Real Estate Training Articles and Videos

Where Are You Taking Your Company

As the owner of a real estate business, you are its leader. Real estate agency profit consultant, Gary Pittard, suggests that, as the leader, you should know exactly where you are taking your company. Fail to plan and you run the risk of leading your company downwards. Where are you taking your company? Do you know?

https://www.pittard.com.au
https://www.youtube.com/user/PittardTraining
https://twitter.com/garypittard
https://www.facebook.com/PittardRealEstateTraining/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/garypittard
https://www.instagram.com/garypittard/

Wealthy and Well Adjusted

An interview of William Danko, co-author of Richer Than a Millionaire with Richard Van Ness, will be released this month on Pittard’s streaming platform iTrain®.

In Professor Danko’s previous book, The Millionaire Next Door, co-authored with the late Thomas Stanley, the focus was on what it takes to become a millionaire. In Richer Than a Millionaire, the focus has shifted to two areas: what it takes to be wealthy, and what it takes to be well-adjusted.1 Continue reading Wealthy and Well Adjusted

That Elusive Thing Called Motivation

Real estate agency profit consultant, Gary Pittard, warns real estate salespeople that they must be sure to learn the REAL reason why property sellers put their properties on the market. “Motivation” can be elusive and is often misunderstood by salespeople, and the result of this can be a lot of hard work for no fee. Don’t let this happen to you!

Numbers and Ratios: A Glimpse of the Future

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out when a salesperson is in a performance slump, although many leaders don’t appear to notice until the salesperson has been in the slump for too long – sometimes months.

In aviation, pilots have a saying, “Stay ahead of your aircraft”. There have been many pilots involved in serious accidents or killed because they were flying aircraft that were too fast for their skill. Flying fast aircraft requires thinking ahead especially when landing. Pilots must slow fast aircraft sooner, washing off speed early so that they don’t approach the airstrip too quickly. Continue reading Numbers and Ratios: A Glimpse of the Future

Sack Your Dilberts

While the cartoon series, Dilbert, might be funny, real estate agency profit consultant, Gary Pittard, says that in real life, Dilberts can be anything but. He quotes author, Geoff Burch, who offers sound advice: Sack Your Dilberts!

The Committee in Your Head

You cannot watch, listen to, or read the news for long without being bombarded with bad news, gloomy forecasts and general negativity. Bad news sells.

Let too much of it into your head, and your performance will suffer. I believe that in life we get the ‘negatives’ for nothing. We must work for the positive. We must consciously seek out the good, the positive, focusing on what we can do instead of worrying about things that are beyond our control, much of which will never happen. Continue reading The Committee in Your Head

A Profound Connection

To succeed, says real estate agency profit consultant, Gary Pittard, we must be masters of our chosen fields. He quotes author Robert Greene, who says that we must grow to feel a profound connection to our work. Gary Pittard says that this profound connection begins with knowledge and leads to immense career satisfaction and a high income.

Essential Actions

If you want to get your new sales recruits off to a flying start, first teach them the essential actions – those necessary to succeed – and then help them formulate a plan loaded with those essential actions. Then follow up and ensure they are being done.

Essential actions are non-negotiable. Do the actions, or leave. Never allow your salesperson to negotiate the actions downwards. Continue reading Essential Actions

The Right Amount Of Pressure

There is a difference between threatening team members with dismissal for poor performance and applying positive pressure to perform. In this short leadership session, real estate agency profit consultant, Gary Pittard, says that winners thrive on positive pressure, while mediocre performers detest it. But do you want mediocrity on your team?

Hold Yourself Accountable

In an age where people can be quick to assert their rights but slow to live up to their responsibilities, we at Pittard advise our leaders to hold their people accountable. That is, accountable for doing winning actions, in large quantities, on a regular basis.

In Sales, there are right actions and wrong actions. The right actions lead to a listing, a sale, or a price reduction, and eventually to properties sold and fees received. The wrong actions are a waste of time and don’t lead to results. Continue reading Hold Yourself Accountable

Study For Understanding

Every time clients ask salespeople a question, they are trying to answer the big question they have in their minds, which is, “Why should I list with you?” They are testing you, and you have better pass or lose the business.

In this short real estate sales session, real estate agency profit consultant, Gary Pittard, says that most salesperson never reach a professional standard because they either shun training, or they do not study for understanding. The difference is success or failure.

Activity

Take a minute and look around your agency. Everybody looks busy, don’t they? But are you making money? Are they making money? If you’re not careful, you may mistake busyness with production. Remember – not all activity is created equal!

In all jobs, including yours, there are only two types of activity:

ACTIVITIES THAT LEAD TO RESULTS AND ACTIVITIES THAT DON’T. Continue reading Activity

Unattractive Company

One of the top three greatest real estate excuses of all time is: “You can’t find good people!” In this leadership session, real estate agency profit consultant, Gary Pittard gives a compelling reason why most real estate agencies fail to build winning teams: they are unattractive companies.

Never utter those profit-killing words, “You can’t find good people”. The first step in building a winning team is to believe that you can find winners. The second step is to make your company more attractive to potential recruits.

A Promise Is a Promise

To people of integrity, their word is their bond. They do what they say, when they said they’d do it, how they said they’d do it. People of integrity realise that those who promise are in debt.

When I say that our word should be our bond, I mean in matters large and small.

If we say we will do something, we must do it, even if we don’t specifically use the word “promise”. If leaders and salespeople forget this, their reputations suffer. Continue reading A Promise Is a Promise

For Just One Day

People who are successful in their chosen fields do more of the right actions every day, over the long term. In this short real estate sales session, real estate agency profit consultant Gary Pittard says that, while most people know what the right actions are, many seem incapable of performing the right actions for a sustained period. It appears that long term is the killer.

Instead of trying to focus on the right actions over a long period, Gary suggests focusing on the right actions for just one day.

Financial Foundations

In my experience as a real estate agency profit consultant, I’ve seen many real estate businesses in grave financial trouble, and many spend themselves into oblivion. For businesses to survive and thrive, they must be built on solid financial foundations.

This is explained in depth in our four-day presentation of the Agency Profit System®, but here are some important foundations that all leaders should strive to have in place. Continue reading Financial Foundations

Cut To The Chase

Have you ever noticed how some people say five sentences when a ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ would have sufficed? Some people speak a lot but say little. Real estate agencies cannot afford to have team members like that.

In this short leadership session, real estate agency profit consultant, Gary Pittard, says that salespeople who waffle confuse clients and lose business. Salespeople who waffle to their colleagues lose respect. Cut to the chase – every team will benefit from some straight talk.

Loving What You Do

Some people say you must love your work. I agree that this is desirable, but it’s not always realistic. Pursuing this ideal could cost you a great career.

Author Larry Winget says you don’t have to love what you do, but if you accept payment to do a job, whether you love it or not, you have a moral obligation to do it well.

Let’s face it, a sales job is tough. When you first start this career, chances are high you’re not going to like it, or at least not every aspect – prospecting for example. But this is irrelevant. Like the task or not, some tasks are essential to success and longevity – prospecting for example! Continue reading Loving What You Do

Faking Happiness

Written and video reviews are essential. To quote one winning salesperson: “These days, clients go online and do research on you. At the listing presentation, they verify what they already know”. She’s right. Real estate agents who pay little heed to client reviews will lose many listings to their opposition.

And those reviews must be genuine – never ‘fake happiness’. In this short sales session, real estate agency profit consultant, Gary Pittard, says that there is no need to ‘fake happiness’. Obtaining reviews from happy clients is not at all difficult.

There’s No Marking Time

Of all sayings, I despise this the most: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.

I have heard people use this phrase as justification for not training, not leading, not prospecting, not developing a team, as justification for leaving things exactly as they are.

To illustrate how stupid and dangerous this is, let’s apply it to your car. Would you drive your car, kilometre after kilometre, never adding oil, checking the tyre pressure or having it serviced? Would you just drive it into the ground?

Why not? “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!”

Treat a car this way and soon it will be ‘broke’ and you will need to fix it. A hefty repair bill will follow.

Imagine if you did this to your business!

Sad news: MANY LEADERS DO!

Leaders who don’t study leadership or work at developing their teams, who fail to determine a culture and set standards, fail to control expenses, fail to keep a watchful eye on profit, who lack discipline, are leading their companies downwards.

There is no marking time. You can’t stay exactly where you are.

You’re either going backwards or forwards, and it’s up to you, the leader, to decide in which direction you will take your company.

Great leaders constantly fine-tune their company and their team for peak performance. Leaders who fail to do this are attempting to mark time, not realising that they are, in fact, going backwards.

A leader who thinks, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” may have a business that is doing fine now, but it’s only a matter of time before the business will be ‘broke’ and the leader in damage control – and probably broke too.

Ditch the loser saying and replace it with this one:

“If it ain’t broke, build on it!”

Gary Pittard