Setting up elaborate systems for class "C" buyers. Many agents feel they have a need for a website that looks like everyone else's website. Everyone tells you that all area agent listings must be promoted on that website and that website will bring you buyers. Seldom will they tell you that the buyers generated from that website have a less than two percent closing ratio. Extensive follow-up campaigns with class "C" buyers, who have not been qualified over the phone, who have not been pre-approved, and who have not signed a buyer-brokerage agreement, do not deserve to have a lot of money spent on them.
Staging can be a nice idea for sellers, and it has the possibility of increasing the net to a seller. Obviously, this can be a service that is offered based upon area and competition. To make it a key point of any marketing plan can cause problems. If a seller has motivation, has lived in the home, and has not made any improvements that a reasonable seller would make to make the property more saleable then this would lead me to believe that possibly the seller does not believe the improvements need to be made or does not want to make them. By you letting them know that these are necessary improvements, you might upset the seller or increase the time you spend on the listing in the attempt to counsel them on repairs. Sometimes, they just do not want to make the obvious repairs or do not have the money or time. Be careful about pressing hard about staging. Relegate it to one of your lesser points, only after you have approached the subject carefully or the seller has asked if it is available. Making staging the cornerstone of any marketing program could cause more harm than it creates good.
Waiting for the market to change. As I travel the country, I see how people are waiting for the market to get better, stabilize, or in some cases, to show any signs of slowness. I am here to say that you need to stop waiting for the market to change, and you need to change. The business plan is simple -- when the market slows down, you need to increase the number of listings that will increase the number of buyer phone calls, double-end contracts, and cooperative agent showings. Listings create activity. If your activity is low, increase the amount of listings that you have. If you are waiting for a thaw in the market, please do not bother because none of know when that will happen. A few of us just do not care!
Doing inspections at the wrong time. Especially for a top agent who specializes in listings, the proper time for inspections is to have them done as soon as you take the listing. This will, of course, allow the seller to obtain various bids without time constraints and lessen your involvement in the process. Furthermore, it removes the tension and aggravation that a buyer will add to the equation since the inspection is being done and the repairs are being done without the buyer's intervention. Presenting a new buyer with an inspection report including the repair receipts is an inducement to participate in this market. It also reduces the "nibbling" from buyers who read the bad press that real estate is getting.
Letting them see you sweat. At some point in the negotiations, you are going to have to back off a bit. Remember, buyers and sellers who hear excessive and non-realistic complaining have no motivation to stop. At some point, which is different for all of us, you are going to have to stop obliging to the requests for unrealistic expectations. At some point, you are going to have to say to your seller, "Sell it or cancel!" and to your buyer, "Close it or cancel!" Normally, when they see that you do not care about your commission as much as they thought and you are willing to let the deal go, then that removes one more advocate and can occasionally increase their motivation and stop the nibbling.
Being a lone ranger. There a lot of people who want you to succeed - your family, your manager, your broker, and your affiliates. Please start including them in your business. I have written entire books about this process yet many still do not give their clients lists of things to do and your family is not helping you with easy to accomplish real estate activities. Your affiliates will reward your loyalty by becoming a productive team member. You are just going to have to start asking for the help.
Create contracts with higher chances so they will close. The days are over of writing and accepting weak contracts. Huge deposits, pre-qualified buyers, motivated sellers, shorter closing times, and shorter contingency times are all the hallmarks of a professional real estate agent in today's market. It is time to start increasing your velocity by shortening the amount of time that you have a property in the pending status.
Failing to keep your pipeline full. Now more than ever, you can not get so busy that you forget to generate leads. Your listing inventory needs to be growing all the time. When it is not, you are going to have some tough times down the road. Every week for the next two years, try to end the month with more listings and pendings than what you started the month with. Keeping your pipeline full or "pipeline management" is essential in this market.
Get rid of the "ugly" first. It is time to get rid of your largest pain item first thing in the morning. Sitting and waiting for bad stuff to happen will destroy your creativity. First thing in the morning, call the one client you do not want to or deal with the problem that you know lurks out there. Eliminating the "ugly" tasks first will allow you to have the energy during the day to complete your other necessary tasks.
I hope that you look at some of these activities as goals to implement in changing your business plan next year so that you have more time to allow the wonderful things of this business happen to you. There is no better business in this world. Sellers beget buyers, and as you look for unique inventory for buyers, buyers beget sellers. The greatest leverage in this business is that you have buyers and sellers paying you to look at the inventory. This is inventory that you should be buying in this market to provide for your future, but that is an entirely different article!
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