100 Years Of Disney & Real Estate

Wade Webb on October 26, 2022

100 years of disney and real estateWhat does 100 years of Disney and Real Estate have in common?

I came across an article about the upcoming 100 Anniversary next year for Disney and I thought to myself what could we do in real estate to be more like Disney? How many of us still remember the first time they visited a Disney theme park? They proudly proclaim it is the “happiest place on earth.” You enter the magical kingdom, and the show runs all day and night like clockwork.

I will never forget the time I stayed on a Disney property in Florida and asked for a wakeup call. This was like no other wake up call. I answer the phone out of a dead sleep and on the other end I hear. .. “Good morning Mr. Webb this is your 6 am wake up call. Today’s date is ……… and the forecast for today in Florida is partly cloudy and 76F and we hope you have a magical day!”… I kind of chuckle, smile and reply… “you have a magical day too, thank you.” Disney’s success comes from so many different angles but 2 things that really resonate with me are…

They are so good at what they do and they clearly know, what it is they do. Disney is in the “show business”. Their staff are not employees they are “Cast members” of the show and we are not customers but “guests” in their show and more importantly they still remember to treat it all as a business.

Like Disney are you a real estate agent that is good at what you do and are you clear about what it is you do? We are in the “service business” and serve people with their single largest asset in life, buying and selling a home. How many of us treat what we do like a business? A multi-million-dollar service business? I love some of the philosophies Disney has like “the guest is not always right but we allow them to be wrong with respect.”

Are we allowing our real estate clients to be wrong with respect? They believe the greatest gift any of their guests can give the organization is “Feedback.” They know sometimes things can’t always go magically. I find it amazing how little feedback their is in real estate. How do you grow, get better and improve? How do you take a negative experience and turn it into a positive one? Disney, if you notice, always places their feedback customer service offices at the front of every one of their parks to encourage the guests to share with them.

My question for real estate agents is… “where’s is yours”? Do you take the time to ask for that important feedback? Disney shares that all their success begins with creativity. They have a belief in their organization that everyone in the company is creative. They know everyone’s ideas are what separate our identity. Walt said “you just never know where our best idea will come from next.”

Disney believes that creativity is all about risks. Innovative risks…Are you taking innovative risks in your real estate business or just playing it safe? Are you looking for people to share new ideas for you and your business? Disney’s creativity comes from what they call the “Imagineering process”.

They have 1,000 imagineers working for them in 140 different disciplines all producing new and innovative ideas. One of the simple exercises you can do in your real estate business (like Disney) is a blue sky brainstorm exercise they call “yes, and…. game.” Prior to any meeting in their company for the first 10 minutes the word “NO” cannot be said. Anything goes. Share any ideas of what they can do better to WOW and AWE their guests. That could doing this exercise once in a while do for you and your real estate business this year? I know myself, how difficult it is to take the time in my business to just sit and be creative. To take the time to collect ideas of making my business and the real estate service experience better. Disney believes this comes from 5 things in their business.

5 Disney Fundamentals to Increase Creativity in Your Real Estate Business.

1.) Passion for their Purpose. They love to make magical memories for others. Do you?

2.) Core values and sharing their values with their guests. What are your core values? Do your clients know them?

3.) Communication flows freely. There can never be enough communication. When things are slow are you still communicating to your real estate clients?

4.) Trust. The #1 reason they leave is they can’t trust you. Are you actively building trust with your clients?

5.) Variety of perspectives. Consider and welcome all ideas, don’t shut them down.

The key to Disney success is the continuous improvement in the small little things, constant small tweaks of making what they do already, just a little better. All it is for them is just filling in the gaps. Their mantra is “if it’s not broke then just make it better.” I encourage you to take the time to work on the small things and create an even more magical real estate experience than you already do. If it can work for Disney, then it can work for you.

Strength and courage,
Wade

7 Appointment Conversion Tactics For Realtors©

Wade Webb on December 5, 2018

realtor conversion tacticsThink about how much time and money you spend on generating new buyer or seller leads for your business to sell to. Remember to calculate not just your direct ad spend, but also the cost of your own time and your staffs time. You likely spend 5-15 percent of your gross revenue and time on lead generation marketing, with the goal of giving yourself (or sales system if it isn’t a live person doing the selling) the best quality leads possible. So let me ask you this question. How is your conversion to an actual appointment? Do you convert 1 out of 10? 1 out of 5? 1 out of 3? This week I want to share some of my favorite tactics to quickly increase your appointment conversion rate.

1. Create or refine your “Pre Selling” system. What kind of impact do you have on leads when the initial contact has been made? What does your “Informed Homebuyer” pre buyer appointment package or “Informed home seller” pre listing appointment package look like? Have you sat down and strategically mapped out how you can best prepare any prospect before a sales interaction? Is there a video you want them to watch? A white paper you want them to review? A client testimonial you want them to see? When you intentionally map out how to presell your sales prospects you can significantly increase your closing rate. One of the agents I coach increased their conversion rate by over 20 percent just by introducing a “Pre selling” package to their buyer and seller leads.

2. Improve your sales scripting. Appointment conversion sales scripting really means you are making the consumers aware of their challenges and difficulties they face navigating in today’s real estate world with engaging thought provoking questions. Once you have their attention you need to let them know you have solutions to their challenges and all they need to do is get together with you! This means first you actually have to write out the challenges they are facing and the questions you need ask to help the consumer become aware of their challenges and discover they need some help. Now slowly test out different elements of the script and see the impact on your closing percentage. Don’t practice the script in the field burning leads but in the office with other agents in your office.

3. Set and hold your prospect and yourself accountable to an upfront agreement. An upfront agreement is a formal or informal oral contract you and your prospect both agree on to give each other a clear decision – yes or no – whether you want to take the next step in the sales process. This next step could be to purchase right then and there, or it could be to set up the next sales meeting. No “think it overs” allowed. Plus, it is your way to clarify your prospect has the ability (authority and or money) to make a purchasing decision. An upfront agreement might sound like:

“Now Mark, I am more than willing to give you my time and really work with you to find the exact home you are wanting to buy and can’t find on MLS. I’m just going to ask for one thing in return… As we go through this, if you don’t feel what we have is a good fit, are you okay telling me that? Great, I want you to know you’re not going to hurt my feelings. On the other hand, if after going through this it’s clear we really do have a great fit are you okay telling me that too here today? “Great, I’ll be doing the same thing. If I don’t think you’re the right fit for us I’ll let you know straight out. And if on the other hand I do think you are the perfect candidate from really benefiting from our home buyer system, then I’ll let you know that too. “Are we both in agreement on this Mark as part of the ground rules for today? Great.”

4. Optimize your offer. Test your price point. Test the terms you’re offering. Test the way you frame your offer – as what you’ll gain… or as what you’ll lose if you don’t take action. Test any bonuses they’ll get or added features if they act now. The only way to maximize your conversion is to test, test, test. One of my best buyer offerings is “Beat other buyers to listings” or “Our easy exit home buyer guarantee”. My best seller offering is our “30 day marketing plan” nothing about me buying it back if it doesn’t sell but the fact we have a “30 day selling plan” offer attracts the sellers interest in the appointment. We also offer our “Easy exit home seller guarantee” as well.

5. Introduce a “fear of loss” to spark action. Create urgency with the consumers. One of the biggest sparks to action is fear of loss. How can you legitimately introduce or strengthen your prospect’s fear of loss if they don’t take action now? One of the easiest ways is to introduce a highly valued bonus they get today when they take action and buy. The market is shifting and seller’s choosing to wait are losing equity as prices are correcting. Interest rates are rising on the buyers and their payments are increasing on what they want to buy now costing them more.

6. Use stronger risk reversal – Clearer and more powerfully worded. Are you confident your product or service correctly used will provide great value? Then put yourself on the hook by guaranteeing certain results. Why should your customer have to hope your product or service will fit their needs? Put yourself on the line. “Easy exit guarantee” if you are not happy. Create a certificate like I did they visually see the exit guarantee and increases the impact of my promise to them. Don’t tell but show and sell!

7. Get better sales training. It amazes me how many otherwise rational, intelligent business leaders will spend hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars in lead generation activities for their business, but then pinch pennies when it comes to sales training for their core sales skills. The most effective sales training is not a one-time event, but rather, month in, month out, behaviorally based sales training. Shaping behaviors takes gentle pressure applied relentlessly over time. The feeling from a high pitched sales training wears off fast; the deep behavior changes from grooming and developing sales skills over time last long term.

So there you have my 7 favorite ways to increase sales conversion. You need to become a lean mean appointment setting machine. It is not only about lead generation but the key is the skill of appointment conversion! Good luck to you in implanting one or more of these key ideas and stop just lead generating and start appointment setting! The money is in the appointment and not in the lead.

Strength and courage,
Wade

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