Archive for April, 2008

10 Steps to Effective Time Management
Filed Under (The Personal Edge) by admin on April-2-2008

 Smart time management is the secret to a thriving real estate business. Here are the top 10 ways to take control of your schedule so you can close more transactions:

 
1.       Set goals: Create a yearly business plan, then break it down into the goals you’ll need to accomplish each month. This will ensure that you’re motivated to succeed!
 
2.       Prioritize: Determine the tasks needed to accomplish each goal, then make a daily to-do list according to their importance.
 
3.       Stop procrastinating: Today! When you have a prioritized to-do list, do the items in the order they appear—no cheating, no rationalizations. Period.
 
4.       End perfectionism: Know when to stop! It’s tempting to keep fussing with a flyer or follow-up email, but there comes a point where the time spent working on a task is greater than the benefit of your efforts. That’s when you need to stop and move on to the next task.
 
5.       Say no: If you feel a request is unreasonable, takes too much time, or prevents you from accomplishing your goals, politely refuse. If this is difficult for you, practice your refusal aloud to a friend or mirror.
 
6.       Take a break: If you’re burned out or exhausted, you’re wasting your time and money. Better to take a few days of uninterrupted time off than drag on for weeks working half-heartedly.
 
7.       Invest in your skills: Take a seminar, find a coach, read a book. Learning something new can save you time and make you more effective in your business.
 
8.       Focus: Don’t let your mind wander. When you’re working on a task, put all your energy into it. This will help you finish the task more quickly so you can move on to the next one.
 
9.       Ask questions: One of the biggest time-stealers is miscommunication. Make sure you have all the information you need to complete the task before you start.
 
10.   Use technology tools: Spend your time on the face-to-face tasks that earn money. For everything else—such as finding new prospects or sending follow-up emails—use a full-service prospect capture and management system. HouseValues delivers a steady flow of motivated home buyers and sellers plus automated follow-up tools to help you close more business in less time.
 
When you use these tips to help you manage your schedule, you can achieve the success you want in no time!
 
Helping more than 10,000 agents across North America manage their time, HouseValues puts agents in touch with exclusive prospective home buyers and sellers, and even helps them manage their contacts, automatically keep in touch with prospects, and enhance their real estate sales and business skills.  To find out more (and to get your FREE 2008 Agent Business Plan) go to www.REAgentBusinessPlan.com.

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How to Get More Gen X and Gen Y Buyers Signed
Filed Under (Product Developments) by admin on April-2-2008

 

 

Home Warranty of Americas new product, the GreenPlus is an agent’s dream come true for buyer signing and new listing sales tool-kit for younger buyers. Gen X and gen Y buyers want to live Green and GreenPlus has Perfect appeal to their lifestyle desires.
 
Take a minute to learn how GreenPlus Home Warranty can benefit you and your clients. You can increase your sales opportunity, you’re income and help save our environment! Green Agent!
 
GreenPlus:
Replacing Key Appliances and Systems with ENERGY STAR Rated Products
 
Home Warranty of America announced today the availability of the first-ever Green Home Warranty Option in the Nation.* Real Estate Professionals can now offer their buyers a comprehensive home warranty from HWATM with the option to purchase GreenPlus. This new Option provides replacement of the appliances and systems shown below with ENERGY STAR rated products, if the unit cannot be repaired.
 
  • Dishwasher
  • Refrigerator
  • Clothes Washer
  • Heating System (with 90% efficiency)
  • Water Heater (with a tankless water heater)
  • Oven, Range, Cook Top          
 
 “This is an incredible breakthrough in the home warranty business. It means that many of the thousands of replacements we handle each year for our customers with these appliances and systems will upgrade to much more energy efficient units, helping to save money for our customers. It will also reduce energy consumption and positively impact the environment through less greenhouse gases” said David Sobel, V.P. of Sales, Home Warranty of America.
 
 “We know from ENERGY STAR that if just one in 10 homes used ENERGY STAR qualified appliances, the change would be like planting 1.7 million acres of trees. We believe Real Estate Professionals and Consumers want this and so do we. It can only be a win-win for all of us” said Marc Roth, President & CEO of Home Warranty of America. 
 
*GreenPlus is now available to Real Estate Professionals in Texas, California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Tennessee. It will be available nationally by April 1, 2008. 
 
 
Another new Home Warranty of America Product Takes Away the challenge of Covering the Unknown in the home being bought or Sold
 
OrangePlus:
Takes Away the Challenge of Covering Unknown, Pre-existing Conditions and Improperly Matched Systems with the OrangePlus Option
 
The OrangePlus Option is now available through Home Warranty of America (HWATM) and offers Real Estate Professionals and their clients even more peace-of-mind in a home purchase.* This new HWATM Option covers or increases*
 
  • unknown, pre-existing conditions
  • improperly matched or installed systems
  • removal of defective equipment
  • professional series appliances to $2500
  • toilet replacements to $600
  • code violations/permits up to $350
 
“We’re known for surveying our clients and the marketplace to develop innovative solutions in the home warranty industry that meet their needs and make it easier to buy and sell homes” says David Sobel, V.P. of Sales. 
 
“This year we even placed some of this coverage right into our contracts offering our real estate clients more choice in programs and options and making OrangePlus flexible to the marketplaces we both serve” added Marc Roth, President & CEO.
 
HWA offers OrangePlus nationally to Real Estate Professionals through their HWA Sales Representatives, on-line at https://www.hwahomewarranty.com/YourRealtyInsider.htm and via Customer Service Representatives at the toll-free telephone number 1-888-492-7359.
 
*Check your contract for complete details. OrangePlus is now available to Real Estate Professionals in Texas, California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee. It will be available nationally by April 1, 2008. 
 

For more information, please visit HWA’s web site. https://www.hwahomewarranty.com/YourRealtyInsider.htm

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Be Effective in Sales by Understanding People
Filed Under (Selling Skills) by admin on April-2-2008

Be Effective in Sales by Understanding People

To be an effective salesperson, you have to understand people. You have to understand that people buy and sell for a set of reasons. They also make decisions on whom they do that with based on their reasons, not ours. Being able to read people and ask the right questions is essential to success. Let me share the rules of reading people.
 
1.      People are egocentric: This means they are self-focused. They are clearly fixated on what’s in it for them. If we don’t know what they want and link that with the benefits of doing business with us, we will stumble in sales. We all look at the world based on how a given situation or opportunity relates to us personally. When we fail to connect the dots personally with our customers, we are rendered less effective.
 
2.      People make decisions emotionally: Most of us decide quickly. Some of us gather our facts and information previous to making a decision. Once we gather the necessary data, we move to the decision. Even the most analytical person will make decisions based on a feeling, need, or emotion. These people’s sales cycles are longer than others. Your job is to identify the longer sales cycles and be there at the appropriate time. We must also send all the data beforehand to be digested by the customer before they meet with us.
 
3.      People will justify their decisions with reasons: As salespeople, we have to give the prospect sufficient reason to do business with us. This frees them to move forward in the purchase based on the emotional impulse they feel. They want to move forward but are looking for a little security to justify their decision. We must provide a compelling reason for their movement forward now!
 
4.      People delay making decisions: The longer the customer postpones making the decision, the lower probability the decision will ever be made. As salespeople, our objective is to provide the customer with enough reasons to get them to attach benefit to our service. Our other objective is to encourage them and direct them to act on it now once they have the information. The sooner we can provoke a decision by the customer, the higher the probability that it will be in our favor. The longer the time between when you make your presentation and when the customer decides, the lower the probability of success. We must focus to shorten our sales cycles.
 
5.      People fear losing something: The fear of loss is one of the most powerful motivators for action. People will move more quickly to a decision if they stand to lose something than if they are positioned to gain something. As salespeople, we need to put our compelling reasons for action now in terms of potential losses to our clients. There are two types of fear of loss.
 
A.     Losing something you have
B.     Losing the chance to have something you want
 
Both of these are forefront in your customer’s thoughts.
 
To be effective in sales, we really need to master understanding people and what makes them tick. We have to use a full complement of techniques to help our prospects and clients make the right decisions for their success.

 

Click Here for More Training

 

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How To Deal with the Difficult Client
Filed Under (The Personal Edge, Uncategorized) by admin on April-2-2008

How to Deal with the Difficult Client Using the Cow Patty Process
by Mark Rosenberger, CSP

It’s bound to happen! Sooner or later a client is going to take their no good, lousy, rotten attitude out on, you guessed it, YOU!

It’s happened (or will) to all of us at one time or another. You’re the target of a client that is determined to unload on you - personally! You pick up the receiver and get the "what for", being chewed from one end to the other. And most likely, you didn’t do a thing, except pick up the phone at the wrong moment. So what can one do to not take the experience personally and maintain a positive attitude?

Use the Cow Patty Process!

The Cow Patty Process is a simple, fun technique for taking the emotion out of the situation and thus permits you to go home without feeling like the center bulls eye of a dart board.

Let’s begin at the beginning:

"Cow": a large domesticated farm animal. You know - "moo, moo". Gives us milk.

"Cow Patty": a leave behind substance from said cow. Cow pie, Meadow muffin, prairie pizza. Something you’d prefer not to step in.

Got the picture? Now that we have the basics covered, let’s leap forward to the process.

Next time an upset client begins the attack and starts to give you the "what for", visualize that they have just thrown at you a - you guessed it - a cow patty! (Hold the phone! Before your skeptic minds discount this entire idea, read the complete article!)

If a cow patty is flying through the room at you, what could you do? You’re right, DUCK! Yet how often do we sit there watching and chanting- "Here comes a cow patty, here comes a cow patty, here comes a cow patty—-splat!" We then spend the rest of the day bent out of shape because one upset client hit us with a cow patty. No more, it’s now time to duck!

Visualize the client has thrown a cow patty at you and DUCK! Let the emotion go by and then take care of the client and the situation. Read that last line again. It’s the key to the process.

Let the emotion go by and then take care of the client and the situation!


There is no reason to get hit by the cow patty! You simply mentally duck next time a client begins the emotional bombardment. You let the emotion hit the wall behind you and take care of the client, untouched and cow patty free!

It’s an easy, fun way to change the way you react to the attacks!

Help others avoid the cow patties! Next time you notice a co-worker or family member with their teeth clinched, knuckles white, shoulders up near their ears, eye balls bulging…show them the fake cow patty!

That’s right, hold your hand as if a cow patty were in your grasp and come toward your co-worker or family member! If they know the "Cow Patty" theory, they’ll see your hand and recognize it as the simulated patty. It’s a tremendous tool for helping others see the emotion; helping them let it go by, then taking care of the situation.

A word of caution: If the person is NOT familiar with the Cow Patty Process, DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT, come at them with your hand held in the designated position! They’ll really think you are off base and justifiably so!

So the next time you pick up the phone and hear that highly charged, angry client looking for someone’s hide, don’t get upset…simply DUCK! It’s much more effective than getting hit with another cow patty!

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