What Real Estate Agents Can Learn from Graduations

What Real Estate Agents Can Learn from Graduations – by Dana Sparks

This is the time of year for all types of graduations… from high school, college, graduate school and vocational schools. Parents, family, loved ones and friends are so very proud of the accomplishments of the graduates. We hear “pomp and circumstance” playing in the background as we recall these graduations or perhaps our own from years past! Graduations occur at the end of a long course of study capped by exams testing our comprehension of what we have learned and retained. Graduation ceremonies, however, are called, “Commencement” as the students embark on new adventures as they face the next phase of their lives and go out to seek a job. As a real estate professional, you face this same challenge every day!

“Understand how to cope with disappointment and failure. The timeless, if uncomfortable truth, is that true strength of character is almost always forged by encountering and overcoming failure.” (Nathan O. Hatch – Commencement Address at Wake Forest University, 2013) President Hatch explained in his address that this statement characterizes a personality trait known as “grit.” In today’s challenging real estate market of low inventory, multiple offers, short sales that don’t get approved, this character trait is not only necessary is the real estate agent but it is also required of the clients as well! It is your challenge to set the proper expectations of your Buyers so that when this fun and exciting process of finding a new home turns into a chore replete with frustration & disappointment. I guarantee that if you persist and master the challenges of today’s market, your clients will be appreciative, send you referrals and you will be a better agent for it!

“Stay hungry; stay foolish!” (Steve Jobs – Commencement Address at Stanford University, 2005) Every day you start at “zero” and your job is to go out and seek new business…. just like a college grad. Once you convert a prospect to a client, you are out of a job and need to go find another. Consider that once your Buyer purchases a new home and once your Seller sells their existing home, you are out of a job until you go find another prospect to convert to a client! “Stay hungry” and go find more work!

“If you want to play a game, go to where it’s played and find a way to get in. Things happen when you get in the game!” (Chris Matthews – Commencement Address at Fordham University, 2006) If your career is focused on working with Buyers, go find them! Buyers come from a myriad of sources: sign calls, the internet, “First Time Homebuyer” seminars, relocation companies, apartment complexes, new marriages, new divorces, past clients, etc. Are you advertising properties online? Maximum One has a complete program outlined on the Extranet how to advertise HUD properties on Craigslist! Adopt this same process and advertise new construction (with the Sellers’ permission of course!) Are you willing to work sign-calls? Connect with a prolific listing agent who focuses on listings & work out a referral business! Sign-up for Agent-on-Duty! Host a seminar for Buyers… “Tips and Tricks on Buying a Short Sale!” “First Time Home Buying Seminar” “Your Mortgage Could be Cheaper than Your Rent” “First Time Real Estate Investor Workshop” “Foreclosure Bus Tour” Take out a booth at a Wedding Trade Show! Call your Past Clients & Sphere of Influence! Connect with a Divorce Attorney! Contact a corporate Relocation Company! Do you have a lead-generating & lead-capture website? Get one through Reflect Resources or eWebEngine! Work with “renters” because you never know if they can actually BUY and just don’t know about it! Find a way to be where the Buyers are!

If you prefer listings… prospect Expired & Withdrawn Listings! Contact your past clients & sphere of influence! Market to Short Sales! Do BPO’s for banks & get into the REO business! Practice & perfect your listing presentation! Conduct a seminar: “How to Sell if you Owe More than Your Home is Worth!” or “5 Steps to Selling Your Home in this Distressed Market” Answer your phone from a sign call… they may have a house to sell as well!” Remember those “rental” leads that you don’t want to work….. perhaps they are losing their house and don’t realize that they could actually sell it as a short sale rather than letting it go into foreclosure! Think like a real estate consumer and be where are they looking… EVERY DAY!

“Abundance is here for the taking. Don’t bemoan your lost frontier. It is even now flashing on our horizon. A gorgeous land lies before you fair and more beautiful than man before has ever known!” (William Allen White – Commencement Address Northwestern University, 1936) There is more than enough real estate business to go around… and there always will be! People will always need a roof over their head and a place to call home and YOU are the one they need to help them find that! There is no other profession besides real estate where you can make as much money and have as much influence helping others as the opportunities provided to you by your chosen career. Graduate each evening and commence your new adventure each morning embracing your education received & experience yet to occur!

Congratulations to all graduates this season … including my son, Austin Sparks (pictured in this week’s motivational quote) who graduated from Dominion Christian High School and my nephew Jonathan Lerner (pictured above) who graduated from Wake Forest University!!!

Memorial Day – Reflections for the Real Estate Agent

Memorial Day – Reflections for the Real Estate Agent – by Dana Sparks

Memorial Day is the day to honor and remember our nation’s fallen military men and women. While we all enjoy a day off from work, the beginning of Summer, a picnic at the park or a relaxing time to get together with family and friends, remember that we enjoy these freedoms thanks to our armed forces who protect us, our borders and these ideas. When we think of the brave men and women who make up our military, we think of commitment, loyalty sacrifice, discipline, leadership and respect… all qualities which embody the excellence of a real estate professional!

Commitment: In today’s real estate market, it definitely takes commitment and perseverance to be successful in your chosen career. Real estate markets are cyclical; if you commit to learning your craft and sticking to it in this challenging market, you are almost certainly guaranteed success in the easier market that awaits us!

Loyalty: Your challenge is to keep today’s Buyers loyal to you as their agent when they don’t understand our market. We know that there is not as much inventory available for sale, but knowing this fact and convincing a Buyer of this are two separate issues. The public still hears in the media that we are in a “down market” or a “Buyer’s market.” They think that they can offer 60 cents on the dollar and purchase the house of their choice in a multiple offer situation. They also have a tendency to believe that you, their agent, simply does not want to take them out so see houses each weekend when you tell them there are no new “actives” but the see a TON of homes available online through Zillow, Trulia, etc! The key is to set the proper expectations with your clients and give them the information about the market so that they stay loyal to you when they begin to get a bit frustrated with their home search.

Sacrifice and Discipline: There always has been and always will be a need for housing in our society; people will always need a roof over their heads. Your challenge is to find those people in need and find them solutions. To meet this challenge, you will have to sacrifice the easy more enjoyable parts of your job and be disciplined to do the “work” part of your job EVERY DAY in order to consistently generate new business. “Prospecting” is NOT a dirty word! You must act daily at finding new business on a regular basis… because it is out there! Are you disciplined enough to make phone calls, place Craigslist ads, knock on doors, respond to your internet inquiries, farm a neighborhood, make home tour videos for 1 to 3 hours every day? Each workday, you start at zero and must solicit new business… like a soldier, this takes sacrifice and discipline but the result is rewarding!

Leadership & Respect: These military qualities are the true qualities that the public seeks from their agent. Let’s face it, technically, all agents can do the same job (search the listing services, show property, list property, write and negotiate contracts.) The reason that a Buyer or Seller chooses one agent over another agent comes down to the amount of leadership and confidence the agent exudes. When the customer respects you for your ability to take care of them regarding the largest investment of their lives and trusts you to lead them towards the end result they desire, YOU will turn them into YOUR client! Do what you need to do to gain confidence in your own abilities and then express that confidence in your communication to the public and you will see your business drastically improve!

Memorial Day 2013 – a time to reflect on our American heroes; a time to be thankful for others; a time to apply the qualities of our soldiers to ourselves as real estate professionals. So enjoy your friends and family, enjoy the beautiful weather, enjoying firing up the grill, enjoy wearing your white shoes, enjoy the patriotic parades and embody these admirable attributes to yourself when serving the needs of your clients.

What Real Estate Agents Can Learn from Bruce Lee

What Real Estate Agents Can Learn from Bruce Lee – by Dana Sparks

Bruce Lee is renowned as the greatest icon of martial arts films and a key figure in pop culture in general.  He leaves a legacy in martial arts, films, television, Asian culture, philosophy, nutrition and bodybuilding.  Bruce Lee’s life and career were energized by his thoughts and personal philosophy.  His inspiration propelled himself and others to phenomenal success with seeming ease.  The following excerpts from “Striking Thoughts – Bruce Lee’s Wisdom for Daily Living” will create a brighter future for you personally and professionally.

• The value of ideas – Ideas are the beginning of all achievement, in every industry, in every profession.
• Knowledge vs. Character – Knowledge will give you power but character respect.
• Success – Success means doing something sincerely and whole-heartedly.  And you have to have the help of other people to achieve it.
• On being success-conscious – Success comes to those who become success-conscious.  If you don’t aim at an object, how the heck on earth do you think you can get it?
• The three keys to success – Persistence, persistence, persistence.  The Power can be created and maintained through daily practice – continuous effort.
• Don’t choose to waste energy – Never waste energy on worries or negative thoughts.  All problems are brought into existence – drop them.
• Intense desire creates its own talents and opportunities – We are told that talent creates its own opportunities.  But it sometimes seems that  intense desire creates not only its own opportunities, but its own talents.
• Dreams are future realities – Yesterday’s dreams are often tomorrow’s realities.
• Money is an indirect matter – The direct matter is your ability or what you are going to do that counts.  If that comes, the indirect things will follow.
•  Strive to be better – One must always strive to be better.  The sky’s the limit.
• On the light within – No matter what, you must let your inner light guide you out of the darkness.
• Growth requires involvement – To grow, to discover, we need involvement which is something I experience everyday, sometimes good, sometimes bad.
• Frustration is a means of growth – People have to grow by skillful frustrations, otherwise they have no incentive to develop their own means and ways of coping with the world.
•  Feel – Don’t think, feel!  It’s like a finger pointing a way to the moon. Don’t concentrate on the finger or you will miss all that heavenly glory!
• Be water – Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water.  If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup.  You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle.  You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot.  Now, water can flow or it can crash.  Be water, my friend!

Real Estate Coaching for Growth in Your Real Estate Career

Real Estate Coaching for Growth in Your Real Estate Career – by Dana Sparks

 

If you would like to expand your business, consider coaching! Just like every professional athlete, you too can excel in your chosen profession with some coaching and accountability. Below are several professional real estate coaching services; you may investigate these or attend one of the Maximum One Masterminds, begin a Mastermind, find a mentor or simply begin with an accountability partner. Regardless of your choice, you have many options available to move you from point “A” to point “B” respective to your Real Estate Business! Maximum One is not advocating one Coaching Company over another, this article is designed to be informative. There are many ways to approach growing your business; no one way is more effective than any other. The best method is any one that you will choose and follow!

The Mike Ferry Organization: The Mike Ferry Organization (MFO) has been coaching real estate sales training for over 35 years. Based in California, they coach agents all around the US & Canada. MFO has many levels of coaching as well as classes and retreats to boost your sales. Their system can best be described as teaching you to be systematic, pro-active in finding people who need your services with a high level of accountability. www.MikeFerry.com

Craig Proctor: The Craig Proctor System can best be described as “direct response marketing.” This coachng system has been around for 18 years successfully advancing many agents in their careers. His systems, programs and coaching are available to agents of any experience level. www.CraigProctor.com

Tom Ferry: Tom Ferry is one of the Top Real Estate trainers throughout the country. As Mike Ferry’s son, Tom broke off from his Dad approximately 7 years ago to begin his own coaching program. Tom’s programs while consisting of the same effective training and accountability concepts, are definitely more geared towards today’s methods of communication with video and social media. www.YourCoach.com

Brian Buffini: The Brian Buffini system has been aound since 1995. His philosophy of growing your business centers around the idea of having others refer business to you. The Buffini system teaches you how to get the people you know to send you referrals and then how to close those referrals for an ongoing pipeline of real estate transactions. www.buffiniandcompany.com

Eric Jordan: Eric Jordan’s coaching program is a bit smaller than these other companies. You get a one-on-one coach along with a ton of training materials, scripts and dialogs to propel you further. www.EricJordanCoaching.com

Ren Jones: Having been a top producer himself and one of the most successful coaches in the Mike Ferry System, Coach Ren has his own successful coaching program. www.CoachRen.com

Matthew Ferry: Also one of Mike Ferry’s sons, Matthew has an extensive background in coaching real estate agents not only towards explosive growth in their businesses but also towards an unbelievably positive mindset in every aspect of their lives. Matthew’s programs are designed to give you lasting results in any endeavor that you choose and he has many programs regarding your overall happiness and success. www.MatthewFerry.com

You are not alone in your real estate career! Along with your specific branch, you have the agents and staff of the entire Maximum One corporation urging you to greater and greater success in your business! We provide many opportunities for you to get involved with your peers and professional affiliates (classes, workshops, Masterminds, Team Meetings, etc.) and it is up to YOU to take advantage of what we have to offer you as an agent. Consider adding another branch to your support system through professional coaching! Check out these coaching systems above. While there are more real estate coaching programs around, these are the ones with which I am most familiar and know produce successful results for all levels of real estate sales professionals!

If You Can Read This, You Can Make More Money in Real Estate

If You Can Read This, You Can Make More Money in Real Estate! – by Dana Sparks

 

If you can read this, you can make more money in your real estate career!

“Cna yuo raed tihs?

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno’t mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae.The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? Yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!”*

 

Pretty cool, huh? There are a variety of ways to use the lesson from this fun illustration to make more money in your real estate career! One of the primary insights to be gleaned is that you do not have to wait until you feel you “know it all” before you allow yourself to jump in this market and help sellers and buyers! Real estate follows a market cycle and will always be changing in and of itself; add the prevailing economy and know there are more changes ahead! So, just when you DO have everything “perfect” and “know it all,” the playing field will have changed! People need your professional real estate services now and with the assistance of your own research, your ongoing training, your office, your broker and your real estate coach, you will be able to make sense of what is presented (just like your mind makes sense of the jumbled words above) to sell property and make money!

Let the way the brain naturally works enhance your mindset, your real estate skills and ultimately procure signed agreements with your prospects! Your mind automatically fills in the blanks to make sense of the information you provide; sort of like the games, hangman and Wheel of Fortune!

 Mindset- The Inner Game of Real Estate: When you focus on your positive mindset in business, you create thoughts, ideas, emotions and images designed to lead you to the actions necessary to achieve the results you seek. Whether you use meditation, visualization, mental rehearsal, or affirmations you are forcing your mind to expand upon the ideas you present.

For example, let’s say you affirm: “I am uniquely qualified to help people move forward!” Those are the words. Your brain automatically fills in the images and emotions to prompt you towards action:

• I bring value that other do not have!
• I am professional and have the ability clients need in this real estate market!
• I know my market!
• I come from contribution!
• Buyers and Sellers want my services!
• Clients get what they want when they hire me!
• Clients move on with their lives (literally & figuratively!)
• They need me now!
• I am excited to bring valuable information to help someone sell or buy!

Real Estate Skills: You learn many skills to successfully help the public buy and sell property. For instance, when you learn a script or a dialog structure/format you eventually hear one or two words and you simply make sense of the situation and automatically respond with the appropriate skill set. You are on a listing appointment with an expired seller; the seller gives you an objection: “I only want to list with someone that showed my house.” Since you are a skilled professional interested in helping this person actually sell the house (and get a commission in return,) you reply in a skill-based manner in a way that makes sense to your mind based on your intent: “Interesting! And what is the advantage to you to list with an agent who proved to you that they cannot sell your house?”

 Signed Agreements with Prospects: Remember that your prospect’s brain works to fill in blanks the same way yours does! Directly sell to your client’s motivation and use the power of questions to turn those prospects into clients and clients into paychecks! There is a lot of confusion around today’s real estate market. The public looks to you, the real estate professional, to bring clarity to lead them through it so they can buy and sell. The one who asks questions leads the way towards appropriate action. Do you know how to ask selling questions in a way to move people forward faster; to ask them in such a way to lead someone towards clarity to “fill in their own blanks?”

For example, “If I could show you how to use your house as a tool in order to take advantage of this market on the buying side, would you be open to that?” The seller will go into his own mind, make sense of what you said in terms of being able to move and yes, would be open to that! How about, “Aren’t you concerned by how much money you are leaving on the table by waiting?” This question has power with a seller or buyer! You professionally persuade them to sign an agreement (which is in their best interest) to make the most of the real estate market today!

On a sales appointment, due to how the brain works, the prospect will fill in his own blanks! There are lots of agents who can technically complete paperwork and enter data on a computer. What are customers choosing when they choose to hire you…. they are choosing the blanks! Like the Impressionist style of painting, your impact is created in the mind of the audience. The client is buying in their mind what they perceive of your leadership, confidence, competence, integrity and ability to get them results! If you jumble your words or have to learn along the way, it is okay… there are people who need your services today and will gladly pay you for the results you can bring! A lot like “Wheel of Fortune!”

* The opening paragraph with the letters in normal order:

“Can you read this?

I couldn’t believe that I could actually understand what I was reading. The phenomenal power of the human mind, according to a research at Cambridge University, it doesn’t matter in what order the letters in a word are, the only important thing is that the first and last letter be in the right place. The rest can be a total mess and you can still read it without a problem. This is because the human mind does not read every letter by itself, but the word as a whole. Amazing huh? Yeah and I always thought spelling was important!”

* The paragraph is from an e-mail I received from a friend. You probably received it too! Original source is unknown.