S4 E12: How to Take 3 or more Listings each Week with the Right Setup

Ren Jones (00:09):
Welcome to Roadmap: How To Take Three Listings a Week Until You’re Ready for More. And this is the systems and structures show to guarantee that you will take three or more listings every week. We guarantee it. So, make sure to take really good notes. We encourage you to take notes, apply as much of the 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, that’s Carley Hathaway, carleyhathaway.com, correct?

Carley Hathaway (00:53):
You’ve got it, got it, got it.

Ren Jones (00:53):
Hi, Carley. How’s the real estate business?

Carley Hathaway (00:53):
San Diego real estate is great. Things are not slowing down because the holidays, which is really nice.

Ren Jones (00:58):
Great.

Carley Hathaway (00:58):
So, really good here, and I’m super excited for today’s show.

Ren Jones (01:03):
Good. Well, I’m looking forward to it. We’re going to talk about the Vulcan7 challenge because it’s going to apply in this show a lot. The Vulcan7 challenge is once a month, shadow a great agent in another market that is taking 2, 3, 4 listings a week average. Either drive three or four hours to another market or fly there. Just fly there, get there in the afternoon, have dinner with them if they are available. Go to their office early in the morning. Shadow them all morning. Take notes. Record what they say. Go to lunch with them, and then head home. At the end of a year, you have 12 new friends who are very successful and quickly you become one of them.

(01:47):
I want to remind everybody that we are simulcasting the show also on the private lead gen Facebook group on Facebook. They have 52,000 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.

(02:06):
So, this show is about creating that environment that causes three or more listings a week. So, there are a lot of you that are not taking three a week. There are some of you that are not even taking three a month. So, take some really good notes. Play this when this comes out on repeat. If you’re watching on Facebook, you can watch it over and over right away. Or, two days from now, when you get the edited copy from us, play it over and over and over, but take really good notes because with this…

(02:35):
The environment creates everything. Every business that you have, the environment drives the business and drives that consistency. So, we want to make sure that yours does. So, rule number one, unless you have a space exclusively dedicated to lead generation, getting to three listings a week is unlikely to happen. Could it happen? Yes. As much as I like Nike, the statement, “Just do it,” is a little overrated. Just do it requires a lot of willpower, a lot of energy, a lot of focus, when we have so many distractions. It’s easier to have an environment that pulls you than to just go, “Well, just do it.”

Carley Hathaway (03:20):
So, Ren, when you say, “You need an environment,” you’re saying your workspace or your office or-

Ren Jones (03:26):
Right. All right, so number one, it has to be an exclusive space. You have to have a space somewhere set up. Now, for some people they go, “Well, you haven’t seen my office at work. It’s this wide and this deep, and I have a chair here.” I’m like, “Okay, so your space is going to be turning 90 degrees this way, and this is your lead generation area.” It has to be a separate area. Even if it’s that small, you’ve got to find a way to separate it out. You cannot not… Rule one, two, three, four, and five and six. Those six rules. Let’s go over those six rules. Number one, you cannot have lead generation taking place where you also work with your active listings and your pendings. You can’t.

(04:13):
Rule number two is the same as rule number one. Rule number three is the same as rule number one and two. Rule number four is the same as number one, two, and three. They have to be separate areas.

Carley Hathaway (04:21):
Okay. So, in my office, say I have a big huge office, I have to have a completely separate office space or a space on my desk that I’m just doing lead gen. And then…

Ren Jones (04:31):
Yeah, it can’t be on your desk. It can’t be like, “Right here, I’m working on my pendings. Right here, I’m working on prospecting.” You’ve got to turn. You can’t see because if you see it’s like a black lab and a squirrel. “Oh, pendings. Oh, I’d rather work my pending.” That’s what people do. So, you can’t let the squirrel run in front of the dog.

Carley Hathaway (04:56):
Okay, that makes sense.

Ren Jones (04:57):
Working on your active listing or your pending is a lot more gratifying than getting new business. And people will chase the squirrel. They’ll just go, “Squirrel.”

Carley Hathaway (05:05):
Yeah.

Ren Jones (05:05):
And they’re like, “This lady hollered at me, and so I’m going to work on my pending.” So, you have to have a separate area. Now, if you can have a completely separate area, good for you. That’s the best way.

Carley Hathaway (05:18):
So, a deal, you’d want a whole separate office or room dedicated to just the lead gen. You shut everything else out and just lead gen.

Ren Jones (05:24):
Right. So, let’s pretend that’s what you had available to you. And honestly, folks, if you think about it, somewhere, you can do this. Somewhere, you can do this. So, what would you have? When you walk in, you want it to go, “Oh, I love lead generation.” And who wouldn’t? Think of how much money that is?

Carley Hathaway (05:45):
Yeah.

Ren Jones (05:47):
That’s the gasoline that runs the engine. So, the question is, do you have a Ferrari engine or a Tesla engine, or do you have a little Volkswagen engine? So, you got to look at that. That’s the power that runs, pushes the car forward. Some of you guys are driving around on a scooter. You know need to have a powerful engine to drive your business. So, if you walk in and it says, “I love lead generation.” So, there are going to be some scripts on the wall, some exciting sayings. Maybe there’s music. Maybe you have a little flat screen on the wall, and you watch a little three-minute video. There’s one I really like. It’s called, it’s by Art, Art… It’s called the Just Do It speech. Yeah, look for the five minute and 38 second one. Just Do It by Art Williams. He used to be a football coach. He ran AAL Williams insurance, and he has a little Just Do It speech. It’s kind of fun to watch that one. But-

Carley Hathaway (06:53):
So, it’s good to step into your office and watch something like that.

Ren Jones (06:54):
Something to get excited. Something to get excited. So, you’ve got inspirational sayings, you have a mirror. You have a mirror. Why do we have a mirror?

Carley Hathaway (07:03):
Why?

Ren Jones (07:04):
Okay. So, you go to Bloomingdale, you go to Nordstrom or whatever. If you try on something, you walk over to a mirror. What do you do when you look in the mirror? What do we typically do?

Carley Hathaway (07:17):
Check out.

Ren Jones (07:18):
Yeah, we generally will be like shoulders back, smile on face. So you’ll pull your shoulders back. You’ll smile a little bit, which is important. There was a study done. They took 21 people in this university study who were clinically depressed, 21 of them, and they for three weeks, they came in every day, and they had to stand in front of a mirror, their shoulders back, and a big grin like that for 45 minutes. Based on that, the physiology changes the thoughts, and they were able to remove 20 of the 21 from the medication they were taking because they were no longer clinically depressed. So, it’s important to pull your shoulders back and smile. So, a mirror gives you that feedback. It isn’t because you’re lonely and you want to be like a parakeet where you look in the mirror and have somebody you’re with. It’s all to change your physical, the way your posture and your smile. So, that’s what that does. The mirror is good.

Carley Hathaway (08:20):
So, while we’re prospecting, are we staring at the mirror or just like when you first start?

Ren Jones (08:25):
If there’s a mirror there, you’re going to, because we’re not going to be rigid like this. You’re going to look at different things, and you’re going to look in the mirror. You’re going to see yourself on a regular basis. I’d put it off to the side a little bit, and then look in that mirror. Not a little mirror because I come in and they’ll see prospect mirrors, and someone like, “Here’s my mirror.” Well, you kind of have to go up like that. So no. Have a good size mirror, so you can look over and see that person. And it’s just human nature. We’re going to pull our shoulders back, and then we feel better.

Carley Hathaway (08:56):
Yeah.

Ren Jones (08:57):
It works on our brain. And that’s what it takes in lead generation because you’re getting some rejection. You know have inspirational sayings. You’re going to have affirmations, and you’re going to want to say your affirmations out loud. “I’m a great salesperson.” “I make a powerful, six-digit income.” “I take two listings every week.” Whatever it is. Okay? You’re going to want to go through your affirmations, okay?

Carley Hathaway (09:22):
Okay. Yeah.

Ren Jones (09:24):
And I’d like you guys to type out this and print it really big. Go to Google Docs or whatever, type it in real big letters, cut it out, paste on the wall. This is your rejection script. Okay? Here’s the rejection script, Carley. Do you ever get people that are like, “Rah, rah, rah,” and you’re not sure what to say, and sometimes you have to kind of go, “No, that was awful.” Have to shake it off. Maybe go outside and shake it off and come back in.

Carley Hathaway (09:53):
Yeah.

Ren Jones (09:53):
This script works so you don’t have to go through all of that. You’re basically taking their rejection, handing it back to them. Here’s the script. Ready?

(10:01):
“I’m sorry you feel that way. Have a great day anyway. Bye-bye.” And then, hang up. And then they’re like-

Carley Hathaway (10:08):
Love that. Yeah.

Ren Jones (10:09):
“What just happened?” Then, they’re like, “What just happened?” And then, when you use that, you’ll go to the next call because you handed it back to them. “I’m sorry you feel that way. Have a great day anyway. Bye-bye.” “I’m sorry you feel that way. Have a great day anyway. Bye-bye.” Okay?

Carley Hathaway (10:28):
Yeah. And we should print that and put it on the wall too, huh? Next to the affirmations and…

Ren Jones (10:32):
Yeah, I would have it somewhere where it catches your eye and reminds you to say that because you’ll know when to use that. The other one I want you to have very visible is, “You are my next appointment!” with an exclamation. “You are my next appointment!” Those are the two lines you want to have posted. All your other scripts, fine. But those two things are very powerful. That is like every time you’re talking to the next person, “You are my next appointment!” If you’re using our system, maybe you just take that in little small letters and put it on your monitor up along the top. “You are my next appointment!” And then, it says Mr and Mrs. So-and-so underneath it. Okay? Good.

Carley Hathaway (11:15):
I like that one.

Ren Jones (11:18):
Good. But what is missing in that prospecting area? Everything else. No pendings. No listings. No distractions. No distractions. Hang something on the door. Here’s a good example of something you can hang on the door. There we go. “Do not disturb. I’m setting another listing appointment.” “Do not disturb. Stop.” So, they don’t come in. Now if you want one of these, yeah, just write to us, and we’ll send you one. Write to what? Jennifer@vulcan7.com. No, she’ll be mad at me for that.

Carley Hathaway (11:51):
Yes.

Ren Jones (11:52):
But jennifer@vulcan7.com, and she’ll send you one of these nice stop signs because you don’t want distractions. People can’t come in as they please because you’re setting another listing appointment, right? Okay, good.

Carley Hathaway (12:09):
Yeah.

Ren Jones (12:09):
Now, another thing we had in our lead generation area and it worked really well, and I saw several, that’s where I got the idea, are those small, not this big, but two and a half feet wide trampolines. Because if you’re going to do three hours of lead generation, every so often, you’re going to take your shoes off, bounce for about three minutes, then get back. It kind of gets-

Carley Hathaway (12:33):
I love that idea. I love that.

Ren Jones (12:33):
It’s exciting. Right. And look at the atmosphere. And put a little bounce in your day. That works really, really well.

Carley Hathaway (12:40):
Yeah, I like that idea.

Ren Jones (12:42):
Good. And people have on their wall all kinds of things they track. I’m going to ask you… You can do whatever you want over in your administer area, I don’t care. But in your lead gen area, only track one number. There’s actually only one thing to track. If you had to track one thing, this is it. You could run your whole team, your whole business, off of tracking this one number. You would put November, N-O-V-E-M-B-E-R. And let’s say here. And then put, “Goal is… ” What?” 16 listings taken.” 16 LT, right? “November goal: 16 listings taken.” And then you put number 1, 2, 3, 4. And this is what needs to happen.

(13:40):
And then, Willow Glen, and as you take the listings, fill it in because you want to stare at that every time you come in your lead generation area and go, “My goal’s 16. I’m at seven, and we’re at the middle of the month, so I’m a little off.” You want to have the goal, the listing’s taken, and get that in your head and think about it every day. Okay?

Carley Hathaway (14:06):
Okay. Good idea.

Ren Jones (14:07):
That’s the only thing to track. Now, on the 1st of December, two things. Take your phone out. Take a picture of the completed board. Send it to your coach, your accountability partners, everybody. Show them your completed board. Then, and only after you’ve taken a picture, you can erase it and write the December one out on December 1st. And that’s the only thing to track. If you track all this other stuff, “Well, I track my pendings, and I track my closings,” that’s old news. Do you read month-old newspapers?

Carley Hathaway (14:45):
No.

Ren Jones (14:45):
Those things forgotten a long time ago. You need to hang the carrot right here.

Carley Hathaway (14:49):
Yeah, that makes sense.

Ren Jones (14:51):
Okay?

Carley Hathaway (14:52):
Yeah.

Ren Jones (14:52):
So, we have to have structure. Accountability. Carley, what accountability do you have? What are the different types? What are the different kinds of accountability that somebody should have?

Carley Hathaway (15:04):
I mean, there’s a lot. Personally, I have a coach. And then I have three roleplay partners that are also my accountability people.

Ren Jones (15:12):
Okay. Okay, good. So, you have three roleplay partners that are also accountability people. Okay, good.

Carley Hathaway (15:19):
Yeah.

Ren Jones (15:19):
In an ideal situation, we’re going to ask you to have a different role play partner, one for Monday, one for Tuesday, one for Wednesday, one for Thursday, one for Friday. And then, I want you to play Old Maid. Who’s the weakest one? Trade them out. After a couple months, just say, “My coach is asking me to get new role play partners. Thank you.” Just tell it to that one, and then swap in and put another one till you have the dream team-

Carley Hathaway (15:47):
Strongest.

Ren Jones (15:48):
… roleplay partners, and then hang on to them for a while because you got five amazing people.

Carley Hathaway (15:50):
Yeah.

Ren Jones (15:50):
As long as you’re learning from them. And then, set up a couple accountability partners, separate ones, where maybe you text them just before you call. “Goal is two listings today. I’m starting right now. And 40 contacts.” Okay? Accountability.

Carley Hathaway (16:08):
Yeah.

Ren Jones (16:08):
Another thing. I got this from a guy named Tony Smith. His goal was 30 contacts a day. He would hang up 30 $20 bills, and he prospected from 8:00 to 11:00. At 11:00, he told his assistant, said, “You can have any $20 bills that… ” He takes one down every time he makes a call, speaks to somebody. “You can have any of the ones left over.”

Carley Hathaway (16:36):
Yeah.

Ren Jones (16:37):
Sucker bets like that. Or you can do a sucker jar full of $20 bills and tell your staff that your assistant and anybody, if they see you other outside of a bathroom break, if they see you away from lead gen between those hours, they can feel free to reach in and take out a 20 anytime.

Carley Hathaway (16:55):
That’s a great, great idea.

Ren Jones (16:57):
But we have to create really intense accountability because the rejection’s high, but it’s not personal rejection, folks. You’re being rejected just… I mean if the waiter or waitress came over and said, “Would you like dessert?” and like, “No, I don’t want dessert. I don’t want dessert.” It’s nothing personal. They didn’t want dessert. They don’t want what you’re offering. They don’t know you or care about you. They just didn’t want dessert. So, we have to just let that stuff go.

(17:30):
Good. Here’s something somebody wrote and sent me one time.” Questions to ask before starting. What do I absolutely love about lead generation?” That’s a good question. “What do I absolutely love about being in control of my income? How do I feel when I’m done with lead generation every day? What should I say to myself right now before I make the first call?” Okay? Just some good thoughts. These are good thoughts to get this thing rolling folks. And you will take three listings a week with this dedicated area and with that level of accountability. It’s kind of hard to escape if you have all that accountability, isn’t it, Carley?

Carley Hathaway (18:12):
Kind of like having a positive thought or video or something when you start in the day, I think is really important. And I think having that dedicated spot, obviously is so important because it’s way too easy to look at the email real quick or answer a text message or whatever the case may be. It’s way too easy.

Ren Jones (18:33):
Exactly. Exactly. Also, I’d like everybody to take an eight and a half by 11 sheet of paper. Create a little form on Google Docs that tracks Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. Contacts, leads, appointments, appointments set appointment’s gone, and a listing’s taking those five numbers and Monday through Friday. Track them manually on a weekly sheet and then, once a week go into a spreadsheet and fill in your numbers and track forever. But use a eight and a half by 11 sheet of paper, and make your entries once a week instead of making your entries every day. It just makes it easier. That’s the common advice. And then, the last thing, and you’ve done this, shadow. If you shadow once a month… You’re off here once a month. Who’s your next shadow? I thought you’d lined one up.

Carley Hathaway (19:29):
I line one up. It fell through. But I have one trying to line one up for November. I’m going to be in NorCal, so I’m trying to line one up there.

Ren Jones (19:36):
Okay. I think I have somebody for you up there. And then, you shadowed Hal Swayze one time. You told me he had very strict routines. At a certain time every day, he took a break, had a snack, and then went back at it.

Carley Hathaway (19:50):
He was very intense, and I really, really learned a lot from him. It was so regimented and so routine. So much so that when he took his at exactly 11:15, he ate the exact same thing every single day.

Ren Jones (20:05):
I don’t know if I could quite eat the exact same thing every day, but you could have, in your prospecting area, in that lead generation area, a little refrigerator with some refreshments and some snacks and some things. Make that thing creature comforts. Whatever those creature comforts are. I don’t care. Put a cappuccino maker in there. Whatever.

Carley Hathaway (20:24):
Yeah. And shadowing is great because there’s little takeaways. He definitely had a standup desk, and I know people are, “Oh, standup desk.” But I stood next to him for an hour and a half while he stood, and I did get a lot of that. I have a standup desk now and it’s actually changed.

Ren Jones (20:42):
Good. I know. And a standup desk, we didn’t even mention that. And there’s several types of desks you can get. Ikea has these white ones that you can crank up and it just, it’ll rise up like that. And you can set it to the height want.

Carley Hathaway (20:54):
Yeah. Exactly.

Ren Jones (20:58):
Yeah, they’re wonderful. So, a standup desk and a cashiers mat, those squishy mats. You can get those on Amazon. A little squishy mat to stand on and keep your feet feeling comfortable. Good.

Carley Hathaway (21:12):
Exactly.

Ren Jones (21:13):
Good.

Carley Hathaway (21:14):
I was just saying it’s like little takeaways like that when you do shadow are really, really helpful.

Ren Jones (21:19):
So, anyway, if you create that environment, you got it. So let’s take some questions and answers here in a minute. As soon as people type a few in. Don Sheetz sent a little link to our folks on the Vulcan7 network to the Just do it speech, the one that’s five minutes and 35 seconds. It’s by Art Williams.

(21:44):
Let’s see. Don Sheetz said, “I started tracking all activity on a daily basis, including lunch breaks every minute. Now, I’ve been able to evaluate how to become more aware of my productivity, adding several hundred dollars a week to my income just by reducing lunch from one hour to 30 minutes.” If you do that, do that for a week or two, and then highlight in green highlighter all the things that are money making activities, yellow, the administrative of activities, and in a red all the stuff you probably shouldn’t be doing. And then make some changes.

(22:17):
We don’t have any questions on Facebook yet, and so we’ll get a couple more questions because there’s always about a two-minute delay between when we ask for questions and questions. So, folks, if you create this environment, it will pull you. There’s a great book called The Power of Full Engagement. The Power of Full Engagement. Two Authors, Tony somebody. And it talks about wherever you have routine in your life, because this creates routine because you got to show up on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. Enjoy your weekends, you’re a listing agent. Have fun.

Carley Hathaway (22:57):
Yeah.

Ren Jones (22:57):
Enjoy your evenings and weekends. Just be a listing agent. But it will pull you wherever you have, whether it’s in your diet and your health exercise, wherever you have a routine, it will pull you. It’s a great book in that regard. So, wherever you don’t have a routine, look at your life.

(23:16):
We have routines around everything we do. Getting ready in the morning, the gym, the foods that we buy, the foods that we, everything. If you don’t have a routine, it’s usually not running as well as it could.

(23:28):
Let’s see, John Joyce says, “Where can I find people who allow you to shadow them?” You have to keep your eyes and ears open. Anybody you can imagine. If you see a YouTube video and there’s somebody you admire, or at your franchise or your company or your real estate association events, and you pick up on a big name, and you can tell they’re a strong listing agent, or maybe they just list outside your market. Or you can go on to realtor.com or Zillow and see who’s listing, if you get the listing agent’s name. Make sure it’s the listing agent who lists a lot of property, and maybe they’re an hour and a half away. And call them. 19 out of 20 will say, “Sure, you’re not in my market? I’ll go to lunch with you.” Or yes, you can shadow me. You can shadow me.” You’ll learn so much.

Carley Hathaway (24:21):
What happens when you call these top producing agents out of your market, they actually are really excited to share what they’re doing with you because it feels good to them. And people want to help people. So, when you do reach out and call them, they’re more than happy and gracious to have you shadow them and give you any tips that they have.

Ren Jones (24:37):
Right. Shannon Hodges wants to know, “Any best ideas on setting up lead follow up?” which is an interesting thing, and that’s a whole different conversation. And in fact, we’re going to do a little show on that, on lead follow-up because lead follow-ups a powerful thing. But when you shadow somebody, Shannon, ask them how they’re doing that. Somebody that’s listing property, “How are you tracking your leads?” Because you have to have a very nimble lead follow-up system. When people start, they go, “Oh, I got a lead. I’ll make a folder.” Well that goes away pretty quickly because the leads move fast.

(25:14):
So, any other questions? I think that may be it. Going once. Going twice. I think we’re it. Folks, set up your environment. You can make a lot of money. There are lots and lots and lots and lots of people that have taken the listing side of this business, focused on it, and make a million a year. Now, maybe you only want to make a half a million a year. That’s not a bad life. You can do this. We look forward to our next show, actually season highlights next week.

Carley Hathaway (25:52):
Good, good. Well, I’m really excited to do my office and set a totally separate lead generation area, and I’m excited to showing one my new lead gen space.

Ren Jones (26:00):
Great. Oh yeah, Dan Tomasee. “What are some of the best following routines?” And I think we’ve covered a lot of that. Anyway, that’s it. If you’re watching on Vulcan7, and you want to get involved with the lead gen Facebook group, they are at facebook.com/groups/got objections. Aaron Wittenstein runs that and he has a program called trajectory now.com. And finally, if you’re watching on Facebook, you’re not involved with Vulcan7 for some reason, make sure to sign up at vulcan7.com/leadgen for a special deal.

(26:34):
And then, most important, you’ve done all that lead generation. You set two listing appointments. It’s 11:30 in the morning. You’re returning some calls, going to lunch, but pause and get some delicious Graeter’s Mint Chocolate Chip. You can find it anywhere in North America. Go to graeters.com to find the store near you and enjoy. Only the mint chocolate chip is for listings. Any of the other flavor’s for working for buyers. Buyers take time. Listings take skill. If the listing is a little slow to sell, dig a hole in the front yard, bury it upside down and that listing will sell just like that. We’ll see you next week for the season highlights, season four highlights, that is. And then, the week after that, wait till you see what we’ve got lined up for season five.

Carley Hathaway (27:23):
I’m excited. Ren, thank you so much. I think we all got some really great takeaways. Thanks everyone for watching.

Ren Jones (27:29):
Do you have one of these? We should send you one.

Carley Hathaway (27:32):
I need one. Send me one.