Team…meet Tom.
Tom has a burning passion for all things fly fishing. I know this because Tom was the fishing guide on my family's summer trip to Colorado and he expressed his love for fishing(and edibles, but that’s another story) multiple times that day. This was a jam packed vacation with mountain biking, tubing, hiking, ropes courses and fly fishing. Hands down... everyone’s favorite part was the day we spent with Tom.
I reflected on what made him a great guide and why my family enjoyed the experience so much. What immediately came to mind was how he engaged every family member. Also, the way he simplified the complicated technique of fly fishing and made it enjoyable for everyone. Tom is someone we can learn from! We are guides for our clients as they navigate a real estate transaction.
Tom engaged and simplified by:
1. First thing he did was get the boys (Blake 10, Liam 7) setup in an area where the current wasn’t as strong. He also had options for them should they get bored with fishing, ie collecting cool rocks, hunting frogs.
Correlation: How can we engage our client’s children in the home shopping process? Give them MLS printouts and ask them to rate the properties after each showing. For younger kids, have activities in mind to distract them while the parents are looking at the home.
2. Next he set Jen up in the “honey hole” where he knew she would catch a large rainbow trout.
Correlation: Identify the spouse that is the driver of the transaction. Ensure that you are speaking their language and customizing the experience to their needs. How can you get them excited about buying or selling?
3. He took me a little further up stream with a fast current but still within view of the family. He told me where to cast. He knew there was a fish there just by the way the water was swirling. He described what he saw so I could identify the indicator in the future.
Correlation: Do you have a true interest in houses, design and finishes? This can give you an advantage over other agents. If your knowledge and interest level is apparent in conversations, your clients will see you care about the industry you’re in.
As we were standing in the creek I asked Tom what he did on his days off. He responded, “I fish man. Why would I want to do anything else?” I’m not sure he realized how psychologically healthy that response was. Are you as passionate about real estate as Tom is about fly fishing? Tom shielded us from all of the headaches that are involved with fishing.
We discussed the other day in the team meeting that it is our job to insulate our clients from the emotion of the transaction. Many of the core challenges that existed 30-40 years ago still remain for buyers and sellers. Your mission should be to minimize your client's pain points. While we haven’t been able to eliminate them(for now), we can become exceptionally good at insulating our clients from them.
Our team operates off of two core focuses:
Simplifying Your Next Move
Elevating the Experience
You will hear these short phrases echoed in our team meetings, during whiteboard sessions or emphasized during a new team member interview. This is the filter I try to run all of our major decisions through. Our goal is to simplify the transaction for our clients while continuing to elevate the experience.
I believe, at their core, forward thinking and durable companies(and good humans) are the ones that value curiosity. Staying curious and seeking to understand is having a frame of mind and heart that empathically listens to others first. Asking the right questions leads to truly understanding our clients. When we minimize pain points and create an inter-dependence we create loyal customers.
What have we been up to for the last 30 days:
Our inside sales team(CSS) is crushing it! They set 19 appointments yesterday, 10 outbound and 9 inbound. They are outpacing last month's appointments by 45%!
We have also updated some of our scripting on our Call Action text campaigns. This has resulted in a higher conversion to set appointments.
Thank you all for sharing your feedback with the TC department survey. This is helping with additional training and to help identify those TCs that are going above and beyond!
What am I excited for over the next 30 days:
This is when all of the planning starts to translate to action! We’ve planned and discussed our core focuses for 2023 and things are in motion. Our top operational priority is to create more appointments from our existing database!
New LT T-shirts coming out soon! It’s been a while since we updated our shwag…Jessie Brown has put together some cool designs for you to choose from. Here are a couple mockups. We should have some in stock by the end of January!!
Updated Listing video - Thank you to all of those people that provided feedback! We are in the process of updating the content and script to align more with the needs of today’s home seller.
Content I found interesting: None of these are real estate related, but all had an impact on me.
Checkout this podcast. I first heard Andrew Huberman on the Jocko podcast but now follow him on Huberman Lab. He has completely changed my morning routine and sleeping habits.
Earl Nightingale is always a good listen at the end of the day.
Greenlights - Matthew McConaughey
This book pulls you in! This has to be listened to on audible. Read by Matthew McConaughey..... such an amazing story teller.
And of course my favorite eternal optimist! There are actually two Ted Lasso-isms in the story above.
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