Now Serving? Take a Number

How’s business? It’s a very common question Realtor’s receive on a daily basis but how should you respond when the answer isn’t positive? I suggest you take a page from McDonald’s and speak in terms of all your customers…not just the one’s you’ve worked with recently.

It all starts with some research on your part. You need to know how many transactions you have closed in your real estate career. I’m not talking about how many this year, I am talking about since you were licensed. Now for some of you that might not be too hard to figure because you’re new to the business but many of you reading this have been licensed for 3,5 or 10 years. Some of you even longer.

Do you know how many transactions you have closed? The next seven weeks between now and 2009 would be a great time to put on a comfy pair of jeans and “cop a squat” near your file cabinets or log in to the ol’ MLS and start counting every buyer and seller you have helped.

So what does McDonald’s have to do with this? Well, remember when you were little and you would travel with your family? It was always neat to stop and get a hamburger, french fries and Coke at McDonald’s, wasn’t it? I always liked to watch the number of burgers they sold grow and grow each summer.

Now what does their sign say? “Billions and Billions Served”

I know that is a pretty impressive number. I also know that in 2007 if I knew that McDonald’s served 1.875 million burgers and then, I found out that in 2008 they served only 1.65 million burgers, I would wonder why their business was off in 2008. Was Wendy’s and Burger King taking their customers? Was their customer service slipping? Were more people becoming vegetarians?

Is it possible that your sphere of influence might ask the same thing about your business if they knew you closed 25 deals in 2007 but only have 12 in 2008? Would they thing the market is slow? Would they think you aren’t working as hard? Would they question your levels of service?

By following McDonald’s lead, you could instead say that you have helped 37 families in the last two years. Now I am no Rhodes Scholar by any means but I do know that 37 is more than 12 and more than 25 too. Remember the old adage…perception is reality.

So get to work now and figure out what your marquee should say? How many sellers have you successfully marketed? How many buyers have you helped to achieve the American Dream?How many families have you “served” in your career?

Send me a reply and either tell me that number or tell me that you’re going to go back and figure it out. I think you’ll be surprised by the numbers.

It’s time to begin 2009 with the facts. Here’s to your McSuccess.