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.

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!

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.

The “agent of the future” will be more successful being as efficient as possible and staying ahead of time consuming processes.  Closing on real estate is paper intensive and can slow you down. Scanning documents allows you to get documents to banks, other REALTORS®, respond to clients, get and stay organized and put an end to office clutter.  All of which helps you save time and money, and stay ahead your day.

How can you get ahead? Some REALTORS® utilize their office or home for scanning.  But in today’s world of REOs and the increasingly heavy document load that contracts, appraisals and other transaction paperwork places on agents, scanning multi-page documents page-by-page eats up a lot of your time.

Have you ever had to fax a contract to the bank, only to have it rejected because the image quality was so poor?  Worse yet, you try to scan with your All-in-One, realize that the process is going too slowly and then end up driving to the office to use a high-speed scanner?  It’s not the best use of your time.

The answer to getting and staying ahead is an easy-to-use, compact desktop scanner.  This technology solution is increasingly important to real estate agents.  There are several products on the market, but one of the leading compact, full-featured scanners is the affordable Kodak ScanMate i1120 Scanner.

The Kodak ScanMate model has an automatic document feeder for quick scanning.  You can place up to 50 sheets in the feeder and they’ll be scanned in sequence for you.  The scanner handles 20 pages per minute, which makes fast work of your contract files.  And you can even add more sheets to the feeder while scanning is in progress.

This compact scanner won’t take up much room on your home office desktop, and eliminates the need to make extra trips to use the scanner at the real estate office or pay to use the mega-machines at the office copy store.

The ScanMate Scanner’s Smart Touch feature lets you store up to nine custom scanning operations for “press one button, it does the rest” ease of use.  You can scan to email, to a printer, to a file folder or to popular Web mail programs such as Yahoo!, Gmail and AOL Mail.  Scan and send closing documents to the title company.  Scan and send signed contracts to your client’s attorney.  Scan just about anything – from a business card to documents as long as 34 inches.

Even when your documents are hard to read, Kodak’s built-in Perfect Page image processing can make scanned images look even better than the originals.

A dedicated scanner can be the difference-maker for you as a real estate professional. It can enable your goal of a paperless office and deliver speed and efficiency benefits like these:

1. Save Time – scanning, sending and sharing information all happens quickly and productively
2. Get Organized – de-clutter your work space, free up your filing cabinets, eliminate lost documents
3. Save Money – lower your storage costs and concentrate on what’s important – building business rather than managing paperwork

To save on this product and others from Kodak, go to www.kodak.com/go/redeal.

Not too long ago I got a call from a very large franchise real estate company with a concern that I hear too often, “Our own agents are ‘stealing’ all our leads on the Internet.  What do we do?”  As is typical with large real estate companies and franchises, they are trying to be all things to all people.  They cover such wide metropolitan areas, and, in many cases, they cross state boundaries, that they get crowded out by their agents who are more nimble and use more targeted approaches to getting found.

The Target Concept

The Target Concept is simple: stop shooting one arrow at the target, hoping to hit the bullseye, rather, shoot as many arrows as you can at the target and try to get as many groupings as close to the bullseye as possible.  In other words, don’t try to get found by those tremendously competitive keyword phrases like “Denver real estate,” but by several minor keyword phrases that you can get on the first page of the search engines.

This is one of the few industries where the “worker” can actually take advantage of the boss by being smarter and more nimble.  Try searches in your area for “Location real estate” and see how many of the major players are on the first page.  I’ll bet there are a bunch.  Now, try more targeted keyword phrases like “Location luxury homes for sale,” “short sale Location condos,” or “Location foreclosure properties.”  You’ll find very few of the major players here, because they can’t cover it all.

Make Your Title STOP IT!

Did you know that there are many common words that the major search engines don’t even index because they are so common?  I’m talking about more than words like “a”, “the”, and “my”.  I’m also talking about numbers and words like “therefore”, “somewhat”, “Microsoft”, etc.

Why is this important to know?  Because, “It’s in your title, Stupid”

Your title is one of the most important parts of your website.  When you putgood keyword phrases into your title, they get picked up by those that are typing in a search term in any random order.  In other words, your title of “My Denver Real Estate and Luxury Homes For Sale” fits perfectly with at least 30 different search phrases including “All home sales in the Denver real estate area.”  Even though the words “all”, “in”, “the”, and “area” are not even in the title, they are “stop words” and not seen by the search engines.  Further, the words “home” and “sales” can be interchanged with their plural/singular counterparts.

Target Your Prospect Searches

So, how do you know what your best keyword search terms are?  Well, it would be helpful to know what your prospects are typing into the major search engines, and, of course, the largest search engine is Google.  Google is highly invested in knowing how many people are searching what phrases.  Best of all, they share this information with the public.  This tool, called Google Adwords Keyword Tool is free and will concoct all sort of various keyword search just by putting in simple searches like “Denver real estate.”

Focus on these effective targeted keyword phrases, and you will be taking out those big, old, beasty lions in no time!

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?