Mike Ferry Organization

Today we’re going to go through a series of words … write them down, give them a lot of thought and put a lot of good intentions into these words. These words are part of the foundation of not only building a better business this year than last year, but also creating the income you want and need for yourself and your family. Also, these words will help compensate the dip in the market and allow you to succeed at a much higher rate than your competitors.

Predictable

As a real estate sales professional, you have to be able to predict what type of results will come from any activity you’re doing on a daily basis. If you have a good database, and that database is pure (meaning you have the names and phone numbers of people that know you, understand you, respect you, have done business with you, are your friends, associates, neighbors, etc.), you know how many contacts you have to make to predict a lead, appointment or transaction… because you track your numbers. The business in your database is very predictable.

Let’s say you decide to contact just listed just sold around a listing you’ve taken, or a transaction where you’ve sold the property. If you have a good script to use, and you track your numbers for 5 to 15 days, you can predict how many leads you’re going to get based on those numbers.

A good business is very predictable. We want your business to be very predictable for the balance 11 months of 2019.

Duplicatable

We have to figure out how to duplicate results. Often I’ll have a salesperson say to me, “I did a mass mailing, I mailed out 500 or 1000 or 2000 postcards, and somebody called me back and listed their home. So I’m going to do that every month”.

Well, is that really duplicatable? The answer is in almost every case, no.

Or an agent will say, “Mike, I held an open house. In fact I’ve done it seven straight Sundays. And this past Sunday, somebody came in and said they want to buy a house, and I’m taking him out and showing him property… why don’t hold an open house, because I can predict that response?”

The truth is you can’t predict that response, because you’re waiting for people to come and find you. What is predictable is the amount of contacts you make per day to your past clients, centers of influence, for sale by owners, expireds, just listed, just sold … knocking on doors around your sales and transactions, etc. You can not only predict, but you can duplicate that response.

Duplication means that you’re saying something where they respond on a regular basis the same way. Make your business predictable and duplicatable this year, and you’re going to have a very sustainable business.

Productive

How many hours are you working per day, per week, per month? When I say working, whether you’re doing something productive or not isn’t the issue. You’re there at the office, at your home office… You have your headset on, you have your files, laptop and iPad. You’re texting and you’re doing something which is a called work. How much of that work is actually productive?

If I say to you, “I’m willing to pay you $100,000 a year for the next five years to be a real estate sales professional. You’re going to work from 8:00 until 5:00 to 5:30, five days a week … you pick the five. However, you’re going to have to do exactly what I tell you to do. In addition to the $100,000, I’ll also pay you a commission on the transactions you actually do. But you’re going to have to do X number of transactions per month to maintain the job, and to maintain that income I’m willing to pay you”.

Would you then be more productive than you are today? Of course many people would ask where to sign up. Well, sign up and think about the fact that I’m going to have you involved in production based activities. Whether you are there five, seven or ten hours, 75 percent of the day should be involved in production based activities. Prospecting, lead follow up, prequalifying, going on appointments, making listing presentations, showing property to buyers, negotiating contracts, etc.

What percentage of your time is involved in production based activities? If you can predict and duplicate, you can produce.

Profitability

Are you making the money you want to make? Are you earning the money you want to earn? The higher the skills, the more money you earn. When you have good skills, are offering good value and good service to them on a regular basis, the more receptive buyers and sellers are to you.

There is a direct correlation between the money I bring in, the service I give and the skills I demonstrate. The higher the skills, the more profitable, the more productive, the more I can duplicate and I can predict.

Attitude

We can never downplay the importance of our attitude … towards Mike Ferry TV, towards the things I say, towards the work that we ask you to do. The advantage we have in real estate is we don’t have to do anything the broker says. We won’t have to do anything the sales manager says. We don’t have to do anything Mike Ferry says, because we’re independent contractors. What a huge advantage … and a fast way to doom your entire career.

The attitude you have towards learning, growing and earning income reflects on the work you do every day. Attitude is nothing more than how you see a situation … how you see or feel a person, how you feel about what they say and do. We all have an attitude, ad that attitude is generally positive or negative. What your attitude towards actually being a sales person?

“Mike, I’m just a realtor, I wear the little ‘R’ on my lapel!”

Folks, buyers and sellers are looking for sales people. Yes, you happen to be a realtor … but potential clients want a good qualified salesperson just like you want a doctor that actually has a degree in medicine. You want somebody doing your books that actually has a degree in accounting. I want a pilot that actually has a pilot’s license. Being a real estate agent doesn’t mean that you’re a salesperson, it means you’re licensed to sell real estate. If you don’t know how to sell and have an “I’m not going to be told what to say and what to do” attitude, it’s hard to sell real estate in high volume.

Approach

The approach is how you come into the office, how you prospect … it’s how you sit with potential buyers and sellers. Physically—it’s how you’re dressed, the smile on your face, the energy you have, the enthusiasm you have, the firmness of your hands handshake … Women, how is your makeup? Men, is your hair groomed? Is your tie on straight? That’s all part of the approach. Why? Because we’re being judged more today by people than ever before in history.

The biggest challenge we have as human beings today is the fact we’re being judged all the time, and we’re judging people all the time. We judge people because they don’t smile enough or they smile too much. We judge people because they have crazy ideas. Of course, in today’s political environment, the judgments are stronger than ever before.

But also understand that we’re judged by the words we use … by what we say and how we say it, the tone of our voice. So therefore, the approach is having scripts and dialogues. Having a good presentation. Really working on your ability to present, to get people involved, to ask questions, to get feedback and control a conversation.

So now I have to be predictable, I have to be duplicatable, I have to be productive, I have to be profitable, I have to be a strong positive attitude, I obviously have to have a strong approach.

Expectations

What are your expectations? Do you have any goals you set for what you want to accomplish? I expect that everyone I talk to on Mike Ferry TV is going to look at what I say and go, “Yup, he’s right. I better go try it!”

If you’ve been to my seminars, my expectation is when I start to speak, 100 percent of the audience will take what I say and go do it. Am I challenged by that? Of course. Am I disappointed at times? Of course. Do I have people reject what I have to say? All the time. It’s been happening for 43 plus years. However my expectation is that if I keep saying what has to be said, someone is going do it.

If you keep telling your story to the seller and you keep telling your story to the buyer, someone is going to sign a contract. That has to be the expectation you have.

A Normal Market

I received an email a couple days ago. A report was put out—because there was always reports being written on the Internet and in the news—and it said that in the last half of 2018, the number of sales in most of the country was down 15 to 20 percent. The person that sent it to me said, “So what are you going to do to help us through this?”

It was like it was my fault.

Yes, sales are down 15 to 20 percent. We are involved in a highly cyclical business. There are good times, bad times and flat times. I put out a report last year called “A Normal Market“, download it and read it. It’s critically important, because this is a normal market. I’ve done Mike Ferry TV segments on this is a normal market. Yes, business is down. Number of deals is down.

We live in Las Vegas, Nevada. Last month, 5400 new listings came onto the market … one of the biggest listing months in history. That means that there are a lot of sellers either trying to take profits out, or they’re worried about the economy. However, at the same time, on a given Friday in the month of January, we had probably the highest number of single-day price reductions we’ve ever seen.

The world is changing and the market is changing … business is down, it will go back up. But if the business is down for you, you have to understand that the stronger you are in your attitude, approach, and expectations, the less the downward trending market will bother you.

Skill Building

Skills, discipline, desire, schedule, talking to people … that’s how I replied to the agent who sent me that report.

I asked, “How are your skills? Are you improving them? How is your discipline? Are you getting there? Are doing your job every day? How about the desire to succeed in spite of a dip in the market? Are you following a productive schedule, and are you talking to people every day?”

Don’t give me that “you don’t have to talk to people to succeed in real estate” nonsense. At some point, we have to grow up as an industry and understand that talking to people solves every problem we ever could have.

Moving Forward

I’m really excited for our clients for the balance of this year … we’re very fortunate to have several thousand great coaching clients. We’re going to do 20+ seminars in the U.S. and Canada this year, with record numbers of people attending. I’m excited for our customers and coaching clients. I’m excited for the prospects that we get to meet.

And I’m excited for you if you understand the importance of attitude, approach and expectations.

Watch this every day this week, and I’ll talk to you next week. Thanks for today.