Tag: John Powell

‘Got It Goin’ On!’

The Set Fee Blog has been a little inactive lately. There are a couple of reasons: I disappeared for a couple of days and then our own Help-U-Sell Success Summit is less than a week away. There is so much to do to get ready for the meeting! I want it to be powerful, meaningful, energizing and absolutely worth the investment of days (and dollars) our guys will be making to attend.

The agenda has been driven by input we got through a couple of surveys, one formal one less formal. Brokers told us they wanted to know more about creative financing. With toughening of the credit markets — yes, I know: rates are wonderfully low, but underwriting standards are very high — we need to think about financing in less conventional ways. That might mean seller financing or private money financing or obscure, little known programs. To enlighten us, I’ve arranged for Patricia Boyd to spend the last part of the first day with us. She is an amazing resource and has been focused on educating REALTORS on matters of finance for 25+ years. A strong consumer advocate, Patricia is a perfect match for our group and I know her information will mean more closed transactions for everyone.

Tuesday’s guest is Nick Taylor from Zillow. While all of the aggregator real estate sites were jockying for position, Zillow quietly rose to the top of the pile and has become the home search platform of choice for consumers. Really: when America wants to look for a new home, she often starts at Zillow.com. I ask myself why? and how? Why did consumers come to choose Zillow and how did they go about engineering that amazing feat? Strangely, I think the answer is in that silly feature all of us REALTOR-types hate, the Z-estimate of value. All of the aggregators offer feature rich home search capabilities that are fairly similar. But early on, Zillow went out on a limb and started estimating the value of properties via algorithm, not pencil-and-paper market analysis. There were distinct limitations to the accuracy of those estimates, and we have had to do lots of clean-up with consumers who relied on that estimate to make decisions, but it did distinguish Zillow from the rest of the pack. Nick is going to talk with us about how we can use this third-party tool to generate leads and more. His career is based on online marketing and prior to Zillow he managed marketing for a large independent brokerage in the mid-west.

Wednesday morning, David Bartels of Home Loan Advocates will share ’12 Things Every Agent Should Know About Short Sales.’ David’s company has a remarkable track record in negotiating and closing short sale transactions and he attributes much of that success to their creative approach to deal structure. The session is designed to give anyone working short sales (ok: that means anyone seriously in real estate) new ideas about how to get these sometimes complicated transactions through.

And those are just the guests. We also have three Star Panels on the schedule. Jack Bailey will be facilitating a discussion with four of our top five Brokers. They’ll be talking about how they’ve managed to thrive in this tough market. There will be lots of good information about organization, focus and, of course, marketing. John Powell is leading a panel of Brokers each doing something incredibly right. We’ll hear from one who started from scratch and built a largely REO business, one who has short sales down so well that he’s processing them for other brokers, and two who started new businesses in the downturn and have quickly become successful. Finally, I’m leading a panel on Marketing for Visibility. I have a small group of brokers who have done an excellent job of keeping their name, logo, face, prominent in the marketplace.

Today I got a look at Robbie’s slides for his tech session and I’m wishing we’d allowed more time. He’s got so much good stuff to share and a couple of really nice ZINGER announcements! As I look back at the last few years, we seem to be trending six months to a year ahead of the rest of the industry when it comes to tech. We quietly get the cool stuff they start talking about months before they start talking. That’s our Robbie — and his session will be very cool.

Ron McCoy will share his vision and plans for Franchise Sales and will showcase lots of the cool stuff we’re doing in that arena. Hey, by the way: did you see our full-page ad in REALTOR Magazine? If not, here’s a copy:

My session will focus on the new reality (the one that most of the industry has yet to acknowledge) and how we can own it. Our theme is ‘Taking Charge of Change’ and that’s exactly what we’re going to continue to do as we move into 2012.

It’s that kind of VISIBILITY we’re going for now, and there is no better example of it than our presence at this week’s NAR Convention, where we will be in force with the biggest booth of any real estate company, with great new print and electronic marketing tools, a big logo-encrusted shuttle bus and a dozen or so enthusiastic Help-U-Sell Brokers running through the exhibit hall scaring the be-jabbers out of the competition! It’s going to be a great time!

New Age Real Estate

Boy, things sure are different from the last time I wrote up a purchase agreement!  That was almost 30 years ago.  Lenders were killing us with staggering interest rates (rather than foreclosures) but the business itself was fairly straightforward.  A buyer wanted to buy and a seller wanted to sell and most negotiations took place between those two parties via their agents.

Fall-out rates were in the 15% range.  Can you imagine that?  85% of your ratified contracts making it to closing?  Sounds heavenly.

Today, a single complete transaction package is about the size of the old MLS book I used to carry around and there are often lenders, investors, asset managers and more who have a stake in the deal.  In a word, real estate transactions have become very COMPLEX.  And from what I hear, for every six contracts written, just 3 – 4 will close.

I am generally in awe at the job most (good) Realtors do today.  As Donna Summer might chortle, ‘They work hard for the money.’  There are hundreds of details that need handling, dozens of potholes and roadblocks along the way and a multitude of deal killing explosions to navigate.  Picture:  O. J. Simpson running through an airport as he did in those old Hertz commercials, except now the concourse is a mine field!

Add to this the fact that prices and, therefore, percentage based real estate commission have fallen by nearly 50% in most markets and it’s suddenly common to hear brokers and agents say, ‘Well, I think I made about $10 an hour on that deal.’    It’s mathematical:  Falling prices + increased complexity = more hours + less money.

What’s wrong with this picture is that the business has moved on to a new age, but the way we do it is stuck in the last decade.  Today,  you probably can’t afford to do real estate in the intimate, hand-holding way we did it in the 80’s and 90’s.  Doing it all by yourself will wear you out and greatly limit the number of deals you can put together.

The solution seems to be to get help:  an assistant, an admin or someone to take some of the numbing complexity off your shoulders.    But how do you do that when you’re working harder than you’ve ever worked for much less money?

I know brokers who have assistants working on a per-closed-transaction basis, where the assistant receives $X or X% of every closed deal.  In theory, it’s a great way to work because the expectation is that the assistant will free the broker to do MORE, and as the broker does MORE, the assistant makes MORE.

I know brokers who have pressed their high school and college aged children, nieces and nephews into service, helping them evaluate and then install time saving, efficiency producing technology.

I know one broker who hired a new Mom and semi-retired real estate agent who wants the flexibility of working from home – in a way that allows her to keep her new daughter with her – to do all of his BPOs.  The broker can focus on taking listings and doing deals.

The important thing is this:  so many have gone back to being Phase I brokers, working alone, doing it all.  That has been an excellent response to the tightening of the market the last few years.  However, there is a downside:  as activity picks up, your ability to do more transactions is greatly diminished.  If you are maxed out today – and just getting by – how will you do more if you don’t find a way to transition to Phase II (which means getting help)?

This year, in late November – Early December we will begin our annual business planning process, but this year it will be a little different.  It’s going to all about getting to the next level, all about going from Phase I to Phase II, from Phase II to Phase III. To get your brain started around this challenge, check out John Powell’s presentation from last year’s rally swing:

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Blueprint for Growth

We’ve just concluded the first set of summer 2010 Rallies with a meeting yesterday in Baltimore.  Like the three Rallies that preceded it, the Baltimore event was great fun.  Everyone was focused, intent and engaged.  There was a real sense of excitement and mission as we worked through the material together.

John has been talking at these meetings about growing your business.  The premise is that, in the downturn, we’ve cut our expectations.  Where 10 closed sides a month used to be just getting by, now we shoot for 4.  Many of us have thus taken our mature offices and rolled them back to Phase I offices: minimal or no staff with the Broker doing most everything that needs to be done.

What John presents in ‘Blueprint’ is a logical and reasonable plan for growth.

Phase I is all about doing deals and establishing systems and procedures.  The Broker’s goal is to get to 4-5 closings a month.  His or her role is to create systems for everything from handling inquiries to processing sales so that when staff is added they will have procedures and standards to uphold.

The transition to Phase II comes when a consistent 4 – 5 closings a month is achieved.  It is at this point that the Broker begins to be ‘maxed out,’ and opportunities start falling through the cracks.  Phase II begins when the Broker starts hiring staff:  a part-time admin and a single Buyer’s agent to start.  The broker’s role shifts from doing deals personally to generating leads.  The business has begun to grow, and he must sustain that growth by producing a steady flow of leads into the office.  Leads are largely the result of Listings and Marketing so this is where the Broker  (now freed of tedious office tasks by the Admin and of time consuming buyer work by the Buyer’s Agent) focuses his or her efforts.

Marketing today looks a little different than it did 5 years ago, but accomplishes the same thing:  Consumers in our area understand that we are here and represent savings, other people use us, and it works. Rather than sending 10,000 pieces of mail each month to establish that message, the broker may be developing consistant programs for contacting FSBOs, Expireds, and PIDs (Properties in Distress).  He or she may be devoting significant time and some financial resources to establishing an Internet presence that enable consumers in the local market to find the company.

This is the point where the Broker’s obsession with leads comes to the forefront.  Every inquiry into the office, whether from the Web or the phone, is logged, contact and source information is collected and office staff is held accountable in the conversion process.  It’s funny, but the tried and true Help-U-Sell Buyer and Seller data sheets and the corresponding Buyer Pool Book they create become the real backbone of the company.  After all, Help-U-Sell offices are all about LEADS generated and successfully converted to sales.  An effective tracking mechanism and a constant focus on conversion rate improvement is essential.

As Phase 2 continues, more Buyer Agents are added and support is increased.  The Broker continues to focus on Listings and Marketing.  Phase 3 probably begins about the time the Broker hires help on the Listing side of the business:  a licensed assistant who handles all of the routine tasks associated with having listings and who can stand in for the Broker on Listing appointments in his or her absence. Now the office is doing 120 – 150 deals a year and can increase that number easily by adding more buyer agents and support staff.

This vision is very clarifying.  I’ve said it before: for the Powells (John and Maria), the business isn’t easy . . . but it is simple.  Growth is logical, next steps are triggered by specific events that have been anticipated and the company grows quickly.  For John and Maria, Phase 1 took their first six months — mid-2008  to early 2009.  They are still in Phase 2, with several Buyers Agents and an expanding support staff.  Phase 3 is within reach and will probably be achieved by year’s end.  All of this has happened in the worst real estate market in history, in one of the hardest hit markets in the country:  Tucson, AZ.

What’s fun in John’s presentation are the profitability projections.  In Phase 2 he demonstrates how a Broker can pay himself a salary and still turn a profit in the high teens.  In Phase 3, the salary is increased and profitability goes to near 30%.  It’s great to see that on paper, but what’s even better is to see it as it’s actually happening:  in Tucson, Az.

. . . I Gotta Wear Shades!

Tonight, John Powell and I are holding the first Help-U-Sell Franchise Information webinar in the new company’s history. In the past we’d have called this a ‘Franchise Sales Presentation,’ but with a new attitude about the company and the franchise sales process, a new name seems appropriate.  We’re talking with people who submitted inquiries at helpusell.com over the past seven months.

We have fifteen reservations so far.  Fifteen people from across the country who are curious about what it means to be a Help-U-Sell broker, what it takes to be successful, and why that might be a good thing for them.  I think it’s a safe bet that before long, we’ll have a few new members.

The obvious question — the one that nobody would ask because the answer is so obvious — is: why are we doing this?  The  obvious answer is:   because we are a franchise and in the franchising world, franchise sales is just what you do.  However, that’s not why we’re doing this.  We’re doing this to sell more real estate in more communities across America.  Our goal is just like our members’ goal:   to list more houses, save more sellers money, work with more buyers and build more good will;  to sell more real estate.  Franchising and franchise sales is just a strategy we use to get into marketplaces where there is a demand for our services but where no office currently exists.

This event — that will be repeated each month going forward — begs a question:  Once we add a new member, how will we get them started?  The company is entirely different than it was the last time we added a new member.  Gone are 33  Regional Directors who (in theory) took new members under their wings and set them spinning the right way.  Gone is the idea that five days spent in a classroom listening to a lecture would prepare one to be successful as a Help-U-Sell broker.  The new realities have put us in position to do so much better than that.

John Powell’s clear directive is that we become a Coaching Organization, and we will bring that point of view to the new franchise start up process.  Each new member will have a Coach who will, over the first six months, guide them through Market Analysis, Business Plan, office selection and set up, handling inquiries, listing and buyer consultation, marketing, staffing and growth.  The coaching process will be punctuated by short weekly webinars where the concepts behind the actions will be presented.  The learning and the transformation from Average Joe to Help-U-Sell Bro will take place in the field, in the real world, while dealing with real challenges.

As one of the creators of the last edition of  Help-U-Sell University (the Morgan Run, five-days-in-a-classroom version), I am so excited by this change in attitude.  I knew in the old world that just as often as we were able to get a new franchise up, running and productive, we were as likely to have one that floundered or failed.   They didn’t get it in class or they forgot what we told them or the tutelage of the Regional Director back in the field was lacking.  The new structure makes learning how to be a Help-U-Sell broker a partnership between the franchise, the family and the new member.

A brilliant Educational Technologist and Performance Improvement guru I know, Harold Stolovich, said it best:  ‘Tellin’ Ain’t Trainin’.’  Training occurs by doing.  And that’s how our new members, with the help of a trusted and knowledegable Coach, will learn.  Let’s do this.

 

Looking Back, Looking Forward

2009 was a pivotal year for Help-U-Sell.  New ownership took over in the week between Christmas and New Years, 2008.  The company, with assets and information in Southern California and Colorado was boxed up and shipped to its new home in Sarasota, Florida.  Simultaneously, a search for competent, credible leadership was undertaken;  and it didn’t take long to identify John Powell as the logical choice.

John had been a very successful Help-U-Sell franchisee in the 90’s, sold that office and went on to be a successful Regional Director.  When Regions were abolished in 2008, John did the one thing he knew he could do to generate an income:  he opened another Help-U-Sell office in his home town, Tucson.  Now, that was a gutsy move.  In the middle of the worst real estate market in history, John opens a Help-U-Sell office.  Yet, from a dead zero start, he and his wife, Maria, took that office into the black in five months.  I work for John now and he is the ultimate antidote for ‘It-can’t-be-done-itis.’  Anytime I hear that the market is impossible or that nobody can make it in this mess, all I have to do is point to him. 

About 450 of the nearly 800 existing Help-U-Sell franchises were assumed by the new owner, Infinium Realty Group.  Many of these franchisees were alive and well and fighting their way through the tough market.   Some were hanging on by their toenails.  A few were just waiting for someone to close their eyes and pull the sheet up over their heads.  Everyone had scaled back, cutting expenses wherever they could.  Job one for the new company was to simply sift through the assumed franchises to see who was still up and open, who needed immediate help and who had the heart and determination to continue. 

At the same time, the new team started looking for ways to improve the brand offering, to kick it up a notch and to create tools and alliances that would mean more business for the franchisees.  Immediately, Robert Stevens was given the mandate he’d been seeking for a year:  to build a killer website for the company from the ground up, paying careful attention to all the tools and tricks that make a website attractive to search engines.  Finally, we were going to own our technology, we weren’t going to be at the mercy of an outside vendor.   The new Corporate site went live mid-year and since then, development has shifted to the creation of companion websites for each of our franchise offices.  These broker sites will start to come online after the first of the year. 

John Powell began talking with Bank of America about developing a real alliance — one that would benefit both organizations.   The result is a concierge service that preserves leads that come to Bank of America via Help-U-Sell websites and returns them to the originating party.  The new relationship empowers B of A Mortgage Loan Officers to negotiate space rental agreements with Help-U-Sell brokers and to participate in co-branded marketing.  Five months into it, I have been impressed with how many positive stories I’ve heard about the relationship and how few negative.  Personally, I’ve been wowed by the depth of knowledge and experience of the MLOs I’ve met. 

Maurine Grisso was tapped to deliver quality training on topics of immediate interest every Thursday and to build valuable content for the rally series that kicked of mid year.  Her up-to-date, real-world experience helped everyone do a better job of navigating short sales and working with REOs as well as simply moving forward in a very tough market.  Ron McCoy and Jack Bailey worked with her to develop a coaching program for Help-U-Sell brokers that will become the backbone of how the Brand and the brokers work together to maximize production and profit. 

I came on in June after a call from John and a meeting in Sarasota with him and Infinium principal, Ron Westman.  It was a no-brainer for me.  Though I’d worked for most of the national franchisors at one time or another, usually as a contractor on a variety of projects, Help-U-Sell was the one company that captured my heart.  It was love at first sight between the Help-U-Sell business model and myself when we spotted each other across the room at Help-U-Sell University in 2002.  The three years I spent after leaving in 2005 were laced with a longing for the sense of mission and the determination we all have in this company.  When I determined that the new leadership was committed to doing what was necessary to breathe new life into the company, to bring it through the difficult market and to make it thrive going forward, my decision was easy:  YES. 

I believe the best yardstick we have for measuring the health of the Help-U-Sell family in 2009 is the series of rallies we held around the country:  24 of them and counting.  We hit many locations twice over the past six months and that’s where I get my perspective.   Every one of those first rallies began the same:  angry and disengaged brokers coming into the room with arms crossed across their chests, looking as much for a reason not to believe as for a reason to move forward.  Usually, half an hour into John’s corporate update, people would begin to relax.  An hour later they were smiling and by the end of the meetings they were laughing, sharing and rediscovering the energy any meeting with Help-U-Sell members creates.  The second round was completely different.  People showed up excited. They were anxious to reconnect with each other and to plot and scheme their next incursions into the marketplace of 2009.  Seeing that shift told me we were on the right track, that we were going to come through this stronger and better than we’d ever been.

Today we’re looking forward to 2010 and making plans to capitalize on the improving market.  We recently added Tami Patzer to the team as Communication Resource.  She’s already done and excellent job communicating who we are and what we’re doing in a variety of outlets, notably our monthly newsletter, Help-U-Sell Connect.  She’s putting the finishing touches on the December edition today.  I’m planning and calendaring the next round of rallies.  We want these to be bigger and better attended than the ’09 offering, so expect to be nagged about going to the one closest to you. After all, I know of nothing better for getting your attitude and energy up than getting together with other members of the Help-U-Sell family.    

John has a number of other initiatives boiling in the cauldron right now and I expect we’ll have some remarkable news when rally time rolls around.  You will certainly be hearing more about the new broker websites coming online and how to easily tweak them to produce the largest number of leads for your office.  

Our team in the field is a scrappy bunch.  These are the fighters, the ones who don’t go down often; and on the rare occasions they do fall, they’re quick to get up and get at it again.  It’s an honor and a privilege to work with this group as we march toward the coming year.  I believe, if 2009 was pivotal for Help-U-Sell, 2010 will be remarkable.  To quote that renowned American poet and philosopher, Huey Lewis: 

‘The future’s so bright I gotta wear shades!’   

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