Set More Appointments

Welcome to Mike Ferry TV. My name is Tony Smith, Vice President of The Mike Ferry Organization, and I’m here at beautiful Huntington Beach, California, with Mike Ferry. We’re spending two days with the Brokers and Managers at our yearly Management Retreat.  

You know, there was something that came up that I want to spend a little time on with all of us today here on Mike Ferry TV. The fact that the gap between agents that are producing, [and those] that are not, is growing and widening by the day. 

The number of new agents coming into the business, there’s like 1.8 million Real Estate Agents and the per person productivity has dropped below four. So, the fact is the gap is widening.  

I’m assuming that everybody here watching today would like to narrow the gap for themselves when it comes to commission checks. So how far apart are your commission checks today? Well, is it possible for you to narrow the gap between commission checks, without narrowing the gap between the appointments that you go on?  

So, let’s spend a little time today talking about setting more appointments. If you set more appointments, you’re going to narrow the gap between appointments and then you’re going to narrow the gap between commission checks, right? 

So, write this down. If you’re going to write this down, it is something that’s very important. This was very early on in my career that Mike Ferry introduced this thought to me, our job is really simple. It’s really simple. A) We must generate leads. B) Convert the leads we generate. And C) Go on presentations all the time. It really is that simple. Why do we try to complicate it so much? How many presentations are you going on these days? Would you like to go on more? 

Consider these thoughts. The first thought that I want you to consider is if your objective is to go on more appointments, you have to understand that it’s the only way that we get paid in this industry. Going on presentations is the only way we get paid. And you know, in today’s world, there’s almost been this separation. Like it’s almost becoming common knowledge that agents don’t believe that going on appointments is the way you get paid. Do you believe that your job is to get out on appointments every day? 

I wrote down, If I’m not willing to commit and learn a strong canned Listing Presentation, does it make it harder for me to go on appointments all the time? And we say, “Yes”. You know, the fact that you have a strong canned Listing Presentation is a direct connector between your ability to go on appointments. Have you been spending a lot of time working on your canned Listing Presentation? I certainly hope so.  

How about this? We have to remove any and all fears we have about going on presentations. What fears do you have? You know, if you go on presentations a lot, the fears disappear. If you’re going on presentations once a month, once every six weeks, right? The fears will often stay there. We suggest that you either are presenting to somebody live or you’re practicing today in a way that has the same kind of feeling and intensity of a live presentation. So, it’s either practicing once in a real formal, intense way, or you’re out on a live Listing Presentation. Would that remove the fears? I believe it would. 

I wrote down, how many appointments would you like to be going on per month? If you don’t decide how many appointments you’d like to be going on, no one’s going to decide for you. Have you taken the time to set some very strong appointment goals for yourself for the month of May? For the month of June? For the month of July? Are you operating today from a strong appointment goal? 

I wrote down, what is your best appointment month in the last 12 months? Like if you go from here, we are in May of 2022, back to May of 2021. What is your single best appointment month that you’ve had? Shouldn’t you make that your minimum standard of the appointments that you go on? If you went on eight listing appointments in August of last year, shouldn’t you be striving to go on eight listing appointments as your minimum standard going forward? It’s a change in mindset. 

Mike pointed this out in the last two days. He said, “We have noticed that there has been a fairly strong deterioration of the skill set of agents in North America today”. Have you been working on your skills? Have you been practicing and role-playing 30 minutes intensely every single day?  

Think about the little market shift that we’re dealing with right now. Interest rates are on the rise. There’s a little hesitation in the market. It could turn into an actual market cycle. If it turns into a market cycle, do you need to really strengthen some of your prospecting skills? Do you need to strengthen some of your objection handling skills? How about the pricing portion of the Listing Presentation? I mean, listen, we need to reeducate our Sellers in many cases about a little shift in the market, don’t we? How about price reductions? Boy, there is plenty to work on when it comes to your skill set. Are you working on it aggressively? 

I made a note. Do you have four or five strong Accountability Partners about doing the activities that is required to go on more appointments? Do you have a prospecting Accountability Partner? You have somebody that you have accountability within, let’s say, you know, doing some daily affirmations and strengthening your mindset. Do you have an Accountability Partner for how many appointments you go on? Strengthen the amount of accountability that you have for going on more appointments. 

I wrote down over the next 12 months with some of the market shifts that are going on over the next 12 months, you’re going to be doing a lot of things that might make you uncomfortable, okay? We have to get back in the zone of accepting being uncomfortable. It’s quite honestly, many agents have lived in a very, very comfortable zone for the last couple of years with the market conditions, right? Haven’t had that much conflict. Haven’t had to have that much confrontation with Sellers. Haven’t had that much confrontation with yourself. Are you okay with it? 

I put down this thought, where is my ego getting in the way of accepting the fact that I need to run a production-based schedule, okay? Between the deterioration of skills and the deterioration of time management for many agents trying to sell Real Estate today. Where is your ego getting in the way about a production-based schedule? You know, in The Mike Ferry Organization, we have a pretty clear understanding of what a production-based schedule is. Do you have the proper amount of prospecting going on? Do you have the proper amount of aggressive lead follow-up? Do you have time set for good, solid prequalification of the clients that you’re working on? Do you have some strong appointment time? Are you controlling the administration of the deal? Maybe it’s time to recommit to that production-based schedule and once again be held accountable to it. 

I wrote down, I must commit to knowing and using the statistics and the numbers in the market more than ever. Hey, let’s face it, as this market shifts and some things get a little crazy out there, we need to bring stats to the market. There’s going to be some confusion. Some Sellers are going to be more confused than ever.  

You know, my friends all got multiple offers in two days, and it sold for $50,000 over the asking price. And I’ve been on the market for seven days and I haven’t gotten a single offer. We’ve got to bring market stats to the table. Are you studying the market stats like you should be studying them? I would get more involved there if I were you. 

How about this thought? Mike has said this for years. Setting 1 to 3 appointments per week. Think about this. Setting 1 to 3 appointments per week is 90% Mindset, 5% Skill, and 5% Who I call. 90% Mindset, 5% Skill and 5% Who I call. Now, the only challenge with that statement is, we know for a fact that it’s almost impossible to have a strong mindset without strong skills. So how strong is your mindset going into a little bit of an adjustment in the market? How strong is your mindset about going on one, two, three appointments a week? We’ve got to strengthen our mindset, which oftentimes comes from our skills. 

I made this note, is your personal and office environment set up in a way that going on appointments and generating leads are your primary objectives? Is it time to clean up the office environment? Is it time to clean up your prospecting environment? Is it time to restructure that environment a little bit? So, it’s centered around the fact that you’re going to be generating a lot of leads. You’re going to be following up on those leads and you’re going to be converting them. Let’s make sure our environments match. 

I made this little note, are you keeping your hottest leads with you at all times so you can call them three or four times a day? Seriously? Are the leads that you’re turning up? Are you keeping them with you? Are they in your jacket pocket? Are they in your purse? Are you keeping them with you so you can follow-up aggressively? Do you have to go through nine steps and put in four passwords into some computer system before you can get a hold of your leads? We’re not in that kind of market today. We’ve got to be turning these leads, finding motivated Sellers faster than ever today.  

Remember, Mike’s been telling us for a long, long time that a big portion of the [housing] inventory challenges is because of us … Real Estate Agents not quite doing our job. Are you flat out talking to enough people and following up with your leads aggressively? We certainly hope so, okay? 

I wrote down, are there any sources of business that you’ve been wanting to add that you haven’t added yet? As we think about setting more appointments, are there sources of business that you haven’t quite put into the mix that you’ve been promising your Manager, your Broker, your Coach? What sources of business do you need to bring into the mix, okay? Now is the time for the agents that are thinking clearly. If you’re outworking your competition, if you’re being more disciplined with your time and your activities, now is your time to start winning the game. However, it comes down to your ability, your desire and the activities involved to setting more appointments than you’re currently setting. Let’s focus on that a little bit this week. Let’s zero in on what it takes to set more appointments. 

I’ve always had this belief. Nothing much good happens in your office after lunch. If you’re not out on an appointment somewhere, you should be. And if you do the job right. According to Mike Ferry and the steps that we ask you to do, you can be out on appointments all of the time. So, I hope these thoughts help. I hope it moves you in the right direction. Take full advantage of this opportunity, of a little shift in the market and go out there and set some more appointments starting today. Thanks.