Neil Schwartz: The first part of what I want to talk about today is a review. We started with your why. Remember, we started this whole campaign with regard to creating and developing your business plan for 2015. The first part of it was developing your why. You spent some time doing that, how can I make a million dollars a year selling houses, how can I get rich in real estate selling houses? We developed that program, shared that with you.
The following week we talked about creating “why you’re going to do this” goals that you’d like to have. These are reasons for doing it. Of course you all did your homework last week, completed all the forms that we passed out.
We need to complete our business plans by the end of the month. After the Mike Ferry retreat we need all of them turned in. We do it very, very specifically so that you have time to put the pieces together to work on this and to develop it. That needs to be turned in.
One of the last pieces of the puzzle are your numbers. Hopefully all of you have picked up one of these sheets. It was a packet of information with four or five different sheets in it. Then there’s some numbers here also that I’m going to be going through in terms of the numbers analyzer.
What we have to determine, one of the very first things is where did our business come from? That’s the first page. We broke it down. We have about 16 or 18 different categories on where business comes from, with past clients, sphere of influence, expireds, for sale by owners, probates, open houses, accountants, affiliate referrals, agent referrals. Where did they came from? It doesn’t matter where they came from. What matters is that you know where it came from. You want to breakdown your sales to buyers and to sellers and determine where the business came from. Then number 2, where you think business might come from for you in 2015.
That’s what we’re going to do by using this sheet. It gives us a feel and a little bit of a direction. Let’s say if all your business last year came from past clients sphere and you want to take on another project and work on expireds. We need to do that, where you might get expireds from, where you get the leads from, how many you’d like to be able to do. You break that down and let’s project that out. If you’re having some trouble with working on that that’s what your coach is there to help you to do. That’s the first part of where did the business come from?
The second part is a recap of your 2014 activities. Every one of you in our company gets access to a numbers analyzer. Everyone that’s being coached by the Mike Ferry company gets a Mike Ferry analyzer, and everyone from our company gets to use the Century 21st Masters numbers analyzer. Some of you use it religiously. Some of you stay away from it religiously. Then there’s a few people that are in between.
You have to write this down. In 2015 I will be a fanatic on keeping my numbers, a fanatic on keeping my numbers. I’m going to go over why this is important. I don’t care if you keep them in the Mike Ferry system. I don’t care if you keep them in the other coach that you’re using. I don’t care if you’re using Century 21 Masters numbers analyzer. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that you keep track of it on a regular basis.
I wrote down here the reason you want to do that is you want to know where you’re going and where you’ve been. But that’s not to say that your past dictates your future. So that if I did 10 transactions next year I can only do 12 or 14 next year, the following year. That’s not to say that. It’s to say where have I been, what’s it look like, what did it take for me to get there, how did I get it? Then of course we talk about where we think the business is going to come from in the future.
I wrote down a question here, “Why don’t you keep track of your numbers?” For those of you that don’t keep track of numbers, why don’t you? Anybody have any input? Nobody wants to share.
Audience: Lazy.
Neil Schwartz: Lazy, okay. Perhaps. Anyone else?
Audience: Sometimes you don’t want see what you really have not been doing.
Neil Schwartz: So sometimes you want to hide from the reality. Eric, kind of the same thing. Go ahead Steve.
Steve: Sometimes we have too many distractions in our life, the family and balancing business and kids. By that time you’re tired.
Neil Schwartz: Yeah, it’s tiring and you don’t like to keep track of it. I get it. All of those are valid. It’s my belief that you don’t keep track of the numbers for the same reason is you don’t look at your bank balance. Or how much you owe on a credit card or credit cards.
Audience: Or how much you weigh.
Neil Schwartz: Or how much you weight. Very good. I hadn’t thought of that one. Or how much you weigh. You’re in denial. As long as it’s not on the scale, as long as it’s not in your face as to this is what I really have or really don’t have, or this is what I owe or I really don’t owe, if you’re not looking at it, then the mind starts playing tricks on you and you do think maybe it’s not as bad as you might think it is, so therefore you don’t start to feel bad about yourself. We don’t want feel bad in any part of our life. Come on. We just don’t want to feel bad. When you look at your bank balance and your bank balance is here and it should be here, it doesn’t make you feel good. It’s the same thing with the numbers analyzers. You feel exactly the same. You don’t want to feel bad.
What I wanted to do is I want to go through some of the numbers for you and to show you some of the reasons why it’s important. To do that you need to get out the form that looks like this. There’s Agent A and Agent B. This is very technical stuff. Agent A and Agent B. Let’s start with Agent A. We’re going to start about a quarter of the way down the page where it says weeks worked 44 under 2014 goals. Do you guys see that?
Audience: Yes.
Neil Schwartz: On average this person was looking for in their goals of working 44 weeks this year. Their goal was to work 230 days, to prospect 660 hours, and make 6030 contacts. Can everybody see that?
Audience: Yes.
Neil Schwartz: That was the goal. If we look a little bit to the right of that, that’s the actual number that they kept track of on a weekly basis. That number was to work 230 days. This person actually worked 229 days. Pretty nice. The goal 230, they worked 229. It’s pretty darn close. Their hours to prospect were 660, that was the goal, and they actually prospected 381. We’re starting to fall off a little bit here. Now the contacts were 3030 as the goal, and they actually did 3239.
Neil Schwartz: Keeping track of the numbers, is that valuable or not?
Audience: Yes.
Neil Schwartz: Why do you think keeping track of those numbers for that agent has value? Talk to me.
Audience: It shows them where they’re weak.
Neil Schwartz: It shows them where they’re weak or they’re falling off a little bit. Good. What else? Well the bottom line is their goal was to make $500,000 and they made 188,900. Now in our world ladies and gentlemen if you make $190,000 for most of us, is that a really bad thing or what?
Audience: It’s definitely good.
Neil Schwartz: It’s not bad. Right?
Audience: Yeah.
Neil Schwartz: It’s not bad. It’s not bad. $500,000 is better but $190,000 isn’t horrible. But what I want to show you here is an interesting thing. This particular agent did 3239 contacts for 14 closed transactions. You guys with me?
Audience: Yes.
Neil Schwartz: That means, that is 230 contacts per closed transaction. Write that down. Just put that in a piece of paper next to it. 230 contacts for a closed transaction. That’s based on their efficiencies. Not a good efficiency, not a bad efficiency, their efficiency. 230 contacts. Every 229 people that they talk to they would get a closed transaction. That’s the concept. Look at the contacts per day, at the top second line down, the goal was 26 contacts per day. You guys with me?
Audience: Yeah.
Neil Schwartz: To the right of that they actually did 14 contacts a day. Just let’s put this out there and that got them $180,000. What if the agent did six contacts more per hour? Now let me ask you guys a question. Is there anyone here who couldn’t do six more contacts per workday? You could. Hear me out. I’m asking you to do six more per workday for 229 days. Is there anyone here who couldn’t do six more a day? No? Let me share with you the number. Those six contacts that this agent didn’t do would have been worth over 229 days over 1300 more contacts. Those 1300 more contacts divided by the 230 contacts per closed deal would have been worth six more closed transactions, six more closed transactions. Multiply six. Now here’s what’s interesting. This particular agent if you look down one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, you look down 10 numbers under goal, it said the average closed commission was 11,001. Do you guys see that?
Audience: Yeah.
Neil Schwartz: This agent did a better job and didn’t get 11,000 per closed deal. She got $13,000 per closed deal. So on the six more deals she’s no more efficient, no better, her scripts and dialogue were as good as anything else over the period of the year. This person would have made $80,000 more for doing six more contacts per workday over a period of 12 months. Do you guys get this?
Audience: Yeah.
Neil Schwartz: 80 grand would cover in most of our cases all of our business expenses and then some and still have a bunch of money left over. You guys, isn’t that amazing?
Audience: Yes.
Neil Schwartz: Six more contacts per workday. A. You need to keep track of the numbers to be able to have this conversation. Then B. You have to keep watching what the differences can be. Six contacts worth $80,000. Do you think she was upset?
Audience: Yes.
Neil Schwartz: How about furious because it also made the difference between not making Centurion because of six contacts per workday that by her admission she could have easily done if she’d just stayed on the phone a little bit longer, or dialed a little bit faster, or walked a little bit quicker between houses. That’s it, just a little bit in each one of those categories would have been worth $80,000. Can you see the importance of keeping track of these numbers?
Let’s turn the page. Agent B. Here’s an interesting difference. We’re not going to mess too much with the number of contacts. This person worked. Her goal was to 242. They did 276. Their prospecting hours were 968. They did 765. Look at the contacts, 7744 contacts was the goal, and they ended up doing 6538. Not a big difference. Agreed?
Neil Schwartz: Not a big difference in this. But if we go down here and we talk about listings taken versus appointments gone on and listings sold, those are big discrepancies, aren’t they? Do you guys see what’s going on here? They’re not that efficient. They put in the days, they put in the time, they put in the hours and they’re making the contacts but they’re not that efficient.
I did some numbers here. Right now they’re getting 47% of the listings taken. They go on 44 listings and they take 22. Minimum standard for any agent is what?
Audience: 50%.
Neil Schwartz: 50%. This one is at 46-47%. Listing appointments set versus listing have gone on, half of them, so you’re setting those appointments and you’re qualifying and you’re not going on them. We’re running into those kinds of issues.
What I did was I took the 46% which was giving me 20 …
Audience: 26 closings.
Neil Schwartz: 26 closings and I moved it to 75% which is giving me 42 per closings which gave me 16 closings more. You see this? What I’m sharing with you is the more efficient you get in the work you’re doing the more deals you’re going to end up with. If I can get you a little bit more efficient you’re going to make two, three, four, five more transactions for the same amount of effort. That’s what we’re talking about here. We want to absolutely keep track of these numbers.
Neil Schwartz: Part of the business planning effort has to be, even if you don’t completely understand why you’re keeping track of the numbers, and some of us have a little bit more talent in that area than others, it’s okay, you have to keep track of your numbers. Make a deal with me. You keep track of the numbers, you do your job there, even if you don’t completely understand it, and I promise you, myself, Diane, Bill, or Bob will walk through those numbers with you and take whatever time is necessary for you to get why it’s important to do that.
Neil Schwartz: Fair enough, okay. Those are things that need to be worked on. Let’s draw a line here. How many of you are going to the Mike Ferry event next week? About everybody. Good, okay perfect. Here’s a question. You have 3350 of some other top agents that are going to be there in the country that are going to be sitting next to you, across from you, around you. If you could ask anyone of them a question that could help move you forward in your business, what are some of the questions that you’d ask them? Go ahead.
Audience: How can I tie my goals to prospecting?
Neil Schwartz: So how do I tie my goals to my prospecting so that I understand the gap, understand what’s going on. Good, make sure you write that down.
Audience: I would ask what’s their morning routine.
Neil Schwartz: What’s the morning routine. Good because …
Audience: That’s very important.
Neil Schwartz: To who?
Audience: To me to bring me deals.
Neil Schwartz: Oh okay, good. Then you feel that at some level your morning routine isn’t working at the highest level right now?
Audience: Oh no, it is. No, but I would like to know an example from the top agents.
Neil Schwartz: Good.
Audience: I do my job …
Neil Schwartz: I know you do.
Audience: But he is better.
Neil Schwartz: I want to challenge you just for a second to ask a better question. You don’t have to do it right now but I want to challenge you to ask them a better question because you’re actually very good at your morning routine. What else do you want to learn at this event? You have 3000 of some of the top agents in the country. Tess?
Tess: The question that I probably would ask them is if they’re prospecting every day, how do they overcome the boredom?
Neil Schwartz: If you’re prospecting every day how do you overcome the boredom of prospecting? Great question, repetitious boredom beats us up all the time. Good. Write that down and I have a couple of ideas on that. Go ahead Cindy.
Cindy: Similar.
Neil Schwartz: Similar kind of question.
Cindy: How do you make it fun? What are some of the things you do to mix it up and make it fun, especially in the afternoon when you just want to go home because you’re worn out?
Neil Schwartz: Good. Good question. Make sure we’ve written that down. Go ahead Meg.
Meg: What percentage of your past client and sphere list are you generating transactions from? And how were you able to make it more efficient working in that part of your business? What percentage of the number of your past clients and sphere of influence are you getting sales from? So if you have … Are you getting 5% or 10%?
Neil Schwartz: So of your past clients and sphere, what percentage are giving you business?
Meg: Right.
Neil Schwartz: Then …
Meg: Then how were you able to make it more efficient in terms of obtaining those?
Neil Schwartz: So how can you make it more efficient and move that number up?
Meg: Right.
Neil Schwartz: Good, great question. Make sure that that’s spelled out very specifically because I’m going to give you all an assignment here in a minute that’ll tag onto this. What else? Virginia.
Virginia: How do you take your leads and create a follow up system with all of the other activities? How do you fit that in?
Neil Schwartz: How do you get it all done? Great question, great question. Here’s the homework assignment. You have 3000 agents there and you want to ask these questions of those 3000 agents. That’s physically impossible and we don’t know who knows the answer to this versus who knows the answer to that, and who’s better at this and who’s better at that. Right? Say yes.
Audience: Yes.
Neil Schwartz: Here’s your homework. At this event there will about 40 guys and gals wearing blue coaching ribbons. They are coaches for the Mike Ferry organization and all of them have anywhere from 10 to 50 people in their groups. They’re intimate, they’re very intimate in their knowledge of what’s working and what’s not working for those people.
This is why it’s very important that you focus your question because you’re going to go up to these coaches and you’re going to ask them, “In your group, who has had the biggest influence? Who’s done the best with their past client and sphere? Who has,” and then you fill in the blank. If it’s a morning routine, “Who had the worst morning routine and is doing the best job with it? Who was doing a horrible job with their past client and sphere and is doing a spectacular job with it now?”
Go ask these coaches to give you one, two, or three names. That’s all they’re going to have because out of 50, 60 people the truth is there’s only one or two that have really made a great movement or an impression on the coach that they’re good in that area. You guys with me?
Audience: Yes.
Neil Schwartz: So now you take 3000 people and narrow it down to 40. They’ve all got a tag on so we can find them. Then you ask them the question. Do not be embarrassed to ask the question. If you want just say, “Niel, my coach said.” That should stop a few of them anyway, a few might run. By the 44th question maybe they’re going to run. But ask them your question. They’ll steer you, they’ll give you a name or a person or someone they know that does a really good job in the question you’re asking. Your job then becomes to go find those people at the event. If they’re not at the event to make sure you log the name and number and will be able to call them on the phone.
What I find, I hope you guys do to, is that most of the time at these events the agents, especially the top agents are very sharing. Would you guys agree?
Audience: Yes.
Neil Schwartz: They’ll pretty much give the shirt off your back and explain it. Maybe you’ll get too much information. But it’s better to have too much information and be able to sort through it for yourselves.
Thats because it’s your homework assignment, your focus, you know your question, so jot it down. Don’t go without a written question, because it’s not in writing you’re going to forget it, you’re going to forget exactly how to word it and how to approach them. You want to be concise. You want to make sure that you ask as many as you can.
Remember, the one that’s over there talking to somebody else and you don’t want to bother them and you just shy away, because that’s what we tend to do because we don’t want to bother anyone. My gosh ladies and gentlemen, you’re sales people. It’s by definition your job description. We are in the talk to people business. Get it?
Audience: Yeah.
Neil Schwartz: If you don’t talk to people you can’t make money. If you don’t talk to people in this case you can’t figure out how to get better to make money. We are in the talk to people business. That’s your homework assignment. That’s what I want to focus you in on. Let’s go out and make this a magnificent event and a great week. Thank you.
