Honesty is often interesting.  One of my coaching clients, an agent, Herb (name changed to protect the guilty) is having a mediocre year.  I thought I knew the problem so I asked him this, “Herb, what percentage of your leads do you simply not follow up on, or call once and not follow through on?”

He was honest, he said, “Sixty.”

“Sixty percent that you do follow through on or sixty percent that you don’t?” I asked.

“Sixty percent that I don’t,” he said.

Herb would double his production simply by following through on the leads that are already coming to him.  Honesty is interesting.

Another client, agent, Laurie (name changed), who hit a very slow period in the middle of the year answered the question this way.  “Well, I started out strong and then I got pretty sloppy, but now I am following up on nearly everything again.”

Considering that the period in which she “got pretty sloppy” following through on her leads was the spring and summer, she would have doubled her production as well, simply by following through on the leads already coming to her.

There are a many agents like Herb and Laurie, who have the skills and the knowledge, but they lack the motivation, focus, and commitment to follow up and follow through.

To what extent does this describe you?  What percentage of the leads that came to you this year didn’t get followed up on or followed through?

It is the perfect time of year to recognize this, and correct it with a four step process that I call “Breakdown Leads to Breakthrough.”

Breakdown Leads to Breakthrough
Step One: Acknowledge the error.  Simply admit it honestly to yourself.
Step Two: Forgive yourself.  This can be quite easy, just say to yourself, “I forgive myself.”  Can it be that easy?  Absolutely, as long as you do Step One honestly.
Step Three: Recommit.  Decide if you want to recommit to follow through on your leads more conscientiously for the rest of the year and through next year.
Step Four: Get into action immediately on your renewed commitment.  This is the critical step.

Honesty is interesting.  Self-honesty is even more interesting, because  it is the key to your personal and professional breakthrough.

1. Lines and Linework

These terms refer to borders, frames, and rules, and do not refer to pen-and-ink or pencil sketches. Yes, I am talking about actual lines here. Horizontal or vertical, thick or thin, regular or irregular, they help define and delimit spaces around various elements on your pages. Good linework increases both the readability and “directionality” (see #5, below) of the design as a whole.

2. Shape

Most people don’t think about this, but any enclosed area, form, or contour in your design is a shape. Shapes in most layouts are square or rectangular, but nothing says they must be, and circles are useful, too. You can also use images to create other, regular or irregular, shapes. In addition to shapes, I’ll include here “white space”, or the lack of shapes. White space can be just as effective as lovely graphics and shapes.

3. Texture

One thing that custom sites have over the typical template design website is the addition of texture. Texture imparts a “surface” feeling, and is tactile in printed matter, so choosing the paper stock — matte, weave, coated, etc. — is a design decision, too. Textures on layouts meant for broadcast or the Internet are visual only, but still key. Most textures do not add to the drag of drawing the website, as most textures are implemented in “chunks”, or in pieces that are fitted together.

4. Color/Branding

Color and branding go hand in hand. You need to know what your colors and thus your brand is ahead of time, before starting on your website. Color is probably the element that most designers are at least acutely aware of, if not schooled in. However, color is not a requirement in many designs, and some art educators suggest creating a design without any color first. The artist, in this view, should then add only as much color as needed to enhance or complete the design. Another school of thought holds that color should be one of the first elements determined. Experience and experimentation will help every artist develop a good color sense and strategy.

5. Direction

Effectively designed layouts, in magazines or on your computer screen, usually have a sense of motion. A good design will lead the reader’s eyes through the design deliberately, using color changes, shapes, linework, and copy placement direct viewers’ attention to what the designer wants them to see.

Here’s a good test for your website, as well as others’. Open up your website and close your eyes while it is loading. Now, open your eyes and pay attention to a couple things.

• Where did you eyes go first
• Where did they go second, third, fourth, etc.
• At which places did they not look

You’ll need to be very practiced in this as your eyes will tend to race over the website. You should only concentrate on 4 or 5 main focus points. More than this will dilute your effectiveness.

Finally, pay attention to what your competition is doing and improve upon their design. It’s amazing how many good ideas you can get from your competition, and your sites will not even look similar if you are changing up your design elements.

Today, everyone seems to beam about their ability to multi-task.  With the revolution of technology and communication going from simultaneous exchange (phones) to non-simultaneous exchange (texting) we continue to handle multiple activities in what appears to be one increment of time.

But is this a good thing or a bad thing?   A recent study from the American Psychological Association released in August suggests that not only do we get less done by multi-tasking, but it can be hazardous to our productivity!

Even though we think we are multi-tasking, according to reports by Vanderbilt University, we are still only able to process one activity at a time, but since we can do it fairly quickly, we have the illusion that we are in fact doing it concurrently.

Our “executive control center” is our decision making center, which takes significant amounts of time and, according to the report, several tenths of a second, which adds up when people switch back and forth repeatedly between tasks.  Where multi-tasking may seem more efficient, it may actually take more time at the end.  In this report, Dr. David Meyer pointed out that a mere half second of time lost to task switching can result in life or death of a driver operating a car using a cell phone.

Another survey done for small businesses revealed that 56% of the responders indicated that they often handle three or more tasks at a time, and reported that one in four business owners stated that multi-tasking does, in some ways, hinder their working ability.  The results from obsessive multi-tasking shows decreased quality of work, actually taking longer to complete a simple task, and eventual burn out.

So, what can we do?  Many of us will continue to perform master multi-tasking activities, and sometimes that can be done appropriately.

But here’s an interesting fact, did you know that by cutting back on multi-tasking for only 20% of your day, you have the potential to free up about 237 hours, or almost six weeks each year?

Chris Crouch, President of DME Training & Consulting and developer of the GO System Training course is a productivity expert and coach.  In his program, he asks his students to perform a simple exercise that takes less than 30 seconds for most people to complete, but found that on the first exercise, the multi-taskers took 61 seconds!

The bottom line is that multi-tasking is really an illusion.  Science Daily claims we can improve our multi-tasking timing, but in reality, we still can only process one rule or command at a time, maybe faster or slower, but our brains still process one at a time.

The bottom line is this, be aware that multi-tasking is okay in moderation, but know that you might not be getting as much done in less time as you thought.  But, by making a few small changes you can get more done and free up real time.  Crouch suggests that we perform “deliberate” practice of focus and block out 96 minutes per day.  To achieve and maintain this focused state of mind he suggests we use a behavioral ritual, or an anchor to help us stay focused on completing a task.  He tells us to practice blocking out 96 minutes every day for deliberate practice (20% of your workday) to stay totally focused on a high-priority, high-impact task and watch your productivity increase.

It’s all about mindful productive tasking versus unproductive multi-tasking driven by habitual behavior.  You don’t have to give up multi-tasking, just give it up for 20% of the day, and be aware of the fact that when you do multi-task, it may be costing you!

Practice your “right now” technique and become a master at mindful multi-tasking, and then figure out what you want to do with all that extra time!

According to NAR and other research we have done independently, 80% of leads generated by you or your company over the Internet are lost, marked as dead, or simply thrown out. But, why is this happening?

An online consumer contacts you by e-mail. They want an immediate response to their question. And, as we all know, the first one to contact the consumer has the better chance of engaging the consumer.  Speed matters, and the speed of the Internet has created this consumer need.

The reality is that the online lead many times is not ready to commit right way.
So, we give up, lose interest, or don’t have systems in place to keep track of them to convert them at a later date.

Today’s online consumer does not want to be captured by the real estate professional. They want to stay in control of the process. They feel that if they share their information, the agent will bug them until they buy or die.

The technology needs of a buyer-based marketplace are so different than those of the past five years that many real estate professionals find themselves back at square one.

Here are some of the challenges:

• Knowing who today’s consumer is and how they consume information on the Internet
• Having all of the tools to respond properly

In other words, the challenge today is to understand which values are desired, and retool our business around them.

What about the leads that you send information to and then they won’t give you enough information for you to qualify them as a lead?

One import fact to remember is that buyers are online long before they are ready to purchase. Try to eliminate the 45-day mentality we attach to leads. Remember? A buyer walks into your office, you speak to them, read their tells, and within half an hour you know if you’ll have a commission check in your inbox in 45 days. Ah, memories. Those days are gone forever.

Many buyers enter the real estate search arena up to four years before they sit at a closing table. This is the subconscious stage. When something triggers to them to the next phase they actively engage in pre-research. This is the thinking-about-it stage.

Another trigger sends them into active research. They are finally pre-qualified and they actively begin searching online for homes and neighborhoods.

The actual buying stage is when they need help writing an offer, negotiating, and closing. Keep in mind, the actual buying phase can last as long as four months, or more.

What are these triggers — job change, income change, family change? You name it.
Managing all these leads can be overwhelming; so, look through all the software programs you own, especially products attached to your website and see if there are any automated e-mail campaigns available to you.

Please note: I am not an advocate of pushing unwanted data to people. And, I NEVER recommend this type of product to your sphere and past customers.

Do you feel like you’re suffering from “communicationitis” (which is caused when you get 467 too-many emails, 97 extraneous pieces of mail, and 47 solicitation calls – from charities, of course)?

You’re not the only one. Consumers are feeling really, really over-communicated with. Have you noticed that those emails and cards that you’ve been sending seem not to be opened or read? Maybe it’s because we all have been communicating the same old messages, in the same old way (just listed and just sold cards, anyone?)

It’s Time to Put on Some New Shoes

In his terrific book, A Whole New Mind, Daniel Pink builds a strong case for why right-brainers will rule the future. He says, that technology is easily copied, and I agree. But, creativity is not, because it uses a human brain – just one human brain at a time. In fact, as the old song says, “There will never be another you.”

Pink notes that technology jobs have moved overseas. But, those jobs where creativity counts big are the “next big thing” for Americans. It makes sense, then, that we must develop our  “right brains” to communicate more effectively – and create better value for our clients (how would you like to see your commission rates go up for a change?).

Creativity and the Real Estate Professional

In his book, Pink gives an example of a card he received welcoming the new buyers into the area. But, the agents didn’t include the selling price. They didn’t brag about themselves. They didn’t say they were “number one in service”. Instead, they told the story about how they had helped an elderly seller get her home ready to be sold. They told how much the new buyers treasured the history of the home. It was creative; it was personal; it was relational.

Building the Relationship with Creativity

Technology doesn’t build relationships, you do. In my new presentation, YOU–the Brand, I help real estate professionals see how to go from “cold communication” (Internet inquiries and emails) to warm relationships. We explore how to take your natural talents and skills and turn them creatively into real estate success. Until we can create high trust, we can’t form a relationship. The relationship blossoms into long-term business, referrals, and a solid career.

Suggestions: Read Pink’s book, study creativity, try new ways to communicate (compose new messages and explore different goals), and recognize that keyboards don’t form relationships, people do.

What Tickling the Ivories has Taught Me About Creativity

If you’ve heard me speak, you know I make many references to music – and even tickle the ivories, many times with someone from the audience. As a pianist since age four, I recognize the power of music, coupled with the performer’s creativity, to “speak” to audiences, to touch their hearts. Our jobs, as real estate professionals, is to crash through the barriers of the hardware and software, to reach past the barriers of cold communication, and have the goal of creating a long-term, trusting business relationship.

Here’s to your creativity explorations!

My best,

Carla Cross