Elite Agents Real Estate Podcast With Debbie De Grote

Hello and welcome to Debbie's Tips. I wanted to talk to you today about your mindset. As you woke up this morning and were heading to work or going to your office or your desk at home, what were you thinking about? Were you thinking about the problems and the dramas ahead, that you might be facing in the day? Were you worrying about where your next deal is going to come from? Or were you thinking about the opportunity? One of the tough things about being an entrepreneur is that you must create every day from scratch, and there's no guarantee of payment. There's no security. And yet the great thing about being an entrepreneur is that opportunity is unlimited. So as you think about your day today, I want you to think, what are the opportunities that I should be taking advantage of? What are the calls I should make that will lead to my next big transaction? And what am I avoiding that if I just do it, I will have a successful day? So remember, think opportunity.

Hello and welcome to Debbie's Tips. I was thinking about something as I was reading a book this weekend called, Talent is Overrated. Is it truly the natural born talent that separates the super achievers in the real estate industry from those who don't achieve the success they deserve? After 20 years of coaching and over 80,000 coaching calls, I believe that while talent is great and it's incredible to be a natural, what I notice to be consistent when it comes to top achievers and top producers is drive and determination. Sometimes people who are super talented are content to rest on the laurels that their talent will pull them through, leading them to possibly be a little bit lazy at times about doing the work. They may not always put in the effort to laying the foundation, practicing skills, to showing up and doing the things that they need to do even when they don't feel like it. However a person who is very driven and very goal oriented seems to always find a way. So if you don't feel like you're a natura

Hello and welcome to Debbie's Tips. What is your pre-appointment warmup? I was talking to someone in Canada, and he is the leader of a team that lists over a thousand properties a year. Here is his pre-appointment warmup: He puts the top down on his car, and he blasts the theme from Rocky, the Eye of the Tiger song. This is how he gets his mind in the game, and maybe it works because of course he takes a lot of listings. What’s funny is he even does this in the winter, even though it's a little cold in Canada in the winter. But he's discovered that that's what he needs to get his mind in the game. But how many times have we done the opposite of this? We kept putting off preparing for the listing appointment until the last minute, and now we're throwing things together and we're rushing over there. We’re worried about running late, we're maybe even talking on the phone trying to fix a deal problem as we drive, only to arrive with our mind in turmoil and chaos. So instead, let's set aside at least the 30 minute

Hello and welcome to Debbie's Tips. Today I wanted to talk a little bit about referrals. We all love referrals and want more referrals, and yet sometimes you wonder, why do my friends, my family, my raving fan clients, not give me the referrals I deserve? A couple of reasons for this could be possible. One, they just might not be the connector type. There are certain people who are very proactive about helping, but others are a little shy or timid to bring it up. So it could be just their personality type. Also, often we can give the impression that we're so busy and so successful, potentially they think that you don’t need them. It could also be that they're not completely clear on all the market areas that you service. Along that same line, they might not be aware of all the price points that you cover. So let's make sure that you talk to them about how much you value and appreciate the referrals, and how you love to build your business working with the people you know and their friends and family, that you

Hello and welcome to Debbie's Tips. There is something I keep hearing. I hear it as I travel across the country, and I've already heard it three or four times this week. "I need systems for my business." Great top producing agents are making terrific money, and yet they're saying, "I'm not sure where that next deal is going to come from. I hope I achieve my goal, but how do I create this predictable machine that delivers the same amount of production, month after month after month? I need to be sure this gets me towards that ultimate annual goal that I have set." This is probably one of the biggest challenges of the real estate business. In the book the E-Myth, which Michael Gerber wrote years ago, he talks about the entrepreneurial myth. Just because somebody, for example, is a great pie maker, doesn't mean there'll be a great pie shop owner. So there's a difference between being an entrepreneur and being a technician. The real estate business attracts entrepreneurs. I want you to ask yourself, are you truly

Hello and welcome to Debbie's Tips. I wanted to answer an interesting question that came in to me today. Someone asked, "Debbie, what do sellers really want from me when I go out on a listing appointment?" This is a great question. Often here at Excelleum, the coaches and I say to clients, let's enter the conversation that's going on in the mind of the prospect. Let's not push our agenda at them, instead, let's meet them where they're at. So if we think about it that way, what does the seller really want from us? First of all, they want to be heard. They want us to listen to their goals, their dreams, their wishes. They want to tell us about their property. They want us to appreciate their property. They want us to be the champion of their home, of their value, and they want to know that you're going to fight for them. Next, they want to hear about the marketing. What are the things you're going to do to bring exposure to the property, but to also deliver that right buyer? And for all of you listening to or r

Hello and welcome to Debbie's Tips. Do you time block? Agents often come to me and tell me that they need to time block, and that it's one of the things that they struggle with most. There's just so many things flying at them every day throughout the day, that it's hard to focus. Often, I even hear, "One of the reasons I got into real estate is because I wanted freedom, I wanted flexibility. I don't like a rigorous schedule." So then I figure out what's going on in their business and ask them, “How is that working out for you?” And usually, not that well. Here's what I would encourage you to do. What if you just started by time blocking just the morning? Set a specific time that you're going to wake up. Figure out what time will you be at your desk, either at your home desk or your office desk working. What are the important things that you must do in the morning so that we can keep feeding that machine? Things like lead follow up, new lead generation, negotiating contracts, or preparing for the day's appoint

Hello it's Debbie and welcome to Debbie's Tips. Are you still on track to hit your goal for the year? Perhaps you’ve fallen into the trap where you set these great goals at the beginning of the year, we've all done this, and somewhere along the line you lost the vision, maybe you fell a little bit behind. So is it time to revisit the goals that you have set? Are you still committed to that number that you selected at the beginning of the year? As I've worked with top agents across North America and over the last 20 years, one thing that's very clear to me is that the year isn't even. Here's what I mean by that. You don't take your number for the year and divide it by four quarters. In a perfect world, that would be great. But many markets are seasonal, and I find that most agents do the majority of their business in the second and third quarter. If you're not on track for your goal, if you're falling behind, take a moment and do the math. If you took the number you wanted to hit in the remainder of the year a

Hello and welcome to Debbie's Tips. And today I wanted to talk a little bit more about overcoming the "Will you cut your commission?" objection. I know we've talked about this before, but it's something that I hear every day from great agents, who say that they're just struggling to hold the line on commission. Now of course we all know that commission is negotiable by law, and yet I also believe that you do have the right to earn what you deserve to earn, to support your business and to support your family. Today's consumers, though, they're more savvy and they're more demanding than ever, aren't they? Today's consumer is probably going to ask you to cut commission. And yet, just because they ask you doesn't mean they won't ultimately pay more. In fact, I read that if you take any group of consumers for any product, 70% will pay more for perceived value. This is why it's critical to have a well-prepared and a well-planned listing presentation. Because so much money is on the line, it just makes sense to prac

Hi, it's Debbie and welcome to Debbie Tips. I got a message this week and I thought it'd be good for us to talk about today. The question was, “Debbie, I've heard you talk about being a wise advisor in your marketing to your geographic farm and to your past clients and sphere. But what exactly should I be mailing?” In other words, they were asking me if it was okay to still be mailing out things like a calendar on the local sporting events, a recipe card, or dropping off pumpkins or 4th of July flags. Their point was, I know that's not really sending anything that's making me shine as a wise advisor, but it is getting my name out there. Well, and it's fine. I mean, it doesn't hurt you. Well, I should take that back. I did hear a story last 4th of July that caused a bit of damage. An agent told me that they got a bright idea to pass out happy 4th of July door hangers in their geographic farm, and they thought it'd be really cool to attach a sparkler to the door hanger. Well, if they'd been coaching with us, I

Hello and welcome to Debbie's Tips. I wonder, are you making your lead generation harder than it needs to be? Here's what I mean. Do you have all of your past clients and your leads and your database on some type of automated email campaign? Do you have your A's and AAA’s separated out where you direct mail to them? Are you texting, are you sly voicemailing? Are you inviting them to events? In addition, are you letting those out and about in the community know that you're in real estate by wearing a name tag or a branded polo shirt when you're out at the soccer field or at the grocery store? Or maybe a t-shirt with a company logo when you're at the gym? Because see, if you're a secret agent, it's hard for them to find you. But if you're marketing consistently, we call it the web of connections, and if you're out there wearing that career apparel, people will just come up to you. I see some agents that are still using car signs. I also see a lot of people that reach out to us to say, you know, I'm part of grou

Hello and welcome to Debbie's Tips. I had a question sent in to me and I wanted to answer it for you today. “How effective are print newsletters?” So this person was actually asking if it would be equally effective to send an email newsletter or would I really, really recommend doing a print newsletter instead? Hands down, a print newsletter is the best. It's not that sending an e-newsletter is bad - if you have one that you're not paying for and it's easy to push it out, go right ahead. Because at least they're seeing that you sent them something. It's keeping your name top of mind, but they're probably not going to open it up and read it. But with a print newsletter, people love it. They don't just stand over their mailbox and throw it away like they do a lot of the other stuff that they get in the mail. Maybe they do with some of the other stuff they get in the mail from us, but with the newsletter they are more likely to take it, lay it by the coffee maker, lay on the coffee table, lay it by their bed and

Hello and welcome to Debbie's Tips. I was thinking about open house today. I know we've maybe talked about it in the past when you've gotten together with me, read my blogs, or gone on a webinar, but here's what came up today. It was more about the basics of open house that, as I was speaking to this great agent that called us enjoying coaching, and this truly is a great agent, they've been in the business for maybe 30 plus years. They work in a very high end market and they're extremely professional. I was asking them though, what are your open houses like? And they said, very, very busy. And I asked, well, how many transactions this year have come from open house? Actually the answer was none. And I said, talk to me about what you're doing for yourself to ensure that you have a successful open house and maximize the opportunity to get another listing or sale from each open house. Well here's what I found out. So the first question I asked was if they did any marketing, any targeted Facebook ads, any going i

Hello and welcome to Debbie's Tips. What I wanted to talk about today is lead follow up, but maybe in a little different way than we've discussed before, if you've ever listened to our recordings or read our blogs or attended our webinars on lead follow up. This is such an important topic and the reason for that is because for most agents, 70% of their business is going to come from their lead follow up. And yet most agents admit that they don't follow up often enough. Now if you have online leads, I understand you may have only their email address so you'll have to depend on only emailing them. I have had some agents have success sending an email that says, “We have some great coming soon properties. If you'll send me your phone number, I'll text you the information.” But I do understand that a lot of your email campaigns may be tied around your online leads. You've got those built in drips, and some of your CRMs even have those drips built in for you. But let's talk about a different type of lead. I was tal

Hello and welcome to Debbie's Tips. Today I was reading a great article that my friend Diane Hartley over at the Luxury Institute for Home Marketing sent over to me, and I just really loved it and I thought maybe we would talk about it a little bit today. The subject of the article is, "Habits of Highly Successful Upper Tier Agents." So I took a look at this article, which breaks down six common habits of high-end real estate agents. Whether or not you work high end, all these habits are very appropriate. Habit number one, balance work and personal life. So when you're doing the things that are for fun, for recreation, dinner with family, going to a movie, make sure you really work to be in the moment. I scolded my husband the other night because, as you all know, he is a full-time real estate agent of over 34 years. And we went out to dinner on a Friday night, a nice dinner, great restaurant. And what's he doing? Checking his texts and answering his phone. And I said, goodness, can't you put it away for just

Hello it’s Debbie De Grote and welcome to Debbie’s Tips! Today we’re talking about instant revenue. Just this week the coaches and I had a great mastermind call and we were discussing how to help our clients fire up their year by focusing them on activities to create instant revenue. I thought you might like to hear about some of the items on our list: Time block 1 hour a day to hunt for new business  Text 5 past clients per day offering an annual real estate check up to update them on the value of their home. Pull every lead in your system and time block 100% focused lead follow up time and have your scripts ready to spark urgency, why they should do it now Call or see all of your AAA past clients, you probably have 10 or 20 that are your top raving fans, and ask them for a referral. And remember, they love you and will be happy to help you. Get price reductions on any unsold listings right away! For your buyers who are stagnant, have a heart to heart talk with them about what must change to find them a hom

Hello and welcome to Debbie’s Tips! And today I wanted to ask you, what are the new opportunities in your market? Recently we had a Shifting Market event here in Newport Beach, California where we discussed how to prepare for the changes that the next year or two may bring. One of the things we discussed is that while a market shift brings new challenges to be met, it also brings new opportunities. I would encourage you to consider this thought: What are the new opportunities that your market conditions are presenting that you are not taking advantage of? For example, there will be more expired listings. What is you plan to work them? There will be newer opportunities in the high-end market, as days on market increase and many agents will flock to the lower price points because they are easier. Past clients may decide now is the time to sell and downsize to maximize equity, so it would make sense to call them now and inform them of the shift. You have more power to spark opportunity than you think you do! If

Hello, welcome to Debbie’s Tips. Today we’re talking about tips to increase your income producing hours. If you are like most of the great agents who come to us for coaching, you are probably working too many hours and not earning all that you deserve, am I right? At Excelleum, our goal is to help our coaching clients make more money in less time.  To help them in this process, we often encourage them to keep a time log for a week in order to track what percentage of their day is income producing. I thought I would share this exercise with you, because it’s easy to do and just the act of focusing on how your time is spent almost instantly improves your productivity. Here is how it works. Grab a scratch pad, carry it with you, and log what you are doing every 30 minutes of the day for the next week. At the end of the day, go back over your log and write the following next to each 30-minute segment: IP = income producing IS = income servicing S = stuff The goal is to get to a minimum of 50% income producing act

Hello and welcome to Debbie’s tips. I wanted to talk to you about earning what you deserve. Have you ever found that past clients, friends, and family often grind you to cut commission? Whether it’s because you know them, or because you did a deal with them before, or there will be two deals involved this time? The first thing I’d ask you to do, to earn what you deserve, is STOP volunteering to cut commission. Don’t offer it, at least wait for them to bring it up! So don’t say, “Okay, because you’re going to buy another home from me,” or “Because I sold you a home in the past,” or “If I sell it myself, I’ll do x.” So just stop volunteering. Let them ask you. Then if they ask you, the next step is to be prepared with what you will say when they bring it up. Be sure to practice that, because you know this is going to come up again and again and again. We have some new scripts that I recently wrote for our clients to help them with this situation, and if you’d like to check those out, go ahead and email me, debb

I wanted to talk to you today about how to triple your referrals. Have you ever wondered why your friends, your family, your sphere, and past clients don't send you more referrals? It's frustrating isn't it? You work so hard, you do so much, they tell you how much they love what you do! So what happens? They don't know all the areas you service. Maybe they don't understand all the price points and types of properties you serve. They think you are too busy. They themselves are busy and you don't remind them often enough. It’s a shame when you think of the fact that direct referrals have a high conversion ratio, often 25-50%, and usually it doesn't cost a thing to get them. So here are the tips we have our coaching clients working on to squeeze more referrals from the folks they know. Quarterly, send a marketing postcard to your database that reminds them of all the areas and price points you service. Also work this into your script as you call them. Start asking every buyer and seller for a referral upfront