Archive for November, 2007
Harness the Cyclone of a Changed Business
Harness the Cyclone of a Changed Business
Let’s face it – today’s market is different. Anyone who’s entered the business fifteen years or less ago has likely never seen a flat or down market. And it’s not just the real estate industry – many businesses today are off a significant percentage from their 2005 and 2006 banner years.
Things that worked well three years ago aren’t working now. And when you try to pinpoint only one thing, you find that your business has changed in more areas than just one. The inbound calls of yard signs have virtually dried up. Perhaps the Just Listed cards that used to generate “come list me” calls have lost their effectiveness as well. Open houses that used to generate scores of eager buyers now attract just a handful of lookers. You need help. And not with just one idea… with everything.
Take 30 minutes to analyze your business. What area is presenting the greatest challenge for you right now? Define at least one action you can take this week to improve your situation. One quick tip from the STAR POWER Stars: in a down market, it’s especially critical to be calling each and every past client and customer to strengthen relationships, look for change that might precipitate a move for them, and ask for the referral of their friends, family, and colleagues. How many calls a day are you willing to commit to?
As for everything else flying about your cyclone? We have good news – the help you need is out there. STAR POWER Systems’ Annual Conference covers everything from prospecting to find new business, to getting sellers to price realistically for a sale, to Web lead incubation, to strengthening your brand, and so very much more. The next Conference will be held July 23-26, 2008, in Orlando, Florida. Around 2,000 of the most success-minded agents in the country, from all franchises and independents, at all levels of production, will come together to learn from 170 of North America’s most successful and sharing top producers.
When asked about the value of the Conference, Cynthia Morgan from Naperville, Illinois, had this to say: “Since the STAR POWER Conference we are 32% above last year’s totals, and we’re working as a Team toward amazing goals! Our rainmaker keeps us fired up constantly. The “It’s My Pleasure” attitude permeates our office. Our morale is through the roof and we have No Doubt we will reach our Goals! THE TOOLS FROM STAR POWER HAVE TRULY GIVEN US THE POWER TO CHANGE OUR MINDSET AND CREATE RAVING FANS!”
A huge price break is available through November 30; take advantage of the tax write-off in 2007 by registering now. Call 1-800-635-6750 or visit www.gostarpower.com/Conference to get registered. And to get Conference-level help right now, order the Best Of Phoenix audio CDs, capturing the lion’s share of the 2007 Annual Conference just held in July. Scores of Stars and 28 sessions stand waiting to come to your aid.
|
The Essentials of Real-Estate Success–and how to get more!
Based on The Essentials of Success™ from
A-Ha Performance: Building and Managing a Self-Motivated Workforce
by Douglas Walker with Steven Sorkin
Success! What a concept! It means different things to different people
of course so what does it mean to each of us?
To some it means standard of living success…meeting needs for
shelter and food, but meeting them in the upscale parts of town. For
ome it means relationship success; being attractive to others, getting
along well with family, colleagues and clients, establishing and keeping
long term friendships. For some it’s achievement or accomplishment
success; selling more than those we compete with, increasing our
numbers, selling a property others can’t, getting the best deal for our
client whether buyer or seller… it’s about wins that are important to us.
For some of us, success is having the means to take time off, to have
fun, to relax. For others, success is freedom; the freedom to go where
we want, do as we please, try creative new approaches to business or
some other aspect of our lives.
A critical question to get clarity on then is, what, really, does success
in real-estate mean… for me? Pause for a moment. To get the driving
answer to that question, we’ll need to quiet our minds from their focus
on busy details and listen to our hearts for the deeper answers. The
Spanish philosopher, Ortega Y Gasset reminds us that Without a certain
margin of tranquility, truth succumbs. To get to our truth about what
success is, a certain margin of tranquility is required. Is success for me
mostly a standard of living issue? Is it a relationship or love and belonging
issue? Is it about competing and winning, being recognized for
accomplishments? Is about having fun, or feeling free?
What ever our answer, and this exercise will work best if we come up
with a specific answer as to what success is in our heart of hearts, the
next question is how successful are we currently? This is not a, are we
successful or not question. There are levels of success. We already
are successful at some level so let’s identify just what our current level
of success is. What’s our current number of prospecting calls per day or
per week for example? Write it down? If we’re not yet where we want to be,
it may not feel like success, but it isn’t failure, it’s just where we are now…
our starting point for today. If the answer is zero calls, then that’s our starting
point… our current level of success.
Failure is permanent, done, over. We’re still in the game so we’re
talking about current levels of success. If success is standard of living
success, what’s our current annual income? If success is relationship
success, how would we describe our current relationships with family,
friends, clients, colleagues? Be honest. Is it as strong and supportive as
we’d like it to be? Are conversations harmonious or acrimonious? If
success is achievement success, how many prospecting calls did we
make today, how many deals have we closed, how many are in the
pipeline? How much fun are we having? On a scale of 1 – 10, how
free are we feeling?
My current level of success is: ______________________________
The next step is to put some clarity around the success level we’d like
to have in which ever area we’re focused on for this exercise. Keeping
the example simple, let’s say we’re focused on prospecting or follow-up
calls… we know that sales success, to some extent is a numbers game
so what’s our current level of success – number of calls made yesterday
or per day for the past week? What’s our desired level of success in
number of calls made per day or per week? Or… what’s our desired level
of success in the area we’re focused on? Metrics are helpful here. If
there’s a way to quantify level of success, that’s very helpful.
My current level of success is: ______________________________
My desired level of success is: ______________________________
We’ve just finished step one of the Essentials for Success, we’ve
identified both ends of our success challenge: what we’ve currently
Got and what we Want. Remember, every problem, every challenge
always has both of these components… a Got and a Want. Knowing
where we’re starting and where we want to end up is phase one. Once
we’ve got what we want, we’ve solved the challenge.
Preview:
Upstream from success, success in anything, there are 4 essential
components:
1. Environment or Marketplace (one where success is possible)
2. Process(es) (effective ones)
3. Skills and Resources (the right ones for the process)
4. Motivation / Morale
Here’s how it looks in stream:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~>
MOTIVATION/MORALE ► Skills/Resources►Effective Processes
► Success Possible Environment = SUCCESS
When Success is less than we want, most of us blame the
Environment/Marketplace, redesign somebody else’s Process, tell
people what they should be doing rather than teach or develop Skills
in them, fail to invest in needed Resources and screw up Motivation
Leveraging and maximizing those essentials will be the focus of our
next 4 articles.
Doug Walker, M.S.
Partner, A-HA! Performance
Intrinsic Motivation Management Key-notes, Training, Coaching and Facilitation
Author and Co-creator, "A-HA! PERFORMANCE: Building & Managing A Self-Motivated Workforce" – 2007 - John Wiley and Sons, Publisher
Available Online and in Book Stores in US & Canada
Achieved AMAZON BEST SELLER status! [#1 in Movers & Shakers, #2 in both Leadership & Management (hot new releases) and #3 in HR & Personnel Management]
"Book of the Month" for the leading online book summary service for professionals, Business Summaries (www.bizsum.com)
Featured Author on PBS’s Between the Lines
(858) 775-2238
dw@ahaperformance.com
|
Fun Innovations Discovered at the NAR Show
The recent NAR Convention was packed with vendors offering the latest and greatest gizmo’s and gadgets known to man and woman kind. Here are several of my favorite ideas and services worthy of consideration:
1.Lay It Out Furniture Templates
These days, everything is ‘interactive’. It’s an expectation. People want to be INVOLVED in everything they think about purchasing. Now there’s an exciting way to get your prospects involved in your demonstrations, too, and not just with having them open doors, turn on lights, etc.
Lay It Out is a kit of furniture templates that your prospects can use to actually arrange furniture in your ready vacants, without the possibility of muscle strains and assorted pains! Imagine, instead of asking “Where will you put your couch?” You can say, “Here, let’s figure out where to put your couch.”
You take out the template for the couch and you and your prospect work to actually furnish their home to their liking. It’s the Assumptive Close, the “Mentally Move Them In” Close and the Direct Close all in one. Best of all, it’s fun and memorable. Find out more about these innovative furniture kits at www.layitout.com
2. Referral Business Cards.
It’s the little things that make a BIG difference. Your business card is a perfect example. That’s why I was impressed with Referral Business Cards.
Mark Marston, CEO of Referral Business Cards explains: “I am completely convinced that a great business card can make a positive difference in sales. The average business card is ok for communicating basic information, but it can be so much more. Because it is a front line marketing tool, it ought to be something outstanding and sharp.”
You get a boost in your first impression but the real power of these cards lies in the fact that people just don’t feel like they should throw your card away. And if they keep it, isn’t there a better chance that it will lead to referrals or sales?
In fact, Mark encourages people to use them like a referral invitation by handing out several cards and saying something like, "If I’ve earned your trust, would you be so kind as to pass my card on to someone else who may need me?" And besides, it’s nice to have a business card that you just feel good about handing out!
3. AgentsLight
I love innovation and these AgentsLight folks have taken the “For Sell” sign night light to a whole new level.Can you imagine driving down the street at night and YOUR listing is the only sign that can be seen? Talk about a competitive edge!
The solar panel does its magic without batteries and the innovative LED light bulb positioning fires a bright beam on both your “For Sell” sign AND your rider. I was impressed with the solid construction and the ease of installment—took me less than a minute with no tools.
And think about the competitive edge in your next listing appointment. Showing a potential client your technological advantage is sure to differentiate you from other agents. Every “For Sell” sign should carry this competitive advantage.
4. Swapee.com
It’s been said that “necessity is the mother of invention,” and that old methods cannot produce new results. Thus, Swapee.com caught my attention!
Many people are not buying homes today because they can’t sell theirs. This means that the majority of the Buyers out there are also Sellers and can’t purchase a property until their current property is sold. The concept is simple. With Swapee! you now have an online match service of real estate. Real Estate owners may now trade their property for other(s) that fit their criteria. Swapee! has now created a passage through a challenging real estate market.
REAL ESTATE SALESPERSONS AND BROKERS
Do you have listings that have become stale? By listing all your properties on Swapee! you have now opened up a lot of possibilities. If you represent a Seller of which you have located another property to facilitate an exchange, you have now created the possibility of representing both the Buyer and Seller, doubling your commission. This is one of the greatest tools you can offer your client to create momentum in a slow market. The exposure of your listings will be worldwide!
|
Filed Under ( Technology) by admin on November-28-2007
How to Improve Productivity, Competitiveness and Safety!
ActiveKEY Helps Agents Compete in Today’s Real
Estate Market by Providing Real-Time Showing
Alerts and Other Intelligence, While Offering
Revolutionary New Agent Safety Feature
GE Security, Inc., a wholly owned indirect subsidiary
of the General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE),
announced its new wireless lockbox key, ActiveKEY,
has garnered significant early acceptance since its
launch in August and is now being used by more than
33,000 real estate agents in more than 30 markets
nationwide, with more than 100,000 ActiveKEY
deployments planned by year’s end.
ActiveKEY, a first-of-its-kind lockbox key designed
by and for mobile real estate professionals, wirelessly
delivers near-instant notifications of showings and
associated detailed showing feedback reports. The
real-time intelligence offered by the ActiveKEY
solution can help agents be more competitive in today’s
tight real estate environment, by more quickly reacting
to local market conditions, while better serving their
customers through more efficient and effective
interactions with showing agents and buyers.
Additionally, ActiveKEY will soon offer the first
wireless safety alert feature designed to enhance
agent safety. Using pre-assigned phone numbers and
e-mail addresses, ActiveKEY will allow agents to
alert others in emergency situations through a
combination of e-mail and text messaging.
With the press of a button, agents will be able to
send emergency contacts a safety alert that
automatically includes the property address of the
last lockbox opened. This new safety feature will
be available to new and existing customers beginning
in early 2008.
“The market’s response to ActiveKEY has been nothing
short of tremendous,” said Jeff Antrican, general manager,
GE Security’s commercial real estate products.
“The real-time notification capability is helping
listing agents be more productive and changing the way
they interact with both sellers, and buyers and their
agents. We expect the new safety feature will allow
agents to feel more confident and secure in virtually
any showing situation.”
“Safety is always a key concern for us,” said Suzy
Stone, real estate agent and president of the
Fredericksburg (Va.) Area Association of Realtors.
“This new safety feature will give me another tool
and another level of protection while I am out with
clients. Our business has the potential for us all
to be targets, especially women. Having another source
to call for help is a monumental step for Supra to
take for its clients."
Currently, there are more than 33,000 ActiveKEYs in
use by real estate associations and boards in markets
throughout the country, including Tampa and Clearwater,
Fla.; Boise, Idaho; Santa Rosa, Calif. and Oklahoma City,
Okla.
ActiveKEY’s real-time notification feature can
inform listing real estate agents as soon as other
agents and prospective buyers walk into a property,
helping them be more in control of their listings
and more efficient in pursuing sales opportunities
by allowing immediate follow ups on showings.
Subsequent eFeedback reports provide details
necessary for listing agents to work with clients
to maintain competitiveness based on real-world
local market conditions, potentially reducing days
on market and increasing sales.
“ActiveKEY constantly takes care of business without
me having to remember any steps to take,” said
Tom McAuliffe of Don Cies Real Estate, Inc.,
Norman, Okla. “It’s user-friendly and brilliant.
I get reports from the showings of my listings.”
ActiveKEY’s wireless connectivity ends the need for
on-the-go agents to return to the office or their
home to access a hardwired cradle for updates. With
ActiveKEY, agents can receive real-time wireless
updates when their properties are shown whenever
they are in an area that offers cellular phone network
coverage. Its security features are also a major
selling point for local real estate associations
and agents nationwide. ActiveKEY also allows real
estate associations and multiple listing services
(MLS) to instantly take lost or stolen keys out of
service by issuing a simple wireless deactivation
command.
In addition to its new safety alert feature,
ActiveKEY’s built-in flashlight improves nighttime
safety for agents, allowing them to more easily
locate lockboxes and navigate in and around dark
houses.
“The product performs perfectly and does everything
it should – and more,” said Check Gregg, president
of the Cecil County Board of Realtors, Elkton, Md.
“ActiveKEY is a quantum leap into the future of
lockboxes.”
|
|
|
Convert Listings to Cash!
Click 
