Owner or Employee? Maybe both…

Another Real Estate Professional blog by Brett Boettge……

If I am an employee, I show up to work every day ON TIME. I sit at my desk, and I diligently do my job. More than likely my job is not my passion, but I plug through every day in hopes that I will have favorable review and be promoted. From the day I’m hired my work is examined and scrutinized by many, if I rank on a scale of 1-10 at least a 7 I could probably go through my entire career getting by. Now this entire time I am employed, I am virtually renting an entity, and building equity in nothing. Does this sound familiar to you? Have you ever been an employee and wondered… Why am I building equity in someone else’s dream? What is your dream?

For many that dream is owning their own business. The appeal comes from the freedom, flexibility, wealth, and don’t forget pride of ownership. Real Estate is the choice of many for it’s ease of entry and low start up costs, however it still provides to some degree, freedom, flexibility and wealth. Now let me take you all the way back to the point I wanted to make tonight.

We dedicate our time, our energy, and every fiber of our souls to building someone else’s dream. When we finally realize that we our not happy building someone else’s dream, we take the leap and call ourselves business owners. In my role I get to see people take this leap, a few are successful, even fewer really become “business owners”, and the overwhelming majority self discover there way out of the business. Now lets examine why…

The simple answer.. we take the FREEDOM, and the FLEXIBILITY before we have a business and we never reach WEALTH. We invest ourselves in the dreams of others as employees, but we don’t invest in our own. Our self talk is “It’s my business, I’ll do what I want”. Well if you aren’t doing the same things you were as an employee for your own business, then your dream will never be realized. “I don’t like to do that!”… with that attitude as an employee you would be fired, since you are your own employee, as well as the owner you are just stuck with a difficult employee……YOURSELF! I witness future Real Estate Agents diligently working for others for years, low pay, terrible hours etc… as soon as they work for themselves, building THEIR OWN business work ethic goes out the window. This is one of my biggest frustrations in real estate so let me ask you…. “Are you willing to put forth the same amount of effort for your dream as you are for someone else’s?”

Thank you for reading… If this hits home please share your story as a comment and rededicate yourself to your business.. your dream!

Cheers to your success,

Brett Boettge
Team Leader | Keller Williams Realty Madison Crossroads
TheNextLevel@kw.com
608.661.7000

How To Manage “The Dip” in Real Estate

I’ve been a fan of Seth Godin for the past 2 years.  Ever since I read his book “Purple Cow” I’ve decided this is a great “out of the box” thinker when it comes to customer service and marketing.

One of his latest books, The Dip, takes a little different approach to things.  In it he challenges us to become “the best in the world” at whatever it is we do.  He speaks of becoming extraordinary.  In doing so he coaches us to quit the things that are preventing us from becoming extraordinary and to obsess about what it takes to do so. 

One of the strongest messages is about becoming the best in your world.  World is a relative term.  Your world could be the neighborhood you live in, the town you sell homes in, etc…..  For years I’ve been a firm believer in narrowing your focus in the area you specialize in real estate sales.  We tend to try and become a “jack of all trades” and consequently a master of none.  Mastery in this business is where the long term opportunity lies.

One area to begin is to sign up for mayor of your zipcode and create the beginning of a specialized website FREE.  It’s worth checking out.

Thanks Brett for letting me guest post!

What makes it the BEST?

Another late night blog by Brett Boettge….this one more my personal belief than a lecture..

Trust your system! This is the key to overcoming the fear of lead generation, the key to taking emotion out of your cold calling, the key to running your sales career like a business. What do I mean by “trust your system”? It is actually quite simple like most life altering Aha’s.

Whatever your system for lead generation, trust it. When you call John Seller, you don’t know if you is going to use you or not. What you do know is that for every 12 people that you talk to you will get 1 lead, for ever 2 leads you get 1 appt., for every 2 appt’s you get 1 listing, and for every 2 listings, 1.75 will sell. Now when you look at it like that, do you really care what John Seller says on that initial phone call?

Don’t get attached to the outcome, trust your system, and just make the contacts knowing that you need x amount each day to get the listings required to meet your income goals. By tweaking your system, and improving your skill-set you can increase the conversion rate.  At that point it is less work for the same result… or the same work for a greater result! At this point you OWN THAT SYSTEM, and you just took a step closer to OWNING YOUR BUSINESS, not YOUR JOB.

You have your system, and you contact 48 John Sellers per day which is 4 leads, 2 appt’s, and 1 listing, this makes your business pretty predictable which is huge when running a business. Your system is time tested, has a proven track record, and is now part of your business model. What does this accomplish?.. Well, now it is time to grow.. you are maxed out what do you do! Train someone on how to use your system, now you are leveraged, another key point in running your business like a business. The beauty of systems is we know they work… they are easy to train.. and if you leave they can be implemented by others to successfully run your business without you. I use lead generation as the example because that is where it starts.. without leads nothing else matters. Once you have listings, closings, etc.. you will need to develop appropriate systems for each area of your business. Does this make sense to you?

How are you running your real estate sales business? Fly by the seat of your pants?.. If so you own your JOB, and you can never leave without your business suffering! The true test of owning a real estate business is you can take a six month vacation, and come back with your business thriving! Can you? What steps are you going to take to claim ownership of your business?

Have a great evening….

Last I looked we were SALES associates?!?

Good Sunday Morning… I dedicate this to the membership of the REALTORS Association of South Central Wisconsin…

“I am the best at what I do! I deliver more value than anyone in real estate! I am invaluable to my partners! I am the best I can be!” That is how I started my Sunday morning at 4:30 am, how did you start yours? Cheesy affirmations to some, but truly the difference maker in how I manage my day. Sure, when I walk up to the clubhouse to grab my bagel, yogurt, and juice the neighbors I share wall with look at me like “there he goes again… you know the crazy guy that talks to himself in the shower!” Why should we do this? We are in sales, its a tough job, and you need someone on your side. Who better than you to be your cheerleader? Les Brown is one of my favorite personalities, and it is because when no one believed in him, his belief in himself carried him to celebrity status. http://www.lesbrown.com/about_les.html. Last I looked real estate was still a SALES industry, and your success is going in direct correlation to YOUR belief in YOURSELF!

“NO”.. In my opinion those 2 letters are the start of a beautiful relationship. “Please Unsubscribe me from your emails!”… My friends, that is an invitation for a follow up contact in my mind! Reply ironically with an email asking how you could provide more value to them in your next contact. I have sat across the table from so many who started out this way….. now they are bold enough to call us friends. We hear rejection  all day, a strong belief in yourself and the value that you will bring to that relationship will be the difference maker in how you react to it. My next question….Do you believe that you are the best in market? If not, become the best, or quit and stop wasting everyone’s time.

I had a conversation with a highly successful real estate agent and coach (we’ll call her  Mary) one evening about sales “tactics”. Mary said she felt uncomfortable using highly effective tactics on her clients, customers, and prospects. Mary was  referring to “tie downs”, “alternative choice”, and “Neuro-Linguistic Programming” as deceptive or manipulative. I asked Mary “Do you believe that you can provide the best service to that client?” Mary replied “Well of course I do!” in a tone clearly indicated she was offended I would ask that question. My point… If you believe that you are going to provide the best possible service, and you are the best at what you do, aren’t you doing a dis-service to anyone that you don’t convince to use you? Johnny Slick Sale over at the next brokerage has a 62% customer service ranking but still out performs you on a listing presentation….. WHY? Johnny is using NLP, and SALES TACTICS to close his prospects and every third prospect he converts is going to have a less than positive experience with him. Don’t you owe it to your prospects to be a strong enough SALESperson to be their choice if you provide a better experience and more value?

So it’s been decided… this is a SALES business? I understand that not all of us came into this business with a 25 year background in sales, lord knows that just a short 2 years ago I had virtually no sales experience. So where to start… READ, check out sites like www.overstock.comand order a couple of NLP books. This is one that I like CLICK HERE, I also recommend that you read “The Accidental Salesman” by Madison, WI local Chris Lytle. Learn the tips and tricks that SALESPEOPLE use every day, and align yourself with your title “Real Estate Salesperson”. Does this make sense? Do you believe that you are the best? Are you ready to quit?

SALES TIP OF THE DAY…… This is old school, but hasn’t been done in our local market. “The Lottery Letter” Send a introduction letter to FSBO or Expireds with a lottery ticket in it. Have printed under the ticket, and at the top of your letter “Take a chance with the lottery, not your agent!” Now you have their attention so get your Unique Value Proposition across, and make sure it is powerful. Now the greatest thing about the Lotto Letter is not the letter itself, but the ease of the next contact…a simple phone call….”Did you WIN!!!!!”. Have a great weekend all, and stay tuned to this blog for tips, tricks, and rants!

 Sincerely,
Brett Boettge
Team Leader | CEO
Keller Williams Realty Madison Crossroads
TheNextLevel@KW.com

P.S. If you do believe you are the best or have the drive to become the best, I would love to talk further about your real estate career.  Keller Williams Realty Madison Crossroads is looking to grow with our area’s top talent, call Brett @ 608.661.7000 for a confidential, fact finding, no obligation meeting. As always, I promise not to waste your time.