“The most important thing is not which system you use. The most important thing is you have a system!”
– Zig Zilar

Chaotic, haphazard, disorganized – would you prefer to describe your business practices in these terms?

Dr. W. Edwards Deming is the American statistician who is credited with bringing quality business practices to Japan. Before his arrival in 1950, the label “made in Japan” was synonymous with inferior quality. Now the same “made in Japan” label is synonymous with high quality.

So what did Dr. Deming teach the Japanese that made such a difference in the quality of their products? The answer is simple yet profound. Based on years of statistical analysis, Deming was able to validate that 94% of all failures are not because people don’t want to do a good job. The fact is that most people do want to do a good job. The problem is the system. The system failed in 94% of the cases, not the people.

The word system forms a useful acronym:

A system is a routine way in which you handle daily responsibilities. It can be a checklist, form letter, worksheet, or daily agenda – anything that keeps you organized, guides you through an activity the same way each time, and allows you to accomplish everything you need to in order to meet your goals. Systems are also important because they ensure that nothing slips through the cracks.

It might be as simple as using different colored folders or stickers to differentiate clients with different status (those who’ve rented with you, those who’ve called but not made an appointment, those who’ve looked at apartments but not rented…) It could be as complex as a filing system, a protocol for taking memos, or a detailed script for handling client calls.

I suggest you create systems for the following: creating ads, fielding calls, showing apartments, tracking down paperwork, following up with clients, preparing for a listing presentation – any thing and everything that you do repeatedly. Once you have a main system in place, smaller sub-systems will help each aspect of that responsibility go smoothly.

“How Do I Develop My Own Systems?”
This is pretty simple, but it does require a little of your time in the beginning. Start with your goals. Analyze where you’re going. Now look at what specific tasks are required to get there. Let us assume that our goal is to hire one hundred new agents within one year and our records indicate that only one out of twenty candidates who call for the position will qualify for an interview.
That tells us that we need to talk to two thousand people in one year, which translates to forty-four calls per week in a 48-week work year.

We might further know that only one out of ten candidates we interview will actually work for one year. That tells us that we need to interview one thousand people in that year. That translates to approximately twenty-two interviews per week.

By analyzing our hiring objectives for the year and the effort required to accomplish that task we arrive at a picture that will define our week such as:

1. 44 calls a week.
2. 22 interviews a week.
3. 14 follow up calls a week.
4. 4 advertisements in the paper a week.
5. Weekly company introduction in a real estate school.
6. 30 calls a week to create interest among agents working for our competition.
7. Free sales seminar.

The work will then define the amount of time required. If you work 50 hours a week then you will create systems to incorporate the above tasks within that time frame. Once this has been accomplished, a few weeks of practice will make it a habit that can be easily followed and results measured.

Now that we have our hiring objectives established, we need to put systems in place. As you nail down more decisions about how you like to operate, your systems will become increasingly specific.

To keep with the above scenario, you might then create a sub-system to handle the interview process. Your system would consider the following:

1. Do we walk candidates to the elevator when it is time for them to depart?
2. Do we ask them to fill out a 10-answer questionnaire so that we have pertinent information before we start the interview?
3. Do we take them into the conference room so that there are no interruptions?
4. Do we tell the receptionist to hold our calls showing respect for the candidate’s time?
5. Do we offer candidates a glass of water or a soda to make him or her comfortable?
6. Do we encourage them by saying that we realize that some of the best candidates need time to get used to the atmosphere so they to us when they feel they are ready?
7. What is our word choice and what kind of image does it create in the minds of the candidates?

Our system for sourcing would consider:

1. Is our advertising geared toward experience or is it geared toward new agents?
2. Does our hiring process include a creative brochure or pamphlet?
3. Do we have a system in place for contacting new graduate students?