Well it's been another interesting year this year at my Brokerage. We have a couple of weeks left and will end up with 330 sales for the year. Not bad, but not where I wanted to be this year. One thing that is good is I have got rid of all my dead weight. I let a lot of Agents go and right now we stand at 14 full time Agents and 6 part timers. Part timers are Realtors that I really like as people, but are not converting leads high enough for me to give them more leads. These Agents have stayed with the brokerage and I let them use the leads already in their system. Basically though, they are non producers with around 4-8 sales per year each. Our 14 full time Agents averaged 18 sales this year. Not bad, but still way below my desired numbers.
With all that said, I did some research through our system and found some very interesting stats. You all know how I like my stats! Over the past year, we have had 817 people that we showed property to that did not buy. Approximately 75% of those who did not buy have a home to sell and can't buy until that home sells. I tracked this number this year to see how much the economy is affecting my business and to really get a glimpse into the future when the market comes back just a little.
If the market was better, how many of those 817 would have bought a home? My guess is close to 75% or more, but even it was just 200 more sales this year. That would have brought us up to over 500 sales this year. What if 50% bought, which is the closing percentage for most of my better Agents right now (35% as a brokerage). Is it possible for us to get 700+ sales next year if the market comes alive a little? I believe so.
Until I tracked this number, I didn't realize how many people have homes to sell and how my numbers are affected by this. It was a great revelation and it has really helped me with my Agents and keeping their spirits high. Even though we do a lot of transactions, our average price this year is $144k with lots of sales under $100k. They work very hard for their money! The optimism comes from tracking the numbers above.
I'll give you an example. One of my Agents, Debbie, has had 21 sales this year with a couple more due to close before the end of the year. However, she showed 81 different people that did not buy with most of those not buying because they had a home to sell. How would Debbie's business look if just 20 of those 80 bought this year? She would have doubled her income. What if 40 bought? I think you can get the picture.
One thing I have always preached to my Agents and my children is to not worry about what you can't control. We can't control the economy. We can only get ourselves set up with our systems to take charge when the market does come back. My goal has always been to have 20 Agents selling 50+ homes per year. The more refined we get in our systems, the more I believe this goal is very attainable
So what's next to convert our current 40,000 leads to sales? Well obviously our LCA program is a major part of our new year. We are still working out kinks, but it's pretty amazing. Over the first 30 days of using the new phone calling sytem we are using (pm me if you would like info on this company) we have been on fire with our calls. Where our LCA's could only talk to 15 people per day, they are now talking to 45-60 people per day. An average day is 250 dials with 48 contacts. My LCA's believe that this is just the beginning. We managed to convert a lot of our leads we have never talked to into active leads.
What else? Refinement. As I get more and more into the system, I am getting closer to doing what my goal was all along. I had always wanted to set up a system where the Agent is pretty much only doing one thing...showing property and writing contracts. Ok, that's two things, but that has always been my goal. Most Agents are terrible at follow up. All of you team leaders and brokers know that your number one problem with your Internet program is that your Agents won't follow up. They won't actually work the leads! As I refine the system, I am trying to look at all the weaknesses within the system and tweak them as best I can. In the end, it's still going to be up to the Agents, but little by little I'm getting closer!
My theory is if you are not growing, you are dying. Ok, it wasn't really my theory, I've heard it from tons of people my whole life! But, it's great words to live by. I don't think I'll ever rest and just have a year where I don't try to build. I don't know what the rest of my system will end up looking like when I'm done as I'm always surprised by what I don't know. I think that makes sense.
Well that's a small glimpse into what I'm looking for in the coming year. I'm assuming it will still be challenging, but I know with the right systems, the right attitude and the right amount of guts, there is so much more to gain!
Good luck in 2011!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
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