Tuesday, January 19, 2010

21 Reasons Why You Could Be Losing Money Without Realizing It

Whether you are a new or veteran agent, it’s easy to become overwhelmed while you are working “in” your business, taking care of everything required of a working real estate agent including: prospecting, setting and going on appointments, meeting with clients, negotiating contracts, dealing with inspectors and escrow agents.
What many agents neglect is to work “on” their business…they fail to work on sharpening their sales skills, this failure will ultimately cost them business. The following are 21 sales skills that you should be working “on” to maintain and grow your business.
Preparing for the Sale:
1. Insufficient market knowledge
– Not spending enough time previewing property, studying home prices, market trends etc. As a sales professional, it’s critical for you to understand the features and benefits of your products. That way, you stand out from your competitor.
2.Lack of confidence – If you don’t believe in yourself, why should someone else? You confidence is directly related to your market knowledge and sales skills. When you come across as a person with low confidence, you will naturally send off a vibe of uncertainty. Buying and selling houses are most likely one of the biggest decisions a person makes in their life, any feeling of uncertainly can cause a person to back down or choose someone else.
3.Sloppy personal appearance – As a professional Real Estate Agent, the way you dress is an important factor in whether a prospect hires you or not. “Dress for Success”

Greeting the Customer:
1.Waiting for the customer to greet the agent
– Have you ever held an open house and waited for the customer to ask you for more information? Do you find yourself more passive than active? Obviously you realize that passive agents are almost instantly surpassed by agents who are more active. Are you an active agent or a passive agent?
2.Using a closed-end greeting, ie. “May I help you?” – “NO” is the answer you will get 99% of the time, so why not ask better questions? E.g. “What’s important to you about moving?” “What would that do for you?”
3.Forgetting to smile – If someone you wanted to talk to was scowling, would you approach them? Smiling is probably one of the easiest things you can do and requires almost little energy.
4.Lack of enthusiasm – A lack of enthusiasm creates a very dull conversation. Your clients want to deal with someone who is upbeat and excited about working with them.
5.Lack of energy – Just like enthusiasm, energy is contagious; it can lead to a fun and exciting conversation. Energy sells!

Moving Into the Sale:
1.Not listening – It shows disrespect to your clients and almost instantly prevents you from establishing rapport.
2.Failing to hear the customer’s “Wants” and Needs” – If you don’t pay close enough attention to your customer’s wants and needs, you might have lost the information vital to close the deal.
3.Knocking the competition – Talking negatively about your competition really ends up making you look bad and disrespectful. It’s simply not professional and very childish.
4.Admitting failure too easily –Never Give Up!.
5.Inviting bargaining on price too soon – Have you ever discounted the price of something without anyone suggesting it in the first place? Why? Doing this shows weak sales and communication.

Meeting Objections:
1.Insulting the customer’s intelligence
– This almost instantly takes away any rapport you have established with the prospect.
2.Inability to answer technical questions – You may have one fantastic presentation, but if you lack the answers to technical questions, you will lose your credibility. Learn how to present the numbers.
3.Getting too technical – Real Estate is filled with “jargon” which many prospects either don’t know about or don’t care about. Boring your clients with “jargon” or assuming they understand it is a turn off and a rapport killer.
4.Lying – “Always tell the truth. That way, you don’t have to remember what you said.” – Mark Twain
5.Losing patience – Sometimes people take a bit longer than you would expect to make a decision. Buying or selling is a major life event, be patient, yet persistent.

Follow up
1.Not following-up enough
– 70% of all sales happen during lead follow up. How many deals have you lost by not following up?
2.Not calling back with information requested in a timely manner – You’re making several thousands of dollars off every transaction, each client needs to be treated with the highest amount of respect.
3.Over promising and under delivering – This will kill your business

Could you benefit from working on any of the skills discussed above? Perhaps you might have lost some deals due to any of the “reasons” above… How much is your average commission check? Multiply that amount by the number of deals you lost this year. How much is that? What if you had that money in your pocket right now? How would having that money now make your life a little less stressful?

What steps will you take today to stop losing money and take action?

The first step for San Antonio agents is calling CENTURY 21 UNITED-NORTHSIDE,
210-979-6700. We can help you learn and enhance the skills it takes to succeed.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

FOUR WAYS TO BECOME RICH

Let’s face it, everyone reading this is probably more than interested in becoming successful and make a lot of money. Some of you want to become rich so you can buy expensive toys and others want to become rich to have financial freedom. The obvious question is, “how in the world do I make this happen?” Well fortunately, there are only 4 ways to become rich, so take a look to see which group you belong to:


1.Inheriting Money
This is obviously the easiest way to make money. If your parents are rich, or you have rich family members who consider you as their favorite, consider yourself to be financially taken care of. However, if you don’t have any close relatives that are rich, or you do and they have their own kids who the care deeply about, don’t hold your breath expecting this to happen.


2. Good Looks or Physical Skills
If you are good looking, athletic, or have an amazing body you can usually make a good living through modeling, acting or sports. Brad Pitt said that he never had any skills as a child, but he did realize that his advantage in life was his good looks. That’s why he got involved in acting/drama at an early age. Unless you’ve been confused to look like Brad Pitt or have vertical jump of 4 feet, don’t even dream of this being your group.


3. Knowledge
A physical advantage isn’t necessarily the key, sometimes people who have a sharp mind can become mega successful and rich. Take a look at your dot com millionaires, they had or continue to have knowledge that people are interested in knowing. However, most of these people with ridiculous amounts of knowledge, have had their fair share of immersion in the fields they have become experts in.
Don’t be upset if the top 3 didn’t apply to you because it unfortunately doesn’t apply to most people. Finally the fourth group to become rich and successful is the one you can’t stand. The one that makes you cringe. The one you didn’t think you’d have to do before you started reading this post…


4. Hard Work
The 4th way to become successful in anything will require you to work harder than you can imagine. Since most people in this world are not as fortunate enough as the people who fit into the top 3 groups, we must work our blood, sweat, and tears off. As you begin to allow yourself to feel a bit nervous about this thought, let me put your mind at ease:
The world is full of average people who would rather let things happen to them and just take it as it comes so to speak. By you choosing to pay attention, read my blog, and apply what you learn, you can find yourself to be one of the very few people who are on the right track to make it. Once you learn to feel comfortable with being uncomfortable, you will almost magically develop habits that allow you consistently grow. As a Realtor, how interested are you in becoming successful and rich? Obviously, you’re a Realtor to make a lot of money, aren’t you? What motivates you? “He who has a “why” can bear almost any “how”. ” What is your “why”?
Take Action NowIf you haven’t already, read my previous article called “The Real Definition of Hard Work”. If you aren’t doing hard work with as much intensity as I listed out for you, there is no way you’ll become successful in this market. Following my list of activities you should be doing daily will help get an idea of what works and what doesn’t. Also, if you are an agent in the San Antonio/Bexar County area, feel free to drop by Century 21 United-Northside office@10924 Vance Jackson and we can happily show you what you need to do, to get business right now

Tuesday, December 01, 2009

The Real Definition of Hard Work for a Real Estate Agent

The challenge I find is that most Realtors say they work hard, but do not achieve the results they want. Why? To take it a step further, the average real estate agent according to NAR does 2-3 deals a year so obviously, something is wrong here. Does “hard work” not equal success? Well it does, but there are two types of hard work. Yes, there is a right way and a wrong way to work hard and most Realtors unfortunately choose the wrong way.

Busy Work
Many Realtors go to work excited about prospecting creating new business, but by the time they get to their desk, all this paperwork seems to magically appear. Fill out this contract, return that email, and before you know it, the days almost finished. Whether it was because they are scared or lazy, an agent will convince themselves that the day went by productively. Instead of just twiddling their thumbs, they do busy work. Doing busy work is also something agents do so they can tell their family members that they were actually working that day.

Hard Work
You need to be honest with yourself, is what your doing making you money? If your business is not constantly growing, it is dying. So if busy work is different from hard work, what exactly does hard work entail? Your time should be split 80/20, 20% towards managing and catering to your business and 80% toward creating new business. Here is the break down of what you should be doing every single day in order to do real hard work:

1 hour of solid practice and roll play each work day
A professional basketball player would spend countless hours vigorously practicing every single day, sometimes on the same thing. Do you not consider yourself to be a professional? If a multimillion dollar athlete thinks it is a great idea, shouldn’t you?

2 – 3 hours of lead generation per day, 4-5 days per week
Prospect. Prospect. Prospect. If you aren’t continuously going after new prospects, someone else will.

30 to 40 minutes of effective lead follow up per work day
Most Realtors get amazing leads, but forget about them and they fall right through the cracks. Do not make that same mistake.

1 hour of preparing for a presentation before going on a Buyer or Seller appointment
Just like any athlete who practices right before a game, you should do the same before your appointment.

1 quality listing or selling presentation per work day, at least 4 days per week
If your not getting at least 1 appointment every day, you are definitely not prospecting as much as you should be.

30 to 40 minutes of administration follow up on transactions per work day
This is that 20% of your day when you manage your business

1 hour per week talking to all Buyers and Sellers
It is critical for you to stay in absolute contact with everyone you are working with, it shows professionalism.

If you can follow this list of “hard work” for the next 12 to 18 months, I guarantee you will surpass you goal!
GET TO WORK

Monday, August 10, 2009

Sales Meeting August 5, 2008

Our broker, Jim Faulkner, is seen below presenting monthly production awards and Quality Service Survey results to several Northside Agents.
















Thursday, July 16, 2009

$8000 TAX CREDIT- TIME IS TICKING AWAY!!

Tuesday, July 07, 2009

A PICTURE IS WORTH 1000 WORDS

If you are not active on TRULIA, you should be. Your listings are already automatically ported to Trulia from Century 21. Now you have the option to enhance your listings with UNLIMITED PHOTOS!!!

Remember this NEW RULE about Marketing in this Digital Age:
THE ONE WITH THE MOST PICTURES WINS!

Smart Agents, like you, are taking as many pictures as possible and posting them everywhere!!!

16 on the MLS
20 on CENTURY 21.COM
25 on REALTOR.COM
UNLIMTED PHOTOS ON TRULIA

“Trulia’s new photo management tool gives you more control over your listing photos. You can now add, delete and re-order photos on Trulia through your My Trulia account. Plus, they have added a caption field for each image so you can tell home buyers exactly what they’re looking at. And did we mention this is for unlimited photos, and FREE?”

See the How to use Trulia page for more information.

Don’t forget that Trulia Voices offers a great way to connect with consumers and share your expertise.

Monday, June 29, 2009

LEADROUTER

CENTURY 21 UNITED NORTHSIDE LEADS THE PACK IN LEAD GENERATION

Let's state the obvious:
BUYERS USE THE INTERNET TO SHOP FOR HOMES.


Agents clinging to traditional methods are on their way out of the business.

It's great to be with a company like CENTURY 21 UNITED-NORTHSIDE! We are provided innovative tools and leading edge technology to not only compete, but WIN in this ever-changing market.

Look at the chart below -Buyers' Use of Different Information Sources.
Compare the difference between the frequent use of the internet to the "used rarely or not at all" print ads and open houses.


Now look at where HOME BUYER LEADS come from. WOW! Look at the increase in the internet just in the past four years!!





This is why our internet programs are so important.

1. LEADROUTER - this exclusive program captures web leads and allows our agents to respond withing minutes! This results in a high conversion rate and leads to more transactions.

2. Realtor.com Company Showcase - We leverage the power of realtor.com to drive more leads to our agents.

3. Visual Tour- This virtual tour provider allows agents to create unlimited,state-of-the-art tours that are completely "consumer friendly." Visual Tour automatically distributes our tours everywhere consumers may be looking. Yahoo, google, zillow, trulia, realtor.com, Century21.com, and many others.

4. CENTURY21.COM - Not only do we have the advantage of the 2 million visitors to this site each month, our listing are automatically distributed to all of the leading mover sites. According to comScore, our national listing distribution ensures over 20 million visits!!!
CENTURY 21 United-Northside is leading the pack in
internet lead generation!


CLICK HERE TO SEE "THE DIGITAL AGE"
from CENTURY 21 INTERNATIONAL