Closing the Gap – Dirk Zeller of Real Estate Champions

Take Notes from Dirk Zeller Who Sold 150+ Homes per Year Working 4 Days a Week

Dirk Zeller has been a friend, mentor and coach of mine for almost a decade.

Dirk is the CEO of his company Real Estate Champions, Dirk is famous for his ability as an individual Agent to sell 150+ homes per year working only 4 days a week.

Many thanks to Dirk for sharing some of his wisdom with us this week…

I was watching “Bug’s Life” the other day with my children, Annabelle and Wesley.  In the movie, the ants are having to gather food for the grasshoppers.  As I was watching, early on there was a scene where this long line of ants was carrying the food.  Suddenly, there was a gap in the line which threw the princess ant over the deep end emotionally.  One of her trusted advisors came along to calm her down by saying….”gaps happen”.

The truth is, this ant’s advisor was right; there will be gaps in life and business.  It’s not whether gaps will happen, it’s how you respond, rather than react to those gaps.  I might be finding you today experiencing one of those gaps.  The most frequent in real estate sales is the income gap.  The gap that creates a sinking feeling of “you are behind” and you are panicked about catching up.

There are a key number of steps that you must implement if you are going to close your income gap.  Let me give you a simple system to recognize the income gap, and define the size of the gap’s scope and intensity. Then the action needed to close the income gap.

Knowing where you exactly are, right now.
It’s amazing how few agents track, monitor or have a strategic plan to their year.  This lack of clarity can easily produce or increase the income gap.  Where are you in your year to date income?  Opposite of the normal saying in this case, ignorance is not bliss!

What is your income goal?
Clarity is your partner.  Your desire is linked to your power.  What level of desire do you have to achieve your clear and concise goal?

Where are you in income, year to date?

What do we have left to achieve in income?

What do you have in pendings, both buyer and seller?

What inventory do you have in listing income?

Only count the inventory that has a high probability to close by year end.  Anything that is less than 80% probability doesn’t count!  What is the amount you can expect from your listing inventory to help you close the income gap?

What is the inventory of buyers who will buy?
Again, only count the buyers that will purchase and close before year end.  How many buyers do you have and what price range are they in?  What are the reasonable commission checks you can expect from them?

Once you have all your assets counted, (assets being listing and buyer inventory and pendings) you are ready to evaluate what needs to happen for you to finish strong.

Determine the number of listings you need to close the gap.  What percentage of your business is listing based?  You will need to multiply that number by the income gap, firm closed, pending and assets.  We need a specific number that you are shooting to take.

This divided by your average commission will tell you how many listings you need.  In most markets you will need to secure the listings and have them on the market by October 15th.  This date will give you a reasonable opportunity in most markets to achieve a sale and get it closed by year end.  Break out monthly or even weekly what you need to close the gap.

The remaining income must come from the buyer side transactions.  The buyer side will allow you a little more time.  You will need to put the buyer in pending before November 30th.  Repeat the process on the buyer side for monthly or weekly targets.

The truth is, production gaps happen to many agents.  The key is having a system to define the size and scope of the gap, then craft an exact plan in terms of production to close it.  You can’t avoid gaps altogether.  You can only manage to shorten the span of the time you are in gap.

Great advice from a well known real estate genius… why not sit down right now and put this into practice in your business?

Strength and courage,

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Closing the Gap - Dirk Zeller of Real Estate Champions