Identify what’s not quite working and help your agents turn it around

It’s safe to say that the extraordinary events of this year have affected everyone in real estate in some way, shape or form. Exactly how it has affected each of us, however, varies from person to person. Some agents have adapted and stayed busy, some have tried to adapt but struggled to succeed, and some have retreated or been uncertain about how to proceed.

When reviewing your agents’ activity year-to-date, look for these scenarios and implement the fix to propel your agents to success in the second half of 2020:

Agents who seem busy (or think they are), but listings and sales are not happening. In these cases, the agent is most likely either not doing enough dollar-producing work or is not communicating urgency and confidence with their clients. We call this busy work vs. dollar-producing work. It is easy in this business to appear busy and look like you are actively working with buyers and sellers when really nothing is happening. Getting sucked into non-dollar-producing activities OR even worse, working with only a couple buyers and doing hours of research per day gives a false sense of accomplishment even though there is not money being made.

The Fix: For agents not doing enough productive work, they need to timeblock and focus on sales prospecting to fill their immediate pipeline. Have them track their hours, efforts and results on a daily and weekly basis, then report it back to you for accountability. This is a problem for many agents regardless of market conditions, and you need to help them overcome distractions and busy work to consistently execute this essential part of their business. For agents who are not inspiring enough clients to list or sell now, work with them on their messaging and make sure that they are building their clients’ confidence rather than playing along with doom-and-gloom conversations. The fact is that there are amazing opportunities and historically low interest rates available that make this a great time to be involved in real estate, and it is up to agents to expertly communicate that and create new listings and sales.

Agents who are not as busy as they would like to be: These agents want to have clients and sales but for some reason are stuck. They have contacts on a list but often have no plan and are not converting leads into actual appointments and new clients, which is the only way that they will list or sell a house.

The Fix: In addition to any one-on-one discussions with these agents, host weekly training and sales activities sessions to empower and motivate these agents to obtain new listing and sales appointments. Choose a focus for each session (pipeline of current leads, past clients, etc.) that will produce new appointments immediately, review effective strategies and messaging, then have either a group call night or create 24-hour or one-week contests to reward efforts and results. Keep these agents’ focus on obtaining actual new business now, then share and celebrate each success to create and sustain positive sales momentum.

Agents are holding opens but not converting leads. Whether live or virtual, many agents don’t have an effective strategy for engaging and converting open house leads. This is especially true for many newer agents. They end up holding the open house and losing opportunities because they don’t have the skills to overcome a difficult attendee, effectively connect with virtual attendees or communicate their value and create urgency to work with them.

The Fix: Hold a workshop to actually show your agents the most effective ways to drive traffic to opens, host an open house, and convert the leads into listing and buyer appointments. Track opens held, new leads and new appointments, then review the results to show these agents how consistent, predictable income will result from future efforts. Also, have your team members watch my “Make $50k at your next Open House” webinar to learn the strategies on how to make the open house their most productive and profitable 2-3 hours of their week!

Engaging with your agents and propelling activity now is the key to driving sales and income for the next six months. This will not only benefit each of you this year, but will also reinforce your value with your agents for retention, growth and mutual success for years to come.

For a FREE copy of Sherri’s exclusive webinar, “Make $50k at your Next Open House,” click here.

Sherri Johnson is CEO and founder of Sherri Johnson Coaching & Consulting. With 20 years of experience in real estate, Johnson offers coaching, consulting and keynotes, and is a national speaker for the Homes.com Secrets of Top Selling Agents tour and the Official Real Estate Coach for McKissock Learning and Real Estate Express. She is also an RISMedia 2020 Real Estate Newsmaker as an industry Influencer. Sign up for a free 30-minute coaching strategy session or visit www.sherrijohnson.com for more information.