S3 E14: Yes, you can go on 5 Listing Appts a Day!

Ren Jones (00:00):
Welcome to Roadmap, how to Take Three Listings a week until you’re ready for more. Each week we interview a great agent who is consistently taking 2, 3, 4 listings a week. And we have an exciting guest today.

(00:14):
We encourage you to take notes and apply as much of their knowledge as quickly as you can, and then use the Copycat principle. If you’re watching on Vulcan7 or the Lead Gen Facebook group, you’ll have an opportunity to ask questions during the broadcast. Let me introduce my co-host from San Diego, Carley Hathaway. That’s CarleyHathaway.com.

(00:38):
Hi Carly. How’s the real estate business?

Carley Hathaway (00:42):
Hi, Ren, everybody. Real estate is great as always. I have no complaints whatsoever.

Ren Jones (00:48):
Good.

Carley Hathaway (00:49):
Yeah, definitely a good time to be a selling a listing agent. Yeah.

Ren Jones (00:54):
Wonderful. Good. Knock them dead, you’re in a great market.

Carley Hathaway (00:58):
Yeah, definitely.

Ren Jones (00:59):
Introduce our guest today. I want to remind everyone that we are also simlucasting the show on the private lead gen group on Facebook. They have over 50,000 members, so we have a large audience there today as well. And we will be pausing for a commercial message during the show as a thank you to the lead gen folks. So let’s welcome our guest today from Trenton, Michigan and surrounding cities, Michelle Saward.

(01:26):
How are you Michelle?

Michelle Saward (01:27):
I’m good. Thanks for having me Ren.

Ren Jones (01:29):
Glad you’re here.

Carley Hathaway (01:30):
Hi.

(01:31):
Yeah, we’re so excited to interview.

Michelle Saward (01:33):
Thanks, Carley.

Carley Hathaway (01:34):
Yeah.

Ren Jones (01:35):
How many homes did you sell last year?

Michelle Saward (01:37):
185.

Ren Jones (01:38):
180… How about the year before?

Michelle Saward (01:41):
Pretty much the same number. It was like 184.

Carley Hathaway (01:42):
Nice. Good for you.

Michelle Saward (01:49):
I’m stuck.

Ren Jones (01:49):
How about so far this year? Just so far, how many?

Michelle Saward (01:52):
Yeah, we’ve closed, I think it’s 101 year to date, and we’ve got about 24 more in the hopper waiting to close right now.

Ren Jones (02:02):
That’s great. The reason I say that before I ask how to reach you, just to send you referrals is now they’re going to want to.

Carley Hathaway (02:08):
Yeah.

Ren Jones (02:09):
Because if you get ahold of it, you’ll sell it or you will sell them the house. Well, that’s the best way for them to reach you, Michelle.

Michelle Saward (02:15):
Yes. For a guaranteed referral paycheck call someone you know it’s going to get it done.

Ren Jones (02:20):
Uh-huh.

Michelle Saward (02:21):
My phone number is (734) 322-3302. That’s the direct line here at the office.

Ren Jones (02:30):
Okay. And that number again is (734) 322-3302 or you can find me online TheSawardTeam.com.

(02:38):
TheSawardTeam.com.

Michelle Saward (02:41):
Yep.

Ren Jones (02:42):
T-H-E-S-A-

Michelle Saward (02:43):
S-A-W.

Ren Jones (02:44):
…S-A-W-A-R-D, right?

Michelle Saward (02:46):
Correct. The Saward…

Ren Jones (02:46):
S-A-W-A-R-D?

Michelle Saward (02:46):
Correct. The Saward.

Ren Jones (02:50):
.Com. Perfect.

Michelle Saward (02:50):
Correct.

Ren Jones (02:50):
Okay, good.

Michelle Saward (02:51):
Thanks.

Ren Jones (02:52):
Good. Send her a referral. And what cities are you covering besides Trenton?

Michelle Saward (02:57):
I cover… My office is in Trenton, Michigan, which is in the heart of Down River, which is what we all call it, a collection of about a dozen cities. So we’re south of Detroit, bordering Lake Erie. So Gibralter, Riverview, Woodhaven, Brownstown, Grosse Isle, which is an island in the middle of Lake Erie. Gosh, Southgate, Riverview, Huron Township. If any of these cities are ringing a bell…

Ren Jones (03:29):
And if they don’t, if all you hear is Michigan and you’re not sure…

Michelle Saward (03:33):
Correct.

Ren Jones (03:33):
Go to her first and because if it’s not an area in Michigan she serves will tell you the best person to go to.

Michelle Saward (03:41):
Yes. Yes, I’ve been selling in this immediate area for 17 years and have been with the Mike Ferry network just as long and so we have a great referral basis for local agents, so if you need somebody else that’s not in this immediate area, I’m just a good phone call.

Ren Jones (03:58):
Okay.

Carley Hathaway (03:59):
Perfect. Awesome.

Ren Jones (04:00):
Goodness. So what does 180 some transactions mean in income? What is that? What kind of commission is that? What do you earn that?

Michelle Saward (04:11):
It was just under $900,000 last year.

Carley Hathaway (04:13):
Ooh, it’s close. You’re close to that million marker.

Michelle Saward (04:17):
I know, Carley, you know where I’m going with this.

Carley Hathaway (04:19):
You’re going to get it.

(04:23):
So what is your goal for this year?

Michelle Saward (04:26):
I moved and opened my own brokerage in June, so I did have a goal to exceed the $200 marker and go to $222 would be my magic number. But you do lose a little bit of ground in recalibrating a move. So although it’s not what I want, I’m very cognizant of it.

(04:47):
So yeah, of course if I can hit that $200 marker, I’ll be ecstatic. That’s my now stretch goal. But if I can keep my exact same business production as I have for the past two years and be stuck again, I will be very happy.

Carley Hathaway (05:00):
Yeah.

Michelle Saward (05:00):
Because moving is big deal when you move at this kind of a volume level.

Carley Hathaway (05:06):
Yeah. You have to change everything, your marketing, your signs, everything.

Michelle Saward (05:11):
Yes.

Carley Hathaway (05:12):
Yeah.

Michelle Saward (05:12):
It’s big.

Carley Hathaway (05:14):
Good. Well, you’re obviously doing huge numbers and I think everyone watching wants to do the same or as close to as they can. So you obviously run your business like a business.

Michelle Saward (05:25):
I hope. It’s never good enough though, right, Carley?

Carley Hathaway (05:28):
Right, right.

Michelle Saward (05:29):
Can always improve.

Carley Hathaway (05:30):
Yeah. So can you kind of walk us through a typical day in the life of?

Michelle Saward (05:35):
Yes. Well, it’s not been typical since June with the move, but prior to June and for my 17 years before June, my alarm goes off at 4:30. I’m at the gym at 5:00, back home by 6:30. Then I will shower, meditate, a big believer in that, and while I’m getting dressed, I’m listening to something positive. As I’m putting my makeup on for the morning, listening to something good. And then I’m usually in front of my computer and on the phones by 9:00. So although I’m not calling as early as maybe some people, I don’t have time later in the day for exercise or meditation or anything like that, that maybe other people have time for in the evenings, because I’m typically home around 7:30, I will make my prospecting calls from 9:00 to noon, 12:30, 1:00 if I’m still on a roll, I’m having lunch around that time, 12:30, 1:00. My dogs know that I’m sitting down at the breakfast counter to eat lunch and they go to the restroom.

Carley Hathaway (06:53):
Nice.

Michelle Saward (06:53):
And then Michelle heads out on the road on appointments, so they know they’re going to get a treat at that time as well.

Carley Hathaway (07:00):
Nice.

Michelle Saward (07:00):
And then I’m on appointments from 1:00 until I’m home, probably usually, like I said, around 7:30, my last listing appointment will be at 6:00 PM at the latest I’ll take. So yeah.

Carley Hathaway (07:12):
That’s amazing.

Ren Jones (07:12):
I like that. I like that so many times agents are going on 7:30 and 8:00 listing appointments and getting home at 10:00 at night and it’s not as easy to start the next day.

Michelle Saward (07:22):
No, it’s not.

Ren Jones (07:24):
How many do you go on? How many have you gone on in a day before? What’s the most?

Michelle Saward (07:26):
I think the most I’ve taken in a day is five in a day.

Ren Jones (07:27):
You’ve taken five in how many days?

Michelle Saward (07:33):
Yes. What’s that?

Ren Jones (07:35):
How many appointments was it on that day?

Michelle Saward (07:38):
Five. Five out of five.

Ren Jones (07:38):
Well, five out of five, okay. Yeah. So you just five out of five, isn’t that something? Obviously your listing appointments are very long. Either… Or you just do a little go to meeting, group them together.

Michelle Saward (07:52):
They’re a little longer than I would like, Ren.

Ren Jones (07:56):
How long?

Michelle Saward (07:56):
I’m an expressive personality. With drive time, it’s about an hour and a half. But on my listing appointments, I also am the one doing the room measure.

Carley Hathaway (08:09):
Okay.

Ren Jones (08:09):
Okay. So you walk in the door and they sign and you walk out the door. From the time you walk in, walk out. How much time?

Michelle Saward (08:18):
45 minutes to an hour.

Ren Jones (08:20):
45 minutes to an hour. Okay, good. Still lower than most of the people watching. Yeah. Yeah.

Michelle Saward (08:25):
Good.

Ren Jones (08:25):
Okay, good.

Michelle Saward (08:25):
Yeah.

Carley Hathaway (08:29):
And you’re taking a majority of the listing appointments you’re going on. What’s your percentage?

Michelle Saward (08:35):
That’s a good question, Carly. My ratios were higher a year ago, two years ago. They’re hanging in the 80% range. 82% right in there. They have gone down in the past two years because of the market that we’re in. We are seeing way more for sale by owners, way more competition than we’ve experienced to get listings with low inventory. So that is now something that I’m aiming to get that back up. Now I’ve dropped down to about a 70%, actually, 69% point something. Terrible. I don’t know. I don’t like that 69%, whatever. So now I’ve just got to elevate that game and close.

Carley Hathaway (09:24):
Okay.

Michelle Saward (09:25):
If I can tag onto that, when you get a good reputation for being a top seller in the marketplace, your name and your reputation precedes you going into it. So I’ve talked about this with some other really good agents in my mastermind, you sometimes lose that young aggressive fire of how important that close is on the listing appointment. And it’s a good reminder with this market to sharpen your skills and to not take it for granted.

Carley Hathaway (10:03):
Yeah. Good. So your strategy to get those numbers back up is to just close harder?

Michelle Saward (10:08):
Correct. More often.

Carley Hathaway (10:10):
Okay.

Michelle Saward (10:10):
Harder.

Carley Hathaway (10:11):
And be more hungry.

Michelle Saward (10:12):
Correct. Yeah.

Ren Jones (10:14):
Yep. Just obviously you’re sending them something in ahead or you wouldn’t be in it in 45 minutes.

Michelle Saward (10:19):
Correct.

Ren Jones (10:20):
I say you’re pre-qualifying really well, or you wouldn’t be in it and out in 45 minutes.

Michelle Saward (10:26):
Yeah. Oh, definitely.

Ren Jones (10:26):
There changes in that, you just need to spend a little more time closing. You think that’s the only piece that needs… Okay.

Michelle Saward (10:31):
Yeah, no, yeah. I’m definitely pre-qualifying going into it, asking all of those questions. And even when they say that they are going to interview, if I can get out who they’re going to interview and what’s important in the agent that they choose.

Carley Hathaway (10:49):
Then you can overcome those objections easily.

Ren Jones (10:51):
Find out what you’re getting into before you get there. But when you look at the 70% close ratio in the market that we’re in, that’s still pretty darn good. So.

Carley Hathaway (11:00):
It really is. Yeah.

Michelle Saward (11:01):
Thank you.

Ren Jones (11:01):
There are a lot of people on here that would like to do it.

Michelle Saward (11:03):
Yeah.

Ren Jones (11:04):
What kind of advice would you give somebody they want to get to where you are? I mean, if you look in the camera right now, Michelle and there are people taking one or two listings a month and they would do anything to go to four listings a month. Any thoughts you would give them to move into that camp? Or maybe they’re at three to four and they need to get to six.

Michelle Saward (11:24):
Yeah, well my advice is probably pretty cliche, Ren, because we’ve all heard it before.

Ren Jones (11:31):
Okay.

Michelle Saward (11:32):
It is talk to more people.

Ren Jones (11:35):
Talk to more people.

Michelle Saward (11:36):
And your best friend is a trashcan.

Carley Hathaway (11:41):
Okay.

Michelle Saward (11:42):
If you are calling the same people over and over again and you’re not getting the “Yes”, my script is, “I’ve called a couple of times. I certainly would love to have your business. I’m not going to be the one stalking you, so I’m not going to have you call and report me for that. My number to dial is da da da, please call me. I’d love your business. This will be my last call to you.” And I’d throw them in the trash can.

Ren Jones (12:12):
Good job.

Carley Hathaway (12:12):
Good, good. And I’m sure you’re pre-qualifying, you’re getting rid of a lot doing that as well.

Michelle Saward (12:18):
Yes. And then typically when I leave that message, Carly, I end up the next day digging through my trash can for their phone number because they’ve called me back.

Carley Hathaway (12:28):
Good, good, good.

Ren Jones (12:30):
Yeah, you need one of those little recycle bins where you can pull it back if you ever need to look up the number.

Michelle Saward (12:35):
Yes. We recycle here. Yes.

Carley Hathaway (12:37):
So what do you include in your pre-qualifying packet?

Michelle Saward (12:41):
Actually, I’ve got one right here. I’ve got, let me grab… This is what I mail out in advance, my pre-listing package of information. I’ve got the, if you don’t know if you can see that there, but I’ve got, “Please complete prior to our appointment,” which are the disclosure statements, what they feel is important about their home. I’ve got our listing plan of action in here. I’ve got what we do to sell your home, which is the Mike Ferry plan of action to get your home sold.

Ren Jones (13:15):
Gotcha.

Michelle Saward (13:16):
I have our track record for sales, a few Zillow reviews in here for those that don’t want to spend the time to look us up online.

Ren Jones (13:25):
Okay.

Michelle Saward (13:25):
I’ve got some frequently asked questions, which are the Mike Berry scripts.

Ren Jones (13:30):
Okay.

Michelle Saward (13:30):
Objections. “We want to think it over.” “We already have an agent.” “What do you do to sell homes?” The answers to those questions in here.

Carley Hathaway (13:38):
Oh, sweet. That’s a smart idea.

Michelle Saward (13:41):
Our list to sales price ratio, and I’m just giving you the summary. Our days on market averages.

Ren Jones (13:50):
Really no fluff, just really solid stuff that people can connect with. \.

Michelle Saward (13:54):
Yeah. Yeah.

Carley Hathaway (13:54):
Yeah.

Ren Jones (13:56):
Not how to get your house ready and all this other stuff.

Michelle Saward (13:58):
The daily schedule.

Ren Jones (14:00):
Your daily schedule. Love it. Now if most agents did that, they would be embarrassed.

Michelle Saward (14:06):
Yeah. Yeah. Just that stuff.

Ren Jones (14:08):
If they were truthful anyway.

Michelle Saward (14:13):
Yeah. And then the market analysis that we’ll send over with suggested price of what they should sell their home for.

Carley Hathaway (14:19):
So you do send over a suggested price?

Michelle Saward (14:24):
Yeah. Yep.

Carley Hathaway (14:25):
Okay. Good. Good. Good, good. Okay. Can we go backwards a little bit to your daily routine? Let me ask you, as far as mindset goes. If my alarm went off at 4:30 in the morning, I’d probably turn it off and go back to sleep. So tell me what your mindset is, how you jump out of bed and get started?

Michelle Saward (14:49):
I do do a five minutes snooze, Carley. I do.

(14:50):
But I set up that I’m already enrolled in an exercise class at 5:00. I have to be there and I paid the money for it, so I should do it.

Carley Hathaway (15:05):
Yeah.

Michelle Saward (15:09):
And I go to bed early.

Carley Hathaway (15:10):
Okay.

Michelle Saward (15:11):
I’m like 9:30,.

Carley Hathaway (15:14):
I think that’s great. That’s super helpful.

Michelle Saward (15:16):
Bed.

(15:18):
I lay out my gym clothes the night before. I have my water bottle filled the night before. So you got to go. When else are you going to do it?

Carley Hathaway (15:29):
Yeah.

Michelle Saward (15:31):
And quite frankly, this business is stressful. There’s got to be some sort of stress relief in this business. I don’t care if it’s a hobby, I don’t care if it’s going to work out for yourself. I don’t care if it’s… You need time with your family, whatever it is, you need to do something for you and you need to make it, I think, a first priority for yourself.

Carley Hathaway (15:56):
Yeah.

Michelle Saward (15:57):
Because you’d go crazy.

Carley Hathaway (15:59):
That’s a great, great suggestion for people. Your whole life cannot revolve around work or you’ll lose your mind.

Michelle Saward (16:04):
Right.

Ren Jones (16:05):
Do you work weekends?

Michelle Saward (16:07):
What’s that?

Ren Jones (16:08):
Do you work on the weekend?

Michelle Saward (16:10):
Sundays? No.

Ren Jones (16:12):
Okay. Saturday?

Michelle Saward (16:12):
Saturday by appointment.

(16:14):
Saturday by appointment, which usually…

Ren Jones (16:15):
That’s what I meant.

Michelle Saward (16:18):
It usually ends up being a half day on Saturday.

Ren Jones (16:23):
Okay. Okay.

Michelle Saward (16:23):
It would be rare that I’m going beyond a 1:00 or 2:00 on a Saturday.

Ren Jones (16:27):
Okay, good.

Carley Hathaway (16:29):
I’m going to ask you this.

Ren Jones (16:30):
Okay.

Carley Hathaway (16:32):
You’re obviously working with a lot of clients at once if you’re closing 180 something homes, how do you manage people’s expectations? The sellers? If they want a call from you every single day, how do you set them up to manage their expectations?

Michelle Saward (16:46):
On the listing appointment. I mean, I say, “We work as a team.” The listing manager is Lindsay. So anything with showing appointments, scheduling of information, the description of your listing, photographs, anything like that, she’s the lead on that. She’s the person to call. You don’t want to wait for me because for me to fix that, I might have to come off the road and it’s going to take a lot longer time to get that done. That’s why she’s there. And then you’ll hear from me every 10 days or so about the status and the updates on your home. And I honor that. I do stay on top of how many showings have they had? What’s the foot traffic? Making sure the feedback is going out to them for each showing appointment that we can gather it from. We don’t get it on every single appointment because some agents don’t share it, which is fine. And then making suggested price adjustments based on the feedback that we’re getting.

(17:44):
So I don’t carry a big listing inventory. I think…

Carley Hathaway (17:49):
Okay.

Michelle Saward (17:50):
I think that maybe that’s where some people have a bigger challenge with that than me. I typically only keep between 15 and 30 listings at a time. I have usually just as many pending as I have active at any point in time.

Carley Hathaway (18:08):
Okay.

Ren Jones (18:08):
So is that the market or is that just how you price them or a little of both?

Michelle Saward (18:15):
I don’t want listings. I want sales.

Ren Jones (18:19):
Okay. So it’s a mindset. It’s a mindset. And no listings. Sales. Okay, good.

Michelle Saward (18:24):
Yeah.

Ren Jones (18:26):
I price it to sell. That’s it.

Michelle Saward (18:28):
Yeah. I’d rather have… I don’t like having price reduction conversations. I don’t like listings that are not selling. I don’t… That’s not what I was hired to do. And I don’t like having long days on market on my track record. I don’t.

Ren Jones (18:45):
No, because you’re quoting your track record to him. You’re bringing them your track record and they’re like, “Wow.”

Michelle Saward (18:52):
Right, right.

Ren Jones (18:53):
One. Perfect. Good. We’re starting to get a few questions in. They’re starting to trickle in and if people will type in their questions, that will help.

(19:02):
Are you using a net sheet? Philip Lombardi wants to know, are you sending over a net sheet? And when you do all that, are you sending a suggested price in the pre-listing packet?

Michelle Saward (19:16):
Yes. Yes. And yes, both.

Ren Jones (19:18):
Okay. So they get the net sheet, they see that, and it’s already been adjusted for a price. You haven’t seen the home. Do you get sellers that get a little frustrated with that? You’re already telling them what it’s worth when, and they’re like, “You haven’t seen my home yet.”

Michelle Saward (19:30):
What in particular last week I went on, I didn’t get the listing because I gave the pre-listing package in advance with the market analysis and the suggested price in it, and I was told that they were traveling. And so in my ride home I was going to just put it in the door and the dog started barking and someone opened the door. Well he was traveling, she was home. And when I had the completed package in my hand, as I was knocking on the door, she opened the door abruptly when the dog started barking. And I thought, “Oh, I didn’t realize it was on this section of the road.” Shoot.

(20:15):
We’ve all had that, right? Yeah.

Ren Jones (20:17):
We have. We have.

Michelle Saward (20:20):
Take the package right back out of their hand and go, “Pretend I wasn’t here.”

Ren Jones (20:23):
“Pretend I wasn’t here. Sorry about that. I’ve got to lower your price.” Sometimes you get there and you look at the house and I’m like, “Oh my God, we got to go down.”

Michelle Saward (20:34):
Or we got to go way up. I’m so sorry. Thank you for still having me over.

Ren Jones (20:37):
Yeah, there you go. Good.

Michelle Saward (20:39):
And either way it’s okay.

Ren Jones (20:40):
Yeah.

Michelle Saward (20:41):
They’re usually great about it.

Ren Jones (20:46):
Yeah. That’s the skill of the listing presentation. So a couple people are asking, and I don’t know how they missed this because you said you started 9:00 calling people, but there’s a question that’s kind of between two or three comments on here that really is, how often do you call before you do put them in the trashcan? Is there any formula there or is it just based off of how they respond?

Michelle Saward (21:10):
Mike Ferry’s rule is the 333, right?

Ren Jones (21:12):
Okay. Yeah.

Michelle Saward (21:12):
You call them three times and then if you give it three rings, three times and what is it? Three conversations. And if they don’t, then they’re in the trash or whatever.

(21:25):
But what I have found, because of how things have evolved with social media and the fast pace, like texting and emails and the standards have gone way up for a level of communication is that we’ll call people three times the first day the lead comes in.

Ren Jones (21:45):
Okay.

Michelle Saward (21:47):
You got to call in the morning.

Ren Jones (21:47):
Then 2:00 and 4:00.

Michelle Saward (21:52):
And then if we can get them, great, then we follow the 333 rule after that.

Carley Hathaway (21:59):
Okay.

Michelle Saward (21:59):
Talk to them three times.

Carley Hathaway (21:59):
Yeah.

Ren Jones (21:59):
You track a lot of numbers and Janice Altman wanted to know how many… What’s your contacts per hour is on a running average?

Michelle Saward (22:08):
My contacts per hour’s low. My contacts per hour is around eight per hour.

Ren Jones (22:15):
Okay.

Michelle Saward (22:15):
So it’s not… But let me add to that.

Ren Jones (22:22):
Quality.

Michelle Saward (22:24):
50% is past clients of what I’m doing. Incentives of influence of my data.

Ren Jones (22:29):
And then the rest is quality. They have a house for sale or they’re trying to sell a house, or they did have a house for sale or something. So you’re not doing that as much just listed, just sold or things like that.

Michelle Saward (22:40):
Correct. Right.

Carley Hathaway (22:41):
Are you calling expireds and FSBOs?

Michelle Saward (22:41):
FSBOs, yes. Expireds really haven’t existed much here.

Ren Jones (22:51):
Hot market.

Michelle Saward (22:54):
Right, right.

Carley Hathaway (22:55):
So FSBOs definitely are going after those.

Michelle Saward (22:58):
Yeah. Correct.

Carley Hathaway (22:58):
Okay.

Michelle Saward (22:59):
Yeah.

Ren Jones (22:59):
Rebecca James is sort of like we addressed in an earlier question, but I guess she wants to know how long does it take to get up to being able to sell 180 homes? And she’s looking for the catalyst. What did you change to get where you are today? What is that process?

Michelle Saward (23:15):
Yeah, I say that it was an organic growth of my business. It was not like rocket ship. I mean it was 25 deals, 35 deals, 45 deals, 50 stuck. 50 for a couple years, hired help. Whenever you get stuck, something’s got to change.

Ren Jones (23:38):
Yeah.

Carley Hathaway (23:39):
Yeah.

Michelle Saward (23:39):
75, 90, then it went from like 90 to 115, 125, 135, and then 150, 156, I think, 175, 185, 185, like that.

Carley Hathaway (23:56):
Yeah.

Ren Jones (23:59):
Did you do it all your own during that whole period of time? I mean, you’re like, “This is what I think I need to do.” Or was somebody helping you?

Michelle Saward (24:07):
My husband will tell you, when I said to him before, “I’m going to sell a hundred homes this year,” he actually thought, “Okay, sweetheart, sure. You go, yeah, you think so?”

(24:22):
And then we actually did it, but it doesn’t get done without help, without a great support staff and great team. When I wanted to get over to that hump, the 50 deal marker, I added my first full-time assistant. Then you get to like 75 and then you realize you need someone to help with the other aspects of admin. So I had two admin at that person, a listing and a closing coordinator. And then from there it feeds into, “I can’t run all these buyers.” And then you get a buyer’s agent. So you hire where you want to go.

Carley Hathaway (25:07):
Sounds like you have a good sized team at this point.

Michelle Saward (25:10):
Not really. That’s actually one of the things, Carley, I’ve got two coordinators, one for listing and one for closing, one buyer’s agent and just added a marketing person this year.

Carley Hathaway (25:26):
Oh wow. Okay. All right. That’s not a huge team for how much volume you’re doing.

Michelle Saward (25:31):
No. And if there’s too many buyers that I can’t accommodate, I call another agent in the office and I say, “here, take a referral fee. Here you go.”

Ren Jones (25:41):
There you go. Nice. Oh yeah because they got an unlimited supply of agents that’ll do that.

Carley Hathaway (25:45):
Oh yeah.

Ren Jones (25:46):
You get do that all day long.

Carley Hathaway (25:47):
Yeah.

Michelle Saward (25:47):
Yeah.

Ren Jones (25:49):
So here’s a time management thing. I mean, Dhani, she wants to know how do you handle calls after hours?

Michelle Saward (25:56):
My voicemail set has been set up for a long time to say, “If you’re receiving this message after 7:00 PM expect a call the next business day.”

Ren Jones (26:05):
Okay. All right. Amin, that’s a good one. That’s a good one. Change your voicemails. Set up the expectation.

Carley Hathaway (26:13):
Yes.

Ren Jones (26:13):
Still has the option to call them before that.

Michelle Saward (26:18):
Yeah.

Ren Jones (26:18):
Right.

Michelle Saward (26:20):
Yeah. And it also says, “For faster service, call the office.” Because if I’m with a client, I’ll be returning calls after my appointment has ended.

Carley Hathaway (26:29):
Yeah.

Ren Jones (26:31):
Okay. Gary Coley is asking, “What is the time period where you’re making calls from?” You start at 9:00 and then you run till when?

Carley Hathaway (26:41):
12:00, 12:30.

Michelle Saward (26:41):
12:00, 12:30.

Ren Jones (26:43):
12:00, 12:30. Okay. Okay. Now I see it down here because someone else

Carley Hathaway (26:49):
Do you have a daily goal of how many contacts or a daily goal of how many listing appointments? And if you don’t reach that, do you call in the evenings?

Michelle Saward (26:56):
That’s good, Carley. Yeah. So I have had challenges with other friends in the business to hit certain number of contacts in a day and that will help you get on track, but at some point you get contact-itis where you’re just simply making calls to put hash marks down that you’ve made the calls. And so I really do avoid that. I really try to focus on appointments.

Carley Hathaway (27:21):
Okay.

Michelle Saward (27:22):
Do I feel that I’ve done the best that I can to set appointments that day? And focusing on the hot list of who am I really going after with laser focus to convert to an appointment?

(27:34):
Mm-hmm.

Carley Hathaway (27:35):
My coach every week, “Who’s on the hot list? Who do you know that’s going to buy or sell this week?” And writing that down.

Ren Jones (27:45):
In fact, Rebecca James was asking about your coach, you’ve been doing coaching all along. And I meant that earlier when I was asking, did you have help there, somebody mentoring you in this process? Or did you just try to figure it out all on your own over the last several years?

Michelle Saward (27:58):
No, coaching is huge. I’ve always had a coach. I quit coaching for about six months and my production went down.

Ren Jones (28:11):
So you weren’t really saving any money, huh?

Carley Hathaway (28:13):
No.

Ren Jones (28:14):
Oh, you lose. We just had a lot of people on a lot of different coaching programs and there seems to be a pattern there that we rarely have somebody that’s doing high numbers that’s not involved in some kind of coaching somewhere from somebody really good. We just never see that. We just never see that. And so if you’re newer in the business and you’re like, “Golly, this is really…” I mean, I know what they struggle with. It’s a lot of money yet does it really cost anything when you think about it?

(28:47):
I mean, you’re getting such a yield from it. I mean, I don’t think there’s really a cost.

Michelle Saward (28:51):
Right. When I first joined coaching my husband, again, “You want to do what? Really?”

Ren Jones (28:59):
month.

Michelle Saward (29:00):
Right? Yeah. You do the return. It just makes sense.

Ren Jones (29:04):
Yeah.

Michelle Saward (29:05):
Yeah.

Ren Jones (29:07):
Okay. Yeah, we just don’t have… And there are a lot of common coaching companies that we hear on this show that are just over and over again. So folks, there’s just… If instead of doing trial and error, there are people that will walk you through it, plus you get the accountability. Not that we’re selling coaching out here, but honestly it’s a big component that’s very important.

Michelle Saward (29:38):
Very. Yeah.

Ren Jones (29:38):
To make it work. Good. And then did you have the same coach all the way through, or did you change coaches?

Michelle Saward (29:42):
I mean, a coach will meet you where you are. So I’ve had a couple coaches through my career and my best advice on that is I can say when I’ve known it’s time to switch a coach is when you feel like you’re repeating a grade you’ve already finished.

Ren Jones (30:00):
Okay. So you’re kind of going like that and kind of leveling off there.

Michelle Saward (30:06):
If it feels like I’ve already been through the fifth grade, I don’t need to go through the fifth grade again.

(30:13):
Move on.

Ren Jones (30:13):
There you go. Well, that’s a good sign. So good. This has been great, Michelle. There are a lot of good ideas on here and a lot of inspiration to do well and to just do it.

Michelle Saward (30:24):
Yes.

Ren Jones (30:25):
Get on the phone. We’re Michelle starting at 9:00 and she knows that a lot of other people start at 8:00, but it doesn’t seem to bother her. She sometimes goes on five appointments and takes five listings all in one afternoon.

Michelle Saward (30:40):
I’ve done that. It’s true.

Ren Jones (30:42):
So let me read my little bit. I have to, because I was even getting questions to this. If you’re watching on Vulcan7, you want to get involved with the lead gen Facebook group, they are at facebook.com/groups/gotobjections.

(30:59):
Also, I want to mention that Aaron, who runs a group, he is a real giver. He and he helps people go from good to great through his fantastic expiredmasteryelite.com. And finally, if you’re watching on Facebook and you’re not yet involved with Vulcan7, sign up at vulcan7.com/leadgen for a special deal.

(31:23):
And then I have Michelle’s secret. You want to know what inspires her to make all those calls and make all that money? As soon as it’s around 12:30, she’s done, she goes and gets some delicious Graeter’s mint chocolate chip. It’s the only one for listings. They have a lot of flavors, but this is the one for taking listings. If the house is having trouble selling, dig a hole in the front yard and bury it upside down and your listing will sell. See you guys next week everybody.

Carley Hathaway (31:51):
Bye everybody.

(31:51):
Michelle, thank you so much for joining us.

Ren Jones (31:59):
Good luck with your new brokerage.

Michelle Saward (32:00):
Thank you.

Ren Jones (32:00):
I see the sign. Working on that down line folks.

Carley Hathaway (32:02):
I think we all got some great takeaways. Michelle, thank you so much.

Michelle Saward (32:06):
Thank you. Thank you, Ren. Thank you, Carley. This was fun. I appreciate it. It was nice.

Carley Hathaway (32:09):
Good.

Ren Jones (32:09):
We appreciate you being part of it.

Carley Hathaway (32:10):
Thank you, have a good day.

Michelle Saward (32:15):
All right. Take care.

Ren Jones (32:16):
See everybody in seven days.