50 Top Tips from Transform

We learned more than you could ever imagine from our Transform coaches over a 12-week period. Here is a rapid fire 50 top tips from both our coaches and our Super Six.

1. What got you here won’t get you there. What got you to 12 or 16 sales is not going to get you to 100. But there is potential for radical change. John McGrath
2. When you get as serious about your commitment to prospecting and the other activities that are key to your business as you are about attending your own auctions or your own open for inspections, that’s when life starts to change. John McGrath
3. Don’t be afraid of changing; be afraid of not changing. Embrace it, enjoy it, love it. John McGrath
4. Start with why. Willpower will get you so far. Whypower will help you move mountains. Claudio Encina
5. The only thing that will get in the way of your success is you. Your principal won’t, the economy won’t, your colleagues won’t, the sharemarket won’t. You have to be ready to get out of your own way on the way to success. John McGrath
6. Retention is higher on video. One of the most impressive things Kim did was to send us a video before the listing presentation, which really set her apart from the other members of the Super Six. Maria and Manos Findikakis
7. Use a combination of professional video and ‘self-created’ video. Sometimes you need to be nimble for things like testimonials and neighbourhood updates, and you don’t have time to call a video crew. Save them for the planned shoots, and get really good at using your smartphone with the right tools to get a professional result. Helen Mitchell
8. When you use video over a period of time, the audience feels like they have already met you. This inherently builds trust. Helen Mitchell
9. Don’t use vertical video and lift the camera up a little higher. It instantly drops a few pounds and gives you a much nicer frame around your face. Helen Mitchell
10. When you begin to achieve stuff you haven’t yet allowed yourself to believe in, you start pulling it back. So best you start believing in stuff that is incredibly exciting and empowering if that is where you want to be. John McGrath
11. I have never been disciplined or structured and as a result was always reactive rather than proactive; I wasn’t performing as a true rehearsed professional. Now I get up early and exercise in the morning four days a week. I still don’t find it easy but I’m hoping that will change. My time management has improved thanks to structure, repetition and practice. Kim Bamford
12. I had prevented my success going any higher due to my beliefs in myself. Atthat point I was still blaming everybody and everything else. Later (after the first session with John McGrath), once I got home and thought it over properly, it made sense to me and really made me think differently about setting my goals much higher. Kim Bamford
13. Have a smaller farm area and pay attention to consistency rather than the ‘spray and pray’ approach. Get to know the neighbourhood and let a focused area get to know you. Claudio Encina
14. Stand up when you make calls. It completely changes your energy and tonality. Get a standup desk if you need to. Smile before you dial. Claudio Encina
15. Feel the fear and do it anyway. Jet Xavier
16. When you are making your OFI calls, do them on a Saturday afternoon and start your script with the time of the open. ‘Hey, great meeting you on Saturday at 10.30 at 23 Smith Street, Balmain.’ It forces the person on the other end of the phone to think about where they were and what they were doing. Claudio Encina
17. Don’t interrogate the client. Choose three to four questions to get them talking. ‘What was the last home you wanted to buy but just missed out on? What was that home like?’ Claudio Encina
18. My listing presentation has become more structured. I normally try and find out what the client wants before we sit down anyway to build a path on which to talk about this. Now I have more structure than before. I’m able to focus on stats that CoreLogic showed us which I didn’t know about before, and this has helped clients pick the right price before listing. Zac McHardy
19. We have now set up a new network system for between sales and property management. Each time a property is empty they will let us know, and as a sales team we now call the landlord and give them a market update on the home. Zac McHardy
20. Use a call to action letter regularly in your BDA and make sure it contains images as well as text. Images get much more attention than text alone. Claudio Encina
21. Don’t just view the people you meet as buyers or sellers. They might be an investor or a tenant and therefore still have value in your business. Fiona Blayney
22. If you don’t know where to start with digital marketing, Google yourself. Fifty-nine per cent of people will look you up online before they pick up the phone. That is what we call the digital interview. Steve Carroll
23. My struggle with confidence and self-belief was changed through some of Susanne King’s words. Changing perspective, managing highs and lows, setting a new standard for myself, upgrading my identity to where I want to be, getting out of my comfort zone. Now I know what I need to do. Melinda Allamby
24. My listing presentations have now been taken to another level. My presentation now shows the owners why I am the best agent for them and what sets me apart. I like to provide owners with up-to-date information about recent comparative sales, what is on the market, and general suburb information. I use RP Data Professional which is amazing, with all the information only a click away. Melinda Allamby
25. Working with Campaigntrack on social media optimisation has been great. They are ensuring that my profile is professional and consistent throughout every platform. I want people to know that I am an experienced expert in my field and able to freely provide relevant information to them. Melinda Allamby
26. Maintaining contact with clients: the frequency of prospecting/nurturing calls is vital. Too often and you will potentially irritate the client; tooinfrequently and you will most probably fail to impress them. Time of day, the length of the phone call, your manner/tone (how familiar, friendly or businesslike you should be) and ensuring you have been informative, helpful and/or had excellent market knowledge are all important in their own way. James Tostevin
27. Acknowledging significant moments in your clients’ lives (birthdays, death in the family, professional achievements, birth of children, etc) is important, but remember to be selective with all of the above; unless you know the client exceptionally well then acknowledging any of these things can be interpreted the wrong way. James Tostevin
28. It doesn’t matter what level you are at, you should have a mentor. Many believe that once they are a high achiever in their field that they don’t need to call on anyone to lead or guide them. My opinion is that this is a gross misconception. We can always be improving. There is always a slight adjustment that can be made, if not a vast adjustment, and often having someone to ‘bounce’ off or call on when you’re stuck is imperative to progress. Kate Strickland
29. A lot of real estate agents are reluctant to pick up the telephone. It’s not a skillset problem; everyone knows how to physically pick up the telephone. That’s where you need to become mindfit. Jet Xavier
30. You need to find those things that you’re not confident with and do them repeatedly. If that’s prospecting calls, then consider chaining yourself to that telephone and make enough calls until you are confident, so that confidence can drive a different and more positive behaviour. Jet Xavier
31. If five per cent of a rent roll turns over each year, it is well worth breaking down the silo with your property management team as 80 per cent of existing clients will sell with the same agent. But there needs to be a great internal relationship for that to work. Fiona Blayney
32. Always make sure you can write down the names and addresses, off the top of your head, of 15 people you are going to call today. What is their timeline and destination? Remember, if you can’t remember them, they can’t remember you. Josh Phegan
33. Celebrate when things don’t go so well or according to plan. Celebrate the fact that you have learned something. Susanne King
34. Don’t look at your goals when you are not feeling good. Then you mentally associate your goals with a negative feeling and that impacts your ability to achieve them. Look at your goals when you are feeling good! Susanne King
35. Agentbox has been great for planning my daily calls; now I log in first thing in the morning and I have a list of activities and calls for the day. It has only been a short time, but I’ve already found my day running a lot more smoothly and deadlines a lot less daunting! Ben Munro Smith
36. Make sure you clearly know these three things about your potential vendors/buyers: Problem. Timeline. Destination. Why are they moving? Does it need to be before a certain date? Where are they going? This will focus you on the five to 10 people you need to speak to today to move you forward for success. Josh Phegan
37. You wouldn’t go running without doing some stretches to ‘warm up’ and it’s just as important to warm up yourvoice before a presentation. Try saying the tongue twister “Red Leather, Yellow Leather” over and over. Shelley Horton
38. Confidence to me is about being prepared and practised so I am game-ready every day, no matter what the situation. As Shelly Horton said, “Everyday for six weeks I dressed so I was camera-ready, then when the opportunity came up I was ready to walk right onto set.” I want to be able to do just that: be ready to act when the opportunity arises. Ben Munro Smith
39. Don’t let self-doubt put you off course; when it raises its ugly head – squash it fast. Jamie Van Le
40. If you want to smash this Transform thing out of the park, you actually just need to get more appointments. Josh Phegan
41. Potential and capacity. If you are at 50 per cent of your potential and 100 per cent of your capacity then you can never achieve your full potential. Look at fitness (physical and mental), systems and people to expand your potential. Josh Phegan
42. If you have a great listing presentation then you will find an opportunity to go and do it. You’ll probably find five. Confidence will drive that. Josh Phegan
43. Don’t call it Vendor Paid Advertising, call it Vendor Investment Marketing. It changes the conversation you have with your vendors so that both you and the vendor see value in the marketing that you are proposing. Marketing is an investment, not a cost. Stuart Benson
44. Overstressed? Take a shot of lime juice with a coloured salt first thing in the morning; it does wonders to calm the adrenal glands, which will help you cope better with the day. Emily Schofield
45. Really observe your vendors and buyers when you meet them. You can change your communication patterns to match who you’re talking to in a way that makes sense to them, you’ll click more and you’ll be able to find out more about what that person is really looking for. Charmaine Keegan
46. Make rejection your best friend. Million Dollar Agents have been rejected more times than you have tried. Tom Panos
47. Do a search in your email inbox for ‘?’ Grab those emails and look for questions from clients and answer them on video. Put those videos on YouTube and your website with a transcription. This strategy alone will do wonders for both SEO and getting found on the Internet. Josh Cobb
48. Fill in your agent profile on realestate.com.au. Last year 250,000 emails were sent via social profiles and the lion’s share of them went to the 41 per cent of profiles that were complete. And it’s free. Steve Carroll
49. Make sure that your ideal week includes the five areas of your life – good health, good business, spiritual, finance and family goals. Claudio Encina
50. As Josh says, keep the phone calls quick. Once you’ve got rapport, you don’t need to keep building it. Jean Paul Elsing

For more tips and to catch up on all of the coaching videos visit eliteagent.com/sales-transform-2016.

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