I just got through with a webinar on the latest social media app – the one Zucherberg paid a billion for.  I say I ‘got through’ with it, not that I completed it.  After 32 minutes I could not find a compelling reason to invest any more time.  Oh, the presenter was good and information was . . . informative.  But I just couldn’t make the leap to understanding how this thing was going to make me any money.

Look, it’s true:   I’m old.  But I’m hip-old.  I can tech it up with the best of them.  I understand technology and use it constantly.  I get excited over the next great thing.  But there is a naked emperor in the room and I can’t believe I’m the only one who sees him!

Our industry is bombarded with ‘gurus’ touting the benefits of social media in our business.  I am not sure if any of the ‘gurus’ ever sold real estate or ever sold much, but they sure are talking and we sure are listening.  Still, I have yet to hear from anyone who can point at Facebook, Twitter, Printerest, Google+, Instagram, etc. and say without reservation that the app (all by itself) created a single new client who generated income.  I’m sure the stories are out there, but I haven’t heard them; which tells me it’s a pretty rare phenomenon.

Kirk Eisele taught me about the ‘Network Effect.’  That’s something that occurs when there are enough people in a group that the group becomes valuable.  An example would be Facebook.  A large part of their revenue stream comes from selling highly targeted pay-per-click ads.  When Facebook had just a few thousand members, the value of those ads – the value of Facebook - was minimal.  But when Facebook started talking in terms of millions of users, the ‘Network Effect’ had been achieved and each new member increased the value of Facebook as a marketing tool.  (The ‘Network Effect’ is something Facebook has all over Google +).

So, it seems to me that you’ll make money with Facebook not by having a page and posting and liking and commenting, but by tapping into Facebook’s strength – that ‘Network Effect’ – and buying pay-per-click ads aimed at homeowners in your target market.  Honestly, I think it’s one of the best marketing vehicles for real estate today.

Tammy Patzer helped me understand that, by themselves, social media platforms – heck, all electronic platforms – rarely produce adequate or consistent results. But there is a synergy that happens when you are in a dozen places online, and that synergy yields better results all around.  You have to think of it as a world wide WEB – just like a spider WEB – and the more strands to your web, the more flies you’re going to catch.  So Facebook, Twitter and Instagram aren’t the stars, they are the supporting cast.  Yet I see brokers investing time into Facebook who have done nothing to localize or optimize the star of the show:  their Help-U-Sell website.

When I got my first real estate license – you know, back when dinosaurs roamed the earth – I started noticing a lot of people coming into the business looking like they were going to set the world on fire.  And sometimes they did.  But more often, they’d get bogged down on organizing their farm or researching the market or mastering the MLS . . . .in other words, doing things that looked important but kept them from doing the things that would make them productive (like going out, meeting people and asking:  wanna buy?  wanna sell?).

Today I think we have the same group passing through.  But today they’re investing all of this time in social media, thinking that somehow it’s going to make them tons of money.  It’s not.  Face Time - time spent eyeball to eyeball with people in your marketplace - is what will help you maximize your productivity and your income. Your electronic life is there to make staying in touch easier and less time consuming so that you can have MORE FACE TIME.

I love what’s happening for Ken Kopcho this year.  Since January his production is way up.  He’s having a good year.  He’s using his electronic tools, his websites, his Facebook, and even jumped on Zillow with both feet.  But when you ask him why he’s doing so much better he’ll tell you:  More Face Time.  Not more Facebook time, more Face Time.

So can we please return to common sense?  This is a people business.  When people need help with a big project – like buying or selling a home – they look for knowledgable practitioners they like and trust.  Likeability and trustworthiness are rarely established through typing and clicking.  It usually takes a handshake and a smile.

Grousing About Social Media is a post from: The Set Fee Real Estate Blog

(If you’re looking for a topic, here’s your next salesmeeting)

Objections:  it’s such an adversarial word!  The salesperson presents the product and the customer objects!  Says ‘I don’t want that, because . . . ‘ and then the salesperson pulls some magic script from the recesses of his brain that suddenly makes the customer want the product!

Malarkey.

That’s not the way it works at all . . .  except in sales training seminars where we practice, drill and rehearse the script over and over again until those almost foreign words flow off the tongue like honey.

Let’s step back from that selling situation for a moment.  What is the customer saying when he or she ‘objects?’  How about:  I have a question . . . or I’m concerned . . . or I don’t think this is right for me.  Sometimes they might be asking for a little encouragement, a little nudge, some reassurance.

It’s hardly the brick wall most sales trainers insist we must break through in order to WIN!  Remember, if your goal with your customer is to WIN, that means somebody else has to lose; and what kind of business will you be building if your goal is to make losers out of all your customers?

Your customer is your partner.  You are working together on a project – your customer’s project, be it buying or selling a home . . . or both.  You’re in the equation because of the valuable knowledge and experience you have in real estate and it’s the customer who recognizes that and pulls you in.  Winning to you has nothing to do with sales quotas, your income or anybody else losing.  It has to do with your customer achieving his or her goals.  That’s a good win.

How you respond to customer questions and concerns, however, is important and will have quite an impact on how many customers you are able to successfully serve in your career.  The best response to any concern is truth as you’ve observed it in your career, not some magical canned response.  For this reason, the most effective responses are based on research and data and/or your own experience.

In the listing consultation you are likely to encounter questions and concerns in several areas:

The sign: The sellers may not want to broadcast the fact that they are selling to the neighborhood.  Ultimately this is their choice, but you owe it to them to explain how much it will impact the marketing effort.  Knowing – really knowing – exactly what % of buyer inquiries into your office come from signs is a critical piece of information to take with you on a listing consultation.  Weighing the cost of not having a sign versus the benefit of having one  is Consultative Selling at its best and has nothing to do with breaking down an objection.  It has to do with the seller making a good choice with input from his or her advisor:  you.

The lockbox:  There could be a number of reasons why a seller might not want a lock box, so job one when this concern is voiced is to drill down a bit.  And here is a special phrase, one you will use over and over in your career:  ‘Please, help me understand. . . what is your concern with the lock box?’  ‘Help me understand,’ is a good start as is ‘Just to clarify my thinking, tell me why . . .’

It could be they have valuables and they don’t want anyone in the house unless they are there . . . in which case, the issue really isn’t the lockbox, it’s the valuables and how we can get them picked up and put away for the duration.  Maybe they’re concerned that the cat could get out or the dog could misbehave, in which case, again, it’s not about the lockbox, it’s about making appropriate arrangements for the pets while the house is on the market.  Knowing to the decimal point what percentage of your listings are sold by outside MLS brokers (who often use the lockbox) is another key bit of information you must have with you anytime you go on a Listing Consultation.  With this knowledge you can help the seller make a good decision.

The Term of the Agreement:  You ask for six months and they offer you two.  Stop for a moment.  Before you get into a tug of war over the calendar, ask yourself, ‘why would they not want to sign a six month agreement?’  It could be they are concerned about being tied up . . . but it could be something else. So first, drill down.  ‘Just so I understand . . . what is it that concerns you about the six month agreement?’

Usually this concern has to do with uncertainty.  They like you well enough and your program sounds good but they’re not quite convinced and they want an out if it doesn’t work out. If this is the case, first see if you can isolate the part of your consultation that left them uneasy:  was it your marketing program, your internet presence, your office location, the size of your staff, your track record in the neighborhood or any one of a dozen other things.  Ask:  ‘Just so I’m clear, what is it about the program that worries you?’  You may discover that there is a key bit of information you left out or that they didn’t understand and you can clear it up on the spot.

An important stat you need to have with you at the Listing Consultation is the average days on market for similar properties in the area.  Pointing out that they are offering you 60 days to do a job that, on average is taking 132 days can be powerful.

Finally, if the problem is general uncertainty, give them an out!  Get the six month agreement but amend it so that it can be cancelled with five day’s notice.  Of course you’d have conditions with that, but I’ll leave it for you to figure out what they might be.

Price:  This is a special and very important concern.  But it’s one we’ve already explored in several posts.  Go here , here, here, and here, and refresh your memory!

Commission:  This is a concern pretty much reserved for ordinary agents and brokers and they have dozens of scripts to justify their lofty fees.  But, really:  it’s the one concern you probably won’t hear as a Help-U-Sell broker.  After all, you are the low cost, set fee alternative to all of that, which is probably why the seller called you in the first place.  Still don’t be spooked if he or she asks you to cut your already low set fee.  Some people just have to ask and are then fine when the answer is no.

Marketing:  Your marketing program is (and should be) largely internet, direct mail and local visibility based.  That’s what works today, but your seller may not know it.  They may still have the idea that an ad in the newspaper or in a homes magazine will sell their property.  Your job here is to educate, to show in black and white what’s happened to print media marketing in the past decade.  Start with the local newspaper.  Find out what their circulation is and compare that with your metro population.  You’ll probably find that about 20% of the households in your area get the paper.  Do they really want you to go after that small piece of the market?  And that group has expressed no particular interest in buying real estate!  They just get the paper!  Compare that with a visitor to helpusell.com or any other real estate website.  That’s a person who at least has a need!

If there are still homes magazines in your local area, pick one up.  Note the date of publication (if you can find it) and the date you got it.  Choose an impressive ad – the back cover or a two-page spread in the middle.  Go through the MLS and highlight (with a yellow highlighter, you know) every home in the ad that is sold, pending or off the market.  The results will probably be impressive – impressive enough to share with a seller who is hung up on print. (Here’s some great information about the reach of print media today)

Are you starting to get the picture?  ‘Objections’ aren’t objections at all: they are simply requests for more information.  And it is information you should have at your fingertips.  Always.  Here’s a task:  comb your memory banks.  What are the most common questions or concerns (objections) you’ve gotten from sellers and buyers in your career?  Write them down.  Now, ask yourself:  how will I respond next time I hear this?  What bit of factual data can I have at my fingertips that will help my customer make a better decision.  Then go get that information.

By the way, my intent here has been to short-circuit that old adversarial objection thinking:   the belief that, somehow, a magical, technique laden script is going to get your customer to do something he or she doesn’t feel good about.  It has not been to undermine the sound listening and explaining tools we use when working with customers.  Things like saying, ‘Tell me more’ or ‘Help me understand’ when a concern is voiced.  Things like checking back to make sure the customer understood what you just offered:  ‘Can you see how that would make a difference?’  Even using a true third party example:  ‘I worked with a couple last month who had the same concern.  We did this and they did that and now they are so happy with their decision.’  These are simply the skills of a good listener.

Effectiveness in this arena – actually, in sales in general – is largely the result of knowing your business . . . and being prepared to document what you know.  You bring great value to a transaction, and that value will be understood and underscored by your buyers and sellers if you’ll anticipate their concerns and be prepared to discuss them.

I Object! (Objection Handling Debunked) is a post from: The Set Fee Real Estate Blog

We at Help-U-Sell have a second brand, reserved for upper end properties, Platinum Edge.  Platinum Edge has its own logo, and colors (purple and gold), and is occasionally used by a handful of Help-U-Sell brokers.  I was on my way out of Help-U-Sell when the sub-brand was devised and was only peripherally privy to the conversation that led to its birth.  Now, half a dozen years later, I’m looking at it and wondering, ‘What in the world were we thinking?’

We have Help-U-Sell:  an already well-established brand.  By well-established I mean that most consumers have heard of us and many have an inkling that we are somehow different than ordinary real estate practitioners. That is HUGE.  Really:  establishing brand recognition is a very tough task that usually takes years.  The good news is: once you have it, it tends to stay with you.  (For more about this, read ‘Marketing Warfare’ by Ries and Trout. )

To trade the power of that wonderfully distinct brand for something that is completely unknown by the consuming public seems misguided at best, even cavalier.

I know the history.  A group of our old Regional Directors got together and decided that the Help-U-Sell brand was a turn-off for high end homeowners.  It seemed to them that the reason we had little presence in the lofty price ranges was that those homeowners were, um, what’s the word?  Oh, yes:  embarrassed to have the Help-U-Sell sign in their yard!  They didn’t want the neighbors to know they wanted to save money, don’t you see?  And somehow, by simply changing the sign and the name they’d flock to us to save thousands on the sale of thier McMansions.

I guess that must have resonated in 2005.  A lot of stupid stuff did.  And hats off to Infinium for NOT re-inventing the Regional Director mess when they took control of Help-U-Sell at the end of 2008.  Today we function quite well without that extra barrier between the franchisor and the franchisee.

Last year I visited with Josh and Bettina Grein, Help-U-Sell Grein Group in Stafford, Virginia.  They have a good business, much of which takes place in the upper end of their marketplace, homes priced at $500,000 and up.  I asked how they were able to break into that market.  Bettina looked at me, puzzled, and finally said,  ’Break in?  What do you mean?  . . .  That’s where people can save the most.’  Period.

I don’t think we needed Platinum Edge to sell high end properties.  I think we needed passion, pride and belief that what we have works – three things that were in rather short supply in 2005.  Consumers are psychic:  if you stand before them with doubt and trepidation, they sense it and respond accordingly . . . if you’re not proud and passionate about what you’re doing, you might as well stay home.

Today our group is like a hungry, happy pack of wolves.  They are so deeply into Help-U-Sell, into saving consumers money, into doing it differently and better that it’s almost part of their DNA.  It’s as if  a whole new species of  REALTOR is loose on the planet, a mutant strain that has evolved in response to changes in the (consumer) environment.  It’s stronger, faster, smarter, clearer and more effective.  While all the old dinosaurs in the forest are slowly turning into crude oil, this new breed is taking over.  It’s Survival of the Fittest and we’re certainly up to the challenge.  Platinum Edge?  That’s just a hat-tip to the old Tyrannosaurus we used to be, our clunky, addled, awkward, embarrassed former incarnation.  Today Help-U-Sell comes in just one color, and it’s the color of passion and love:  RED.  Let’s Hunt!

Platinum Edge and the Clarity of the Brand is a post from: The Set Fee Real Estate Blog

I wrote a piece a long time ago called Full Service Broker vs Limited Service Broker vs Discounter.  It remains popular.  I think it’s because the title uses terms people use when searching online.  Trouble is, the piece was really just musing.  I was trying to point out how mushy the definitions of these key concepts are in the world of real estate today.  Nobody reading that post is going to come away with a firm understanding of the various kinds of brokerages out there and few will get a feel for how we at Help-U-Sell are different and better.  So, let me take a stab at it this time being a little more pedantic.

Full Service Broker: A Broker who essential takes over the task of selling a home. Usually that means the seller does nothing but sit back and wait for a contract and then a closing. I could be more granular in the description – break it down a little further – but I don’t think that’s necessary.  When you list with a Full Service Broker, you expect that you are turning the messy task of selling your home over to someone else.  Your job, once you have the house in tip top shape, is to simply disappear anytime anybody wants to see the home and to be patient.  Generally speaking Full Service Brokers charge a percentage based commission in the 5% – 8% range (although real estate sales commissions, whether percentage based or not, are fully negotiable between the broker and homeowner and no standard or even standard range exists).  That can get pretty pricy.  Think about it:  the owner of a $300,000 home with $100,000 in equity who agrees to pay a, say, 6% commission is paying $18,000: almost 20% of their equity!  And don’t get me started on the guy down the street in the smaller house worth $250,000 who will pay the same broker the same percentage but, in his case, it’s only $15,000!  Why is the first guy paying $3,000 more for the exact same service?? It makes no sense (it really doesn’t)!

Discounter: These brokers focus on the commission and cut it to levels Full Service Brokers cannot meet.  Using the above hypothetical examples, a Discounter might take the listing for say, 4%, a significant savings for the seller.  But here’s the thing about Discounters:  they use the same business model the Full Service Brokers have. They are on the same planet, in the same universe.  If they’re going to operate on that planet for less revenue, something else is going to have to give.   Think about it:  If you find a hammer at Ace Hardware for $4 and then spend the rest of the day shopping until you find a Discount Hardware Store who sells the same item for $3, you may have a bargain!  Or maybe you don’t.  You gave up something to get that dollar off the hammer.  You had to spend you time and money driving around to find the store and the hammer (their profit margins are so small they can’t afford to be visible or easy to find), you probably had nobody on the floor to help you, you may have had to dig through disorganized bins to find your hammer and you may have had to dig until you found one in good shape.  There are trade-offs for this kind of savings, and there are with the Discounter’s view of real estate too.  The quantity and quality of marketing the discounter does will probably be reduced, the amount of personal attention the seller receives will probably be less (after all this broker has to do big volume to compete and has less time), and let’s just hope there’s not much else going on when the offer comes in. You don’t want your Discount Broker watching the clock and counting the seconds and thinking about wrapping this negotiation up so he can get on to the next one!

Limited Service Broker: This is a term the Full Service and Discounter Brokers invented to diminish the value of Brokers who don’t represent anyone in a transaction.  The model is different this time.  Usually it involves a set fee, often paid up front and non-refundable.  The Broker then takes the property information and does very limited marketing, usually just putting the property into MLS or on a FSBO website.  There is no hand-holding, no showing, no open houses, no communication, no assistance with pricing and strategy. All they are providing is access to a few marketing tools you probably don’t have access to on your own.  The kicker is, if you pay an MLS only Limited Service Broker to put your house in the MLS, you’re also going to have to be prepared to pay the other broker who sees the listing in MLS and then comes in with a buyer!  Suddenly, that rock bottom front fee is not looking like quite the bargain you expected!  Some Limited Service Brokers do provide representation – which means they look out for your best interest and get involved in negotiations and make sure the deal goes as planned to closing – but it’s often at an additional fee.

Help-U-Sell is something else all together.  We operate on a different planet than the three guys above.

We recognize that technology has made marketing a properly priced home pretty easy, and pretty standard.  The idea that your agent needs to create a completely customized, personal marketing campaign for your individual home is actually a little absurd today unless you are in some astronomical price range or in a completely unique boutique type situation.  Marketing is:  pricing the home properly, starting a buzz locally through signs, flyers, postcards, MLS, past clients and so on, making the property easy to find online via various websites (the more the better), social media outlets, video, QR codes and so on, and then being sharp as a tack when an inquiry comes in to make sure that, if the prospect is right for the home, the’ll get to see it.  It’s not rocket science.  It takes a professional working every day in the real estate business to do it well, to manage it and keep it on track, but it doesn’t take a super-human or even a star.

We also recognize that the best thing we can do for all of our sellers is to generate leads – potential buyers who contact our office and with whom we develop a working relationship.  And that’s what our marketing is designed to do: generate leads, not just for your individual house but for all the houses we have in inventory.  Truth is:  the caller rarely buys or even wants to see the house that motivated the call.  Once they have the information they often discover that there is something missing or not matching their needs.  That’s where the developing relationship with the agent on the other end of the line comes in.  If we really know our business, if we really know our inventory, if we are really good at listening, we probably have something else in inventory that would be perfect for this buyer . . . and that’s how we market your home.  A great Help-U-Sell office is like a clearing house for buyers and sellers, or maybe more like a buyer/seller dating service!

We acknowledge that there are a number of activities ordinary brokers routinely take on that might be better handled by the seller, and if the seller is willing to take on these generally easy tasks, they can achieve significant savings.  If the seller is up for it, we will coach them on how to hold their own open houses.  We’ll show them how to walk through the home with a prospective buyer.  We’ll provide them tools to use in spreading the word to friends, neighbors and co-workers.  If they can find a buyer through this kind of easy participation, we can cut them an amazing deal on our fee.  After all:  they’ve produced the buyer!  And, oh by the way, not all of our sellers opt in to participating in this way, and that’s ok.  We can still save them big time over ordinary brokers.  The good news about seller participation is that it is a lead generator for us – and since lead generation and capture is how we get our listings sold, all of our sellers benefit when one of them holds an open house.  Let me be a little more clear.  One of the tasks most sellers are not comfortable doing is following up with buyers who come through their home.  That’s great:  we don’t ask them to do that.  We do it for them.  Their job is to collect contact information on everyone who comes to their open house (essentially, nobody comes in without signing in – that just makes sense).  They share that with us and we make the follow-up call.  Sometimes the buyer just needs a little clarification or next-step help to move forward on the property, but more times, they’ve eliminated the property because it didn’t quite match their needs. And so we have yet another lead that might be perfect for one of our other listings.

Because we design our offices and our marketing to be big lead generators -and because leads, properly handled, drive the sale of our listings – our agents have a much more manageable job description.  You see, the ordinary real estate Broker builds his business by adding agents, agent after agent.  The only way the ordinary Broker can get the large number of agents required to make his business viable is by offering prospective agents HUGE commission splits.  Because the ordinary Broker has fewer dollars to work with after paying those huge splits, he can’t afford to orchestrate and implement the kind of lead generating marketing program the Help-U-Sell broker can.  Instead, the ordinary Broker delegates this responsibility to his agents who generally just do their own thing . . . which is not to market or generate leads, but to advertise in hopes that their latest ad will show the anxious seller that they are really working.   In a Help-U-Sell office that is all handled by the Broker.  Our Brokers are in charge of and responsible for marketing, for creating all of those leads that turn into buyers and sales.  Our agents are there to take care of the buyer leads our marketing has created.  Period.  We don’t ask them to market or to build our business on the strength of their sphere of influence, to prospect for listings or call on FSBOS.  We ask them to take the leads we’ve generated for them and to take incredibly good care of them as they find their dream home.  Building and maintaining listing inventory is the broker’s job, converting buyer leads into sales is the agent’s job.  And it’s a wonderful, manageable job!  Compare that with the job description of an ordinary agent who is expected to do everything from soup to nuts, essentially running his or her own real estate company within the Broker’s company!  No wonder they burn out so quickly!

We recognize that a  buyer for a particular home might come from several sources and that the cost of acquiring a buyer varies from source to source . . . and we price our services based on which source produced the buyer.  Ordinary real estate is a one-size-fits-all world.  Usually, when you list with an ordinary broker, the high percentage based commission you are agreeing to pay is designed compensate four different entities:  the Listing Agent and Listing Office, the Selling Agent and Selling Office.  But in most cases you’re going to pay that same high percentage based commission even if there is no outside agent or company involved in securing the buyer.  In fact, you’re probably going to pay full fare even if YOU find the buyer.  With Help-U-Sell the fee is based on where we had to go to find the buyer.  If you find the buyer through an open house or talking it up at work, you pay just our low set fee – usually thousands less than you’d pay an ordinary broker.  If you want, we’ll ask the buyers agents in our Help-U-Sell office to go to work trying to drum up a good buyer for the house and if they are successful, we’ll have to pay them as well . . . but you’ll still save thousands over what you’d pay most ordinary brokers.  Finally, if we have to go into MLS to find a buyer (and we don’t always have to!), you’ll pay your Help-U-Sell low set fee and you’ll have to take care of that outside agent and broker -which will be relatively expensive.  You’ll still save, but just not quite as much.  And, if you elect to go full-bore on marketing your home, if you do elect to participate, if you ask our Help-U-Sell buyers agents to get involved and you do opt to go into the MLS . . . and then you find the buyer yourself . . . all you’re going to pay is the low set fee, saving you maximum dollars.

There are a lot of other differences between what we do and what the other guys do, whether they are Full Service, Limited Service or Discounters.  But most are technical twists on how we operate our offices.  By the way:  that is a key to how we’re able to charge less and still maker more: we operate our offices very differently from ordinary brokers.  We’ll save those twists for another discussion and leave this one where it is.  I think it’s clear that we are different.  We don’t fit any of the definitions that the industry has put on itself.  We are a different category because we approach the task of selling a home differently.  And one of the big differences is that we make sense.

Clarifying Terms: Full Service Broker, Limited Service Broker, Discounter, Help-U-Sell is a post from: The Set Fee Real Estate Blog

1. You are a Set Fee Real Estate Company
2. You market TO sellers
3. You market FOR listings because listings create opportunities for Lead Generation (Sign, Ad, Directional, Arrounds, Open House, etc)
4. Leads drive your business – there is no such thing as a ‘bad’ or ‘dead’ lead at Help-U-Sell
5. You realize that the way leads are handled and managed in your office is key to your success.
6. The one skill you practice almost constantly is:  handling buyer and seller inquiries, whether on the phone or from the Internet
7. You keep hard copies of all your buyer leads in a Buyer Pool Book.  This is the first place you go when you have a new listing.  It also feeds the buyer agents you bring in to help you take care of the business (leads) you’ve created
8. You recognize word-of-mouth advertising – whether via Facebook, Yelp, Zillow or the old fashioned way, person-t0-person – is the most powerful form of advertising there is
9. You build this word-of-mouth advertising by doing an excellent job, saving people money, and staying in touch
10. Your goal is to have your client base be so delighted with the service they receive (and the savings they achieve) that they become advocates for you in the field, a word-of-mouth recommending army
11. You believe in systems and employ them to do large numbers of transactions with just a few people
12. You are developing an asset (your company) and you have an exit strategy in mind, even if it is decades away
13. And, Oh yes:  you are having a whole lot of fun, too!

Congratulations!

And welcome to your life on Help-U-Sell!

Refresher Course is a post from: The Set Fee Real Estate Blog

• On December 25, 2011, 6.8 million Android and iOS devices were activated.  If there was any doubt that your listing information needs to be optimized for mobile devices it should be gone by now.
• The California Association of REALTORS unveiled a new feature on their mobile ZipForm app that allows signatures on an IPad.  Executed docs are automatically emailed to all parties as a PDF.  Cost:  $12.95 a year.  If there was any doubt that you need an Internet enabled tablet for your real estate business, it should be gone by now.
• Sandicor, the San Diego MLS, has added a new field to their syndication feed that includes contact information on the Listing Agent.  The field is designed to be displayed prominently on 3rd party sites like Zillow and Trulia.  The move will make it easier for consumers to identify the source of the information.  Their plan is to pull the plug on any syndicator who refuses to display the new field.  They are also cutting down the number of photos they will syndicate out from the 25 they allow today.  Further, syndicated photos will carry a watermark identifying the listing agent and company.  If there was any doubt that the syndication issue is on the front burner, it should be gone by now.
• Starting February 27, REALTOR University will start offering courses that lead to a Master of Real Estate Degree.  They’ve been approved by the Illinois Board of Higher Education to award the degree.  This could be beneficial and meaningful.  I have a request in for more detail and will pass it on as I get it.
• (ok:  this one is not real estate)  Photography has traditionally been an artistic expression on paper.  We printed photographs and when we looked at them, what we saw was reflected light coming off the paper through the ‘ink’ of the photo.  Today, photography is a digital process.  We’ve replaced the flim of the old camera with a CCD or CMOS sensosr that picks up the light coming through the lens and converts it to a digital file.  We edit and view our photos on a computer screen that does not reflect light, but rather emits it.  I think that’s a fundamental difference:  paper photos reflect light, digital photos (properly displayed on a monitor) emit light.  Yet last time I went the the San Diego Museum of Photographic Art, all I saw were paper photographs, matted and framed.  When will galleries and museums start displaying photographs in their true light-emitting format:  on digital monitors?
• I hate to be so local, but I can’t help myself.  I’m so excited today.  As I drove to the gym this morning I counted 5 cranes in the sky above San Diego.  Six years ago there were 20.  Last year there were none.  Cranes = construction = optimism = improving confidence in our economic future and the real estate business in general.  Bravo!
• The key to maximizing the revenue you generate in this improving market is INVENTORY.  Listings drive every aspect of your business.  It’s time to shift our attention back to Sellers, back to telling them that we are DIFFERENT, we are about SAVINGS and, of course:
  1. We Are Here
  2. People Use Us
  3. It Works, and
  4. They Save Money

Have a prosperous week-end!

Saving My Silver Bullets is a post from: The Set Fee Real Estate Blog

Up until about 2006 we had a very coherent statement of those things we hold most dear:  our Core Values.  Great care was taken in the creation of the list.  We didn’t want what usually passes for this kind of statement - a bland list of noble words that don’t really describe the company.  We wanted this list to be real.  And it was.  But then there was a changing of the guard in 2006 and the old set was scrapped and replace by somebody else’s idea of who they wanted to be . . . and the original list was abandoned.

I’ve been thinking about that original list lately and I’d like to revive it.  It truly describes who we are (not who we want to be, but who we really are right now).

1.  Integrity

• We tell the truth.
• We believe so deeply in our product that we don’t have to stoop to techniques and manipulation to be successful:  all we have to do is tell people what we have.
• We provide a valuable service for a reasonable fee.
• We make an honest living.  We don’t  ‘make a killing’ on every closing. We are paid fairly by the people we serve.
• We believe in our program.
• We realize we are different.  We have a unique offering for the consumer that is fundamentally better than what traditional brokers offer.
• Our system works.  Period.
• Our words, our actions and our beliefs are in sync.  We don’t say one thing but do something else.

2.  Information without obligation

• We don’t hoard or hide information.
• We answer questions honestly without technique or manipulation.
• Our selling style is to educate; we empower our customers with information.

3. Consumer choices

• One size does not fit all.
• We allow the consumer to choose the services he or she would like to employ and then we charge them based on how the home actually sells.
• Our focus is always on how we can better serve the consumer.

4. Seller participation

• We believe in our customers’ ability to handle some aspects of the sale.
• We partner with our sellers to market their property.  We HELP YOU sell your property.
• We coach our sellers through the process.

5. Seller savings

• Because we always have our customers’ best interest at heart, the more we can save them, the better.
• We deliver high value service for a set fee considerably lower than the commissions charged by other offices.

6. Buyer/Seller contact

• Because we believe in our service, we don’t have to justify our existence by getting between the parties.
• We believe that most people are honest and principled.
• Our job is to coach, educate and facilitate a successful transaction.

7. Unique management model

• We believe that we can offer a high value service to consumers and make a healthy profit at the same time.
• We organize our offices to serve the consumer, not the agent.
• We believe it is our business; we hire people to help us do more of it and do it better.

8. Powerful marketing system

• We are a marketing company.  We study our marketplace and our marketing to make sure we are maximizing results.
• We have a marketing plan and we stick to it.
• We measure results.
• We actively market real estate

And here it is once again without the extra verbiage:

• Integrity
• Information without Obligation
• Consumer Choices
• Seller Participation
• Seller Savings
• Buyer/Seller Contact
• Unique Management Model
• Powerful Marketing System

This set of 8 Core Values is more than mere words on a page.  It is a living breathing entity, one we use every day to remind us who we are and to help in decision making.  Any time you are considering a change to your program or a new piece of marketing or a new way of doing anything, take out the list and weigh what you’re considering against it.  If it does not align with your 8 Core Values, then it’s probably something you shouldn’t do.  We are a principal centered organization and these are the principals on which we base our business.  Be proud of them. Display them.  Share them with your staff and give them a little time every day.

Core Values is a post from: The Set Fee Real Estate Blog

We have been talking about planning lately.  Specifically: planning for business growth in 2012.  I am urging you to keep it short and sweet, define your goals with a razor focus, write them down in bullets, not paragraphs.  I’m also urging you to create action plans for a shorter period:  say,  90 days.   Create your annual bullseye but plan your activity only for the next 3 months.  The short term action plan keeps you focused on the NOW and more open to opportunity as it appears.  It also enables you to take new information into account when you create your next set of action plans in 90 days.

The bulleted list of goals and action plans ought to fit on one page and ought to be in front of you every day.  Treat them like affirmations:  those simple one sentence phrases that, when carefully constructed and consistently considered are proven to create positive personal change.  Attacking 2012 with this kind of laser focus will keep you moving forward and doing what we all want to do:  MORE.

I have a slip of paper I keep tucked away in my keep-sake file.  It is about 4 inches wide and 10 inches tall.  It’s just a scrap, really.  But in 1987 I wrote half a dozen bullets on it.  They were things I wanted to achieve, big things.  I put the paper away and didn’t see it again for a couple of years . . . and you know what?   I had achieved every single thing I’d written.  Getting clear on your bullets, then committing them to writing is powerful.

This is also the time of year that we tend to make ‘resolutions.’  These are promises we make to ourselves to be better or happier or healthier or wealthier.   I don’t really see the need for a separation; I mean:  why can’t a good resolution or two be part of your annual business plan/quarterly action plan?  The last thing any of us wants to do is to stop becoming, whether as human beings or as businesses.

Dr. Maya Bailey, a business coach, has an article on Inman News today about resolutions that’s pretty good.  She lays out 5 steps.  Step 1 is to define what you want and be very specific:  what does success mean to you?  It’s different for different people.  Step 2 is to recognize your blocks and obstacles.  Interesting:  here are some of the most common limiting beliefs she finds in her clients:

• ‘I don’t have what it takes to succeed in today’s market’
• ‘I’m not assertive enough to market myself’
• ‘I’m not educated enough to be successful’
• ‘Who am I to have abundance and prosperity?’

My own Rx for that kind of thinking is Toastmasters.  Even if you never plan to speak in public, I know of no better way to build a little brass and to understand how much you have to offer.  It’s also a great way to network and expand your CI list.  Hmmm . . . Maybe Toastmasters ought to be on your resolution/business plan bulleted list?

Step 3 is to zero in on the areas you need to develop, which has a lot to do with being honest about your limitations and weak areas.  For example, consider that first limiting belief:  ’I don’t have what it takes to be successful in today’s market.’  I can’t tell you how many REALTORS I know who feel this way, largely about technology.  They are wonderful salespeople who see the business becoming ever more tech oriented and they feel lost.  Frankly, I don’t get it.  Why would you pine away about your lack of tech understanding when you could hire someone for $15 an hour to handle it for you?  And if that’s too much to pay, why not go to your local college and find an intern, possibly for free?  Oops . . . could this be yet another item on your plan for the year?

4  is to have a timeline and a plan.  We all need to be held accountable and most of us would like to believe we do a good job of that on our own.  That’s where self-imposed deadlines and timelines come in.  Unfortunately many of us discover that we don’t do a good job of holding our own feet to the fire.  This is not awful; it’s not even a failing; it’s just an indication that a good mentor, accountability buddy or coach is needed.  Could that be another resolution/business plan item for 2012?

Step 5 is to visualize the end result.  I’ve urged you to set big, annual, numeric production goals.  But what will your life look like when you achieve them? That’s what you want to visualize.  See yourself behaving as you will behave when you have achieved all the additional production you’ve planned . . . and then start acting as if you’ve already achieved it.

And above all:  find a way to be happy.  It’s a decision, you know.  None of this stuff works at all if you’re not operating from a place of general happiness.  Happiness precedes success.  In fact I’d assert that happiness is a pre-requisite for success.  Plain and simple:  Money loves Happy. Success seeks out happy people.  Get happy and watch all of your plans, your resolutions, your affirmations come to pass.

Resolution Solution is a post from: The Set Fee Real Estate Blog

I’ve said it before:  the biggest challenge we have as Help-U-Sell brokers is staying connected.  We’re spread out all over the country and have only occasional opportunities to get together face-to-face.  Plus, we work in a hostile environment – one where most of the real estate ‘professionals‘ around us wish we’d just dry up and blow away.  That can grind on you after a while.  It’s important to tune in every now and then just to keep your head screwed on right!

There are several ways to stay plugged into Help-U-Sell.  The company Facebook and Twitter pages are good.  So is our company newsletter, Help-U-Sell Connect, and this silly little blog (do you realize we’re approaching 300 posts here?).  But nothing is better than our weekly webinars/teleconferences.  Tech Tuesday – which will convene in just a few hours – is action packed with good information about how to build and manage your web presence and your technology in general.  And Wonderful Wednesdays are . . . well . . . .

LISTEN:  in the last six to eight months, the Wednesday Broker Roudtable Calls have been electric.  Every week, great new information has been disseminated and the group has grown increasingly comfortable with sharing what they’re doing, what’s  working and what’s not.  It’s one hour a week to be reminded how powerful it is to be Help-U-Sell (remember:  if you are a broke or agent in a Help-U-Sell office, you are Help-U-Sell).

Tomorrow’s call will be a little special in that we have a guest; two of them, actually.  Patricia Boyd, who everyone fell in love with at the Success Summit, will be there talking all things finance, and she’s bringing Chris Jackson of TurnScor.  TurnScor markets credit repair/improvement software to brokers who then can give it (for free) to as many people as they’d like.  It’s a wonderful thing to add to your value package.  I mean:  what buyer wouldn’t benefit from a 5% increase in their FICO score?  Even the one with great credit might qualify for a better loan thanks to the free program their Help-U-Sell broker gave them!

Best of all, TurnScor is running a special for the month of December: a 25% discount.  AND Patricia is offering her two part Certified Real Finance Advocate training program free to everyone who takes advantage of TurnScor’s offer.  It’s a ridiculously good deal.  And it’s all about increasing your knowledge and the value you bring to a transaction.  We have 11 days left in December.  I think I’d set a goal to complete Patricia’s training and get certified by the end of the year and then give the TurnScor software to everyone on my CI list as a kind of Holiday gift.  You know:  start the new year with a better credit score, courtesy of  Help-U-Sell.

You can learn more about TurnScor and the promotion on Patricia’s website:  www.cRFApro.com.

Also on tomorrow’s call, we’ll update the results of the Winter Warm Up contest.  Brokers are competing for points awarded for new listings, as well as  closed buyer and seller sides.  As of the end of November, Deb Schmidt from Minnesota is in the lead, followed closely by Richard Cricchio (Hawaii) and John Powell (Arizona).  But the field is very tight and anyone could hop into the lead before the contest ends in February.

It will be our last Wednesday call of the year, so we’ll take a minute to look back at 2010 and forward to 2011.  So think of it as your company Holiday Party; ok, that’s stretching it a little bit.  Think of it as your weekly sales meeting and TUNE IN!  If you haven’t signed up yet, do so now by clicking HERE.

Why YOU Should Be On Tomorrow’s Broker Roundtable Call is a post from: The Set Fee Real Estate Blog

WHY I THINK THINGS ARE LOOKING UP!

1.  We’ve really built nothing new (or nothing much) for five years.  Inventories of new houses are way down and little is planned for the near future.

2.  Millions who navigated a short sale and went into rental housing will be re-entering the market.

3.  Many millions of  ’fence-sitters’ will flood the market when a tipping point of confidence and activity occurs.

4.  Lenders are becoming increasingly rational, more predictable, more systematic.  They are slowly becoming workable again.

5.  Prices have stabilized in most markets and actually risen in some.  Cue the trumpets!  Buyers tend not to buy when prices are falling.  They tend to return to the market when prices begin to rise.

6.  Investor activity in the lower price ranges is fairly frantic, and has been for some time.  Multiple offers and bidding wars are common.  Investor’s always signal the bottom of the trough.  They come out first – consumers follow.

I think 2012 is going to be a whole lot better than 2011, and I believe 2013 could be a break-out year.

Six Reasons Why A Housing Shortage Could Be In Our Future or . . . is a post from: The Set Fee Real Estate Blog