At the end of June Agents notice that a substantial part of the year is passed. Six months, or one half of the year is behind us. That makes some Agents anxious and nervous about how the year will wrap up. Others are excited and eager. The difference is completely based on each Agents feeling about how they are doing. Following are four of the best solutions to being excited and eager about your business instead of anxious and nervous.

1. 1. How you feel about your business is a distraction that is more likely to hurt your business than help it. If you feel bad it may motivate you, more likely it will de-motivate you. And if you feel good it may motivate you or it may make you complacent. I am a HUGE believer that your “attitude dictates your altitude.” However, in terms of your how you are doing in your business it is your measureable results that dictate your success, not your attitude. Focus on measurable results. So…
2. 2. What gets measured gets done. You get what you inspect not what you expect. What measures do you keep track of? What measures are you aware of? Do you have a sales goal for each month? If not, start there and set one now for July, August, and every month to the end of the year. Be sure it is open sales; in other words what you put under contract not what you close, in June etc. You must measure what you have the most control over. In terms of sales volume you have much more control over what you will put under contract each month than what you close that month.

   Do you have a listing goal for each month?  Set those too.

3. 3. Look at your monthly sales volume and listing goals every day. Yes, every day. Of course there are days they won’t change. And of course you will remember what those goals are and how you are doing if you only look at them a few times a week. But you won’t do it unless it is a habit. It will take you… oh, let’s say… thirty seconds, maybe less because you could be looking at a goals sheet on paper or on your computer while you are having breakfast so can do it in N.E.T. (no extra time). When you have those goals set and you look at them every day, it prevents lengthy slumps and it motivates you in the most effective and legitimate way.
4. 4. Choose, right now, what success in your Real Estate career will do for your life that you desire most. What is it? Will it reduce the stress of unpaid bills? Will it buy you another income property, fund college educations, pay for that surgery, allow you to take that trip or take the trip with greater ease and enjoyment. What is it for you? And once you hit on that thing that gets your juices flowing, that thing that creates a sense of excitement in you, when you hit upon that thing; write it down. And each day as you look at your goals connect that desired outcome with those measured results. That $400,000 of sales in June means that I’ll be able to… Make that connection each day. Dwell on it. Yes it may be painful for some who are struggling and exhilarating for those who are already doing well. For both and for all it will ultimately create permanent motivation.

The secret to the success of my coaching Clients are a few simple disciplines. The business is hard. Buyers and Sellers, Lenders and Appraisers, Personal Property and Possession Dates and more, offer continual challenges; awareness of your numbers brings greater ease, sanity and motivation. These four simple solutions will make a huge difference to your success.

Okay… We are at the half way point of the year…..So the question is…What has changed in how you are doing (or not doing) your business to make real money?

We are all prisoners of our habits, and especially after a certain age, it is tough to “change”.  It’s been said, that if we keep on doing what we’ve always done, we’ll keep on getting what we have always gotten….but that is not true anymore!  In today’s competitive marketplace we may not even be able to survive doing the “normal”.  Today’s market requires innovation, creativity, and execution, using new tools, systems, strategies and the biggie: A willingness to CHANGE!

If we don’t change who is going to notice?  From losing that extra five pounds to adding another day of exercise, or making more money…unless you have a plan and a coach to help you stay focused, there are no real outside consequences.

We are in a world that requires dollars for sustenance, survival and comfort, not to mention that money has been the measure of success.  So with that said, there are several experts out there that offer us a new path to create more guaranteed profits at this time next year if we are willing to embrace a few small changes.

Don’t have time??? Not an excuse anymore! With NAR’s FREE Realtor University Webinars, you can learn from top experts anytime, anywhere. All you need is the willingness to learn, a computer and a little willingness to CHANGE!  Here are some great resources:

Follow a Plan – Expert coach, author and speaker Carla Cross offers the best first step, and that is to have an effective business plan.  She did a brilliant job presenting what you need to know in the Realtor University free webinar now available online: http://budurl.com/BizPlan2010withCarla

List for More $$ – More expertise to increase your bottom line with listings comes from super coach, author and speaker, Bernice Ross.  Bernice’s webinar offers solid direction on how to list more properties at higher commissions in 2011 by developing a premium marketing plan and use Web 2.0 strategies to get the listings signed up, priced right and sold!  Her million dollar information is offered FREE. Click here to get one on one direction: http://budurl.com/ListMore4MoreMoney

Be the First Agent they call – Did you know that an NAR survey shows that 60-80% of consumers work with the first agent who responds to them?  If you are not up to speed on the latest applications that the top agents are using to out respond and out communicate their competitors, you need to get with it!  Expert and social media instructor Amy Chorew offers an information-packed power hour on the PDA applications top salespeople all over the world are using to respond, engage and connect with hot prospects. Get the scoop by clicking on: http://budurl.com/AmysKillerAps4U

There is a WEALTH of information available to agents that are sick and tired of not making the money they want.  The choice is yours to take advantage of these valuable online webinars that are guaranteed to take your profits from dull to dynamic! WARNING: It does require CHANGE on your part!

Are you ready???  Then check out these and others at: http://budurl.com/FreeNARWebinars4U

Do it! And we’ll see you in the winner’s circle…same time next year!

Are you a ‘don’t have time to plan’ broker? Having been a manager and regional manager for two decades (yes, I really am getting that old….), I know how difficult it is to sit down and slog through writing a business plan. So, I’ve been working hard for you to make it fast easy—but accurate as a blueprint for 2011.

The ‘Spring Ahead’ Approach to Get it Done

For my business planning webinar for NAR’s Learning Library (you can look at it at the Library, where it will be archived), I created four steps to think through a business plan. What’s great about analyzing with these four steps is that you are making immediate decisions for your action plan for 2010. So, as you draw conclusions from your analysis, use a template to get those action plan ideas in place. You’re virtually done, then, with your plan.

Four Steps: Two Down, Two to Go

You “got cracking” on those first two steps to business planning that I gave you in my earlier blog. Now, let’s tackle the last two steps. Admittedly, you won’t have an in-depth plan with these steps, but, you will have thought through the most important aspects for you to get ready to tackle.

Step three: Evaluating YOU. Rate yourself in the various management areas: recruiting, selection, coaching, training, retention, staff management, etc.

What have you mastered? What do you want to improve? This becomes your personal/professional training/coaching program for next year.

Step Four: What if: Complete this sentence: ”If I did these three things next year, I would increase my productivity and profitability”:

Now, you have your ‘big rocks’ for your business plan for next year done.

Business plans: Active and Breathing, or Stuck on a Shelf?

You’re not making a business plan as a financial plan to get money from a bank. You’re not creating this wonderful, mushy visionary plan. You’re thinking about your specific situation, and then creating an action plan. You will actually put these actions into your monthly and weekly schedule, and act on them! This is the plan you will revisit at least monthly, to measure your actions and results against what you planned.

Make it an action plan and you will get into action.

P. S. Use this same approach with your agents. Provide them a format and template to analyze their last year’s business. That gives them the answers to the next year’s action plan (that spring ahead approach I mentioned).

The Problem

Buyers are tougher than ever.  Buyers are taking longer to buy, looking at more properties, offering less, and negotiating more.  The list goes on.

The Solution – Five Keys

The Buyer’s motivation dictates everything.  As an Agent you must find out why the Buyer is buying.  Use these four questions:

1. Why are you thinking about Buying at this time?
2. Where are you thinking about going?
3. Ideally, if I could snap my fingers and make it happen for you, when would you like to be in your new home?
4. How important is it to make that move in that time frame?

Once you know the answers you will be able to accurately predict and anticipate the Buyers behavior.

Buyers are inexperienced.  Doctors, lawyers, accountants, teachers, business executives don’t know as much as you do about buying a house.  The Internet doesn’t teach them.  If you bought in another state how much would you know about the market, the contracts, the inspections, and even the financing?  You would know what questions to ask.  They don’t even know what questions to ask.  Your first job is to educate the Buyers.  (I recorded this a couple years ago.  It is still completely applicable today.  www.BuyerMarketTips.com)

Educate the Buyers as early in the process as possible.  Educate the Buyers means to have a sit down session with them in which you go through the entire buying experience step by step.  Ensuring their understanding.  Answering their questions.  Preparing them for the subtleties and possible surprises of each step.  I call this your Buyer presentation.

[Nearly] Every problem you have with Buyers is solved in the Buyer presentation.  Can this be true?  Of course, because each time a new problem arises you add it to your Buyer presentation so that all of your future Buyers anticipate and are prepared for it.  Only those of you with weak Buyer presentations or none at all will disagree with this.  Those who already do it know the truth of it.

This thorough Buyer presentation is a skill equal to your listing presentation.  It takes time, effort, and practice to get good at it.  A poorly prepared Buyer wastes as much or more time than an overpriced listing.  A well prepared (and motivated but you find that out at the presentation) Buyer is as valuable and efficient as a well priced listing.  If you plan to work with Buyers.  Build this skill.

Buyers have had a bad reputation ever since the expressions “List to last,” and “Listings are the name of the game,” became popular.  The truth is that every sale and every commission requires a Buyer and a Seller.  The most successful Agents have a team of Buyer’s Agents.  Hmmmm, there must be a lot of value in learning and developing a high level of skill with Buyers… if you work with them.  If not, pass these tips on to your Buyer’s Agents and congratulations on a successful team.

Today, prospects are more discerning than ever. Gone are the easy days in which a prospect would list their home with just about any agent. Now, you actually have to work for a listing. In this market, consumers are not just looking for real estate agents, they’re seeking out real estate experts.

Let’s say that you are an expert, at least relative to your local competitors. So, how then, do consumers know that you’re their best choice? The better question is how do you get their attention long enough to even have a chance to educate them about what you can do for them?

According to most studies, you have only 3-7 seconds to hook your prospect’s attention. One of the best ways to do that is to have a compelling Unique Selling Proposition, “USP” for short.

A USP is a way of explaining your position against your competition to your potential
clients. In the 1960s, marketing icon, Rosser Reeves created the idea of the USP to combat the “product puffery” that was running rampant. He advocated less “window dressing” of a product/service and, instead, advocated focus on the specific and unique benefits that the product/service would bring to the consumer.

40 some odd years later, Rosser Reeves had no way of knowing that his revolutionary
ideas would be even more important today than in the 60s…especially in this market.

What Makes a Good USP? A good USP clearly and quickly explains the chief benefit that the customer can expect to receive when choosing your particular product/service. See if you can recognize these companies by just their USP:

• Fresh, hot pizza delivered in 30 minutes or less, guaranteed
• When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight
• The nighttime, coughing, achy, sniffling, stuffy head, fever, so you can rest medicine.

If you answered, Domino’s, FedEx and Nyquil, then you can see the power of a great USP.

How do you create an effective USP?  When I’m doing a marketing makeover for a clients, I always make sure the USP we create for them meets the at least 4 basic criteria.

4 Criteria For An Effective USP

1. They are specific and simple.
   Thirty minutes to your door. Guaranteed. Dominoes chose one powerful need that they could fill in the marketplace for delivery pizza services. They were not afraid to possibly alienate other target markets. Gourmet pizza lovers might not be compelled by Dominoes’ USP, but that’s ok…Dominoes still owns most of the market share in the pizza business.
2. They identify the needs of their specific target markets.
   FedEx didn’t mention that they also have ground shipping, bulk rates and international courier options. They created the most compelling message that was the most needed to their marketplace at the time. Notice also that their target market was not people looking for the lowest price or for the most convenient location. They targeted the people (usually business owners) that were frantic to get their important shipments delivered on time for any price.
3. They directly address a benefit-oriented solution to a need in the marketplace.
   There is no product hyping or window dressing in these USPs. Dominoes doesn’t claim that their pizza will be the most delicious pizza, only that it will be fresh, hot and at your door in 30 minutes or less. Likewise, FedEx makes no mention of convenience, availability or low cost. It simply suggests that it is the safest choice when you really need to send a package overnight.
4. They are unique.
   At least at the time that they were introduced they were unique. When you are successful, you may have a copycat come along and reduce the impact of your original marketing message. Ideally, you will have enough momentum going to stay on top of your market, but you will eventually have to continue to create and refine your USP and marketing message. The good news is that you will be a trained marketer, while your competition will be shooting in the dark. You will be “often imitated, but never equaled!”

Do you have a USP that can quickly differentiate yourself from your competition?
If you can’t quickly tell me why should I do business with you over other agents in your area, why would I take the time to sit through your listing presentation?

With a good USP, your chances of getting in front of a potential client to educate them why you’re their best choice increases dramatically.

Quick. Who is the largest bookseller in the world? If you said Amazon, you’re right. But the key point is why. The largest bookseller for decades has been Barnes & Noble (established in 1873). Yet Amazon was only established in 1994 in Jeff Bezos’ garage. Why the huge surge in sales by Amazon? We call it the “Long Tail Theory”, based upon the book of the same name by Chris Anderson.

Wikipedia puts the explanation of the “long tail theory” this way: “The Long Tail or long tail refers to the statistical property that a larger share of population rests within the tail of a probability distribution than observed under a ‘normal’ distribution. This has gained popularity in recent times as a retailing concept describing the niche strategy of selling a large number of unique items in relatively small quantities – usually in addition to selling fewer popular items in large quantities.

In other words, because of store space, Barnes & Noble could only sell the more competitive or popular books. Amazon however realized that by using the Internet as a warehouse, they could pull from the most obscure books, thus giving them more sales.

How does this effect real estate agents and their website rankings? Consider the fact that you live in Denver, and you want to be found by the search engines under “Denver real estate” or “Denver homes”. The odds of this happening today are 23.8 million to 1 or 30 million to 1 respectively. However if you instead focus on the “minor” keyword phrases that are requested, you can much more easily get found on the 1st page of Google. For example “Denver luxury condos” is 1.92 million to 1 and “homes for sale in metropolitan Denver” is only 165 thousand to 1. While these numbers still may seem out of reach, we find with our firm anything within 3 million is easy to catch within a few months.

If we’re doing our best to serve our clients, we may think all agents do as well. Not…

The recent survey by the California Association of Realtors shows some stunning and alarming trends about customer service expectations and delivery. In 2005, Internet consumers rated their overall satisfaction with their agent at almost 90%, while traditional buyers rated their overall satisfaction at 37%. However, in the ensuing years, the ratings have plummeted. In 2009, both Internet and traditional buyers only rated their overall satisfaction with their agent at 4%!  (The ratings of Internet and traditional buyers now are equal). In other words, consumer expectations of what an agent will do for them are just not being met. In fact, value received for what the consumer paid the real estate agent was at only 4% for all buyers.

Trends Collide: Consumer Expectations Rise While Agents’ Abilities to Meet Those Expectations Shrink

While consumer satisfaction levels are going down, the number of ‘dual career agents’ (I call them part-timers) continues up. What’s the result? Low customer satisfaction! I know. You’re going to tell me that you met a part-timer once that did a great job. Of course. But, as you and I know, that’s the exception, not the rule. And, let’s not think ‘inside-out’. The consumer’s satisfaction here is the only one that counts. They pay our commissions. And, commission rates are falling because they don’t feel they’re receiving value from what they are paying.

Time for our Leadership to Set some Standards

What’s your standard for work completed by agents in your office? Are you okay with “just turn in a couple of sales this year”? Or, are you concerned with the consumer experience? If we don’t start thinking about that, we will be replaced by something consumers can count on—those darned computers! (I hope not!). However, if the consumer is paying us, we must decide what he is paying us for (and it isn’t because we use technology……).

Here’s my list of valued services. What’s yours?

• Dedicated service throughout the transaction
• Prioritized knowledge not available just on the Internet
• Immediate communication and continued first-level service
• Exceptional negotiating skills
• Loyalty, putting the customer first, rather than another job first

The Internet and Agent Knowledge: Almost Neck in Neck on Consumers’ Minds

By the way, in the CAR survey, 54% of the consumers surveyed thought the information they got on the Internet was less useful than what they got from their agent. Does that sound good to you? To me, it sounds very bad. Almost half of the consumers think the Internet is just as good as your live agent! So, let’s get to cracking and get our agents performing past the standards we set. Why? Because the consumers have already set the standards—and they’re higher than what we’re allowing. Let’s put the industry back on track toward pride in excellent service. Let’s knock the consumer’s socks off with prioritized knowledge, attention to the transaction, and exceptional service. We can do it, and brokers must lead. Now.

Over 21,000 agents opened (and read) the article “Top Ten Negotiating Rules for REALTORS®.” from the Pacific Coast Highway to the Hamptons; from the Upper Peninsula to Corpus Christi; real estate agents are eager to improve their negotiating skills.  It makes sense since REALTORS® negotiate all of the time, yet get little or no formal training in it. Here are a handful of quick tips you can begin using immediately.

Stay focused on the goal of completing the sale.  In other words, don’t let the buyer, seller, other agent, or anyone else distract you from the goal.  And, when others get fascinated by some minor issue, encourage them to keep their “eye on the ball.”

Don’t let the buyers and sellers come to a place where they dislike each other.  It is usually best to say little or nothing personal about your client.  Too often, your well-intended information is misunderstood and used as ammunition against the interest of the transaction.

When you hit an impasse, settle the issues where there is agreement and come back to the areas of negotiation later.

Take time to think.  Give your clients time to think.  Unless their decision  is a quick yes, and even then take the time to reinforce their decision.  Allow the clients to consider the options and the consequences of their decisions.

Be honest.  Integrity and courtesy always win.  Exaggeration and dishonesty are costly at many levels, for a long time.

Finally, negotiators are made, not born.  Negotiating is a skill that is learned, then strengthened with experience, education, and application.

If you love negotiating, make a commitment to learn more and get better at it.  If you dislike or fear negotiating, then realize that many of your normal strengths, like integrity, commitment to the client’s interests, and ethics work in your favor.  In real estate, unlike some other venues, intimidation tactics don’t work.

I am proud to work in real estate.  You, too, can be proud to work in a profession where integrity works and integrity wins.  That is particularly true in your negotiating.

Every year we enjoy watching the Tour de France, especially when fellow Austinite, Lance Armstrong, is racing.  The Tour de France is a grueling race that lasts for days.  The racers travel around the French countryside, climbing two mountain ranges.  While the goal may be to win the “yellow jersey,” on any given day there are a multitude of steps that the riders must take just to stay in the race.  The lesson here is that success doesn’t depend upon the ultimate goal — it is contingent on a multitude of actions the riders take each day.  While winning is the goal, in order to win, the riders must stay focused on the steps within the process.

The same is true for your real estate business.  When you focus on the process, rather than on the outcome, you greatly increase your likelihood of success.  Your success or failure in the long term will result from the actions that you take today.

If you want to make your goals a sweet reality, the following five steps can help you do so.

1. Clean out your goal list completely.  If you have had the same goal for more than one year and have not reached it, declare it complete no matter how much or how little you actually accomplished.  To do this, write each goal on an individual slip of paper.  Next, “clean the slate” by burning the slips of paper in the fireplace, burying them in the backyard, or ripping them up and throwing them in the trash.  Be creative — cleaning out your list of goals opens the door for new things to come into your life.

2. Write down five activities that supported you in feeling great about yourself during the last six months.  What really worked for you?  Be specific.  Keep these activities alive during the coming year, because they work.

3. Eliminate at least one activity that doesn’t make you feel great.  We all engage in behaviors that help us cope in the short-term, but have detrimental effects in the long term.  An example of this may be eating a chocolate bar when we’re depressed.  Unfortunately, this behavior often results in guilt.  Many people use guilt as a strategy to change behavior — “I know I shouldn’t eat this chocolate bar.”  A better approach is to be honest with yourself and take responsibility for your choice — “I am choosing to eat this chocolate bar.”  Notice there is no guilt or explanation.  It’s simply an acknowledgement of the choice.  When you say that you are choosing this behavior, surprisingly, it becomes easier not to choose it.

4. List your goals for 2011, and then eliminate 50-75 percent of them.  If you find yourself resisting this strategy, look carefully at your past to determine how many goals you actually set and then what percentage you actually achieved.  Setting too many goals can reduce your overall success, since your energy is scattered in too many directions.  In contrast, when you keep your energy focused on achieving two or three core goals, success occurs more easily.  Once you reach or discard your current goals, add new ones.

5. Make small changes over time.  Achieving goals is easier when you work with small steps over time.  Instead of setting a goal to save $10,000, it’s usually easier to take a series of small steps.  For example, “I’ll use coupons at the grocery store since it can save me up to $20.00 per week and I will put those savings in my bank account.”  It is easier to take action when working with small changes than when working with big changes.  By reducing the number of goals you have and by making small changes over time, your likelihood of experiencing success increases dramatically.

Finally, celebrate your victories each day, no matter how small.  This helps you to stay on track for the bigger goals you set.  As Lao Tzu once said, “A journey of 10,000 miles begins with a single step.”

Imagine learning to drive in a car with no speedometer.  You could drive and do pretty well, but you would have a handicap compared to other drivers.  You would have to judge your speed based on the speed of the others around you, and if you were on the road alone, you would always be worried and stressed about your speed.  That’s how most agents “drive” their businesses, because they have no “speedometer” to know how they are doing.

Now, imagine learning to wake up each day with no sense of purpose.  The first e-mail you read or the first conversation you have determines what you will focus on and how you will feel for the day.  It may not take an e-mail or conversation; just your first thoughts of the day to determine the quality of the day.

That is how many agents live each day.  They have the knowledge and skills to have a very good business.  It is not real estate knowledge, skills, or tools that are missing. In addition to knowledge and skills it takes a “speedometer,” and an accurate one.  In a real estate agent’s business, that means a method to know their “speed,” in other words whether they are winning or losing.  Like a car’s speedometer, the agent’s “speedometer” has to be in real time so the agent knows their speed each day, with confidence.  Most agents don’t have that method.

It also takes knowledge of how to create and control your attitude.  Notice that I did not say that it takes a good attitude.  That would be naïve.  Of course it takes a good attitude.  The challenge is learning how to create and control that attitude so that you are able to generate it at will.  And, I am not talking about repeating an affirmation that has little real impact on you.  I am talking about shifting your mindset and your emotions at a level that motivates you deeply.  And, knowing you can create that, at will.

Why do Agents fail soooo often?  Because they are always working on just one of these three aspects of their business; the three are: knowing your accurate numbers, controlling your attitude, and your skill set.  Agents learn the skill sets and spend little or no time on knowing their numbers or learning to control their attitude.  Unfortunately, this means that many of those that produce good sales numbers are not stable, confident, or comfortable with their business.

Build your business on a foundation of all three of these aspects and you will succeed more quickly, with greater control and satisfaction.  For more information on how we coach and teach agents to do this, go to www.BestCoachingOnEarth.com and join our Daily Coaching Program.