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

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

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

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

This short “pocket presentation” will give you all you an overview of why this is so important to you and also give you a link to the full video on this topic that will show you how to do this yourself.

Imagine learning to drive in a car with no speedometer.  You could drive and do pretty well but you would have a handicap.  You would always be judging your speed by the others around you and when on the road alone you would always be worried and stressed.  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 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 more Real Estate knowledge, skills, or tools that are missing.  It is those two skill sets mentioned above. 

It takes all three for most people to be successful.  In addition to the knowledge and skills it takes a “speedometer” and an accurate one.  In a Real Estate Agent’s business that means a method to know how their “speed,” progress, in other words whether they are winning or losing.  Like a speedometer it has to be in real time so they know each day with confidence.  Most Agents don’t have that method. 

It also takes the 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, and 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.

This is an amazing time to be an agent!  And I don’t mean that in the false “rah-rah…let’s all think positive even though we want to crawl into bed and pull the covers over our heads” way of thinking.

I mean that in the “survival of the fittest” way of thinking.

This is one of those times when good agents become great ones.  When great agents become legends…and when everyone else sends in an application to work at Starbucks.

This is the type of market that will force you to practice excellence as a way of life.

Think of it as the best self-help and success course – that you are getting for free.

Why do I say this?

Because in the demand-driven market, you could get away with lazy, sloppy business and still do pretty well. But today we’re experiencing the consumer-driven market.

Consumers have become more savvy, more discerning – almost overnight.  And that means that you get the opportunity to step-up your game and become the businessperson that you know you can be.

The elements of success have not changed.  It is simply that the great and legendary agents have already made them a way of life, whereas the other agents have been one-hit-wonders or “lucky.”

Those days are over.

If you haven’t been living the three core fundamentals of true, lasting success then now is the time to start living and practicing those fundamentals.  Of course, if you aren’t ready for massive success, then I hear Starbucks is hiring.

The Success Triad Fundamental #1:  Mindset

The three core fundamentals of true lasting success are built like a triangle. At the base –  the critical foundation – lies mindset. The only difference between people who are rich and those who want to be rich is what they think about.  There are a lot of self-help books, programs, DVDs out there that all teach this fundamental principle of…what you think about comes about.

Another way to say that is that what you focus on you manifest.

Why is that critical to your success today?

Because if you are thinking about how you can survive this market that is what you are going to create. Survival. Contrast that with the agent who is 100% focused and committed to thriving in this market.

These two agents will have a very different outcome.

The agent with the positive attitude will automatically be more attractive to prospects.  If you are focused on the negative elements, you will miss seeing the business opportunities that the positive agent will effortlessly spot.  You must cultivate a state of positive expectancy.

There are only two things you are doing in business all the time.

You are either attracting or repelling business. There is no neutral.

The Success Triad Fundamental #2:  Mechanics

The second core fundamental of lasting success is mechanics. Mechanics are the “how-to’s” of any business.

And mechanics are what most agents love to focus on.

But mechanics without mindset will not make you successful.

People who learn how to “build rapport” without an abundant, positive, generous mindset will always come off as manipulative and untrustworthy.  And people who learn the powerful marketing strategies that I teach, but who fail to adopt a “give to get” mindset, will not be successful.

Once you do have the mindset in place, however, there are certain skills that you can use to boost your business into the stratosphere.  Particularly in this market, there are several tools that will have you dominating your market in no time flat. 

Because consumers are now more demanding and informed, it makes sense that to compete effectively you are going to have to “up” your game.  And how do you do that, you ask?  Well…

The #1 way “up” your game is through marketing.

Building your marketing toolbox is the most powerful thing you can do to insulate yourself from competition. Creating a powerful marketing machine that can generate a predictable, steady stream of prospects that are qualified and committed to working with you is the tool to cultivate in this market.

Tune in next time for part 2 of this post…you don’t want to miss it!

For the past two decades, Jennifer Cummings has been one of the most sought-after marketing experts in the nation.  Her “out-of-the-box” approach to marketing has won her the respect of advertising agencies and the adulation of entrepreneurs and business owners from all over the world in over a dozen unique markets. 

Using the same strategies she now teaches, Jennifer transformed her life from being a juvenile delinquent at 15 to a millionaire by age 30.  With her practical, no-frills approach to marketing and revenue generation, YOU can now join the thousands of other agents and brokers who have been excited and empowered to get back into the driver’s seats of their businesses!

Jennifer Cummings ~ www.PotatoChipMarketingTools.com ~ 888.208.2309

[***To get a $50 discount off of Jennifer’s Potato Chip Marketing Tools’ plug & play marketing pieces, simply enter the code “basb” when you join at www.PotatoChipMarketingTools.com!***]