G.E.T. Top Producer-fied! Key Takeaways to Improve Your Business

YPN’s G.E.T. (Grow. Elevate. Thrive.) breakfast series kicked off at Manny’s last week with a panel of Top Producers. Elizabeth Amidon, Jameson Sotheby’s International Realty, Mario Greco, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, and Joe Zimmerman, Keller Williams Chicago – Lincoln Park, shared their expertise, advice and tools for success. Here are a few takeaways:

Prospecting & Marketing

1. Keep In Contact. Zimmerman says their marketing touches their contacts 33 times a year.
2. Use Your Current Business. Greco states they get the most business from signage and closed sales.
3. Follow Up. When you get a lead, respond immediately and put a reminder in your calendar to follow-up.
4. Marking is local, personal and has a call to action. As Zimmerman indicated, “everything we do is meaningful and structured.”
5. Perfect your database before purchasing leads. If you do purchase leads, Amidon encourages you to follow-up – otherwise, it’s a wasted dollar.

Staying Organized, Calm, Cool & Collected

1. Find Someone to Keep You Accountable. Amidon & Zimmerman both spoke of the benefits of utilizing a coach. For Greco, his accountant/bookkeeper fills this role. It can help you stay focused on how and where you spend your time and money.
2. Take Time for Yourself. As Zimmerman says “you need to take time for yourself to best serve others.” His team embraces the Miracle Morning.

Building a Team

1. Read the The Millionaire Real Estate Agent. Both Zimmerman and Greco referred to the book on how and when to build a team. First hire an admin, and then the hiring should go admin, admin, buyer’s agent.
2. Hire people to do what you’re not good at and what you don’t like to do. This works well for Greco.
3. If you think you’re busy, and all you did in the day was schedule inspections, appraisals and answer calls, you were busy, but you weren’t productive. Greco recommends you keep this in mind; if you’re busy too often, it may be time to bring on an admin.
4. Consider an assistant. According to Amidon, hers “frees up a lot of time for me, and it’s been really great.”
5. While you should consider the expense of hiring someone, Greco states “If it’s a good hire, and you manage them right, they will pay for themselves.”

Keeping in Touch With Clients: CRMs

1. Boomtown. It can be used as a lead gen, but we use it as a CRM. – Zimmerman
2. Lasso. It’s great for working with a developer because several people can use the account and you can track what’s been sent out and by whom. – Amidon
3. Contactually. It reminds me to check in with a client a few times a year. – Amidon
4. Property Base– a Salesforce application. –  Greco
5. Outlook, with calendar apps – Greco
6. The Millionaire Real Estate Agent has a 33 touch plan- focus on that.  – Zimmerman.

Click here for a full transcript.