Elite AgentSELLING + MARKETING PROPERTY

The Numbers Game

The difference between an average salesperson and a great salesperson may be a matter of numbers, but you don’t need to be a mathematician to work this out. Jim Midgley shows how doubling your listings can triple your income.

SALES
What makes a great salesperson? Talent, good fortune, good looks, maybe a good area or even a good boss. Well, I have met a lot of great salespeople in my day and I have to say there is only one word that sets them apart – VOLUME. Without fail they have found a way to do more appointments per week than average salespeople.

I believe if any average salesperson doubled their volume they would also improve their strike rates as well. Let me add clarity. If you do four listing presentations per month and you get two of them as a listing, then I believe if we could get you to do eight listing presentations per month you would soon be getting five or six listings, not four. Your strike rate would improve simply by doing more listing presentations.

Now let’s look at those numbers with sales conversion. If the average salesperson lists two properties they will on average only sell one of them. However, if they double their listings to four they will probably improve their conversion rate and sell 2.5 to three on average, mainly by improved systems due to the increased volume, hence an improvement in their conversion rate. Great salespeople average 75 per cent clearance rate as opposed to the current industry average of 50 per cent.

So, if you list two and sell one a month with $5,000 commission to you, you would earn $60,000 a year. Now, if you list four and sell three at the same commission to you, your income is now $180,000 a year – what a massive change. It is quite common in our industry to see a salesperson double their listings and at the same time triple their income.

I hear you say, “easier said than done, so how do I do it?” Well, the only way is to increase your productivity is by prospecting and making more appointments. In effect you must improve the productivity of the hours you work, not increase the hours you work. Many great salespeople use the mornings to find appointments and the afternoons to do appointments. This is a simple but effective method.

Let’s say you do three hours of solid tele-prospecting from 9am to 12 noon and you set three appointments, then after lunch you do three appointments. Can you imagine what your income would be if you did three appointments a day, five days a week for a year? Let’s work it out. Depending on the quality of your appointments, you would list two or three properties per week and let’s assume you only sell 50 per cent of those you list. If you receive $5,000 commission to you as the salesperson per full sale, then your income would be between $250,000 and $375,000. Not bad for three hours of disciplined prospecting five days a week.

Now imagine if you used “Open for Inspection” on Saturdays as the method of showing these properties (as you’re too busy with prospecting and appointments during the week), how many new prospects would you meet each week? With the scenario above you would probably have eight to ten open for inspections each week and let’s assume the marketing attracts an average of four people to each open. Now you have 30 to 40 new prospects who are buying, selling or both and all of them have met you. There are probably three or four listings available amongst these new prospects. Now we see the snowball effect of increasing your prospecting.

Focus and discipline are the keys to success in our industry. Yet it seems everyone and everything is trying to distract us from doing the important work that must be done daily. I found that if I didn’t switch off my mobile phone and ask the receptionist to take messages, I simply would not get the work done. I also found a head-set and a “STOP – DON’T BOTHER ME – I’M PROSPECTING” sign were essential to my success.

Integrity is also a given if you wish to build a large following of past clients who will only deal with you. You may miss the odd deal by acting with integrity but you will attract more clients and referrals than you thought possible. On a lighter note, this business can be stressful and I believe with all my heart that a good sense of humour and the ability to see the lighter side of what we do is essential for longevity in this business. Please also try to keep work separate from your home life. Your family and friends are far more important than any client or customer.

Finally, I would like to discuss the enormous benefit of having a strong purpose and reason for working in this business. Work funds life, not the other way around, so have a really big reason and the business will be easy. Build your dream home, attract the perfect partner, become financially independent, become a philanthropist or simply help your family live a great life. Whatever the reason you have to succeed, give it clarity with pictures and look at it every day before you start work, so you know exactly why you need to make those calls. If you do this you will find focus and discipline come easily and the volume will follow.

I hope my thoughts and experiences help you to step up to the next level, where life is good.

Jim Midgley is a trainer for top real estate sales people and coaches.

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