ryan tollefsen’s success kit: - google docs… · ryan tollefsen, an agent who began his real...
TRANSCRIPT
seriously happy Salespeople helping salespeople. Oneonone conversations with our CEO, Dan
Stewart, about what it takes to find success.
Episode 1:
Ryan Tollefsen: Going from 0 to 540 Transactions
Many agents will be familiar with the feast/famine cycle of business. Ryan Tollefsen, an agent who began his real estate career with some sales experience, quickly grew tired of this cycle. In fact, at one point, he decided to go back to school and get an engineering degree. Can you relate to that? Have you ever been at a place in your business where frustration has you thinking about changing careers? If so, you’re going to love this guide. In it, you’ll learn exactly how Ryan was able to make the journey from being ready to leave the industry to becoming one of the top producing agents in history .
Embrace Your Discontent Oscar Wilde once said, “Discontent is the first step in the progress of a man or a nation,” and that was certainly the case for Ryan. Many of us need to reach an emotional tipping point before making significant changes in our behavior. Whether quitting smoking, losing weight or committing to actions that will improve our business, a strong emotional motivator can make all the difference. In Ryan’s case, his discontent was frustration. He knew he had the sales ability, the desire and the smarts to succeed beyond his current performance. He just couldn’t figure out how to get there. Every time he made significant progress, it proved temporary and he would slump back into mediocrity. It was like an invisible thermostat was controlling his destiny– just as he got things heating up, a cold wind would blow through his pipeline and freeze his performance. Out of frustration, he decided to leave the industry and go back to college. Weeks later, when his acceptance letter arrived, he got his first glimpse into the keys of breaking through: the letter didn’t feel like a win . This troubled him, and he wanted to figure out why, so he booked a solo trip to Hawaii. Ryan needed to get out of his environment and to do some serious thinking about his future. These pivotal moments are immortalized in our society’s culture. From Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken,” to the Clash’s “Should I Stay or Should I Go,” we’re taught to recognize the outsized importance of our decisions. Ryan was wise enough to recognize when his decision to go back to college didn’t feel right.
While thinkwalking along the beach, he discovered that his career choice was not the problem.
He wasn’t frustrated with real estate, he was frustrated with himself .
Even though he was well trained and had good processes, there were a few key areas where he
just wasn’t giving it his all… not really. Ryan recognized that he was holding back, and that no matter what type of work he was doing, only he could solve this problem or it would follow him everywhere.
He discovered that going back to school wasn’t what he really wanted, but that it somehow
seemed easier to start over than to breakthrough. It was a copout. It was quitting. It was giving
up… and to Ryan, it became disgusting. So he made a bargain with himself:
For six months, he would make a serious, dedicated, purposeful effort to overcome his obstacles. If he wasn’t able to, then he would reconsider going back to school.
Personal Accountability
Ryan returned to Anchorage with a plan. He was going to:
A) Be purposeful
B) Get serious about calling his leads
In the past, like many agents, Ryan called his leads when he could. Some leads captured his
attention, others did not. He had been taught to callblock 3 hours per day for leads, but was
often interrupted or distracted by other activities. Ryan decided that for six months, he would not
allow himself to be distracted. No matter what, he was going to make those calls.
At first, it was hard. Some people were rude, others were unresponsive and there were days
when he’d make hundreds of dials, but talk to just a handful of people. With practice he got
better, and at about the 30day mark, results were starting show.
Here’s how Ryan did it (and how you can do it too):
Be Purposeful
You can’t just have conversations, those conversations need to count! When Ryan makes his calls, he isn’t reading from a script he’s calling with a purpose . With each call, he knows exactly what he wants to accomplish with his leads and has prioritized the possible outcomes. They are:
1. Set an appointment for a buyer presentation. 2. Get them prequalified with a lender. 3. Set an appointment to view properties. 4. Find out what they are looking for and set an expectation for future followup.
Let’s break these down. His first goal is to set an appointment for a buyer presentation . He invites people to the office to teach them about the home buying process, to learn more about what they’re looking for, to make sure they’re prequalified, and to get them to sign a buyer’s representation agreement. Ryan says almost everybody signs the agreement once they understand what he’ll do for them. If they won’t come in, his second priority is to get them prequalified with a lender . This isn’t as good as making a buyer’s presentation, but it provides service to the lead and gives Ryan a reason to follow up. Over time, these people will come in and sign a buyer’s representation agreement. The third priority is to set an appointment to view properties . Sometimes you’ll encounter buyers that insist this is what’s going to happen, and you’ll have to make a judgement call. Remember, it’s your time and effort that you’re gambling with, so do your best to get them to meet you at the office first. This way you can sit down, build some rapport, make your buyer’s presentation and get the agreement signed. Next, and the last priority, is to find out what they’re looking for and set an expectation for future follow up. You’ll talk to people who will say things like, “I’m just looking” and, “We’re not even close to being ready to buy, but it’s fun to look,” and that’s okay, as long as you have the right approach. For these folks, and in Ryan’s words “The worst thing you can do is say: It was great talking to you. I’m happy to help you anytime. Let me know if you need anything.” It’s much, much better to dig deeper: “For the most part, people don’t dig deep enough during their conversations. A buyer may have any number of excuses for not wanting to come in for a buyer presentation. It’s your job to find out why. Getting them talking is the hardest part.” Ryan Tollefsen
Ryan’s advice is simple. Learn more about them. For example:
● Why are they considering a move?
● What is changing about their financial status?
● If they say they aren’t ready now, what will be different in the future?
● Do they truly know what their financial options are? ● Do they really understand the different neighborhoods in their area?”
Learning these answers gives you a great opportunity to set expectations and build trust. The
world is full of people who say one thing and do another – you can’t afford to be one of them.
Get used to saying things like, “I’ll follow up with you next Thursday,” and then actually calling
again next Thursday. This teaches people that you do what you say. It makes you trustworthy in
the eyes of your prospects.
Time Blocking
Now that Ryan was very clear about what he had to do, and how he was going to do it, he
needed to put time on his calendar and treat it like any other appointment. For him, this means a
minimum of three hours calling per day.
Let’s just pause here for a moment and recognize why this is so critical to Ryan’s success:
Sales happen inside conversations.
If you want more sales, you need to have more conversations. That’s not rocket science, but
that doesn’t mean it’s easy. If you’re going to achieve greatness, you’ve got to push through
anyway!
To do this, you need to have clear goals and reasonable expectations . Ryan’s advice is to commit to 30 conversations per week. You can accomplish this in your first week of trying.
So, let’s be clear: A conversation is talking to someone, even if they say they’re not interested
before hanging up. Remember, you’re calling your leads, which is NOT cold calling people.
They have given you their number and expect that you will call.
–– HG Insight ––
For comparison, we looked at the performance of our Sales
Development Reps at Happy Grasshopper. For a little over
two years now, each SDR has made an average of 100 calls
a day (8 hours of calling) to people who have taken our
assessment (leads). Those calls result in an average of 20
conversations a day. About 20% of all calls are answered and
about 50% of those schedule a free strategy call to figure out
if we can help them.
So, if we apply these contact rates to Ryan’s plan, in 3 hours
of calling per day, you should be able to have about 38
conversations per week!
NOTE: Ryan made it very clear on the webinar that you can’t fake this, so make the
commitment to master it before you build your team. Personal Accountability always comes first!
Take a moment now, and visit this link on our Facebook page. You can read about the
commitment other agents have made to callblocking and compare your goals with theirs.
What kind of results can you expect? Ryan says that the majority of all buyer consults
scheduled by the Unity Home Group come between the 5th and the 10th phone
conversation with a lead.
TEAM ACCOUNTABILITY
When I hire someone to join my team, I have to know that they are motivated and have a desire to succeed. If they are, we can help them be successful. Ryan Tollefsen
After mastering personal accountability, you’ll be in a great place to start building a team. Your
own business will have grown, and you’ll have more opportunity than you can reasonably
handle on your own.
Ryan has this figured out. Through his work with the Keller Williams expansion model, Ryan’s
done a great job of helping other agents find success. He says the #1 most important activity is
tracking conversations per week.
To help everyone maintain accountability, his team tracks their results on the following white
boards:
Ryan emphasizes the importance of setting goals based on activities, rather than outcomes, and
this approach is evident in the metrics they track.
The board on the left keeps track of contacts made, emails sent, messages left, saved searches
and reminders to followup.
The board on the right tracks contracts pending.
In Ryan’s words: “If you don’t do activity we can’t help you.”
Once you know the activities that lead to a sale, you can set your activity goals and go after
them. For example:
1. GOAL: 30 conversations a week
2. GOAL: 5 Buyers Presentations
3. GOAL: 3 Showing Appointments
4. GOAL: 2 Offers
As you see the impact of your efforts compound, you’ll encounter a set of very highclass
problems. In Ryan’s case, the record in his market for gross volume was about $50 million. No
one had ever exceeded that number, and Ryan decided someone should.
But instead of simply setting a revenue target as the goal, he did the math backwards and
figured out how many conversations he’d need to have in order to generate that amount of
revenue. It worked.
In 2011, when he set the goal, his gross volume was $23 million. In 2012, his team broke the
record and did $56 million by simply focusing on activity, not on outcomes.
On the webinar, Ryan told a fun story about the moment he discovered that he’d set a new record. He and his wife were lying in bed, and Ryan was tapping away on his laptop. He excitedly turned to her and said, “We did it! We set a new record!!” to which she nonchalantly replied, “Okay, what are you going to do next year?” Without thinking, Ryan blurted out, “double it!” Later that night, he woke up and started thinking about what it would actually take to double it. As an exercise, he once again started doing the math backwards and set new activity goals for himself, and for his team.
Did it work? Of course it did! In 2013, his team did $92 million and then in 2014 they smashed
their goal and did a whopping $135 million dollars in real estate transactions.
Knowing Ryan, I’m sure he’s thinking about how to get to $250 million and I’ll be excited to
share the story when he does. Along the way, however, he’s encountered new sets of
challenges and has responded to them in interesting and powerful ways.
For example, as his team has grown there have been some bumps and bruises along the way. It’s not easy to recruit, hire and train the right people, which is why Ryan spent some time thinking about what really matters to him, and to his team. They’ve documented their perspective here:
This gives them something to rally around and measure themselves against. It also makes it easy for a new team member or potential recruit to see what the Unity Home Group is all about. Ryan’s team is growing, and they are rapidly expanding throughout the US. Today, they have offices in Anchorage, Wasilla, Spokane, Scottsdale, and Birmingham. If you’d like to learn more about Ryan and how he can help you achieve your goals, please reach out to him here: https://www.akhomeshow.com/join.php [email protected] Facebook: facebook.com/unityhomegroup NOTE: This document was prepared as part of Happy Grasshopper’s ‘Seriously Happy’ web series. It’s out effort to document the extraordinary success of our friends and clients. Do you have a story you’d like to share? Please reach out to us at: [email protected] If you’d like to learn more about our services and how we help agents like Ryan with lead conversion, recruitment and keeping in touch with their past clients and sphere of influence, please take our online assessment here. We’ll schedule a free strategy call to learn about your business. :)