ATTENTION DECODED

Discount brokers and FISBO sales are at an all time low.  This news isn’t news to your full time, and full service Realtor friends.  Good Realtors don’t play Realtor like a kid picking out a Halloween costume.  In fact, we look at discount brokers with merciful eyes for both their clients and themselves. We don't envy them nor do we think about them unless we see that yet another has gone out of business.   Why are discount brokers going out of business at such catastrophically high rates?  #1 In our state it is illegal to "limit" services as a Realtor. Meaning, many discount brokers are out of business because they were not practicing legally.  #2 logic. If you charge anyone less than what it costs to provide your service. You will eventually run out or money. #3 There are many other reasons but frankly, #2 sums up the main reason discount brokers are giving up. Homeowners are selling homes themselves less because it...

Discount brokers and FISBO sales are at an all time low.  This news isn’t news to your full time, and full service Realtor friends.  Good Realtors don’t play Realtor like a kid picking out a Halloween costume.  In fact, we look at discount brokers with merciful eyes for both their clients and themselves. We don't envy them nor do we think about them unless we see that yet another has gone out of business.   Why are discount brokers going out of business at such catastrophically high rates?  #1 In our state it is illegal to "limit" services as a Realtor. Meaning, many discount brokers are out of business because they were not practicing legally.  #2 logic. If you charge anyone less than what it costs to provide your service. You will eventually run out or money. #3 There are many other reasons but frankly, #2 sums up the main reason discount brokers are giving up. Homeowners are selling homes themselves less because it...

The concepts I coach on productive communication and business are not new. Most of us would be remiss if we claimed to be the only source of our work. I believe that no vocation can be acted upon thoughtfully without inspiration, a great deal of study and self reflection.  However, I feel invested and practiced enough in my work to feel totally confident in saying I do not know of anyone else that can do what I do in the way that I do it. I say that at the risk of sounding pompous but with hope you all feel the same way about your work. Below I have placed an excerpt by Ralph Waldo Emerson from his work on the topic of self-reliance. I feel it is a good time to turn ourselves inward as business owners and not concern ourselves with what anyone has accomplished other than ourselves. Only you can deliver your message to your clients in a way where the will know you genuinely care for them. A true professional takes ownership of everything they do. They abandon all excuses and do what...

The airport is different . People show emotion here. Mothers openly embrace their comoflauged Sons as the leave to serve our country. The entire gathering of strangers cried along with them. A few gates further and a father was reunited with his Daughter and the rest of the world stopped. Emotion comes back to life here. Emotion that is reluctant to make an appearance outside the baggage claim and the security check line. Emotional interactions somehow feel risky. Our society is uncomfortable, nervous and scared to show emotion or connect. Even when we are around love. This urge to turn away isolates us, makes us more machine-like, and makes us fearful emotion. The irony is tragic. Society is not an outsider. Society is not them. It's us . It's me. It's you. Every time we make a judgment, we perpetuate the disconnection. With every assumption, we play both judge and jury. Every decision impacting the story of what is acceptable or not. Every claim to know how someone shoul...

People don’t buy what you do they buy why you do it. December 8th 1941 President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave the Perl Harbor Address to the Nation. He addressed our Nation one day after the attack of Perl Harbor.  A day that would live in infamy. A day that took the lives of 2,403 Americans. The following remarks President Roosevelt made did not detail any certain plans. "I believe that I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost, but will make it very certain that this form of treachery shall never again endanger us."  -President Franklin D.  Roosevelt  December 8th 1941 He did not give the I have a plan speech. He spoke on behalf of the will of one Nation with one cause. That we will stand up and defend as one. People don’t buy  what  you do they buy  why  you do it. A leader holds a position of power Leaders make clear w...

Connection is Life. Be grateful. When we feel the people we are connected to need us desperately, it can be overwhelming. When demand for our time is higher than time allows we can feel exhausted and even frustrated by our lack of time supply. Sometimes even feeling resentful that so many demand so much. Ultimately today I realized, the aforementioned complaint is the most pathetic story that anyone in a leadership position could ever try to pass off as worthy of empathy. If you are perceiving your life situation as being needed you are still connected to the living. You are conscious of being needed by the world around you. You are one of the luckiest people there could be if your time is in high demand. Why am I being so harsh? Because harsh is determined by the things around you that you perceive. Today, I was visiting my grandmother in her nursing home. She is suffering from dementia and is frail. This is the polar opposite of the content of her character and he...

Reconnection When someone understands what you need it makes anything feel possible. I hope we are in that place.  I am so proud of the way my company started. I have been in the trenches with you and for you.  I promise it was and always will be work that is done all for you.  The way I see it... If we are both working hard to make you successful we will make it happen.  The blogs to come this second part of our year will be the summation of lessons I have learned on the road of scaling my own business.  You are free to take the advice I have bruised myself collecting for you. You can also brush off what doesn't resonate and collect your own growing pains on a path that makes more sense for you.  So long as your goal is to grow you are still in the right place.  So long as you are pushing your comfort zone to get somewhere you haven't been before... I am with you.  So let's begin...again. Forget everyt...

The summer home buying and selling season is almost upon us, so now is the time to start laying the ground work with your online social media strategy in order to reap the rewards over the course of the season. While it's true in many industries, it's especially true in real estate that your activities will directly impact your results.  This includes everything from the value you deliver to your clients to the opportunities you create for yourself.  The name of the success game in real estate is to master the art of online lead generation, lead conversion, and lead advocates. Here are three simple tips to help you become a online social media Realtor master and absolutely knock it out of the part this home buying and selling season: I. Maximizing Lead Generation Obtaining leads is a must in real estate --- without a continual influx of leads, you are dead in the water.  Social media is a champ when it comes to lead generation.  When done right, it can g...

When it comes to being a Realtor, finding leads and building relationships are critical.  Most people now understand that online marketing and social media are amazing tools to assist with both. Most people, however, only think of Facebook and Twitter when you say "social media."  There is, in fact, another HUGE social media platform that can help expand your lead base and garner you even  more recognition...and that's Pinterest ! What Is Pinterest? Pinterest is a visual social media platform where you can "pin" ideas, inspirational quotes, videos, or photos covering a variety of topics on boards.  Side note --- on Pinterest you "pin", you don't "post." (kind of like how on Twitter you "tweet") Boards are mini-categories that you create on your Pinterest page and they can range from anything from "Things That are Blue" to "Songs From My Childhood."  You have absolute freedom to create boards on the t...

As any business owner will tell you, if you want to compete in today’s market, you must be online.  However, there is a huge difference between just being online and establishing an online presence – just being there won’t build your brand or garner you those coveted leads that are required for taking your business to the next level. In order to build a true presence, you must establish goals, create a roadmap, spend time building your various pages, channels and boards, and then tie them all together into a cohesive story that is shared with the world via your website.  And just simply having all the elements in place isn’t the final step….nope, to be truly successful you must nurture your online empire daily; interacting in two-way conversations, strengthening and building relationships with current and perspective customers. What…did you think it would be an easy task?  Not only does it require a great deal of time for planning, but a lot of effort m...

Photo Credit: Stephen Bowler Lower your tolerance for making excuses.  At the very same time... I n the very same moment... Recognize when you are placing blame. Work actively and with purpose towards discovering answers to problems.  Solutions based thinking leads to productivity, wealth, happiness, success and sales. When you place blame you have jumped on the hamster wheel.  This does not mean that someone or something is not to blame... It just means the activity of “blame ” does more damage to your productivity than quitting. When we blame our hope is diminished.  Instead, just consider whatever happened... Something that just happened. No, it was not ideal. No it was not a happy ending. Remind yourself that every beginning starts because something else has ended. There is no more work to be done on the past other than learning from it.  Do you know anyone who dwelled on a past even...

Business slow? Want clients?  You have to start actively looking to solve people's problems. Look around you. Literally. Got snow? What can you do with snow to earn a persons attention by solving a problem? All you need is a shovel.  People who shovel other people's driveways have the right to ask the driveway owners if they wouldn't mind telling their neighbors you are taking on new clients. Then you thank them for letting you burn off some cabin fever. See... You only have two problems. #1 You have to get attention to prospect. #2 You need to get permission to get the right kind of attention. The east is covered in snow so my solution to your problem works today.  But what about when the snow melts?   Could you expect permission to ask for clients if you have no obvious cause to be in front of people? No.  That's why cold pitches don't work.  You need permission first then you can ask for attention.  You need permission before attention  makes s...

Balance Once you start performing well... The recruiters come out.  For those of us in sales, they seem to come in droves and most are shameless. They throw their best and highest offer  at you even if it means interrupting your day.  Frustrating as that may be can you blame them?  Here is the thing... Their best offer may not be anywhere close to what you really need.  So.... When they come you should their advances as both a compliment and a tell tale sign you have surpassed industry average preformance . That realization should be empowering.  If you do decide to entertain their pitches as to why you should jump on their bandwagon I encourage you to think before you jump.  The first thing a company tends to offer an agent is a higher commission split. This is tempting but the reality is... A higher commission split does not necessarily  mean more money. Why? Two rules: #1. Because everything in life weighs itself     out.  #2. Ev...