The most
significant challenge for sales professionals is their time control. How
a sales professional uses their time determines income. The sales
professionals in the top 10% of their industry control, use, and invest
their time more wisely and effectively than the lower performing sales
people.
The Champion Performers are more effective with their time blocking
schedule than lower performers. The concept of time blocking is not new.
Most of us have been exposed to it but have yet to master it. Through
years of study and coaching sales professionals, I have observed some
common challenges that most sales people experience when trying to
master their time blocking schedule.
Over access problems: The proper screening of calls by an effective
gatekeeper can save hours weekly. Too often, issues, problems, and
challenges that could be handled by another penetrate the walls and
enter our world. These problems could be minor or major in nature, but
granting unfiltered access creates large amounts of lost time for many
sales people.
There should be a limit in terms of time and people who have access to
you. Successful people have a short list of people who have unfiltered
access to them. They do not deviate from this short list of people.
These people on the short list can interrupt the schedule any hour of
the day based on their importance.
My short list includes my wife, my father, my attorney, and a few key
associates. The people on the short list are often extremely important
to your personal life. There are very few clients that find their way on
truly successful people’s short lists.
There should be times in your schedule when you are uninterrupted. The
biggest error that sales people make is getting sucked into the
interruption game. They have limited structure for their time, so access
to them becomes easy. Access should be granted, not taken. You are the
controller of access.
Location Issues: The nature of your physical office can effect
production dramatically. It can effect drastically how you use your
time.
There are two issues in regard to location for real estate Agents and
teams:
1) The size of the practice versus size of the space of your work
environment.
2) Your personal office must be private.
These two areas often are detrimental to production increases. If you
don’t have enough square footage for yourself and your staff, your
production is stunted.
I had a client a handful of years ago who did 150 transactions with her
and three associates out of 150 square feet of office space. They were
tripping over each other. They were constantly searching to find things
they needed in their office. It was amazing they did the production they
did out of the limited space they had.
When they increased their space to 500 square feet a dramatic production
increase happened for them. They had the discipline, talent, and skill
to increase production. Their physical space limited the growth
opportunities. The issue of space is essential for a growing business.
The other critical issue is private space for the Champion Agent. There
are too many focused activities in a day for the Champion Agent to be in
the bullpen of activity. If your staff surrounds you, you’re in the
wrong place.
A Champion Agent needs their own private office away from distractions
and staff. The only way to control their planning and prospecting
environment is to make them exclusive to you.
The one way to prospect consistently, and with focus, is to have a
private office environment. If you have the buzz of the staff, inbound
phone calls, problems, and challenges, even a Champion Agent will be
tempted to engage in helping. The tendency is for us to jump back into
the issues of servicing at the expense of our new business creation.
Appointment Issues: Successful professionals operate on an
appointment-only basis. Your doctor, dentist, or attorney operates based
on appointments that you set with them. Too many agents are willing to
meet at all hours of the day and night. The Champion Agent creates
appointment slots and drives prospects into those slots. The goal is
efficient and effective use of your time; to see production with every
minute you invest in your career.
Studies have shown that 80% of your prospects will meet with you in your
schedule. The reason they don’t is because we don’t want them to. We
allow them to dictate appointment times. We juggle our schedule to
reflect their needs. We then justify that because we are in a “service
oriented” business. We feel that being available to them is equal to
service. Operating as a professional on an appointment-only basis is
more valuable than running your business on a referral-only basis.
Excessive Distractions: We are the most interrupted and distracted
professionals on the face of the planet. We experience distractions from
phone calls. These phone calls, for most Agents, come on their office,
home, and cell phones. Most Agents never get away from the distractions
of the phone. We have the distractions of e-mail. More often than not
the e-mail is not a lead. It’s the fastest offer for Viagra or another
unsolicited e-mail. If it is a lead, the conclusion ratio of Internet
leads is less than 1%. Why give in to a 1% conclusion ratio if you are
engaged in productive activities currently. Other Agents can be a
distraction, as well. They can interrupt your rhythm and flow. They can
also tempt you to join their coffee and donut group.
There are two effective techniques to use to control distractions. The
first is to plan for them. If you want to socialize with other agents,
then plan a set time to do that. Block the time in your schedule in
terms of the exact day and time. It’s acceptable to socialize, provided
it’s of short duration and you have planned for it.
The second is creating a list of people who are granted instant access.
Have your assistant memorize the list. If you don’t have an assistant,
then work with your receptionist. Have her memorize and know who is
granted unfiltered access. If you create a list larger than five people,
then trim it down. The list should be five people or less. My list
consists of my wife, my attorney, a financial advisor, and my sales
manager. Any one else could get filtered out and scheduled for a call
later in the day. Who is on your list?
The real secret to highly productive people is they accomplish more of
high value with their time. They control their time rather than letting
it control them. They minimize the distractions they face daily.
Lastly, they position themselves, through appointments, to be Agents in
command. We all have a choice to be an Agent on demand. This is being at
people’s beck and call all hours of the day and night. The other option
is an Agent in command, where you dictate, control, and create your
business and clients. That is the Champion Agent approach!
Dirk
Zeller is recognized as the premier coach for the real estate industry.
He is one of the most sought after speakers and authors for high volume
production while attaining life balance in the real estate industry.
Dirk is the President of Real Estate Champions. Real Estate Champions
provides exceptional business and developmental training to real estate
agents and managers through cutting edge coaching programs and seminars
including the “Four Day Work Week System Program™.” You can contact
Real Estate Champions at 1-877-732-4676 or e-mail them at
info@realestatechampions.com or visit their
web site at
http://www.realestatechampions.com.
