Who says you have to spend money to make money?

So many offices spend huge sums of money on pathetic 'listing tools' that cost far too much for the return they give. Large amounts of money are wasted on excessive advertising, computerised listing presentations, expensive signs, etc., but have sales increased because of this excessive expense?

You hear all sorts of excuses in sales; some are more common than others. During your career you would have heard many of these excuses: Buyers are liars; Buyers aren't loyal; Sellers are greedy, they won't sell for less than $.... The most recent one I heard was that business was tough because of the GFC.

When you write a cheque, always remember that money is about to leave your bank account. Before signing it, ask yourself, "What is this expense for?" If the cheque you are writing isn't directly contributing to profit, chances are that you should tear it up.

Reducing prices does just that.

Visit four of your most motivated sellers each week. Do this before the weekend. Now you will have four properties priced to sell. Take qualified buyers through those properties and your chances of making a sale increase immeasurably.

Business people often talk about the "Open Door Policy" they have in their businesses. "My door is always open; if my people have a problem they can come to me at any time" they say.

I have no doubt that these leaders mean well, but the Open Door Policy is unfair for both the leader and the team for two reasons:

You can't ignore facts, especially when they're thrust upon you.

"Look at this - there was only thirty sales in our entire district last month. Sales are down with everyone."

Yes, it's hard to deny these facts so let's not do it. Let's look at the facts, let's look at them long and hard - only this time let's see if we can find something positive in them. As the saying goes: "Every cloud has a silver lining".

If your business is struggling to make a profit here are six must-do survival activities. None is a quick fix, but perform them daily and your business will not only survive; it will thrive. I guarantee it.

You could get away with low skill during the Boom. The Boom is over.

Anyone can sell a well-priced listing. During the Boom, price took care of itself. I feel sorry for those people who failed to use those times to prepare for the day when the market would inevitably go off the boil. Times like now.

Shrinking team sizes down during 'tough times' can cost you a fortune in lost profit, not to mention the dangers of ending up with too small a team if someone leaves.

Removing non-performers who, despite your best efforts to help them, fail to improve IS always a good step to take. In such cases shrinking is one answer, but failing to replace those who leave does leave you exposed to other dangers.

With just over three weeks to go until Christmas, now might be a good time to look back over the year you have just completed.

Are you happy with your results? If not, why not?

We all get into slumps from time to time; we all fall short of our expectations. But this should not become a habit. Sustain poor performance for too long and it turns into long-term mediocrity. Never allow yourself to become mediocre.

I always get a laugh at this time of year as agents 'wind down' for Christmas. In the next few weeks some agents will start telling sellers that the 'auction season' is coming to an end and that they should delay selling until early February. Many of these agents are so stupid that they refuse to take on listings over the Christmas period.

What I find so funny about these agents is that they believe there are 'seasons' when the selling of properties is ideal. Spring is good we're told, so is early February - coincidentally when the agents have returned from holidays (but the sellers are told that it's the BUYERS who are on holidays).

Are you happy with your 2008 results to date? If you are, you have a wonderful opportunity to compound those results before a well deserved Christmas break.

If you are not satisfied with your results, however, you are in danger of giving up on 2008 and of wasting the next couple of months hoping that next year will be better.

Walk into any retail store and you will see price stickers on the merchandise. Look further and you will often see stock marked "Priced to Clear" or words to that effect.

Retailers constantly review the price of their stock. Retailers constantly work at clearing out older stock so that it can be replaced with new.

Leaders and salespeople are constantly asking for ideas on how to make sales in a tough market. My feeling is that if you can't make sales in a market like this, you'd better get out of real estate.

Stop calling it a 'tough' market. How often is the real estate market at the peak of a boom or at the bottom of a trough? This market is NORMAL, and you'd better get used to it.

Whether it's a client or a team member being difficult, every now and then leaders are called upon to resolve conflicts. Salespeople are too, but leaders are expected to be better at it!

During his work with the Harvard Negotiation Project, William Ury identified five clear steps to breakthrough negotiation, which he says will ensure that any dialogue will turn out satisfactorily [Source: Hostage at the Table by George Kohlrieser].

In his book, Influence – The Psychology of Persuasion, author Robert Cialdini discusses what he calls the "science of influence" and cites six principles to more effective negotiation.

• 1. Authority. People will defer to experts. Expertise is a powerful principle of negotiation, but you have to be careful with expertise. In our three-day sales training seminar, Winning Ways – Brilliant with Basics, we warn the audience to understand the difference between an expert and a 'know-all'.

All salespeople want to do well. Granted, many will not do the actions needed in order to do well, but they all want to do well anyway.

As surprised as you may be, poor performing salespeople KNOW they are poor performers. They do not need us telling them that their results are low. As a leader, you should tell them something they don't know – HOW to improve their results - that is if you want to help them.

In his book, Influence – The Psychology of Persuasion, author Robert Cialdini discusses what he calls the "science of influence" and cites six principles to more effective negotiation.

• 1. Authority. People will defer to experts. Expertise is a powerful principle of negotiation, but you have to be careful with expertise. In our three-day sales training seminar, Winning Ways – Brilliant with Basics, we warn the audience to understand the difference between an expert and a 'know-all'.

Every day, agency leaders allow incompetent people to represent their companies. John, however, was different to many leaders; he decided to do something about it. He tested the competence of his under-performing team members and discovered that incompetence was costing his company huge sums of money.

Using the Leaders Form Guide, a management tool he received at the Real Estate Agency Management Program, a five-day seminar for agency owners and managers presented by the Pittard Training Group, John measured his salespeople's activity and results.

What is it with salespeople and finding customers? Most do everything they can to avoid it. And most salespeople are mediocre. Could there be a connection?

In our three-day sales training program, Winning Ways – Brilliant with Basics , we outline the minimum level that must be performed each week if a salesperson wants to achieve acceptable results. One of those activities is to speak with 180 potential sellers every single week.

Sheila Murray Bethel said, "In the twenty-first century our leadership talents will be constantly tested and challenged. Whether you are leading at work, in the community or at home, the courage to explore your attitudes and aptitudes will be one of your most influential qualities."

She says that courage and change go hand-in-hand when it comes to increasing effectiveness as a leader. Bethel advises we examine ten statements to see where we need to change, to grow and stretch to reach our full capacity.

Everybody feels the pressure of work sometimes. But is pressure something to be avoided?

Not all pressure is bad for you. There are two kinds of pressure: positive and negative. Without doubt you should avoid negative pressure. This is the pressure that comes from lack of control, or through somebody pressuring you to do something you do not want to do. It's negative and not very nice.

Of all the salespeople who commence with and then leave our offices, have you ever known one who, in the beginning, said that they did NOT want to be successful? They all say that they want to succeed. So why don't they?

The simplistic answer is that they were not willing to pay the price. I think there is more to it than this; salespeople cannot shoulder all the blame. Surely the quality of the leader has something to do with a salesperson's chance of success?

The key to selling is not the price, it's the motive. Unless you understand why your clients are selling you won't get far with an appeal to reduce the price. What your client wants to do is far more important than the price. Motive is first, price is second. And yet what do poor negotiators most focus upon? The price!

One of the most frustrating challenges of leadership is to 'turn around' a salesperson whose results are low despite apparently large amounts of winning actions.

How many sales did you make last weekend? Were you happy with the result? If not, would you like to make next weekend a winner? The key is to set appointments with qualified buyers before the weekend commences, and then take those buyers through competitively-priced properties.

Selling real estate is a straightforward process, which is made so much simpler if you develop a few winning habits. One of the best habits you can develop is to set five appointments with qualified buyers for the coming weekend. If you are only working one day over the weekend set four appointments. Do this by the close of business on Friday.

There are three major steps to profit, but having said this, these steps apply to any worthwhile endeavour.

1. Study

Study must be a constant and ongoing process at all stages of our lives. Show me a profession where you can earn a six figure income while at the same time not knowing what you are doing. We all need to study our craft.

And when I say study, I mean study. The Macquarie Dictionary defines 'Study' as:

Question: Why do salespeople get into a slump?
Answer: Not enough business.

Salespeople run out of business because they do not speak to enough people. It follows, therefore, that finding customers must become a top priority for any salesperson who wants to survive in this business.

Some leaders spend so much time analysing figures – the scoreboard - that often they miss danger signals within their sales teams - the game. Such leaders fail to find out how their people are going personally. They know which people are struggling because the results aren't forthcoming, but these leaders don't know WHY their people are struggling and what can be done to fix the problem.

It doesn't matter whether you are a leader, a salesperson, or a support team member – we all fall victim to distractions at some time or another. Distractions are inevitable but if you make a habit of falling for them you will become ineffective at your job. The ability to deal appropriately with distractions is a skill we all need.

You don’t have to listen to the radio for long at this time of the year to hear somebody talking about New Year’s Resolutions. The Macquarie Dictionary defines resolution as, “a resolve or determination: to make a firm resolution to do something.”

Have you ever wondered how many resolutions have been made and broken? I have, and I remain fascinated as to why a promise made at the beginning of the year is often broken a matter of days after it was made.

Frustration results when we fail to achieve the things we set out to do. If this is happening to you, then it could be that you are trying to achieve too much too quickly.

I once met a man who told me that he was going to start looking after himself. He was badly out of shape. It was time to give up booze, smokes, to start exercising, and go on a diet, he said. All at once!

Jim Rohn

It does not matter what your passion is, you’re going to find that sooner or later the trail will lead back to money. Without sufficient amounts of money you often find yourself forced into situations you do not want to be in.

W. Somerset Maugham.

You have to change – if you don't, you stagnate. Yet change does not come easily for most people.

Do you want to be better than you are today? Do you have too much income, too many sales, are you too happy? What do you want that you don't have now? How long have you wanted what you don't have? How long will it take to get what you want if you stay as you are now?

I always get a laugh at this time of year as agents 'wind down' for Christmas. In the next few weeks some agents will start telling sellers that the 'auction season' is coming to an end and that they should delay selling until early February. Many of these agents are so stupid that they refuse to take on listings over the Christmas period.

Are you happy with your 2007 results to date? If you are, you have a wonderful opportunity to compound those results before a well deserved Christmas break.

If you are not satisfied with your results, however, you are in danger of giving up on 2007 and of wasting the next couple of months hoping that next year will be better.

I had an enlightening chat with a real estate agency leader recently.

He told me that he used to work at an agency across the road. He said that most of his present team at some time or another also used to work at that agency, and these people are now producing great figures in his agency, and now his agency is his old agency’s biggest competitor.

What makes a salesperson great? It is not a complicated formula, and certainly is not beyond the realms of possibility for anybody who desires greatness and is willing to work toward it.

DECISION

My belief is that all success begins with a decision. It has been my experience that all great salespeople at some point in their careers reached a decision to part company with mediocrity – to be the best they can be.

In other words, they got serious. I believe this decision is a necessary part of greatness.

So often you see agencies with very few listings advertising heavily for buyers. While I have nothing against advertising, I do believe that you should advertise for what you want – if you want buyers, advertise for buyers; if you want listings, advertise for sellers.

The majority of salespeople suffer from fluctuating sales – up and down like a roller coaster.

Just because the majority performs this way, it doesn't mean that consistent sales are not achievable. Consistent sales can be achieved and it's not as difficult as you may think. It only requires a little thought and discipline.