Walk Like a Giant, Sell Like a Madman

7.1. Breaking Everything You Do into Steps

In my industry, as no doubt in yours, there are many little steps that must take place in a transaction. When a house is sold, credit needs to be checked, the home needs to be inspected, and a closing date needs to be scheduled. If I had to do my main job—working with buyers and sellers—and do all that other stuff, I couldn't possibly handle the volume I do. Therefore, I hire top-notch assistants to help me, and I create the systems—the paperwork flow—so that everything runs like clockwork.

With systems-based selling, you create procedures that cover every step in the process, break the procedures into tasks, break the tasks into steps, and then hire personnel and start delegating the work:

1. Do a step-by-step analysis of each process in your business, from prospecting to closing the deal to identifying procedures.

2. Reduce each procedure into a series of tasks. You may even want to create a checklist for each task to make sure it is completed properly.

3. Write step-by-step instructions for each task.

4. Delegate the work to one or more of your assistants.

In the following sections, I cover each of these steps in greater detail.

7.1.1. Identify Procedures

The first step is to identify procedures. Real estate agents might have a procedures list that looks something like this:

• Sending out a marketing packet

• Sending out a pre-listing packet

• Color-coding files

• Following up with clients

• Processing transactions

• Developing a sales presentation to deliver to ...