By Debbie Hanlon
One of the great side effects of the real estate systems I developed was how effective they are at cost cutting. Now, we all know agents who make pretty good money. We can see how busy they are making that money. The stress level in a room doubles the minute they walk in. Time is not the only thing they’re spending way too much of to make that living, they’re also spending way too much money.
You see their ads in the paper, ads on TV, ads on billboards and pretty much anywhere else you can stick an ad. All of that costs money, a lot of money. So, while they’ll tell you how busy they are and how well they’re doing, you’ll never hear them talk about how much it’s costing them. A lot of that money might as well have been flushed down the toilet in terms of how good a return they get from it.
I know an agent who makes about $200,000 a year, but it costs him about $80,000 a year to make it. You might say, well if I could spend $80,000 and make $200,000, I’d do it in a second. Would you though, if you didn’t have to? What if instead of spending $80,000 to make $200,000 you could spend a pittance of that and make $500,000? Interesting thought isn’t it?
What my real estate systems allowed me to do was totally circumvent that old-school approach to real estate that says plaster your face all over everything and hope somebody calls. Not only did the systems free up a lot of cash for me that wasn’t being spent on conventional marketing, they also freed up a lot of my time.
At one point in my real estate career I bought a bookstore, where I’d let mothers drop their kids off for an hour and I’d read children’s books to them. I did that because it was something I always wanted to do. I thought about doing it because I didn’t have to be thinking about real estate – my systems were doing the thinking for me.
From pre-listing to after-sales service, everything I had to do as a real estate agent was there for me at the push of a button. It’s as simple as uploading images and words and presto, whatever you need is done when it’s supposed to be done. None of it was costing me any more than the ink and paper I was using to produce classy, individualized pieces that clients loved and actually helped get their homes sold faster. They lead to repeat and referral business almost effortlessly.
Because my systems were humming along I could also get my face and name out there in other ways that didn’t cost me a dime. I volunteered on boards, did a talk radio show, acted in a play, raised money for projects I believed in and did a dozen other things that made me quite well known in my city. I could do all that because I didn’t have to be doing real estate all day.
Cost cutting is the quickest and easiest way to make money and because we see ourselves as a business, not an agent, our budgets ensure that every dime we spend is accounted for. That’s what any business does. You have your systems in place so you can explore other ways of getting yourself known in the community. That’s cost cutting, that’s what systems allow you to do. Save your time and money for better things like reading books or booking flights.
Debbie Hanlon is the president and founder of Hanlon Realty. She is a three-time top 50 CEO winner and was named one of the top 100 female entrepreneurs in Canada. She is currently an elected city official in St. John’s, Nfld. and is available for motivational and training seminars. Email [email protected].
Debbie Hanlon wears many hats (and sometimes a cape)! She is the award-winning Realtor, owner, broker and creative driving force at Debbie Hanlon Real Estate, based in St. John’s, NL. Debbie is also a very active city councillor, keynote speaker, published author and children’s entertainer. In her spare time she is completing an MBA and enjoying an active, happy life with family and friends at home in historic St. John’s. Contact her by email.
