Seven insider secrets to building a predictable and scalable ISA department

There are literally thousands of factors that can affect the outcomes you seek in implementing an ISA department in your business. To help you get your head around where to start and what the key factors are in building a predictable and scalable ISA department in your business, I’ve distilled everything down into seven key areas that will have the biggest impact on your business.

Here’s a brief look at each element and the part it plays in the entire ISA process:

• Hiring: Ninety-seven percent of the success of any relationship—personal or business—is based on the choice you make. Choosing the wrong person can have a domino effect on what happens with the rest of your ISA department. We’ll show you how to get the right person on board virtually every time to avoid the nightmares associated with hiring the wrong person.

Hiring the right people helps you create predictability for both your organization and your sales department. Good employees flock to companies like Microsoft, Apple, Coke, and Frito Lay, and stay, because they simplify life for them and provide an atmosphere of consistency and growth (otherwise known as a predictable experience). When good people stay at your company, you can rely on them and their efforts to produce high-quality work and a consistent experience for your clients. When clients see this, they not only do repeat business with you, they also refer their friends and family, which means you now have a “machine” that produces consistent and predictable sales for you.

Making good choices with hires also helps you avoid the Potted-Plant Syndrome (PPS). PPS is a “disease” that affects an individual in a group of people. The disease presents itself when the person joins a group of people, but does not participate in discussions, improve the culture, or add value to his/her surroundings. The individual does nothing but take up space—like a potted plant. Good hires prevent this from happening.

• Effort: Most ISAs aren’t even calling and talking to enough people each day for you to reach your goals. Putting in the right amount of effort is crucial to success. In this book, you’ll find out how much effort is truly needed for you to hit your goals and how effort can go way beyond how many dials your ISA makes each day.

Peter Drucker once said, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.” This holds especially true when it comes to the effort your ISAs put forth every day. By accurately measuring the effort your ISAs exhibit each day, you are able to determine a baseline of productivity for the dials, contacts, nurtures, and appointments he/she produces daily. Having this baseline gives you the plumb line to determine if more effort is needed or not, and more specifically, where the additional effort is needed to reach your goals. It also tells you when (and when not) to spend more money on labor so that you’re not throwing money away generating more leads and hiring employees when you don’t need to.

• Skills: Your ISA(s) should be every bit as good as you or your outside sales reps in the sales process. If an ISA doesn’t know what to say, how to say it, and when to say it, he/she cannot be the main point of contact for your prospects. In this book, I’ll identify what your ISA(s) need(s) to know to properly influence prospects over the phone.

The one thing you can’t teach anyone is to be fearless on the phone. Other than that, every other skill you need to be successful on the phone can be learned. The important thing to remember is that your ISA needs to have all the skills at his/her disposal to be a beast on the phone. I liken it to being someone who disarms bombs: That person doesn’t just want to know some of the skills necessary to disarm bombs, that person wants to know all the skills.

In mastering all the skills necessary to be a rock star on the phone, your ISA will not only be more independent in his/her daily activities, he/she will convert leads at a higher level...leading to more and better appointments and ultimately, more listings and sales.

1. Processes, Tools, and Systems: You wouldn’t bang a nail in with a screwdriver, right? Having the right dialer, CRM, and digital delivery methods for messages can mean the difference between bad results and gargantuan results. You’ll get the inside scoop on what to look for in the tools to use in order to get optimal results.
2. Prospects, Nurtures, Leads: Not all lead sources are created equal. Bad phone numbers, wrong names and addresses, improperly targeted neighborhoods all lead to fewer appointments, listings that are harder to sell, and higher labor and marketing costs. Having the right data can increase your ability to contact the right people by as much as 50 percent. We’ll tell you what to look for when choosing the right leads and then how to handle them to supercharge your conversion.
3. Managing: If you’re a great salesperson, you’re likely not the best manager. It’s a learned skill, at best, but one that’s vital to getting the best results from your ISA(s). We’re going to discuss key strategies on how to effectively manage your ISA without taking away from the other things you do every day.
4. Reporting: Reporting is like the rudder for your ship. There are numbers you need to look at every day to make sure your ISA department is delivering in spades on the investment you’re making in it. We’ll talk about the key metrics you must keep an eye on in order get consistent, predictable results for your business.