Today, more than ever before, it is absolutely necessary that you understand the difference between advertising and marketing.  You may THINK you know and understand that difference.  But after working with hundreds of agents and brokers from around the world, I’ve realized that most people don’t understand the REAL difference – the money-making difference.

Here’s what I’m talking about…

Most real estate agents and brokers have advertising campaigns, but very few have effective marketing campaigns. Advertising and marketing are VERY different.

Advertising creates attention and promotes an image or brand. Marketing, however, compels someone (i.e. your prospective client) to buy or sell with you!

TRUE marketing is THE #1 way to build your business – especially in this market.

However, there is a crucial part to marketing effectively that almost ALL agents and brokers have been leaving out of their marketing campaigns.  An effective and successful marketing campaign – meaning one that will truly appeal to your prospects – is all about THEM – not YOU.   It’s all about GIVING – not TAKING.  It’s all about practicing what I call…

Potato Chip Marketing!

And this isn’t just some random concept I created out of thin air.  This Potato Chip Marketing has been VERY successfully used by REALTORS^® from around the world – and it’s tried and true…guaranteed.  Especially in these market conditions…

So, let’s break it down a little.  An effective and proven Potato Chip Marketing campaign has seven crucial steps:

1.       Understand, Practice, Instill and Reinstill the Potato Chip Marketing Mindset in YOURSELF!

       Potato Chip Marketing is what I call “give-to-get” marketing.  What exactly does this mean?  How does this work?

Imagine this…

You are on a reality show. To win $100,000, you must persuade 20 squirrels to eat out of your hand. Your only tool is a bag of potato chips. You are taken to a park where there are plenty of squirrels. Your instructions are that you cannot go more than 100 feet from a park bench.

How would you get the squirrels to come to you? You certainly wouldn’t run out and say, “Hey squirrels, come get these potato chips!”  Obviously, that would scare them off.

What WOULD work would be to lay out a trail of potato chips to attract them to where you are sitting. They would come to you only when they felt it was safe and when they felt they could trust you.

And this very same concept applies to your potential clients…

They will come to you when they feel it is safe and when they feel they can trust you.

Some people say that real estate is a numbers game. But, if you are “in it to win it,” that’s just not true.  No client wants to be treated as if they’re a number. They want relationships…they want trust…they want to “try before they buy.”

Potato Chip Marketing is simply about uncovering THEIR needs, building trusting relationships with THEM…and giving-to-get. 

Tune in next time to learn the next steps in this PROVEN marketing strategy! 

It really works…guaranteed!

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.JenniferCummings.com ~ jennifer@jennifercummings.com

Randy Eagar, CRS

What technological features/gadgets/programs have been more worrisome and questionable than that of all the various social media marketing and networks? Should you be on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter or even YouTube? As I mentioned last time, the answer is “YES”. But in this post, I’d like to deal more specifically with an overview of how to market your social media through the magic of RSS Feeds (Really Simple Syndication).

Carla Cross, CRB, MA, International Speaker

Why waste your time filling in blanks to create goals? Doing that gives you no confidence in whether your plan will work. Instead, read how to make a business plan that gives you confidence in its ability to deliver to you the goals you want—and deserve.

Today, companies are touting that they will “make a business plan” for you. All you have to do is to put some numbers into the software, and, voila, your business comes out the ‘other end’. Sounds so easy. We love to get something for no effort! It reminds me of the story my sister told about one of her jobs in college. She worked for a cardiologist. She put electrodes on patients to prepare for the cardiogram. One day, she was putting electrodes on an elderly gentleman. She had him remove all jewelry, hearing aids, etc. To reduce his anxiety, she said, “Just relax. I’ll do all the rest.” He replied, “Honey, I’ve been waiting all my life for a woman to tell me that!”

Surprise…..he was going to have to wait a little longer. Similarly, expecting software to make you a business plan is an over-simplification of what that it can do for you. Also, it’s a mis-representation of what a business plan is. In this article, I’ll give you one concept that will change the way you think about your business plan. Applying this concept will help you create and execute your business plan with confidence. Following this concept will assure you’ll get the outcomes you want. (You’ll never say again, “Will this work for me?”).

Getting Past the Numbers to a True Executable Business Plan

Why would you want to create a business plan that’s not useful to you as you go about your business every day? I’ve coached hundreds of agents and leadership in creating what I call ‘executable’ business plans. Executable business plans are those that you can

use every day in creating the actions that lead to the results the client wants.

That means your business plan has to go way past just the numbers (goals), and get to ‘where the rubber meets the road’—the daily and weekly actions you will take that directly relate to the results or goals you intend to reach. Too many times, real estate professionals separate the action plans from the bigger picture of the business plan. However, they are all a part of the same busines plan!

A Stunning Concept: Your Systems Make Up Your Business Plan

This concept is from Michael Gerber, the small business guru and author of the famous books, The E-Myth and The E-Myth Revisited. (I highly recommend you read both of these). He says,

“the integration of your systems is your business plan”

What he means by that statement: As you think through how you’re going to act each day, you’re going to create systems and processes, including your operational checklists—so you can follow the plan. These systems put down in black and white how you’ll lead generate, how you’ll work with buyers, how you’ll market to people after the sale, etc.

Creating the systems. Now, you are actually creating the actions you’re prepared to take each day that lead you to your goals. You are going to relate those systems to your goals. For example: Your goal is twenty-four homes sold this year. Your lead generation plan includes contacting three ‘target’ or segregated markets. To contact, you have a system, consisting of a certain number of calls, mailings, etc. over a certain period of time. You have checklists to back these actions, and you have delegated part of this action plan to others.

Armed with these concrete actions—in order—you have created your ‘replicable’ business. You now can either

1. Carry out the systems yourself, or

2. Delegate them to grow your business

Carla Cross, CRB, MA, is a real estate leadership coach and speaker, and is president of Carla Cross Seminars, Inc. and Carla Cross Coaching. She’s author of six internationally published books on real estate sales and management, including The Business Planning System for the Real Estate Professional. Carla’s management and sales systems are used by thousands of real estate professionals, and many are endorsed by CRS and CRB. Reach Carla at 425-392-6914 or www.carlacross.com.

Carla Cross, CRB, MA, International Speaker

Are you fustrated because buyers won’t buy and sellers won’t price right? Here are the answers. We agent types like to talk. In fact, many of us became agents because people told us that, since we’re good talkers, we’d make great salespeople! That’s an old idea today. Why? Because consumers, are over-whelmed with sales talk. We don’t just trust anyone because they have a good ‘sales spiel’.

Buyers and Sellers Stall on Decisions

At this moment, I’m in Albuquerque to do my presentation for this emerging market, “From Lambs to Lions: Take Charge of Your Business in Challenging Times”. As part of my regular pre-conference survey, I found that agents are having trouble getting buyers to make a decision—and sellers to list their properties are a marketable price. What’s behind this indecision? Low confidence in the economy—and lack of trust in the agent. So, how do we create high trust in a market that is so unpredictable that no one, in any business (or personal life), has a crystal ball on the future?

Stop Talking and Start Showing

A few months ago, I came across a brilliant article in our local Seattle paper describing how doctors in a prestigious medical center here have just adopted operation room checklists. This simple measure lowered infections dramatically. Now, it seems simplistic, doesn’t it, that highly trained doctors and nurses need checklists for things such as ‘wash your hands’? But, we all get busy. We get stressed. Having checklists reduces stress and increases confidence. (Wouldn’t you feel better if you were going into the operating room, and saw that checklist posted on the wall?)

What This Means to You

The idea for professional checklists comes from the book The Checklist Manifesto, by Atul Gawande. If doctors and nurses can increase their effectiveness with checklists, I’ll bet we can, too—and dramatically increase our clients’ trust in us.

Listing properties. If you’re finding it increasingly difficult to list properties at the right price, it may be because you’re working too hard  trying to talk the seller into it, and are not working hard enough to show a seller into it. Sellers, like all of us, believe what they see, not what they hear.

Go visual. Instead of trying to tell a seller what you know to be true, back up your statements with statistics, graphs, facts, and checklists.. You do this in your market analysis. But, most agents don’t do this with the rest of their marketing plans. Start now gathering information to back up your chosen marketing strategies.

For example, if you’ve found, through your experience, that open houses do not sell that particular home, start keeping statistics of your open house visitors, their needs, and what happened to them during their buying cycle. You want to provide sellers the information they need to make good decisions, and to support your marketing plan.

The truism behind show, not tell: We believe what we see, not what we hear.

Carla Cross, CRB, MA, is a former master-level CRB instructor, popular international speaker, National Realtor Educator of the Year, and author of 6 books and 20 audio programs. She specializes in ‘people development’—strategies to get highest profitability. Learn more at www.carlacross.com, or contact Carla at 425-392-6914.

This is the remaining part of the Jennifer’s blog topic from 12/1/09…enjoy!

The Success Triad Fundamental #3:  Momentum

The final element of the success triad is momentum. A lot of times when the market slows we go into “analysis paralysis.”  We start trying to figure it out, but we forget to then take action.  A year or two ago you might have been able to take some time off, regroup and rest on your laurels – but that’s no longer the case.

The good news is that you only have to take a little action to surpass the competition.

I call the three key components to keeping the momentum up and taking action…

“The Three A’s of Action”:

1.      The First “A” of Action is that you must have an Actionable Environment.

Your environment can add to your energy or deplete it.  Simply put, your mother was right when she told you back in your high school days that “You are who you hang around!” In other words, don’t spend time with the “Negative Nellies” that bring you down and zap your energy. 

You want to spend your time with people that are future-focused and more successful than you.

Also, your physical space is important. Take a look around your office, your car, your home and ask yourself honestly, “Is my environment conducive to my success?”  

Get your house in order and prepare yourself to take action and be successful.

2.      The Second “A” of Action is Accountability. 

We are pros when it comes to rationalizing to ourselves, but what soon happens is that we build excuses instead of a business.

When it comes to accountability, hiring a coach may be the single most powerful thing you can do to get yourself into action. Most agents start trimming the budget when it comes to a slow market – but cutting a coach from your budget (or not having one in the first place) is the worst possible decision that you can make.

Hire the best coach or join a mastermind group that makes you tow the line. There are times when the “do it yourself” model just isn’t the right approach.  And relying solely on your own ability to motivate yourself day after day, week after week is the best way to end up making someone else’s morning mocha.

3.      The Third “A” of Action are setting Activity Goals.

These are the final keys you need to take the action necessary to create momentum. It is critical that you be focused on activity goals rather than performance goals. 

I teach my own private clients to take small, consistent, daily actions.  I would rather you do several small consistent activities on a long-term basis than one big bang.  It’s like trying to lose weight by having one marathon workout every month. You’ll just end up fat and sore. 

The same principle applies in your real estate business. Take small daily steps and make them habits that move you forward towards your goals.

==============================

Learning and implementing The Success Triad in your business will make you an agent that all other agents look up to. You can have everything you want in this market.  You can either thrive or survive.

It is up to you. 

But I will leave you with this. In a market like this it is actually easier to succeed and create a business that will take care of you for as long as you want to run it.  This is the market “that separates the boys from the men.”  Or the baristas from the super-agents…

To your success!

A Different View of Today’s Market…and How to Thrive In It! (Part 2)

This is the remaining part of the Jennifer’s blog topic from 12/1/09…enjoy!

The Success Triad Fundamental #3:  Momentum

The final element of the success triad is momentum. A lot of times when the market slows we go into “analysis paralysis.”  We start trying to figure it out, but we forget to then take action.  A year or two ago you might have been able to take some time off, regroup and rest on your laurels – but that’s no longer the case.

The good news is that you only have to take a little action to surpass the competition.

I call the three key components to keeping the momentum up and taking action…

“The Three A’s of Action”:

1.      The First “A” of Action is that you must have an Actionable Environment.

Your environment can add to your energy or deplete it.  Simply put, your mother was right when she told you back in your high school days that “You are who you hang around!” In other words, don’t spend time with the “Negative Nellies” that bring you down and zap your energy. 

You want to spend your time with people that are future-focused and more successful than you.

Also, your physical space is important. Take a look around your office, your car, your home and ask yourself honestly, “Is my environment conducive to my success?”  

Get your house in order and prepare yourself to take action and be successful.

2.      The Second “A” of Action is Accountability. 

We are pros when it comes to rationalizing to ourselves, but what soon happens is that we build excuses instead of a business.

When it comes to accountability, hiring a coach may be the single most powerful thing you can do to get yourself into action. Most agents start trimming the budget when it comes to a slow market – but cutting a coach from your budget (or not having one in the first place) is the worst possible decision that you can make.

Hire the best coach or join a mastermind group that makes you tow the line. There are times when the “do it yourself” model just isn’t the right approach.  And relying solely on your own ability to motivate yourself day after day, week after week is the best way to end up making someone else’s morning mocha.

3.      The Third “A” of Action are setting Activity Goals.

These are the final keys you need to take the action necessary to create momentum. It is critical that you be focused on activity goals rather than performance goals. 

I teach my own private clients to take small, consistent, daily actions.  I would rather you do several small consistent activities on a long-term basis than one big bang.  It’s like trying to lose weight by having one marathon workout every month. You’ll just end up fat and sore. 

The same principle applies in your real estate business. Take small daily steps and make them habits that move you forward towards your goals.

==============================

Learning and implementing The Success Triad in your business will make you an agent that all other agents look up to. You can have everything you want in this market.  You can either thrive or survive.

It is up to you. 

But I will leave you with this. In a market like this it is actually easier to succeed and create a business that will take care of you for as long as you want to run it.  This is the market “that separates the boys from the men.”  Or the baristas from the super-agents…

To your success!

A Different View of Today’s Market…and How to Thrive In It! (Part 2)

This is the remaining part of the Jennifer’s blog topic from 12/1/09…enjoy!

The Success Triad Fundamental #3:  Momentum

The final element of the success triad is momentum. A lot of times when the market slows we go into “analysis paralysis.”  We start trying to figure it out, but we forget to then take action.  A year or two ago you might have been able to take some time off, regroup and rest on your laurels – but that’s no longer the case.

The good news is that you only have to take a little action to surpass the competition.

I call the three key components to keeping the momentum up and taking action…

“The Three A’s of Action”:

1.      The First “A” of Action is that you must have an Actionable Environment.

Your environment can add to your energy or deplete it.  Simply put, your mother was right when she told you back in your high school days that “You are who you hang around!” In other words, don’t spend time with the “Negative Nellies” that bring you down and zap your energy. 

You want to spend your time with people that are future-focused and more successful than you.

Also, your physical space is important. Take a look around your office, your car, your home and ask yourself honestly, “Is my environment conducive to my success?”  

Get your house in order and prepare yourself to take action and be successful.

2.      The Second “A” of Action is Accountability. 

We are pros when it comes to rationalizing to ourselves, but what soon happens is that we build excuses instead of a business.

When it comes to accountability, hiring a coach may be the single most powerful thing you can do to get yourself into action. Most agents start trimming the budget when it comes to a slow market – but cutting a coach from your budget (or not having one in the first place) is the worst possible decision that you can make.

Hire the best coach or join a mastermind group that makes you tow the line. There are times when the “do it yourself” model just isn’t the right approach.  And relying solely on your own ability to motivate yourself day after day, week after week is the best way to end up making someone else’s morning mocha.

3.      The Third “A” of Action are setting Activity Goals.

These are the final keys you need to take the action necessary to create momentum. It is critical that you be focused on activity goals rather than performance goals. 

I teach my own private clients to take small, consistent, daily actions.  I would rather you do several small consistent activities on a long-term basis than one big bang.  It’s like trying to lose weight by having one marathon workout every month. You’ll just end up fat and sore. 

The same principle applies in your real estate business. Take small daily steps and make them habits that move you forward towards your goals.

==============================

Learning and implementing The Success Triad in your business will make you an agent that all other agents look up to. You can have everything you want in this market.  You can either thrive or survive.

It is up to you. 

But I will leave you with this. In a market like this it is actually easier to succeed and create a business that will take care of you for as long as you want to run it.  This is the market “that separates the boys from the men.”  Or the baristas from the super-agents…

To your success!

For more information on Jennifer Cummings or to book her for your next event visit www.BrokerAgentSpeakers.com or call 1-877-211-6472.

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 2010.

 The ‘Spring Ahead’ Approach to Get it Done

 For my business planning webinar (see below), 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’ve got cracking on those first two steps to business planning that I gave you in my October 29th 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.

 Email me at Carla@carlacross.com  and ask for my Management Evaluation—a detailed rating document to assess your strengths and your challenges (great, too, if you’re hiring or managing managers).

 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.

 For a comprehensive business planning system, with fill-in forms for each part of your plan, see The Business Planning System for the Owner, Manager, and Team Builder at www.carlacross.com.

 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).

 (Forms for analyzing and planning available for agents, too. See The Business Planning System for the Real Estate Professional.

 Want help with getting your agents to plan: Join me Dec. 8 when I do a webinar for NAR’s Learning Library: Not Your Grammy’s Business Plan.

 Carla Cross, CRB, MA, is an international speaker on productivity and profitability through ‘people development’. Her book on business planning has been published internationally. A course writer and presenter for CRB on business planning, Cross’s business planning workshops, presentations, and resources provide customized systems for real estate professionals. 

It’s Customer Service Week…Really?

I have to ask ….What’s wrong with this statement?  Customer service week?  Does that mean we focus on service specifically during seven short days in October?

I must admit, I have never heard of Customer Service week, so I simply had to check out what I could find. Sure enough, I did a search and found out that in 1992 the U.S. Congress proclaimed Customer Service Week a nationally recognized event, celebrated annually during the first full week in October.

According to their website* this is a national event specifically devoted to recognizing the importance of customer service and to honoring the people who serve and support customers with the highest degree of care and professionalism. Excuse me? Where I come from, we strive to do this at every opportunity.

And I thought that customer service was, in fact, a principal driven activity based on the absolute privilege to serve and gratitude for the opportunity to service those customers and clients who I am fortunate to have work with me.

There are millions of providers for your services out there!  What are we thinking? 

I called my friend and colleague, Scott McKain, author of “Collapse of Distinction” for some insight.  Scott is an expert on customer service and the value proposition.  I had to ask him about his thoughts on what he thought about this one week phenomenon.  He said that having a customer service week is part of the problem. In the old days we had a complaint division, which morphed into the customer service division to handle customer dissatisfaction, leading us to believe customer satisfaction is an ongoing situation that calls for eternal vigilance.

He continued, “As long as there is a special “week” dedicated to the service of a customer, it is clear, we “fail to get it”.  Customer service is the cornerstone of how we go to market and how we have the opportunity to integrate our differentiating value instead of “adding” value to create that creates an exceptional experience

McKain pointed out we would never dedicate a specific week to “Good Product Week”…it’s ridiculous to think that our product or service would be a focus to be “good” for a designated number of days. 

It isn’t enough to be good or even great at service today in order to capture, serve and retain a valued customer….we have to provide an extraordinary experience in the process every time!

As long as we think that our service should be highlighted for a week, there is no doubt the customer will look elsewhere to a service provider who “gets it”.

For more information visit: *www.csweek.com/customer_service_week_background.php,
and www.ScottMcKain.com

Have you heard???? It’s one heck of a kick-off!

We’ve got over 12,000 agents registered for the Realtor University Webinar series starting tomorrow at 11:00 EST and WOW do we have a lineup!

I’m lucky to be the host for each of the six calls tomorrow starting with the most requested seminar seat in the series featuring former chief economist, John Tuccillo on the 2010 Economic Forecast & how you can prosper!
This is an amazing series featuring industry leaders:

Randy Eagar – Everyone wants to know how to build an Internet Marketing Presence through Blogging!  Expert Randy Eagar’s insightful presentation will tell you!  He offers the 20 Types of Dynamic Blogging Posts!  You won’t want to miss this incredible program and begin blogging like a pro!

The Dynamic Duo of Michael and Stacy Spickes have the full low down on “How you can successfully close short sales!” – They’ve got what you need to know to get a good solid understanding of what a short sale is and what you need step by step to get a short sale to close!

Amy Chorew is our Tech goddess and she’s on the webinar sharing “How Top Agents are Using VIDEO on the Web to Generate Business Now!” To harness this powerful web tool…be sure to check out what Amy has to say

Verl Workman, master sales expert offers the Top Ten Money Making Tools you can use in Real Estate. As a master coach, following his 10 steps is guaranteed to increase your sales.

And our final presenter is Rich Levin sharing 14 Proven Systems to keep your Transactions intact….and who doesn’t need that to keep those contracts from sold to close!

I can’t WAIT to be hosting each of these dynamic presentations! So be sure to visit: www.LearningLibrary.com/RU/Webinars and get registered for these FREE events! And be sure to get your $5.00 discount coupon for the upcoming seminars scheduled in October and November.

Terri Murphy, Author of 5 books, her latest with Donald Trump. She is a Speaker & Consultant and can be reached by email: Terri@TerriMurphy.com or for more information visit www.MurphyOnRealEstate.com

Pam Ermen

Growth Factor #1: First Things First
Aaaah Teams…
Creating one can be the best thing that’s ever happens to your business, or the worst! So what factors determine which side of the equation you’ll experience?

The “Top 5″ Growth Traits of a Successful Real Estate Team
Hiring people before acquiring systems is the surefire path to failure. Think of it this way, if you hire a team member and can’t plug them into systems, procedures and lead generation programs, what do you think they’ll plug into? (I just can’t shake this mental picture of a dog with a new litter of hungry puppies!) It’s no wonder that many Top Producers equate Teams with pain, NOT growth.

If you think you’re spread thin now, just wait until you have an Administrative Assistant and/or a Team Associate literally standing at the door, waiting impatiently for you to walk in, and ready to be told what to do next. To make matters worse, their conversation with anyone who will listen rings of a “this is not what I was expecting” message, and of course, the fact that it’s your fault is also part of their ongoing dialogue. The painful truth is that what they’re saying has validity…you are the one responsible for creating focus, purpose and cohesiveness within your team, and a “we-they” mentality that develops will surely undermine any chances of that happening.

You must develop a plan the policies, procedures, systems, documents and programs necessary to grow a successful team, before your life as a Team Leader actually gets easier. If you don’t, expect it to get harder!

Growth Factor #2: Discover Who You Are
The “Top 5” Growth Traits of a Successful Real Estate Team
Remember when your Mother used to tell you there’s no one else in the world that’s just like you? It was her maternal attempt to somehow make freckles, braces and baby fat a wonderful part of what makes you unique. Perhaps it’s a bit of a stretch, but tapping into that “conversation with Mom” before you develop a team, could prove invaluable! Creating your Team by duplicating the structure and nature of another team eliminates the buying or selling experience that is unique to you and that contributed to your success in the first place. In addition, why would you want to foster a “commodity” mentality between you and your competition in the minds of the Consumer?

What’s more, long term retention of your team members will have much more to do with being part of a unique and inspiring environment than it will ever have to do with the amount of the commission dollars they earn. Don’t get me wrong, every Team Associate wants to keep the most money possible, but as successful managers and companies understand, there is ALWAYS a better deal somewhere else. Agents stay where they are for reasons than are much great than just money.

Can you clearly define who you are, what you stand for, and why another individual would be excited to be a part of your vision? Do your core values truly drive the course of your business and the overall goals you have for yourself and anyone who associates with you? Is the public aware of the unique and valuable experience they will have when they work with you or one of your team members? Just remember, no team member is attracted to a “secret indentity” and neither is the public.

Growth Factor #3: Hire “Right” From the Start
The “Top 5” Growth Traits of a Successful Real Estate Team
I once asked one of the most successful Team Leaders in the country what he would define as THE most important factor in a successful team. “Hire the right people”, he responded, without hesitation. Seemed simple enough, but as we all know, simple and easy are rarely the same thing. Asked for further insight, he shared how important it was to first clearly define what the traits of a successful Team Member literally looks, feels and acts liked based on your expectations and your type of team.

Let’s assume you’ve cleared the first hurdle by hiring Team Associates with common core values that line up with your vision and business model. Next, there are personality and learning behaviors to consider. Are you a “Thinker” or a “Feeler” when it comes to communicating, and even more importantly, when it comes to handling conflict? Are you “direct” or more “laid back” when interacting with both your Team Associates and your Clients and Customers? “Opposites attract” is rarely a recipe for success when creating a team. Yes it’s possible, and can even be beneficial to have a variety of personalities on a team, but only if the Leader understands personality and behavorial differences and knows how to manage them.

In addition, what kind of Team Associate is best for your particular business model? Perhaps you’re looking for Team Associates who will basically show the property, allowing you as the Team Manager to “close” the sale. That Team Associate’s strengths may differ from those in a different business model where all Associates are expected to take responsibility for the transaction from start to finish. Another type may hire for specific responsibilities, for example, a Listing Specialist who will concentrate all of his or her efforts on the listing side of the transaction only. Whatever your desires, knowng DISC personality profiles and understanding adult based learning types can save a Team Manager loads of frustration by initially hiring the right person for the right seat on the bus.

Growth Factor #4: Develop an “Eye” Team vs an “I” Team
The “Top 5” Growth Traits of a Successful Real Estate Team
Ask yourself this question “What is my motivation for developing a team?” If you’ve use the pronoun “I” more than 5 times in the first 60 seconds, save yourself some frustration and forget about the prospects of creating one. A team can be your ticket to a more balanced life, more quality time with the family, and ultimately more income with less labor on your part. But, you can’t get there without first understanding the importance of “We”.

If you have clearly defined who you are and what you stand for, and have hired team members that are excited to be a part of what you’ve created, your on your way to creating an “Eye” Team. Focused on common well defined goals and inspired by the same core values, an “Eye” team possesses the “All for One and One for All” mentality. Each team member recognizes and respects the role of the Team Leader, while the Leader makes decisions and policies that are motivated by what benefits the whole. This is a winning formula for trust and respect between a team’s management and labor force, so to speak, and the firm foundation of any “Eye” Team. Ultimately, this kind of environment leads to a sense of “ownership” on everyone’s part

Growth Factor #5: Bring Meat to the Table
The “Top 5” Growth Traits of a Successful Real Estate Team
Many agents believe that growing a team in the midst of today’s market conditions is for the foolhardy. The opposite is true! The challenges of today’s marketplace are actually causing highly trained, experienced agents to consider team opportunities who may never have done so when their business and income was more predictable. If you’re thinking like a business owner and entrepreneur, you know that the best of opportunities often present themselves in the toughest of conditions. By nature, most individuals will play it safe in challenging times. But consider the words of one of the most successful businessmen in the world, Warren Buffet, who defined his investment philosophy as “being fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful.” For a Team Leader, some of the best deals in this market may come in the form of high quality, well trained producers who are fearful of riding through this economic storm alone.

Keep in mind, though, these Agents are not only looking for confidence and leadership, but business! The consistency of the business they have enjoyed, especially over the last 5 years, has thinned out as a percentage of that Agent’s past clients delay their plans in real estate, in addition to their usual referrals of friends and family members who may have also put their real estate dreams on hold until the market his “bottom”.

A saavy Team Manager who is targeting a variety of business sources, including opportunities unique to the current market such as foreclosures and short sale business, is positioned to “feed the masses”, which is what business planning for a team is all about. Developing a team business plan is a specialized and necessary process that should address exactly what sources you will target, the amount of business you can expect from each source, what portion of that business will be shared with each Team Associate, and a master budget that ensures the income goals of ALL team members can be met.

Conclusion
Creating an environment of interdependence among a team of independent salespeople sounds like an impossible feat. If you have already made an effort at growing a team without applying the traits and principles discussed, I’m sure you feel like it is one! Hiring Agents to share the workload does not make a team. A team is really a microcosm of a real estate office, requiring an intentional daily focus on systems, relationships and quality leadership in order to become healthy and productive. If these are lacking, you may as well install a revolving door at the entrance of your office or allot plenty of time for renegotiating splits with your Team Associates in order to keep them. If you’re willing to put that same time into understanding these Top 5 Growth Traits of a Successful Team, new levels of success and profitability can be just a few new team members away!

For More information or to book Pam Ermen at your next event,
call 1-877-211-6472 Ext 1 or visit www.BrokerAgentSpeakers.com

 Do you lead meetings? Do you want to do buyer or seller seminars? Do you present to two or two hundred? Managers, trainers, and even agents sometimes have to present in front of three to hundreds of people. Unfortunately, many who have to get in front of others have no training and dread the thought! It doesn’t have to be frightening, though. Take a look at the three ‘pro’ speaker tips below to make your next time in front of a few –or many—enjoyable, memorable, and equally enjoyable for your audience.

 Grasping Skills Makes us Competent—and Confident

 The very best part about performance is that anyone can get better at anything through learning skills and practice. I learned that as a pianist/flutist, and I’ve seen that over and over again—no matter what adults think! (I taught adults piano lessons so I know all the barriers that get in our way!). Just keep in mind the quote I read from the great UCLA basketball coach, John Wooden:

                      It’s what we learn after we know it all that counts.

 Those Three Powerful Speaker’s Tips

 1. Vary your delivery. Don’t lecture for more than 10 minutes. Adults just don’t have that long an attention span (too much on our minds!). Change it up. Use various “alternative delivery methods”–methods to teach other than lecture. In my Instructor Development course, I help students learn these teaching methods by modeling them so they can observe me teaching. Then, we de-brief on what we did. Finally, each student teaches a short module using creative methods, and the rest of the students provide feedback. (We really only learn when we do something). Doing greatly increases confidence–and competence.

 2. Anticipate adults’ fear barriers to change. When you want to change adults’ perceptions, beliefs, or knowledge, don’t just start talking to them. You may just cause them to shrink more into their beliefs, and to defend it (have you observed students who live to argue with the instructor?)

 How to tackle the ‘old belief’ challenge:

 Prepare students to learn something new. For example: Use a ‘true-false’ or ‘multiple choice’ to start the presentation, or to check learning. I do this in my IDW course in the middle, and ask students how they would have answered at the beginning of the course–and then contrast that with their new perceptions and learning. It creates lots of ‘ahas’ with them, and further cements their learning experience.

 3. YOU are the medium, not the visuals. Don’t just read from the PowerPoint on the screen (and, just as onerous, provide the student with the PowerPoint as the “outline”.) If an instructor does that, I feel I want to just take that outline and leave. I can read, thank you! Too many real estate instructors rely on PowerPoint to do the teaching.

 Your Right Brain Can Save the Day

 Effective teaching is much more than just talking. It should be creative. Use all the “attention strategies” at your disposal (that means to get them into your repertoire).

 Suggestions:

Use props, stories, various audio-visual aids, handouts to control the audience “contour”. I learned this as a musician playing for dancing. You direct how you want the audience to dance, and you ‘contour’ the whole experience (slower to faster, then back to slow). As a great instructor/ facilitator, you can direct your audience in an awesome learning experience. It just depends on the skills you bring to the table.

 Check Out These Resources To Help You Gain Skill and Confidence

 A very few people seem to be born with innate talent for getting front of people. However, for most of us, it’s a matter of gaining and practicing the necessary skills. Here are some methods to get skilled, and raise your confidence level dramatically:

 Join Toastmasters. It’s inexpensive, and will provide you skills and practice.

If you get serious about speaking, look into joining your local chapter and national organization for speaking professionals, National Speakers’ Association. As a long-time member of both my chapter and the national organization, I highly recommend it for both skill and marketing development.

 Finally, I’ve just completed a new resource for real estate presenters, trainers, and facilitators:  The Ultimate Real Estate Trainer’s Guide.  Watch for it at www.carlacross.com in early September. In it, I’ve provided all the tips, skills, processes, and sample outlines I’ve gleaned in my two decades as a real estate trainer.

 It’s Worth the Effort

 Most presenters/trainers aren’t in it for the big bucks (where are those big bucks, again?). They’re in it to assist others. Gaining and practicing presentation skills helps us give back better. The bonus: Deep appreciation from our audience. We’ve even been known to change lives for the better! No amount of money can provide that sense of accomplishment.

 Carla Cross, CRB, MA, is a National Realtor Educator of the Year, international speaker, and author of training and coaching programs for most of the international franchises. She was recognized as one of the 50 most influential women Realtors of 2008. See her blog, Management in a Minute for management and training tips. See her coaching and training resources at www.carlacross.com.