By Rich Levin
Occasionally in this column I will share with you a few entries from my Blog that can be found at www.RichLevinBlog.com.
As always Rich welcomes your questions on how to raise your production, solve a problem, hire an Assistant, improve your marketing, or negotiate a tough deal.
Go to www.AskCoachRich.com and post your question.
Is now the time to hire an Assistant?
I am getting ready for my presentations at NAR convention next week. One of my presentations is on Assistants. A Client told me that she read an article that says that in this market it is time to reconsider whether hiring an Assistant is a good idea.
Wow, backwards thinking and naïve. You should always consider closely the wisdom of hiring an Assistant. I say that you need to have the cash flow ($10,000 per month for at least three months in a row, with one of those months being in the future), sales activity, (3 or more sales for at least three months in a row) and appointment activity (3 or more new appointments per week for four weeks in row with a minimum 50% conversion ratio).
Now, I know that I am one of the few, very few coaches that measure these things with their Clients every week. That’s the problem. If someone made that statement about Assistants they are not actively measuring results. The statement implies lack of insight.
It is always a good time to hire an Assistant if that Assistant will make you four or more times their cost. It is always a good time to add Buyer Specialists and Selling Assistants if they will be more successful with you than on their own and they are profitable to you.
This is going to be an excellent presentation at NAR on Assistants. I am covering every aspect and the handout is fabulously full of info. If you are going to be at the NAR convention, or you know someone who is come up and say hello.
Assistants and More
Finished polishing and shaping the Assistants presentation, today I do the final edit to get it down to ninety minutes. I love that topic. Putting good help in place to do the things you don’t do that make you more money, makes sense. Putting good people in place to do the things you don’t take time to do or have time to do is the key to continuous growth.
Sure hiring is hard. The biggest mistake Agents make is not thinking about what they want in the person they are going to hire. They just hire who is available, who is recommended or who shows up, often a major mistake.
What do you want the person to do? What skills do they need for that? What experience would be best for that? What behavior style DISC would be best suited for that? What questions could you ask to ensure that the person has the talent that will be needed?
You run a multi million dollar business, no kidding. A less skilled, inexperienced, Assistant has no business being your main Assistant, even if it is for only ten hours a week.
Don’t be casual or careless. Hire strong people and your business, your income, your clients, your loved ones, and you will all benefit from it.
Buyer Specialist… Is it right for you?
Buyer Specialists are a great option for Agents. I received a call from a fan that has been working for a builder for the past ten years. The builder has had her working three weekends a month, Saturday and Sunday from 1 to 5 PM. Her significant other has a Monday to Friday 8 am to 6 PM job. She wants more of her life back.
She earns about fifty thousand dollars a year. She has good sales skills, although she has not had to prospect very aggressively. If she were to transition to being a full service Agent she will have to generate from scratch.
So, I recommended that she interview with one of the top Agents in her city to be one of their Buyer Specialists. It’s ideal for her and for them. She gets a nice flow of leads, which she is completely capable of converting to sales in addition to her marketing to her Sphere of Influence and past clients. Holding opens on homes she knows will get traffic on Sundays from 2 to 4 PM as she needs is a breeze compared to the desolate opens she experienced with the builder.
Her split is nearly the same. She will be able to generate as much or more than her fifty thousand dollars with the same or less effort.
On the other side, I know of three Agents in her marketplace who each take over fifty listings a year. Two of the three take over a hundred. Any of these three have enough over flow of buyer leads for my fan to make her income and the Primary Agent to make thirty to fifty thousand on leads that are presently being lost. By the way, the two Agents who take over a hundred listings each have two and three Buyer Specialists already all but one of who is earning over fifty thousand dollars per year.
Buyer Specialists are a great option for a lot of Agents in a variety of situations.
Hiring the Best People….
When I find myself sending the same copy of an article it tells me that lots of Agents are suddenly dealing with the same issue. Right now it is my article “Hiring the Best People” which can be found on the home page of my website.
It is the end of summer and Agents who had the good fortune of being busy are realizing that they spent too much time working. They want to take their life back while maintaining or growing their business. Or, too many leads were lost. Or, their quality of service is suffering. Or all of those things and they realize assistance from an Assistant would solve these dilemmas.
However, they may have tried and got it wrong or just don’t believe that an Assistant can do things the way they want or that it will take just as long to teach someone or many of the excuses I hear that stand in people’s way.
Anyway, I’m having a stream of these conversations right now. So, if you are in this situation or know someone who is I hope the article helps.