• New staff member starting this week 
• Culture playbook, getting the HR stuff “nutted down”

• Herself (!)

• Let’s maybe get Hannah along to talk culture playbooks, work at freeing up time and all the transformy type marketing stuff

• Polish up the listing presentation
• Improve conversion rate – work across the chain-link system
• Marketing consistently for six months

• Successfully conjuncted with a colleague on a developer deal

• Personal marketing falls off the radar when it gets busy (common problem for all!)

• Look at ways of freeing up time to ensure that marketing gets done
• Marketing will get you in the doors when times are tough – this is something we will be doing a lot more work on.

• Maintaining momentum – they have grown a lot
• Listing presentation
• Onboarding new employees

• Hired a new salesperson  – starting October 15

• Time management

• People changes – previous employee returning – so effectively onboarding new people
• Working on his listing presentation

• When Colin puts someone’s name in the CRM he puts them in his phone too so he knows them by name when they call
• This paid off big time this week when a prospect called trying to figure out whether she should hire an agent or sell herself. Colin ended up winning the deal with the client saying she was so impressed when he answered the phone and remembered who she was… 

• Changes in Staff particularly the BSO (sales administrator) – but this is an opportunity to get in a really strong staffing position or next year
• Perhaps ‘winging it’ a bit with his listing presentation
• Absentee owners – how to communicate effectively with them

• Sam feels that authenticity and willingness to help people and listen to them usually beats polish and perfection
• With the listing presentation its often the long game – the guy that sold our office simply just kept in touch with us over the last five years. We called in three agents and even though Nick was more expensive trust won the day.
• Don’t forget the cards each year (like the card lady!)
• For onboarding – Document everything using Loom – then document the steps – then get someone else to follow the steps to see how tight the checklist is. If not rinse and repeat until the process is watertight

• Also wants to work on her listing presentation. But she hasn’t presented. 
• “I’ve just gone in there and said, what do you need? How can I help?” And it’s been as simple as that, and they’ve gone, “I just need you to do this. I need you to take this off me.” And do it and yeah, probably 60% of the ones that I’ve brought I’ve listed but I haven’t even done a presentation on.
• Melissa says with the absentee owners – its a case by case communicating with them  – Zoom has worked in the past
• Allocate the time
• Get the technology right – eg ring light etc and in a good place that you can access it straight away when the mood takes you to create a video. “If you get it and you don’t use it then you feel guilty for not using it!”
• Mark to put together a list of things to buy

• Don’t get complacent about referral business coming to you

• For onboarding focuses on culture

• Ensure that you have regular performance reviews during the day so that people can see how they are tracking

• Has had a lot of properties sell – (being sold, fees)
• Define and differentiate amongst cheap fee agents
• Really show what the value is – to be able to protect fees against people that are half their price

• People asking for fees straight off the bat
• Lack of loyalty
• COVID affected landlords eg Qantas employees jumping straight to the cheaper rate (fearful for their jobs)
• The usual objection handling – longevity, staff turnover, is just not working – the general attitude of the landlord is they don’t care about that.

• Going through the same pain – issues with fees and staffing
• Found agents in her area who were cutting fees are not around now – 

• Doesn’t discount but they do lose on fees at times. Would like to know more about how to protect fees.

• Use the Jimmy Mackin tactic – When the ask your fee straight up, make a surprised noise and say, “whoa we going to fees straight up, is that the most important thing to you…”
• This gives you a chance to uncover what might be really important by asking them a question – the person who asks the questions holds the power… (because this year it could literally be anything… )
• Keep going with your market monitor – days on market is everything
• Evolution – needs a slight COVID update – but the DSP chapter is useful
• “When the consumer can’t see value they will differentiate on price”
• Think in the future – what happens to investors when mortgage holidays end

• Colin had a similar issue over the weekend. A young female vendor called in her dad to negotiate. Dad wanted 50 per cent off the fee.
• “I am fortunate that I’ve managed to carve out quite a successful niche down here. And, in the end, I got it. I got it down to 20% of my startup phase but got full marketing fee up front.”
• In PM – Colin and his wife are trying to grow the rent roll and they won’t take crap properties – they do discount a little bit if it’s a ‘good client’
• It’s a bit of a long game – the client finds out eventually that the discounters don’t give great service – so keep in touch with investors even if you want to lose the listing

• Kathy says, “Our fees are not the cheapest, but we are not the most expensive either. How about I include my commission rate with my CMA which I will send over by email to you.” – So Kathy says don’t give it away in the conversation but do send it to them later

Colin: Current goals

• To be less busy. A few staff members have needed to be bedded in, he needs to get that sorted. 
• Trying to adopt a less negative attitude, which stems from stress regarding trying to run three different online auctions at the moment, and is being carried through elsewhere.

• To sell the Openn Negotiation homes, and get the subdivision started and a few lots sold.

• A subdivision on and off for a number of years (27 lots) which has finally been secured. 
• Good numbers at two open homes on the weekend (6 and 4)
• Has the wellness side of life handled: doing exercise, meditating, journaling, etc.

• Try not to be so hard on yourself, especially given circumstances out of your control. “This too shall pass”. 
• Go back through our journal, and to the gratitude stuff. Sometimes being busy can be reframed as “this is a good problem to have.”
• Speak to Will Ainsworth about getting help with Openn

Heidi: Current Projects

• In the process of hiring someone.
• At the moment I’ve committed to a salary for six months, and after that, I’d like to move to more commission style. 
• Find out if the above strategy is the most efficient way to sort wages.

• In the process of hiring someone.

• To shift some of the field mice work: pre-settlement inspections, the card writing, getting messages off message bank, social media.

• Start small. You can even start someone on one day a week, and grow from there, as the person takes on more and more, she could afford to pay for two days, three days, etc.  Work out how to pay someone for one day, a week or two days a week? Give them stuff to do, systemise that, and then build on it. 
• You’re still going to have to handle the wages (with JobTrainer, which is another thing that you guys need to factor into your whole days. When you’re responsible for someone else, you’ve actually got a fun time to pay them and do their super and do their tax and do all that sort of stuff.
• There’s a lot of real estate training companies around at the moment saying, ‘let us help you do this.’

• Look into JobTrainer: “It is an Australian government incentive, with approx. 160,000 or something like that on offer. And the government pays 50% of their wage for the first 12 months. And they also incentive you by paying some funds upfront, I think, when the traineeship starts and then when it ends.”

Kelley: Current project

• Organising a landing page, domain name, etc. 

• Decided not to get a commercial office, and to just put a trainee on.

• Getting all the marketing out for new business.
• To be able to end this year with that the training organisation completely done so she can just walk straight into it next year.

Melissa: Current Projects

• Still working on a listing presentation
• Bedding down her ‘what’s next’ so that when we come back in January, “we’re just hammering along and getting the business.” 
• Having Rebecca on as duel agent, and getting that flowing.

• Both new starters have a sale under their belt.
• A few PM deals came across.

• Wants to have a strong post-listing system. Giving vendors clear ‘next steps’ so they are ringing with questions. The goal is eventual efficiency.

• Personal goal: to set up a morning routine

• Have a definite December holiday. And set up your morning routine then.
• On listings presentation: There’s a certain moment where you’ve got to say, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. If you’re converting three from three, nothing’s broken. So don’t think you’ve got to do something else because some other agent does it this way or somebody else does it that way.

Kathy: Current Projects

• Sending out gingerbread house kit to VIP clients, just to keep them busy, gluing the houses together with the icing sugar, and coordinating that with a flyer run to the community with a chance to win a gingerbread house kit (for data collection).
• Tip from Kathy: Have handwritten cards because people don’t get written mail anymore – get a PA to write the message, and sign it yourself (and add a business card)

• Four property offers in the last six days.

• To get structure to the part time PA.
• Get more hours back, dollar-productive hours.
• Continue signing up new listings.
• Data collection, to build database.

• Add a QR code on your competition flyers, something which goes to a landing page, once they fill in your details to do in the draw. 
• If you’re doing something offline, don’t forget the online equivalent.
•  People are becoming Zoom-weary and so are more open to taking a phone call. Human conversation trumps everything else.

• The ROI mailing out the cards wasn’t deemed to be worth it in his office.

• They don’t send cards, but make end of year calls to all current and past vendors, purchasers, a week before Xmas, and they send a little gift to all the tenants. They have also swapped Christmas cards for anniversary cards.

• Cards get lost in the pile, instead send fridge magnets, the really sticky ones that stay on forever.