POWERED WITH LOVE VOLUME 6

VOLUME 6

05/2022

GROW YOUR MARKET SHARE

INCREASE

YOUR PROFITS?

WHAT ARE THE 10 STAGES OF THE

BUSINESS LIFE CYCLE?

‘EXPECT THE BEST PREPARE FOR THE WORST’ Powered with LOVE Stephen Cromarty

CONTENTS. 1. INCREASE YOUR PROFITS 1 2. IT’S YOU 2 3. GROW YOUR MARKET SHARE 3 4. ‘CUT THE FAT’ MEETING 3 5. WHAT’S THE STRENGTH OF YOUR VALUE CHAIN? 4 6. CREATE RAVING FANS 5 7. WHAT ARE THE 10 STAGES OF THE BUSINESS LIFE CYCLE? 6 8. IT CAN HAPPEN! 6 9. INTEREST RATE RISES 7

INCREASE

YOUR PROFITS AS THE MARKET CONTRACTS, SO WILL THOSE THAT DON’T FOCUS ON GROWTH! In any market contraction, even when focused on growth, there is the lag time. Let me ask you this, ‘you go to a teller, you ask for $100, they give you $90, what do you focus on?

You focus on the $10! (So this means you need to provide value before you ask for the reduction, this takes time).

With many agents / agencies starting to discover they have been caught out, now is the time to not only grow your business but improve your fees… here are the three simple steps to improving your fees: 1. Identify how you can provide more value then anyone else, your team members on the floor must feel they have the best deal to offer.

2. Put an incentive in place that covers list to lose ratios as well as a specified fee increase, this can be done in both Sales and Property Management.

3. Not only do your teams require something to offer / sell, but they also require the ability to negotiate the highest fee. Your teams on the front line need to be armed with scripts / dialogs and strategies to overcome the objections. The flash and gloss is only as good as the sales / new business person behind it!

1

ITS YOU! IN ONE OF MY FIST ARTICLES AT THE START OF THE YEAR I WROTE OF THE ‘GREAT RESIGNATION’.

Now not all of us have personally experienced the deluge of people leaving that some businesses have had to navigate but the reality is that some companies are having to navigate this phenomena.

To avoid or reduce the likely hood of this happening to you, the question must be asked…

WHY? We need to know why so we can solve what is really going on.

In no particular order below, is what seems to be leading the charge in the Real Estate Industry’s ‘Great Resignation’ 1. PEOPLE WANT SOMEONE TO LEAD Who do they have to follow, who is with them- showing, teaching and doing?

2. THE ENVIRONMENT IS NEGATIVE Elon Musk has made his major goal in 2022 to have the ‘ no arsehole rule’… that means, people want to work for nice people, who your leaders are being is determining how your team members feel.

3. LACK OF GROWTH How often do you meet with your people and identify their personal and professional goals? Ideally this should be done quarterly. People change daily! Working with your people means delivering on what they want from their career.

4. WHAT THEY DO DETRACTS FROM THEIR LIVES The big one is that people come to work to get paid, to then do what they prefer to do! If what they are doing detracts from their personal life, their life aspirations… they will always choose what is most important to them.

So what’s the solution? Speak with your team members who you know will tell you the truth, survey your people around these areas and get to work on the solutions.

Powered with LOVE can offer professional staff culture surveys to your people as a neutral third party, as part of your PWL MEMBERSHIP. For more information contact Kate Smith Kate@loverealty.com.au

2

GROW YOUR

MARKET SHARE WITH PROPERTY PRICES EXPECTED TO LOWER, SOMEWHERE BETWEEN 10-15%, NOW IS THE PERFECT OPPORTUNITY TO GROW MARKET SHARE! With the heat out of the market it’s a prime opportunity to “increase’ your sales and build your rent roll!

A skill set very few agents possess is the ability to prospect and build relationships.

Over the past 3 years short cuts have been taken when growing sales teams compounding the challenge these new team members are already facing.

So, what are the areas we need to work on to increase market share?

1. Personal productivity = connectivity. How many people are your team members speaking to?

2. Digital presence – Google Ads Search engine Optimization (SEO’s) Search Engine Marketing (SEMs), consistent, targeted, paid marketing on the major socials such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram.

How much money and time have you invested in these campaign areas?

3. Employment – want to increase your volume, increase the numbers of your team.

4. Established Clients / Landlords / Tenants / Past AppraisalsWhat is your strategy for communication? Do you have a referral system in place?

5. Letterbox dropping/ Door knocking – Materials to use with these activities are: Just Listed, Just Sold campaigns with all properties, generic campaigns, NTRs (Notice to Residents). Believe it or not these strategies work! You must have a weekly, monthly quarterly and annual plan just like an organized and systematic highly coordinated military operation. It is in the consistency and frequency that will bring exceptional results.

6. Know your numbers – always know your current ratios for the company and individual agents.

• Appraisal to list • Show to offer • List Sell • Offers to sale • Days on Market LAST BUT NOT LEAST MAKE IT FUN, WITH OFFICE COMPETITIONS, YOU MUST TRICK THEM INTO BEING SUCCESSFUL, START REWARDING ON THE ACTIVITY AND THE RESULTS WILL COME

‘CUT THE FAT’

MEETING

Now is the time. We have been focusing on our growth plan, strategies to improve profits.

What about the bottom line?

Now is the perfect time to review expenses and identify what can be cut and use that money to spend on, you guessed it…GROWTH! This includes employment, advertising and brand recognition, market expansion and rent roll acquisitions. With the financial year end looming now is a great time to not only have this meeting but start your tax planning for the year end.

3

WHAT’S THE STRENGTH

OF YOUR VALUE CHAIN?

WHAT IS A VALUE CHAIN? Put simply it’s how we deliver on who we say we are as a business and how we deliver our success!

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF ANY BUSINESS? It is a system that consistently provides massive added value to their customers / clients.

The only thing your business gets paid for is results.

The way we identify the value we are adding if any is through our value chain which is not always connected to what we offer (incentives) it is primarily connected to a consistent methodology.

A value chain is assessed and designed specifically for your business, lets have a look at an example of a value chain;

VALUE CHAIN EXAMPLE Converting Sellers from Data Base

SALES MANAGER

INTERNS

TELEMARKETERS

SALES PERSON ON FRONT LINE

• Trains & develops team • Oversees team • Takes care of stalled listings • Measures team/ KPIs • Rewards • Consequences

• Meaningful conversations • Armed with what to say • Has something to offer • Knows where to go, what is expected

• Meaningful conversations • Armed with what to say • Has something to offer • Calling behind ground cover

• Is trained accordingly • Knows what to say • Has collateral that identifies the customers needs

FOLLOW UP PROCESS

CUSTOMER

LISTING SIGNED

CONSISTENT COMMUNICATION

• There is a time line of communication that adds value connected to frequency that builds trust

• There is a time line of communication that adds value connected to frequency that builds trust

• If not able to close there is a follow up system and escalation process all are aware of

• Have identified who this is and what their needs are

People often ask me how do you do what you do and my answer is “ ITS JUST A REPEATABLE PERFORMANCE THAT ALL THE TEAM ARE AWARE OF WHAT AND HOW WE DO WHAT WE DO”

4

CREATE

RAVING FANS

IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE RESULT AND EVERYTHING TO DO WITH THE EXPERIENCE! It’s the experience which determines the customer perspective.

The most expensive thing you can do is acquire a new customer, the goal of any organization should be to create quality clients who not only come back time and time again, but also become strong referral partners.

FALL IN LOVE WITH YOUR CLIENTS AND YOU WILL HAVE YOURSELF AN AMAZING BUSINESS. Imagine receiving 2 sales and 2 management referrals from each client, every year.

Let’s look at some basics for creating raving fans: 1. Give more value than you promote 2. Leave your clients in a better place 3. Celebrate your clients wins, that creates an emotional connection 4. Have a rewards program in place 5. Create an exclusive membership for your established clients 6. Give back to your customers long after the transaction ended, a WOW philosophy!

Its often talked about but never executed or implemented, start today and build yourself an almost recession proof business model through your raving fans.

5

WHAT ARE THE 10 STAGES

OF THE BUSINESS LIFE CYCLE? WHAT IF HOW YOU WERE WORKING IN YOUR BUSINESS WAS ADDING TO THE PROBLEM, HOW WOULD YOU KNOW? Its not always the numbers alone that measure and assess a business performance.

Lets look at the 10 stages of the Business Life Cycle so with this new knowledge you are able to determine where your business is at, and work on building yourself a sustainable business.

Zone of Maximization / Maturity

Young Adult • • • • • • •

Beginning to anticipate future Make more committed choices Limit what you focus on Start a focus on systems Redefine what=success long term Rebirth of identity Settle down and get serious

• Reaping the rewards • Developed a system for managing business that allows you to consistently meet the needs of the community you serve and yourself in sustainable way • Business = run by management team • Organization knows who they are, who they are not and what they will do in the future • Sales and Profits are growing

Mid- Life Evaluation

• Things begin to break down • Entropy has begun • You evaluate whether to rejuvenate or continue to age • You have to innovate, or you begin to die

Teenager • • • • • • • •

Crisis created by management Develop professional team to manage business Cash Flow no longer a challenge Growth= focus, Innovation = rampant More means better Go-go leaders don’t attend meetings You become overconfident Trouble = imminent

Toddler • • • • • •

Management by crisis Business ‘walks and talks’ on its own Have begun to build a management team Business still relies on you for all core decisions Everything= accelerated Cash flow still a concern

Aging

• • • • •

Breakdown begins to accelerate State of denial “problems aren’t that bad” Focus = how you are the victim You begin to attack /blame Talented people begin to leave

Institutionalization

• Organization kept alive artificially through subsidization • Kept alive by system riles, policies but no innovation of focus on serving the needs of the community

Infancy • • • • •

A race for survival Hire a person “You. Inc” - you are running the business Focus = production Cash flow= significant challenge

Death • •

Vision = no longer sustainable No people to support it

Birth • • •

Moment you take on risk Work to meet own needs (i.e. you have a job) Managing yourself

IT CAN HAPPEN CONGRATULATIONS TO ONE OF MY CLIENTS WHO NOW HAS OVER 1 MILLION DOLLARS IN THE BANK! That’s right, 1 million!

Why- it’s simple really, they have been coachable and most importantly they have implemented and led from the front.

These two words or should I say, the actions of doing them are worth a million dollars.

My advice to all of you are these two words are; LEAD AND IMPLEMENTATION!

6

INTEREST RATE RISES ALL THIS TALK OF INTEREST RATE RISES, WHAT DOES THAT REALLY MEAN? Our economy is underpinned by the housing market so what we can’t see happen and, will not see happen in the immediate future, is a real estate ‘crash.’

What we will see is a correction of the market and, as a business owner what you do now will determine how you and your business will be affected: 1. If your business has mortgages, now is the time to negotiate better terms, remember should mortgage growth decline, they (banks) will be hunting for each other’s clients, use this knowledge to your advantage.

2. Expand your market, the entry level market in your area will essentially be where the volume will be found.

As interest rates go up, so will rents in the first instance, once people adjust and they always do, we will see the market flourish again.

When I think back to 2007 (during the Global Financial Crisis) we opened and grew a business at a staggering rate, we did so by focusing our growth on the entry level market, but understand this, employment is low, money is still cheap and people generally have more money in the bank than pre-COVID, so whatever is coming, it will be different and perhaps people are somewhat better situated then the events of 2007.

IN THE WORDS OF THE WISE….

‘EXPECT THE BEST PREPARE FOR THE WORST’.

GROW YOUR MARKET SHARE, GO INTO NEW MARKETS AND NEGOTIATE THE BEST DEALS FOR YOURSELF AND MOST IMPORTANTLY… GET USE TO APAS!