Your Listing Multiplier Index
One of the key tracking concepts, which I learned from Dean Jackson (Listing Agent Lifestyle podcast), is called a listing multiplier index.
Dean has changed the way I – and many others in the real estate world – have approached our business. A lot of people, when they think about opportunities to multiply a single listing, think about the numbers.
I’ve got a brief exercise to help explain this concept, and even if you don’t like numbers, I think there are some valuable insights to be gleaned from this method.
How to Calculate Your Listing Multiplier Index
To determine your listing multiplier index, try this exercise.
- Take out a sheet of paper.
- Write down the names of 10 sellers you’ve worked with.
- Write down your last 10 listings – whether they’ve sold or expired without a sale.
The goal from here is to try to give yourself 1 point for each property.
Here’s how the scoring works:
- Give yourself 1 point for every listing you sold.
- Give yourself 1 point for listings where you found the buyer.
- Give yourself 1 point for listings where the buyer bought something else.
- Give yourself 1 point for listings that helped you get another listing in the neighborhood.
- Give yourself 1 point for listings where you got a referral through your connections.
You have a potential for 50 possible points at the end of this exercise. Score yourself and take a look at your number. This number translates to the actual number each listing you take is worth.
- If your score is 15/50, then your listing multiplier index is 1.5.
- If your score is 8/50 because maybe two of your listings withdrew or expired, that’s a 0.8 listing multiplier index.
These numbers matter, even if you don’t like numbers because it’s one of the easiest numbers to improve if you put a dollar value to it.
Let’s say your average listing is $5,000, your listing commission is $5,000, and you focus on getting that listing on the MLS or letting someone else sell it for you quickly, you’re leaving money on the table. You may be losing $20,000. You had five chances, you only got one, that’s $20,000 on the table.
Now, think about that over 10 listings – and that’s the difference between making or losing $200,000.
Final Thoughts
As you and every other agent in this business know, real estate listings are special. They’re hard to come by – and they’re worth a lot to agents. However, you’re doing yourself – and your business – a disservice by limiting the potential of a single listing by just selling a property.
You want to grow your business and expand every listing’s potential to be something that continues to pay off for you. Whenever you get a listing, try to make a plan to hit as many points as possible and find every potential revenue stream surrounding that single property.
Working by referral means you want to make connections: How can this listing open up the potential for new connections, and how can you get each one of those names into your database?
Do you know a buyer for your new listing? Reach out and contact them. Is there another property your buyer might be interested in? A second home? A short-term rental? How else can you make yourself useful?
Does your seller know someone else who is trying to sell a house in the same neighborhood? Think about how you can get that person’s contact information. If you’ve managed to do a good job of making yourself a neighborhood expert – and you have a happy seller – your reputation and skills should stand on their own.
If you don’t find every possible route to maximize all of your listings, you’re leaving money on the table. That money adds up over time, which could make a difference in the long-term success of your business – and impact the lifestyle you want to lead. There are a lot of pros to the real estate agent lifestyle, but you’ve got to work for it.
Make yourself the go-to agent in your neighborhood. Don’t sleep on the potential that a single listing has, and don’t sell yourself short by letting other agents take something that’s rightfully yours.
