Q: It was great to have you at our Master Sales Academy Rick, and boy – did your team had knock it out of the park! Can you share your success story?
A: My special niche market I invented is called "Fresh Start Homes" and it has truly become my CALLING in life. NOT just a job. As the story goes, at the Summer Forum in 2011, I was lost and had been away from the Wickman family for almost a decade. I was with Floyd's family since 1980 as a member of his first paid Sweathog class. I saw many of my longtime friends, Mark Teslon, Bob Daniels, Randy Wilcox and more getting recognition for their great production so far that year. I told them that I used to be able to do it as well as them and was motivated to rediscover myself. I decided to develop a niche that would result in crazy growth in my production. What jumped started me was joining R2 and Mike Pallin's leadership. Mike had to motivate me to get moving and stop feeling lost. I learned to develop a sense of purpose by being accountable for increasing my qualified conversations each week. After having a taste of success by closing a lot of transactions in the second half of 2011, I stood up in front of the Winter 2012 Forum and pledged to double my business in the next year. I believe I had over 100 transactions that year and was amazed. Again in 2013, at the Winter Forum, I learned what I needed to do to double my business again. I spent a lot of time asking questions of the super stars like Brent Roberts, Ron Kent and the Dean Dream Chicago Team. I learned I had to become a Team and not a sole agent with a couple of assistants. The invaluable information from the Gallagher Team helped immensely. I hired a full time Closing Agent and funded her income from transaction fees. That year, my production doubled again with over 350 transactions. I again stood in front of the Winter 2014 Forum and pledged to double my business again. Was it even possible? Somehow I learned at the forum what I needed to do again. I promoted my right arm personal assistant, "Ranee Roach", to junior partner. She had experience running a church as a full minister for many years until her husband died and came to work with me. She took on the role of becoming the President and daily operations manager for my business. We launched our new trade name "Fresh Start Homes Michigan" that year. Our team of three-licensed professionals amassed over 700 transactions this past year! Basically we acquire homes for our growing investor clients and professionally manage the renovation and resale of the homes. Our resale buyers are the most underserved home buyers in the industry. We look for families who can become "Approved Eligible" for FHA financing in about 1 year. Each home we acquire results in 5 closing sides and 7 Transactions total. (A to B acquisition closing, the investor sale and then the B to C end buyer sale.) This will generate over $25,000 in profits per home. We hope to close 150 of these type of transactions in 2016 and break the 1000 transaction level with only 6 licenses. Can we do it? Stay tuned!
Q: Wow doesn't begin to cover it! Great work! What do you believe gives your team the competitive edge in your market and able to build your book of business so exponentially?
Director of Sales and Marketing and the social media department under her. (Cut down the time from listing to pending by 50% to less than 30 days.
Finance department interviews and approves our "Fresh Start Families" who will be getting the newly renovated homes.
Acquisition and buyer agent teams. In order to be a buyer agent for this program the agent must be highly skilled in acquisition. I would need a lot of time explaining how that works so just take my word for it!
So at times when we have joint meetings the tiny conference room fills up. The second part of our building is the warehouse which has high ceilings and a huge door for trucks to load up. We are in the process of establishing our show room for the renovation part of our business. This includes the cabinetry, countertops, ceramic tiles, carpeting, hardwood floors and fixtures. There is also a kitchen gathering place with a refrigerator, and cooking appliances and tools. We also have a large kitchen table to enjoy companywide lunches with music playing. We also plan on some rack storage for appliances and building materials as well.
Q: Sounds awesome. Consistency and follow up in terms of connecting and marketing are key elements for success in this business, and yet, so many agents struggle with that. What are your thoughts?
A: We are working on that as well. Cloud storage has allowed us to go mostly all digital on document storage. We use Citrix ShareFile with DocuSign and Microsoft 365. We can see updates and changes in real time among the departments. I love just using key words to find my files. We have a special cloud access to our investor clients where they can access all of their paperwork. We even have phone apps to see things on the run. We have job descriptions that are being rewritten often with checklists of tasks for each department. You should see the sophistication of the rehabber's Excel spread sheets. They tell us what is being done and demonstrate that my standard features are being incorporated into each home. Marketing has key points including staging and walking the home at acquisition and completion of renovation. This really cuts down the marketing time by giving us the third value opinion on the home so it is HOT and well positioned when it goes on the market. I keep trying to improve and will not stop asking questions of successful leaders on what they do.
Q: That's smart thinking on your part! We can all keep learning-right? If you had to extend two or three pieces of your best advice for agents who are eager to take their businesses to the next level as you have, what would those be?
A: Easy. First, lock yourself in the "Bunker" and make calls at least three mornings a week using the 5-90-10 partner method. Secondly, get spiritual and invite Jesus to be your business partner. He is the God of the Unlimited and nothing is impossible for him. Who would ever think of 1,000 transactions 6 real estate licenses? With him everything is possible. Third, become accountable for your production each week. It is too easy to drift and focus on things that will never make you money. I say pick the top five things each day and focus on them. Items 6-10 must be delegated or done in the afternoons. NEVER IN THE MORNING WHEN YOU HAVE THE HIGHEST ENERGY YOU WILL HAVE ALL DAY!
Q: Can you please let us know how our readers can connect with you should they want to reach out or refer business your way?
A: Sure. We only specialize in investment real estate. Send us your out of state investors and they will love you for it! We are very generous on the referral fee. You can reach me via email at rick@rickrosenrealtor.com or phone 248-650-3333 (best between 5-6 PM.).
Thanks so much Rick for sharing your insights, and exciting strategies. We wish you and your team even more success in the future!
To learn more about the Master Sales Society or RSquared Coaching, visit us online today at www.floydwickman.com.