Ready to become a top producing real estate agent? Today on the show we have Chantel Ray, a former teacher who now leads a team of 51 agents with 900 transactions in 2013. Being a high I and D, Chantel likes to get things done very fast, winning business and marketing but doesn’t necessarily enjoy working the business. Today, we talk about how to build a reputable company, how to market properly and how to be a great leader.
Building A Great Company
Real estate agents should always aim to have a company, not just a business. A great company works perfectly independent of it’s owner and has an identity that consumers can recognize. Chantel has done this with her team, and as a result earned her spot on Inc. 5000 fastest growing private companies. Here’s how you can do it too:
- Delegate: This is one aspect that we constantly talk about on Super Agents Live. No one can be available 13 hours a day every day of the week and deliver effective results. In addition, you may not be an expert in all aspects of real estate. Early delegation enables you to focus on dollar producing activities while still still creating a business because you have employees. Chantel hired a buyers agent and assistant within her first month in real estate and today continues to add to her team every day.
- Become A Franchise: The real estate agent market is so fragmented today that almost every time you buy or sell a home your experience will be different. Aim to become a franchise and provide the exact same experience to your leads every single day. This builds your brand and gives your business a reputation in the market of consistency and service.
- Systemize Everything: One way to accomplish the franchise model is to systemize everything you have in your business. That way, the result is the same whether performed by a 12 or 70 year old. Chantel calls this the Mcdonald’s model- by having a checklist for every procedure in her business online she ensures all positions are independent of an employee and anyone can get started operating at the same level of service in just a few hours.
- Put Everybody In Their Strengths: Much like you delegated your weaknesses in the beginning, aim to do the same for your buyer and seller agents my having admin focus on marketing, listing and preparing their properties and giving agents the time to sell.
- Track Everything: By tracking the conversion rates on closings, listings, buyer broker contacts, and total leads given, Chantel has a dashboard that lets her have her finger on the pulse of all the action going on in her office.
- Accountability: Accountability ensures that you and your team are always getting tasks done that affect the service you provide to your customers. In addition, having your agents account for their actions gives you the data you need to track conversion rates. Chantel makes sure this gets done by having her system force agents to input data after having a lead sent to them. If agents fail to do so within a certain amount of time, a manager will be notified and follow up with the agent personally. She leaves nothing to chance.
- Inside Sales Agents: Inside sales agents are key to running your business efficiently for many reasons. Firstly, not everyone can close on the phone, so hiring sales agents with those strengths can bring in more business. Furthermore, separating the inside sales agents from buyer and listing agents ensures that each lead is given to the proper agent instead of there being a first-come, first-serve environment. By having a dashboard of close rates and types of leads a certain agent is good with, the inside sales agent can find each lead the agent that is best for them.
Marketing
Chantel spends around $70,000 per month on advertising for her company, so she wants to make sure she is maximizing her value. Here’s how she sets up and tracks her marketing efforts:
- Find The Source: The only way to tell whether your marketing is working is to be able to track your return. Chantel does this by asking each client how they heard of her three different times during the transaction process. This lets her pinpoint each source so she can later compare her return down the line. Additionally, she also puts unique phone numbers on different ads to track calls and leads that way.
- Cash-On-Cash Return: Rather than tracking how much money a certain type of marketing platform brings in, calculating the cash-on-cash return is a more informative measure of your spending. This means you track how much you spend on ad vs. how much you get to keep after you pay all your other expenses like agent commissions, admin expense and marketing the property.
- Get Creative: A lot of people will begin approaching you for marketing once you become to get noticed. A great way to cut your marketing costs is to negotiate paying on a per lead basis, ie. paying only when a lead comes your way. Most of them will claim they are the best source for leads, so make them prove it. Chantel has saved thousands of dollars using this method on magazine advertising alone.
- Top Of Mind Awareness: Not all your marketing should be focused on generating leads. Using TV and billboard ads don’t provide many leads for Chantel but it definitely keeps her top of mind in her market.
- Carve Out Your Niche: Find a niche that you are passionate about and make sure everyone sees you as the go to real estate agent there. The most successful people are good at a few things.
- Customer Service: At first, customer service may not seem like marketing, but it is. Word of mouth is still the most trusted source of marketing, so always aim to provide such great service that you become a referral business as well.
Becoming A Leader
- Invest In Yourself: To be a great leader you have to constantly be learning and honing your skills. Chantel does this by reading and listening to podcasts and audiobooks on leadership every day.
- Mentorship: Learning from a great leader is ultimately the best source of education. Find someone that has built a successful company and learn leadership from them.
- Take Action: Most people can’t lead because they have never taken any action and aren’t great decision makers. Practice taking massive action immediately and getting things done, and people will want you as their leader.
- Demand More Of Yourself: Leaders usually make more because they provide more value than their employees. Take control of your time and make sure every single second of your day is invested in dollar producing activities.
Books For Agents
Strengths Finder 2.0 by Tom Rath
Procrastinate On Purpose by Rory Vaden
Double Double by Cameron Harold
The Power Of A Whisper by Bill Hybels
Get these books free at audibletrial.com/superagentslive
Get In Touch With Chantel
Visit her website: chantelray.com
E-mail her at: chantel@chantelray.com
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