For many people, the default reaction to a new difficulty or obstacle is "I can't..."

“I can't deal with this ” ... or “I can't overcome that obstacle.”

Somehow, they have forgotten the difficulties and obstacles that they have successfully overcome in their lives.

“I Can Walk”

Unlike most animal babies, human babies do not start walking immediately after birth. For most of the first years of our lives, our brains sent our bodies the message “I can't walk.” Our mobility was limited to wherever a stronger person could carry or otherwise transport us.

As our bodies matured, our brains changed this message to “maybe I can walk”, and we started moving on our own..however we could. It wasn't always pretty...but it worked.

Then the message changed to “I think I can walk” and we started pulling ourselves to a standing position. At this point, “I think I can walk” became “I can walk”. And the rest is history.

A similar process takes place when we face difficulties and obstacles, such as a slow market or too much competition.

“I Can Sell Real Estate”

Too many people believe they can't deal with slow real estate markets, let alone compete effectively with too many other agents, many of who are in fact quite successful.

If that's what they think...they are probably right.

Remember however, that as babies our brain sent us similar thoughts about walking.

Just as in learning to walk, a small child takes baby steps in learning to walk, there are baby steps to business success.

These same baby steps to walking are fact, the model for baby steps to business success.

If you have been in business for two years or more, you have already completed several sets of baby steps to business success.

Think back to how you made the transition from "I can't sell real estate" to "maybe I can sell real estate". And how about your movement from "maybe I can sell real estate" to "I think I can sell real estate"? It was about that time that you met the challenge of qualifying for your real estate license.

Remember how you felt when you received the commission check from your first transaction? It was then that you realized without a doubt “I can sell real estate”...just like as babies, we realized “I can walk”.

 

“I Can Sell Real Estate In This Market”

Certainly, we all face difficult market conditions. But as babies and children,we also faced difficult walking conditions. Very often, there were difficulties and obstacles in our way. More often than not, we able to get over or around these obstacles. And even of we fell, we got up alone or with help and carried on.

If you believe that you can't sell real estate, accept that belief as true. You will have lots of like-minded company, with whom you can share your frustration.

On the other hand, if you know you can sell real estate, notwithstanding challenging market conditions, by all means, trust that position. Not only will you be free of the “I can't” club draining your energy, you will enjoy the success that you rightly deserve.

 

 

To learn more about the baby steps to business success, see 3 Baby Steps To Business Success

 

When explaining why they chose specific real estate agents, clients are more likely to say that they made their choice on the basis of agents’ specific personal characteristics.

What characteristics do prospective clients look for in choosing a real estate agent?

Here are 12 traits that prospects usually seek in choosing real estate agents.

The more of these characteristics that you possess and demonstrate, the easier it will be to attract prospects.

 

1. Diligence

This category includes attention to details, focus on clients' goals and enthusiasm.

 

2. Expertise

In real estate, this is the accumulated know-how from experience, training and continuing education that makes you good at what you do.

 

3. Flexibility

Clients need agents who can respond effectively to newly changed circumstances, not remain focused on the way things used to be.

 

4. Good listener

A good listener understands and accepts what clients say. High producing agents consistently report this as a critical element of effectively serving clients and succeeding in real estate.

 

5. Hard-working

The most successful agents work very hard--and smart--at servicing listings and searching for suitable properties for buyers.

 

6. Helpful

The major challenge of being helpful is to assist clients as much as possible without becoming pushy or intrusive.

 

7. Hungry

Agents who are hungry for a higher level of success work harder for clients than those who have become complacent with the success they already achieved.

 

8. Networked

Clients appreciate agents who can refer them to other service providers such as lawyers, mortgage lenders and trades-people. A good network of referral partners can help you attract prospects.

 

9. Patient

Being patient means allowing sufficient time for appropriate actions and the best decisions possible.

 

10. Specific market knowledge

To develop this knowledge it's necessary to continue to research and monitor what's happening in your market.

 

11. Strong negotiator

The best negotiators bring about the best possible outcomes for all parties.

 

12. Trustworthy

The higher the competence of sales people, the more trustworthy they will appear to prospects. And the more trustworthy they appear the more attractive they will be to prospects. It's that simple.

The more of these characteristics that you possess and demonstrate, the easier it will be for you to attract prospects.

 

To learn more about attracting prospects, see Don't Chase Leads -- Attract Prospects

 

Earning a living by helping clients buy and sell real estate is hard work.

To succeed, it’s necessary to work long hours.

In and of itself, working long hours does not automatically lead to success.

It is after all, fairly easy to fill your time with things like random paper-shuffling, lengthy telephone conversations with family and friends, surfing the Internet and so on.

Successful people have learned to work smarter and not harder.

Whether consciously or instinctively, everything they do focuses on achieving specific goals.

Working smarter is all about goals and ideas.

It involves focusing on goals that you would like to achieve and taking actions that will help you achieve these goals.

Working Smarter Includes Astute Marketing

As a critical component of working smart, astute marketing also focuses on achieving specific goals.

In practice, this means ensuring that all of your marketing activities are focused on one thing and one thing only...achieving specific goals.

Astute marketing includes seven critical elements:

1. setting smart goals
2. following your business core values
3. managing your time effectively
4. committing to achieving your goals
5. taking responsibility for your actions
6. developing and following a personal growth plan
7. developing and following a personal marketing plan

By ensuring that your marketing continuously contains these elements, you are well on your road to better results.

To learn more about astute marketing, see Astute Marketing: Your Path To Better Results.

 

 

By continuing to add quality to your services, you offer prospects a compelling reason for choosing you instead of the competition...including Internet options.

 

Internet-Based Do-It-Yourself Real Estate Transactions?

 

The virtually unlimited access to Internet resources is mixed blessing in today's market.

 

Becoming Internet-Savvy improves your ability to gather and exchange important information.

 

The Internet allows you to learn more about your market and the clients that you will serve. But this is much more than simply going on-line and gathering information.

 

Your Internet research will help you identify people who should meet and get to know. These people can help you learn more about your market and clients. They also represent potential clients, sources of referrals and referral partners.

 

It also allows prospective clients access to the same publicly available information as you. Buyers and sellers can check out comparable listings and relevant market information.

 

With access to this information, many prospects believe that they can complete their real estate transactions without the help of real estate agents.

 

Or Add Quality To Your Service?

 

The key to encouraging prospects to choose you...instead of the do-it-yourself approach...is to add quality to service.

 

In practice this means doing more than simply repeating the information that can be found online.

 

Use your own experience-based market research to as a basis for professional, well founded opinions and advice.

 

While the real estate industry has recognized the importance of agents' websites, few agents have recognized the full potential of unique websites.

 

Most agents simply use the website format supplied by their brokerage or company....much like they use company-supplied signs and print advertising.

 

As a result, most agents' websites look much the same...and agents are virtually indistinguishable from each other.

 

Your unique website distinguishes you from the competition. It also allows you to showcase what you do well...serve clients.

 

To better distinguish yourself from the competition, add quality to your web site.

 

Here's how you can add more quality to your site:

 

• conduct a survey to monitor client satisfaction
• add testimonials
• start a blog
• use social media capability
• post your newsletter
• keep clients up to date (use private, pass-word protected pages)

 

To learn more about adding quality to your service, see Add Quality To Your Service To Attract More Clients

 

 

Among the many factors, guidelines and principles that contribute in one way or another to achieving our desired results, 3 traits for success stand above all others:

 

Commitment

 

This characteristic is about being bound emotionally or intellectually to a course of action that is undertaken to bring about a desirable outcome.

The more desirable the outcome, the more passionately we are committed to achieving it.

Passionately committed to achieving a specific outcome, we persist in pursuing our goals. We are determined to do whatever it takes to achieve them.

This persistence and determination make us tenacious.

 

Tenacity

 

Tenacious people doing whatever it takes to get the job done.

This usually means having among other things, backbone, chutzpah, determination, intestinal fortitude, spunk and stick-to-itiveness.

It includes undertaking the often tedious task of implementing the new strategies that seemed so exciting and energizing in the planning stage.

Tenaciousness also includes following up on all leads and continuing to follow up until you not only make contact, but have a meaningful conversation with these people.

 

Willingness to Learn From Others

 

In most cases you are not a pioneer in your world.

This means that you are required to reinvent the wheel in developing your business solutions.

You can and should learn from others.

Although each of these traits is a separate success factor, each also contributes to the mental attitudes...and the necessary actions that we need to succeed.

 

To learn more about the success traits, see 3 Traits For Success Influence Our Attitudes & Actions

 

How To Develop And Apply Your Success Traits

 

If you are not sure how to develop and apply these traits ... or even if you possess any of them ... there is no need to be concerned.

There is lots of help available.  One good starting point to making the most of your success traits is Astute Marketing: Your Path To Better Results

 

 

 

 

Here are 12 guidelines for success that will help you achieve your goals for the new year.

Like all success tips, these guidelines represent quick and easy starting points for making the necessary changes to achieve better results.

 

1. Align Your Personal and Business Goals

 

Aligned goals means that achieving your business goals will lead to the achievement of your personal goals easily and effortlessly.

The best way to bring about this alignment is to do what you value and believe in.

 

2. Plan to Succeed--Work Smart Not Just Hard

 

Success in any field requires a huge time commitment.

Ensure that you can commit the necessary time to succeed in real estate.

 

 

3. Use More Resources Better

 

Few resources offer more potential for making better use of your resources, than the Internet.

Among its other benefits, the Internet provides the opportunity to effectively communicate with people you know and people you don’t know, regardless of where they live.

 

 

4. Do What You Do Best, Delegate The Rest

 

Most people will try to help if they can.

To help others help you:

 

• ask them for help
• be specific
• listen to their response
• acknowledge their response

5. Define And Work Your Market Niche

 

Successful niche marketing depends upon going narrow, going deep and helping your prospects select you instead of the competition.

To succeed in a niche market includes learning everything there is to know about your niche markets.

 

 

6. Learn Everything You Can About Your Clients

 

To learn about your clients' changing needs, continuous market segment research is critical.

 

 

7. Overcome The Challenges That Face You

 

All successful people share three characteristics:

 

1. commitment
2. tenacity
3. willingness to learn from others

 

 

8. Continue To Do What You Well...But Do It Better

 

To survive in today's competitive marketplace, you must have some level of competence in many areas.

However, success requires more than mere competence. To thrive over the long term, you must continue to get better at everything that you do.

 

 

9. Communicate to Attract Prospects

 

Attract more and better prospects by offering them a compelling reason for choosing you.

Help them understand what distinguishes you from the competition and the benefits that they will enjoy from hiring you.

 

 

10. Communicate to Convert Leads Into Clients

 

Effective follow-up is a key ingredient of converting leads into clients. It also allows you to showcase your right stuff.

To ensure that you follow up consistently and effectively, develop and a good follow-up system.

 

 

11. Communicate to Satisfy Clients—Understand And Meet Their Needs

 

Clients demand quality service.

 

It is the quality of your service that most distinguishes you from the competition.

 

By monitoring client satisfaction you can improve the overall quality of your service.

 

 

12. Communicate To Help Your Clients And Contacts Make More Referrals To You

 

Referrals are the largest single source of new clients.

 

The best way to generate referrals is by developing and following your own referral system.

 

Clients, family members, friends, referral partners and network contacts can and will make referrals to you. newsletters

 

You do however have to ask for referrals and make it easy for people to make referrals to you.

 

To ensure an ongoing flow of referrals, keep in touch with your contacts regularly.

 

 

To learn more about these guidelines see 12 Guidelines For Success.

 

Happy New Year!

I am planning on making 2012 my best year ever.

What about you? What are some of your goals for the year?

If like most of us who are self-employed professionals, you probably want more and better clients.

When most people think of generating new business, they think of advertising.

Certainly adverting is the most visible marketing strategy. It is also the most costly marketing component.

Given it's high visibility and cost factors, every minute and dollar devoted to advertising must contribute to the overall success of your advertising activities.

To help you get your 2012 advertising off to a good start, here are the what I consider 10 steps to advertising success.

After you have reviewed these 10 steps, think about which ones generate the most new business for you.

But don't stop there...share your advertising experiences. Even the best experiences get better when shared so others can benefit from them.

 

Step 1: Identify your target audience

 Who do you want to send your advertising message to?

By defining your target market with as much precision as possible, you will increase the likelihood of attracting more and better clients.

Step 2: Identify what you want your audience to do

In most cases, your advertising by itself will not automatically lead prospective clients to the decision to hire you.

Regardless of what action you would like your target market to take, keep this action firmly planted in your mind as your prepare your advertising message.

Step 3: Identify benefits for your target market

 Give them some reason for doing what you want them to do.

Tell them how they benefit from taking the desired action.

Step 4: Identify the best media for your message

 Effective niche market research and market segment research will help ensure that you are using the best media for communicating your message to your target market.

Step 5: Satisfy yourself that your goal is achievable

Before preceding with the rest of the 10 steps to advertising success, pause to assess steps 1-4.

Once satisfied that your desired outcome is indeed possible, proceed with the remaining 5 steps to advertising success.

Step 6: Determine what your audience now knows about the service that you provide

Clearly, what your target audience now knows...or thinks it knows...is a critical factor in encouraging individual members of the audience to take the actions that you want taken.

Step 7: Determine what your audience needs to know

Among the purposes of advertising is to provide prospects with the information they need in order to agree to take the action that you would like them to take.

It establishes the level to which you need to increase your prospects' information.

Step 8: Offer your audience a compelling reason for taking your desired action

 Whatever action you want your target market to take, offer them a compelling reason for taking the action.

And remember that the most compelling reasons invariably offer something of value to the person taking the action.

Step 9: Follow up every lead

 If you don't already have one, develop and implement an effective follow-up system before you start advertising.

There is nothing to be gained if your advertising encourages individuals from your target market to contact you but then having them disappear because you have a weak...or non-existent...follow-up system.

Step 10: Track results

 By tracking the results of these 10 steps to advertising success, you can lean which ones work well...and which ones need to be improved.

 

Now it's your turn.

Which of these steps contribute most to your advertising success?

To learn more, see 10 Steps To Advertising Success.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once again an expert has missed the point.

This time around a 'marketing strategy expert' blogged about marketing professional services and offered the suggestion that it's better to sell smarts not service.

Close...but no cigar.

Smart Is Good

No question: I value smarts as much as the author.

Given the choice between two comparable service professionals, I will probably hire the one I believe to be the smarter of the two.

However, I will not make the decision simply because one person appears smarter than the other. Hopefully the smarter person can and will help me more than the one who is less smart.

There's the critical issue: prospects tend to hire service professionals, such as real estate agents, based on which one can help them most.

Experience-Based Benefits Are Better

Certainly the relative smarts of one individual as compared to others is one factor. But far more important are the benefits that prospects expect when and if they become clients.

The best way to promote client benefits is to clearly outline how you can and do help clients. But don't stop there.

Use your experience as evidence of how you do in fact help clients.

The best achievements are those that can be duplicated for your own benefit or the benefit of others.

Review your achievements to identify those accomplishments that meet the following criteriacan

• be duplicated
• benefit you
• benefit clients

Once you have finished this review, prioritize your achievements based on the above the criteria.

The absolute best..i.e. top priority...achievements are those that you can duplicate and which can benefit clients by meeting specific needs and wants.

The finished product will be an achievement resume that will help prospects understand how you can help them with their real estate needs.

When marketing professional services, it's better to promote the benefits that clients receive from your service than how smart you are...or think you are.

To learn more about creating your achievement resume, see Your Achievement Resume Converts Your Experience Into Client Benefits.

 

Along with the Christmas season, the arrival of December means that it's time to finalize our business and marketing plans for next year.

A key element of planning next year's activities is reviewing this year's results.

Looking back at the past 11 months, how satisfied are you with the results that you have achieved to date?

If your results met or exceeded expectations, congratulations. Keep doing what you have been doing and 2012 should be as good as, if not better than 2011.

What Happened?

If however, your results failed to meet expectations, before blasting ahead to 2012, spend some time figuring out what happened. But don't waste time examining external factors such as the economy, market conditions or the competition.

Those factors are totally beyond your control...so blaming them for your lack of success simple dodges the issue.

To learn the most from your 2011 experience, focus on the decisions you made and actions that you took.

The most obvious starting point for this focus is your goals...the results that you wanted to achieve this year.

Being totally honest, did these goals reflect the results that you wanted to achieve? Or were they pushed on you by your broker, manager, or some one else.

As well-meaning as external goal-setting is intended, it is not always as motivational and helpful as expected.

 

Achieving Your Desired Results

Realistically, the best goals for you are the goals that you set for yourself. These goals reflect the results that you want to achieve...not the outcomes that others expect of you.

Your goals reflect your definition of achievement, not some one else's idea of what's right for you. After all, who knows..or should know...your individual strengths better than you? Similarly, who knows..or should know ... better than you how your resources can be applied to attract and serve clients?

Your personal strengths and resources shape and influence your definition of achievement...the goals that you want to achieve.

If your 2011 results failed to meet expectations, perhaps you were using the wrong definition of achievement.

To learn more about the definition of achievement see Creating Your Definition Of Achievement

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From personal experience, it seems to me that the average real estate agent closes individual client files about the same time as the transaction closes.

Average Agents/Good Agents

That's probably because average real estate agents are more interested in selling than they are in marketing. Or as a broker once told me 'most agents are interested in the next transaction than they are in the next 200'.

It also seems to me that good real estate agents undertake some form of follow-up after individual transactions have closed. At the very least they will send some form of direct mailing to new homeowners.

Sure, I recognize that the thrill of closing is more gratifying than the routine of marketing. But I also recognize that effective marketing invariably generates a whole lot more closed sales than endlessly chasing new leads.

An Effective Marketing Practice

What better place to implement effective marketing practices than when clients have purchased their new homes?

Since the buyers' agents have successfully done what they were hired to do, the new homeowners are very happy with the service they have received.

Why not build upon this client satisfaction and transform what started as a short-term relationship into an ongoing, long-term mutually beneficial relationship?

Instead of charging off in search of that new listing, share your knowledge and experience with the new homeowners.

Helping New Homeowners Learn

Help new homeowners learn what they need to know to enjoy their new homes.

In addition to congratulating them on their new homes, help them with appropriate home maintenance tips and suggestions. Tell them about neighbourhood resources ... refer them to you network contacts who might also be able to help them.

Direct mail to new homeowners continues post-closing, the professional service that helped convert prospects into clients... and also convert clients into satisfied clients.

It also help convert satisfied clients into repeat clients and referral sources.

And even better, direct mail to new homeowners will help you move from being just an average real estate agent to the good agent you want to be.

To learn more about sending direct mail to new homeowners, see The ROI Of Direct Mail New Homeowner Letters