If I asked you to identify somebody in your team whom you’d prefer not to have working in your company, would a name or names come to mind?
Let’s focus on your salespeople. Do all have good attitudes? Do they contribute to the company? Are they supportive of you and fellow team members? Do they work hard? Do they have good client reviews?
Tolerate a bad attitude and behaviour and you validate them. Culture goes out the window and toxicity takes its place. Continue reading Held To Ransom
Stagnation. It is the last thing a leader wants to see happening with the team. Yet, in the absence of new challenges – focused activities that challenge the team, putting a month’s focus on high-intensity activity designed to boost results – stagnation is a real possibility.
For example, many offices across Australia and New Zealand are short of stock. Why not set a challenge with the team and plan an Operation Stock-Up? Continue reading New Challenges
Happy New Year. If you’re just back from a break, I hope you’re refreshed and ready for a new year. A new year of results and profit.
Some real estate businesses did well throughout the pandemic (with the exception of certain state lockdowns). Previous and post lockdowns, trade results appeared to be healthy. Continue reading Time To Brush Off the COVID Cobwebs
Business has been good for many agents in 2020, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, but it’s not forecast to stay that way. Experts are forecasting difficult times in 2021 as the economic fallout of the pandemic bites.
Please don’t think that I’m trying to scare you, or talking the market down. On the contrary, I’m trying to prepare you. Continue reading What Baggage Are You Carrying?
“One size fits all” is said to be the biggest lie told in retail. And we all know it’s untrue.
It’s the same with leadership. One management style does not fit all. Leaders who manage all salespeople the same way risk losing their best performers. Continue reading One Size Does NOT Fit All!
Agency leaders often complain that they can’t find good people. This mindset can lead you to tolerate poor performers. And if you don’t believe you can find better people, you won’t try to replace them.
It’s true that before the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a lot of competition for the right people. Continue reading The Pool Just Got Deeper
As leaders we’ve spent a large part of the year dealing with uncertainty, perhaps even dealing with our fears and with those of our team members and our clients.
So, where to from here? To a large degree, that’s up to you. Continue reading Where To From Here?
COVID-19 has certainly made business interesting, but many agencies are still reporting good sales results. Not all, I might add.
Prior to the pandemic, agencies were complaining of a shortage of listings. Those complaints died down as agency leaders had bigger priorities to focus on, but once things settled down the same complaint returned: “Listings are tight” is again the common cry. Continue reading Who’s Making the Excuses?
There is an old saying which says, “If you want to be successful, just do the opposite to what the majority is doing”. My experience has been that this is often correct. Following the crowd can be unprofitable.
There is much business uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 outbreak. This follows on from a prolonged drought, an unprecedented bushfire season and then floods in some areas. It would be an understatement to say that business confidence is low. If you doubt that, just look at the share market. Continue reading Saying ‘Yes’ When Others Are Saying ‘No’
I couldn’t begin to estimate how many times real estate agency leaders have commented about another team saying something along the lines of, “She is lucky – she’s got a great team”.
It’s almost as though they think that all you need do is stick your head out the window and whistle, and winners will come running. You don’t whistle for winners, and luck has nothing to do with building a winning team. Continue reading You Don’t Whistle For Winners
Leaders often think that the cost of having an incompetent salesperson on the team is the wage paid to that person. But there is a lot more to lose. The salary is just the beginning.
Let’s say you pay $50,000. In Australia you add 9.5% superannuation so now you’re at $54,750. For this exercise we’ll ignore payroll tax and other on-costs. Continue reading The True Cost of Incompetence
Struggling salespeople – we’ve all had them. They can be frustrating, and they can cost your company a lot of money. So how do you know whether to persist with them or fire them?
In 25 years as a real estate agency profit consultant, I have seen entire teams of strugglers who fail to reach an acceptable performance.
Why do leaders keep such people? Some leaders wrongly believe that inconsistent or poor performance is just the way it is in Sales. But I can show you many Pittard clients who have incredible teams of happy, peak performers. Continue reading Four Steps to Turn Around Struggling Salespeople
To maximise profit, two of the leader’s most important roles are Talent Scout and Coach.
Gary Pittard
In my 25 years as a real estate agency profit consultant, one of the greatest ‘sins’ I’ve seen leaders commit is holding onto the wrong people for too long – often despite their better judgment.
When an underperforming team member leaves, or is eventually fired, I’ve lost count of how many times the leader has said, “I should have done this long ago”. Continue reading Talent Scout and Coach
When the market turns down many agency leaders wisely cut expenses. But there is a right way and a wrong way to do this. Cut the wrong expenses and you will quickly lose profit.
Some expenses can be cut without affecting your income. We call these ‘fat’ expenses. Things like publications you don’t read. Stop expenses like this and you will be more profitable. Continue reading Marketing
With another financial year behind us, it’s a good time to ponder: “Are you happy with your profit?”
Stating the obvious: Profit is the money you keep after expenses are paid. I’m compelled to mention this because the real estate industry and its systems focus on turnover. Turnover is not profit. Continue reading Think Profit
This is a two-part article on the Do’s and Dont’s of hiring. Last month, we discussed the Hiring Don’ts. This month we look at the Hiring Do’s.
If you hire somebody with a bad attitude, this will poison your team. Author of Winning the War for Talent, Mandy Johnson, says that people with bad attitudes are hardly likely to suddenly develop a good attitude once they join your company.
Frame your questions around testing attitude, for example, “Can you give me an example of what you think is a good work ethic?”
This is a two-part article on the do’s and don’ts of hiring. In this issue, we will discuss Hiring Don’ts. Next month we will cover Hiring Do’s.
First a question: Do you believe successful hiring is an art or a science?
Many real estate agency leaders will say that hiring is an art. Without effective hiring and induction systems, they’d be right. But with systems, you have more certainty of finding and developing winners, moving hiring from art to science. Continue reading Hiring Do’s and Don’ts (Part 1)
Here in the digital world of the 21st century, let’s give some thought to happy client reviews and, in particular, how we use them.
Some salespeople appear to be more interested in seeing their ‘names in lights’ on sites like the major property portals and Rate My Agent.
Less, if any, attention is given to Google and Facebook. Continue reading Reviews: Your Name in Lights
Many offices struggle and so do their salespeople.
In the nineties, salespeople wrote on average $135,000 in fees. Since 2010 we have seen little evidence that this average has changed much, despite selling fees trebling over that time and markets booming in many regions. Continue reading A Sure Way to Higher Profits: why coaching salespeople pays dividends
Leaders often complain that their salespeople won’t do the right actions. It’s one of the biggest complaints that leaders make. They fear putting pressure on their salespeople to do the right actions out of fear they will leave.
These leaders have no control, and without control they will never develop winning teams.
A large part of this problem stems from the reward structures these agencies use – commission-only definitely, but debit-credit is no better. When salespeople are in credit, they are fundamentally the same as commission-only salespeople. In their minds, they work for themselves and will resist leaders asking them to do any actions they don’t want to do (like prospecting). Continue reading Out of Control: What to do when salespeople won’t do the actions
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