Archive for January, 2009

Record Keepers Are Record Breakers!

Wednesday, January 28th, 2009


OK, I need to ask you a serious question.

 

Have you been stuck at the same income level the past few years?

 

It’s probably easy for you to remember how much you earn from year to year, but do you know why you’re stuck at the same level?

 

Are you frustrated and just don’t know how to break out of your current level and stretch to a new higher income level?

 

Well, let me tell you a short story:

 

Last night, I was talking on the phone with my Dad about his golf game (he shoots in the 70s - he shot his age a couple of months ago - very impressive) and he shared with me how he keeps track of the number of putts per round, number of fairways hit, number of greens hit in regulation, etc. 

 

I asked him what he does with that information.  He replied that when he looks over the data, he can tell exactly where he needs to improve his game and what he needs to do to fix it. 

 

Amazingly, a light bulb went off in my head!

 

He was able to improve his game, because his consistent, record-keeping showed him where he needed to improve.

 

How many agents REALLY track their daily activities on a consistent basis in their business?

 

You have to remember that the activities you do today may take 60-90-120 days to pay off with the desired results - closings!

 

So start keeping track of:

 

- the number of prospecting calls you make

- the number of client calls you make

- the number of listing appointments you go on

- the number of buyer consultations you do

- the number of showings you do

 

There are so many different statistics you can keep track of, but start out with the basics for 90 days and then review and analyze your results.

 

As you continue doing your record-keeping, trends will begin to appear.  If you stop doing certain activities or increase your proficiency in them, your results will change.

 

It will in many cases appear obvious on what you have to do to get back on track.

 

So look at your business plan and decide what you need to start keeping track of and within 90 days, you’ll be able to see where your strengths and weaknesses are.

 

By keeping records and improving your proficiency, you’ll become a “Record Breaker”.

 

Our business success or failure is never really about the state of our nation’s economy.  There are agents all across the country having their best year ever.  So focus in on your business plan, keep track of your daily activities, analyze the results and alter your plan as needed.

 

It’s called “PLAN-DO-REVIEW”!

 

Have a great week!

 

To your success,
Dan
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Posted in Goal Setting | 1 Comment »

Finding The Needles In Your Hay Stack!

Friday, January 23rd, 2009
With most communities having plenty of housing inventory to choose from along with incredible mortgage interest rates to qualified buyers, now is the time to build up your client pipeline for the spring market.
 
I know there are many agents struggling in this real estate market, but homes are still selling.  Obviously, not at the numbers that will sustain the current level of Realtor NAR membership, but if you are willing to work harder and smarter, I believe you can and will survive in this challenging market. 
 
Like many, I believe that you have to continually improve your skillset.  For example, knowing how to handle short sales and foreclosures is something a few years ago we never dreamed we’d have to learn.
 
So what are a few simple steps to jump start us heading into the spring market?
 
Here’s 3 areas you can quickly analyze and take action on:
 
1)  Do you have any prospects that have slipped through the cracks over the past several months?  Maybe you wrote their names and phone numbers on some post-it notes or pieces of paper.  Call them NOW to see if they are ready to buy or sell within the next few months.  If not, find out when they’ll be ready and keep in touch.
 
Don’t just ask them YES or NO questions.  Think of WHO,WHAT, WHEN, WHY and WHERE questions to ask them.  By asking meaningful questions, you’ll separate yourself from other agents, who just ask typical sales questions.  If you know their “WHY” for making a move, bring it up in the conversations and see if it’s still valid.  People will only take action on their intentions when their “WHY” is strong enough.
 
2)  Review your list of current buyers, who’ve said they want to buy a home and if it’s been awhile since you’ve shown them a property, schedule a time to meet with them again one-on-one and have them re-focus on their housing goals.  Find out what’s most important to them.  Interest rates are great right now and it’s your job to educate your clients and reiterate that fact.  If they are watching or listening to the news, they may be frozen in their actions, because their sub-conscious mind is getting a blast of “doom & gloom”.  You have to counter-act that. 
 
3)  If you have active listings that aren’t moving, meet your sellers with an updated CMA and discuss the current market place with them.  See if they’ll adjust their listing price to get an offer on their property.  (In some cases, it’ll take a price adjustment, just to get a showing on their home.)  Do they need a dose of reality in having their home in top showcasing condition?  If their home needs some work, take them to a couple of other homes on the market that you know show well.  In some cases, removing wallpaper and painting or updating the kitchen or bathrooms can work wonders in getting buyers interested. 

Your sellers need to be motivated to sell or you’re just spinning your wheels going into the spring market, where there will be a lot more inventory to compete with.  If they aren’t motivated enough to sell, then do everyone a favor and recommend that they take their property off the market.  With many areas having 10 - 12 months supply of properties for sale or higher, now is NOT the time to ‘test’ the market.

 
Don’t start off this year with baggage from 2008.  See who wants to make a move this year and either ‘delete’ the others or allow them to continue simmering for awhile until they too are ready.

 

 

Posted in Real Estate Training | 1 Comment »

Instant Idea For Improving Your Business!

Thursday, January 15th, 2009

 If you haven’t done this yet, you’re costing yourself thousands of dollars and tons of time that you could be spending with your family and your hobbies.

Often, it’s the simplest things that when done over and over again, make the biggest difference in our lives and our pocketbooks.

 So why don’t we do them?

Isn’t that the truth? 

I can count on both hands over and over again how often I get distracted every day by thoughts in my head and phones ringing in my ears. 

If you’re watching TV or listening to the radio or CD, it could end up being hundreds or thousands of times a day.

Lack of focus and constant distractions!

Your mind is constantly playing tricks on you at a conscious and sub-conscious level, because it’s in in constant motion.

In an instant, I can remember the worst client I ever had and ended up never finding a home for him, because I fired him!!!  Then the next second, my mind is off to another memory.
 
Are these thoughts congruent with my current state of mind?  No, but if I’m focused, I’ll be able to reduce the amount of distractions running through my head.
 
You need to make an A-B-C list every night of what you need to do the next day and prioritize the most important ones that have to be finished THAT day.

A - must be done today
B - can be done today or tomorrow
C - delegate it or delete it

You may even have a core 3 - 5 things that are important enough for you to do on a daily basis.

When you wake up, look at your list for the day.  Then when you start your day, go down the list and check them off as you complete them.  BUT DON’T DO #2 until #1 is completed…and so on.

It’s so important to take 5 minutes each night to make your list for the next day, because it will help you focus on what’s most important to do and to help you achieve your goals.

A FATAL ERROR that some people make is they stop making the “To Do List” after awhile, because they think they can ‘remember’ what they have to do and they’re dead wrong.  They slowly lose their momentum.  Never realizing that their business has slowed until it’s too late and they have to start all over again.

If you miss a day though, don’t sweat it.  Accept it and start up again right away.  So what, you missed a day or two, get back on the horse.  Otherwise, a couple of days will turn into 2 weeks…and before you know it, it’s 2 months.

Once you start, don’t quit.  Don’t think “I’ll get back to it later.”  Life is moving too fast and there too many ways to get distracted.  Just keep your feet moving forward one step at a time.

The list will help you stay on focused on your goals.  Whatever you don’t finish today goes on tomorrow’s list.  But if it’s not an A, keep it a B until all of the A’s are completed.

I once heard a millionaire say, “If you decide to go after your dreams, it doesn’t matter if it takes you 3 years, 10 years or a lifetime to achieve…so long as you achieve it.”

Take charge of your time and what you accomplish every day.  Don’t let others steal your time. 

When you have “To Do” thoughts during the day, write them down on your list at that moment and prioritize them as an A - B - C.

Otherwise, if you’re sometimes like me, you may not remember what it was that you wanted to write down.  :)

It only takes a moment…a snap of your fingers to change.  Is it that simple? YES!  Is it that easy to follow through on ?  NO!  But, it’s your decision!

 

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Posted in Success Mindset | 2 Comments »

Re-Connect With Your Clients For Free!

Wednesday, January 7th, 2009

I taught a class at our office yesterday entitled “Secrets of Marketing Through Social Networking”.

It was well received, yet I’m sure some agents were thinking to themselves “Do I really have to do this stuff too?”

Only if you want to have the opportunity to help people in their 20s and 30s with their real estate needs as well as have a chance to get connected with their families and friends.

One of the social networks is www.Facebook.com, where you can add people to your page to become a ‘friend’ - by invitation only.  It currently has over 140,000,000 members and is growing worldwide by up to 300,000 - 500,000 daily.

I want to share an idea with you about how to most effectively use Facebook.  Many agents use Facebook to connect with family, friends, clients, prospects, other Realtors, etc, all on the same page. 

Even though Facebook allows you to only have one account, you can put people into different groups.

My thinking behind using Facebook is to have my clients become my ‘friends’, so that I can get to know them better and for them to learn more about me.  We all live such busy lives, yet Facebook allows people to connect with each other and stay in touch.

I recommend spending 15 - 20 minutes daily interacting with your ‘friends’ by commenting on their posts and sharing things about what’s happening in your life too.

I don’t recommend mixing other Realtors in with your clients unless they are part of your team.  You can set up a separate group or page to have all of your Realtor friends join in.

Social networking should be one of the pillars of your business plan. 

Social networks, like Facebook, Active Rain, LinkedIn, Twitter and others are going to continue grow, because people want to be connected to communities.

If you’re not already on some of these networks, jump in.  If nothing else, initially get your profile page up, so you at least have a presence and know what others are talking about when they bring them up.

To your success,

Dan

Posted in Social Networking | 2 Comments »

2 Missing Ingredients To Your Goal Setting Success!

Thursday, January 1st, 2009

What happens when you bake a cake, but you don’t have all of the necessary ingredients?  It’s a flop, isn’t it?

So why do some people achieve their goals time after time while others fail to get out of the gates?
 
There’s a lot of talk about the pros and cons of goal setting.  Some say goals don’t work, while others swear by them.
 
What I do know is if you choose to focus on them and take the steps necessary to complete them, you will usually succeed and achieve your goals.
 
No matter what time of year it is, it’s never too late for you to start your journey of achieving your goals.
 
There are 5 steps to achieving your goals, but most people only complete the first three steps.
 
Here they are:
 
Step #1:  Goals must be well thought out and specific.
 
What do you want to accomplish in your real estate business?   If you’ve not been successful with goal setting in the past, don’t overdo it on the first attempt.  Make it a manageable goal that with a little hard work you can achieve it.  Don’t just come up with the first idea in your mind.  Figure out if it fits in with your core values and philosophies.  If it doesn’t, you’ll be miserable and it most likely won’t happen.
 
Step #2:  Goals must be written down.
 
Once you’ve determined what goals you want to strive for, then you must write them down.  You can’t just keep them in your head.  It’ll never work.  You’ll forget all about them. 

Step #3:  Goals must have a deadline for each step.
 
If you don’t have a timeline for each step, then it’s nothing more than a wish list.  With no deadline, there’s no commitment to follow through to the end, where you could have achieved it.  Set reasonable time frames for completing each step.  Again, don’t go crazy and think you can do something in 3 days, if in reality, it’ll take 7 - 10 days.  Don’t set yourself up for failure!
 
Now, there are 2 more steps to bringing your goals to reality, but these are the 2 toughest parts of goal setting.  Why?  Because what’s easy to do is also easy not to do.
 
The enemies of a goal setter are:  Perfectionism & Distractions.
 
Don’t try to be perfect in what you’re doing.  If you mess up or don’t get something done on time, stop and re-focus.  Ask yourself “How can I do this better?” and re-commit yourself right away to doing it better.  Reassign a new completion date.
 
Distractions are every day battles that you’ll have with yourself.  There will be steps that you don’t want to do and so you’ll try to come up with other things to do, like putting out fires in your business or start doing ‘busy’ work.  You must fight through these urges.
 
Step #4:  Goals require sacrifice.
 
If you’ve set some meaningful goals that will become a major change in your life, you are going to have to make some sacrifices in order to achieve them.  We only have 24 hours in a day, yet it’s easy to lose track of several hours every day…watching TV, spending time on the computer, playing a recreational team sport, etc.  What are you willing to give up now to achieve your goals in the near future?
 
Step #5:  Goals must be reviewed daily.
 
One of the ways to create a burning desire is to constantly remind yourself of what the prize is at the end of the journey.  Don’t think about the daily grind of what you have to do each day.  Stop and close your eyes.  Imagine your reward, feel it with your mind.  It’s really amazing what your mind can
do.  Post your goals on your desk, your bathroom mirror, your kitchen refrigerator, in your car.  They may be written down or even more powerful are pictures. 
 
Steps #4 and #5 are the hardest ones, because you and I are creatures of habit.  When setting new goals, they are usually NOT congruent with our daily mindsets and routines, so we have to go through a period of change.
 
Why is it that most people make new year’s resolutions each year, just to have them forgotten or out of mind in a matter of a few days or weeks.
 
If you aren’t going to have the persistence to forge ahead when times get tough, don’t waste your time coming up with some goals in the first place.
 
If you’re serious, sit down and take the time to really figure out what you want to achieve, make a plan and just do it.  

Someone once told me “Life’s not a dress rehearsal.  You only get one life and each day that goes by is forever gone, never to be repeated.” 
 
What will you do to change your life and business for the better?

Have a safe and happy New Year!

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Posted in Goal Setting | 1 Comment »