The stadium is packed. The players and the coaches are on the field making it happen. The fans are in the stands watching it happen. A few stragglers are still in the parking lot and hear the roar of the crowd. They wonder “what happened?” As a coach of your team, where are you?
Are you down on the field with your players helping them make it happen? Are you in the stands watching it happen? Or, are you in the press box calculating the statistics of the game? I find many managers are great at calculating game stats. They can tell you average GCI per player, number of listings year-to-date and market share by price range. But, are they simply recording what’s happening or are they influencing what’s happening? Are they down on the field making a difference for their players and their team?
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Here’s the bottom-line statistic. Is your company or office outperforming the market average? If the average number of market sales year to date is up 5 percent, where are you? If your sales are up more than 5 percent, you are outperforming the market. You are winning! And you are building market share. If your sales are down or are less than the market average, you are losing. You’re below average. You are losing market share. Long term, this is not sustainable. You are not having a blowout, but you do have a slow leak. How do you fix it?
Start by getting closer to the action. Get down on the field with your players and the competition. You need to know more about what is happening than anyone—and you need to know why. Here’s a simple coaching template:
• Start with your players. Who’s having a great year? Who’s ahead of last year? First, congratulate them, and then determine how they are doing it. Success leaves clues. Figure out what they are doing and spread the word to your other players. Help everyone do more of what’s working!
• Who’s in a slump? Encourage them to do more of what is working for others. Encourage them to learn from those who are having a great year—sit with them at the meetings, ride with them on tour, or take them to coffee. Coaching out of a slump. Focus on three steps:
1. Mindset & Motivation. If the associate is down emotionally, help them reconnect to their why. Are they still passionate about providing for their kid’s college, living on the water, being financially secure, etc.? Their passion has to be funded. Show them the simple formula in steps Nos. 2 and 3 for getting back on track and funding their dreams. Encourage them to take a class, attend a conference, or read a motivational book that will also inspire them.
2. Actions. Are they in-flow? I require them to get into the live flow (face-to-face or voice-to-voice) with 50 people per week, document who they interviewed and turn in their list to me every Friday. Within three weeks, they are almost always back on track writing contracts. In the past few years, we’ve found having them do Real Estate Reviews (an unsolicited market analysis of someone’s property) accelerates their progress even faster. Face-to-face Real Estate Reviews result in a transaction or referral 33 percent of the time, according to our tracking of those in the Ninja Selling program.
3. Skillset. Start with their Hot List. This is a list of people who want to buy or sell within the next 90 days. If the associate is doing their actions in step two, then they should have a Hot List by now. If they don’t have a Hot List, reexamine step two. Brainstorm through every name on the list. Who are they? What is their motivation? Where are they in the process? Who is closest to writing a contract? What can you do to advance the sale? What are the next baby steps for them, i.e., they need to see a lender and get pre-approved, etc.? Also, discuss whether the sales associate has closing reluctance? The goal in this step is to come out of the session with a transaction. Nothing cures a slump as fast as a transaction.
It’s game time! Where are you? Get on the field. Coach your players. Build a winning team. Outperform the market and grab market share. Your players will love you for it. Watch out for the Gatorade shower! And, be prepared for your players to carry you off the field on their shoulders.
By Larry Kendall, author of Ninja Selling and chairman emeritus of The Group, Inc.
