Written by Peter Tran

Many leaders have the opinion that results – like the market – should fluctuate, that it’s the reality of real estate sales. We challenge you that if you share this opinion, that this doesn’t have to be the way.

Most leaders of Smartre Agencies have incredible teams producing consistent high performance. You can have this too with the implementation of the right systems, leadership, and determination.

Poor performance is not a fait accompli. You can do something about it. The key to turning strugglers is to know which ones you have a chance of turning around.

When it comes to ‘type’, there are only two types of salespeople: the right people and the wrong people.

Identifying the right and the wrong people is easy. The right people are:

• Equipped with the right attitude

• Willing to train

• Consistently perform the right actions

• Hard workers

• Focused on success

The wrong people are the opposite. They must go – you will never turn these people around, so don’t waste your time trying.

Steps to turn around struggling salespeople.

Now that you have removed the wrong people and identified the right people, it’s time to begin the turnaround. The first step is to meet with your salesperson one-on-one. Question the reason for the slump. A big part of a salesperson's slump can be directly linked to their operating environment at home.  

Check how things are going for them personally. Clarify the salesperson’s goals. Understand what the salesperson wants both personally and professionally. Helping them clarify this will help them get back in touch with their ‘why’ – an essential ingredient for any salesperson that wants to perform well irrespective of the market.

Seek permission to manage them closely (for a time).

Have an open conversation with them around their current results and how you want to help them get back on track. Get their permission to start micromanaging them until their results are rectified and consistent. If you get resistance around this, this raises the question of ‘do they really want to succeed?’. Remember, if nothing changes, nothing changes.

Help them plan.

Help them set up a plan centred around the right actions. Prospecting and professional development should be key ingredients of this plan. Hard work without competent action will lead to frustration and a lack of results.

Help with their daily time management to keep them focused on setting appointments that will lead to results. Check to see how their listing presentation and seller coaching processes are going.

Set an action plan for them to follow.

Set a daily action plan for them to follow and let them know you will check in on them throughout the day to help keep them on track. Begin a daily debrief with them on how they went, what results did they get, and what they learned from the day. This will help keep them accountable to you and also to give you feedback daily on if they are heading back to a winning level of performance or if they are on the way out of real estate.

They must know where their business will come from, particularly where they will find their listings. How many people do they need to speak with in order to get one listing? Some listing sources produce better results than others. Help your strugglers understand where the warmest sources for finding listings are and have them work those sources.

Accepting poor or low performance is a choice. Our job as leaders is to support our people, help them plan, and coach them to properly execute that plan. Winners will always find a way to make it work. If they don’t want it bad enough, they will give you excuses on why it can’t be done.

Struggling salespeople? The choice is yours.