The truth can hurt but the people who can handle the truth are the ones who are successful in real estate. The agents at Harris Real Estate in Adelaide can handle the truth. It can be tough and confronting, but when you walk through the offices of Harris Real Estate, the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are up on four large Samsung plasma screens on display for everyone to see.
With a target to do $10 million in fees this year, the prominent display of the KPIs on the screens are a reminder and a source of inspiration, focusing the minds of agents about what needs to be done everyday to met that number.
Steve Osborn the Systems Developer from Harris Real Estate and the man responsible for the development of the screens says, “Every single time anyone walks through the office, they can see all his or her details. It’s just really, really clear; everyone’s KPI’s are really transparent.
The Screens Display
Steve explains, “We’ve also got every single agent’s tasks, appraisals, listings, sales and the commission they’ve done for that month up on the screen. It refreshes every 15 minutes, and the first day of every month it resets back to zero. On the right- hand side of this part of the screen, it totals up their commission for the month. So if someone hasn’t actually sold anything, it has nothing next to their name.”
With the new listings, Steve says, “It has the address of the property, the price, the date that it was listed, the method of sale, the type of property – whether it’s a house, a unit, a townhouse – bedrooms, bathrooms, cars, the internal house size, their land size, and then the team that listed it. That refreshes every 15 minutes; it’s constantly putting the new listings on there, and the older ones drop away.”
For recent sales. Steve says, “Its similar to the listings screen; it has the address of the property. We have three different prices on here, so we have the first advertised price, the last advertised price, and then the sale price. We have the date on market, the method of sale, the type of property, and number of bedrooms, bathrooms, cars, the house size, the land size; and then also the team that sold it.”
Steve believes that as the information is so prominently displayed, agents can just walk past the screen, and can see what’s sold recently. “They can get a really good idea of what that campaign was – especially in regards to price, because we’ve got those three different prices there.”
While this system is confronting, it means that no one can hide. In one glance, everyone can see how each individual and the company as a whole is performing. It can also inspire agents to act. For new agents coming into the business the culture of the office is clear.
Steve believes that displaying the key numbers that drive the business allows people to focus on the tasks that bring in the money to the business. He explains, “People are just walking past there all the time so you can’t really pretend that you’re doing work when you’re not doing work, because it’s sitting there, right in front of you.”
Everyone’s information is up on the screen, including the CEO’s – Phil Harris. Steve says, “Phil likes to be just as transparent as everyone else. One of the things that we find towards the end of the month, especially in the last seven days of the month, is agents look to find deals that they can get across the line. In effect, it actually encourages agents to compete with each other; and we have found that having that drives sales.”
The information captured around KPI’s also has another function in that it is used to underpin sales meetings, making them more efficient and targeted. The agenda of the weekly sales meetings covers weekend auction results, coming weekend’s auctions, coming week’s appraisals, new listings for the week, sales for the week and once a month the results for the months are analysed.
For example, with appraisals the performance of every team is listed. One team may have completed 11 appraisals in a week whereas another may have done one. Steve says, “So if you’re sitting in a sales meeting and you’re a sales agent, there’s nowhere to hide again, because it’s sitting there right in front of you, in front of the whole company, that you’ve only done one appraisal for the week.” Knowledge is power!
Typically in the week before the month is finished, how the company is tracking with their KPIs is analysed at the sales meetings. For example in one month last year, with one week to go, Steve says for that month, “We did 235 appraisals from a target of 343. We had 45 of 86 listings, 42 of 69 sales. Our average days on market was 29.55, average fee was 2.01%, and the total fee for November was $336,000.”
It’s just really, really clear; everyone’s KPI’s are really transparent.
This information makes it clear what action needs to be taken and specifically where action needed to be targeted by agents to go out and meet those targets.
By putting KPIs at the front and centre of the business, Harris Real Estate continues to be one of the top performing agencies in Australia. If you can handle it, the truth can set you free.