I am in Tucson working with John Powell on a revision of the Help-U-Sell Operations Manual. While it’s not particularly out-of-date at its core, there have been many changes in the industry since the last rewrite. The down market has fostered innovation and brought a slew of new strategies to the model, and the explosion of Internet marketing has spawned new wrinkles that need to be explored. So, we are updating.
The project has given me an opportunity to spend time in John and Maria’s office and it’s been such an eye opener. You will recall that the Powells opened this office in mid-2008, in the worst real estate market in history, in one of the hardest hit areas in the country. From a dead start they turned the corner and were in the black in five months. Now, a little more than a year later, they just put their 18th sale for the month on the board. They have two support staff and four agents. I was blown away by the level of activity I saw. Everybody was busy all day long.
I tried to get a handle on why this office was humming along so well when so many others are struggling and I think I gained a little insight. First, there is acknowledgment and complete acceptance of reality. There is no whining about how bad the market is or how tough short sales are or how difficult lenders have become. That’s just reality. It’s the ballpark where we play, and it’s beyond our control. Now, therefore, what are we going to do to make our business work here?
There’s a crystal clear focus on what we’re doing. Short Sales and REOs are a large part of the market, so guess what? . . . we go after short sales and REOs. We study, study, study the short sale process, we take classes, we get certified as short sale experts and then we deliver. We have a much higher success rate with Short Sales than our competitors and word spreads. We go after REOs the only way we can: we do BPO after BPO and register, register, register on all of those websites. But then we do something our competitors don’t do: we call the asset manager a day or two after we submit the BPO and ask, ‘How was our BPO? Did it meet your needs? What can we do better?’ Over time, this additional conversation becomes a relationship and THAT’S where that first REO listing comes from.
I can see, for John and Maria, the business is simple. There’s not a lot of confusion, clutter and doubt about what they’re doing. They generate leads, develop business, work it well and ask for more. This contrasts with so many offices I see where the business is hugely complicated, where confusion and doubt play a key role. There’s none of that here.
There’s also not much trepidation about taking the next step. When the business grows to the point that it becomes too demanding for existing staff, they hire another assistant. Simple. There’s not a lot of gnashing of teeth and second guessing about ‘What if the market turns?’ or ‘What if we aren’t able to maintain a level of production high enough to support the new staff member?’ When the business dictates we need more staff, we hire more staff and move forward.
And there’s a constant tweaking of the system. For example, they have a new way of going about BPOs: they hired a stay at home Mom with a real estate license to do all the BPOs. That’s all she does. She submits her work to John and Maria for review and then they submit it . . . and of course, follow up with that essential phone call. For the stay at home Mom, it’s a great part time job that allows her to stay connected to the kids. For John and Maria, it’s a way of freeing themselves to do the high pay-off work they are best at doing.
At the end of the day, I sat in on a Listing Consultation John and Maria did for a potential seller who thought her property was worth $450,000 +/- and who said the lowest she’d consider was $400,000. This was all taking place in the office media room, where all Listing Consultations occur. Maria pulled up the comps on the large flat screen monitor on the wall. They showed sales of similar properties in the $325,000 – $370,000 range. The seller was crestfallen and I felt myself wanting to dash in and rescue her, say something like, ‘But I can see your home is special . . . maybe we can get more . . . ‘ But John and Maria held firm. It’s clear they won’t take the listing if it’s not priced to sell. Period. And you know what? That potential seller didn’t get upset. She didn’t walk out. She listened attentively and then set an appointment for them to come out, see the property and finalize the price. Again, John and Maria have great clarity about what they do and what’s required to get it done.
I could go on and on. In the Help-U-Sell landscape, Tucson is a special place. If you can find a day or two, you owe it to yourself to set up a trip and come see what’s going on here. You’ll probably get great ideas. More important, though, I think you’ll go away energized beyond your expectations. Thanks John and Maria Powell for sharing your kickin’ office with me.
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Great advice!
Energizing!
Update: That listing? They took it at $370,000.