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 …

As part of the annual Swanepoel TRENDS Report that is published every year during the first week of February, the research team wraps their four month study of the real estate industry by announcing the top 10 Newsmakers, Events and Trendsetters for the year.
The first list to be released is the Newsmakers. Newsmakers are defined as those people that during the year made headlines as individuals, as a result of their actions and leadership of the companies or associations they are involved with in the real estate industry.
The Top 10 …

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 …

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 …

There are three main reasons most people don’t refer to an agent (or any sales person) they used in the past to represent them in future transactions. The agent didn’t do a good job, the agent didn’t stay in contact or the home buyer or seller knows WAY too much about the agent’s personal life.  One of the biggest mistakes an agent can make when cultivating a relationship with a client or potential client is to share their dirty laundry and present themselves in a less than professional manner.  By the way, you …

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 …

“Ask for the business.”
That sounds familiar, doesn’t it?  It’s a well-known mantra in the real estate business. 
You can deliver a stellar listing presentation or buyer consultation that goes so far as to convince your customer that she/he would do well to sign on as your client.  But, how many times has your broker told you that if you fail to go that one teeny-tiny-last-little-bitty step by asking them to be your client, you sometimes end up losing ‘em after they’ve rationalized some other gap-filler like, “okay, sounds great.  I’ll call …

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.  …

No matter how talented or how much natural ability an individual real estate agent possesses, his/her natural talents can and will only take him/her so far.  No matter how gifted an individual may be, everyone will eventually hit a ceiling or, for most of us, a plateau of production.  There is no “if” in this statement but rather “when” it will happen.  
So the real issue is: how will you climb beyond the plateau or break through your ceiling of production?  For the seasoned Realtor, the answer lies within the …

As someone who spends a large part of my life training agents to succeed in this new age of real estate, I’m often amazed at the general lack of understanding on the topic of advertising in our industry.  I’m not talking about understanding the nuances of Madison Avenue or even being a student of David Ogilvy, Al Ries, or Jack Trout (some of the giants in the advertising industry).  I’m simply talking about having a good working understanding of the fundamentals of advertising, since as working agents, advertising is our …