When I first decided to become a coach, the only experience I had with the coaching industry was from something I had heard almost by accident.

I was doing some spring-cleaning and I came across a box of audio CDs someone in my household had ordered from a life coach a couple years earlier, but no one had ever listened to. I put them on while I was doing my spring-cleaning and the words that entered my ears through the sound waves coming from my portable CD player (this was before iPods) changed my life forever.

How many times in your business have you heard, “You need to choose a niche”? While nearly everyone talks about the benefits of a niche and that they need to find theirs;

We are all different.  Why shouldn’t our Expired Listing Plan be different?

In the past, I have taken some time to talk about how to adjust a generic Expired Prospecting Plan to make it fit for your area in my article A Tale of Three Agents.  I reference them in this article so click here to read that article first.

When you as a Real Estate Agent adapt an Expired plan to your Market Area, you need to adjust that plan to fit “where” you are working expireds.

Before I give you examples of three clients that have modified Expired Plans to meet their areas, I want to make sure everyone is clear on what the goal of working expired listings is: “getting the listing appointment.” Now, actually getting the listing at a marketable price and then selling that listing are two other articles, but here we are going to be talking about “getting your foot in the door.” I have three clients in total different market areas that use three totally different approaches.

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I am a real estate business coach.  I have worked with hundreds and hundreds of clients over the past 7 years, and, you know what?  Something has changed with most of my clients’ businesses over the past few years.  My guess is that if you are a real estate professional, this is also true to some extent for your business as well.

I will tell you one other thing about many of my clients; most of them are exceeding their goals and many are having their best years yet.

Why:

The real estate market is slower right now and more and more home sellers who want and need to sell are not doing so as quickly as in the past.  This means there is a bigger pool of potential clients in the expired listings that pop up every day.

How:

While training for my half-marathon, I needed some knowledge of running fundamentals.  In deciding to become a student of the game of running, I immediately headed to the nearest bookstore.  Let me tell you, there are a LOT of books on running and I looked through every single one.  In fact, I spent so much time at the bookstore browsing through running books; I got more than one weird look from the sales clerk!

I can honestly say that – WHATEVER YOUR GOAL – learning the game, becoming a student of the game, will help you get the results you want.  Why?  Because you will take the time to inform yourself of the path ahead, and by doing so, you will increase your chances of success by a very large margin.

Regardless of the event, the industry, or the focus of your goal – it is critical to learn about the game, the rules of the game, and the best way to meet the objective of the game.   The only way to do this is to become a student of the game. 

 With the average days on market up in many markets across the county, more and more Expired Listings are showing up on a daily basis.  Expired listings are a great lead source, but only if you have a plan to work, locate, follow up with, list at an appropriate price and then market properly so that it will attract buyer leads and then sell.  

You can find Expired Listing on your local MLS system, or you can use a program like that one outlined at http://www.expiredrealestateleads.com that will do much of this initial research. 

By Cheri Alguire

You have heard the arguments for having accountability in achieving your goals and you’ve decided to bring one or two or a dozen people into the process of achieving your goal. How do you start? What can you do to make sure the accountability functions as you want it to, as it’s supposed to?

By Cheri Alguire

Are you sick of all of the bad publicity you hear on the news about the Real Estate Industry?

Are you sitting on a bunch of listings yet not had a sale in months?

Are buyers running you all over the place and then too afraid to put in an offer?

Wondering if this industry is worth sticking it out for any longer?

If you answered yes to any of the above questions, then it may be time to make some lemonade.

By Cheri Alguire

We have all heard the word "Accountability" used around goal setting, but why? Is it really that big of a deal? Can't we just do it on our own?

Think back to all the goals you've ever made - from the simple ones to the large ones. Which goals were achieved and which weren't? Make a list of at least ten goals you can think of, writing "MET" or "NOT MET" next to each one. This visual exercise may help you understand at least one of the reasons why the NOT MET goals were - well, not met.

By Cheri Alguire

Accountability is a critical element in the goal setting and goal achieving process. Many people brush it off under the belief that it doesn’t really make that much of a difference. This belief is not only incorrect, but the lack of accountability is completely detrimental to the overall success of achieving a goal.

Accountability is serious! In the Real Estate world, where there are clients, prospects, brokers, and agents, more and more information is necessary to keep things running smoothly. This increased amount of information is a form of accountability, as is communication, and while every real estate company will have different levels of accountability, I guarantee you that none exist without it.

The following article was in Rismedia this morning. I agree with all five points (especially number 5.) What do you think?

5 Secrets for Industry Success

RISMEDIA, Feb. 1, 2008-Many Realtors® often forget that they really have two jobs - the first is to do what they get paid for (and do it better than others they are competing against). The other is to manage their career path and do what is required to ensure their upward mobility isn’t dependent on others who may or may not be working in their best interest.

by Cheri Alguire

Goals. I have talked about having SMART Goals in the past.Here are two more fun acronyms to use to make sure you have set great goals.

Is it a PURE Goal? Answer the following:

Positive - Is your goal positively stated?Our brains are tricky and if you have any negative connotations surrounding your goal, you'll have a less likely chance of success.

Understood - Are you sure you completely understand your goal, the methods for achieving it, and the results you want to attain?

Relevant - Is your goal significant to you?Does it connect in your life in an appropriate and significant manner?

By Cheri Alguire

Whether it's January, or any other time of the year, you must set SMART Goals. When you use the SMART goals process, you're that much closer to achieving the results you want.

While part of me had thought my past client might forget about the commitment I'd made to her regarding the half-marathon, I still took the time to focus on my goal.This turned out to be a good thing, because she didn't forget!In the summer of 2005, Valerie contacted me again and asked if I was ready to sign up and begin my training. My half-thought promise turned into a full-fledged commitment!

By Cheri Alguire

There is a lot of talk about setting goals in January. What is a goal, really? This is what the dictionary says:

Goal (Noun)

The result or achievement toward which effort is directed; aim; end

Every January, when you set resolutions, you truly intend to follow up on them. It's likely that among your goals, you have both personal and professional targets you're aiming to accomplish throughout the year.

by Cheri Alguire

If you're like most people, every January 1st, you begin the year with a new set of resolutions. Whether that goal is to lose weight, earn more money, stop smoking, exercise frequently, or even something as deceptively simple as calling your mother more often, the decision you made to make a change is essential. You can't succeed unless you start.

by Cheri Alguire

New Year’s Day is the day that many of us make those New Year’s Resolutions. I bet you set one or two this year. What are resolutions? I like to think of them as goals being put into reality. Unfortunately, some resolutions only last for hours; some will last for days; some last for weeks.

But what is the trick to really making those goals reality?