Do you remember the days when salespeople used to list large numbers of properties – eight or more every month? We seldom see numbers like these anymore – salespeople have become used to low numbers.
Many years ago we coined the term, “Take care of the numbers and the dollars will take care of themselves“. This is just as true today. When salespeople focus on gross commission, on the dollars, the numbers always suffer. Salespeople who focus on dollars set lower targets.
Let’s say that to achieve your goals, you plan to average $60,000 in fees every month. If your average selling fee is $30,000, this would be 2 sales per month.
That’s 2 sales at an average selling fee of $30,000 – but what if you make a larger sale, one sale, where the fee for that sale is $60,000? Most salespeople slow down; after all, they have achieved their dollars, so they coast for the rest of the month.
That is more common than you think, and it’s the danger of focusing on the dollars. A better way is to focus on listing and sale numbers.
Using the example above, if your focus is 2 sales and you make one sale at $60,000, you will push to get the second sale. If this second sale gives a $30,000 fee, you have made $90,000 in fees, all because you focused on the numbers and not the dollars.
The same approach works with listings.
Every salesperson has a list-to-sell ratio, for example, 2:1 where 2 listings result in 1 sale. In your current market your list-to-sell ratio might be 1:1, with one listing resulting in one sale. These are low numbers and low targets can be a recipe for low results.
If you have a listing target of 4, and you only manage to get 2 in the month, your results have dropped by 50% – that’s a big drop!
But what if you increased your listing target to 8? What if you were serious about reaching that target? Would you prospect more? Would you instigate more marketing?
Thinking bigger and aiming for higher targets almost always results in higher results, provided that you increase your prospecting and marketing activity to a level that should realistically yield those higher targets.
One thing’s for sure: if you have a target of 8 listings and you fall short by 50%, you finish the month on 4 listings. If you have a target of 4 listings and you fall short by 50%, you finish on 2 listings. Twice the results by aiming higher.
Train yourself to think bigger – get used to bigger listings and sales targets. Don’t get accustomed to low numbers, and don’t focus on dollars alone.
Focus on the (higher) numbers of listings and sales, and the dollars will take care of themselves.
Gary Pittard