THE TWELVE THINGS AGENTS MUST DO NOW
(TACTICS 1-3)

Tactic #1.  Get Real, Get Right

• Get Real About Your Situation
• Get Right About What You are Doing
• When a Shift Occurs, Confusion Follows
• Don’t Panic
• Market Shifts….You Shift
• A Mental Shift and an Action Shift

The Mental Shift:

“Your life will either be about your problems or your opporunities.”

• Run toward what you most want
• Avoid running away from what you most fear
• You can’t control the market..you can control your outlook and your reponse

The Action Shift:

“The seeds of failure are usually sown during times of success/”

• Get right - right into action and into the right action
• Look at the necessary actions by roles - yours and others

Tactic #2.  Re-Margin Your Business

“The most successful people are those who are good at plan B.” - James Yourke, University of Maryland.

• The number one determinant of ‘thriving’ is lead generation.
• The number one determinant of ’surviving’ is expense management.
• When markets shift, the first change a business must make is ‘re-expense’ itself.

‘ We had to keep expenses to a minimum. That is where it started. Our money was made by controlling expenses’ - Sam Walton, Founder of Walmart

Peter Drucker was famous for teaching these very straightforward points:

• You can’t build a business by cutting back
• But you can find your profit and save it.
• Every business must make a profit

“Name a business that has been ruined by downsizing. I can’t name one. Name a company that has been ruined by bloat. I can names dozens.”          - Charlie Munger, Warren Buffet Speaks

• In up markets we acquire habits and patterns of doing things that don’t stop us in good times, but grind us to a halt in bad times.
• We do so much right that the market covers up the wrong.
• Every dollar spent should return its original amount plus a reasonable profit.
• Use the ‘cost plus’ principle.
• Lead with revenue.

Protect Your Margin:

• There is no expense that is untouchable
• There is no cut too small.
• You must reduce expenses to match your income plus an acceptable profit margin.

Get Your Money Smart Again:

• Your money was once smart.
• When the market shifts your money instantly becomes dumb.

‘The first step to financial recovery is to stop doing the wrong things.  It’s an old principle. You don’t have to make it back the way you lost it.”            - Warren Buffet

• Don’t try to just spend your way out of a shift…results your way out.
• The key to re-margining and changing your budget is changing the way you think.
• To be an effective money manager you must be a ‘budget bully.’

Tactic #3.  Do More with Less

• Cutting expenses doesn’t necessarily mean slashing quality or delivering less.
• When the market shifts, your organization must shift too.
• This challenge can also be a gift.
• It is the opportunity to evaluate, upgrade and top grade your business.
• It is the gift of the shift!

Back To Basics:

• What are my business priorities?
• When do they need to get done?
• Who is the best person to them?
• How should they be done?

The Fundamental Six Properties:

1. Lead Generate, Capture and Convert to Appointments.
2. Present to Buyers and Sellers and Get Agreements.
3. Show Buyers and Market Sellers.
4. Write and Negotiate Contracts.
5. Coordinate the Sale to Closing.
6. Manage the Money

People:

• People begins with you
• Are you doing what you get paid most to do?
• The role you play in your business is critical.
• Two Types of People - Those directly employed by you and those indirectly employed by you.
• Once Critical Issue with People - You either have the right ones or the wrong ones.
• Do the Math - What can you afford and who you can’t afford to lose.
• If you must fire people follow a process.
• The respect you show those who are no longer with you, builds respect with those who are.
• Having the right people applies to your vendors as well.
• Get more and better support from your vendor team. Think ‘preferred partner.’

Seven Steps to Talent Shift

1. Sit down with your people and share your vision.
2. Visit with each person. Are they with you and willing to do whatever it takes?
3. Realign job descriptions. Build task descriptions.
4. Set easy to measure goals, standards, and activities for each person. Expect action or resignations!
5. Establish training schedule. What to do, how to do it and what is expected.
6. Meet weekly with each individual. Evaluate success and agree on corrective action.  Inspect what you expect!
7. Celebrate the small victories as well as the big ones…individual and team’s.

Systems:

• You top grade people and you upgrade systems
• Good times usually plant seeds of system inefficiencies.
• You tend to add people rather than improve systems.
• Do more with less
• Make things simpler
• Think efficient-effective.
• Be lean and mean…complexity kills.

 ***TACTICS #4-12 COMING SOON***

SHIFT Today for a better tomorrow!

Get ready- the SHIFT Tour hit the road on Sept. 3 and is already breathing new life into real estate careers. So far, more than 3,500 attendees in Dallas, Los Angeles and Oakland, Calif. have heard directly from Gary Keller, Dave Jenks and Tony DiCello on how to implement the 12 tactics from SHIFT: How Top Real Estate Agents Tackle Tough Times.

Keller, Jenks and DiCello will be on the road for the next three months and one of them will visit every Keller Williams Realty region during that time. The first three events sold out, so don’t forget to reserve your seat today! 

Click here to find out when the SHIFT Tour will be coming to your region!

Excerpts From SHIFT: