For busy agents and principals, time is of the essence. How do you ensure the myriad of vital tasks are completed, and where does your responsibility begin and end?
In real estate, one of the great questions every agent should ask themselves is quite simple. The question is: who?
To my way of thinking, our industry is divided up into six distinct business sections. Each of these areas has a contextual driving force – a word defining its purpose.
The first area is databasing, which is driven by the word ‘volume’. You do need some volume of contacts and you need volume of quality of connections, whether it be direct marketing, push and pull digital strategy or phone calls. As I’ve mentioned before, this is a relationship business. It’s pretty challenging to have a relationship with someone if you’ve never had a conversation with them.
The next division is pipeline and the context that drives it is relationship. According to the famous Dunbar theory, we’re limited by the number of meaningful relationships we can sustain at any given time. This makes it difficult to have a relationship with 1,500 people in a database all at once. Hence the pipeline gives us the opportunity to build those relationships over time.
The pilot of a Qantas airliner doesn’t have to put the fuel in the plane, but I bet you they know who is doing it.
The next driver is stock management. In many markets – particularly outside capital cities – stock management is one of the key components of the continued growth of a business. The way markets have performed of late, the market itself is the stock driver. The word associated with this is ‘awareness’: awareness of what’s happening and what needs to be done.
Following this is after-sales. The context of this area is advocates; this is where our advocates live. Handled correctly, after-sales strategies can add enormous value to any agent’s business.
After that comes marketing and community. The context of this area is positioning.
And the final division is property management and ancillary services, which in many ways we look at as our superannuation.
That’s bring us back to the question of ‘Who?’ Each of these six divisions has tasks attached to them and, as I’ve said many times, this industry is a task-oriented business. But the restrictions of capacity do not allow us to do all the tasks needed to build successful careers. Therefore the question is: who?
A great chef doesn’t have to clean the plates and dishes, but I bet he knows who does.
We have to take responsibility for all the tasks that need to be done in our business. Responsibility doesn’t mean ‘to do’ – but it does mean you have to ask ‘who is?’
