Top US real estate agent Jimmy Burgess has shared the secret to his success, outlining the strategy he used to generate more than $500 million in sales.
Called ‘The Next 10 List’, Jimmy says the list is powerful because it keeps an agent’s pipeline of sales visible and top-of-mind 100 per cent of the time.
“In our business what happens is we have so many distractions that we end up just putting fires out and reacting every single day,” he says.
“This is a system that gives you the ability to play some offence.
“This is the system that gives you the ability to stay focused on the most income-producing opportunities you have in your business right now to make sure that the next quarter is your best quarter ever.”
The strategy
Jimmy uses a whiteboard to keep track of his Next 10 List, but those more technically minded can keep a digital copy, as long as it’s the first thing you see when you get into the office and the last thing you see before you leave.
The list consists of an agent’s next 10 buyers, next 10 sellers and their top 10 (or MVP) client referral possibilities.
The buyer side
The buyer side of the Next 10 List includes the person’s name, the type of home they are looking for, the price range, the commission the sale will generate, and the last conversation you had with them.
Jimmy explains he included each aspect of the buyer’s information to have importance, remember their name, and keep them top-of-mind.
“The reason I did this this way was… I wanted to make them keep them top of mind so that if I was looking at the hot sheet, something would pop into my head, ‘Oh, that’s something good for the Smiths’.”
The seller side
The second part of Jimmy’s Next 10 List is the seller side.
He creates a list of his next 10 potential sellers or listings and includes their names, the type of property they own, the estimated value of the property, and the commission each sale will generate.
He also notes the last conversation he had with each seller.
“I wanted to have their name to obviously keep them top-of-mind,” Jimmy says.
“I want to have their address because if I had buyers that all of a sudden pop up on this other side, that are looking at a certain neighbourhood, I’m scanning immediately to see if I have one that might be a potential.
“I was having opportunities to actually match people that were in my buyers top 10 lists with my sellers top 10 list.
“I was double-siding deals that way.”
The MVP list
This list consists of your top 10 client referral possibilities.
These are the people who are most likely to send you referrals and are your most valuable players in your business.
Jimmy says to include their names and the last time you spoke with them.
Focusing on this list means you will stay in the minds of these prospects and you will be more likely to receive referrals from them.
“I wanted to see exactly how valuable picking up the phone and talking to those folks could be to me and to my family,” Jimmy explains.
