Summary

In 2013, I made a decision that on paper looked like career suicide. I moved into leadership at Jameson Sotheby's and agreed to wind down my personal real estate business. My strategy was to cut my Top 150 in half, push the bottom 50% down to fringe, and go all in on the 68 people who mattered most. I was concerned my production would suffer. The opposite happened. 2014, 2015, and 2016 were some of the best brokerage years I ever had. This episode is about why, and it is the real start of Pillar 3, CRM and Relationship Management.

The heart of this episode is the referral tree. Your platinum clients are the seed and the trunk. They introduce you to the person, who introduces you to the next person, who becomes three more branches. Picture ten or fifteen of those trees, nurtured over years, and you start to see why I still know I had exactly 68 clients. I know that number the way you know your own kids' birthdays, because I looked at it every single day. That daily attention is the entire reason my business doubled four times in five years. A CRM organizes the relationship. It does not make the call. You cannot automate thoughtfulness.

Listen for more details.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to the importance of CRM and relationship management
01:00 The value of CRM in generating millions in revenue
01:59 Categories of clients: platinum, gold, silver, fringe
02:57 Jim's personal story and business growth through CRM
03:59 The law of compensation and serving more clients
04:56 Creating a top 100 client list for business success
05:59 The importance of staying top of mind with clients
06:58 The referral tree concept and its significance
08:06 The impact of relationship nurturing on business growth
09:04 Starting with platinum clients and personalized communication
10:03 Practical steps to build and maintain your CRM
11:14 The cost of neglecting CRM and relationship strategies
12:14 Creating momentum through consistent client engagement
12:54 Expanding your client base through relationship management
14:09 The importance of regular CRM audits and pruning
15:08 Jim's final advice and encouragement for listeners
16:11 Closing remarks and next steps for building your CRM

Resources

The Go-Giver by Bob Burg
Jim Miller - Instagram - @askjimmiller

Summary

June was a month of reflection on Take Flight, a mid-year audit of what the first two quarters delivered and where the cracks are hiding. Episode 331 closes that arc and turns toward the second half of the year. Jim opens on the farmer's logic that runs underneath everything he teaches. You plant in the spring and harvest in the fall, which means the work you do right now lands six to nine months out, not on next month's paycheck. Real estate is not a business of selling properties. It is a business of building relationships and compounding them over a long career.

Borrowing the structure of Brian Moran's The 12 Week Year, Jim frames this moment as Week 13, the point where you celebrate the wins, count the near misses as learning, and plan the quarter ahead. He is candid that Q3 is a trap. You are tired, the year has been long, and the pull to pump the brakes is real. His answer is not to grind harder. It is to be intentional and surgical, taking one project per week and knocking it out, whether that is a couple of hours, thirty minutes, or a single phone call you have been avoiding.

The quarter's teaching focus is Pillar 3 of Take Flight, CRM and Relationship Management. Jim makes the case that this is where all real success comes from. Your income is the number of people you serve times the level at which you serve them, and you cannot afford to lose people from your network because they are so hard to replace. 85%-90% of most advisors' business comes from their network, which is why offline marketing, reputation and relationships, outperforms any digital tactic over time. Across Q3 he will get detailed on building a Top 100, setting cadences for platinum, gold, silver, and fringe contacts, and retaining the network while expanding it.

Jim closes with the question he puts to every client. Are you interested in being great, or are you committed to it. He points listeners back to the June episodes, 327 through 330, and to episode 254, Think Like a Farmer, as the groundwork for the season ahead. The challenge is simple and singular. This week, name the projects that need to get done in Q3 and commit to running them one at a time. Do the heavy lifting now so your network is in real shape heading into Q4 and Q1.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Take Flight Weekly
02:54 Reflecting on Q1 and Q2 Results
05:48 Preparing for Q3: The Trap Quarter
09:06 The Importance of CRM and Relationship Management
11:49 Commitment to Success and Building Your Network


Ask Jim Miller - Email List - mailto:Jim@askjimmiller.com

Instagram: @askjimmiller

Summary

June is the month to stop and look. A six-month audit is the most valuable two hours an ELP can spend right now. Step out of the business, look at it from the outside, and answer three questions.

What does winning look like?
What plays work every time you run them?
What is broken that I can fix in Q3 and Q4?


This episode is the answer to the second question, the 7 plays I would run over and over to stabilize a business and most often add real production over the next twelve months. The weekly planning session. The next 10. 1=3.. The pipeline at 150% to 200% of goal. The post-closing process. The three rocks of marketing. And boundaries. Each one maps to a pillar of Take Flight, because this is not a list of tips. It is the framework boiled down in one podcast episode to what actually moves a business.

Different advisors sit in different places. The purpose is the same. Build the business so it fits into your life. Filter out the noise. What I give you in this episode are the signals. You just have to run the plays.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Purpose of the Audit
04:54 Seven Plays for Business Success
15:56 Conclusion and Call to Action

Resources

Jim Miller's Website - https://askjimmiller.com
Instagram - @askjimmiller