Real Estate One

Management Planning
Session
Matthew Dollinger
@properties Performance Coach
mattdollinger@atproperties.com

2010 Management Planning Retreat “Smarter, Faster,

More Personal”
WhatWhatDoToNow
ToMatt Do Now…
Dollinger 2 -
Seminar
2009
Performance Coach with @properties
facebook.com/mattdollinger

@mattdollinger

www.TheYouFactor.com
2010 Management Planning Retreat “Smarter, Faster,
More Personal”
Who is

• 10 year old independently owned

• #1 marketshare leader in Chicago
• Over 800 agents - $1.6 billion volume
• 6 Chicagoland Offices
• Leading Real Estate Companies Member
• Real Trends Company
• Inc. Magazine Fast 500
• Inman News Innovator Nominee 2009

2010 Management Planning Retreat “Smarter, Faster,

More Personal”
Who is

• We have a 99% retention rate of agents

• Our agents recruit others for us
• Our company is define by our culture
• 2 dynamic and highly visible leaders
• Agent run training programs
• Active mentor/mentee program with waiting list
• 2 Full time agent coaches
• Yearly picnic, Holiday party and luncheons

2010 Management Planning Retreat “Smarter, Faster,

More Personal”
 Where are we now?

2010 Management Planning Retreat “Smarter, Faster,

More Personal”
 Nothing is Impossible

“Nothing is Impossible is not a slogan. It is not just a

way of doing business. It is a way of seeing the world.”
- Kevin Roberts of Saatchi & Saatchi WorldWide

2010 Management Planning Retreat “Smarter, Faster,

More Personal”
 “You can Lead, but can you
Inspire?”

Ten attributes senior managers need to lead

organizations through the recession and its
demoralizing consequences on their
workforce.

http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/d

2010 Management Planning Retreat “Smarter, Faster,

More Personal”
What do we need to focus on?
• Understand your company value/what you
have to offer (Smarter)

• Determine and create a sustainable

message, delivered consistently and
efficiently (Faster)

• Focus on targeted audiences with messages

that appeal to them (More Personal)

2010 Management Planning Retreat “Smarter, Faster,

More Personal”
 Systemization is Key
To develop a system ask Individual Collective
Group

yourself the following:

1. Who is the audience?

2. What is your message?
Message
3. How will you deliver the
message to the audience
consistently in a manner
that is appropriate to
them?

2010 Management Planning Retreat “Smarter, Faster,

More Personal”
 What the agent wants
today:
• A company invested in their success
• A company that will listen to them and implement suggestions
• A company that is innovative and willing to take risks to effect
change
• Tools that they need to learn/implement, not just “stuff”
• Fun and a “feeling of belonging to something bigger” Do not
underestimate culture and enjoyable workplace in their
decision
• Tell me how your systems this benefit my business – Be ready
to demonstrate!
• Facts, Stats, and ability to apply to their business
development.
• Good agents want you to have standards IN PLACE!

2010 Management Planning Retreat “Smarter, Faster,

More Personal”
Does your company
currently provide
those things to your
agents?

2010 Management Planning Retreat “Smarter, Faster,

More Personal”
 And the better
question may be…

2010 Management Planning Retreat “Smarter, Faster,

More Personal”
Who IS your company
today and can you
uniformly and
concisely verbalize
and demonstrate
your value?

2010 Management Planning Retreat “Smarter, Faster,

More Personal”
Demonstrating Your Company Value

2010 Management Planning Retreat “Smarter, Faster,

More Personal”
 Demonstrating your Company
Value
• What is the value proposition(s) of our company?
– Do you have a uniform message to tell recruits?
– Does it highlight demonstrable “value” for them/their business?
– Are you known for this in your marketplace?
• Yes – you have a sustainable message
• No – this is not part of your brand (you aren’t known for this)
– What ARE you known for?
– How ARE you perceived?
– Is this a desirable reason to join your company?
– WIFM – and how will it benefit my business

2010 Management Planning Retreat “Smarter, Faster,

More Personal”
 Demonstrating your Company
Value
• Specific Messages for Specific Targets
– Quartile your Existing Agent Population
• Luxury Agents
• Gen X/Y Techies
• Middle Tier Producers
• New Agents
• Teams
• Perform agent focus groups on each asking the questions:
– Why do you work for our company?
– What is the most valuable thing we do for you?
– What value do we bring to the table for you?
– What could we do better?
– What competitor do you admire and why?

2010 Management Planning Retreat “Smarter, Faster,

More Personal”
 The importance of
Quartiling
• Gather information on what like-minded/level
agents would find valuable in your company.
• Allow you to focus on specifics when
recruiting
• Gain an understanding of what you COULD
provide them in the future.
– Discuss behavior profiling test.
– Trendgraphix
– Recruit Now
– Terradatum – Broker Solution

2010 Management Planning Retreat “Smarter, Faster,

More Personal”
 What the data tells us…
• Broker Metrics
– Pricing, Follow up, Buy/Sell heavy, production LTM/PTM
• Behavior Profiling
– How they learn
– Where their strengths are/need to work on

• Focus on certain production levels, those with particular

challenges (i.e. pricing), and geographic areas – and
provide the valuable solutions that your company offers
directly to them.

2010 Management Planning Retreat “Smarter, Faster,

More Personal”
 Behavior Profiling

2010 Management Planning Retreat “Smarter, Faster,

More Personal”
 Speaking to your Audience
• It’s very important to understand what it is
that your recruiting audience will find
valuable.
– Luxury Agents – Lux Portfolio, Philanthropic arm
– Gen X/Y – training on tech tools, implementation
– Those with decreased business – coaching, marketing
automation
– Top Producers – exposure and automation of systems,
assistant coaching
– Older Agents – how we can automate your tech/marketing

2010 Management Planning Retreat “Smarter, Faster,

More Personal”
How to deliver this information
• Next it will be important to be able to SHOW this to the
above audience in a way that they will be receptive to
it.
– Blogs – highlighting your statistics or achievements
– Videos – of recognizable (or unrecognizable) agents discussing
what the value is that you offer and what it has done for them.
– Print Material – making sure it is superior or as good as the
marketing materials that use for your listings
– Agent Testimonials – agents talking to potential agents – they
don’t want to hear from the managers as they know you are
trying to sell them. They need to hear from the agents that are
“like them”
– Statistics – proven, non-manipulated stats that they can pull on
their own and check
– Pictures/Videos– of your events, philanthropic activities, parties,
etc.

2010 Management Planning Retreat “Smarter, Faster,

More Personal”
 Understanding agent Value
• Systemize and Automate
– Having the greatest tools available is nothing if the agents have to
set them up, utilize and monitor them themselves.
– Take a look at what your agents have mentioned as “tools or value”
that they find in your company and highlight these – they might not
be what YOU think are the most valuable, but they are the ones your
audience finds best
• Ex. – automating the listing input to Craigslist?
• Ex. – Creating materials/Emails that they can immediately
forward on to their clients
– Take these “items of value” and try to calculate a dollar volume for
each of them or a Time (T) value for each.
• When recruiting against the 100% companies you will then be
able to help them see that they are spending the money anyway,
so why not just have it taken out of your check?

2010 Management Planning Retreat “Smarter, Faster,

More Personal”
 Consistency is key
• Creating a Consistent plan of when, what, to
whom and how all of this will be
implemented:
– Simply create a calendar of how, what, when and to
whom this will go out to
– Co-op agents
– Luxury agent
– Middle Tier agents
– Etc.

2010 Management Planning Retreat “Smarter, Faster,

More Personal”
 Internal Support
• The #1 way to get appointments and new agents is
to enlist the power of your agent population. To do
this you will need to:
• Make them aware of the benefits to the
company/them by recruiting
– Market share
– Tapping other markets
– More money coming in = (some item that the agents want
*Tell Story about the color printer)
– Reward them with an override or bonus $ of every agent that
they bring in
– REMEMBER* This is the same rule as Social Media – if you suck
offline, you will suck online (meaning- if your agents aren’t
happy and behind you there’s no sense in “fooling” agents to
join your company)

2010 Management Planning Retreat “Smarter, Faster,

More Personal”
 Understanding Gen. X/Y

2010 Management Planning Retreat “Smarter, Faster,

More Personal”
 Appealing to Gen X/Y
• Remember that Youth is sexy – if you want to attract
boomers, Gen X and Y you need to focus on youth first.
– We want to be included in decisions
– We want to be asked for our opinions
– We want to help, share and teach
– We are impressed with technology, but not if you are doing it wrong
and try to act like you are smarter than us.
– We are not impressed with how long you have been in business
– We expect coaching, business planning, and ongoing training – even if
it is (and especially if it is) from outside vendors
– We admire collaboration, forward thinking, and innovation
– We HATE down-talking, negativity, and “this is how we do it here”
• You need to appeal to them on their level
– Social Media
– Video
– Culture, Events, and Philanthropy

2010 Management Planning Retreat “Smarter, Faster,

More Personal”
 Questions
• How to create enough room in the office for all the new recruits.
The top agents want a private or semi-private office and I am out of
them. What do brokers, all over the country do? What should they
be preparing to do?

• In a market where agent production is already compromised,

agents fear loosing more production if they change companies.
How to address this and overcome the fear?
•
• Closing techniques. How to get an agent who says my programs are
better for him/her to make the decision to change.

• One of our biggest hurdles in getting top producers is that their

current broker won't let them take their listings and sometimes
significantly reduces their commission if they leave with properties
pending. Ideas on how to handle those situations.

2010 Management Planning Retreat “Smarter, Faster,

More Personal”
 Questions
• How to focus on and succeed with Gen X and Y agents?

• Is recruiting top talent that pays no brokerage overhead

better than having consistent producers that work with a
split where both the brokerage and the agent can make
money?

• How to overcome competition's claim (especially if factual)

to #1 position in your market

• What is the best way - or the best question to ask - to

determine an agent’s motivation to leave their present
company?

2010 Management Planning Retreat “Smarter, Faster,

More Personal”