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.

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.

Are your students nodding off as the day goes on?  Do you frantically wonder how to keep their attention all day?  The answer is not what you think it is.  Last week, I taught my Instructor Development course to real estate professionals and affiliates.  I’ve taught this course for about 15 years.  Here’s the biggest misconception students come in with:

If I just learn how to be a more captivating speaker, I can keep the students’ attention for hours on end.

NOT!  In today’s frantic world, the person in front of everyone cannot hope to hold students’ attention for more than 10 minutes at a time!  If you think I’m wrong, just count the number of commercials in a TV break.  These commercials are down to about 15 seconds a piece.  The images go by so fast you can scarcely count them.  In fact, we’ve become a society of easily distracted, multi-tasking, not very focused beings (watch pedestrians or drivers in action with a cell phone).

All the Focus Doesn’t Have to Be On You

So, what are you going to do to hold students’ attention?  You are going to implement some teaching methods called alternative delivery methods.

Alternative delivery methods include all methods used to teach that are NOT lecture-based. Examples include: town hall, task force, case study, role play, and action plan.

Give your Students some Credit

People who lecture their way through a day (or days!) either:

1)    Just don’t have any repertoire of alternative teaching methods,

Or,

2)    Just don’t think the students can be involved with theirs and others’ learning.

How to Teach through Student Involvement

Instead of talking through each point you have on your PowerPoint slide or on your outline (boy, is that riveting!), use town hall, task force, case study, and role play methods to teach the lesson.  In order to use these methods, you may need to take an Instructor Development course, which will each various instruction methods — then practice using them in class.  You’ll find your students know much more than you think they do about what you’re teaching.  You’ll be able to clarify points of concern, use the talents in your class, and actually provide a stimulating, active learning environment.  The result, your students will be energized all day.

Resources: Knock Their Socks Off: Tips to Make your Presentation the Best Ever and The Ultimate Real Estate Trainer (visit: http://carla-cross.com/)

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!