Forget the Commission Check, Aim for the Appointment!

'What's the goal for your __________________?'

(Insert whatever you'd like into the blank — blog, website, newsletter, mailer, flyer, postcard, bus bench, whatever.) 

The answer to the question above, regardless of what you enter in the blank, will almost always be, 'COMMISSION CHECKS!' I want to get paid, baby!

Maybe you're doing it wrong.

<<GASP!!>>

Wrong? What would be wrong with a real estate agent having a commission check as a goal? After all, real estate agents are people too. They have to clothe the children, pay the mortgage and gas up the car.

Commission checks make the world go round! Well, at least they do in the real estate salesperson's world.

But you see, the commission check — the real estate agent's payday and others in a commission-based business — is the end goal. Kind of like 'winning the Super Bowl' is the end goal of every NFL team that steps onto the gridiron at the beginning of the year.

End goals are two things: 1) tough to meet; and 2) potentially depressing.

Let's face it, not every NFL team is going to make it to the Super Bowl. It's a simple fact that two teams make it to the big game and one wins.

Rather than set a goal at the beginning of the season of, 'Win the Super Bowl,' NFL teams set interim goals like, 'Win the division' or even, 'Win this week's game.' String enough of those interim goals together and you ultimately reach the big prize — the Super Bowl if you're an NFL player, a commission check if you're a real estate agent.

Real estate is a personal business

Technology has advanced — it has changed the way real estate agents secure and process business. But technology will never replace the personal element in real estate. Buying or selling a home is a complicated, emotionally charged process. Ultimately it is a face-to-face, belly-to-belly business. An 'Internet lead' starts off as a simple contact — you get a name, and email address and maybe a phone number and your job is to convert that info into a paycheck.

It's not an easy thing to do.

So try segmenting the task into smaller pieces.

Rather than take that contact info and think, 'payday!' think smaller. Think, 'I need to get this person on the phone.' When you have them on the phone, don't think, 'payday!', think, 'I need to set an appointment with this person.'

THAT is where the magic happens. You are a real estate professional that can turn any face-to-face encounter with a prospect into business. Get that appointment first, apply some superior customer service and that appointment is quite likely to end up in a closed transaction.

Baby steps. There's nothing wrong with taking them. It is easy to get lost in the forest of real estate leads and follow up, all in the name of chasing the mighty commission check. So try just dialing it down a little. Forget the commission check, just shoot for the appointment. It's an interim step to the ultimate goal, but it's a smart, tangible goal -- and one that will lead to the ultimate goal almost every time.