The greatest thing about real estate is that there are a lot of options for creating new listings, but one of the saddest things is that only a few agents are taking full advantage of those options. According to Dirk Zeller, the problem isn’t that they don’t know what to do; the problem is that their ratio of direct income producing activities is not proportionate to their production supporting activities.
In a recent Secrets of Top Selling Agents webinar, Zeller discussed how to create listings in low-inventory markets and recommended ways agents can boost their listings by doing three key things.
Zeller has been referred to as the “Dummies Author” for his books Success as a Real Estate Agent for Dummies, Telephone Sales for Dummies, and Successful Time Management for Dummies. He is also CEO of Real Estate Champions, a premier coaching company, and is recognized as one of the leading coaches in the real estate industry.
Generating Listings Is the Key to a Four-Day Work Week
A lot of REALTORS® believe you have to work seven days a week to generate new listings and sell homes, but Zeller was selling 150 homes a year by his fourth year in the business while working only four days a week. With the help of a small team, Zeller was able to take every Friday, Saturday and Sunday off. How? By being a “rocking strong listing agent.” In the webinar, Zeller discussed a variety of ways to generate listings but emphasized three key points.
3 Keys to Acquiring More Listings in a Low Inventory Market
1. Improve Your Attitude
Sphere of influence, work ethic, salesmanship, and hustle are important if you want to succeed, but the most important quality agents need to have to increase their listings is attitude. In a low inventory marketplace, you have to fall in love with finding people to serve. In a high turnover, low inventory marketplace, you don’t need to spend more time servicing the accounts, you need to shift your schedule and activities to spend more time meeting customers and acquiring new listings.
2. Increase Your Direct Income Producing Activities (DIPA)
There’s a direct correlation between the Direct Income Producing Activities and the Production Supporting Activities (PSA) you do every day. So, if you have a limited number of listings or even no listings, the problem could be in the mix between your DIPA and your PSA. In other words, if you’re only spending around two hours a day in direct income producing activities and six to seven hours in production supporting activities, you should try changing your schedule to spend more time going after the listings and opportunities you want. That means up to 80-90 percent of your time should be spent working with clients and potential clients: meeting people face-to-face, writing and negotiating contracts, and showing properties to qualified buyers.
Zeller identified many ways you can find niches and opportunities to increase your DIPA, including “door knocking, direct mail, or even Facebook marketing into areas, you can work expireds, you can work notice of defaults, obviously you can work referrals, you can work past clients, you can work your lender business, and sphere of influence.” Zeller also stresses the importance of paying attention to what you’re doing at the sign level. According to NAR, 67 percent of potential property owners who see a property they like online get in their car and drive by the property, so what you do at the sign level is more important than ever.
3. Hone Your Skills
Zeller also suggests that whatever skills got you to the success level you are at now will not be enough to keep you there. The market and technology are constantly changing, so if you want to keep up you must do more and practice more. That’s how you learn and acquire the skills you need to adapt with the market and take your career to the next level.
To learn the rest of Zeller’s tips, including the single most listing generation activity for any agent, watch the full Secrets of Top Selling Agents webinar. For more free real estate education resources, visit Secretsoftopsellingagents.com and be sure to sign up for the upcoming webinar with Pat Hiban, “Lost A Listing? Never Again With These Best Secrets.”
