The most important day you can spend this year is the day you spend reviewing the year.  Too often we forget to review our past experiences.  To be truly successful, we have to invest what we have learned into our future.  By making this wise investment we increase the speed that we travel to achieve greater success.
 
My friend, Jim Rohn, says you are either going to lead a life that is an example or a life that says warning.  The difference between those two diametrically opposed lives is the time …

Pricing recommendations hit troubled waters at two predictable times. One is when clients have unreasonable price expectations that need to be brought into line before the home can be sold. The other is when an agent gets ready to list a property that owners want to sell at an inflated, unrealistic price.
 
Both circumstances require caution. The following presents advice to follow as you troubleshoot your way through to a successful pricing decision.
 
When clients have their minds set on a price that is out of line, follow this process to bring …

As we plan our 2009 real estate adventure, our company leadership is working with our agents in groups and one-on-ones to build  solid executable business plans with activities that drive business online and create a referral business to sustain their future. We chose to make this a very focused effort with multiple levels of accountability which will span throughout 2009.  I keep repeating this:  “There will be a certain number of properties sold in 2009, the number will be whatever the number is.  Your job is to capture the highest percentage of …

The chronicles of Kellie Pillors….
I have a young agent who is so tenacious she refuses to see any discord in this market.  Instead, she chooses to see the opportunity of a lifetime.   Why?  Because she is doing the right prospecting to make her phone ring and her closing count is rising.  I met Kellie when she was a succesful rookie at one of my client’s offices in Southern California.  I knew the minute I met her she was a very talented agent and prospector.  It was my great fortune, when she …

From an early age, every child learns the Golden Rule: Treat others the way you want to be treated. Customer service pros replace the Golden Rule with the Platinum Rule: Treat others the way they wish to be treated. 
The Platinum Rule was coined by speaker/trainer Tony Alessandra, who explains that a salesperson’s job is not to treat and serve clients as you want to be treated but as they want to be treated.  
The only way to know how a person wants to be treated is to ask and observe. Different …

Do you have the desire to receive recognition from your peers; to be recognized as one of the top Agents in the country?  If you do, you need to start by taking dead aim daily.  It is the disciplines we do each day that mean the difference between being on top or being part of the crowd.   
Start each day focused on the success of your business.  You want to begin each day by reviewing your business plan.  Focus in on the activities that will lead you to the successful result …

I started writing this article a couple days ago when I was on a tangent regarding the blatant, in-office solicitation of our agents (and myself) to join network marketing companies. I decided to sit on it to see if my feelings simmered… they haven’t and since today is the day we launch our 2009 Business Planning Coaching Course, I feel it is a very good time to let everyone know just what business we are in.
What business are we in?  I don’t know about you, but I am in Real …

Many of you are a lot like me.  Entrepreneurial.  We’re constantly looking for opportunity, and when we see it, we often just naturally go for it.  Some of us more than others, depending on our place in life, our risk tolerance, financial ability, and the other things on our plate, but all of us, to some degree, learn to spot opportunity and react.  Such is the life of an entrepreneur.
I thought that some of you might find it enjoyable or even possibly instructive, if I were to walk you through …

Prospecting is one of the easiest but most misunderstood concepts in the field of sales.   Sales trainers are always trying to sell their “prospecting-free systems” on worldwide speaking circuits by saying, basically, “You will never have to prospect again if you use my system.” And, because salespeople secretly don’t want to prospect, they readily buy into the too-good-to-be-true, no-prospecting philosophy. 
Our readiness to take the easy bait makes us like the wolves that are hunted above the Arctic Circle. The wolf hunter dips a sharp knife in blood and freezes it.  …

Once a real estate agent has a property listed “for sale,” it is vital to create and utilize the three components of the Inventory System.  The service component focuses on feedback, communication and providing proof of your worth/value to the property owners.  The pricing component categorizes your inventory as homes “priced to sell” and homes “priced to produce leads.”  This may be helpful in determining which homes receive a greater number of resources (ads, open houses, mailings.)  And the lead capture component highlights your exposure and response strategies (a new …