Latest / The Loan Daddy Podcast / 020 - How to Stay Organized as a Real Estate Agent (Controlling the Controllables)

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020 - How to Stay Organized as a Real Estate Agent (Controlling the Controllables) · The Loan Daddy Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Ultimately, not having a system is creating a ceiling for yourself.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's very few people in this industry learn how to handle the different things that are thrown at us.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: And you really only learn when you're in it.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: What's up everybody?
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the Lone Daddy Podcast episode 20.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: Today I want to talk about one of those things that is sort of a hidden cost in real estate, and that's organization.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: We operate in an industry that thrives on chaos.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: That is the real estate industry.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone knows it.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: So many things are happening all at the same time.
• 0:37
  SPEAKER_00: Loans can fall apart, appraisals can come in lower, people back out of transactions, people all of a sudden come out of nowhere and make offers on properties.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of things happening all at the same time.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's all chaos.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: And how we organize that and how we're prepared for all of that is what separates so many top agents from other agents that are out there.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: Organization in real estate is really just about controlling the controllables.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: There are so many parts of this business and this industry that is out of our control entirely.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: But there are things that we can control.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: And what are those things?
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: And that's something that we're gonna dive into.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: And look, I know plenty of people in the real estate business, in the mortgage business, who operate off of post-it notes and yellow legal pads where they have everything on there.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: And hats off to them.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_00: If you're able to pull that off, it's really impressive.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: But in this day and age, that could be really challenging.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm not even criticizing people that are doing that.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: I'm criticizing not having a system that works for you.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: I talked to a lot of mortgage professionals, a lot of real estate professionals who say they want to grow, but they don't even have room for one more client.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: So how are they going to grow?
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: And ultimately not having a system is creating a ceiling for yourself.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's very few people in this industry learn how to handle the different things that are thrown at us.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: And you really only learn when you're in it.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: You know, if you have three clients that you're working with where you need to submit offers, and then your phone rings with a potential$5 million client buyer, what do you do?
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: How do you handle that?
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: What system do you have in place to continue to serve the three clients who need to submit offers and tackle that prospect who's looking to buy a$5 million home?
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: So I broke this down into three ways.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: There are three ways that we can control the controllables.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: And number one is just being honest with yourself.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: Are the current methods you have to remember everything that is on your plate and that is thrown your way working?
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: Are your methods working?
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: It's so important to look at the results, not your own feeling.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: Some people may feel like, oh, I got everything under control, but are the results there?
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: Are there people who are emailing you saying, hey, I haven't heard back from you yet?
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: Hearing things like that, or being in the shower and all of a sudden thinking, oh my god, I forgot to call this person back.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: Those are all telltale signs that are signaling that your system is not currently working.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: I have a close friend who's a stand-up comedian, and he told me years ago, he said, your brain lies with confidence.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: And what he meant by that was he would be out on the road and you know, at a restaurant or a bar, and he would think about a bit or a joke, and he would think, oh my god, I'm gonna remember that later.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: And what would and what would inevitably happen is he'd go to his hotel room, think about that joke, and completely forget the premise, forget the punchline, etc.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: And it wasn't until he came up with a system where it doesn't matter how much he believes in his heart that he's not going to forget that specific bit, he's writing it down.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: He's finding a way to write that down to have it so he'll never forget it.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I think in this day and age it's more important than ever because we are inundated with more information than ever.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: I remember reading uh uh a while ago that the average person has more access to information than the president of the United States had 30 years ago, or something like that, right?
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: We are with with with our phones in our pockets and in our hands at all times, we have access to so much information.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: But what that's doing is there's only so much bandwidth we have to remember the things that we really need to remember.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: And when it comes to the clients that we're serving, that's what's more important in our business than that.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: Some people thrive on a crazy notepad or post-it notes.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: Stop trying what isn't working.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: This is not the 1980s anymore where we need to rely on handwritten notes.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: There are so many ways of writing things down and categorizing everything so and keeping it in one place and digitizing everything so you don't have to forget and you won't forget.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: Number two, templatize the repetitive.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: There are so many aspects of our industry that happen again and again and again.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: Clients asking the same questions over and over.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, think about the questions that that I get.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: I get questions over and over from clients.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: What separates your bank from another bank?
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: What's the difference between a fixed rate and an adjustable rate mortgage?
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: What are closing costs?
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: What's the difference between a co-op and a condo?
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: What are your thoughts on the real estate market?
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: We get the same questions all the time from buyers and sellers.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: Taking some time to write down your answers and think about how you would respond so that when those questions are asked of you, you're not using so much brain power to answer those questions.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: It's just there for you.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: You are ready, you're prepared, you've scripted this, you've templatized this, and that relieves so much stress and anxiety and effort that frees you up for more of the complicated things that you're gonna face through your day-to-day.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I think about the really incredible waiter or waitress where one of their coworkers calls out sick, and now instead of managing 20 tables, they're managing 40 tables.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: They know their menu, inside and out.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: They know how to give great customer service.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: Just because their workload doubled, they can can still, they still can control what they can control.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: They know when they go to a table how to ask what kind of water people want.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: They know how to ask what kind of beverages everyone wants.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: They know how to recite what the specials are without needing to fumble.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: They know how to remember specifics of each person's order so they don't make a mistake.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: Those systems in place are so important for a restaurant and a waiter and a waitress to make sure that they're able to deliver first-class customer service.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what we're looking to do in our industry as well.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: So think about your business.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: What do you do over and over?
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: What are the questions that are asked of you over and over?
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: What are appreciation rates in this part of the city versus that part of the city?
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, what's the biggest difference between co-ops and condos?
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: What is your opinion about the Upper East Side versus the West Village?
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_00: The board package process, the disclosure process, all this is going to be the same for every single person.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_00: So having all your ducks in a row and prepared for each client again will save you a lot of time.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: And this is gonna be one of those things where maybe you take two steps backwards to take five steps forward.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: What I mean by that is maybe it takes you some time to write out each part of the process and having a scripted process, but that effort up front, again, will save you so much time later.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: On our team, we really do practice this.
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: When I started in this industry, every time I was introduced to a new buyer, the conversation I would have with them was a brand new conversation.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: I was letting the buyer lead those conversations.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: They would tell me what area of the city that they're looking to buy, they're looking for a two-bed, two-bath, they want to see a balcony, their mother told them this, all information that I don't need to know.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: So eventually we created a system and a script that we use with buyers so that we can lead the conversation, we can get all the information that we need to advise them correctly.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: And through that, what we've found is it's a lot more efficient, it saves us so much time, and most importantly, it's a better experience for the buyer.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: We're not wasting their time either.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: We're delivering the exact information that they need so that they can make a decision for themselves and their families.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: This can be somewhat controversial for some agents out there, but the board package process, I'll talk to agents who say, I won't let anyone touch the board package.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: I have to be the one that does all of it.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: And I get it.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: I get that need to be controlling and overseeing the entire process yourself and not letting anyone interfere with that.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: I get it, believe me.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: I'm predisposed for that as well.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: But if you really want to grow and scale your business, you cannot be doing every single board package.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: But what you can do is there are, with every board package, there are certain parts of it that are the same for every single one in terms of what's needed for the income, the assets, the document, how you're gathering the documentation.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: Having someone in your office who is a junior agent, an intern, someone within operations.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I know many teams have people who specialize who aren't particularly agents, but they'll specialize on putting together board packages.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: Using those people to get 60, 70, 80% of the board package completed is what a lot of the top agents are doing right now and have been doing.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: It's much easier to edit something than it is to create something.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: So, someone starting the board package for you and going through most of the menial tasks and parts of it is a way more efficient way of getting the board package process done.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: And it probably will be quicker as well, because you have two people looking at it and doing it.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: Again, I know that's gonna be controversial.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: That might annoy and infuriate some people who have been doing this for 20 years and they've never had a board turned down because they are the ones who do it.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: But the cost of spending that time on the board package is preventing you from working with other people who need you as well, whether that's a buyer or a seller.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: And number three, outsource what doesn't need to be you.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: I've essentially alluded to all this already, but number three is outsource what doesn't need to be you.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: I had a mentor who told me if someone does something 80% as well as you, that's better than you doing it 100% perfectly.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: And that really stuck with me for a long time.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: And as an agent, I hope that that resonates with you as well.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: Going back to the board package analogy, with every board package, you can create a checklist of what's needed.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: Most of them are around the same.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, there are little nuances between all of them, but for the most part, board packages are pretty uniform.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: So creating that checklist of what's needed on a standard board package, and then going through that and looking at what someone else can do that you don't have to do, and what are parts of it that only you should be touching.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm confident that there's probably 60, maybe even 70% of that board package that you can have someone do for you.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_00: You can outsource.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: And then there's the 30% or so that only you can do, and that's fine, and that's great.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: But you just got so much time back on your hands by implementing a system like that because you're not doing some of these routine parts of the board package that you know someone else can just do for you.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_00: Copying someone's bank balances onto a form is not something you need to be doing.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: Looking at someone's pay stub and writing down what someone's salary is is not something that you need to be doing.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_00: You can double check it, but for you to or for you to create that and create what's needed for that board package, you don't not you do not need to do that.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_00: Someone else can definitely do that.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_00: And again, a lot of the top agents are doing that right now.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: So it's it's so important to think about what are parts of all of our jobs that we're holding on to, that we think we're the only ones who can do it.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_00: This is something that I battle with all the time.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: I struggle with outsourcing things.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: I want to take on everything myself, but again, the only way to grow is to have people help you.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: A couple quick things that we've implemented as well, which I hope can help others, is after every call you have with someone, build in, put it in your calendar, a 15-minute buffer to take notes.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: We take notes after every single conversation that we have because we don't want to have to remember what we just talked about, especially in our world where we're quoting figures, we're quoting interest rates in my world, you're quoting purchase prices, offer prices.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: You want to make sure all that is organized.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: And building in that 15 minutes for every phone call will allow you, and getting into a habit of it, it's not gonna be difficult.
• 14:16
  SPEAKER_00: Once you get into a habit of doing it, you're gonna love it because you're gonna know it's it's it's such a big weight on your shoulder to think, oh, I need to remember what what we just talked about.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_00: So building that in um will free you up so much more and it'll make you a much better professional as well.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: If you're in the car driving, use Siri, use Google Assistant.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: If you're walking on the street, use voice notes to just walk quickly, hey, this is what what we just talked about, or this is what I'm thinking about, this is what I need to do.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_00: We we as a team use this all the time to again ensure that nothing is falling through the cracks.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: I can't help but think about a real estate agent who I'm working with right now on her own personal purchase.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: She got an offer accepted on a co-op, and that's the first day that we spoke about her purchase.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: And she called me and said, What are the next steps?
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_00: And I would never compromise my process.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: We went through each step of what's needed to get done in order for me to advise that agent correctly on what they need for their own personal purchase.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not making any assumptions that because they're in the industry, they should know.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: We have spent so much time tweaking and changing and upgrading and updating our system to know that it works.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_00: So even when someone who's an agent, who is a dear agent and a referral source, and someone who's in my inner circle and sends us a lot of clients to work with, when we're helping her with her own personal purchase, why would we compromise our system and process for her?
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, it's the opposite.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: We're doubling down because we know it works, that especially for someone like this, let's make sure we lean into our process so that we are giving her the best possible service that we can.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: So, what's the one organizational method that stuck with you?
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: What are things that we didn't talk about that you use that other agents can potentially benefit from?
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: I'd love to hear from you.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: You can email us at scottnavler team at ccm.com, and the best answers will get featured in the newsletter next week.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening, and we'll see you on the next episode.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: Bye, everyone.