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.

Now it’s getting personal, as well it should be.  I’m referring to your real estate education.  For the longest time, boards, associations, real estate companies, and franchises would hold “sage on the stage” training for large groups of attendees.  While I laud these efforts and feel that there is nothing that can beat being able to have a one-on-one communication with the speaker, education is changing.  It’s getting more personal.

With the advent of the webinar, literally hundreds of new topics and sessions are available on a monthly basis and at very affordable rates.  The other advantage of the webinar is that of convenience.  It can be taken from home, from the office, or wherever you are.  Another advantage is that they are typically recorded, so you can retake the session over and over again.  Actually, the webinar has many different uses, such as:

1. As a “trailer” or video to assist the potential attendee to know who the speaker is and what will be taught
2. As the education itself for a particular topic for many people
3. As a coaching device for a more intimate group of people who can ask questions of the coach
4. As an instructional tool to show and explain how something is done on the computer such as using Facebook, blogging, etc., where the viewer and “coach” both see the same screen.
5. As a recording device.  Sometimes you just want to get a message across or record a problem that you’re having on your computer.  If you have access to webinar software, you can record your message or the problem that you’re having and send the file off to tech support to give them a better idea of what is wrong.  By the same token, you can do this in reverse, where tech support invites you into the webinar and you then take control to show the problem.

With video editing software, music, voice-overs, and special effects can now be incorporated into the “show”.  Much of this type of software such as Microsoft’s Windows Movie Maker comes free with the operating system.  Other software programs of this nature are either free or inexpensive on the Internet.  I like to use inexpensive Vegas Movie Studio to edit everything from webinars to professional videos.  While it takes a little practice, the ability to “layer” video, sound, voice-over, transitions, and text are only limited by your imagination.

Finally, you don’t have to wait for the topic of your choice to come to your town or office to be presented.  Go to the REALTOR® Learning Library’s Webinar Center at the following address: http://tr.im/Ashy.

Yep, now it’s getting personal.  You can now personalize your education to what you want, when you want it.

I have some bad news for you, and, I know, nobody likes bad news.

We all handle the bad things in our lives differently, don’t we?  Some of us tackle the hard stuff head-on, dealing with it right away and then moving on.  The rest of us are just flat out avoiders.  We try to justify our avoidance by telling ourselves we “don’t have time” to deal with that right now, or we “just can’t handle one more thing.”  Those excuses are simply a form of avoidance, straight up.

So, if you’re an avoider, keep reading this.  Don’t let yourself avoid any longer!  Even though you’ve encountered the seemingly bad news that you are an avoider, I am also about to share some great news and useful solutions with you.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I’ve learned that almost 100% of the time, it’s best to just deal with the hard stuff right away, take care of it somehow and then move on as much as you possibly can.  (And I’ve avoided with the best of them!)

The bottom line is this, it’s how we choose to deal with the hard stuff in our lives that determines our success, or lack thereof.

And, yes, it is a choice that we all have.  I’m sure you can think of sad, negative, or hard things you’ve been faced in your life, and that moment of choice that you faced.  I sure can.

For example, when I was 15, and was still classified as “functionally illiterate” with over 12 different learning “disabilities,” I could have chosen to give up right then and there.  And, I was close to giving up.  But, thanks to hard work, and some key people that were placed in my life, I chose to learn how to read.  It wasn’t easy, but I chose to keep going.  I chose to figure out how to take that bad, hard stuff and make it work for me.  I chose to find a solution.  And, because of that choice, I eventually graduated from college, at the top of my class, with a degree in Economics.

Now, what does all of this have to do with YOU?  A lot!

Now, it’s time for the bad news I mentioned earlier.  Take a look at The Harris Interactive Poll results below from a study conducted in August, 2009.

Just so we’re all on the same page, according to Webster’s New World Dictionary, “prestige” is defined as:

1.  The level of respect at which one is regarded by others; standing.

2.  A person’s high standing among others; honor or esteem.

3.  Widely recognized prominence, distinction, or importance.

It doesn’t look good for those of us who work in real estate, does it?  We’re at the bottom of the prestige and respect list.  This is not the best news, at all.

At this moment, we’re all faced with a choice.

Rather than avoiding this fact or trying to hide it (or hide from it),

let’s use it to our advantage.

But how?  It’s simple, just like we talked about earlier, tackle it head-on, right now!

Follow these steps (I’m serious here, I’m challenging you to choose to do this!):

1. Copy this chart into the beginning of your listing presentation or make a copy to give to the buyers you meet with.  You can get a copy of the chart and accompanying article here:  http://www.harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll/index.asp?PID=685.
2. In your listing or buyer presentation script, you need to enter the conversation your prospects are having in their heads, and tackle the fear, doubt, or insecurity they are feeling at that moment.
3. Say something to the effect of, “You probably weren’t looking forward to our meeting today, and I can understand why.  I know that real estate agents, in general, are not trusted, respected, or held in high esteem – just like the results of this study show.  And, there are some bad agents out there, for sure; however, as we get to know each other, you will learn that I don’t fit that preconceived idea people have about agents.

I wouldn’t just be your real estate agent.  I am your advocate, your guide, your master negotiator, and your reference tool for all parts of this process.  I CAN be trusted and I WILL work hard to earn your respect.

I treat my clients like they are my closest friends or family members – giving them my best and most responsive service – always.”

Now, you’re probably thinking to yourself, “I can’t put that in my presentation!  That’s too risky.  Why would I show them the negative results of that study?”

Because, no one else will.

And, as the wise Earl Nightingale so aptly stated, “If you want to be successful, find out what everybody else is doing and do the opposite.”

Do you think anyone else has this in their presentation?  It’s not likely.  All you have to do is choose.

Choose to harness your inner football player … and tackle it!

Choose to make this unfortunate study work for you.

Choose this solution and use it!

Choose to “do the opposite” and experience your most successful, fulfilling year yet!

K.I.S.S., or keep it simple, stupid; or, the more polite version, keep it simple, salesperson. Or even, keep it short and simple. This has been used as an instruction to teach salespeople to avoid unnecessary complexity with prospects.

The simpler the salesperson can make the decision for the prospect, the more likely they are to take action. It makes complete sense, violating this principle is the reason most agent business planning does not stick.

Here’s a radical thought, any business plan that can’t be created in less than an hour is unlikely to be implemented. Take one hour to complete a plan for 2011 as if that is all the time you have; as if that is the plan that has to guide you for the entire year. And, it has to be completed in one hour.  Whether you complete your plan in that hour or not, that sharp focus motivates you to create a better plan because of its simplicity. Keep It Simple and Succeed!

Do you know the best motivators for YOU?  Even though the market has improved in many areas, real estate professionals are still very challenged in getting their businesses back on track.  Or, if you’re new to the business, you’re probably experiencing some negative vibes from many of the seasoned agents in your office.  How are you going to motivate yourself to get into the swing of the market, and to meet your goals?

We’re Not Motivated by What We Think We Were

In his new book, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, Daniel Pink lays out a persuasive case, backed by extensive scientific studies about why the traditional “carrot and stick” motivational methods just don’t work for us today.  This is especially true with real estate professionals.  Why?  Because, we work for ourselves.  We have to be self-starters, initiators, and tenacious in our pursuit of our goals.  That means that in order to be successful we have to be motivated something other than promises of material things.

Why Money Doesn’t Work as a Motivator

First, as Pink points out in his book, money and/or material things are good short-term motivators.  (Read Herzberg’s studies on short and long-term motivation.)  In fact, just take a look at the number of real estate agents who are motivated to visit an open house when there’s food!  But, as Herzberg and others have pointed out, money is a lousy long-term motivator.  You may be aware of this if you’ve ever tried motivating your kids with money — or other treats (the carrot and stick).

I know, you’re thinking, “If I just had more money, I would be fine.”  So, let me ask you, what are you willing to do to get that money?  Generate leads more regularly?  Make more sales calls?  We all know that lead generating is the answer to that money problem.  Yet, the vast majority of agents avoid lead generating as if it gave us some chronic disease!  So, money is just not an effective long-term motivator.

The Best, Deepest, Strongest Motivators We Can Use to Motivate Ourselves

Pink shows, via extensive studies, that there are three driving motivators that we should put to work today to fire ourselves up, keep those fires lit, and achieve what we want to achieve. They are:

• Autonomy
• Mastery
• Purpose

Questions to Ask Yourself to Fire Yourself Up

About Your Autonomy

Are you in charge of your own business, or are you waiting for someone else to tell you what to do?

Do you expect your manager to make you go to work, or are you self-directed and self-starting?

Are you disciplined in your business, so you can enjoy that autonomy?

Seth Godin, author of Tribes, says about autonomy: “The art of the art {of autonomy} is picking your limits.  That’s the autonomy I must cherish.  The freedom to pick my boundaries.”

About Your Mastery

Are you working just to get by, or are you consistently working to get better?  What do you want to excel at?  How does that translate into your business?

About Your Purpose

What excites you so much that you can’t sleep at night?

Is there a way to translate that to your real estate business?

“The desire to do something because you find it deeply satisfying and personally challenging inspires the highest levels of creativity, whether it’s in the arts, the sciences, or in business,” says Teresa Amabile, Professor at Harvard University.

What motivates you?  Do you know?  How do you know?  What if you’re motivating yourself in the wrong way?  (Many managers unknowingly de-motivate with their strategies!)

We want to invite you to attend an incredible real estate training opportunity on Jan. 27, 2011, which will help you speak better in public to attract bigger business.

Peter Mosca ­ president and founder of BAK Communications Inc. ­ is a public speaking professional and coach who has helped train hundreds of REALTOR® leaders each year get over their fears and delivering powerful messages to their distinct audiences.

Now it’s your turn!

This in-depth course will cover:

• Implementing the seven C¹s of successful communications
• Getting your ideas recognized, accepted and implemented
• Preparing, organizing and delivering your messages
• Overcoming your fear of public speaking
• Becoming a more engaging and persuasive spokesperson

Buyers and investors are drawn to outspoken real estate professionals. Those who can master online tutorials ­ or even infomercials ­ typically have to beat back the hoard of buyers knocking down their doors.

During the online training presentation, Peter will help you master your own communication skills, taking into consideration your level of comfort, as well as professional goals, which will in turn influence the rate at which your career grows.

To attend “How to Speak with Relevance to your Audience” on Jan. 27, 2011, at 4 p.m. ET click on “Register Today” below. Seats are limited! So take advantage of this special offer now before we open it to agents everywhere!

REGISTER TODAY!

A coaching client, a real estate agent, recently asked this question.  It is a common problem, and here is the solution.

The Question
I think I am missing the boat on some clients because I forget about them.  I lost contact with them and it is costing me thousands of dollars, maybe tens of thousands of dollars, every year.  I really need to improve my average in this category.  I need something to keep them in front of me.  I need some sort of physical chart to keep them in my mind.  I can probably make my own if I knew of three or four columns to use.  How should I keep track of these clients?

The Solution
I teach my clients to use their CRM (Contact Relationship Management) software to keep track of these clients.  This doesn’t work for some, in which case we pursue whatever system will work for them.  People are different from each other and need different solutions.  A good one is the whiteboard.  The board itself it is quite easy to put together; let’s go over how to do it.

Five columns
The five columns you should put on your whiteboard are:

1. Urgency, label this column with A or B, so you are aware of the urgency level at all times.  A, of course, is urgent while B is not. This will also prompt you to work on converting the B buyers to A’s.
2. The name of the buyer
3. The buyer’s price range
4. Location the buyer is interested in
5. Comments, anything specific they are looking for in a property
6. Optional information, such as phone numbers (before PDA’s agents would put contact information on their buyer whiteboard.  Now, the number may not be necessary, because you have it on your phone).

When you, your assistant, or anyone on your team hears about a new listing or you are pursuing a new listing, you can glance at the board.  Sell more, act more quickly for your buyers, and stop losing the leads that you already know are causing you to lose money.

During the last week, what did you postpone until tomorrow that would have been better handled today? Prospecting? Calling past clients? Saving for a rainy day? Going to the dentist? Paying your bills? Calling a loved one? A physical check up?

One of the great ways we create stress and struggle in our lives is through procrastination. When we say, “I just don’t have the time (or energy) to deal with it now,” we “pay the price” of our procrastination in several different ways. First, when we focus on a task and decide not to act on it, we’ve wasted time we could have used to complete the task or to work on something else. Second, the more we procrastinate, the more difficult it becomes to take action to complete the task. Third, delaying the task often increases the “cost” of completing it, much like paying a credit card late increases the cost of carrying the debt.

What can you do to reduce the procrastination in your life? Here are five simple strategies:

1. Increase your awareness of when you procrastinate. Note how often you decide to postpone tasks as well as how you feel when you make the decision not to act on it now. Notice which types of tasks you normally complete as well as those where you consistently procrastinate.

2. If there’s a consistent area where you procrastinate, it’s probably time to delegate it or dump it. Many times we’re trapped by our own belief system that tells us we “should” engage in a particular activity. For example, you may believe you have to bake a homemade cake for a special birthday when one from the market would be just as good and would be a lot less effort.

3. Tackle the simple items first. If you try to stop procrastinating all at once or tackle the hardest items first, you’ll only create more struggle and stress. Instead, start with what you can easily handle and then move to the more difficult items.

4. Put a “time limit” on what’s not handled. For example, if you don’t read this month’s magazines, put them in next month’s stack. If they are not read by the end of the month,  discard them. Allowing them to pile up is a constant reminder of your procrastination and only makes you feel worse as the pile continues to grow.

5. Prioritize what’s most important and focus on completing those items. The 80-20 rule says 80% of the benefit comes from the top 20% of our activities. Conversely, the bottom 20% produces less than 1% of benefit. For the next week, eliminate the bottom 20% of your activities that produce the least benefit. Reducing how much you have to do frees you up to deal with the important items you’ve been procrastinating about doing.

Reducing procrastination requires a series of small steps over a long period of time. If you’re ready to stop procrastinating, how about completing one item right now that you’ve been putting off?

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.

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!