Are you set up to pinch every penny of profit from all your hard work?

I've spent months looking for the right speaker to talk about business finances. So many of us would like to improve on how we manage the financial accounting of our business so we can hang on to more of our hard earned money. I found just the expert who will be sharing her 30 years of stress-busting and money-saving tips to master the accounting side of your business. I know some of you are like me, where your eyes cross at the mention of accounting and finances, but I promise, this dynamic financial analyst knows how to make it interesting with her can do approach. 

We're going to be talking about how to stop losing deductions along with the do's and don'ts of business ownership. She's even going to be telling us when you should STOP being a sole proprietorship and what are your options. You'll be surprised at how easy it is to start putting more of your hard earned money in YOUR pocket instead of Uncle Sam's. So mark your calendar for this Thursday, August 21^st.

This call will cover:

• How to stop losing deductions
• The 5 do's and 5 don'ts of business ownership
• When you need accounting software and which program is easiest to use
• The disadvantages of being self-employed and how to overcome them
• When to STOP being a sole proprietorship and what are your options

Participants will receive a special offer for a "High-Efficiency Expense Tracker" and "Planning for Profits" workbook.

Date: Thursday, August 21^st

Time: 9:00 AM Pacific, 12:00PM Eastern Time

Dial-in: 1-800-349-8037  PIN: 256742

Speaker:  Terry Ray

Where:  Your Phone

Cost: FREE

Produced and hosted by Raymond Gravelle, Online Community Manager

We face objections everyday from clients. Sometimes we are prepared, sometimes not so much. HouseValues University is putting on a special MasterMind Call about how to deal with the most common objections real estate professionals face everyday... and we need your help.

I've lined up one of the top sales trainers in the nation to collect the most common objections to create a whitepaper of scripts to overcome those objections.

Here's where you can help. Share your most common objections. We are soliciting agents from around the country to tell us what sales objections they face most often.

You're invited to join us for this free training conference call exclusively for real estate agents from "Mr. Inside Sales" Mike Brooks. Join this call to hear how to disarm your most common phone objections!

Click to Reserve Your Spot & Send Your #1 Objection

"7 Habits to Maximize Phone Power"

Speaker:  Mike Brooks

Date:       Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Time:       9:00AM Pacific Time / 12:00PM Eastern Time

Length:    1 Hour

Where:     Your Phone

Bonus! Join this call to enter a sweepstakes for Mike's NEW Book/CD Set "The Real Secrets of the Top 20%" Only agents who attend will be automatically entered to win 1 of 4 of these sets-valued at $39. Winners will be notified immediately after the call.

Known as "Mr. Inside Sales" Mike Brooks brings over 20 years of inside sales closing experience for you to be more confident and productive using the phone. He is the author of "From Cold to Close: How to Double Your Income Selling Over the Phone."

A very limited number of spots are available-click here to reserve your spot now!

Mike will explain:

• 5 golden rules of voicemail
• How to prepare and use scripts
• What are "layering questions"
• Why you should be recording your phone calls

Register now to learn proven phone sales techniques you can start using right away.

What's your most common objection?

HouseValues is offering the ActiveRain community a free one hour MasterMind Call. Dial into to this teleconference (no need to be at your computer) to hear what Angelique Bedel of Memphis, TN, is doing to double her income.

We'll get the inside scoop on how Angelique has hit the accelerator on her business with a powerful combination of simple technology and astonishing service for her clients and prospects. You'll discover how to cash in on programs for first-time buyers and a proven method to get phone numbers from your Internet leads.

What you can expect to learn:

• How to organize a successful homebuyers class
• Why the right credit repair service can be a business builder
• What to look out for when selecting a credit repair service

Date: Thursday, June 12^th

Time: 9:00 AM Pacific, Noon Eastern

Dial-in: 1-800-349-8037  PIN: 256742

Produced and hosted by Raymond Gravelle, Online Community Manager, HouseValues University

PS- If you decide to attend the call, please come back and share what you thought. I appreciate all feed back.

The recent MasterMind Call with Mike Brooks, aka "Mr. Inside Sales" gave agent's tools to be more confident and productive using the phone.

You see, Mike is an expert in helping agents turn their phones into powerful marketing machines. He shared 7 habits to maximize your phone power. I'll list them here and if anyone wants more details on these points I'll be happy to elaborate.

1. Record yourself. How can you improve if you don't know what you sound like? Trust me, if you're not recording yourself you DON'T know.
2. Use prepared scripts and outlines. Get over your distaste for scripts- they build confidence.
3. Qualify properly. It's as much about disqualifying as it is about qualifying.
4. How to listen. Remember the formula- 2 ears, 1 mouth.
5. How to use trial closes. Mike calls them "pulse takers".
6. Discover unique buying motives. Then tailoring the presentation to those motives.
7. Assume the sale, ask for the order. Whether it's for an appointment or to purchase a home, ASK!

Mike also gave the 5 Golden Rules of Voicemail where he offered tips on how to leave voicemail messages that get results.

At the end of the interview agents engaged Mike with some in-depth questions on what was presented.

SUGGESTION: Go check out Mike's website. He offers a ton of free resources that could help you right away. He also has an upcoming 6 week Teleseminar which I may be able to get a discount for if anyone is interested. (No guarantee- Mike made a special offer to HouseValues subscribers that I can try to get for ActiveRain members if anyone is interested. It starts May 12^th.)

Stay tuned for the May 15^th HouseValues MasterMind Call invitation to the ActiveRain community so you can learn from the best of the best.

 (See 2 post below- "Special Offer, Free Teleclass")

 Mike gave me permission to publish this article with a couple of good objection handling tips. Enjoy!

The Secret to Overcoming Objections
by Mike Brooks, Mr. Inside Sales

Most sales reps hate getting objections. Their hearts sink into their stomachs, their palms start to sweat, and they start wondering how they're going to pay the rent. Sound familiar?

When sales reps ask me how they should handle objections, they are often surprised by my answer. I tell them they should never answer objections. When they look at me like I'm crazy, I explain:

"Let's face it - most of the time objections are just smokescreens hiding real objections that your prospect doesn't want to disclose. As soon as you begin answering objections, have you ever found that they have another and yet another?"

"Oh, yeah," they say.

So here's the secret to handling objections:

Instead of answering an objection you must first isolate and question it. Let's take two of the most common ones - "Your price is too high," and "I need to speak with, talk to..."

If your client says, "Your price is too high," you should respond with:

"I can understand that, and let me ask you a question -- if this price was exactly what you were willing to pay, is this (your product/service, etc.) the solution you would go with today?"

Now that you've isolated the objection you will see if price really is the only objection. Any answer other than 'yes' and price isn't what is stopping your prospect form moving forward (which means you have more work to do to find out what is!)

Same thing with the "I've got to speak to, talk this over with...." objection. You should say:

"I can totally understand that. And _________ let me ask you -- if you did speak with ________ and they said whatever you thought was fine with them, what would your decision be on this today?"

Again, any answer other than 'yes' and that objection is just a stall. Answering it will get you nowhere.

Do you see how this works? The whole point of questioning and isolating the objection first is to uncover what is really holding your prospect back.

And until you find that out, there will be no deal.

So stop answering objections and start isolating them. You will become a much stronger closer, and you'll begin making more sales. Kind of like the Top 20% do!

All the best to those Top 20% thinkers and closers who take advantage of this - you'll always be glad you did!

See you at the Top!!

Copyright @ 2006 Mike Brooks

Mike Brooks, MrInsideSales.com, is creator and publisher of the "Top 20% Inside Sales Tips" weekly Ezine. If you're ready to Double Your Income Selling Over the Phone, then sign up to receive your FREE tips now at: http://www.mrinsidesales.com/.

I found this great template HouseValues offered to its subscribers and thought the ActiveRain community could use it too. I like it because it doesn't address the reader as possibly being in foreclosure but puts it in the third person for someone they might know in a foreclusure situation. Kinda cleaver.

Dear {ProspectFirst},  

In today's market, more and more people know someone who is struggling with their  mortgage payment as a result of a sharp increase in their interest rate or other loan factors.

If you know someone who is facing a possible foreclosure, I have information that can help. And the sooner we act to help someone in this position, the better the outcome. Because once a house starts to go into foreclosure, it can be difficult to stop and the ramifications can be long lasting:

• the owners may face substantial late fees
• the owners may loose all of their equity
• the owners may suffer with a mark on their credit that will take years to erase 

But, this does not have to happen. There are a number of effective strategies to help the homeowner forestall a foreclosure. Renegotiating the loan is one possibility. Two other options are a short sale (sell for less than the loan amount with bank approval), or a quick sale (sell for more than the loan amount but at a lower, more attractive market price). 

As a full service real estate agent, I am committed to help clients with all their housing needs. Whether it is to help preclude a foreclosure, pull equity out of their home for investment properties, or assist them in either finding a new home or selling their current one, I have the knowledge and the expertise to make the process go smoothly.

Foreclosure is a nationwide problem, but it's also in our own backyard. If I can help you or anyone you know hold on to their home (or minimize their losses), please call or email me. I appreciate the opportunity to be your trusted real estate resource.

Warm regards,

HouseValues presents this template for anyone to use as they wish. Thank you.

Take time to step back and evaluate what is working:

• How many listing appointments does it take to obtain a listing?
• How many prospects do you need to obtain an appointment?
• How much money are you spending on advertising?
• How many leads are you generating?
• How are you spending your time?

To be effective, you need to know your numbers! Can you plan, hire help and delegate like a CEO, or do you feel like you need to do everything yourself.

As the CEO of your own business, you have the opportunity to do the things you got into the real estate business to do: make more money and have more free time!

Go for it!

I want to extend a special invitation to the ActiveRain community to attend the next HouseValues MasterMind Call.

Here's the information about the call. I think everyone could learn at least one technique to improve phone skills. Mike Brooks is tops in the field. Mark your calendar for Thursday, May 1st.

7 Habits to Maximize Your Phone Power.

Known as "Mr. Inside Sales"  Mike Brooks brings over 20 years of inside sales closing experience for you to be more confident and productive using the phone. He is author of "From Cold to Close: How to Double Your Income Selling Over the Phone".

Mike will explain:

• 5 golden rules of voicemail
• How to prepare and use scripts
• What are "layering questions"
• Why you should be recording your phone calls

For those attending this live call Mike will be making a special offer for his upcoming Boot Camp Training Teleseminar series along with several free sales tools.

Question and answer period after the interview.

Produced and hosted by Raymond Gravelle, Online Community Manager, HouseValues University

Date: Thursday, May 1

Time: 9:00 AM Pacific, Noon Eastern

Dial-in: 1-800-349-8037 PIN: 256742

Do you ever feel like the above picture? Or would you rather picture yourself like the one on right?

Since highest and best use of your time is face to face, can you delegate some of the time consuming tasks that have less impact on your bottom line. Ask yourself if you're doing $10/hour jobs (like managing your prospect database) or are you doing $300/hour jobs?

According to the National Association of Realtors, agents who hired assistants earned twice as much money. They also had more fun, because they delegated the tasks they didn't want to do and concentrated on the tasks that they enjoyed and made them money, like showing, selling, negotiating and listing.

Virtual assistants can provide an excellent solution between hiring a full time staff person and not having anyone at all. Consider working with someone on a time-limited project first to see how that goes before entering a long-term relationship.

VA's usually charge a higher hourly or daily rate than other office-support professionals because they do more complex tasks. Expect to pay $30 to $45 per hour or more. Find VA's through two professional organizations: Virtual Assistance U and the International Virtual Assistants Association. There is even a website dedicated to Virtual Assistants just for real estate professionals at http://www.va4re.com/ . The best part is only have to pay for the work that needs to be done.

Helpful points in selecting a virtual assistant.

• Check out and make inquiries on several VA websites like the ones above
• They must respond to your inquiry in less than 24 hours (If they can't respond quickly to their own customer inquiries, how are they going to handle yours?)
• Should be familiar with your CRM tool
• Don't worry about where they are located

Next up, Part 6- Evaluate for Effectiveness

Witout a system in place to generate and cultivate leads, you are starting each day as a brand new agent, complete with the peaks and valleys inherent in a disorganized business.

Project management systems, like Market Leader, are sophisticated prospect management tools designed specifically to let you add an unlimited number of prospects to your database and cultivate them until they are ready to buy and/or sell. Agents who use Market Leader as their basic business system have been able grow their business exponentially.

What if you had a system to keep in touch with all of your prospects automatically? What if you had an automatic contact management system to follow-up with your past clients? Don't you think you would be able to make more money in less time? There are Web based programs which will allow you to do just that, so you can focus your time where you have the highest return: face to face with buyers and sellers.

Systematizing your business is easy and you want to keep it simple. Start by looking at your most repetitive tasks. What can you streamline or automate? Think about how much time the repetition is taking and then invest time to find a solution to start saving time. This is called making your business efficient. Automate those tasks you do over and over. Agent CEO's look at their whole business this way.

Next up, Part 5: Staffing and delegating