Building A Stronger Business: 10 Points with Mike Ferry - Part 3

Welcome back to Mike Ferry TV. You know, it’s an interesting time for all of us because the Real Estate market is not like we experienced in 2021 and the first half of 2022. And of course, as you know, in the middle of 2022, interest rates started to change and they started an upward trend. They went from 3 to 6 to 7 to 8. And here we are now starting a new year with interest rates coming back down a little bit more in our favor to help us out as we build our career.

But I want you to think about something I’m going to go through again, ten points, as I’ve done on my previous several Mike Ferry TVs, and these are ten points from the Superstar Retreat we had in July of this past year. And the first point I want to bring you up is this: as 2024 begins, there’s three numbers that we should have virtually in front of us all the time.

a) First is of course, our transaction goal. How many deals do you want to complete and close in the calendar year 2024? Generally speaking, we’ll say to an agent that is productive and or an agent that’s been with us for a while. If you would consider adding 20% to your production each year, you’re going to grow dramatically over the course of 4 or 5 years.

Now, if you did three deals last year, 20% is meaningless. But if you’re doing ten, 20, 30 transactions a year, 20% can make a substantial difference financially to you.

b) But the second number you need to keep in front of you is how many contacts are you going to make per day to make sure that you achieve the goal that you have set? And it’s vitally important that you have a contact goal. Knowing you’re going to be distracted at times, you’re going to be pulled off your schedule. You’re not going to accomplish the contact goal. But if you have a goal in front of you and you keep looking at it and you keep attempting to make it, you’re going to make it more often than you don’t.

c) And then third is to keep in front of you the listing goal that you have for the year. I have said for 49 years, as I stated a couple of weeks ago to you, I’ve spent most of my career trying to help agents learn how to list property. Showing property is vitally important for the other agents that don’t know how to list property, and we need to help you understand that process. Keep these three numbers in front of you on a 3×5 card at all times, and your chances for achieving will become much, much stronger.

We’re going to spend most of the next nine points regarding scheduling, because the truth is, you know, we don’t always have a production-based schedule.

So the second thought for today is this. As I stated on a previous one of our Mike Ferry TV‘s talking to people every day, whether it be 1 or 2 or 3 or 10 or 15 or 20, will solve every production problem that you could possibly have. But also, I wrote, having a precise schedule along with talking to people, will make sure that you achieve the goals that you have set.

Now, obviously, if I go to the next point and the next point says one of our greatest assets is we are independent contractors and it’s also our greatest liability because as an independent contractor, your schedule really becomes vitally important. But if you never follow it, what’s the point of having a schedule? So the question for this third point is, do you have a schedule for each day that you’re going to work, and how often are you able to follow it? What portion of the time do you stay on that schedule to make sure that you are moving towards the goals you have set?

The fourth point I want to give you today is this. And I wrote it this way: Since accountability is a big part of productivity, your daily schedule should be kept in a place where it can be seen by as many people as possible. Why do we keep our schedules so secretive? And the answer in most cases are because we’re not going to follow it, and we don’t want to be discovered as a person not following their schedule. Give a copy of your schedule to your assistant if you have one. Give a copy of your schedule to your role-play partners. If you have role-play partners, give a copy of your schedule to your accountability partners. Give a copy of your schedule to your mastermind group. Give a copy of your schedule to your manager or your broker and just simply say: If you see me off track, just hold it up and show it to me. To remind me to get back to the job that I’m supposed to be doing every day.

Point number five I wrote: Following a schedule is just another level of developing a habit. You have many habits that run your business and your personal life. Shouldn’t you have a production-based schedule as a habit you want to attain. A production-based schedule? Obviously, practicing your scripts and dialogs. Obviously, spending time looking for new business. Developing some good strong lead follow-up habits, prequalifying any appointments you have and then going on appointments. If we can keep those five activities in front of us and evolve into doing a little bit of each of those every day, you’re going to make it a great year for yourself.

Number six, there’s three parts to a productive agent’s daily schedule: the morning routine, what you do from 730 8:00 until noon. The afternoon routine, which is generally going to be doing any accountability that you have to be involved in previewing properties. If you’re trying to go out and sell a home or list a home, etc. and then of course, your presentation time.

You know, the question that comes up to me all the time is this: shouldn’t we be doing our presentations in the early evening, for example, on a listing presentation? Well, let’s think about it this way. Does the doctor generally see patients in the evening? Does the attorney see patients in the evening? Does the accountant see prospects and clients evening? They do it during business hours.

If you get into the habit of saying to a potential buyer or seller, I have a 3:00 PM and a 4:30 PM opening, which would you prefer? They’re going to change their schedule to meet yours. So let’s take control of the schedule. “But Mike, I don’t have that many opportunities. How can I take control? I’m afraid if I take control, I’m going to lose that opportunity I have.” Well, there’s always the chance somebody may disagree, but developing the habit of you following your schedule the way you want it done. Morning routine, early afternoon and presentation time is going to make all the difference in the world.

Point number eight today we have a great client down in Naples, Florida, who is retired and just did a great job for many, many years. Her name is Fahada Saad and stated one time at a Superstar Retreat when I had her on the stage, she goes, “Mike, we have to strengthen the link between prospecting we do and achieving the goals that we’ve set.” And then she said “the stronger the link, the easier it is to build a business.” And we talked about that. She and I in front of several thousand people for probably 30 minutes, and it’s hard for some agents to really grasp that point.

I want to do 20 deals a year. I want to do 10 deals. I want to do 40. How is that going to happen if we’re not in conversations with people all the time? Whether you’re holding an open house, you have to have some conversation with people or you’re knocking on a for sale by owner’s door, you’re going to have a conversation with people or you’re talking to your database, you have to be in a conversation with people. So Fahada was 100% correct as we strengthen that link. So it is unbreakable. The odds of achieving the goals we’ve set have improved dramatically.

Point number nine, in the past, I’ve always said our business comes from waiting for people to find us. Very common that we wait for people to find us buying business, advertising, direct mail, promotions, billboards, you know, bus benches, etc. or going out and finding it each day. The majority of our business, 80% or more, should come from finding business every day. There’re two types of Real Estate agents that I mentioned to you several weeks ago, those that know what to say and what to do, and those that don’t. If you know what to say and what to do, you can go out and find people that want to buy and sell.

And the last point for today, in a downward trending market, which we have experienced for the last 18 months to two years, or when we’re experiencing economic challenges personally or as an economy or in a flat market, the best method of attaining new business for yourself is to be in constant conversations with your database. The people that know you, that understand you, that trust you, that have worked with you in the past. And your database should be a major source of business. And in most cases, if you’re going to do 10, 20, 30 deals, it should represent 30% to 40% of the transactions you do. It’s easier to talk to people that you know than it often is talking to people that you don’t know. Get into the habit of talking to your database to make 2024 a better year. And as long as you maintain that habit and build your database, you’re building your business at the same time. Thanks for being part of Mike Ferry TV today. Talk to you next week.