Identify & Obliterate Six Barriers to Your Success!
It’s the beginning of yet another year, and as many of us sit with pencil in hand we might be thinking…”Should I even bother to set new goals again this year…and if so… will it even make a difference?
At the beginning of every year we all start out at zero….and it seems daunting to look at next December and wonder how we are going to “get there”! Will we beat this year’s numbers? Will this be the first year that you will really …

Philosophically speaking, are you a person who wants and believes that people can do a lot of things well or a few things well?  There are huge differences in businesses that follow the philosophy of hiring generalists or specialists.  Your vision for the size of your team a few years down the road will also determine the generalist versus specialist discussion.
 
In a specialist business, it doesn’t mean that people aren’t doing things that they aren’t so good at.  In a specialist practice, your objective is to minimize the time in …

Every year as part of the new edition of the Swanepoel TRENDS Report (www.RETrends.com) the 160 page Report also looks back at the passing year and lists those events that transpired during the year that made headlines and captured the industry’s attention and imagination. The 2010 edition is due for release on February 8, 2010. Here are the top events that during 2009 made headlines in the residential real estate brokerage industry.
(Photo: Copyright Shutterstock)

#10 Houston Becomes #1 REALTOR® Association
In August 2009 the Houston Association of Realtors® (HAR) …

Whose fault is it that your buyer’s short sale didn’t close in time for their needed move date and they walked from the deal….and you….forever? Well, it’s the lender’s fault of course. NOT!!! Sorry but the blame starts and ends with you. You should have never even gotten your client into that situation in the first place. We all know the nightmares of getting short sales to close in a timely manner. If you have a buyer who absolutely MUST be in a new home by or around a certain …

If you think success is a one step process . . . think again.  The objective in building a Champion Team is to identify the steps and apply them in the proper order.  You must have both the steps and the order correct.  The right steps in the wrong order will leave you well short of the success you desire.
 
Stage 1 – You
Stage 2 – You and your first assistant
Stage 3 – You and closing coordinator and listing coordinator
Stage 4 – You and closing coordinator and listing coordinator and buyer’s …

When expanding your team through buyer’s agents, there are a couple of key questions you need to ask yourself before you embark on this path.

1. Do I have enough leads to currently support a buyer’s agent?

You will need to have enough leads to support and feed the production for your new buyer’s agent. The most inexperienced the buyer’s agent is, the greater the burn rate on your leads will be. The burn rate is the number of blown opportunities with viable leads the buyer’s agent has in the …

When working with a buyer prospect, they must posses what I call the three Cs of a buyer:
 

Commitment
Compromise
Competitiveness

 
A Champion Agent expects commitment from the client.  Most trainers will tell Agents to ask buyers, “Are you working with another Agent?”  That really isn’t the right question or wording.  The word working has too broad a definition.  Working could mean they met an Agent at an open house; they are receiving property matches from them; there is an Agent who farms their neighborhood.  The word working doesn’t mean they will buy and …