Do you remember the story about the Acres of Diamonds?

The man was struggling to find riches that he searched far and wide, but at the end of his life, he came to realize that the land he owned himself was full of diamonds. He never considered the land right under his toes.

So where am I going with this?

If you haven’t focused on marketing your services to your neighbors, you’re really missing out.

You need to be offering your neighbors and those in your farm areas, valuable information, whether it be about recent area sales, market statistics, strategies for preparing their home for salem, success stories about how you helped clients in a tough situation or share ways to keep from being scammed with some of the mortgage products on the market that are causing negative amortization loans for people, who become upside down on what they owe.

Using postcards (or doorhangers, if allowed in your area) can help keep your expenses down vs. stuffing envelopes. You can show how you’re different from other real estate agents in your area.

Every quarter, highlight a contractor, mortgage lender or inspector that you know would do a great job for anyone in the area. Tell a story about how they helped one of your clients. Never recommend someone, where you haven’t personally seen their work.

Promote your web site on the mailings, start a real estate blog and offer a free report or something of value by having them provide their e-mail address, so that your neighbors will contact you.

When starting out, mail weekly for 4 weeks. Then mail once every 10 days. Then twice a month. It’s important that you do it enough, so that your neighbors don’t forget that you’re in real estate and that you can help them. You need to keep it on a professional level.

If you’re already doing this type of strategy, what’s working for you? I’d love to hear your success story.

To your success,

Dan

Subscribe to FREE, weekly e-zine: Agent Success Tips

FREE Real Estate Forum: ActiveRain Real Estate Network

Become an “e-Pro” - NAR’s Only Technology Cert. Course

I recently had another consumer contact me online about selling her parent’s condo. As I always ask how she heard about me, she said through “ActiveRain“.

If you’re not a part of “ActiveRain“, you’re really missing out!

It’s a great (FREE) way to expand your visibility in the real estate referrals network. It’s more important than ever to get your name out there, so that you have a better opportunity to receive quality referrals. Since the network includes Realtors, mortgage lenders, and other real estate-related professionals, your name will be in front of more people, who can refer business to you.

What are the benefits of joining?

Create an instant Internet presence that’s very rapidly indexed and ranked by search engines. Network and share ideas with other real estate professionals throughout the US and Canada. Gain access to a great referral network for out of area referrals. Take advantage of many free communication tools such as a personalized blog and forums. Increase your visibility to home buyers and sellers.

Joining the ActiveRain Real Estate Network is simple and free. Just create your Profile by clicking the “Join the Network” link and follow the easy steps.

Do you ever get an “Ah-Ha“? Sure, you do!

I recently came upon a realization that makes sense…one that can simplify how one looks at their life and in what direction they want to go in versus just floating along in life.

The 3 words of importance here are: CHOICES……WANTS……NEEDS

Read that statement again and let it sink in.

From the smallest choices to the largest, we all make hundreds of choices every day. Some of them we do automatically, because we’ve done them thousands of times, while other more significant choices can be asextreme as changing our life’s direction.

WANTS are a lot easier to do than NEEDS.

Often when we have to make a choice about something, if it satisfies a NEED, it’s harder to make than if it’s for a WANT.

Isn’t it interesting that when we NEED something, often times, it must be something that affects our life by pain or greed or we procrastinate in doing it.

Do you need to exercise, eat fruits & vegetables and limit junk food? No, but if you don’t, after 40 - 50 years of this way of life, you may pay a big price down the road with your health.

Do you need to contact your clients on a routine basis and prospect for referrals and new business to keep our funnel full? No, but if you don’t, you may be on your way out of the real estate business.

If you WANT something, you’re giving yourself permission to go after it, determined to get it, no matter what you have to do.

It seems so much more appealing and you get excited just thinking about achieving it.It seems that when you WANT something very short-term, it’s easier to stay focused on it and you realize what pleasure you’ll receive from accomplishing it.

Here’s a strategy I want you to do for one day:

As you go through your day, whether it’s about business or your personal life, REALLY, REALLY, be aware of every time you make a choice about something.

That’s why having a simple daily list of activities that when completed every day will help you achieve your goals and dreams is so important.

It helps you make the right choices.

By the way, have an awesome week in your life!!!

To your success,

Dan

Subscribe to FREE, weekly e-zine: Agent Success Tips

FREE Real Estate Forum: ActiveRain Real Estate Network

Become an “e-Pro” - NAR’s Only Technology Cert. Course

Have you ever lost a listing over some seller objections?

Well, anyone who’s ever gone on listing appointments has. We all have.

In today’s marketplace, it’s vital to be on top of your game. Most home sellers are interviewing more than one agent; some are meeting with many as 4 or 5 agents before deciding who they want to hire to sell their home.

How successful you end up being will depend on how you handle seller objections. Many seller have objections, because they don’t know all of the answers and/or they’re not comfortable enough yet with you, so you have to provide them with enough information about the real estate process to show them you have the ‘right stuff’ to handle their home sale.

1. Practice Your Answers - Make a list of objections that you commonly come up against. You may even get a group of agents in your office to meet and have a contest of who can come up with the most objections and then write them all down and pass them around. The next step is to come up with the appropriate answers that will satisfy most sellers. Role play with others by having them give you objections and you answering them. You need to know your answers cold, so you don’t get flustered.

2. Ask Pre-Qualifying Questions - Make a list of ten questions among others that sellers often use as objections in a listing presentation and ask the seller while you’re setting an appointment time on the phone. It will also help you determine upfront if you really even want to go on the listing appointment.

3. Design Your Pre-Listing Packet - Another way to quelch many seller objections is to address them in your pre-listing packet. This goes back to what issues do most sellers have in general and with you personally and identify them. Then cover them in several pages of your pre-listing packet. When you address seller objections upfront and provide them with logical and/or emotional responses that make sense, you’ll overcome most of the seller’s objections and they won’t be an issue during your listing presentation.

4. Add To Your Listing Presentation - Now if you still get some objections at your listing presentation, it’s important to know your rehearsed answers down pat, so that you don’t lose control of the situation. Some agents say they don’t like canned presentations, but that’s what all professionals do. They add tone and empathy to it, because that’s what the seller needs to hear. You have the solution to their problem, don’t you?

5. Post A ‘Q&A’ Page To Your Web Site - Another way to educate home sellers on how you are the best person to service their real estate needs is post Questions on your web site and then you answer them. You can come up with the most common objections, as though a seller were asking the question, and then you can give a detailed answer. You’re the expert. In this type of format, you’re educating the home seller without even having to personally answer the questions face-to-face. Now, if they wanted to challenge your answer, then you just get into a discussion. Find out why they feel that way or have them explain it from their point of view, so it’s easier for you to give a response that will satisfy them.

What you’re attempting to do here with these different strategies is to send a pre-emptive strike on your home seller’s objections. Try them and see how they work for you.

To your success,

Dan

Learn how to be “More Profitable” selling real estate.
Subscribe to FREE, weekly e-zine: Agent Success Tips

Join FREE Network For Real Estate Referrals & Ideas:
Click Here to activate: ActiveRain Real Estate Network

Home buyers and home sellers are often making it tougher to be found in today’s market.

They hide behind computer screens, voice mail, answering machines at home, only answering you if they know you or know what you want.

They only pop their heads up out of their holes when they want something.

They’re constantly being bombarded with marketing and advertising all day every day and the only way you’re going penetrate their wall of trust is to bereferred to them by a family member or friend or provide them with valuable information that they can’t easily get somewhere else.

So, how do you find them?

One way is to hold an open house on a great property that will generate traffic. Provide people with information that they can take home with them. Then follow-up with them.

Another way is to focus on a neighborhood. There are web site templates available in the market, where you can be the area’s agent of choice and sponsor a web site, which can provide valuable information to the homeowners in that area. This neighborhood farming will take some time to nurture, but if it’s an area with good turnover, it can be worth the time and effort.

Another way is the 3-foot rule. When you’re in line at a store to check out, ask someone around you “Who do you know that’s planning to make a move and needs a great Realtor to protect their interests?” or “Have you ever thought of making a move? It’s a great time to buy.” You’ll be surprised at the responses you get. You can give them your business card, but make sure you get their contact information.

Offer them a carrot…free report, free CMA or something of value to them.

Another way is to make your ‘Just Listed’ and ‘Just Sold’ postcards do double-duty. They need to be direct-response pieces, where you let the people know about the new listing, but also offer a free report or free list of homes for sale in the area by going to your web site. People are always curious and love free stuff. This is a great way to build your prospect database. Then you can start a drip campaign on them by providing periodic mailings, etc to them and have them consider you to be their real estate resource.

Once you have someone in your database, don’t neglect them…continue to build an online and offline relationship with them, so that when the time comes for them to move or have a referral, they think of you.

To your success,

Dan

Learn how to be “More Profitable” selling real estate.
Subscribe to FREE, weekly e-zine: Agent Success Tips

Join FREE Network For Real Estate Referrals & Ideas:
Click Here to activate: ActiveRain Real Estate Network

Take a moment to review my last post and this will tie the two together much easier.

I write these “Agent Success Tips” LIVE and up to the minute and then I post them, but sometimes I have ideas that I’ve come up with earlier, so I write them down to remember them.

Any way, “on with the show” as they say. For example…….If you have an income goal of $250,000, but have never earned over $100,000, you need to figure out what you need to do more of and what you need to do less of.

(Plug your own numbers in here.)

Jumping from $10,000 per month to $25,000 per month takes different skills. Don’t fool yourself into thinking that it’ll only take a few more sales with nothing changing in your business plan or in your life.

Let’s be realistic here. Rarely does any agent sell the same number of homes month by month for the entire year, so why not figure out which 10 months of the year have historically been your best and focus on achieving your income goal in 10 months instead of over 12 months.

Then you can have time off to enjoy life and get re-energized to jump back in.

So follow me here…..

When you’ve earned $5,000/month for at least 2 months, make your goal $7,500/month.

When you’ve earned $10,000/month, make your goal 500/month.

When you’ve earned $15,000/month, make your goal $20,000 /month.

You can fill in your own numbers here, but it’s SO important understand…the ONLY WAY TO SUCCEED is staying FOCUSED and DISCIPLINED to taking the SMALL STEPS day after day.

(Read this again.)

Do you ever have “your head in the clouds”? I know I have. I have all the potential in the world as do you, yet sometimes I ask myself where are my results?

So, start by THINKING SMALLER.

Start focusing on JUST THE NEXT STEP.

Most people in our industry take very little or ZERO time for personal development. Go to a bookstore and findbiographies about people who have been successful in their lives and learn from their secrets as well as their failures. You can cut your learning curve by years.

When you take the time to build YOUR Game Plan, it really does allow you more time to do other things in your life, because when you’re focused and disciplined, everything changes.

When you’re working, you do what you need to do and you’re done. You move on to other aspects of your life…FAMILY, FRIENDS, PERSONAL TIME, etc.

When you’re un-focused, it’s like you’re running around trying to put out fires all of the time and you never get to the activities that you need to do to achieve your DREAMS. You feel like you’ve had a BUSY DAY, but in reality, you haven’t completed the activities that you had set out to do.

OK, so what’s your next step?

Ask yourself what you want to achieve and write it down.

What’s a realistic goal for you to achieve next month?

What activities can you do on a consistent, daily basis that will set you on your way to achieving your goals?

Remember, you can’t control what others do. You can ONLY control what you do. So focus on the daily activities that over time WILL make a BIG difference in your life.

So what are you willing to do Monday through Friday or Tuesday through Saturday? NO, this is not a 7-day a week proposal. All work and no play makes for a dull life.

If you work hard for 5 days, there’s no reason why you can’t take 2 days off every week. Boy, that’s not always easy to do, is it? I know that.

Just GET STARTED NOW!!! The longer you do it, the easier it will get and the more gratifying it will be.

Don’t hope to “Get lucky”. Luck has nothing to do with it. My dad always says “The harder you work, the luckier you get.

“Is your DREAM worth paying the price?

Yes, it’s not easy. It’s simple, but not always easy.

Yes, it’s tough.

But, when you’ve achieved it, it’s an unbelievable feeling!!!

Yes, it’s worth it!

How much money has “thinking big” earned you?

I challenge you to “THINK SMALLER” for the next 30 days.

Start today. Not tomorrow. Not next week.

If you have “perfectionist tendencies” like me, I understand. JUST START IT NOW!

Nobody goes to straight to college after first grade.

Nobody gets their black belt after their first lesson.

Success is about taking steps. One at a time.

If you’ve ever been to a Howard Brinton ‘Star Power’ conference, many people say it’s like getting information thrown at you through a fire hose that’s open at full capacity.

You can’t swallow it all at one time, but if you take one idea at a time and implement it, you’d be amazed at how many strategies you can complete over time.You know what you can achieve if you just put your mind to it.

You are surrounded by like-minded people.

Ask, Assimilate, & Act on it.

I know how GREAT you are.

You know what you are capable of.

Take control! Don’t be afraid to show it.

It’s time for the world to see it.

Never give up on your DREAMS! NEVER, EVER QUIT!

To your success,

Dan

Learn how to be “More Profitable” selling real estate.
Subscribe to FREE, weekly e-zine: Agent Success Tips

Join FREE Network For Real Estate Referrals & Ideas:
Click Here to activate: ActiveRain Real Estate Network

You might disagree with what I’m about to tell you and that’s OK.

Many “so-called experts” would think I’m wrong for thinking this way and I’m fine with that.

But what I want to share with you can make a HUGE difference in your life.

Even though it’s one of the simplest things to do, it’s also one of the toughest to do on a consistent basis. Not even I have mastered it yet. I continue to work on getting better with it day by day.

What am I talking about?

You see, I used to “Think BIG“.

Now, there’s nothing wrong with having a BIG VISION…something to strive for that’s bigger than you.

I know you have done it at some point in your life with some part of your life. We all have BIG DREAMS, but the problem is we can rarely focus over the long haul on what we need to do to achieve those dreams.

Distractions play such a big part in our daily lives that often we don’t even consciously recognize them anymore. We allow our habits to take over and that’s just the way it is.

Have you ever thought about achieving something in your life for over a period of a couple of years, whether in your business or personal life, but have yet to come close to achieving it?

I know I have. But why haven’t I achieved it?

Was I not committed enough?

Was I not focused enough?

Was it something that I REALLY wanted or thought would be neat to have or do?

Well, having BIG DREAMS without having a game plan to achieve them hasn’t worked for me and maybe hasn’t worked for you either.

BUT there is a way to achieve your BIG DREAMS…think smaller.

Yes, I said “THINK SMALLER!”

Haven’t you heard about how you eat an elephant…one bite at a time? Sure you have.

Sit down and take some time to determine what it is you want to achieve and then write down what activities you need to consistently focus on to achieve it. Really break down everything that you need to do yourself or to delegate to others.

Then set a realistic time frame to achieve it, but again break it down to bite-size pieces, so that when you complete phase 1, phase 2, etc. that you reward yourself. Write down how you will reward yourself after completing each phase. Even go out and buy what it is you’ll give yourself when you’ve finished each phase. It’s a big deal. You’ve earned it. It’s all part of building on your successes.

If it takes a little longer than you thought, then re-calculate your time line. Don’t beat yourself up about it. Just do it and move forward.

I’ll continue with “how to put this strategy into effect” soon….keep your eyes open for Part 2!

To your success,

Dan

Learn how to be “More Profitable” selling real estate.
Subscribe to FREE, weekly e-zine: Agent Success Tips

Join FREE Network For Real Estate Referrals & Ideas:

Click Here to activate: ActiveRain Real Estate Network

Well, you won’t get them back once they’re gone.

Will you just go through your daily routine…half-heartedly and with no sense of urgency?

How much can you implement in your real estate business and complete in that time?

Today is a new day for you. It’s just the beginning. You’re at the beginning of something amazing. You just have to realize it.

If you’re not happy with where you are right now, it’s because of all of the decisions you have made. You may not be willing to admit your made some poor decisions in the past, but we all do from time to time. You may have thought that your decisions weren’t a big deal each time. Let’s say you ate 2 double cheeseburgers every day for the past year. While the act of eating one double cheeseburger isn’t going to kill you today, the culmination of eating over 500 double cheeseburgers in a year will wreak long-term havoc on your body and health.

You can decide today that you’re going to make a change. The great news is that you can make a change with a snap of your fingers. It’s that simple. I didn’t say it would be easy, but it is simple to do.

You’re going to finally submit to the actions you need to take…to become teachable…and actually do what you have to do…to pay that price now…so that your life can be better.

So it’s time to make a list (I’m making mine for the next 30 days.) Don’t wait for a new month to begin…start now…go for 30 days out no matter when it is.

How much can you do in the next 30 days? What can you do with massive and consistent action in your real estate business as well as in your personal life? Make sure you don’t overload yourself. Don’t think farther out than that…only the next 30 days.

You may lose some sleep…you may skip some TV shows…you may (fill in the blank)…just become a Maniac On A Mission and push yourself to see how much you can really do and change in your life.

To your success,

Dan

Learn how to earn $100,000+ selling real estate.
Subscribe to FREE, weekly e-zine: Agent Success Tips

Join FREE Network For Real Estate Referrals & Ideas:
Click Here to activate: ActiveRain Real Estate Network