Just like that, we are done with 2017. Time to review your achievements for the past 12 months and work out the plan for this year.
While there probably wasn’t a lot of time for it in between December’s settlements and client parties, this is one metrics deep-dive you can’t afford to neglect. It will give you and your team the concrete knowledge you need to adjust your trajectory across your agency, from marketing through to recruitment and prospecting practices.
Numbers should inform every decision you make in your real estate business – and with advanced CRM reporting, numbers should regularly be at everyone’s fingertips, from principals and agents to administrators and BDMs.
In order to lead a winning team, your CRM is a crucial tool that will assist you in setting targets and keeping each member accountable to the results they set out to achieve for themselves. We see our top clients tracking Budget vs Actual on their dashboard daily to keep on target.
Take action and gather the team together for a ‘jam’, unpacking your projected versus actual results across these five critical metrics categories.
Appraisals: Run reports on your appraisal pipeline for the business and each agent. See how many appraisals you have achieved and where they have come from. Do you have hard definitions around what constitutes an appraisal – is it a kerbside estimate, or a lounge-room meeting? Through this exercise you can see what you can do to breed more success and what opportunities are up ahead.
Take care to drill down into how listings were won and lost.
Listing conversions: A particularly important metric. Behind the numbers, take care to drill down into how listings were won and lost. This is where the gold lies: understanding your team’s listing behaviour, what works and what doesn’t. You can then implement training or provide support systems to improve your conversion ratio.
Commissions: What was 2017’s projected average commission? What did your team actually achieve? Did you make your goal, or fall short? Either way, explore the reasons behind your average commission rate. Adjust your expectations for 2018 in a realistic fashion – by amping up the percentage, or reducing it if market forces demand.
Sales written and gross commission: How many properties did you sell, and what was your average gross commission? These two figures are the tip of an ‘improvements’ iceberg – revealing slow spots in your year, seasonal changes and listing behaviours in your agency.
If you notice a discounting culture emerging from these statistics, explore the reasons behind the shift in team confidence. Set 2018’s sales written and gross commission goals with this knowledge behind you. Hint: your CRM should provide the whole team with a live ‘sales written and gross commission earned’ dashboard, immediately available on both on your laptop or desktop and on your mobile devices.
Phone calls made: The future might be digital, but the phone call is still where client relationships are made and deals are done! Your CRM’s phone app should easily track your team’s daily phone call output – both attempted and connected calls. When calls are missed, it should prompt team members to follow-up, in addition to setting call targets and a countdown to the number of calls necessary to make today.
MARKETING TAKEAWAYS
Once you’ve looked back at 2017’s key metrics, you’ll have a wide variety of useful information at your disposal. Here’s how to take your marketing to the next level with this knowledge.
- Be Discerning You’ll now be able to see what’s working and what isn’t when it comes to advertising. Do more of what works, and cut back on activities that don’t offer returns.
- Social Media Digital marketing is part of leading real estate agents’ marketing mix. Embrace social media and see what works for you. You might enjoy writing blogs, or you could be terrific at Facebook Live – experiment and try new things.
- Refine your Email Marketing Which emails worked for your database this year? Check your open rate and click-through rate. Don’t forget to clean all ‘bounced’ emails out of your database – an important end-of-year data hygiene activity.
The only thing standing between you and a 2018 of better decisions, amplified results and agency growth is knowledge fuelled by data. The question is: can you easily gather these key metrics yourself or are you relying on someone else do to it for you?
If you’re still running your real estate business via Excel spreadsheet accountability, both you and your team are in the dark. If you do have an advanced CRM, ensure you know how to plug in your key data and produce these critical reports. If you’re not using an advanced CRM already, use a portion of your summer break to research investing in a CRM that will empower your agency.
