Once we have a new land agent on our team, we know they will need to learn about the four conversations. Yes, they must learn about things like state specific contracts and compliance issues with your brokerage, but we have found that the most likely predictor of success in the industry is having what we call the four conversations.

These conversations focus on proactively generating business and planning activities, instead of just reactively wondering what is going to happen next.

Conversation 1: Listing Appointments

The first conversation is listing appointments. We use this conversation to show new agents that there are tools available to help them focus on their goals and business. This includes both listing and buyer representation agreements.

You can’t help the agents if you don’t have that first conversation. We are having weekly conversations with our agents and looking at where they are compared to where they want to be. This is how my team defines being a business owner.

You first determine what income you want to make for the year. Then, determine how many clients you must represent to earn that level of income. Factoring in your average sale price and commission. Check out Kasey Mock’s piece Ready. Aim. Fire! Strategic Planning for Your Land Real Estate Business for more information about how to set and achieve these kinds of goals strategically.

Conversation #2: Listing Taken

The second conversation is what we call listing taken. After you go on listing appointments, then you have listings taken. Of course, we don’t get them all and some we choose not to represent. If you go on listings and don’t get the seller to list with you or the buyer to have you represent them in their purchase, then we know what we need to improve on.

This is the crossover or what I call the wall of value. Now we are getting ready to earn our commission.

Conversation #3: Closings

The next conversation is closings. To talk about the third conversation, closings, the goal is to take the emotion out of the conversation and create clarity by lifting the fog. Nobody will say no to their own goals. We ask the agents if we can help them set really Big Goals, which helps them to think bigger. If you can’t imagine being successful, it is very hard to achieve.

Conversation #4: Profit.

The final conversation is about profit – not just your gross commission income (GCI). It is possible to earn a huge amount of gross commission and not be profitable. We can track our fixed cost as well as our cost of sales. Leaving us with our actual profit.

These four conversations are a general overview of how we teach new agents to think like a business owner, plan for their future, and not just accept things as they happen. If you need more profit, the best place to start is to either lower your expenses or go on more appointments to increase gross commission earned.

About the Author: Tim Hadley, ALC, is an agent with Keller Williams Realty in Gladstone, MO. He joined the REALTORS® Land Institute in 2017 and is currently a member of their Future Leaders Committee.

About the Author: Kasey Mock, ALC, is the Director of KW LAND Division at Keller Williams Realty International. Mock is a member of the REALTORS® Land Institute now serving on their Future Leaders Committee. Make sure to check out his break out session diving further into this topic at the 2018 National Land Conference in Nashville, TN, in March.