are only two outcomes for us all. Will you finish in the red, or finish in the black? Will you finish strong or will you miss your targets and goals? Winning near the end of a game, final quarter or the year is a trait of all the best sales people I’ve ever met. Closing out strong is primarily the effect of a consistent quarter, there are still a handful of things you can do to strike off checkboxes in the win column to finish Q4 and your 2020 strong.

1. Be Active – There’s no substitute for being pleasantly persistent and respectfully blunt. Get out there and be straightforward. Taking action and getting after it is a choice and work on the high quality leads and not the low quality leads. Ask yourself “If you were me, would you forecast this listing or buyer prospect to buy or sell this month or in the next 90 days?” Remember, the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. Being direct will help you get real with your buying and selling customers and align yourself with the true sales cycle. It might also enable you to pull out a quick win.

2. Be Relational – For more than two decades now I have heard from thousands of top producing agents and almost 60% of their business comes from repeat and referral business. Focusing first on the people we already know, like and trust is working effectively and efficiently in this business. If you don’t have enough people that know, like and trust you then get out there and “S.T.P. – See The People” If you have a list of relationships in place that have not “felt the love” then get out there and see them and find ways to add value to them. Give them a call, email, text, handwritten note, small gift or even a coffee and just watch and see what happens with your last quarter.

3. Be Face to Face – Sales is a contact sport and we need to be belly to belly. Anyone of us making a large buying decision needs to know the person we deal with is someone we like and can trust. The only way we can sense if we like or trust someone is meeting them in person. Commit to the final quarter on sales activities that are primarily face to face and belly to belly activities like Open house, door to door, kiosk, networking, office duty, coffee, lunch, pop by, volunteer, client appreciation event or convention. This is a relationships business so get out there to create and deepen those relationships.

4. Stack-Rank Your Leads – We will never be able to manufacture more time, but we can manufacture more focus. I recommend looking at your pipeline and grading each opportunity on a scale of 1-4 with 4 being “highly closeable by the end of the quarter.” Then, focus your closing efforts on the 3’s and 4’s ONLY. You don’t have time to waste. If you don’t have enough 3 and 4 prospects in the funnel then take action and increase your marketing plan and daily prospecting, lead generation with planned marketing, activities that bring the level 3 and 4 prospects into your pipeline to finish Q3 strong.

5. Purge Your People – Almost every sales pro has them. They’re those big opportunities in the pipeline you’ve been working for months. The one deal that constantly disrupts your focus or the need to take action. The buyer or seller who is the time and energy vampire but you let them suck the life out of you because you don’t have anyone else to work with. Every time you think about punting them, you get a glimmer of hope from them. It’s time……Remove them!! They don’t deserve to be on your radar right now. Coming clean with yourself will open new vistas and invigorate you to add more productive opportunities to your pipeline.

6. Start Planning for 2021 – How much revenue do you plan to book in Q1 2021? Exactly how many new deals do you need to earn that amount? Knowing exactly what you plan to earn acts like a magnet to attract business your way. Having this exact number also allows you to project your required activities into month one of the new quarter. If you’re accurately measuring your deal metrics, you’ll be able to predict with some certainty how many calls, emails, appointments, presentations or opportunities you’ll need to make it rain. Ask for a review by management. Knowing your numbers is one thing, but to positively affect the business, it’s equally vital to understand your “why”, purpose and goals and have someone hold you accountable to them.

Bonus Tips: What NOT to Do in the last Quarter Of 2020

1. Don’t Work With Any Clients Just to Make your Numbers – Any client outside of your ideal customer profile will complicate servicing, produce a higher likelihood of churn or failure, and ultimately cost you more time and resources than it will be worth. Instead, focus on filling the pipeline with high quality leads for next quarter. It’s never too early to start filling the funnel.

2. Never Give Away More Than You Should – It’s just not worth it. You only have one reputation for your brand and offering, treat it respectfully. Concessions can quickly become a crutch that hides other issues. Sell on value, not on price. Don’t cut your commissions, offer cash backs or any other silly incentives just to get something before the year is done.

The key to closing out your quarter strong is to keep up the momentum that got you to where you are now. If you’re struggling to meet your numbers, it’s a time to embrace new sales insights and start building effective rhythm. Take the last minute shots on goal listed above, but remember to always be thinking about the bigger picture: Your reputation is the product of your past actions. Sales that allow you to produce predictable revenue are the future. Finish the last quarter and your year strong. I dare you!!

Strength and courage,
Wade

The Art Of Trust – Top 4 Steps for REALTORS©

Wade Webb on June 24, 2020

Building client trust realtorThis week we are looking at the timeless fundamentals of real estate sales professionals and their ability to be able to create trust, likability and connection with others. One of the single most important skills to have in our industry and yet very difficult for so many to be able to perform effectively. These are four of my favorite strategies I love to share with agents I coach and equip them with the knowledge, confidence and skills to be able to create trust within minutes with others:

1. Safe Island – this Floyd Wickman classic technique is the beginning to all meetings with people for their very first time. The anxiety, fear and uncertainty of meeting someone for the first time always feels strange and awkward for them and for us. Everyone loves to know what is going to happen, what is going to be talked about and how things will play out before it actually does. It is a simple way to calm the room and the meeting by taking them out on a “safe island”

“Mr. and Mrs. Buyer, before we discuss the details of buying a home. I’d like to take some time to tell you how I work and the services my company ABC REALTY offer to help bring about a satisfactory purchase. May I do that?   Thank you. The first thing we learn at ABC REALTY is if I have to show you more than a few homes physically, I am probably not doing my job properly and as a result I am wasting your time. So to help us find the right home, at the right price, in the shortest period of time I want to share a simple process with you.

Here is how it works.

Step One: I will ask you a series of questions to help me determine your needs and wants. Taking the time to listen to your responses will give me a better insight of what you really want in a home.

Step Two: Is our One Stop Shopping service. You see right here in our office we have every listing available in the Central Okanagan area. We are going to look at all the houses listed for sale. Not physically, but by the process of elimination. The reason for that is if we find you a home today you won’t have to procrastinate wondering if there is another home out there for you. We have eliminated all other possibilities. How does that sound?

Step Three: When we find the home you feel good about and before I ask you to make a decision. I will give you an estimate of all your costs. It is important you know exactly what you will need to purchase your home.

Step Four: We at ABC REALTY have developed a plan to professionally supervise each step in the buying process. We will handle the entire sale for you from the beginning to the end. Absolutely nothing will be left to chance.

Step Five: I subscribe all my clients to an after sale follow up service. For years after the sale, I will regularly contact my clients like yourself,  to handle any needs you might have regarding real estate in the future. I’m sure you’d want and expect this kind of service from the Realtor and Company you choose to represent you, wouldn’t you?”

2. F.O.R.D. – Family, Occupation, Recreation, Dreams These questions work well because they stimulate the Reticular Activating System (RAS).  The RAS works as a filter, screening out information that is not of value to you right now and letting through anything that is important.  When you ask someone to focus on a goal or an image (as these questions do), the person puts themselves in that place mentally.  Awareness around this goal or image is heightened and the RAS lets in more information around the topic. The discovery process allows you to discover connections with them and yourself and makes them feel like they are heard and you truly care about them and who they are. This is a great technique for those of us that just don’t enjoy small talk and don’t know what to say to someone when we first meet them and needing to break the awkward silence.

3. Diamond Salesmanship – The classic Dale Carnegie technique that again builds trust, likability and comfort with the agent. Carnegie reminds us of the power of these 4 simple strategies.

              A. Names – use people’s names a lot. They like to hear their names and make them feel important and heard and feel like we are present with them.

              B. Smile, Pay a Compliment – It actually takes more muscles to frown than to smile and who doesn’t want a smile? The lost art of sincerely paying someone a compliment is a real game changer indeed.

              C. Visuals – The biggest habit for most agents is “telling” vs. “show and selling”. Half of us are visual and half of us auditory so the most powerful tool is a blank note pad and pen while you are meeting.

              D. Tone, Voice Inflection, Eye Contact, Body Language – 86% of effective communication is non verbal which is voice tone, inflection. Eye contact and body language makes all the difference.

4. Mirroring – The Larry King, Barbara Walters and Oprah Winfry had a secret weapon of being able to get their guest to open right up and share with everyone on national television their deeper story. Being able to repeat what someone is saying and adding a word or two so you don’t mimic. Physically mirroring their body language like when they cross their legs, you cross your legs and then fold your arms. The art is in the Plus 1 and adding the few words or the extra physical movement so they feel you are mirroring them and not mimicking them is key with this one. Amazing how they just relax and open up and share more than you sometimes want to know.

So there you have some of my personal favorite strategies of being able to build instant trust with someone and getting them to feel comfortable sooner than later when you work to truly make the first impression on them. Feel free to share in the comments below what are some of your best strategies too.

Strength and courage,
Wade

Realtors – Why Now Is The Time

Wade Webb on June 10, 2020

realtors now is your timeFive frogs are sitting on a log and four decide to jump off. How many are left? The answer is five, because a decision is not action. It’s a silly little riddle that author and coach Rich Litvin uses to motivate his readers and clients, but it illustrates one of the central challenges of personal development: We all want to be, do and have more, but how many will pay the price: to act? Yes, right now going outside is a risk and the global economy is transforming in painful ways. As shut-ins, we’re having trouble finding motivation. Maybe it would be easier to coast? But how much is sitting on the log costing you? Or, to flip it, what could you gain if you acted now to be, do and have more? The whole world is unraveling, but it turns out a crisis is full of opportunity.

Why Grow Now? “The price of inaction is far greater than the cost of making a mistake.” —Meister Eckhart

For some, hunkering down and waiting for the storm to pass might seem like the best way to meet this crisis. In reality, it’s the most dangerous. Hope is not a strategy; action is the antidote to almost every challenge. Want to beat this pandemic and thrive? Then it’s time to act. Here’s why. Times of disruption are ripe with opportunity. “Be greedy only when others are fearful.” —Warren Buffett Ask a Silicon Valley CEO how to kill a giant, and they’ll tell you that to compete with the likes of Microsoft, Apple and Google, the only game in town is to get disruptive. Startups can’t undercut or out-advertise established players, so a blue-ocean strategy is wisest. We can do the same in our own lives and careers, whether we run a business or not—and what person is not the CEO of their own “company”? This lockdown is an invitation for us to grow—to seize the opportunities created by radical shifts in business-as-usual. For you, this might mean finally launching that new health product, or finding a new way to help the boss.

Times of disruption are full of danger. “All courses of action are risky, so prudence is not in avoiding danger (it’s impossible), but calculating risk and acting decisively. Make mistakes of ambition and not mistakes of sloth.” —Niccolo Machiavelli

Yes, opportunity abounds, but if nothing else, this pandemic has shown us that nobody’s job is secure. Thought your work was an essential service? Fate has a way of humbling us, doesn’t it? This warning is not to scare you, but hopefully to get you to see that nobody is entitled to a salary. In the long term, you are only paid for the value you can create. When you start treating your career as a business, with you as its CEO and captain of the ship, and plan your success accordingly, your financial vitality will grow.

We’ve been benched—make the most of it. “Patience is also a form of action.” — Auguste Rodin

Smart athletes who are sent to the penalty box don’t waste time sniping the referee. The great ones ask how did I put myself here?—then study their opponents for opportunities. They are always learning. One guarantee in life is that you will be stuck in The Waiting Place more than a few times. Right now, we can’t go have a beer, get a haircut or go on a first date. Prom, graduation and even handshakes are canceled.

The appropriate response here is: Accept it and move forward where you can. Don’t squander this time on the bench with TV, anxiety, stress or fear. Instead of one more episode of Shark Tank, why not spend that lunch hour reading a life-changing article or book? Working with a coach? Journaling about your goals?

If you’re not focused on you, you’re focused on the noise. “Focus on what only you can do. Give the rest of it away.” —Elise Mitchell

Are we flattening the curve? Has the virus peaked? Is the supply chain broken? (If you’re still eating bananas and drinking coffee, the answer is no.) For most people the healthiest response is, that’s not my concern. Unless you’re a titan of industry, elected politician, epidemiologist, or own a cargo ship or two, you have little to no influence over those things. “I need to read the news daily so I can be informed!” some say. That’s a valiant notion, but ask whether the news just angers you or moves you to act? Stop. Every minute of attention that you focus on events outside of your influence is a minute you’re not investing in your personal growth and happiness. Be a Stoic: Focus on what you can control and ignore the rest.

2020 will surely be remembered as the most rapidly changing year in our lifetimes. Once you see the opportunity that this shift is laying at our feet, you’ll want to act. But jumping in without a plan is a bad idea.

You can’t hit a target that you can’t see, so it’s important to set your goals, then create a plan that will give you the best chance of reaching them. But how do you actually do that? And what should you focus on? Here are some excellent tools that will help you craft your master plan.

REFLECT on your life. “Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.” —Carl Gustav Jung

When a CEO or politician first steps into the role, they don’t immediately start barking out commands. They focus their first days and weeks on briefings and key meetings that will allow them to get a lay of the land. When it comes to your own life and personal growth, it would be a bad idea to get busy without having a clear picture of reality. Reflection means holding a mirror up to a situation (or ourselves) so that we can see reality clearly. And the best way to reflect on ourselves is through a journal. The act of writing down your anxieties and fears, your hopes and dreams, or simply reviewing your day, will bring sharp clarity to your life. Jim Rohn, one of the founders of the modern personal development movement, knew that daily journaling not only brings clarity to our life but helps us solve problems; you can only write down the same complaints about your life for so many days in a row before the discomfort forces you to change. Rohn also knew that as we practice the craft of writing, we get better at it. As we improve, so does our communication. Clear writing requires clear thinking, and when our mind is sharper, we not only get better at expressing ourselves, but at articulating our goals and deepest desires. When we reflect on our lives though the act of journaling we gain the clarity to see where we may be living out of alignment with our highest values and how to fix that.

FOCUS on the hustle. “Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.” ―Stephen King

There has been no better time in the last century to start a business than now. Millions of companies are closing their doors. Whether you or your loved ones have been directly affected or not, you can’t help but feel heartbroken about this. And yet, it is reality. The economy is reorganizing itself daily before our eyes as old ways of doing things become impossible and new solutions are invented. If you want to thrive, you will need to adapt yourself to the new world and change the way you work. For many people this means that hanging onto a salaried job—with your fate in the hands of another person or faceless HR department—is a risky strategy. Transitioning fully into entrepreneurship right away might not be the right move for you, but diversifying your income stream with a side hustle (your Plan B) can insulate you from a crisis, like the one we’re living through. But how do you choose the right side-hustle idea? There’s a newsletter and podcast dedicated to that, but here are some rules of thumb to get you started. Focus on what you love doing. Starting a business is easy—taking it to profitability is one of the most challenging pursuits you’ll undertake. You should choose a goal that you’ll enjoy chasing for the next five years, minimum, to ensure you’ll follow through. Play to your strengths. Great on video and know your way around editing software? Then your marketing strategy might focus on growing an engaged YouTube following. Not a great writer? Then starting a blog might not be for you. Decide on your hedgehog concept. In the classic business book Good to Great, researchers found that the most successful companies got really good at ONE thing, the same way a hedgehog is great at rolling up into a ball to protect itself. Focus on what you can be the best in the world at, and the competition won’t catch you.

Growth Is Life – “If we don’t change, we don’t grow. If we don’t grow, we aren’t really living.” —Gail Sheehy

Look at all of nature and you’ll see that everything that is not growing is dying. Now, if you refuse to evolve, you probably won’t expire, but it’s a guarantee that you’ll be missing out on huge parts of life.

Without constant personal growth we can’t experience the richness of life’s joys, and we fail to become the men and women that our potential promises we could be if only we worked at it. And personal growth does require work—the conscious, diligent application of our toil and talents. To what? To whatever goal we set our minds to; that’s your choice. But here’s what those who are resistant to change fail to see: It can be just as much or more work to stay the same in a world that is rapidly evolving around you. Grant Cardone made a comment that was striking for its simple power: “It’s more work to not succeed than it is to succeed.” For many readers, that will be a wake-up call. Failing to reach your goals, watching your dreams slip through your hands after another year, struggling to make ends meet—all that is far harder than paying the price needed to build a foundation under your castles in the sky. This pandemic is another wake-up call: that focusing on your personal growth now is more important than ever.

Strength and courage,
Wade