Tag: sales

4 Simple Tips for Converting Open House Leads

Posted on June 5, 2018 by explosivesales - Real Estate

Open Houses have long been a lead generation opportunity in real estate. Agents often tell me that they are better at having conversations in person than on the phone when we discuss prospecting during workshops and training calls. Open Houses are a great opportunity to build relationships quickly since you have a face-to-face interaction.

Prospects attending Open Houses also tend to be further along in the process than an online lead. They are already making the effort to get out there and see properties. You could be writing an offer for them today. That’s the type of immediate business we love to find in real estate. Think about how much time you would save if you din’t have to nurture a lead for six months or a year before they buy something.

However, I hear agents complain all the time that they aren’t getting any leads from their Open Houses that don’t already have agents or they just aren’t getting enough traffic. Below are four tips to improve the results from your Open Houses.

1.) Choose the Right Open Houses

If the Open House is for one of your listings, then hopefully you have executed a pricing strategy and Open House schedule that will attract potential buyers and sellers. You may also be running Open Houses for other agents.

Consider the following in your Open House strategy.
Is the listing new or newly priced?
Was it recently staged or has new photos?
Is it in a common price point where lots of people will be looking?
Would you want to work with buyers and sellers in this location?
Is it in your farm area or where your ideal clients live?
Will the agent let you promote the Open House on your site?
Can you use your own Open House signs around the neighborhood with your name on them?

2.) Market to People Outside MLS

I mentioned earlier that a primary complaint from agents is that everyone who attends their Open Houses already has an agent. I always follow-up with this question: “How are you promoting your Open Houses?”

The most common response: “I post it in MLS and send reverse prospecting emails.”

No wonder everyone has an agent when your primary mode of promoting the Open House is through a system that can only be accessed by prospects through another agent.

Try these marketing methods to drive unrepresented traffic to the Open House:

Post on your personal social media accounts for people to come visit you during your Open House.
Knock on doors or call the neighborhood to personally invite people to the Open House.
Run a Facebook Ad with a landing page collecting email addresses for Open House info.
Place directional signs all over the neighborhood with your name and number.

3.) Don’t Wait till Monday to Follow-Up

This doesn’t mean sign a buyer agreement during the Open House. You may be representing the seller. However, letting a potential buyer walk out the door doesn’t serve them, your client, or you whether they are interested in this particular home or not. Make sure to follow the local real estate laws during your Open House conversations, but I would start building a relationship with prospects while they are in front of you.

Monday follow-up calls will be no more effective than cold calls if you aren’t building relationships during the Open House. Building relationships starts with finding out what is most important to the prospect in their next home. Ask powerful questions that will allow the prospect to comfortably share with you. Questions will keep you in control of the conversation and will help you to gain valuable insight for your follow-up.

4.) Know the Local Market and Follow a Script to Provide Value

If the client loves the house you are standing in then I would use a script to help them move to an offer. However since only one person will be buying this particular home, it is far more likely that you will have some standing in front of you that will be looking for something slightly different in a home. When you know the local listings that are similar to the home you are standing in then you will have an opportunity to add value for this prospect right now.

As people are finishing up walking through the home, run through the following script.

Agent: “I would love to offer some feedback to the sellers. Could you tell me what you liked best about the home?”
Buyers: “We like the layout and the size. We really like the kitchen.”
Agent: “If you could change one thing about the house, what would it be?”
Buyers: “The busy street. It is a lot busier than we expected.”
Agent: “Anything else?”
Buyers: “We would like a flat backyard as well. We want to be able to entertain outdoors.”
Agent: “Have you guys happened to see 123 XYZ Street yet? It has a lot of the same features, only it’s in a quiet little neighborhood and has a nice patio and yard.”
Buyers: “No, we haven’t seen it yet.”

Again be sure to follow the agency laws in your state around Open House rules, but there is no sense trying to sell someone on a home they do not want to buy. People hate to be sold. They love to buy. Help them find the home of their dreams, and they will love you for it.

To register for our full Open House Script and our Open House Door-Knocking Script click here.

For all the scripts and eleven methods of lead generation, get your copy of Explosive Sales Growth in Real Estate on Amazon!

Is Your Compensation Plan Driving Sales Results?

Posted on April 30, 2018 by explosivesales - Goal-Setting, Sales

When building a winning sales team and strategy there are a few principles that are sometimes overlooked. Let’s take a look at five questions that when answered properly should help youth build a compensation plan that inspires your sales team to thrive and keeps your company on track for revenue and profit goals.

1.) What will it take for my salespeople to survive on their income based on our cost-of-living?

While it is true that salespeople should be paid for their performance and that the top salespeople will earn the highest income, you do not want your salespeople worrying about how they will pay their basic expenditures. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs makes it pretty clear the physiological and safety needs are requirements for people to perform at a basic level. Fearing how you will pay rent or buy food is not likely motivating your salespeople to sell more. It is likely hurting them and causing them to question their abilities, lowering their confidence, and may be impeding their ability to close.

A base salary should allow someone to at least survive their basic expenses during a difficult month or quarter. If performance issues last longer than a quarter and are not team wide, then we should be working on coaching to a standard or coaching to a new opportunity.

While I suggest a base salary that allows for survival, be careful that the base is not so large that it impedes the company from offering a strong compensation plan for outstanding results while maintaining a comfortable profit margin.

2.) What is most important to my people? What drives the people on my sales team?

This has nothing to do with your compensation plan, but it is the most important question in determining how the compensation plan is promoted to your sales team on an individual basis.

Most people are not driven only by money. People are driven by security, travel, ability to provide for their family, and freedom. These are often afforded through income. The income alone though is not usually the driving factor.

It’s important to spend the time to get to know the driving factor for your sales team. When you are promoting the compensation plan structure and how it will impact their lives, they will be more likely to hit higher goals that will keep your company on track for your revenue and profit goals. Keep your team in mind and ask from their perspective, “What’s in it for me?”.

If I sell $4 Million in product a year, and I earn $X. Pushing me to sell $5 Million to earn $Y will require an understanding of what I would have to give up in order to hit that higher number – training, travel, hours worked, more calls and rejection and comparing that to what I will gain in return – income, freedom, recognition, promotion, significance, etc. If I, as a member of the team, believe the trade-off is worthwhile I will hit the higher goal. If I don’t, why would I put in the extra effort.

When building your compensation plan, consider whether or not you know enough about the people on your sales team to understand what drives them. Then coach them consistently on how to take advantage of the compensation plan to help them achieve their dreams. You will have happy salespeople which will consequently increase your results.

One of my favorite books on this topic is The Dream Manager by Matthew Kelly. If you are looking for a new level of connecting with your team by helping them achieve what is important to them then you should grab a copy of this book right now.

How Exercise Helps You Hit Your Business Goals

Posted on January 25, 2018 by explosivesales - Goal-Setting, SAVERS

I am not a fan of going to the gym. I mean, I love the feeling afterwards. I love the way I look when I do it regularly. I love the burst of energy. It’s just the physical act of working out that I could do without. In fact, I know that even if I joined a gym I wouldn’t actually go. I know because I have had countless gym memberships. I may have had more gym memberships than consecutive days working out in the past. The problem is that even though I hate going to the gym, my health is important to me. I have exercise and health goals. Being around for my kids is important. Having the energy to take them on adventures is important. Being alive and full of energy is important to me.

As important as those things are, I knew that they still wouldn’t inspire me. They still were not going to make me wake up and want to get to the gym. I knew that I needed to do something drastic.

Inspiration vs Desperation

I had a conversation in an interview with one of my mentors, Rock Thomas, the other day. Rock is the author of Your Epic Life Blueprint: Quit the Rat Race and Create a Happier Life! We were discussing that there are really two opportunities for motivation, and they are desperation and inspiration. Typically I find that I have the ability to get inspired by setting goals in alignment with my values and beliefs. I can find outside inspiration through other leaders who have gone before me. I can set a reward that inspires me. However, when it comes to the gym, inspiration does not quite seem to work for me. I need desperation.

So, I had to ask myself what level of desperation would make me get to the gym? I came up with different answers. Like if I knew I was going to die in 6 months if I didn’t lose 25 pounds that would probably work. Or if I was not going to be able to walk again if I didn’t get in better shape, I would likely value my mobility enough to make the decision to exercise. As I thought about it though, thankfully these dire situations do not exist for me and hopefully never will. Instead I needed something that would pull desperation close. What could I do to put my back against the wall?

So, here it is. On May 20, I will be running a half-marathon, 13.1 miles. The event pulls the deadline close enough to inspire action. The real kicker though would be my next step. I registered for the event and then invited some friends to run with me. Those friends are in far better shape than me. I knew that once I made the commitment to someone else, I would not allow myself to fail. I would not let them down. Often I find that people are better at having integrity for the things they promise others than they are for commitments they make to themselves. I put myself in a position of desperation to inspire action in a positive way.

For some of my friends who have done Ultra-Marathons and Ironman Competitions, a half-marathon may seem like a small feat. However, I am not them, and I only need to compare myself to me. In order to become healthier, I simply need to get a little better each day. Committing to this training will get me there.

My Last Half-Marathon

Ten years ago, I ran a half-marathon, and it changed everything. I could barely run a mile when I started. I remember that first run all too well. I decided to lace up my sneakers and run as far as I could and then walk back to my house. After what seemed like an eternity I remember gasping for air, trying not to vomit, hunched over on the sidewalk. With each shallow breath in an attempt to quickly fill my lungs as sweat poured off my face I began to gain a little composure. After a few minutes of recovery I started the walk back home. By the time I reached my house I was excited to drive the route and find out just how far I had made it on my first attempt. As I rounded the final corner in the last stretch of my route I looked down at the trip odometer in shocking disbelief. More like astonishing disappointment. .9 miles (yep, not a typo, less than 1 mile). I was partying too much with friends, and I was not a runner. I am still not a runner. I doubted whether I could actually complete the race. However, I had already committed in front of other people. I couldn’t back down now.

After 13 weeks of training, I was in the best shape of my life. I followed a training program that had worked for thousands of other runners to prepare, and it’s no real surprise that it worked for me as well. I completed 13 straight 10-minute miles and ran the half-marathon in a little over 2 hours and 10 minutes. That single accomplishment created all sorts of momentum in other areas of my life. I met my wife a few months later. I started looking for ways to build on my career. I kicked my personal development journey into high gear. I worked closely with Hal Elrod, with whom I would later co-author the best-seller, The Miracle Morning for Salespeople: The Fastest Way to Take Your SELF and Your SALES to the Next Level.

Why am I telling you all this? How will this help your business? Stick with me. I am getting there.

This year I quit my job as the Team Leader of a large real estate brokerage. The job paid well, but it didn’t support my long-term goals of freedom and the ability to travel in order to speak and train salespeople. In order to turn 2018 into the launching pad for reaching my personal and business goals, I knew that I needed to start with something tangible that would create a ripple affect in all areas of my life. Therefore, I decided it was time to run the half-marathon again. And, I wanted to share the 5 ways I believe this will carry over into my business goals as well.

5 Ways Hitting this One Goal Will Impact My Business Goals

1.) Goal Achievement Creates the Pattern for Hitting Other Goals

Goal-Setting and Goal Achievement doesn’t change much across all arenas. It works much like a GPS which most of us have all come to know and love. We love the GPS because we know that with just a couple pieces of information and by following the directions (the plan) it will take us exactly where we want to go, and it will typically even be able to tell us when we will get there. In order to move from couch to half-marathon, marathon to ironman, or five-figure earner to six or seven-figure earner we need the same pieces of information.

A.) We need a very clear picture of where we currently stand. We must be honest with ourselves.

B.) We need a clear destination that is measurable and has a timeline.

C.) We need a plan that is proven to work, and that we believe in.

Learning to find these three pieces of information and follow the plan will create the belief and discipline required to achieve any of these goals. Here is the link to the half-marathon plan I will follow for my training.

https://www.popsugar.com/fitness/Half-Marathon-Training-Schedule-Beginners-2845222

D.) The last and most vital component of the GPS is that it lets us know as soon as we go off track. One wrong turn and you will inevitably see the word ‘Recalculating’. We must constantly measure our progress and determine the next step to get back on track as soon as we fall behind. The more frequently we measure, the easier it is to get back on track.

2.) Positive Daily Habits Will Form

By training for this half-marathon I will be doing some form of training 5-6 days a week. That level of commitment creates a habit. After a few weeks, I barely even need to think about my training calendar. About six weeks in, and I know I will be craving the exercise. The endorphins released will far outweigh the pain of the exercise when will-power is no longer required.

Consider how many areas where this applies in your business. How many times have you been held back because you did not consistently do the things you knew you needed to do to hit your goals? How many calls didn’t you make? How many times did you drop the ball on follow-up? What would happen if you had a consistent system and set of habits to ensure these behaviors happened regularly?

Imagine the energy and momentum that would be created through those consistent actions. That positive energy will attract things into your life. It will attract clients, mentors, capital etc. We attract what we become.

To learn more about forming habits and focusing on the activities that knock down the first domino, I highly recommend checking out The ONE Thing by Gary Keller and Jay Papason.

3.) Physical Energy Increases

The last time I trained for a half-marathon I finished at a weight of around 155 lbs. I currently weigh in at 185 lbs. While I may never hit 155 lbs again (I have little desire to), I will likely lose 10-15 lbs during my training. Shedding this unneeded weight will likely lower my blood pressure, increase my oxygen levels, and create several other physical changes that will impact my overall level of physical energy. Strengthening my core through the training improves posture. All of these combined will allow me to apply more energy and focused effort to my business goals.

Since many of my readers and followers either fall into some sales role, small business, or entrepreneurship we know that our physical energy shows up in our interactions with team members, prospects, and clients alike. Positive energy creates attraction and ‘Yes’ responses. People want to work with people they like, and people tend to like positive people who raise their vibration not people who bring them down whenever they talk.

4.) Improved Mental Fortitude

This is the one area that I wonder if it will have the same effect on the second time around. The first time I trained for this run, I remember thinking that there was nothing I was incapable of conquering. No goal I couldn’t accomplish. Remember that I started by barely completing a one mile run on my first attempt. Then, over only a few months, I completed 13 ten-minute miles. I learned that my body was seldom what was holding me back. It was almost always my mind telling me that I was tired, or that I can’t do it, or I’m not in good enough shape, or I am not strong enough.

These limiting beliefs creep up in our businesses all the time and stop us from achieving our goals. By training our minds to overcome adversity in one area it overflows into other areas where the subconscious mind has roamed free and thwarted our plans to achieve great things. Once we change the pattern, those subconscious thoughts start to shift. It’s hard to believe you can’t do something, when you’re sub-conscious is shouting, “You can do anything you set your mind to. You just ran 13 miles. You didn’t think you could run a mile, and you ran 13. What else can you do that you don’t think you can?” Affirmations can help you reprogram this subconscious thought as well.

5.) Unintentional Overlap

For some reason when I make good decisions about exercise, I automatically make better decisions in other areas of my life as well. Maybe I don’t want to sabotage my efforts. Maybe it’s just the endorphins from the exercise, but I notice that I eat better, drink less, sleep better, and a whole list of other things that are impacted by my training. All of these decisions build on one another. They create a domino effect. Each of them has a bigger and bigger impact as they all start to work together.

In business, when we make a commitment to improve in one area, it will often impact other areas as well. For instance, when we commit to a plan of lead generation, adding new clients, and growing revenue we cannot help but affect other areas. When done well the new business growth will force us to make our systems more efficient, hire quality people or add technology that creates leverage. Each new positive habit we build creates an avalanche effect.

So for 2018, I have committed to my training calendar, knowing that it will infuse my body, mind, and spirit with the mental, physical, and emotional energy I need to crush my business and personal goals this year. It may not be a Half-Marathon for you, but consider what one thing you could commit to that will create tremendous momentum for the rest of your life this year. Here’s to building off that momentum.

Affirmations that Work – 4 Tips to Creating Effective Affirmations

Posted on April 8, 2017 by explosivesales - Sales, SAVERS

Affirmations that Work!

Do you remember being told that if you want something, really really want something you must affirm and reaffirm those very same things loudly and clearly again and again? That you must say all those things that you want to be true as if they were already true?

And that’s exactly what you did! You sat there or stood there (maybe in front of a mirror) and enunciated all those hopeful thoughts loudly and clearly, again and again (and hoped that nobody was able to hear you and if they did they did not think you were being silly!)

Even though that was precisely what you thought about yourself! And sometimes you asked if you were just lying to yourself…

It seemed like your words (even when stated loudly, clearly and repeatedly) still did not convince your mind or yourself. It became a process which you eventually agreed only made you feel conflicted, uncomfortable and unwilling to believe! And often plain silly!

So you stopped doing it!

You stopped believing in and practicing your affirmations!

Because you were not aware that it was possible to believe in your affirmations and to make them work!

And the Miracle Morning does just that – makes you aware of a process that will help you believe (again) in your affirmations and make them work!

There are 4 simple steps to this process:

Affirm (again) – what do you really really want and why it is that so important to you. You begin by establishing and affirming what it is that is important to you and why it is important to you.
Commit – what do you promise you are going to do to make sure what you really really want actually happens! What are the activities that you commit to do to make sure your affirmations come true?
Say it with feeling – you should be able to see what you want, smell it, hear it, almost taste it (and know that you are going to touch it – definitely touch it)
Check in – with what you really really want as often as possible. Review them again and again.

An example of an affirmation would be where you tell yourself that during this year you plan to double your sales volume in order to be able to afford 3 extremely exciting vacations with your family. And in order to double your sales volume you are going to ensure that you talk to 20 new people every new single day about your product.

I am doubling my sales volume in order to take my family on three vacations this year by talking with 20 prospects every day!

You are stating what you really want (the increased sales volume), why you want it (for that vacation) and what it is you are going to do to make certain that it happens (those 20 people you plan to talk to).

Then imagine, not talking to those 20 people you promised to contact. That should make you uncomfortable. Hopefully so uncomfortable that you actually make the calls.

And while that volume may not have doubled yet, it will be because of your commitment to talking to those 20 new people each day. Otherwise you would be living out of alignment, and that should make you more uncomfortable than not making the calls!

This is a reprogramming of the subconscious mind. You are creating new patterns and telling a new story about yourself. The difference now is that you can actually buy-in to your own words because it isn’t just wishful thinking. You are creating behavior change that will bring the results.

Integrity and without exception – that’s making sure you always do the things you say you are going to do.

If you enjoyed this article and would like more information on this topic, order your copy of The Miracle Morning for Salespeople now on Amazon!

Meditation and Silence Improve Sales

Posted on April 1, 2017 by explosivesales - Sales, SAVERS

Could Meditation Grow Your Sales?

Meditation is making, or has made in some circles, it’s way out of the land of hippity-dippity into the business realm. Because of meditation’s tremendous benefits, it’s no surprise that meditation has become more and more popular as part of a daily routine of successful people and Fortune 500 Companies alike. The benefits of meditation reach far beyond the basics of simple peace and quiet. Recently I had the opportunity to see Julianna Raye, mindfulness coach and trainer, speak at the Best Year Ever Live Event, and she discussed some of the basic reasons why meditation is such an important part of a daily routine.

Here are just a few of the benefits of Silence and Meditation:

Improve Focus, Clarity, and Productivity
Lower Stress & Blood Pressure
Strengthen Your Immune System
Better Sleep Cycle
Heighten Creativity, Empathy, Emotional Regulation, and Well-Being
Slow Brain Degeneration and Increase Neuroplasticity
Improve Sex Drive

Now, I am sure there is not a single one of you reading this post that couldn’t use some improvement in at least one of those areas if not all of them. I am no exception to that rule. That is one of the reasons meditation has become such an important daily practice. For me, meditation has improved my attitude, intensified my clarity and focus, and allowed me to balance my emotions and stress in a healthy fashion.

Zen stones in water for meditation.

As a salesperson, sales trainer, sales manager, sales leader, author, speaker, father, and husband, there is seldom a time that my mind stops for even a second. While that ADHD, type A, driven salesperson mentality has led me to accomplish a great many of my goals, it is not always the most healthy, efficient, or effective way to take on all challenges.

I have learned the incredible power of clarity and focus that comes from starting my day with a morning routine based in personal development. The first practice of which is Silence.

While I struggled with meditation for the first several attempts, okay, more like for weeks or even months, I have learned some extremely helpful tips in practicing meditation that have improved my practice and increased the benefits.

3 Tips to Improve Your Practice

1.) Focus on your breath. I would explain more, but it really needs little to no explanation. You have been breathing for your entire life. It takes no thought at all to breathe in and out. In fact, that’s likely why we still exist. So, by focusing on the breath, you will allow your body to relax and move away from trying to solve the problems of the world.

2.) Don’t fight the 50 Million thoughts. For a long time I thought I was meditating the wrong way. No matter what I did I couldn’t stop the thoughts from entering my head during meditation. Just recognize the distraction. Even label it based on whether it is something you see, hear, or feel and then let it pass and move on.

3.) Lots of us type A salespeople and entrepreneurs have trouble slowing down. I strongly suggest trying some guided meditations. There are some great apps available like Headspace, Calm, Omvana, and several others. There are also tons of Free guided meditations you can find on YouTube.

If you would like to learn more about my daily morning routine and how to implement silence and meditation into your day, check out two free chapters of my book, The Miracle Morning for Salespeople.

You can read this and several other books for FREE with Amazon Kindle Unlimited.