Kris McDonagh

About Kris McDonagh

Posts by Kris McDonagh:

myth

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🥷 Combating Real Estate Myths

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You don’t have to be in the real estate industry very long to realize that the assumptions you’ve had about being an agent are far from the reality of working in this dynamic and exciting community. Since most of our potential and current clients will never have the pleasure of experiencing this work first-hand, it’s important that we understand the myths surrounding our industry and know how to communicate effectively with the public to help them sort out what are feelings and what are facts. 

Our pals over at 1000 Watt and Bright MLS did the heavy lifting for us, compiling a report that gives us the stone-cold facts to help back up what we have long known to be true. Below are the highlights taken from the report to help break it down into bite-sized pieces for you. There is also a link to the full report for those who want to go on a deeper dive into the data…you know you want to! Being able to respond to inaccurate or misleading reporting is something that will help you and your team position yourselves as educators and sources of truth within your communities.

From the Bright MLS/1000 Watt Report:

🐂 Fact #1 Agents do not “steer” buyers to homes with higher buyer agent commissions.
Analysis of over one million home sales transactions taking place across six states and the District of Columbia between 2020 and 2023 shows no such relationship between sales activity and commissions.

💰 Fact #2 Commissions do not drive up home prices.
Reports on the settlement have suggested – and in many cases, outright stated – that high commissions are causing high home prices. In this high-cost housing market, it is understandable that people are looking for someone to blame for high home prices. The primary drivers of home prices – properties of the home, qualities of the neighborhood, inventory, mortgage rates, demographics, labor market conditions – are all very much beyond our control. However, it is these supply and demand factors that drive home prices. It is clear from recent transactions data that there is no relationship between the offer of compensation to the buyer’s agent and home prices.

⚖️ Fact #3 Listing a home on the MLS creates an open and fair housing marketplace.
Under the proposed settlement agreement, NAR agreed to create a new rule for MLSs prohibiting a blanket offer of compensation to buyers’ agents in the MLS system. The change means only that offers of compensation cannot be communicated via
the MLS as they currently are able to do, but buyers and sellers can still negotiate who pays what. The mechanism by which buyers and sellers can negotiate and communicate about commissions is still unclear.

The MLS creates an open, efficient, and fair housing marketplace. When brokerages hold listings off the MLS to sell as “private” or “office exclusive” properties, they are keeping information about available homes for sale from a lot of prospective buyers. Public real estate websites and apps, where buyers and sellers browse for homes, rely on the nation’s local MLSs to get their data. The MLSs set rules so that the listing data is accurate and consistent, and then the MLSs feed that information to hundreds of
thousands of websites and apps, making the information widely available
to consumers.

👩‍🏫 Fact #4 Homebuyers highly value a knowledgeable, professional buyer’s agent.
Narrative around the litigation and settlement have suggested that buyers’ agents have become less necessary. The argument goes that since home shoppers can now view homes online, buyers’ agents are not as important and therefore do not “earn” the compensation they receive. 

Buying a home is the biggest financial decision most people make. Consumer research has consistently shown that homebuyers value working with a real estate agent. According to the 2023 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, 90% of homebuyers said that they would use their real estate agent again or would recommend their agent to others.

Click here to read the full report!
practice

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🏋️ We’re Talking About Practice

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We practice our phone conversations. We practice our listing and buyer presentations. We practice overcoming objections and challenges throughout the transaction. One of the most overlooked areas that we could be practicing is with our CRM.

No, it’s not as exciting as pretending to be a frustrated house-seeker on the phone, but ensuring that your team knows how to effectively use the database will accomplish a lot. It will help you keep your data integrity high so that everyone can know exactly where each lead is in the process. It will prevent leads from falling through the cracks. It will help you identify areas for improvement so that you can better coach and inspire your people to achieve their goals. 

By keeping the basics in front of your team regularly, it allows them to have short reminders of what they should be doing and avoid a major overhaul by letting things go for so long that no one is rowing the boat in the same direction anymore. 

Use our curated playlist to help you cover these basics with your team by reserving a spot on your sales meeting agenda for training and watching one of these videos together as a group! 

Use this playlist to train your team!
tech-stack-image

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💻Your Guide to Building a Tech Stack

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Your tech stack includes any digital tools or software that you use to power your business. There’s an offer on every corner to solve all of your problems and it can be hard to sort out what truly solves your pain point or is just an exciting new thing to try.

In addition to your budget, there are a lot of things to consider when making these decisions. In the below video, we walk you through the decision-making process and offer strategies to use to ensure that you are making the best decisions for the health of your team and your wallet.

We also offer you a list of our Tech Stack Recommendations. These are tools that our clients all across North America use to run successful teams that we have a great experience with and would recommend to others to use. Each tool is linked to their website so that you can learn more or set up a demo!

Enjoy!

⭐️ Special Note for our Amazing Clients: Please chat with your Account Manager before signing up for any new integrations or tools so that we can give you insights as to whether or not you truly need something and we can also likely save you money! 

Amplified Solutions Recommended Tech Stack
team culture

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💪Building Team Culture

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Success isn’t just about transactions in our industry; it’s about fostering a positive and collaborative team culture that drives growth and prosperity. You can’t retain talent to grow your business without a healthy team culture, and this often-neglected subject plays a pivotal role in shaping high-performing teams. 

A positive team culture sets the tone for how your team interacts, communicates, and collaborates. A thriving culture breeds motivation and productivity, leading to better client experiences and increased revenue. Research shows that companies with strong cultures outperform their competitors, so putting effort into something that has such a tangible impact on the bottom line is a great use of your time.

Creating a healthy, positive team culture takes time and dedication, and for best results, you should build it into your everyday practice as a leader. Yep, “practice.” Good leadership isn’t an exact science, and none of us nail it every single day, myself included. But by building into practice efforts to consistently build and reinforce your team culture, you will see rewards for many years to come, regardless of what the market is doing.

Ways to Practice and Develop a Positive Team Culture

🎙️Clear Communication 
Open and transparent communication channels lay the foundation for trust and collaboration within your team. Encourage honest dialogue, active listening, and feedback loops to foster a culture of respect and understanding.

👓 Shared Vision and Values 
Align your team with a common purpose and core values. When everyone is working towards the same goals, it creates a sense of unity and collective accountability. Discuss core values often and celebrate those who embody them while addressing those who do not. Core values aren’t effective if they aren’t strictly adhered to by everyone on the team.

💪 Empowerment and Autonomy 
Empower your team members to take ownership of their work and make decisions autonomously. Providing autonomy fosters creativity, innovation, and a sense of ownership, driving individual and team success.

🏆 Recognition and Appreciation 
Celebrate achievements, big and small, and acknowledge the contributions of each team member. Recognizing and appreciating efforts boosts morale, strengthens team cohesion, and reinforces positive behaviors.

👩‍🏫 Provide Opportunities for Growth and Education
Invest in the growth and development of your team members through training, coaching, and mentorship programs and opportunities. A culture that prioritizes learning fosters personal and professional advancement, driving long-term success and by creating career advancement paths you will empower your team to reach their full potential and stay engaged in their roles.

🥰 Foster a Supportive Environment 
When team members feel valued, respected, and supported they will not only want to stay in your organization, but they will encourage others to join as well! Show empathy and compassion by understanding their individual needs, challenges, and aspirations. Demonstrate a willingness to listen and provide support so that you can foster trust.

👂Regularly Solicit Feedback
Ask regularly for suggestions to improve the team culture and working environment. Actively listen to their suggestions and concerns and take proactive steps to address any issues or areas for improvement.

👔 Encourage Work-Life Balance
Respect boundaries, encourage time off, and support flexible work arrangements when possible. A balanced lifestyle leads to happier team members who are better equipped to perform at their best.

😇 Practice What You Preach
Here are a few totally random, made-up examples to illustrate what happens if you do not practice what you preach:

  • If one of your core values is honesty and your staff regularly catches you lying to them, it quickly erodes trust and confidence in both you personally and the business.
  • If you promote work-life balance, texting your staff before or after hours or on weekends sets the stage for never being able to step away from work because it is constantly being brought to attention.
  • If you are the reason why your party gets asked to leave a popular restaurant, people inside and outside your company will question your business practices and professionalism, and think that kind of behavior is acceptable to repeat on future occasions.

A fit person typically has a fit business, so recognizing that you set the tone for professionalism and what is appropriate for the team is crucial to building a strong company culture that will support your entire team for years to come. Without this last element of practicing what you preach, most of your other efforts will be wasted. 

It begins with us. Take a moment to do some real self-reflection and then get to work! You can do it!

confidence

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💪Leading With Confidence During Unsettling Times

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Whether it is a bombshell NAR settlement agreement, market fluctuations, regulatory shifts, or a global pandemic the landscape we navigate can be tumultuous and ever-shifting. Since change is the only constant, it is crucial that we not only adapt to these changes but also lead with confidence and resilience to develop our businesses so that they can withstand any conditions. Use the strategies below to ensure you provide effective leadership to those who count on you when they need it the most.

📰 Stay Informed, Stay Ahead
Dedicate time weekly to learn about the latest industry trends, market conditions, and regulatory changes. By staying informed, you can anticipate potential challenges and proactively develop strategies to address them. As RuPaul says, “You don’t have to get ready if you stay ready.”

📱 Communicate Transparently, Early, and Often
When things seem uncertain, open and transparent communication is paramount. Communicate with your team early, even if you don’t have all of the information to fully form a path forward. When you don’t communicate, it’s common for those you lead to fill in that absence with their thoughts and guesses as to what is going on and they will often assume the worst.

Stay ahead of this by offering town hall-style meetings where your team has a forum to express their thoughts and concerns openly. If you don’t feel comfortable yet answering their questions: let them feel heard, document their thoughts, and share your response with the entire team once you’ve had a chance to marinate on the new information. If it is a sensitive topic, create a path for them to anonymously have their questions asked and answered.

Being transparent and forthcoming with information will also help you navigate big shifts and retain your talent. If your team is lacking information and clarity, they will turn to outside sources for leadership and their trust in you will erode.

⚖️ Focus on Core Values
Remind your team of the values that unite you and reinforce the importance of staying true to those principles. Upholding integrity, professionalism, and a commitment to excellence can instill confidence and trust in your leadership. 

🧘‍♀️ Embrace Flexibility
Encourage and coach a mindset of adaptability among your team members. Empower them to embrace change and seek innovative solutions regularly so that when circumstances demand it of you, it will be muscle memory and not a new strategy to learn on top of everything else. By fostering this culture of flexibility, you are positioning everyone to thrive regardless of the environment.

👔 Lead by Example
Oh, man, this is so important. Demonstrating confidence, calm, and resilience in the face of adversity is a must for leadership. Your team is looking to you for guidance and inspiration and if you don’t practice what you preach you won’t be able to instill and cultivate these qualities in others. If one of your core values is honesty and your staff regularly catches you lying, they aren’t going to respect you…or stick around. You’ve got to walk the talk and practicing this in all areas of your life will give you a huge leg up in developing your leadership skills.

👩‍🏫 Don’t react, Respond
This one is a game-changer. When you receive information, it’s best to assume that you know less than half of the complete story. Instead of jumping to a decision, ask for a recap of what happened from the other parties, and look at records or research yourself on the situation or topic. Then, after you have a more complete view, respond with your opinion or a directive on what should be done next. I promise you, it can wait until you have more information.

❤️ Foster a Supportive Community
Encouraging collaboration, mutual support, and camaraderie will help your team to feel comfortable expressing their suggestions and concerns. While no one likes to hear complaints, learning about others’ points of view is a fantastic way to learn. Embrace this to build a strong support network within your team and the sense of stability and reassurance they will receive will ensure that your business thrives for years and years to come.

spam

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☎️Strategies to Prevent Your Phone Number from Being Marked as Spam

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It’s the worst feeling to hear that your phone number is coming up as spam. You aren’t spam, you’re calling because you’re the best person available to help this person buy or sell their home in a 100-mile radius! How dare they do that to you?! Well, they dare and they are doing it to the best of us right and left!
While there is no way to completely eliminate this challenge, and if I’m wrong please reply to this and share with me so I can learn, there are some strategies you can use to reduce your chances of getting the big S on your number.

📱 Avoid cold-texting or cold-calling leads. Ensure that they have opted in to receive these types of communications from you.

📱 If someone has opted in for texts, send them your contact information right out of the gate by way of introduction, including your phone number. Their phone’s technology will likely pick up that information to be someone they may know rather than something it should block as spam.
For example: “Hey! I just received your message about my listing at 123 Beach Street. I’ll be happy to send you more information on that home and others like it! – Kris McDonagh, Amplified Real Estate, 555-555-5555”

📱 Add the number you use to prospect to your phone’s v-card, your email signature, social media, and website. By having your phone number readily available online when searched you will improve the credibility of its connection to you, a real person, and one hell of a real estate agent. 

📱 Request for your new contact to save your contact information to their phone. Most will, just in case you turn out to be somebody they do need, and it will increase the chances that they will answer the phone the next time you call to help them further.

📱 Check the reporting within Follow Up Boss to check for red flags that signal to carriers that you are spam. You want to avoid having too many calls that don’t connect, unanswered texts, and a high number of opt-out responses. Reflect on your prospecting efforts and adjust so that your efforts are resulting in longer quality calls and responses to your texts.
To find this: Click Reporting in the top bar, then Calls and filter from there.

📱Research and test any new phone number you get before you order anything with the number printed on it or begin using it widely in case it was used previously for something you don’t want to be associated with or it has already been marked as Spam.


📱 To clear the spam flag from your Follow Up Boss number, visit https://www.freecallerregistry.com/fcr/#submitform and fill out the form.
You can include your team’s numbers on the form and submit it once for the whole team as well. 
 
When the form asks for the “Service Provider,” type “Twilio.”
Once you submit the form, the carriers will review it and reset the Spam label for any numbers that were flagged. Each carrier’s spam provider will email them as they respond to the form. It’s worth noting that numbers can be flagged as spam again after being cleared, so be sure you are following FUB’s calling and texting best practices to avoid being flagged as spam again.  

Example:

  • Phone Number: Enter FUB number
  • Click Send Verification Code.
  • I believe my calls are: Real Estate
  • Contact Name: First Last
  • Company Phone: (555) 555-5555
  • Email: name@business.com
    • Note: the verification code will go to this email
  • Calling Company Name: Your Business Name, LLC
  • Calling Company Address: 123 Main Street, Anywhere, US 12345
  • Calling Company URL: www.businessname.com/
  • Service Provider(s): Twilio

If you have any other tips that you’d like to share with the community, reply to this email and we will add them to our guide and give you credit!

The good news is that you are having this challenge because you are doing the work and calling the leads! Keep going, continuity is the secret to success.

Sales-Meeting

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👩‍🏫 Your Guide to Better Sales Meetings

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I’ve been in sales for the past twenty-two years (“Gasp! How could that be? She looks so young!” they all whisper,) …and you would be surprised how many sales meetings I’ve sat in where “sales” is never mentioned, let alone the discussion of sales strategies.
It’s an insane number of them. But as I grew into leadership roles I saw how easy it was to get caught up in the red tape of everything (waves hands) and use the meeting time for housekeeping and reminding of policies and procedures and discussion of upcoming events instead of the things that we all needed to do to grow the business. 

Sales meetings aren’t typically something our agents and staff get excited about and for good reason: They believe that it’s a waste of their time.

If you want to retain and grow the talent that you have, you’re going to want to put a very intentional effort into making your sales meetings more engaging and truly help your agents learn how to develop and grow their book of business. 

Teaching them how to practice real estate is what they came to you for and to keep them working with you, it’s wise to take action on fulfilling that promise. Making a plan for your sales meetings is a perfect way to do this and greatly impact those you are mentoring through this wild world of real estate sales.

Click the button below to download your free guide and perform a check on the current structure of your sales meetings. Shift things around so that you are spending your precious in-person time in a way that is going to benefit everyone in the organization. You’re going to be so glad you did!

Free Guide to Better Sales Meetings
sales meeting

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🤫 Want an Easy Button for Better Sales Meetings?

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Putting together a sales meeting twice a month or even weekly can be a challenge! Including a brief training is something that will really help your team get a lot of value from the session together, but it often takes time to research and prepare. 

Set aside the time within your meeting for this training, and then let us do the heavy lifting! Use our Follow Up Boss Playlist for agents to supply you with a short training video to watch as a group and discuss during your meeting. 

Choose one video from the playlist to cover each meeting and revisit often as we will be continually adding to this to help support you in your quest for building the perfect real estate team.

You might also want to check out our full list of offerings for more in-depth training sessions. 

Click Here to Get the Agent FUB Tips Playlist!
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