Laser-Focused Prospecting is Overrated - 12/31/09 06:43 AM

Most prospecting training is focused on... FOCUSING. Laser-focused prospecting. Doing "it" for three hours a day, whatever "it" is, no interruptions, no excuses. Do "it" until you reach your goal of so many contacts, so many appointments, whatever. Lather, rinse, repeat. Every day.
And eventually, you might even enjoy "it." You might start to see relationships between how much of "it" you do and how many houses you sell. The more of "it," the more of the other.
Whatever your "it" of choice is - FSBO's, expireds, cold-calling, door-knocking, farming, blogging, advertising, SOI'ing, open-housing, lunch-dating - just remember the Good … (28 comments)

A New "Game" Plan for 2010 - 12/28/09 07:34 AM

As it happens every year ‘round this time, New Year's resolutions are being made with a vengeance.
In our world of real estate sales, these resolutions tend to focus on revving up one's prospecting efforts in hopes of having a Great New Year. Promises to more fully commit to a cold-calling or door-knocking campaign, to more aggressively pursue expired listings and FSBO's, to formally choose a farm area or finally figure out what SEO really means.
All well and good. I wish you luck with that!
But in addition to all these Numbers Games, I submit the following plan for … (96 comments)

Turning Cheese into Soul - Send(ing) Out Cards the Soulful Way - 12/18/09 12:09 PM
A long time ago (last week? The week before?), I promised to continue a little series I was running about Turning Cheese into Soul - that is - taking yesterday's tired old prospecting techniques and making them less, um, cheesy. Well, I got a little distracted, but it's been driving me NUTS to have the remainder of the series on my to-do list... so, I'm back.
Today's topic is about greeting cards. Specifically, a program called Send Out Cards.* If you aren't familiar with the product/program, it's a greeting card system where you choose a card from an online selection, customize … (19 comments)

A Live Interview - The Sincere Introvert: Sincerity and Vulnerability in the Age of Personal Branding - 12/16/09 01:42 PM
The live show is over - but here's a link to it. I had a great time; hope the audience did, too... there's some good stuff here if I do say so me-self. Thanks Jon!

 
Hey, if you have a minute (okay, an hour) in the middle of the day today (12:30 eastern), please consider tuning in for my interview on the Introvert Experience with Jon Hansen! He sent me an outline of the program last night and yipes! He has some good questions - ones I've never answered before... some I've never even thought much about.
I better … (16 comments)

Real Estate Prospecting - Turning Cheese into Soul - Open Houses - 12/11/09 09:21 AM

After a week away (thank you Robin!), I'm back in the saddle, talking about turning Prospecting Cheese into Soul... Today's topic is the non-cheesy Open House.
First, allow me to pontificate for a moment that I believe the first priority of any open-house-giver is to attempt to sell that house. After all, someone owns that house and has hired you, or an associate of yours to care enough about his listing to try to sell it. And no matter what you tell a seller ahead of time, he really does expect the offers to start pouring in at 4:05. 
So, … (59 comments)

The Rookie-to-Rookie Show - The Unanswered Questions - 12/08/09 12:13 PM

Hope you were able to join us last weekend for the second Rookie-to-Rookie show at SellwithSoulLand... it was fun! In case you have no idea what I'm talking about, I held a free Teleseminar on Saturday where three newly-non-rookies (thanks Erin Deric, Kate Huntress and Melissa Brown!) shared their secrets for surviving their rookie years. We talked about things like how they financed the venture, what their biggest challenge was, where they spent money they wish they hadn't, how long it took to see a paycheck - stuff like that.  
We covered a lot of information, but as always, … (13 comments)

The Rookie-to-Rookie Show TODAY (Saturday) at 11:30 eastern - 12/05/09 06:41 AM
If you're reading this earlier than 8:30 am (pacific) / 11:30 am (eastern) on Saturday, December 5th, you still have time to join us for the second Rookie-to-Rookie Show at SWSLand. It's freeeeeeee.
Here's the scoop:
So much going on, so much to do. But just because the holiday season is upon us doesn't mean we self-employed real estate-types can shut down, especially those who are new in the business.  So, I hope you'll join us for the second Rookie-to-Rookie show here in the SWS Studio.
What's the Rookie-to-Rookie show and where exactly is the SWS Studio?  
The Rookie-to-Rookie show is a … (7 comments)

Turning Cheese into Soul - Newsletters - The Difference between "Meaningful" and "Interesting" - 12/04/09 07:14 AM
The other day I got a very timely question from my cyber-friend Ron, considering this week's Cheese-to-Soul series.
Ron asked if I knew of a source for good real estate-related newsletter content that would be "meaningful" to his Sphere of Influence (his "SOI"). He's frustrated by the material available for purchase, most of which simply feels canned. Moreover, he's uncomfortable using much of it because it relates to topics he's NOT an expert in, such as tax planning, home staging and credit reports.
I agree. As I may have mentioned a time or two, I refuse to use canned, boilerplate material. I think it's cheesy … (13 comments)

Real Estate Prospecting - Turning Cheese into Soul - Newsletters, Part Deux - 12/03/09 07:37 AM
In yesterday's installment of the Cheese to Soul series,  I commented that I might have half a dozen posts in me about how to create an effective newsletter. Fortunately, or unfortunately, that might actually be true. We'll see how far I get today.
Remember, the goal of a newsletter is to make the recipient of the newsletter smile and think of you fondly. Which is best accomplished not with gardening tips, Just Sold notices or descriptions of your listings, but rather with interesting content that reflects YOU - your voice, your personality. And the best way to do that is to write … (51 comments)

Real Estate Prospecting - Turning Cheese into Soul - Newsletters - 12/02/09 09:48 AM
Next up on the list of ways to turn Prospecting Cheese into Soul... the ever-popular Newletter! If you've missed the first two installments, you can catch them here:
Turning Cheese into Soul  FSBO's & Expireds 
I probably have enough opinions on the topic of Newsletters to fill up half a dozen blogs... and I may just do that. But we have to start somewhere, so let's start, um, here.
We real estate agents love our newsletters, don't we? I wonder how many companies out there are capitalizing on our affection for the newsletter? Encouraging us to "build relationships" via our newsletter... … (16 comments)

Real Estate Prospecting - Turning Cheese into Soul - Expired Listings & FSBO's - 12/01/09 07:48 AM
Here's the first installment in a series - Turning Cheese into Soul.
For the record, I have never seriously pursued Expireds or FSBO's myself; however, I have BEEN an expired listing and have appeared to be a FSBO, so I speak from the perspective of a consumer, not a real estate agent or trainer.
And I tell ya - the expired and FSBO campaigns I've personally been the recipient of are pretty darn cheesy. Obviously the agents are taking a shotgun approach to getting business from us poor saps who desperately need their "professional services." The good old Numbers Game - throw … (22 comments)

 
Jah-sws Rainmaker_large

Jennifer Allan-Hagedorn, Author of Sell with Soul

Pensacola Beach, FL

More about me…

Sell with Soul

Cell Phone: (303) 947-1335

Email Me



Listings

Links

Archives

RSS 2.0 Feed for this blog