Kundun Consulting

I had an eye-opening experience today courtesy of a client who, for her age, really knows what she needs to do to succeed.

I spend a lot of time with clients who try to be everything to everybody. They offer a full range of products that they believe they can sell as opposed to determining whether they should even be selling them.

So a real estate agent will list and sell a property in any area as long as there is a commission involved. And all too often they focus on selling the highest value, highest profile or perceived best product.

But what happens when a business decides to simply focus on doing the best that they can with a limited range of products or services. They actively pass over those items which take away their focus, in favour of delivering the best service or product that they can?

Well I saw the results today.

My client is a real estate agent and has a territory of approximately 9000 properties in which to market her office’s services. Her strategy has been to market to every property owner in her territory - basically the more people that you contact the greater chance that you have of selling your offering. In these tough Melbourne real estate times it is imperative to hit the market with your marketing buck as strongly as possible to ensure that you are attracting the right level of custom.

During the business planning process a few months ago, I crunched some numbers and identified that they had not been penetrating a particular pocket in their territory. They were marketing in the same manner as the other areas but not getting in enough doors. After a great deal of discussion we decided to test a “differen” type of marketing campaign to gauge the effects of a more concentrated and focussed effort.

We stopped marketing into that area entirely and instead spent the marketing dollars in another area where they were ranked second in terms of market share. The strategy involved concentrating on families and family driven activities throughout the area, to see what could be gained from a very loyal section of the real estate market.

Secondly, the entire office agreed to meet a set of service level agreements. As an example, things such as calls were to be returned within 45 minutes of a message, open for inspections by appointment only, emails with information requirements to be delivered within 90 minutes and all potential buyers were to receive a personalised written message within 24 hours.

Today when we ran the results for the 2 months of the campaign we discovered a very significant trend.

1. The badly performing area had actually increased in performance. Still bad but at no cost!

2. In the concentrated area, market share had moved to equal first - but more significantly with better quality properties that attracted greater commission levels.

Now such a short trial doesn’t establish a true trend, so the trial will continue -marketing is being slightly realigned to ensure that we do not lose an entire pocket of the market, for example - but the signs at this stage are good.

I too have been guilty of not being focussed enough and providing an OK all round service - but not mind blowing excellent service in any area. I am going to change that from here!

I want to be proud of what I do - not comfortable with what I do.

I want to deliver great value to my clients and take the frustration out of their financial numbers.

And I am going to do it by being responsive, pr-oactive and reliable.

It may be this won’t equate to significantly improved financial returns - but it will definitely make me more content with my life and with that of my business. And I have the feeling that the financial returns will be achieved because the focus is improved and the service delivery and personal satisfaction are greater.

But we will see!

I spend a lot of time putting together the financial reporting for a business. We look at the requirements of the business and then try to put together the reports that will drive the business forward.

A new client will basically be expecting me to put together the reports that I think they need. But the reality is that until I start the recording and reporting process I do not understand the business and so I am not in the best position to be putting together the reports that your business needs.

What I am capable of though is assisting you to understand the key drivers of your business and to assist the development of the reporting process.

Of course I can help with the basic financial information, and I can also help many of my new clients put together some industry specific reporting and KPI establishment that will help you reach quality decisions. But YOU will the one that puts together the actual list of requirements.

You know your business best and you know what you need to see periodically to best assist you to make decisions that will positively assist your business. I want you to drive the development of the report as this gives you the greatest opportunity to understand what you need to know about your business.

And here is the key - the financial reports MUST also include non financial data.

Let me pick a business where I have some insight to provide a practical example.

I have extensive experience in the real estate Industry. I will put together the financial reports that show your sales, property management returns, balance sheet etc. However I will also get you looking at your market share and competitor analysis. I will have you looking at the number of listings attained, versus the number of appraisals versus the number of additions to your database.

These non-financial KPI’s are as critical to the business as the amount of money in the bank, but too often they are ignored and not even reported upon.

So please even if you only have one single part to play in the structure of your financial reporting please ensure that it relates to defining the key sets of information that will allow you to manage and drive your business.

If you utilise the services of a contractor then you have a responsibility to manage that relationship as much as you manage any employee. Managing your bookkeeper is no different to managing the receptionist. you need to establish what needs to be completed and make sure that performance is measured and feedback communicated.

I have a great client ho has a very competent bookkeeper who knows exactly what needs to be done - but who doesn’t necessarily do it within the time required to allow me to produce the information that is required to manage the business properly. Undoubtedly they are milking the relationship to make sure that they reap the hourly rewards that come with selling time.

And this my friends is the real issue.

I do not believe that any professional services firm or contractor should be selling time - they should be selling results - i.e. provide value.

Now lets be realistic here. Obviously time is what is relevant to doing the hourly rate calculation, however the fees should be managed by virtue of what the expected tasks are and what they mean to the business. This will ultimately see you pay for the delivery of results - not whether someone has spent 8 or 10 or 12 hours completing the tasks.

To do this you need to set up an agreement which lists the tasks that the bookkeeper is expected to complete. They will then provide an estimated number of hours to do those tasks, and thus you have now created a pre-defined level of expectations on both yours and the bookkeepers part.

Now the work that is performed sometimes runs over time. This is the nature of accounting - if it was all that simple then everyone would do it, so of course where the bookkeeper works more than estimated then this should be paid for - but there must be accountability around why this has happened.

When I establish a bookkeeping relationship I create a list of the tasks that are required. We agree on a rate and then I hold the bookkeeper accountable to deliver what has been agreed. There is no excuse around not having the time - just do it. I then however will review the work completed and the hours spent and make an assessment around quality, time taken and time quoted. When all of these factors move too far from where the initial agreement was then I make changes accordingly and eventually the bookkeeper understands that they must deliver what has been agreed.

To ease the issue I will always agree to pay a rate that is somewhere around 1 to 3 hours more than they had estimated. This way when a task goes over the allotted time it is something that the bookkeeper is aware is covered by an extra fee and additional charges are not warranted. I also do not accept that the bookkeeper simply worked extra hours. They must show why they had to and if the reason was not a company/client driven reason then I make sure that the bookkeeper is aware that the additional charges are not acceptable.

After a month or so we have a great working relationship and the bookkeeper in fact values the work. I get the tasks completed well and on time and am able to add the value that I need to my client.

The rule is to set the expectations early and then manage it tightly and make sure that the requirements are delivered as required. Then you will all have a great partnership - rather than a master-servent union.

Photo credits here

Real Estate gets a bad rap sometimes so I thought that I would spend a few minutes and run through some of the lessons that can be learnt from them.

Good real estate operators are the masters of excellent communication. The best operators will “touch” you at least 8 to 10 times a year. They call a touch point anything from an email, letter, postcard, newsletter or a call - and everything in between. They work on developing a trusted relationship that allows everyone to feel comfortable with the process that one day they hope will happen- i.e. you sell your house.

The reason, although I do not necessarily subscribe to the theory, that they all drive expensive vehicles is to portray to you that they are successful. You want to sell your home with someone who is successful - not fighting for the next dollar. You can learn a lesson here by ensuring that even if things are tough you portray that you are successful. People want to do business where they feel success lies. So use every opportunity to portray that the next sale is warmly appreciated but life changing.

Very good operators will involve a team in their dealings with you which is  usually a mixture between experience and male w and female,  so that they cover as many possible alternatives as they can. The point here is that you should not just be relying upon one person to deliver the customer experience. Everyone from your receptionist to yourself should be ensuring that they are delivering an experience that they are proud of and that helps to make your clients your greatest asset.

They will also ensure that every piece of literature that is produced is proof read and that all photography is performed by someone that is a professional. Never just throw something out there. Make sure that you are producing the best quality documentation, reports, newsletter’s, invoices - whatever - so that the client gets to believe that you do only quality work or sell quality products.

And finally every real estate agent that I have met wants to be liked. They will perform customer service back flips to make sure that you the customer are happy. Not all get it right , but the best really make you feel that they have done the very best job that they can do. Your customer experience proposition will directly effect your revenue - never doubt that. Make sure that you are giving the best service that you are able - and go to extraordinary lengths to ensure that EVERY customer experiences it.

Real estate agents, whilst they get paid very well, do a lot of work for no return. Many people are “tyre kickers” simply trying to get information for free - i.e. how much is my house worth. Please don’t offer them sympathy but please do take on board that if you want to be successful sometimes you have to work bloody hard without there always being the promise of a payoff.

So sometimes you can look at a group of people who don’t have the best “rep” in the world and take something that can be valuable and use it to produce a great benefit to the way that your business operates. I am always looking at ways that a business differentiates themselves form the opposition and I am always looking at how I am treated in my dealings so that I may one day “poach” that behaviour. As an example I have previously recruited a receptionist for a c lient from the local bakery. I went in there simply to but a salad roll and ended up walking out with a coffee and loaf of bread for later simply because Jennifer asked me trhe right questions. She took it upon herslef to not just be an order taker and I suggested to a cloient that they meet. The rest is history as she is now the Customer Service Manager for the company and really making a difference.

Always look for opportunities and think outside the square.