Jason's Blog

How to Change the World - Darren Hardy, Publisher of SUCCESS Magazine

Jason Edwards — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 18:11:53 -0700

This article could change the life you experience forever. No joke.

I want to show you how to completely change the world… in an instant.

This might be a bit controversial for many, and even more won’t have the stomach to do what I am suggesting…

via darrenhardy.success.com

Write a post like the one I've linked to above and you've got my attention! The rest doesn't disappoint and I agree completely having done what he suggests myself a few years ago. Students of mine will probably remember me urging you to do the same. Click on the link above and read for yourself and if you have any comments, please leave them in the comments section.

Note: Well written posts like this are exactly the kind of thing that grow your permission marketing base of fans. I don't have time to read any more on Darren's blog, but I'll be back...the post triggered me to follow him on Twitter. What could you write on your blog that will leave your audience wanting more?

What to write on a blog

Jason Edwards — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 19:39:45 -0700

Very often when I encourage a student to start a blog I'm told that they don't because they don't know what to write. Today when I was walking , I came across an inspiration for a blog post...if I were an active Realtor. Since I teach Realtors, my mind immediately turned it into a way to demonstrate how to get ideas to write a blog post. So Chug! and I are walking and we come across a house in our neighborhood that had chickens, baby chickens, in the front yard in a cage. Before I go on, you should know that I don't live on a farm, nor a trailer park; it in fact will cost you quite a bit to buy in my neighborhood which is in central-west Austin. Everyone in the neighborhood knows this family has some chickens and that they use the eggs (I just didn't know they were multiplying - but I think still legal!). They are incredibly nice and their children are well behaved. When I first brought Chug! around, the kids asked permission before approaching the dog, asked my name, said thank you and knew how to handle a puppy. You won't catch the kids wearing Abercrombie like their neighbors but they probably don't like those stuck-up punks anyway! The whole situation is refreshing and very Austin. In fact, it's very much fits this neighborhood's personality and exactly the type of story a prospective buyer might want to know. If I actually did have listings to sell here, I'd probably have interviewed them and shot a little video then posted the story on my blog.

For many years I farmed (haha, pun intended) a condo complex and had 90+% market share for much of the time. I can't even begin to tell you how sick I was of describing the same damn units every time I got a listing. That was long ago, but still today, most of the marketing of residential property focuses on the features of the home. Don't you ever get sick of describing kitchens and baths and master bedrooms? No one said you had to, most Realtors have just followed the herd. I say let the pictures, virtual tours and data fields in your MLS describe the house. Spend you time in that precious "internet remarks" field on describing the lifestyle. And for sure, use your blog to expand on the life and activity that surrounds your listings. Keep your eyes open, especially around your listings and you'll find all sorts of things to blog about. Isn't that what buyers want to see? Won't it make them more likely to contact you? Please share your thoughts in the comments section!

Note: I wrote another very short post about the story buyers tell themselves way back in 2006. Now maybe you can use your blog to help them craft that story.

Another note: Don't even start with the animal jokes! Most of the time you don't even know the chickens are there. ;-)

Because I can't resist, here's 4-month old Chug!:

Increase Blog Traffic with Obvious Post Titles

Jason Edwards — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 15:07:32 -0700

The one thing every study of online habits shows is that nobody has any time. I don't have the time to comprehend that your post titled with a reference to Dante's Inferno is really about how to toilet train a cat. If your post is the top five things you wished you knew before you made buttercream frosting then don't use a post title that is more about your cleverness as a writer than about what I'm about to read.

via everything.typepad.com

Over the weekend I stumbled upon a post I read last March (linked above) and it ended up helping me quite a bit. When my students ask me about blogging, my advice is always to just start one; write something, anything, because no one is going to read it in the beginning anyway. It takes time to build readers and a following which is great because that gives you time to improve. I've written over 300 posts now and I looked back this morning at some of the post titles. They were better than I thought they would be and I credit that to close study of blogging master Seth Godin, but prior March of last year when I'd read Andy's post about obvious titles, I found some bad ones.

Realtors, like gym shower heads? - This was a post about a Realtors personal standards and I linked to the post that triggered my thoughts but you'd never know by the title. Oops.
Will you be a Johnny today? - This was a motivational video recommended by Zig Ziglar, but how would you ever know that. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
I have perfect feet - OMG, I hate this post! I was tempted to just delete it but we might as well learn from it. I don't think I did a good job at making my point but regardless, the title was awful! Basically it served to get me lots of Google search traffic for the term "perfect feet"! Really, I should show you my control panel - you'd be shocked how many people search for that on a daily basis!

Anyway, I could go on but that's just a sample of the sucky titles I wrote before reading Andy's post and it's clear I had some room to improve. The other day I tweeted about blog post titles and status updates on social networks. Thanks in large part to texting and Twitter, we're living in a world where attention spans have been reduced to 140 characters so you'd better use them well to capture attention if you ever hope to have your blog posts read in full. Being clever is fun. Leaving the standard, auto-filled "Check out my new blog post" in place when sending your posts to your social networks is easy. Neither are going to help you get attention or search traffic. Be obvious, be clear, then entertain me in the body of your post. Have you seen any sucky, or really good blog post titles? Please leave them in the comments!

What is a BarCamp?

Jason Edwards — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 14:58:38 -0800

Yesterday I was finally able to go to my very first reBarCamp right here in Austin. A BarCamp is basically a free, user-generated and organized conference. So instead of paying a registration fee and showing up to listen to hired speakers, someone steps-up as an organizer, finds sponsors to cover the cost, then attendees come together and some volunteer to speak at/lead sessions while others simply roam around to the sessions and learn. The idea started in the tech world with a few people just wanting to meet and share ideas and now the real estate industry has it's own BarCamp movement going on. Here's a link to the central organizing website for real estate BarCamps.

Custom name tags, event t-shirts and door prizes are pretty customary and the sessions are usually close together making the whole event kind of loud and seemingly chaotic. That's actually normal and by design. I found the whole thing a pretty refreshing change from the normal highly-produced convention environment. I was able to catch up with a past client who is now sells insurance, several local realtors I hadn't seen in ages and I met a few people who flew in for the event that prior to I'd only known via Twitter or Facebook. There were about 150 in attendance for the Austin's first event and it'll most likely grow (I think Phoenix had over 300). I walked away with several good ideas and I captured my experience in the the photo journal below. Scroll through the photos and don't miss the comments - that's where I recorded some of the ideas I took away for you. Thanks to @texasregirl D'Ann Faught for stepping up to bring it all together. Enjoy the photo story and check the main website for an event coming to your city!

More check-ins at Third Base

How a graduate used Facebook to generate $13,000

Jason Edwards — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 13:07:12 -0800

My graduate Kelly Schipper (a great referral source for you in Fort Worth, TX) left a comment to this post and I love what she wrote. I've highlighted the parts I was particularly impressed with. Love you Kelly - thanks for the comment and great job!

Hey friend,
Popped in tonight to check for new wisdom for myself but when I came to this post I'd like to comment since what I could say may help someone else out.
I had set some pretty high goals for myself last year and knew I needed to do something different to meet new people in order to build my business. Having lunch and happy hours with a bunch of Realtors can be good for masterminding, but none of them were going to be buying a house from me any time soon!
Facebook has been the most fun form of FREE marketing there is and you can do it at home while in your pajamas! If I'm on an hour a day, I consider it lead generating- even if just "liking" or commenting on a status update (with no mention of Real Estate at all). I have had AWESOME success! Last year new business generated from Facebook totaled 13K in GCI! Today, over $1.2 million of my listing inventory is from Facebook. I'm currently working with two buyers (combined pre-approved for 750K+) who are also recent reconnection's, PLUS have recruited 2 new agents from there! Most of the business is coming from High School classmates I haven't seen since 1987, except maybe at a few class reunions. These are people I NEVER, EVER thought to put in my database! My magic formula to status updates has been to not talk-shop too much (otherwise you'll be considered as SPAM) so I try to keep it 50/50, but most importantly I've been sincere in building relationships. I don't hide behind the social media, I've used it as a way to actually BE social! I've orchestrated or accepted invitations for mini get-togethers, happy hours, & events plus threw a HUGE 80's "Come As You Were" Halloween Costume Party instead of taking a vacation- which was partially strategic to build my business. After all, I DO know that most people pick an agent they LIKE!
With permission from my clients; I post new listings, announce price reductions, congratulate on closings, and tag them in any pictures holding keys, or signing paperwork. I also add real estate related links to information of value from time-to-time. My motive is to earn credibility plus drive traffic to my website. The Virtual Tour Hits generated from Facebook are AMAZING!
Since people log-on at sporadic times, I can't control if they are getting a heavy dose of Real Estate from me or not but my formula seems to be working. However, since I value your opinion you have my permission to slap my hand if anything I post ever makes you cringe!
Oh, and PS: I don't SMS or RSS your (or anyones) feeds. I fear it would get me too distracted from other things I should be doing. SO, I obviously missed your referral posts or YOU KNOW I would've jumpped all over that if in my market!

Haha! I know Kelly, I know. Thanks for sharing - wonderful work.

Foursquare is stupid and...

Jason Edwards — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 13:06:17 -0800

...pointless. Sometimes I'll highlight a web and/or smartphone app, especially when I can relate it to a real estate activity. A few posts ago I was able to do that with Slydial. Today I'm going the other route and telling you what I'm deleting. Foursquare promised to be a way to keep tabs on and meet up with good friends by using your smartphone to "check-in" at places you visit. You could leave tips about the place, earn points and badges and get offers from nearby businesses when they notice you frequenting a certain area. That would have been cool if I actually got an offer but after a while of checking in, collecting points and badges with no offers I just felt stupid using it. I stopped playing video games a long time ago. The thing is, Foursquare gets tons of press in tech circles and I have no idea why. So for now, if you hear about Foursquare and think you might be missing something, take it from me: you're not.

Most important part of getting price reductions?

Jason Edwards — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 11:44:31 -0800

This morning I woke up to an email from a graduate that needed some help. The situation paraphrased:

I need to call a client in response to an email I just received about his objection to a price reduction. After receiving low offers his argument is “If I reduce, then I’ll get even lower offers”.

The graduate was looking for a dialogue to use with the seller to get the needed price reduction and from the rest of the email it seemed that the initial conversation about reducing the price happened on the phone. Nothing was decided on the phone and then later the seller emailed his objection to the agent. Of course thanks to Floyd Wickman and several others I'm full of dialogues that fit in this situation to help get the price reduced, but for this post I want to argue a more important point: how and where you have this conversation in the first place is more important than the dialogue used. Price reduction conversations should be in person and ideally in your office.

"But Jason, I don't have time to meet in person." Really? How much time do you think an agent spends on the initial call trying to convince the seller to lower the price, then how much time is spent crafting the perfect response email when the seller sends you their objection? How much time is spent dwelling on it and asking other Realtors and trainers about how to respond? Add all that up and it's way more than just scheduling an appointment with the seller and then handling it all in the moment, in person. Besides, delivering a world class dialogue requires you use proper facial expressions, visuals and body language - these things are not possible over the phone.

And when you think about it, there are a lot of other benefits to meeting in person. Being in your office gives you more control over the situation. Being face-to-face allows you to build a stronger relationship with your client and it communicates non-verbally that you care enough to take the extra time. Since they're coming to you, it's not really that much extra time and you can even see if they have a referral to send your way. The more I think about it, the more I can't imagine why someone would want to have a price reduction conversation over the phone.Here's the only dialogue you need for the phone: "We've been talking about your house at the office and I want to go over a few things with you. It's important and I'd like to see you in my office. Would this afternoon at 4 work or would 5 be better?"

Have any thoughts? Let me hear em!

RE BarCamp Austin : I'll be there. You?

Jason Edwards — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 14:13:17 -0800

via rebarcamp.com

Hey Austin (especially my graduates) - what are you doing Thursday? If the answer is not "I'm booked with listing appointments all day", then consider joining me at this event. It'll be my first barcamp and probably yours too.

The event is at Third Base which with downtown, in the very last building on the left as you go west on 6th street and right before you start to merge onto MoPac.

Read any good books lately?

Jason Edwards — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 14:09:48 -0800

I get that question a lot. Maybe everyone who speaks for a living does. I'm just glad the talent on American Idol sucks this year so I can get a few hours a week back to work through the stack of books I have. Ever noticed the Amazon widget on my site (see the right side column)? It's not an advertisement; it's a list I keep updated so you can see if there's anything that interests you and I just updated it today. On a side note: are any of you doing much reading on a Kindle? At this point about half of my books are print and half are on the Kindle for iPhone app. How do you choose which version to purchase?

Clever. I wonder how much more my friend will get done?!

Jason Edwards — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 12:32:01 -0800

My friend's book mistakenly marked "FREE"

Jason Edwards — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 15:12:12 -0800

Do you do any presenting to groups? I know I have a good number of managers, broker/owners and others in real estate leadership who read this blog and a friend of mine in Austin turned one of his books into an iPhone app. The book is called The ABC's of Speaking. The problem for him is that iTunes set the price as "FREE". Oops! He says to go ahead and grab it while you can before the make the correction and start charging. Here's the link!

UPDATE: iTunes corrected the price so it's now $2.99, and worth it. Glad a few of you got it while it was free!

I have free closing gifts to give away

Jason Edwards — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 14:57:39 -0800

I need a distraction from the crazy news coming out of my town today so let's do something fun and use an idea from yesterday's post. Do you give your clients closing gifts? They don't have to be extravagant to make a lasting impact and I have some fun gifts I purchased long ago left over in an account that I'd like to give away. So here's what you do:

Click on this link and zoom in on the picture. Are you in the mosaic of my students?
If you found yourself, go to this pic on Facebook, log in and tag yourself. (Facebook won't let you blow up the photo - that's why I sent you to the other link first)

That's it! The first five people who tag themselves and are actually in the photo will get a free surprise closing gift to use for their next client. Note: Pixable automatically arranged the mosaic out of 200 photos I uploaded so if you're not in the photo I didn't exclude you on purpose. :-)

Sell with images: Never tell somebody something you can show them

Jason Edwards — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 13:09:07 -0800

As a Realtor I was always looking for new ways to keep the attention of my contacts. I got pretty good at creating custom postcard campaigns for my farm neighborhood, for client parties and to show that I was doing business (aka: just sold cards). Today technology pays a much bigger role in these types of things and I wanted to show what I think is a really cool marketing tool. The image in this post is just a professional headshot but it's made of a mosaic of about 200 pictures of my students over that last couple of years. If you click on the photo and download it to your computer you should be able to zoom in and see if you can find yourself. It's my students and the fun we have working together that makes me who I am professionally, so the idea of creating a picture of myself out of my students fit perfectly! Seth Godin did this a while ago when he asked for head shots of his blog readers. He took those photos and made a mosaic that was printed on the inside of the jacket for his book. When it was published the first thing I did was see if I had made the cut (pleasantly, I did) and then probably helped him sell more books by showing my image to everyone around me.

The service I used to create this is called Pixable and I found it by reading the tech blog TechCrunch. The blog post at TechCrunch mentioned a discount code that makes a high quality poster print of your mosaic free to the first 50 people who use the code. Amazingly, it still worked for me so if you like the idea and want to try it, get on it. You just pay shipping. (Downloads of the mosaic you create are free)

I can think of a million different ways to use my image, but how could you use one of these in your real estate practice? Here are a few ideas that I came up with; either they will inspire you or make you want to start taking more pictures of your activity in the field:

Your head shot out of all of the homes you've sold turned into just listed/sold cards
A mix of houses and people you've worked with announcing a client party. These could be post cards and posters at the event. Imagine your clients searching for themselves on the big posters!
Posters framed nicely in your office or hallway showing off happy clients
Mosaic used as the back of your stationery. Letterhead, flyer paper, business cards, etc.
Challenge your fans on Facebook to find and tag themselves after you've uploaded the mosaic
Use as the cover page of any pre-listing package you may send
Use as the image for paper and/or online thank you card
Use as image on a blog post when talking about - basically anything!

What would you do with them? One of the best sales lessons I've ever learned came from Floyd Wickman and it was "never tell somebody something you can show them". It's the difference between talking and selling. How would you use the mosaic image to communicate your message? Leave some comments! And email me the mosaics you create - I'd love to see them!

Are you missing referral business?

Jason Edwards — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 15:12:14 -0800

Yesterday I sent out four messages to my social network (2 on Twitter, 2 on Facebook) indicating I had a referral to send out. Many hours later no one had picked up on it even though I have a decent amount of social connections in the area of the referral. This is unusual so maybe on that particular day, people just didn't happen across the messages, or weren't online. Maybe it's because the feed you choose to display on your Facebook home screen (status updates, live feed, news feed, etc) is having an effect on what you actually see as your network grows. Maybe it's because most people on Twitter don't actually know how to effectively use Twitter. Any and all of these are probably true. It made me stop and think; are people in real estate really using their networks to communicate and look for business opportunity, or are they mostly using them as bullhorns to promote their listings?

One thing is for sure, I often have the opportunity to make a referral so we'll see soon if this was just a fluke. Keep your eyes on me readers so you don't miss out. By the way, what would you say your biggest challenge is in working social media into your business? Leave a comment and I'll address them in a later post.

(Note: I did get the referral taken care of by making an old skool phone call.)

Buyer Sues Over Secondhand Smoke

Jason Edwards — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 13:08:46 -0800

REALTOR® Magazine-Daily News-Buyer Sues Over Secondhand Smoke

Wow, check out this news blip. How many times have I said in front of a group that you can do everything right as a Realtor and still get sued?! If this were me, I'd probably defend myself instead of settling like the HOA (see linked story) but since it's not you or me, how about we let it serve as a reminder that with great risk, great reward should come. This is just one of the many reasons you are worth your full commission and if you don't know how to earn what you feel you're worth, get in touch with me so you can learn.

Last year I had a group of students who were going out and proving to sellers that they were worth 8% and brought in many listings under those terms. They are still doing it today. So in the end, I don't care what amount your fee is (I'm not advocating for any one amount or percentage listing fee) but I am advocating that once you decide what a "full commission" means to you, that you stick to it and learn how to prove you're worth it.

For those calls that make you cringe!

Jason Edwards — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 11:53:25 -0800

via slydial.com

Do you ever need to get a message to a client (or family member!) that talks too much and you don't have a lot of time to chat? A busy friend of mine told me this morning he had to fire one of his agent today, maybe he should just use this. I'm kidding! When I got to their site of course my first question was: Do they have an iPhone app?! Sure enough, they do and it's free! Now for the real question: When those messages "just appear" in your inbox and you didn't even hear the phone ring; was it AT&T screwing up or were you Slydialed! Haha! Thanks to grad Kelly Schipper for bringing it to my attention! Note: Just for the record, I'm not advocating using this to avoid hard conversations, sometimes those are the best relationship builders.

UPDATE: I love Whoppie!

Keep people from unsubscribing

Jason Edwards — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 14:44:07 -0800

I love bumping into really original ideas and since we have used Groupon for Jon's gym recently, when someone in my Twitter stream tweeted this video, it instantly caught my attention. I just had lunch with a friend and we talked about the different ways he intends to build a connection with his community online, but what about when someone wants to revoke your permission to communicate with them? Seth Godin taught me that my most valuable asset is not necessarily any material I create or am licensed to teach or my skills as a speaker; it's the permission I gain from my audiences while doing those things to communicate with them on an ongoing basis. When I get a notice that someone has unsubscribed from my email list or un-followed me Twitter or de-friended me on Facebook I always cringe a little and wonder how I could have maintained the connection. Sometimes you can tell that a person has left the email list because now they get the same info via Facebook, but the question still remains: If permission is your greatest asset, isn't it worth the effort to keep it? I guess you could just attempt to re-create your version of this video but what else can you think of? If you buy into the fact that your greatest asset is not your knowledge of your real estate market or your salesmanship skills, but your permission to communicate with your sphere of influence, how can you keep them from disconnecting? Let me know (or show me!) what you come up with and in the meantime, I'll be thinking of what I want to do.

PS. If you're reading this, I'm grateful I have permission to communicate with you and that you're interested in hearing from me. You keep reading and I'll keep trying to post useful stuff! :-)

Introducing: Chug!

Jason Edwards — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 09:51:16 -0800

I have a new son; Chug joins the family! Well, not just yet - the SPCA has to fix him before they'll let him out - so maybe Wednesday. Our first two puppies crossed over in October and January after a very joyful 15 years so it was time to look around, and Chug picked us. For me this feels the same as when my student mommies show me pictures of their human kids. Happy Monday! :-D

You don't have to promote your listings to generate leads

Jason Edwards — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 09:44:15 -0800

via www.texaplex.com

Texas is bigger than, well pretty much everything, including promotional ideas coming from our industry! Isn't that the coolest pic of Austin you've ever seen?! I LOVE living in Austin and I'm your stereotypically proud Texan but that's not what this post is about. It's about finding ways connect with the public and maybe generate some leads. About a year ago I got an email from a Dallas broker who wanted me to watch his video promoting Texas on YouTube. Turns out it was fantastic and played right into my sense of state pride. Over time he added follow up videos, a twitter account devoted to fun Texas facts (Like: In Houston beer may not be purchased after midnight on a Sunday, but it may be purchased on Monday. Or: To be a real estate agent in TX requires 200 hrs of education & to be a manicurist in TX requires 600 hrs.), a full website and a coined term "Texaplex". Creator David Winans says he now feels like the state cheerleader - no wonder given all the media attention he's getting now. As a Texan, I'm very proud to have David promoting our state like this and have no doubt the project has brought him business both from the Dallas area public and Realtor referrals from across the "texaplex". His work is a perfect example of inspired-giving without expectation of something in return. Of course he's getting back a whole bunch! Do you know of anyone in your area who does something like this? Better yet, does it inspire you to do anything in your area? That's what I was hoping it would do! Let your mind wander and tell me know if you start a good idea yourself - I'll help you promote it. Or you could go spam your Facebook friends with listings...blah!

I can not stop watching this!

Jason Edwards — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 14:03:54 -0800

Pink Grammy Performance 2010! - Watch more Videos at Vodpod.

This performance moved me to tears and made me want to do better at my own work. For the self-employed Realtor, watching someone else perform masterfully in any field is an excellent way to stay inspired and energized. In case you haven't seen it, check it out and then go do something this weekend just a little bit better than you would have before. :-)

Click here for HD version.

Hey Kids! Spelling not required to make millions!

Jason Edwards — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 14:02:21 -0800

I love you anyway Serena!

This is how to launch a real estate brokerage

Jason Edwards — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 19:06:34 -0800

via www.austinrisingrealestate.com

A friend of mine has been working for a while now on launching his own residential brokerage. He's young, energetic and smart so I knew when he was ready we'd see something good. I got the launch announcement email today and here's the first paragraph:

After months of development and market research, Austin Rising Real Estate is proud to announce the launch of its website, iPhone app and Facebook page

Website. iPhone app. Facebook page. Six years ago before I started speaking and training, only the first one in the list (website) was a part of a brokerage strategy and most were a cluttered mess that served as a digital brochure at worst and basic property search engine at best. Things change fast don't they?! In addition, this brokerage brings YouTube, Yelp and Twitter prominently into the mix. My friend Bryan is not the only one doing this but when put into the context of a "launch", he got my attention by doing a lot of stuff right. Here are the things that stand out to me:

Design. These days a website is, as Bryan explains in his front page video, you're lobby so the look is critical. It's not always easy to explain why, but when it comes to websites, you just know when one is designed well
Two basic lead generators are right up front: Search and Market Snapshot
The intro video does a good job of explaining how to use the site
The blog is upfront so that Bryan can talk to his audience
The forum is there too so his community can interact with each other
Choice! You can just use the search feature, read the blog if you want, or you could participate in the forum. You could interact using Facebook (and are specifically asked to) or just follow on Twitter. And if you're really a fan, you can tell people about it on Yelp.
The blog has a short video interview with a local restaurant owner so Bryan is going beyond listings and creating great original content for his visitors.

Anyway, I'm a fan and wish Bryan (who is not yet a graduate by the way) all the best. I can't wait to see the iPhone app when it comes out on Monday. So whether you're a brokerage or just an individual agent, what could you learn from this if you were to "re-launch"?

Is "salesman" really a negative word?

Jason Edwards — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 19:34:19 -0800

Alright, yesterday I recorded a humorous take on the word salesman and started calling myself a salesfriend like Phil on Modern Family. Today I had a great conversation about the word salesman with a broker friend and ask a more serious question in the recording. Hit the play button above then leave your comments!

The Perfect Listing Presentation

Jason Edwards — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 16:16:02 -0800

What makes the perfect listing presentation? Is it the way you dress? The accuracy of your market analysis? The car they see you drive up in? The place you sit in the house? The time you have to deliver your message? You have your opinions, so do a lot of other trainers. One thing I know for sure is that most Realtors need a lot more work on their "presentation", a fact I'm reminded of every time I work with a group. My life as a Realtor changed when I had a well put together presentation with a solid process that gave me control and appropriate visuals to keep me on track. It's such an important skill that I've given "Listing Presentations" it's own category on this blog.

If you're one of Floyd's graduates, you know that he teaches a process to follow that is designed to match the psychology of the seller as you move through the appointment. On its own it is very powerful and when you add visuals, it becomes even more effective. The visuals however, are where nearly everyone trip up and that's my focus for this post. The other day I told someone to think of their visuals as backup singers or dancers. They are there to enhance you, but they can't do the show on their own. For my students, I offer to look over their listing presentations and give them my honest feedback; my #1 most frequent comment being: Use better pictures and dramatically fewer words. What I'm trying to get the student to do is stop reading from a piece of paper or laptop screen and just make your point to the seller. As a general rule, a seller can not read a screen and listen to you at the same time. And occasionally I'll reference Steve Jobs as the master at creating presentation visuals and although he's not a hall-of-fame speaker like Floyd, the man can create some eye-catching images.

Business Week published a slide show that takes some points from a new book about what we can learn from Mr. Jobs. If I've ever said to you, "Take all those words out of your visuals", maybe the article/slide show will help. Note: In the picture below, it's no coincidence he is standing in that exact spot. See the text behind him? Even though you're just at the kitchen table, have you put this much thought into your performance?

Anyway, this is a topic I must write about more this year. What are your thoughts? Do you have areas you struggle with when it comes to the Listing Presentation? Thought on how the points in the Business Week slide show translate into your own work? Leave some comments and I'll get to work addressing them.

Some people call me a salesman. I call myself a salesfriend.

Jason Edwards — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 14:39:24 -0800

Salesman, salesfriend, consultant, whatever. Call it what you want, just remember, we're all in sales so you are in fact a "salesperson". Embrace it; be proud of it; and work to get better at your craft. Now go close out the week strong graduates - and for the record, you can call me your salesfriend! (PS. If you're not watching Modern Family, you're totally missing out!)