Carla Cross

Request: Qualities of a Successful Real Estate Associate

Carla Cross — Fri, 26 Jul 2024 18:12:36 +0000

Qualities of a Successful Real Estate Associate

Thank you for your interest. Please fill out the form below, and you'll automatically receive a download link to your requested document. We hope this information is useful to you! Our best, Carla Cross & Co.

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Objection Busters (Buyers) Audio

Carla Cross — Wed, 07 Jun 2023 23:16:24 +0000

Inspiring the Exceptional YOU

Carla Cross — Tue, 06 Jun 2023 23:28:07 +0000

Listen to Carla’s audio tips:

Do the exercises in this eBook so you gain confidence to tackle any challenge.

Request: Onboarding Questionnaire

Carla Cross — Fri, 01 Apr 2022 18:38:31 +0000

Request: Onboarding Questionnaire

Thank you for your interest. Please fill out the form below, and you’ll automatically receive a download link to your requested document. We hope this information is useful to you! Our best, Carla Cross & Co.

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The Five Interview Questions You Need to be Ready to Answer

eadmin — Mon, 30 Aug 2021 11:22:30 +0000

Here are the five questions you need to be prepared to answer. They probably aren’t the questions you’ve anticipated.

I’ve just finished my new book, Launching Right in Real Estate: What They Won’t Teach You in Pre-License School. It addresses every question I’ve been asked by the hundreds of would-be agents I’ve interviewed.

Agents Get Many Misperceptions about the Business

I know. As an interviewer, you want to sell your company, your office, and yourself. That’s fine. But, many would-be agents draw the wrong conclusions from those sales pitches. They get the idea that real estate is easy. They hear they are special. They assume they will make gazillions of bucks–just like they see in those reality TV shows. Plus, they get information from other sources: Their agent friends, their other friends, etc. The result is that they go into the business with rose-colored glasses. That’s why it’s estimated that over half of all agents who enter the business in any given year are out of the business by the end of that year.

Agents Need to Look Behind the Curtain

Besides the sales presentations, would-be agents need a full picture of the business, so they can make good decisions. In my Launching book, I give would-be agents the facts about real estate sales. I provide them self-analysis tools so they can find out if they are good candidates for this business. In addition, I give them the five most important questions they should ask their interviewer. Here they are:

Are you asking these questions? How can you prepare for these questions?

Get Ready to Provide the Proof

Throughout the book, I advise these candidates to ask for proof of claims. They hear:

“Our training program is great.”

“You can make lots of money here.”

“We provide leads.”

“Our new agents make money fast.”

Instead of accepting these statements, I advise interviewees to ask to see outlines, schedules, and statistics. You will stand out if you can verify your sales statements with the facts.

Grab your copy of this new book to save time and educate your would-be agents. You’ll find it easier to choose winners. eBook is $9.95. Find out more here.

Try This Recruiting Tool and Hire More Winners

eadmin — Mon, 23 Aug 2021 11:34:12 +0000

Try this recruiting tool and hire more winners.

Successful recruiting and selection depends on your forming a trusting relationship with your candidate. Here’s one way to do that. Plus, the bonus: You’ll prepare those great potential agents to sell fast, because they will hit the ground running.

Managers: Your new agents wait to start training until AFTER they join an office. Why? Think how much faster they could go if they had lots of the organization and training under their belts prior to their first day in the business? Okay. I know. Until they are licensed, they can’t do the things licensed agents can do. But, they can do many things. And all those things get them ready to hit the ground running. At the end of this blog, I’m providing you my checklist, 30 Things to Do Right Now to Hit the Ground Running, from my new eBook, Launching Right in Real Estate: What They Won’t Teach You in Pre-License School.

New Agents Lose Lots of Time Because They are Not Prepared to Start the Business

New agents generally spend the first 1-2 weeks or more getting ‘oriented’. Brokers have checklists to assure they get their keys, join the Realtor association, etc., etc., etc. How long do you estimate it takes the new agent just to get those orientation checklists finished? 2-4 weeks? In some cases, they never finish them!!!!! Not only that, they probably think that finishing those checklists assures they are going to be successful agents. Ha!

When Do New Agents Plan to Start Lead Generating?

My studies show that the majority of new agents want to make a sale their first month in the business. That means they will need to start lead generating their first WEEK in the business! From hiring and training hundreds of new agents, I’ve observed they put off the inevitable (lead generation) as long as possible, hoping ‘there’s another way!’ In fact, the more ‘get ready to get ready’ work new agents doing, the worse their habits become and the less money they make.

A Better Method to Get a Check Fast

Instead of waiting until new agents are are licensed, why not get them prepared to sell real estate while they are in pre-license school? These eager beavers can do things like

Decide on the database/CRM they want to use and learn how to use it–with your guidance
Populate their databases with 100-300 potential clients
Prepare an email/hard copy note/letter/social media announcement to all those in their databases saying they’ve joined_____________ real estate company

How this Helps You Recruit

You will

Form unbreakable relationships from helping great candidates through this checklist
Be able to see if your candidate goes to work and is serious about a career in real estate
Develop a great program to prove to would-be agents you are the best choice (keep the statistics and show how much faster these agents make a sale after licensing)

30 Things to Do While in Pre-License School

Even though I call this a ‘checklist’, it’s much more than that. It’s really a mini-training program. You can use my eBook, Launching Right in Real Estate as a reference to help agents through the program.

Proof

How do I know this program achieves the three goals I stated above? I used it as a manager. I saw how some people went to work. These same people literally ‘hit the ground running’ and made sales faster than those who waited until they got their licenses.

Try this recruiting tool and hire more winners.

Click here to gain my checklist. Let me know how it works for you.

Your Crystal Ball: Three Ways to Determine if They Will Make it As Agents

eadmin — Mon, 26 Jul 2021 11:36:57 +0000

Do you feel like you need a crystal ball when you’re interviewing? We may think we’re good at picking winners, but, the statistics say we….well, I’m going to say it–we suck.

How do I know? I see the retention statistics in real estate offices. I just spoke with an agent who told me they were hiring lots of people. That was true. However, out of the 150 people they hired last year, only 40 are still with them. Sounds like a lot of work for little reward.

Three Ways to Predict if They will Succeed

They let you lead the interview

Don’t you love it when that would-be agent wants in, and immediately tries to grab the conversation? Usually that person opens with, “What are you going to give me?” Or, I want a special deal.” There are two problems here. The first problem is that they asked for a special deal and you don’t even know who they are. After having interviewed thousands of would-be agents, I’ve concluded that the ‘importance posturing’ is just that. The second problem is that they aren’t letting me lead the interview process. If they won’t let me lead now, are they trainable? My experience is that they are not trainable. They know what they know and they defend it to the death.

2. They demonstrate the qualities you want with ‘past-behavior’ questions

Frequently, interviewers ask ‘future-based’ questions, like, “If you were ever in a situation where you had to lie, would you?” Well, of course, the candidate has the ‘right’ answer ready for you. Avoiding any future-based questions is one of the keys to choosing the right interview questions to review what you want to learn. Instead of those future-based questions, learn to ask ‘past-based behavioral predictors’. In the next blog, I’ll explain these questions. In short, these questions revealed how the candidate acted in the past. The truism is

we behave in the future as we behaved in the past.

3. They demonstrate, through their actions, they possess the qualities and skills you want.

Few interviewers decide in advance the qualities and skills they want in an agent. If you haven’t done that, do it now. Rate them in order of importance. Now, create questions (past-based), that will reveal to you whether the candidate has the qualities and skills you want.

In my new book, Launching Right in Real Estate: What They don’t Teach You in Pre-License School, I give would-be agents the qualities will-be successful agents possess. I also provide them some questionnaires to help them determine whether they have those qualities.

Here’s my list:

Qualities_of_a_Successful_Real_Estate_Agent_Associate Download

What’s your list? What questions do you have that indicate whether the candidate has the qualities you’ve observed show they will make in the real estate business?

Check out this new eBook. It will save you hundreds of hours of interview time, and help would-be agents self-select.

Interview Time Saver: Questionnaire on Your Ideal Job

eadmin — Tue, 20 Jul 2021 11:52:08 +0000

Interview time saver: Use this self-analysis tool.

Having interviewed at least hundreds of would-be agents, I know that they really don’t want to be interviewed. They want information. So, I used to spend hours educating them. That is, until I figured out that shouldn’t be my job. But, somebody has to, right? That’s why I wrote Launching Right in Real Estate: What They Won’t Teach You in Pre-License School.

Pre-qualifying Tools for You

When I wrote the book, I was thinking of those hundreds–or thousands–or hours I spent, and how futile that was. Why? Because the majority of those people either wouldn’t go into real estate or weren’t serious about making it a career. Was I naive? Sure. Did I do a poor job of screening? Yes. But, that’s how I learned to provide the information would-be agents need, and the self-screening tools to help them make the best decisions for them.

Help Them Choose the Best Job for Them

One of the pre-qualifying tools I created for the Launch book is called ‘What’s Your Ideal Job’? This helps people clarify what they really want. It also opens the door for you to probe further to find out what’s really on their minds.

Make your Career Night Stand Out

Most career nights are simply sales jobs. The speaker tries to convince everyone to join the company. And, these speakers are good salespeople! So, many people go into real estate sales who really shouldn’t be there. That’s one of the reasons we have those high turnover rates. Using the self-analysis tools in the Launch eBook for your Career Nights will help you screen people properly–and will help them separate the myths from the truths about selling real estate.

The Self-Analysis Tool: What’s Your Ideal Job?

Use this in your Information Package and/or Career Nights. Let me know how it works for you. Here’s to an effective, time-saving process for pre-screening your candidates.

Check out my new eBook, 1/2 price at $12.95 pre-publication. Will be out in a couple of weeks!

Provide Scholarships for your Up and Running Clients

eadmin — Sun, 18 Jul 2021 00:00:42 +0000

Want to gain a long-lasting business relationship with an achieving agent? Provide scholarships to Up and Running in Real Estate, the online training/coaching program for agents under 2 years (or agents re-starting or jump-starting their business).

Providing scholarships delivers these benefits to affiliates and recruiting managers:

1. Affiliates: Gets you in front of influential managers, to help them get more production from their agents

2. Recruiting managers: Gives you a reason to contact agents

3. Gets you a reason to form rapport with good newer agents and an on-going relationship

4. Involves you, as a coach (if you wish to be their coach in the program) to be a deciding factor in their success.

5. Creates success in the agents you coach, so you create a long-term business relationship with winners

6. Differentiates you from others as someone who is interested in more than just that agent’s business

7. Recruiting managers: Provides a distinct, tangible value for you to recruit to; provides measurable results for you to use to beat that competition!

HOW THE PROGRAM WORKS

1. Purchase multiple tuitions (seats) of the Up and Running in Real Estate program. You may award these ‘seats’ throughout the year. ‘Seats’ purchased must be used within one year. Discounts for multiple seat purchases are listed on the website.

2. Grab the Scholarship form, to help you choose winners. The form is in Word, so you can edit. I have made the qualifications kind of tough, to assure you get great applicants.

3. If you’re going to coach the agents: Register as a Certified Coach, so you have access to all the coaching materials in the Coaching Corner, and you have access to the Up and Running in Real Estate program and that agent’s work. A Certified Coach is $99 per year. For this program to be successful with your agents, someone needs to be a dedicated coach. This will also form rapport and retention.

4. Promote the program to managers and agents. There is a preview and promotional information on the website

5. Customize the scholarship application here.

6. After you have agents in the program, track their successes and get their OK to promote those successes.

IDEA: AFFILIATES AND MANAGERS: WORK TOGETHER TO PROVIDE SCHOLARSHIPS. IT’S A WIN-WIN FOR EVERYONE!

A Simple Method to Help Your Agents Manage Time

eadmin — Tue, 06 Jul 2021 11:58:30 +0000

A simple way to help your agents manage time.

We all have the same amount of time. Yet, some agents start their careers like rockets, launching fast. Others just can’t seem to get a foothold.

I’m just finishing my new book, Launching Right in Real Estate: What They Won’t Teach You in Pre-License School (out in about 3 weeks). Although the book is written for the person thinking about real estate as a career, or is in pre-license, this book actually is a treasure trove for any agent. Why? It

Lays out a simple, effective business start-up plan
It exposes the mistakes agents make in launch, that costs them time and money–and sometimes a whole career
It helps agent budget–both personally and professionally

Time Allocations for Newer Agents

New agents attend training school. They learn lots of interesting–and sometimes valuable-information. But, they seldom learn how to organize their businesses, prioritize their time, and measure their advancement. One of the basic premises to success is to allocate their time to the right activities. Here’s my list, from Launching Right in Real Estate:

download-2 Download

Common Time Management Mistakes

The new agent: We go into real estate with lots of confidence. We love houses. We like people. We want to help people. Then, we find out there’s a whole lot to learn. So, we spend most of our time ‘getting ready’. I’ve watched new agents spend many months learning–and avoiding jumping on what I term the sales path--talking to, working with, and selling homes to real people.

Compare Your Agent’s Time Management to My Allocations

Use my time management allocations to coach your agents. What do you see as differences? What are the activities leading to a sale? What are the activities that actually protect you from working with those challenging people–those potential clients? What adjustments do you want to make to create a faster career launch for yourself?

Want to save time and inform your would-be agents? Use my book, Launching Right in Real Estate: What They Don’t Teach You In Pre-License School. I’ve addressed the hundreds of questions and concerns would-be agents have. See what I’m advising them! Order now at half price: $12.95. Publish date: July 15.