Building a real estate company or team can be messy, but business is simple. Team leader Adam Hergenrother shares how to get back to basics and focus on what matters.
This April, one of Inman’s most popular recurring theme months returns: Back to Basics. All month, real estate professionals from across the country share what’s working for them, how they’ve evolved their systems and tools, and where they’re investing personally and professionally to drive growth in 2022. It’s always smart to go Back to Basics with Inman.
Are you receiving our weekly Teams Beat newsletter? For the latest news, insight and trends on teams, subscribe here.
Adam Hergenrother is the founder and CEO of Livian. He believes that business is nothing but a conduit for personal growth and embraces the company’s vision to Love How You Live. When he’s not leading and growing his organizations, you can find Adam either in the mountains or out in nature with his wife and three children.
We hear the term “back to basics” quite often, but what does it really mean? How can you apply the concept to your life and business? To me, back to basics is a call to action to reset.
It is a reminder to give your attention to the simplest and most important matters that will impact your business, relationships or life. It means going small to go big — focusing on quality over quantity. Back to basics is the concept of less, but better.
For real estate teams, going back to basics means focusing on simple and specific activities that will result in exponential growth. So, what does back to basics look like for teams in 2022?
Master the boredom of lead generation
As real estate agents become busier and as their success increases, it’s easy for them to forget what made them successful in the first place. Believe me, I’ve been there. But the fact of the matter is, lead generation is the most basic, and the most impactful, activity that a real estate agent can do.
Can it feel redundant? Can it become boring? Can you get discouraged? Absolutely. But what separates the successful agents and teams over many years and many different markets is their ability to master the boredom.
Make the commitment to lead generation. Put the time in your calendar and protect it. Aim for at least one hour of purposeful calls and 10 real estate conversations each day (at minimum, seven hours of lead generation a week). Spend more time on this basic activity and watch your results grow.
In 2022, it won’t only be up to the agents on your team to lead generate. Refocus each position on your team around lead generation.
Your closing coordinators can ask for reviews and referrals. Your operations manager can create and implement follow-up campaigns. When each team member understands how they can specifically lead generate for the team, their contribution will increase almost overnight.
Speed to lead
Responding to incoming leads quickly has always been an important part of running a successful real estate team. But in 2022, five minutes isn’t good enough anymore. Instead, to be competitive and effective, aim to respond to leads in less than 60 seconds. Yes, you read that right, 60 seconds or less.
In this new era of speed to lead, real estate teams that have embraced technology and automation will have an advantage. Our real estate company has implemented a 10 Days of Impact campaign to respond immediately to, and then nurture, new leads.
You and your team can do the same with auto-responders, as well as embracing the idea that speed really does matter when it comes to real estate — especially right now.
Understand and communicate market data
Now, more than ever, your customers and clients are looking to you and your team to be their eyes and ears about what is happening in the real estate industry, the economy and your local market. It’s been an incredibly uncertain few years — low inventory, rising interest rates, inflation, layoffs, relocations and more.
As a real estate professional in 2022, it is imperative that you understand the local and global economic, political, social and business landscape. Don’t fight reality. Start playing in the market that is coming, versus holding on to where the market was. If you hold on, you’ll only be doing a disservice to your customers and clients.
Our company hosts a weekly Market Monday training to showcase world events and how they impact the real estate market. You or your team could implement something similar. Or you could subscribe to a variety of economic and industry newsletters to ensure you are staying on top of the data and trends.
However you are getting your information, make sure you truly understand what it means for your clients. Then, create a system in which you are regularly communicating this information to them.
Sure, it’s great to be able to engage in those conversations when your client reaches out or when you see them at an open house. But take this basic concept one step further and create a monthly email to your customers or update them weekly via video on the latest local market news.
Bottom line, you want to become your customer and client’s go-to resource for all things real estate, right? Well, then, you must equip yourself with the necessary knowledge and be able to succinctly translate that to your clients.
Going back to basics is always simple, but not easy. Most people don’t want to admit how simple it really is. Real estate is not complicated, yet too often we complicate it because we have this idea that success needs to be hard and complex. We make it harder than necessary so that we can feel validated when we solve that complicated thing.
What’s easy is to get distracted by a social media trend, a glossy marketing piece or a new affiliate referral program. It’s exciting to dive into these new options with the hopes that they will bring you more deals or help your team break into the luxury market. But the fact of the matter is, most often those shiny objects are just distracting you from the real work — the daily activities that are proven to produce results.
Yes, building a real estate company or team can be messy. But business is simple. Get back to basics and focus on what matters: lead generating daily, responding quickly (and automatically) to incoming leads and becoming your local real estate expert.
Adam Hergenrother is the founder and CEO of Livian, the author of The Founder & The Force Multiplier, and the host of the podcast, Business Meets Spirituality. Learn more about Adam’s companies and culture here.
