Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, many salespeople were saying that they were selling everything they listed. “We’d make more sales if we had more listings” was a common statement.
March 2020 was an uncertain month. Nobody knew what restrictions the government would apply and what effects those restrictions may have on business. This caused many salespeople . . . more →
I have said on many occasions that clear goals are an essential element in achieving consistent results.
No doubt, many of you began 2020 with clear goals. Then along came COVID-19 and perhaps your goals went out the window. And if you didn’t abandon the idea of achieving goals this year, you may have put your . . . more →
Talking with salespeople at differing skill levels, I notice a subtle, but critical, difference between the pros and the rookies. The difference is that pros have an ‘eye’ for results.
Let me explain.
Talk to a professional salesperson and the conversation quickly moves to results. How many listings they got, how many listings they’re working on. Likewise with sales – sales they’ve . . . more →
When an aircraft takes off, a huge amount of energy is required to get it off the ground.
Aircraft use a lot of fuel and require a lot of thrust to take off. Once clear of the ground, climb power is applied. Once the aircraft reaches the cruise, thrust is set to cruise power. Each power . . . more →
On an agency visit I spent time with a salesperson who had fallen short of target for the previous two quarters. When I asked what her goal was for the coming quarter she replied, “Hang in and keep my job“.
I told her this was the wrong focus. Fear-based thinking is always the wrong focus. It’s . . . more →
I was talking with a Diamond member of Pittard’s Winners Circle recently. The topic came around to telling sellers the truth about the likely selling prices of their properties.
This million-dollar producer said, “I tell sellers that in this market their properties will sell for $x. If they aren’t willing to price . . . more →
Agents who inflate the likely selling price with sellers in order to win the listing – who ‘buy the business’ – might get away with it during a boom market, but in a down market this horrible practice no longer works. Many agents paint themselves into a corner.
In our sales program, Winning Ways – A Smarter . . . more →
Do your results fluctuate? Are they persistently low? Have you ever found yourself blaming outside forces, such as the market or difficult clients, for a run of bad luck? The good news is that this can be fixed.
In my book, Why Winners Win, I name four Success Ingredients: Attitude, Knowledge, Skill and Competent Action.
“The 30–Day Rule states that the prospecting you do in this 30 day period will pay off for the next 90 days. It is a simple, yet powerful universal rule that governs sales. Ignore it at your peril. When you internalize this rule, it will drive you to never put prospecting aside for another day”
Jeb Blount – Fanatical Prospecting
Where is your next listing coming from? If you . . . more →
In 30 years I have interviewed countless winners, and have noticed one big difference between winners and their mediocre counterparts:
Winners do the hard tasks. Winners understand that the hard tasks pay.
In truth, the ‘hard’ tasks aren’t hard at all. Simply, salespeople don’t like doing these tasks so they avoid them. In their minds, they make . . . more →
A common complaint from leaders is that their salespeople lack focus. It has a been constant theme in my 30 years as a real estate agency profit consultant.
One leader said his salespeople had the attention span of a gnat.
A short attention span is not a problem for most people. Watch people doing leisure activities – things they . . . more →
Below are snippets are from surveys conducted by Roy Morgan over a 17-year period. I have been following these surveys for 25 years and note the position of our industry moves very little in the list of most trusted professions.
Most Respected Professions: Nurses, Pharmacists and Doctors
Least Respected: Car Salesmen, Journalists and Real Estate Agents.
more →
Let’s give some thought to how we can make more sales despite the gloom and doom about the current state of the real estate market in many regions.
Reality
The market is your reality. As professionals, we must learn to thrive in all markets, whether booming, static, or down-turning. If you don’t like the reality of this . . . more →
A change in the market has exposed many of those who looked like winners during the boom. Back then, it was easy to look like a hero – if you could get the listings and held onto them long enough, prices would rise to the sellers’ enthusiastic expectations and you’d make a sale.
Times have changed. . . . more →
A lot of leaders and salespeople are complaining about the ‘tough market’. But is the market really the whole problem?
The advice I’ve been giving to Pittard clients is that we can’t change the market – it’s the hand we’ve been dealt – and so instead let’s concentrate on what we can control.
Let me introduce you to Joan Carter, who retired on 30 June 2018, ending a successful twenty-four year career in real estate sales.
Before real estate, Joan was a school teacher. Throughout her career, she was often in the Top Ten Salespeople in the Pittard rankings. She was part of a very impressive pool of winners . . . more →
During the boom, I heard many salespeople talk up their results. Many of them are quiet now that the market has turned. Now I see many leaders and salespeople in a state of panic. They’re not making sales and they’re blaming the buyers.
It’s time to get out of panic mode and get to work.
Do you . . . more →
Late last year, I read a Real Estate Business Online article entitled, Purplebricks already effecting ‘dramatic change’ in commission-charging agents’ behaviour. It quoted Purplebricks global COO Neil Tavender stating that since entering the Australian market, Purplebricks has caused traditional agents to reflect significantly on how they operate.
Tavender was quoted as saying, “We have seen in some instances . . . more →
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 . . . more →
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 . . . more →
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 . . . more →