The one sales system that you should adopt in 2023

I am in the early stages of buying a new home, so I am regularly attending inspections and auctions to get to know the market.

If you've ever done this, you'll know that almost all agents will diligently call you a couple of days after an inspection to gauge your interest in the property.

It happens like clockwork because they are disciplined with following the systems that are proven to get them results.

One sales system that I am recommending all my clients implement in 2023 is a cadence.

A cadence is an automated workflow that prompts you on the next best engagement point, with a series of touch points that you can optimise, automate or delegate, and personalise.

If you want more consistent results from your outbound prospecting efforts, and better engagement when you follow-up with people, then you definitely need a cadence. 

I can show you how to create your very own cadence in our upcoming live and free workshop How Commercial Real Estate Agents Will Win in 2023 - visit cresuccess.co/2023 now to reserve your spot.

In the meantime, I have even more learnings about the professionalism and processes of good residential real estate agents to share with you – take a listen to episode 115 of CRE Success: The Podcast.

Episode transcript:

Are you the benchmark upon which other people are judged, that other people aspire to?

That when people deal with you, they feel like, "Okay, this person is the real deal. I'm dealing with the creme de la creme."

Or, are you someone who is not that?

Today, I want to share with you some stories about some experiences that I've had dealing with some residential real estate agents recently.

And I hope that will give you some understanding of the importance of being seen as up to scratch.

And in fact, better than up to scratch and really above average, and up to a high standard.

And hopefully, I'll also be able to convince you of the importance of, again, trying a couple of new things that are, in fact, foolproof, and will make sure that you always stay above that minimum level, and that you don't ever be exposed as someone who's not the real deal.

Hey, welcome to episode 115 of CRE Success: The Podcast. I'm Darren Krakowiak, I helped commercial real estate leaders to develop their people and grow their business.

Always really appreciate you being there. I know I say that at the top of every show. But I really do appreciate the fact that you choose to spend this time with us. 

And as a way to show my appreciation, I want to invite you to an all new live and free workshop that I'm hosting very, very soon.

In fact, just a couple of weeks from today is when we're going to be hosting 'How commercial real estate agents will win in 2023.'

Now, if you work in commercial real estate, and you are client facing revenue generating, this is relevant to you. 

And if you're an agent, it's definitely relevant to you. 

Today, I'm going to be sharing what a sales cadence is, and how you can start to apply a sales cadence in your prospecting and canvassing efforts.

If you don't know what a sales cadence is, I'll give you an idea of what it is today.

And then I'll show you how you can make your own in this special workshop which is coming up in a couple of weeks from now.

So, go to cresuccess.co/2023 to join us for 'How commercial real estate agents will win in 2023.'

Now, as I mentioned, at the top of the show, I've been attending a lot of open for inspections in the residential real estate sector recently, because we've been looking to buy.

Well, I'm not quite ready to buy. What I consider is to be a first half of next year buyer.

And right now I'm surveying, understanding the market, getting to know the area in which we want to buy, understanding pricing, understanding what's available, and just trying to figure out what it is that we are looking for.

And what's become clear to me is that I cannot help but compare the properties that I'm looking at, but also the real estate agents that I'm dealing with.

And I think that we always try to sort of look at things relative to others, right? We have benchmarks, and we kind of grade things.

Some of these agents come out looking really great. And some of them come up looking kind of subpar.

And a few of the things that I've noticed, which I think as I share them with you will hopefully highlight some awareness for yourself about ways that you can improve your own process, whether you are an agent, or whether it is that you're operating in another area of our industry.

One thing for example, there's been a couple of times when I've walked into some inspections, and no one has even taken my name and phone number, which is just so lacks.

And if no one's even taking down my details, then how are they supposed to follow up with me as a buyer.

And that just means that they finally get the first hurdle and automatically as a potential buyer, I'm looking at this agency.

And I'm thinking, "I don't know what they're doing. If I'm ever going to sell a property, I would never ever go through that agency."

So, just remember when we're dealing with buyers, and when we're canvassing with tenants, and when we're not actually handling things on behalf of the vendor or the direct client, it still reflects on us how we deal with the clients or the buyers and less ease of our clients. Because they could become your direct clients one day.

So then, most of the time though, they will take down my details and then some agents will be really kind of lazy when it comes to asking qualifying questions.

Some things that the good ones will ask me is where I live, if I have approval for finance, when I'm looking to buy, if I'm buying for an investment or, if I'm looking to live in the property.

And usually I will say, "Look, I'm just surveying the market right now. I'm looking to buy, not this spring." Because spring and autumn are the two sort of buying seasons in Melbourne."  I'll say, "Look, I'm looking to buy in autumn next year." 

Occasionally some of the really ambitious and motivated or driven agents will say, "Well, how about a long settlement?" So, they'll try and really sort of see if I'm interested.

They'll ask me questions like, "If you saw exactly what you wanted to buy, would you......?" and then the last few actions that I might take, and I actually say, "No, I'm a Q1, Q2, 2023 buyer." 

Then there is Monday. And so all the inspections we go to are on Saturday morning, generally between about 10am and 1pm.

And I know Monday is going to be a day where my phone looks like a Christmas tree.

Because all of the diligent agents will follow me up and they will call me and they will just see what I thought about the property. 

Even if I give them all the information on my way out, they'll still follow up. And of course, you can't follow up if you don't have all the contact details.

And there was one particular auction that I attended recently, that was just so bad.

The auctioneer highlighted the fact that it wasn't even a busy road, but when a truck went past, he made a sort of sarcastic comment about a lovely, quiet street.

And I just sort of thought that was a bit weird. And that was a little red flag for me.

But then he really exposed himself as probably not the best auctioneer where he prefaced a sentence with, "Now this is not racist, but...."

I'm sorry, but if you have to start a sentence with "if this is not racist, but... " then perhaps don't say whatever you are going to say.

And don't say "this is not meant to be racist, but..."  because whatever you say after that is probably going to be seen as a little bit racist.

In fact, what he was trying to say was that because Chinese buyers are not traveling as much to Australia as they were pre Coronavirus, it's still a good time to buy because buyers don't have as much competition as they would have if Chinese buyers were in Australia.

But he said in a much more coarse way that you could hear the audible groans and sort of gasps in the crowd with the way he put it.

So I'll give you some of that context to just sort of point out that some people are the real deal, and some people just aren't. 

And we need to make sure that we're providing the best possible buying experience for people who we come into.

Because even though there are four main reasons why clients choose to work with us, I think, the buying experience and what it feels like to deal with us, and if we come across as professional, is also going to reflect on us.

I think a lesson for us in commercial real estate from all of that sort of information that I just shared about the residential process is the importance of follow up and doing it consistently and in some sort of sequential order. 

And I mentioned a sales cadence at the top of the show. And like clockwork, all those agents will call me on Monday if they're good. 

And then if I don't answer the phone on Monday, I'll generally try to talk to them just because I want to be helpful.

And I know that the good ones will continue to chase me anyway. So I need to tell them what I do to tell them otherwise, they're going to keep coming at me.

But the good ones, if I don't answer and return their call on Monday, they'll call me again on Wednesday, like clockwork.

It's because they've got their cadence, which is what they stick to.

And if they're really good, I'll also get added to a list of active, maybe buyers or people who are actively looking in the market.

And if they see something that is similar to what I have inspected, they will send me a text message about this opportunity and that. It's all part of their process.

And again, this is all about habits, doing these things consistently will make it more likely that you'll continue to do them. It's about trying new things, which we talked about last week and having systems and processes which we've talked about on the podcast before.

As I've mentioned to you before, you will not rise necessarily to the level of your goals, but you will only fall as far as your systems allow.

So as a leader, you can introduce systems that people can't fall below.

And even if they don't rise to the level of excellence that you expect, they will not fall below the systems that you put in place.

And one of the systems that I recommend that you put in place for yourself and for your team, if you have one, is a sales cadence.

Whether it is for prospecting for new business, or whether it is for dealing with buyers and inquiries on properties that we have listed or if it's trying to re-engage with prospects that have gone cold, we just have a certain sequence that we undertake in order to get into a conversation with them.

So a cadence is an automated workflow that prompts you on the next best engagement point.

And the wonderful thing about a cadence is that you can automate it, you can optimize it, and you can personalize it.

And one other thing I want to say about this buying experience, and some of what I've observed with dealing with these residential real estate agents is that it's not only the cadence at which they follow me up, but it's also their knowledge and what it feels like to do with them. 

So he sort of got into an argument with me, and I don't know why you would ever want to argue when you are trying to undertake canvassing and get information from a buyer. 

Like one of them called me up and asked me if I liked the property, and I said, "Look, this one's not north facing, and we're looking for something that's north facing." 

But more bigger than that, I think we want to be seen as a strategic partner, rather than a salesperson.

So think about those longer term broader considerations and also understand who it is that we're dealing with and where they're coming from. 

So if we're prospecting, we might want to try and find out more about their business or about their investment priorities.

And if we're dealing with buyers, and we're dealing with potential lessees, then again, we're trying to find out about what is motivating them. 

Now, when it comes to the sales cadence, I want to help you put together one that will work in the market in which you operate, to figure out how to create your own sales cadence and a whole bunch of other things.

That sales cadence is just one part of this session that we're running in a couple of weeks.

A reminder to join us for 'How commercial real estate agents will win in 2023'.

You can go to cresuccess.co/2023 to get a ticket to join us for that event.

I'll be giving you the top four trends to look for in commercial real estate next year, the latest strategies to get in front of them and one of them is the sales cadence, which we'll show you.

And we'll also help you set some relevant goals for the new year. So you can just take a break between Christmas and New Year or even longer if you decide to and then come back in January, completely focused and motivated to start kicking some goals in 2023.

Because I know, next year looks like it's going to be a little bit difficult, but it's not a time to step back. It's time to step up and that's what this session will help you do.

So go to cresuccess.co/2023 to join us.

That's our show for today. Thank you as always for listening, and I will speak to you soon.