Jim Gainer's Blog

In your face

Jim Gainer (Howard Hanna Real Estate Services) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 07:18:28 -0800

In the interest of fairness and balance I want to present the other side of the coin that I wrote about the other day...'What do I do when I'm not previewing...?'

Good question, go on appointments!

There was a question I had taped to my mirror and in my car that drove my business, and it still does; What do I have to do to get an appointment today? My entire business plan was centered on this. I knew my financial goal and how many units that meant, and each sales unit had a client conversion ratio that always came back to the same basic premise, how many appointments do I need to go on to get a listing or a sale?

To prove this my coach used to count the steps backwards from a paycheck.

You only get paid at a settlement
You only get to a settlement if clients have signed an agreement
Clients will only sign an agreement when you meet them in person *
They will only meet you if you ask them to
SO GET ON THE PHONE AND ASK

*except when they're out of town...but still you have got to get in their face to get things done. So what will I do to get an appointment today? I have at least a dozen things that I will try, but the best trick in my bag is making more calls: calls to friends, to leads, to past clients, and even clients in a transaction to ask for referrals.

So, pick up the phone and start counting down to a great day!

What's Old is New Again

Jim Gainer (Howard Hanna Real Estate Services) — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 08:15:43 -0800

No, I'm not talking about me...

But we now have a new reason to get back into the old practice of previewing properties during our work day. Not such a new concept for some of us; I am a big fan of this practice.

Recently in Central PA our multi-list launched the public access side of our multi-list. This isn't such a big deal when we look at it as agents; we have had public IDX access to our listings for years. What is new about it is that when the consumer public hears about it as the "Public side of our whole MLS database" they will flock to it. Even though our own websites have as much and sometimes more data from multiple MLS IDX feeds, for some it might be seen as an unvarnished look into our secret world, unfiltered and untainted by brands. Am I saying I don't like this new development? No I actually love it, I can educate my clients and consumers and they can validate everything I show them.

What I am saying is that we must be better educated on the market inventory and conditions than the public. And here's how I do that. I preview properties as they come on the market and those that have been around a while. Why? If all I do is look at pictures and sit behind my computer all day, I don't have any more insight than my clients. So what do they need me for? I have to be in the homes and in the neighborhoods to be able to talk intelligently and answer the questions that always come up. If you need convincing that the photos don't tell the whole story, think back to the last time you saw or even attended a class on taking better photos to market your home.

So all you list agents out there, please don't be alarmed when you hear from me asking to preview your listing, I'm just doing my job. And please feel free to call to set up a preview of mine. As I write this I am committing to do even more previewing during these cold lonely winter days.

See you out there, go make it a great day!

It's Half-Time

Jim Gainer (Howard Hanna Real Estate Services) — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 15:54:30 -0700

Ok, time to get back in the game...I've been doing lots of other stuff and now it's time to get back out in the'Rain'

So let's take a deep cleansing breath and jump right in. The news has been crazy all year, "the market's up", "the market's down", "prices are up", "prices are falling". To me none of that matters. What does matter is how has YOUR year been and why? Back in December I wrote about this, and it's still true. If you sit around and worry about the market you'll have a lousey year.

So let me hear from y'all out there. How's your year been going and what did you do to get some new business? Maybe a twist or turn added to your Open House marketing, or even something new and techy. Let's throw them all out here and see what we can find.

I'll start, I have made an extra effort to pre-view more local active listings in my market (even though I manage the office and don't actively sell). And now in conversations with friends I run into I have something interesting to talk about. And guess what, it sometimes turns into a discussion about them or someone they know needing to buy or sell a home.

So Happy Independence Day all, let's hear from you.

Wecome to Wednesday

Jim Gainer (Howard Hanna Real Estate Services) — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 08:00:55 -0800

If you follow my writing at all you know how to complete this line...

Mondays are for ______________, and Thursdays are for _______________.

If Mondays are for Sellers and Thursdays are for Buyers, what do I do on Wednesdays? Well if you're like me your sales meeting was on Tuesday, so Wednesdays are for Filling the Pipeline!

Pure concentrated new business prospecting! Calling new FSBO leads, walking through the mall with your name badge on talking to strangers, calling your sphere until you get a referral lead, or even the dreaded canvasing of a neighborhood.

Do something to ACTIVELY seek NEW leads today. Yes you, put down the coffee and step away from the copier...Get out of the office because no one there wants to buy or sell a house today.

See you out there!

Day two...

Jim Gainer (Howard Hanna Real Estate Services) — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 07:55:49 -0800

Ok I wrapped up my first day back with some positive actions, called and talked to 7 friends about how I feel about the new year and what some of the "experts" predict. I also asked each of them to let me know if they run into someone that is thinking about buying or selling.

What next?

For a lot of us we can manage and motivate ourselves, and don't really need too much outside accountability. For some of us, me included, we need to be held accountable by someone or something. I have weekly reports to turn in, and I use weekly reports for my agents who are new or need a business boost.

Here's how I use them. I create a report that captures and tracks activities that I believe will generate new business. Agents might not do all of it every single week, but they know what activities are important to be done. Then they take their weekly activity planner and fill it in and plan their weekly activities to get numbers to put in the weekly report. Here's an example: On the weekly report is a spot to track how many sphere contacts the TALK to on the phone, send emails to, or send a postcard or note to. So on their planner they pick a time block to make calls until they talk to 5 people, pick another time block to create and send an ecard to 50 friends, and pick another time block to put together 25 postcards or personal notes and mail them. There is also a place to record how many FSBO contacts you met and talked to. So what would you plan for your week to get FSBO numbers to put in your report?

I have found this works, when the agents agree to be held to it, and I keep my promise to hold them to it. If you feel you need someone to be accountable don't go to your neighbor, you need to start with your manager or broker. If that doesn't work for you, you might need a professional coach.

Hope this helps.

Eating an Elephant

Jim Gainer (Howard Hanna Real Estate Services) — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 07:41:31 -0800

As the saying goes, If you are going to eat an elephant you have to do do it one bite at a time,

Business planning and New Years Resolutions are big sweeping ambitions that we all dream about. But they are too big to really do anything about. I've written about it many times and so have lots of others here. To get more business you have to get in front of more actual people.

And isn't more business what it's all about? The elephant has many parts; healthy lifestyle, sound financial situation, happiness and family harmony...etc. But it all comes back to our success in life; not necessarily money but definitely success.

So what are you going to do today? In an article that is out soon on Broker Agent Social Network I talk about how to get beyond the paralyzing size of the elephant and just step up and take the first bite.

So keep dreaming, keep planning and keep making good resolutions to improve your life, but while you're doing all that planning...Pick up the phone and call someone!

Long Road to Recovery...So What!

Jim Gainer (Howard Hanna Real Estate Services) — Wed, 01 Dec 2010 08:20:38 -0800

Is it difficult out there for Sellers? Yes. For Buyers? Yes. For real estate professionals? Yes. And, is it going to be difficult for a while yet? Yes. Ok then, let's get to work and solve the problems that are within arms length!

Some of you were around in the '80s whith interest rates in the high teens...18%. Did we sell homes for Sellers? Yes. Did we find homes for Buyers? Yes. Did we as a profession make a fair income? Yes. We created ways and adjusted our business plan to get our job done; bringing buyers to sellers. What about the "boom" years, with rising prices and interest rates at between 6% and 8% at times, and little to no standing inventory. I watched very good agents with very good business practices get out of the business because it was too hard to get a home for buyers; it was tough to compete with 8 or 10 or 12 other offers. But, we adapted to the situation and found ways to do what the clients hired us to do; bring buyers to sellers.

In my humble opinion, today's challenges are no better or worse than at any other time in our markets' history; they are just different. But, it's just a new day, and a new opportunity for a solution that might be based on a time tested and proven technique (ahhh...the good old days...). So don't be so quick to throw a wet blanket on an idea just because "we've tried that before and it didn't work," or "that might work where you are but it will never work here."

Do I have the silver bullet, the "one thing," that magic potion to make you successful? NO, but you do. Go to work. Go to work every day, doing the things the clients have asked us to do. Then when you run out of that, do something that you can honestly say moved you toward 'finding new business everyday.' <Sorry, started channeling my old coaches and friends Herb and Greg.>

But that's what I'm talking about, did you put your name and business in front of someone yesterday? Bernice Ross wrote a great article posted on Inman News Dailey Headlines and on her coaching newsletter yesterday about how to prioritize your clients (watch for part 2 on Thursday) but it spoke to me about how to prioritize my daily activities. You can do a quick websearch for more from Bernice Ross - I'll paraphrase what she said; it's what we have been saying for a hundred years. First take care of the clients who hired you-Buyers or Sellers, then set up or prep for a listing appointment, then prospect for more listings, then work on buyer leads and try to turn them into clients, then find more buyer leads. By the time you've done all these things every day, it's time to go home and tell the person you work for - either the face in the mirror or your family - you did a good job today.

Was it tough? Yes. Will it be tough tomorrow? Yes.

So what! If this is the profession you choose to earn a living then you might as well face the fact that hard work is hard...uh oh i think now I'm channeling my Dad.

Anyway, it 's not all doom and gloom, I know folks who are have a great year; brand new agents who are successful, experienced agents and brokers who are doing fine and even opening their own firms.

The magic is in YOU. Go make it a great day!

Welcome to the 4th Quarter!

Jim Gainer (Howard Hanna Real Estate Services) — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 08:10:03 -0700

I really love the fall weather here in Pennsylvania. But I also love the fall real estate market.

Buyers seem a littlemore serious...seem could be the important adjective here, and homes that are lived in seem more festive with more holiday decorations. In my humble opinion a home never looks better than when it's all lit up for the Christmas season.

But back to reality, is colder, wetter, and it gets dark sooner...so whats so great about the fall Jim?

We have always had good 4th quarters, my best settlement months have either been July or December. Why? I don't change when the weather does. The systems and processes that generate new business day after day shouldn't change.

I had a coach who used to give us a Fall Countdown each year about this time. He said if you don't get something under contract by the first of November it probably won't close for you this year. Well in my case he was using reverse psychology and it worked.

We kept up the pace right through the fall Holiday season and into the start of the new year. Think about how your first quarter went last year or the year before, Does it seem like your starting a stubborn old engine every January? If so, try something new this year, don't change your business plan in the fall. If you do anything you should ramp it up a bit. Gather up some of the serious business that others are leaving behind because they close up shop and start doing their taxes. Like the busy ants in the children's story you should be gathering up B and C Buyers and Sellers for spring and working hard to get today's Buyers in a home for the Holidays and getting Sellers' homes open for everyone to see - after all traffic is good.

If you're not sure if your business is systematic enough to stand up to the changing leaves and shortening days, drop me a line. I'll be happy to help you evaluate what you're doing.

Successful professionals know that if you create systematic business processes to create leads every day, you can't fail!

Make it a great day!

The Story of Two Mice

Jim Gainer (Howard Hanna Real Estate Services) — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 07:55:23 -0700

One of my favorite movies is Catch Me If You Can. In the movie the father tells his son the story of the two mice.

Two mice fell into a bucket of cream. One of the mice gave up and drowned, while the other mouse struggled and struggled to stay alive. The second mouse worked so hard churning up the cream that he turned it into butter and walked out.

Which mouse will you be?

Keep churning up the market, go make it a great day!

It's time to show off your Super Power, Mr. Invisibility

Jim Gainer (Howard Hanna Real Estate Services) — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 07:42:04 -0700

It's time to get serious about our role as facilitator and trusted adviser and negotiator for our clients interest, but sometimes we play these roles at the wrong time and on the wrong people. I've heard it said more than I can recount "Oh, my client would never go for that..." or "My client won't accept anything under asking price..." The problem with these is they came at the wrong time, before they have even discussed the issue with the Buyer or Seller.

Let's stop trying to intimidate each other and use our super powers for good...the good of the Buyer or Seller.

Be invisible in the process; when a low offer comes in thank the agent and then work privately and out of sight of the other side to press your case for the Seller to stand firm (if that's what you believe and can justify) and help them vigorously negotiate a better price or terms. Then when you go back you can clearly say that "the Seller wants this" or "the Seller wants that." If we keep ourselves out of the visible battle we can more effectively advocate and counsel the Buyers and Sellers. I can't tell you how many times I've heard "My Seller will never agree to that..." only to have the agent come back to me and say "Wow, I can't believe they did that." Keep those thoughts on the inside because your super powers don't have any effect on me; I'm just the messenger of what the client wants to ask for.

There's a lot of great negotiating tips and training out there, this is just a little peek into a philosophy I was taught years ago.

What's your Super Power?

Generating Open House Traffic

Jim Gainer (Howard Hanna Real Estate Services) — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 09:17:26 -0700

Ok, Summer's here and you're getting itchy for a week off, and so are all the consumers out there. They have the same lives we have: kids to the pool, kids to the movies, trying to find a few days to escape to the beach or the mountains or where ever. Summer can be a little slower because we and the consumers both have other things going on. So, how do you keep generating traffic for your Open Houses?

I know some you out there aren't having so much trouble with this, but if you plug this into your situation you might even get more traffic; and isn't that the name of the game?

First of all you have to believe that Open Houses are good. I have always been a big proponent of Open Houses being a big part of your prospecting plan, especially new agents. But they can be more than that. You can get added advertising exposure, added exposure from the signage, and generate some traffic to help provide a broad spectrum of feedback for the seller.

So we all agree trafic is the key, who wants to keep sitting lonely Open Houses all Summer? Then do something about it!

Create a plan (or use one from someone like me) that generates some extra activity and interest - and I'm not talking about food.

Step 1, get going on a good ad two weeks out, stop being redundant talk about the lifestyle not the bedrooms.

Step 2, put that ad everywhere. Use the newspapers, your website, even create an event on your social networks.

Step 3, PUT UP SIGNS. Sorry for shouting but this is critical. On Monday the week of the Open House put up your OPEN SUNDAY signs and get permission from neighbors along the route to put up Open Sundaydirectional signs. If you don't believe me go back and look at all the Open House visitors that said they saw the sign and just stopped in.

Step 4, make new Open House fliers and put them out a week early. Then invite all the neighbors and deliver a flyer to them.

Step 5, Get on the phone!!!! Call everyone you know and ask them to stop by and evaluate the house, call all your buyers and ask them the same, call all your past Open House visitors and ask them to do the same, call all your sellers and expireds and FSBO and ask them to do the same, call all the co-brokes who have shown it and those who did not and ask them also to to give you and evaluation. And keep calling all week. A few of us were discussing this the other day on a long drive back from Pittsburgh and we came up with a great motivator for these friends and consumers to come out to our Open Houses; tell them you are trying to do this like they do it on that TV show from HGTV. Now, who can resist that.

We all do a little of these and we have a little success, some of us just do an ad and a sign in the front yard and hope for the best. But what if we called and called and called, and rounded up 10 people (or even 20 or 30) who have no interest in this house. "Well," you say "at least I won't be lonely." But you missed the big picture. All those people know other people (their sphere) that they now can reach with your listing. The Internet calls this 'going viral.' If 10 people see the house and they each only tell 1 person you have doubled your exposure.

My favorite example is a call I received one gloomy Wednesday afternoon from someone who heard about a house we had for sale from a friend of his at work. This caller wanted to see the house immediately. It seems they recently moved here and their initial relocation house hunting was a bust and they hated the little rental house they ended up in. This guy's friend had visited our Open House and took the flyer to work. The rest is history...

That was the day I started believing some of the other things my boss was trying to teach me.

So the moral of the story is, keep an open mind, try something you may not yet understand, and get your marketing into the hands of some people who can put it into the hands of their sphere and so on.

Now get out there and make it a great Summer, and do something fun too!

It's not their job!

Jim Gainer (Howard Hanna Real Estate Services) — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 16:19:50 -0700

Denise (my Wife) and I were working on her weekly activity planner today and it made me wonder if I ever discussed my theory about how every day of the week should have it's own theme.

So here it is...remember that old children's song "today is Thursday, today is Thursday, what do we do today?"

Well if it's Thursday, it must be the day to burn up the phone lines with calls to Buyers . I like to call all the Buyers in my pipeline on Thursdays to see who wants to go out and see some houses this weekend. It also gives me the opportunity to just stay in touch and update their status.

Now as a coach and trainer I get the resistance to this concept..."Oh, I don't want to call them all each week and be a pest." Then don't be a pest, Do Your Job! My philosophy is that If a consumer gives me their phone number and asks for my help, it's MY job to call them! I'm a professional sales person, they have some other job. So again, my job is to keep in touch and stay updated on their needs.

"But Jim," [insert whiny tone here] "I keep calling and leaving messages and they never call me back..." and I say "So..."

Anyone out there reading this who has ever been in one of my classes will know what comes next, because I almost always manage to slip this into my course outline.

Question: What is is we do?

Answer: Professional Sales, serve the consumers needs, match Buyers with Sellers.

Question: What is it they do for a living?

Answer: Something else...

Question: So, whose job is it to call, and keep calling, until they tell you to stop?

Answer: It's my job.

So I hope you picked up all the little nuggets in this meandering tirade. 1) Have something to do for each work day - Thursdays are for calling Buyers. 2) If someone gives you their phone number, they expect you to use until they tell you to stop. 3) Stop whining that your leads, prospects, and even your clients never call you back. First of all stop asking them to, and second

IT'S NOT THEIR JOB.

So, go make it a great day!

Is it time to work your Farm?

Jim Gainer (Howard Hanna Real Estate Services) — Fri, 21 May 2010 08:41:33 -0700

Now that the tax incentive is over and we're back to business, I think it's time to get back to your Farm.

My favorite thing about getting one listing is that I should be able to get at least one more in the area. Did you ever notice that as soon as one sign goes up in a neighborhood, another pops up soon after? So why not get that sale too?

You should have told the seller in your marketing plan that you were going to let the neighbors know all about theur home so that they could tell their friends...And you should have told the seller that you were going to advertise their home and even do an open huse or two...you might have even told them you were going to promote the home to some move-up neighborhoods nearby... Well did you...really?

These are all the marketing activities we know to be effective in generating some traffic for our new listing, but they should also be tweeked to be just as effective in getting more business. Go out and meet the neighbors, face to face and get their names and put them on your sphere mailing list. When you put up directional signs, get the owners permission and put them on your sphere mailing list. Hand out flyers to the 30 or 40 neighbors right around the property so they can take them to work, and oh by the way, thank them and put them on your sphere mailing list.

There are a ton of great tips that help you work your listing to get it sold and have the added benefit of creating more business if you focus on it.

What have you done to create more business around a listing?

Jim

Howard Hanna 2010 Children's Free Care Fundraising is off to a great start

Jim Gainer (Howard Hanna Real Estate Services) — Wed, 19 May 2010 06:25:14 -0700

The 2010 Children's Free Care Fund events are already underway at the Hershey office. Every year all 130+ Howard Hanna Offices band together to raise money for the Children's Free Care Fund. In 2009 fundraising efforts raised $568,763, and during the past 20+ years, the company has raised more than $6.1 million. Each office works tirelessly and holds their own holiday "Choo Choo Chow Chow for Children" events that culminate with a Holiday Event attended by agents and staff, their clients, neighbors, family, friends, surrounding businesses, news people and sports celebrities for holiday entertainment, raffles, silent and International auctions and lots of holiday cheer - but most of all, for the care of children. The Hershey Office will hold their event this year at the Hershey Masonic Lodge as a Wine & Cheese After Work Get Together For Children on Friday November 5th.

So far we have received hundreds of dollars in donations from local business. We are also getting ready for our Chow Chow Yard Sale with donated items from our agents, clients and friends. Our Raffles for tickets to Dutch Wonderland, Hershey Gardens, and Adventure Sports are on sale now and will be drawn at the Yard Sale June 12th.

Our big Summer Yard Sale will be held at our office 1201 W. Governor Rd, Hummelstown, starting around 7am and going all day long. If you have something you would like to donate, please just drop it by our office. If you just want to help, stop by and buy some raffle tickets or something from the Yard Sale.

We will also have tickets on sale for the big Wine and Cheese event in November. Hope to see you all there!

Measure twice, Cut once...A Master Craftsman's Guide to Professional Sales

Jim Gainer (Howard Hanna Real Estate Services) — Wed, 19 May 2010 05:43:58 -0700

Measure twive, cut once...that was always the advice I heard when ever I tried to build something. And it is very good advive for almost anything we do in life. Loosly interpreted it says to me, "think carefully before you make an important decision that might be hard or even impossible to change." You could also interpret to say "If you want to know what to do next, measure for what you want to accomplish."

We do that all the time in our business, in fact that is something I bore you all with the most...Goals and Measures.

The First Quarter results are now in and you need to know how you did so far this year, so that you'll know what to do next. Here in Central PA quarterly sales results historically run in a normal bell curve for the year: Q1 20%, Q2 30%, Q3 30%, Q4 20%. How does your firast quarter hold up to that curve based on your goals for the year? With the Tax incentive program inserted into the beautiful spring we have been having here, your results might just be closer to 23% or 24% of your yearly goal.

So as you meaure twivce, look at what you did to get where you are now, and what you could do to get where you want to be. If your year is falling short, what can you do this summer that you haven't done - or haven't done well? Did you have an effective plan to get listings from FSBOS, Expireds, your farm? Did you have an effective plan to get those listings sold with Open Houses, neighborhood marketing, social networking, and immediately responding to inquiries?

Now's a good time to take a good look at all you do and see if there's something missing from your list, something ineffective you could improve or drop, and what did work well you should do more often.

Make your list and if you like share it with me and I'll give it a seond look!

Go and make it a great day,

Jim

Your Marketing Plan Says a Lot About You

Jim Gainer (Howard Hanna Real Estate Services) — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 07:48:55 -0800

What you offer sellers as a Marketing Plan says a lot about who you are as an agent. Is it just a to do list that you causually share with your prospective seller, or is is a strategic plan to maximize exposure and results?

Let's break it down into some simple pieces...and lets start with what consumers tell us they like and dislike.

The number one complaint I hear as a manager and as an agent is that "my agent never calls...", or "I only saw my agent once when they took the listing...", or "everytime I try to call I only get their voice mail...", "yea the house sold but my agent really didn't do any thing..."

Does your Marketing Plan have built in communication activities?

In my plan for example, I tell the sellers they will hear my voice every Monday no matter what happened last week. Even if I have nothing to say I will call them. Even those clients who tell me they prefer email and texting, they will still get a call on Monday along with the emails and texts. I also build in weekly written showing activity reports, not only from the lockbox system but from my web traffic, Trulia and Zillow traffic reports. And I schedule a 30-day Marketing Report, a face-to-face meeting to review updates in the market and buyer feedback and create the next 30-day Plan. If you have all this great, if you don't...steal mine and use it. I didn't invent these ideas, they were taught to me.

Does your Marketing Plan create an accountability mechanism, so the seller can follow along and verify that you did what you said you would do?

My plan lays out specific steps and almost all of them can be verified by the seller and they keep a copy of the plan so they can check off the things I do. At the end of a 90 or 180 day listing term did the seller see and feel that you worked as hard as you said you were going to? Or, do they feel you took the listing and sat on a beach somewhere. You all work hard to get homes to sell, don't be afraid to lift the curtain and let the sellers see what you are doing.

These are just two simple things that can make your marketing plan work as hard as you do. Take the challenge and check your Marketing Plan for these things and even send it to me for a courtesy review. I would be happy to give you some suggestions or even tell you that you have a great Marketing Plan. You can email it to me at JimGainerRealtor@gmail.com

Go make it a great day!

A Simple Technique to Win More Listings

Jim Gainer (Howard Hanna Real Estate Services) — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 07:09:12 -0800

During a training seminar recently we were discussing the benefits of one of our company programs, and someone asked, "Doesn't everybody have this?"

All of us have programs or services or systems that might be similar to what's offered by other companies, but the difference is who articulates it better as a BENEFIT to the home owner; What's in it for THEM? Now I'm not talking about the exclusive offerings of your company that aren't duplicated in the market place, I'm only talking about your similar offerings. Let's take the MLS as an easy example. Don't all agents put their listings in the local MLS for the home owner? Sure, but how many of us really sell it as a great benefit to the homeowner? Let's try that for just a minute; we'll use a simple formula to set up our script.

Service Provided: Your Home will be listed in the MLS.

Now which benefit package does it belong in? The seller wants things that will sell the house for a 1) good price, 2) less time, and 3) least amount of hassle.

If you said all three you're right, but why? Home owners want you to do three things; Sell the house 1) for top dollar, 2) quickly, 3) without a lot of hassle. So the answer to the question "So what's this thing going to do for me?" will make you the most successful listing agent in your market. My favorite line to home owners for almost anything is "I can't sell your home 1) for top dollar, 2) under market time, 3) without a lot of hassle, if I can't talk to a lot of buyers. And the MLS will reach hundreds of agents who are working with dozens of buyers right now looking for homes like yours. So my input in the MLS will be critical to our success, it will bring you more buyers so we can pick the one who will 1) pay top dollar, 2) under market time, 3) and not give us much trouble."

And isn't this the answer to almost all our benefit statements to home owners. We need to create a huge parade of buyers so that we can create urgency and competition to generate a good offer to work with.

To a lot of you out there this simple exercise is already a habit, and I'll bet you are the ones burning up your markets with listings. This is the natural habit of a Top Agent, a Superstar Listing Agent or what ever you want to call them. Successful agents talk about benefits and how they meet the needs of the seller or buyer. It's a learned and practiced habit, and a very important one.

So why should I list my home with you? Because I and my company will bring you more buyers...

So go out there today and spread some benefits around to all the homeowners in your communities, and make it a great day!

Stop setting goals!?! Seriously...

Jim Gainer (Howard Hanna Real Estate Services) — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 14:34:50 -0800

Some times it's symantics and other times it's nit-picking but this time I'm fired up about something...

I heard that...

I read an article this morning about how someone felt that 'goal setting' was out dated. I disagree; it seems to me they're either doing it wrong or they are using the wrong term.

Let's define what we're talking about. Setting goals in my opinion, and in my coaching system, is simply the starting point of the larger Business Planning process. Step 1 is to determine what you need to earn. Now you might remember I am a fan of Rich Levin's philosophy that you should set goals in three increments;

What do you need? - or else you'll get out of the business and get a j.o.b.

What would you like? - this amount of income will cover some extra stuff around the house and maybe even go to a convention this year.

What would you love? - this is the kind of income you've heard that the real estate business could generate, and possibly why you got into the business, an unlimited earning potential. And top performers in your market area are actually earning this much right now!

That to me is goal setting. So ignore my title and keep doing this, but if this is where you stop then your doomed to fail. You now need the next step. Demand of your coach or manager or trainer who ever will listen that you need a business plan now to reach these goals. Business planning (the way I do it and coach it) goes like this:

What are you going to do Monday to move toward that goal, what will you do Tuesday to move toward that goal, what will you do Wednesday to move toward that goal...are you seeing the trend?

Then my job as a coach, or manager, or trainer is to provide ideas and evaluate the activities and see if they will get you there. If they won't, I need to tell you and give you some solutions.

The next step in my system is to meet with you often, weekly, or every other week, and talk about how things are going, and give you some tips and ideas, and if neccessary we'll do some extra training on what skills you need to sharpen to help you close more business.

That's what business planning and coaching means to me. Now, there's actually a bit more to the process than I explained here, but you get the idea.

So keep setting goals, but do the next step too! If you're not getting the rest of the planning process, ask for it! No, demand it!!

Go out and make it a great year!

Jim

Who needs a hug this Holiday season?

Jim Gainer (Howard Hanna Real Estate Services) — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 11:09:02 -0800

With all the crazyness surounding the new HUD rules and the new forms...I say this is a good time to give your settlement and mortgage folks a big hug. Thanks them for all they did for you last year and let them know that you'll be there to support them in this tough transition. And oh by the way this new change will have a BIG impact on how you set up settlements in 2010.

As agents we do have an obligation to stay on top of what's going on in the mortgage and settlement world, after all it is a primary part of what we are expected to know as licensed professionals. Too many times we defer our clients to 'the experts' which is good, but we don't have any idea what's going on or why - that's bad.

So, do your part. Many associations and RE schools are doing CE on this new HUD-1 and GFE system for agents, this would be a good time to learn it. Or have a chat with your lender or settlement coordinator (or whatever you call them...) and find out what's going on and what you can do to help out. Also find out about what the new rules are that will push you settlement date!

Here's some links that will help...

http://www.thinkbigworksmall.com/mypage/archive/1/23880

http://realtytimes.com/rtpages/20091123_washingtonreport.htm

http://realtytimes.com/rtpages/20091130_washingtonreport.htm

Hope these help. If you have some other good links to share, please do!

So Happy Holidays and go make it a Great NEW Year!!

It's that time again...

Jim Gainer (Howard Hanna Real Estate Services) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 07:36:22 -0700

Well it's been a while, and what have I been up to? Busy summer and even busier early fall! But I'll get to that in a minute...Let me tell you why I called you all here:

It's time to take a look at your business plan. (he says to the moans and groans in the room...) What business plan some of you may even ask. Well in these types of market environments I think it's even more important than ever to revisit 'square 1' and review or even re-invent (or even do for the first time) your business plan.

It's really not as hard as you think, it just takes a little concentrated effort. Let's start with this -

If you have been in business more than a year, look back and count the sources of all your deals. Let's say they mostly (75%) came from initial Open House visitors you turned into buyer clients, and one or two of them had a house to sell. Ok then your business should be about Open Houses. Sounds simple doesn't it? Yes, but we haven't done the math yet...Now let's say you were disappointed with last years production and want a little more this year. Ok, our business model generates 75% of it's business from Open Houses, so how many did we do last year? 28. That's about two days a month plus maybe two days a month to get the visitors plugged into your fantastic follow-up machine. So if we did one more Open House a month we could create 33% more business next year. So take last years figures and ad on a 33% increase...feeling better about business planning now?

Follow along and I'll take you through these steps and walk you through the process...you aren't alone out there. Which brings me to my "what I did this summer" story.

My wife decided to go back into Real Estate practice and I decided to give up my Managing position so we could launch our practice again. We had a very successful Husband and Wife practice in Virginia a few years ago, but left it behind when we moved to PA to return to my hometown. So now I still recruit and coach new agents, but I also am out there with you listing and selling homes and helping 'Dreams Come True.'

So long for now, I'm off to the dentist...

Jim

Feeling Technology Challenged? Take a step back in time...

Jim Gainer (Howard Hanna Real Estate Services) — Thu, 21 May 2009 16:22:37 -0700

If you're feeling like the technology boom is driving you out of the business, take a small step back in the technology evolution time-line.

First of all, I'm so glad you found this article. Be sure to visit ActiveRain often and sign up for weekly updates.

Before the advent of Facebook and My Space, and Twitter, and whatever...we all read the professional journals; REALTOR® Magazine, the local and state association news letters, national trainers' and coaches' journals and stuff our brokers copied and put in our mail drawers, etc. Well, they stll exist, just in other forms.

Here's a great way to keep your head above water in the flood of technology aimed at the rush to market to the next generation of consumers...whatever we are calling them now. I subscribe to several Real Estate training and coaching newsletters; they appear in my in-box overnight and all I do is scan them, or even just slide them into a folder called 'Read.' If this sounds too simple then this article isn't for you, but if it is for you here's some simple basic steps to get your self caught up or at least keep your head above water. Let the technology push all this information at you and you can then go through it t your own pace. Just like the old days when you grabbed all the stuff out of your mail slot and stood over the trash can sorting through it.

Do an Internet search (www.Google.com) for Real Estate trainers and find some you can subscribe to their free newsletter. Some of my favorites are Rich Levin, Carla Cross, Tom Hopkins, and David Knox. Also look for and subscribe to the free updates from things like Realty Times, Inman News, and some local news sources. For a visual training session about all this technology stuff in plain English, visit www.YouTube.com and search for the term 'in plain english.' You'll find all kinds of short videos about all this technology stuff to get you into the swing of things.

Now this is not going to turn you into a tecno-geek overnight, but it will give you at least a good starting point. And from there the e-newsletters and coaching emails will start to make a little more sense and you stop feeling like the business is passing you by.

So, take back your business and go out and make it a great day!

5 More Simple Things You Might Want to Consider

Jim Gainer (Howard Hanna Real Estate Services) — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 14:11:31 -0700

Wow, where have I been all month. My new role at our firm has me hopping lately. So I'm back with some more simple advice.

Measure the important activities and take responsibility for the things within your control. (Ok Jim, sounds simple but what are you talking about...?)

I see the business process like this;

1) You'll only get paid when you conduct a settlement,

2) You'll only get to settlement when you write an offer or take a new listing,

3) You'll only write an offer or take a new listing when you're face-to-face with a client,

4) You'll only get face-to-face with clients if you've called prospects and made appointments,

5) You'll only have prospects to call if go out and prospect for leads.

Steps 1, 2, & 3 are not within your control; buyers and sellers will decide when to settle, and when to write, and when they are ready to meet with you.

Steps 4 & 5 however, are squarely with your control, and too often we forget to measure these activities. You should know your conversion rates at each point in the process. You should know how many hours of door knocking it takes to get 1 prospect, how many open houses it takes to get 1 prospect, how many sphere calls it takes to get 1 prospect, etc. Then you should know how many calls to prospects it takes to get 1 appointment, and how many appointments it takes to get a listing or sale, and how many contracts actually go to settlement. Sorry about the math, I hear you moaning out there. Here's a practical example.

Let's suppose you want to do $4,000,000 in volume and your average sales price is $250,000, you'll need to settle 16 units/sides. If you had 3 fall throughs or expireds last year just add that on, so you'll need to open 19 units/sides. Now you also know that you average 1 listing or sale for every 9 appointments, and you average 1 appointment for every 6 calls. So here's what you need to plan to do today...

You'll need to open a sale or new listing about every other week, so you need 4-5 appointments each week (9 every two weeks), so you'll need to make 30 calls each week, or 5-6 each day. Now remember you'll need to make 30 calls next week too, so you better get your prospecting activities producing some serious leads, or you'll need to sharpen your sales skills and bring down your conversion rates with more training and coaching.

See, it's soooo simple. (Insert sarcastic face here)

This is what I've been doing lately, breaking this down for my coaching clients and holding them accountable to their own goals. There are lots of great coaching programs out there for you to choose from, if you don't have the resources in-house; some firms do have someone like me you can take advantage of. Some of you who read this might even have some good recommendations for the coaching program you're in now or haved worked with in the past.

Well as always, go out and make it a great day!

Jim

The secret to a successful Real Estate sales Business...

Jim Gainer (Howard Hanna Real Estate Services) — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 06:54:44 -0700

I did a real short version of this yesterday in our sales meeting and some of my agents wanted me to write about it so the could go back to it from time to time, so here's my thoughts...

1 thing that matters to our income

3 things we should measure every day, week, month...

5 fundamental processes in our business

The ONE thing, you can't earn an income unless you write contracts...sales contracts or listing contracts. So what ever else you did yesterday won't contribute to your bottom line like meeting with someone and writing a sale or a listing. That should be your number 1 priority every day: "who can I meet with to write a contract today?"

Managers measure company dollar, closed sales and overall income. Agents should measure something else every day; number of appointments, sales written, listings taken. These are the measures that count to your success everyday. You can't wake up on Wednesday and say "I'm going to go out and find someone who will close a sale in April today." It doesn't work like that. Measure your appointments and written business so you can see every day if the pace of appointments to written business will put you on track for your monthly business goals. If not go get more appointments.

There are in my opinion only 5 fundamental processses in a successful Real Estate business.

1) Prospecting - finding people you don't yet know and getting contact information to feed them into your follow up system.

2) Follow up - turning contacts and leads into appointments and clients. This is the machine that drives your daily production.

3) Serve customers, consumers and clients - If we can't turn some contacts into clients we have an obligation to answer their questions as best we can (call inquiries), and those we represent we serve and protect their interests. We attend home inspections, we show them properties, we market their homes, etc.

4) Administration - processing (schuffling) paperwork, enough said.

5) Professional Development - you're doing this right now! Staying on top of the latest information in our industry. It needs to be more than CE credits or designations, get into the main stream of your chosen profession.

So that's my opinion...Go make it a great day!

How many appointments are you going on today?

Sometimes it's the little things; Why I use a Journal

Jim Gainer (Howard Hanna Real Estate Services) — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 06:11:43 -0800

Over the years I've found that there are big ideas that can transform your business-many of them you can find right here on activerain. But there are also the little things that make your career zip along like a finely tuned engine; I like the little things.

I have always used a journal, since the days before I got into real estate I searched for a day planned that complimented my style and thought processes - but nothing worked. So I started making my own with a simple standard sized wire bound notebook. These are very cheap and very adaptable, but most of all they are very effective for many things,

A couple days ago I got a call from someone and I wrote the message into my journal for that day. Then as we traded calls over a couple days he stopped giving me his number in his messages and I needed to return his call. Well I could have used the call log on my phone, but there are a lot in there and I needed the time and date of one of his calls. I could have used the call back feature of my voice mail system if I had activated it. But over the years my low tech solutions to my high tech problems have served me well. I simply flipped back a couple days and there he was! Simple but effective.

Last week as January turned to February I was coaching some agents and our discussion turned to conversion rates. Again my journal provided a low tech solution. I went back through all of January and counted up the call-in leads, and then tallied the number of them who enrolled in our new agent program and there as my conversion rate.

I guess my point is that when you need a solution to a business process like daily activity planning or follow-up systems or anything like that, there are plenty of high tech solutions you can purchase, then learn, then update, and then abandon. Or, you can just go back the the lessons you learned in school; there's nothing like a good sharp #2, and a spiral notebook to get you through the day!

Make it a great one!

Get into the grind

Jim Gainer (Howard Hanna Real Estate Services) — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 06:28:39 -0800

When I was a new agent my coach used to tell me all the time "just grind it out, there's business on the other side." What he was trying to tell me was that after I created a smart and strategic busines plan I need to not only execute it but continue to execute it; keep grinding it out. Keep making 30 to 40 calls, keep walking through neighborhoods, keep knocking on fsbos doors; keep doing the things I'm getting tired of doing.

After a couple months of doing the work of practicing real estate you will get tired of it, but that's the work that seperates us from the folks who are no longer enjoying this business. Tom Hopkins says all the time that "real estate is the highest paid hard work and the lowest paid easy work" that we can choose. And we do choose it every day.

So, remember to congratulate yourself for the hard work and reward yourself for the grind; even if it's something small. You deserve it and you've earned it so keep on grinding it out and be proud of the hard work you choose today.

A good tip for the daily grind, is to do the stuff you don't like first and you day will only get better...

Make it a great one!

Jim