Real Estate Education from the STAR POWER® Chat Archives: Top Producing Realtor® and STAR Brad Korn Independence, Missouri chats on ‘Scripts for Success’

Linda DeVlieg: Brad, I liked your idea about paying a bonus to a lead coordinator; Where did you find this person? What industry?

Brad Korn: She was an agent in our office that was about to get out. She was in customer service for many years. We had to work with her on scripts specific to real estate, but it went very well.

Linda DeVlieg: Did you pay her a base salary on top of the bonus, or just relied on bonuses?

Korn: We gave her 2 options: First, the buyer’s agents all agreed it would be worthwhile to pay $250 out of their side of commission if it meant having them hand over qualified buyers. Our offer to her because she needed income was the full $250 once her leads closed or, because she came from salary, we paid her base of 1k per month plus $150 bonus. The team kept $100, and the goal was to get her to 10 deals per month to pay for her base. That wouldn’t cost us anything.

Justin Kiliszek: Have you ever considered virtual assistants for any of the listing/closing transaction end?

Korn: Yes, we had them at one point. We don’t have any right now only because I have not really written and defined the job description I want that would allow me to analyze better.

Linda DeVlieg: So, share a good script for prequalifying someone as a buyer call. I mean qualified in the ‘are you going to buy a house’ question

Korn: Our script is this: when they call in, we grab our color-coded form. The first question…how did you hear about us? 2nd is, what actually got you to call us today? Then, we would get their info. Third, we would lead into what they were calling about, ask if that is what they are looking for. Then, we would say…."you know, we can send you EVERY property for FREE." We explain that newspaper ads are 3-4 days out of date, homes in magazines are 3 weeks out of date. “We can send you FOR FREE a list of every home you are looking for….THE DAY that home hits the market. You will literally get the list of homes the DAY they hit the market. You will NEVER miss another good deal…or your dream home.Best of all….its FREE.”

Korn: We really don’t worry about qualifying them more than that unless they are ready to go. Take it one step at a time. Just start with getting 5 new people in your system every day. After you do that regularly, just get into the habit of writing 5 notes right after the call.

Martha Hale: …constantly updating it, but then the plans that are already in place are out of date.

Korn: As for action plans, I have set up a picture slide show that walks through… step by step…. It is a pictorial of how to set up an action plan in TP. Visit www.kornteam.com/starpower. There is a slide show that says something about setting up action plans…

Martha Hale: What would you say are the top plans to start with? You mentioned 8×8.

Korn: Yes. Let me explain the proper way to use the 8×8.Many times people think they need to put their whole database on it at once. I don’t think that will work. That is just an overblown monthly mailer. What I classify for 8×8, is that I have to have a conversation, a two-way conversation with someone - don’t care if it’s by phone, email, or in person. Once I meet someone, I write them a handwritten note, just following up on our conversation. I do not put my card in the note. It is just a note to tell them how appreciative and nice it was to talk to them. I don’t have to put the card in….because they are going to hear from me 8 more times in the next 8 weeks….

Martha Hale: So you don’t just do a series of 8 post cards to send out?

Korn: No. I mix up the media. You can do postcards - don’t get me wrong - but if you look at the Millionaire Real Estate Agent on pages 134-148… Just read that section several times. At least 6 times… It says there are 2 phone calls in that 8 weeks. The mail alone will work, but not be most effective. If you follow the book (and I can personally attest to the results), for every 12 people you get on this plan…you will get 2 pieces of business.

Justin Kiliszek: How long have you put that into your system? The Millionaire Real Estate Agent?

Korn: I have been doing it for 4 years now. It generates 2 listings EVERY week and I don’t even have to pick up the phone. What is really great, is from Jan06 to end of March, our listing inventory had  dwindled, our market was going flat. And instead of whine and cry, I figured we could pull out if we just ramped up the listings. My goal was to get us from 23 listings (lowest in 8 years) to 50 listings (which I had never had before), not at one time, anyway. So, with my 8×8 running and 2 listings coming in automatically, all I had to do was get 3 per week. I just blocked my call time - 2 hours every day - and didn’t stop each week until I got my 3rd listing.

Korn: Someone tell us what your biggest AHA was from the CD.

Linda DeVlieg: Paying the bonus.

Korn: It is even better when your team pays for it.

Linda DeVlieg: Ah ha!

Korn: It took a few meetings for me to (not just sell it) but have it be their idea and have them see the benefit. I said to them, would you pay $250 to make $1250? They didn’t reach the right answer right away, but after thinking about that comment…it made sense.

Eddie: I liked the script on touching on the buyer’s price 3 times before submitting.

Korn: Ooohhh yeah. That buyer script has gotten us many accepted contracts. Also, don’t discount the "magic letter." Put in writing with EVERY offer what you would say if you were sitting in front of the seller. SELL that offer! Tell your buyers that if anyone can get them the house for those terms…it will be YOU.

Justin: Does your assistant write the letter? or buyer’s agent?

Korn: The buyer’s agents write the magic letters. We point out all the good things about their offer. Also, if the offer is low, we have them tell us how they are justifying the price.

STAR POWER: Well, it’s time to get back to work and sell some homes! Thank you all for being here, and a big thanks to Brad for hosting! You can find Brad through his Independence, Missouri Real Estate Website and to benefit from the top real estate education provider in North America consider STAR POWER® Club.

Related Posts:

• Real Estate Education from the STAR POWER® Chat Archives: Cathy Russell on ‘Subdivisions and Working with a Builder’
• Time & Efficiency with Real Estate Star Bryan Bomba Hinsdale IL [JAN ‘08 Chat Highlights]

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