Having recently conducted a quarterly review with each of our sales managers, we were surprised at the mixed results we had between them.  We like to measure everything and we went through various statistics, such as number of properties shown, number of new buyers, new listings taken, contracts signed, etc.  In some cases the results varied widely from what the norm appeared to be.

Upon reflecting with each of the managers as to what the reason was behind poor or outstanding results, we were able to come away with some best practices of the more successful sales offices.  Some managers just blamed the market in general or the supposed failing of the company website.  Other managers used the tools available to them to the best advantage and generated leads and business for themselves.  It is like the old proverb that God helps those that help themselves.

In particular, one statistic varied greatly between offices and depended upon the efforts that the sales manager put into generating buyers.  While one office blamed our website for getting no leads, another was very busy on the Internet social networking with everyone and anyone and poking people until it became some sort of maniacal game.  Other managers would go all out in generating traffic to their open houses by generating a trail to it from several blocks away.  In short, the results of the better managers came from those that clearly put an effort into it, either by using modern tools such as social networking or age old methods such as open house signs.

Our take away from this is that there is no one formula for success other than hard and smart work.  The managers rich in buyers, new listings and contract signed all had something that distinguished them from the norm.  The managers who were poor in the office results were content to just blame outside forces for their lack of success.  This is not to say that the poor managers cannot be also become rich managers.  They may just not be aware of the various techniques that work in the current marketplace.  To remedy this, we plan to include in our next sales managers meeting a list of the best practices from the various offices and have those managers speak about their methods.  Everyone can learn from each other, if you are willing to do so.