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About Kinder Reese

There are plenty of so-called real estate experts out there teaching agents how to succeed even though they haven’t sold a home in decades, if at all. But Kinder Reese is different. Founders Jay Kinder and Michael Reese have collectively sold more than 6,270 homes over the past two decades, they still have thriving real estate practices, and they love sharing their proven systems and processes with other agents who are serious about growing their business.

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How to lead effectively during times of crisis

Published by Jay Kinder

Looking back, starting our real estate coaching business back in 2008 — on the downslope of a nasty five-year slide — was an amazing decision for our organization.

It didn’t always seem that way, however, as we were also running real estate teams of our own and guiding our agents and employees during what is now known as the second worst downturn in the economy since the Great Depression.

There were many things we didn’t know that we figured out through trial and error as well as from learning from others in our industry.

The good news is that we not only survived, but we thrived and built an amazing real estate coaching organization and two very successful real estate companies. Like many companies who came before us, we built a great enterprise during a period of serious economic uncertainty.

It took a lot of mental and emotional fortitude and a willingness to not give up, no matter what. More than that, it required us to make some serious adjustments in how we ran our businesses, communicated with our teams, and made decisions about the actions we were going to take to keep moving forward until things got better.

It was mostly trial by fire, but we learned what it takes to lead effectively during times of crisis.

Recently, Verne Harnish, author of Mastering the Rockefeller Habits and Scaling Up, shared five key things all leaders must do during times of crisis.

I’m going to take each of his recommendations and expand on them as it relates to the real estate industry:

Communicate Daily – the #1 action – maybe even twice per day. There’s no shortage of people with whom you should be communicating daily as you lead through this current crisis:

Team members: Your team needs to know you haven’t given up and that you don’t plan giving up. They also need to know that you don’t want them to give up. You all must be pulling together, in one direction, in order to make it through to the other side of what’s going on. In addition to encouragement, you must also give them direction. They need to know what to do, day in and day out, to keep moving forward.

Some folks are paralyzed by the unknown and others just don’t know what to do because they’ve never been through something like this before. Take the time to clearly outline what you expect of everyone and what they must do on a regular basis in order to get results, even with things the way they are at this moment.

1. Past clients and sphere: When things are uncertain, people gravitate to certainty. It’s your job to communicate hope for the future, positivity, strength, and certainty whenever you can. Be there for your past clients and sphere with respect to real estate and non-real estate needs. Let them know that you are there for them and that they can count on you to help them with whatever they need. Make sure they get calls, emails, and handwritten notes from you. Also, be on social media with videos and posts as often as you can so that they see you are continuing to work hard through these uncertain times.

2. Prospects: What we’re currently experiencing is not terminal. Does it suck? Absolutely! But it’s not going to last forever. And, when things do turnaround, there will be a significant amount of pent up demand for buyers and sellers. What this means is that both sellers and buyers need to have a plan now and not when the “all clear” signal is given. If people wait until the current situation is resolved, they will be behind the proverbial eight ball.

Sellers will be waiting for contractors, cleaners, home inspectors and even real estate agents to help them get their home ready for sale and on the market. Buyers will be competing against a number of other buyers, likely facing multiple offer situations and higher prices than if they were to start looking and making offers sooner rather than later. It’s vital that we help real estate consumers get ahead of the curve so they can come out on top when the market stabilizes.

If you see an opportunity to communicate...seize it.

3. Customer/Community Support – give, give, give with no expectation of return. If you have financial support you can provide, then by all means give what you can to help others in need. There is no shortage of people that need money for food, housing, clothing. medical attention, bills and myriad other things. Tap your partnerships and vendors to see if they can help out, too.

If you are short on money, then man power is the way to go. Local churches usually do a lot to help people in your community when things get tight. There’s also local soup kitchens, the Red Cross and other organizations that help out. If you want, you can do a collection drive for toiletries, toilet paper, paper towels, food, etc. that you can collect and then distribute to people who are in need. Be resourceful and seek out opportunities to help others as much as you can.

4. Clean Up and Catch Up – time for spring cleaning to keep people proactive and occupied. You’re likely going to have some downtime as the market has slowed since things have gotten crazier with the pandemic. After you’re done communicating and prospecting each day, you should have some time to get after the professional and personal projects that you’ve been putting on the back burner over the last several months and years.

Think of all the projects that sit on your desk in and in your drawers in various states of completion at this time. Consider all the input you could get from your employees, agents, clients, vendors, etc. that you could collect to improve your systems and the service you provide on a day-over-day basis.

Take time to do some serious strategic planning about the future. Think about what you want things to look like long term and what you’re willing to do to get there. Also, if you’re in a bit of a crunch right now and things aren’t the way you’d like them to be, put a plan together that makes you and your business impenetrable to any future downturns in the economy or the real estate market.

Whatever you do...don’t just sit on your hands and do nothing. Take action. Get things done. Put plans together and be ready to implement them as soon as things change.

5. Cash, Cash, Cash – engage the entire team to help –. In his book The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America's Wealthy, Thomas Stanley said: “it matters less how much more you make than what you do with what you already have.”. In times like these, what you do with what you already have is of the utmost importance. You’re going to have to spend money, you just have to do it judiciously and make sure that it’s serving your business at the highest level.

If you have credit lines to tap and savings that you can dig into, be sure that you’re doing it with the utmost prudence. Your financial decisions need to not only get you through the tough times, but also to the other side when business starts to pick up again. As part of your financial plan, be sure to keep generating leads that you can nurture and turn into sales in the future. Remember, you’re always selling for a period of time that’s up to 90 days away.

If money is tight, look for a way to get some financial assistance. The Small Business Administration (SBA) is offering disaster relief loans to small businesses and might be a place to get some support for your business during this time. You can check out what’s available to you at https://disasterloan.sba.gov/ela/.

6. Calm and Considerate – breathe!! If it’s crazy for you, it’s likely crazy for many others, too. In tense times, it’s important for everyone to keep their cool as often as they can. When tensions run high, it’s easier to get emotional, say things we don’t mean to day and do things we don’t need to do. This is not a great strategy during a time when we all need to pull together to not just survive, but thrive as we get through the “insanity”. Here are a couple of things you can do to remain calm and considerate in tough times:

Be grateful: focus on what you have and not on what you don’t. Thank people for their commitment to working with you, their flexibility when things don’t go as planned, patience when things get tense.

Meditate: Meditation is a great way to center yourself and focus only on what’s happening in the present. It helps stave off the worries of an unknown tomorrow.

Spend time not working: The natural inclination is to stay busy so you can keep your mind off of what’s going on. That can tire you out and keep you from decompressing some of the stress you might be feeling. Go for a walk, read, hang out with friends and family (to the extent you can) and find other distractions so that you get some balance in your life.

Unfortunately, things are very tense right now. The unknown can be very scary. And in these times, what is known can be downright frightful as well.

No matter what the situation is, we all need to step up and be leaders where we can. Consider seriously what I’ve shared here and assume the challenge of leading effectively during this time of crisis.

You’re up to the task...I promise!