motivation (2)

You are Paying for Motivation?

You are Paying for Motivation?

Ok….so, last week I was contacted by a lead generation company which, for now, will go nameless. I do like getting calls from these types of companies because, I love drilling the poor, unfortunate soul who has to try to convince me that I want to buy leads. Good luck with that. So, they guys starts of telling me that I can be the exclusive agent for their program in my area. They like using the word exclusive, it makes them sound important. He goes on to blow up my ego by telling me that they only accept the top producing agents and he found my information on Google so, he knows I am a top producer….lol. Finally he goes on to tell me that he has a limited time frame that he can hold this exclusive spot reserved only for top producing agents and I need to make a decision today.

Well, I felt like I was going to tell him, “No body puts baby in a corner” but, I totally restrained myself and was like, “Oh my god, that sounds so fabulous” I don’t think he caught it that I was joking with him because, then he went on to tell my about his companies exclusive IDX and how it generates thousands and thousands of hits on their site for my zip code each week. At this point, it reminded me of being back in school, having to listen to my teacher, kind of like Charlie Brown and his teacher. It’s also kind of like when a woman is mad at you and she starts to raise her voice but, all of a sudden, she hits a particular tone and my ears start shutting down and before you know it, I can’t understand a word she is saying.

Finally, the spill is over and truth be told, I wasn’t buying crap but, I thought, let’s have a little fun here. Let me ask if maybe they can give me some numbers, specific numbers so, I asked, “How many leads a week can I expect to get?” Now, the preverbal crap hits the fan and he diverts the question and starts talking about how they have a wonderful motivational series and I will get a daily inspirational thought, inspirational message and once a week, a inspirational phone message / webinar. I was a little taken back because I have never really had someone completely ignore my question so, I asked it again, “How many leads can I expect each week?” He then tells me that the program can’t guarantee a number of leads because it’s all based on business need but, I will get these motivational messages regularly, I can attend training webinars they do monthly, etc… etc….

At this point, I am over it, I am spent so, I stopped him and said, “So you are telling me that I would primarily be paying for motivation?” The call got silent and as he started to talk some more, I ended the call with a nice, “Thanks but, no thanks……..click.

One of the members of this network gave me some really valuable advice once. It rang so true to me that even now, I hold it close and don’t steer away. We were talking about this same thing, these lead generation companies who really aren’t provided leads as they are providing something else, motivation, training, etc…. He said, “If you as the lead provider don’t have enough faith in the lead you are providing me to work, to take your fee at closing, why would I have faith the lead would ever close and why would I pay you up front for it.”

Food for thought?!?!?!?

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What Do You Do To Keep Your Agents Motivated? 

During the early part of the roaring 2000s our office was a selling machine.  Of course, most offices were like that, but when the market began to slide into ar130581085721834.jpgrecession things slowed down.  Our broker, who was a great guy, was managing two offices.  He spent the majority of his time at the other office in a large metropolitan city (approximately 29 out of 30 days).  As the recession became more and more severe our office began to drop sales and agents.

 

The worse things got with the economy the worse sales got with the office.  ar130581036786684.jpgOur broker was seldom around to encourage and inspire the office, and the agents found little enthusiasm and motivation to overcome the economic struggle the country was entering into.  Finally, a year ago that office closed.  It really was the right thing to do.  Most ar13058103352391.jpgagents were doing little to nothing by that time.  In our former broker's defense a dozen or more offices have closed in the area.  So, it wasn't specific to our location.

 

There were a few of us who were highly self-motivated who simply moved on.  I actually joined that company because I was very self-motivated, and I didn't need the broker looking over my shoulder all the time.  I also didn't need weekly pep rallies to keep listing and selling homes.  I love the job.  When the office closed I started my own company and it's doing well, but my questions for you are,

 

"What do you, or what does your office do during hard times to keep your agents ar13058115079416.jpgmotivated and on track?  What keeps the agents excited when it becomes a real challenge to succeed in their profession?  How do you deal with the agents who need that extra boost to stay steady during slow time?"

 
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