Remember the Three Ls—Leads, Listings, Leverage (2024)

Hi, my name is Sean Stewart. Welcome to theBe Your Own Bossweeklynewsletter. As Team Leader of Keller Williams Greater Cleveland Northeast, my job is to lead our realtors toward their goals in business and beyond. In this newsletter, I let you in on our secret by teaching you the strategies and systems that have helped our team become the most productive office on the east side of Clevelandand the third most productive in the entire Northern Ohio Multiple Listing Service.

Are you ready to be more fulfilled in business and life? Are you ready to make some money? If so, I'm ready to help.

Over the next year, I'm going to teach youhow to set goals, reach them andmove on to bigger and better ones. Based on my nearly 25 years in the industry, I'll give you the tools that will get you to the goal line. It's up to you to punch it in.

The Three Ls

The philosophy comes from the book “Millionaire Real Estate Agent” by Gary Keller, Dave Jenks, and Jay Papasan. It’s required reading for a KW agent, but I believe it should be for any real estate professional. If you’re not hitting your marks, read this book and read it over again. Every time I read it, I get something new from it, and you will too.

The Three Ls always stands out to me when I reread the book. It's vital for any realtor, but especially a young or inexperienced one, to make this the core of their business. The book argues that these are the bedrock of any successful real estate agent, and I agree.

When you look at the job through this lens, it’s very simple. Here’s how and why:

Leads — If you generate and act on them, sales will come.

Leads should be an agent's top priority. A steady flow of leads is the bread and butter of any real estate business. This is what’s going to keep you in the game, so make sure to block out time each week for lead generation. Always focus on active over passive leads, and use tools like scripts to ensure quick responses to all leads. Track the sources of your leads and the conversion rates, and then make decisions going forward on that information. If you act on leads, sales will come.

Listings — Set listing goals and hold yourself accountable.

"Listings are the high-leverage maximum earning opportunity in our industry,” the book reads. "They allow us the best opportunity for leverage to yield us the highest income opportunity in this business."

The listing process takes less time than the buyer process, yet you still earn the same commission. Time is money. The book goes on, “most agents can close two to three listings in the time it takes to close one buyer client.” That’s more than double the amount of business you can get done by concentrating on listings on the same amount of time. Plus, listings generate leads. Always know the minimum amount of listings and appointments you need. The book says 2-2.5 appointments per day five days a week with a 75 percent conversion rate puts an agent on the path to earning $1 million. What do you need to hit your goal?

Leverage — Do more with less.

If you have leads and you have listings, you likely have leverage. That’s because leverage is all about making the most of your most important resources—your team and your time. Both listings and leads save you time. Listings do so by earning the same amount of commission as buyer sales over less time. Leads do so by making sure your business is chalk full of incoming business. But there are still steps you can take to gain more leverage. For one, surrounding yourself with a team of the right people ensures you can focus on the most important tasks at hand and trust everything else is getting done. Secondly, tracking your progress on things like lead conversion/close rates and lead sources will make sure you’re putting your time and energy in the right place.

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