COVER FEATURE: The List Issue 2006

Business Smarts

Some people always seem to have it all together — the right phone numbers at their fingertips, the right answers at a listing presentation, the right balance in their lives. Want to be one of those people? All it takes is planning.

10 numbers to program into your cell phone

Speed dial is often the best friend of busy real estate pros. Don’t waste time looking for those critical numbers when you can get help with only three digits.

1. 911 and your local number for nonemergency police calls when you need the cavalry

2. Your office when the buyers have looked at every house you can think of and you just hope there are some new listings

3. Your tech helper when a machine gets the better of you

4. Your babysitter, dog walker, or other care provider when that buyer just has to take one more look

5. Your two most trusted loan officers when you have a buyer who needs to get prequalified fast or lose the deal

6. Your lawyer or the association legal hotline when you’re not sure how to stay on the right side of the law

7. Your local service station or car dealership when you turn the key and hear “chug”

8. Your transaction coordinator or your title company when you’ve only got two days left until closing and you still don’t have all the paperwork in

9. Your doctor or the local hospital emergency room when the buyer trips on the stairs you told the seller six times to fix

10. Your favorite restaurant — the one with the soothing music and the extra-large martinis — for when it’s really been one of those days

7 steps to get out of a slump

Even top salespeople go through slow periods. The difference is that they don’t let a few lost sales get them down. Here are some suggestions on how to get back on track fast.

1. Don’t waste time feeling sorry for yourself. Even if your slump is caused by factors you can’t control, such as a downturn in the market or a family illness, your only option is to redouble your efforts, says Danielle Kennedy in Selling the Danielle Kennedy Way (Prentice Hall, 1991). If you now have to make 100 calls instead of 50 to get 10 listings, then just start making the 100 calls.

2. Get back in front of clients and the community. Something as simple as delivering holiday dinners to the less fortunate or participating in a car wash to buy equipment for the local soccer team gives you a positive reason to contact prospects and old customers.

3. Reevaluate your pricing and services compared with those of your competitors. Reevaluation doesn’t necessarily mean cutting your commission; instead, maybe you need to offer more sophisticated marketing plans or a password-protected portion of your Web site where clients can follow the progress of their transaction.

4. Branch out. Send a letter offering consulting services to your clients on purchasing real estate investments or the payback they can reap from home improvements (use the “ Cost vs. Value Report ” in the December 2005 issue of REALTOR® Magazine). Charge by the hour to bring in income.

5. Get another perspective. Even if you’re experienced, you may have fallen into unconscious bad habits that are hurting your listing or sales conversion rate. An objective critique from a peer or your sales manager may help you see something you didn’t even realize was a problem.

6. Shun those with a negative view. Being around a complainer or a whiner will bring you even further down.

7. Analyze what works, and then do more of it. Where is your current business coming from? Referrals? Sign calls? Track your business, and then concentrate more of your efforts on what you do best.

10 ways to stop wasting time

Distractions can extend the amount of time you spend at work. Use these tips to increase your efficiency, become more productive, and get more from life.

1. Set goals. Write down specific objectives for the year — “I will sell X number of houses per month in order to sell Y houses this year” — and review them regularly.

2. Make a plan. Break your goals down into more manageable tasks and assign deadlines to each task.

3. Push through barriers. When your productivity is lagging, be solution-oriented. If you lack resources, talk with your broker or engage help from team members. If political issues stand in your way, insist on open communications. If work priorities are unclear, talk with your manager or team members.

4. Create a weekly plan. At the start of each week, review your goals and determine three or four actions that would significantly impact your business. Then plan meetings, appointments, and tasks accordingly. Prioritize associated tasks in order of importance.

5. Organize every day. Take 10 minutes every morning to focus on the most important goals, tasks, and appointments for the day. Write them down and prioritize them.

6. Simplify your work. Every month, put into practice one new step or system to simplify the way you do your work. Having systems for updating your database, sending prospect letters, handling tenant requests, and so on will save you time and alleviate stress and frustration.

7. Use an integrated, mobile planning system. Whether you use a paper planner, handheld device, or both, make sure your information sources are synched and with you at all times.

8. Review your progress. On a weekly basis, look back at how well you “worked your plan.” Figure out what’s not working and fix it.

9. Learn to say “no” courteously. When others come to you with problems that prevent you from finishing vital tasks, politely turn them away by arranging a meeting in the future or referring them to someone else who can help. Engage a manager who interrupts you in identifying which priorities you should tackle first.

10. Delegate and partner. Don’t try to do it all yourself. Hire a virtual assistant, ask your broker whether the staff receptionist can help with your mailing, or team up with another professional to share weekend responsibilities.

Source: FranklinCovey, Salt Lake City

7 things to consider when looking for a mentor

Whether you’re being mentored or acting as a mentor, you reap rich rewards from the relationship, says Barry Spencer, vice president of business development with Leaders Legacy Inc., an Atlanta company specializing in training mentors. He offers the following tips for choosing a mentor.

• Find someone you respect and trust. Integrity and character are the most important qualities to look for.
  
• Look for a person who’s interested in a relationship. A mentor needs to be open and willing to relate to you, since you’ll eventually discuss both professional and personal issues.
  
• Focus on a mentor who has the time and the willingness to spend with you. A lack of time is the No. 1 reason people give for not wanting to mentor others, says Spencer. You can help by being flexible and fitting into your mentor’s schedule.
  
• Look beyond your door. Although a top real estate practitioner may be a great mentor, you can also learn about business principles, and perhaps get a new perspective, from an outsider.
  
• Don’t expect the mentor to be a magician. Mentors can give you new insights, but they won’t solve all your personal or business problems. A good mentor will direct you to other sources of assistance for special problems.
  
• Opt for openness. Good mentors let you into their world, sharing both professional and personal triumphs and failures.
  
• Don’t expect instant results. Mentoring is a journey. As long as you’re learning something you didn’t know before, the mentoring relationship is working. Persevere. “Mentoring takes as long as it takes,” says Spencer.

More: For a detailed discussion of relationship-based mentoring, read David Stoddard’s The Heart of Mentoring (Navpress, 2003) or check out the Field Guide to Mentoring" /> at REALTOR.org.

22 listing presentation slip-ups

Before the Presentation

1. Showing up late. To make the best impression, be about five minutes early. If you get there more than 15 minutes early, you’ll be considered too eager or too rude. If you’re late, you’ve already blown the presentation.

2. Smelling like dogs, cats, or smoke. No seller will love your pet, or your cigar, the way you do.

3. Not doing your homework. Talk to the sellers before the appointment. You should know before you get there about the general condition of the home, how much the sellers are willing to do to get it into “show shape,” and their motivation for selling.

4. Not knowing the sellers’ financial situation. Do your due diligence before the appointment and know if there are any liens on the property — or, worse, if the property is about to go into foreclosure.

5. Treating the listing appointment casually. Every appointment is a job interview. Rehearse your presentation regularly and have ready answers to common questions.

6. Not visiting the homes in your CMA. If you’ve previewed each of the homes you’re using as comps in your market analysis, you’ll be able to speak intelligently about the differences.

7. Displaying architectural ignorance. An owner who’s particularly proud of the Tudor influences on her home won’t be impressed if you have no clue about Tudor style. For a style primer, don’t miss the Architecture Guide .

During the Presentation

8. Moving too quickly. Many practitioners advocate a two-step listing presentation. Use the first appointment to build rapport and view the interior. Then do your research, find the best comps, and come back to cinch the listing.

9. Not tailoring your presentation to the audience. You’ll lose some Gen X or Gen Y sellers if you talk about advertising their home in the newspaper without also talking about having a video tour, personalized Web site, and e-mail marketing.

10. Talking more than listening. Don’t become caught up in selling yourself. How can you help the sellers if you don’t know what they want or need?

11. Ignoring someone. If you’re meeting with a couple, don’t focus on only one party. You may end up alienating the true decision-maker. If you’re presenting to older sellers and their grown child, also avoid talking only to the sellers or only to their children.

12. Ignoring pets. In some households, the dog or cat is a part of the family. If you ignore or show disdain for pets, you may offend the sellers. If you have allergies to household pets, don’t let it be known.

13. Not knowing the neighborhood. Research all the homes that have sold in the area over the last six months, regardless of whether they’re comparable, and be ready to explain why a recent sale isn’t a good comp.

14. Failing to explain your systems. Have a system and be able to share de tails of it with the sellers. That means outlining all the steps you take to market and sell property and the measures you put in place to make sure nothing is overlooked.

15. Using poor-quality materials. Presenting black-and-white copies indicates you aren’t serious about your work. Use color and nice paper stock for all your presentation materials. Also, make sure your materials have a consistent look and reinforce your brand.

16. Not preparing the sellers for the process. You’ll be doing a disservice to the sellers if you don’t prepare them mentally for some of the inconveniences they’ll likely experience after they list the house: the broker tours, showings, no shows, last-minute appointments, and strangers looking at their personal belongings.

17. Appearing disorganized. Don’t tell anyone you misplaced your cell phone, notebook, or BlackBerry, and don’t shuffle through your papers to find one that illustrates your point. If you come across as dizzy, disorganized, scattered, or harried, you’ll eliminate yourself from contention.

18. Failing to recommend improvements. Sellers look to you to provide expert advice for preparing a home for market. Be ready to counsel them on every thing from curb appeal to making the interior of the home clean and presentable.

19. Letting your cell phone interrupt the presentation. Under no circumstances should your cell phone ring during a listing presentation. Your work is all about relationships, and the moment your phone rings, you tell your sellers that they aren’t as important as the person calling you on the phone.

20. Not being upbeat. Don’t let your own troubles be known. Convey professionalism, a great attitude, and enthusiasm — and focus on the business at hand.

After the Presentation

21. Not mirroring the sellers’ behavior. Are the sellers all business? If so, don’t start hugging and talking about the wonderful things you’re going to do together. The converse is true, too. If you’ve built such great rapport that the sellers seem ready to make you god parent to their child, take a deep breath and give a hug.

22. Forgetting to thank the sellers. No matter how you think the presentation went, thank the sellers sincerely for their time and for allowing you into their home. Say you’ll get back to them, and follow up in a timely manner.

Sources: Thom Brockett, Long & Foster Real Estate, Gaitherburg, Md.; Howard Chung, John L. Scott Real Estate, Bellevue, Wash.; Jon Hunter, John L. Scott Real Estate, Seattle; Linda O’Koniewski, RE/MAX Heritage, Melrose, Mass.; Terry Watson, ABR, CRS®, Watson World Inc., Chicago

How to improve civility in the profession

Although the real estate business is extremely competitive, practicing niceties not only improves your professionalism, it also elevates the industry. Practice these common courtesies:

• Say please, thank you, I’m sorry, and excuse me.
  
• Make a positive difference by saying a kind word or offering your assistance.
  
• Share information.
  
• Pick up trash around the property, even if it’s not your listing.
  
• Say hello to the neighbors.
  
• Extend good wishes to colleagues; celebrate their successes.
  
• Reach out to those in need; give back to your community.
  
• Do one thing every day to wow someone or brighten someone’s day.
  
• Show gratitude in your life — it makes a difference in your attitude.
  
  Source: Susan Fignar, Pur-sue Inc., Itasca, Ill.
  
  5 tips for great public speaking
  
  Whether it’s a listing presentation, public hearing, or business meeting,
  
• Garner credibility in the first minute. Make eye contact, speak slowly, and articulate how you’ll address the needs and concerns of the audience.
  
• Stay in real time. Focus on what you’re trying to say instead of thinking ahead to what you want to say next.
  
• Repeat important points. Effective communication is about what listeners remember.
  
• Use positive language. If you say, “This is not a problem situation; I wouldn’t worry that this will turn into a disaster,” what the listener hears is “problem,” “worry,” and “disaster.” If you mean “Every thing will be just fine,” then say it.
  
• Factual information should be written down. Use verbal communication to motivate and persuade. Statistics and other factual information are more easily digested in printed material.
  
  Source: Kay Peters, KTT Communications, New York; Thom Brockett, Long & Foster Real Estate, Gaitherburg, Md.; Don Patrick, CreatePlus Inc., Seattle
  

11 open house blunders

1. Poor visibility. Have enough signs to help people find a tricky street and capture drive-by traffic from all major streets surrounding the home.

2. Insufficient directions. In your advertisements and flyers, give specific directions that take prospective buyers past the nearby golf course or other desirable neighborhood landmarks.

3. No giveaway. Provide an item of value, such as an article about a new coffee shop opening in the area or a new park being built. Or offer a promotional item, such as a pen, CD-ROM of other listings, or water bottle with your contact information printed on it.

4. House tours. Most people don’t need you to escort them around. Many practitioners advocate staying near the front door so that you can greet people when they arrive and debrief them as they leave. If you prefer to walk buyers around the house, safety experts recommend keeping an exit behind you to ensure you can make a quick getaway if you sense an unsafe situation.

5. No safety plan. Call a friend, the office, or a loved one to let someone know you’ve arrived at the house, and check in with the person during and after the open house.

6. An empty briefcase. Make good use of downtime by bringing office work, cards, or letters to tackle when no one’s viewing the home. Be sure to put the work down when any prospective buyers arrive.

7. No early door knocking. One of the best ways to ensure success at an open house is to show up an hour early and knock on a few neighbors’ doors. Invite them to view the home; even if they don’t know any interested buyers, you may get other listings by showing your diligence.

8. An unready house. Make sure the lights are on, classical music is playing quietly in the background, dishes are put away, the yard is mowed, drapes are open, and floors are swept.

9. Lack of knowledge about the neighborhood. You should know about the schools, stores in the area, and distance to major destinations. If you know that it takes 12 minutes to get to the heart of the city from the house, you establish credibility.

10. A halfhearted approach. Even if you have a contract, a deal can be killed by buyer’s remorse, loan problems, timing, or a dozen other factors. Don’t become so complacent that you lose the opportunity to line up other potential buyers.

11. No followup. If you don’t collect the names and contact information of the people who attend the open house, you’re losing out on a valuable opportunity to foster relationships and promote your services.

Sources: Thom Brockett, Long & Foster Real Estate, Gaithersburg, Md.; Howard Chung, John L. Scott Real Estate, Bellevue, Wash.; Jon Hunter, John L. Scott Real Estate, Seattle; Terry Watson, ABR®, CRS®, Watson World Inc., Chicago

Tips for volunteers

Community service gives you the chance to network and express yourself outside of work. Follow these simple tips to get more involved.

• Find an area of service that has personal meaning for you or someone you care about. You may be interested in working with the elderly, the poor, or children.

• Determine the amount of time you have to offer. Don’t worry if you start out small. It’s more important to be consistent and live up to your commitment.

• Volunteer for special one-time events, such as outings for seniors, hospital parties, or races.

• Investigate charities to make sure they spend only a small percentage of their donations on overhead.

• Look in your own backyard. Most state and many local REALTOR® associations have organized volunteer efforts that would welcome your support.

Adapted from REALTOR® Magazine Online’s  Good Neighbor and  For Rookies sections.

11 steps to a clutter-free zone

A messy work environment is not conducive to peak productivity. Here are some ways to get rid of the piles taking up valuable desk space.

1. Reduce your reading pile. Rather than keep entire publications, tear out the articles you want to read and discard the rest. Take reading material with you whenever you leave the office.

2. Pare down large piles first. Concentrate particularly on large, bulky items. You’ll see immediate results and be motivated to keep going.

3. Sort piles into categories. Assign items to action- oriented categories — such as to do, to read, or to file — and then actually perform the assigned task.

4. Open your mail over a shredder or recycling bin. Make an immediate decision on how best to deal with each item, and you’re more likely to avoid creating piles in the first place.

5. Create a “consider” file. Put items that require more time and consideration into a file so they don’t clutter your work space. Make an appointment each week to review the contents of the file.

6. Set a disposal date. If you haven’t read something within a reasonable amount of time, say, two months, you probably aren’t going to read it. If you find yourself regularly discarding the same publication, cancel the subscription.

7. Avoid scraps of paper. Use a spiral notebook to keep phone messages and notes in one place.

8. Keep organizational systems simple. When deciding where to store items, ask yourself, “Where’s the first place I’d look for this?”

9. Organize items based on frequency of use. Only things you use every day should be on your desk. Items you use once a week should go in your desk. Things used less frequently should be kept elsewhere, such as a storage closet.

10. Make time to organize. Set aside 10 minutes at the beginning or end of each day to clean up your workspace and put things in their appropriate places.

11. Be consistent. Staying organized is a lot easier than getting organized.

Source: The Time Manager, Newark, Ohio

10 jobs an assistant can handle

Are you bogged down in tasks that don’t seem to help you achieve your goals? Then you need to leverage the talents of others to help you get the job done more efficiently, effectively, and profitably. Here are some responsibilities you can delegate to an assistant:

A licensed assistant can:

1. Coordinate home inspections and appraisals. That includes setting and confirming appointments, preparing paperwork, and even attending meetings with appraisers when necessary.

2. Help with open houses and showing properties. An assistant can schedule appointments, develop a driving route for showing properties, and even show properties when needed.

3. Provide listing assistance. Use an assistant to update the MLS and other databases and prepare listing packets and packets for out-of-town buyers.

4. Facilitate closings. That includes providing documentation for the broker and coordinating details, such as date, location, and documents needed.

5. Write advertising copy. Writing catchy, accurate, and legal real estate ads takes someone who fully understands the real estate business.

An unlicensed assistant can:

6. Handle general administration. With an assistant ordering office supplies, filing, organizing files, typing, and tidying the office, you’ll be freed up to work with clients.

7. Take on marketing tasks. Expand your business by using a marketing assistant to develop and implement direct-mail and e-mail campaigns. Your assistant can also maintain your mailing lists, print labels, and coordinate the labeling, sorting, and bundling of mailing pieces.

8. Route incoming phone calls. Make sure a friendly voice answers your phone. You’ll send a message that, even when you’re not in the office, all your bases are covered.

9. Maintain your database. Developing a user-friendly and effective database is time consuming — but there’s no more effective prospecting tool.

10. Manage bills and billings. As important as this task is, it can easily be handed off to an assistant.

Source: Howard Brinton, STAR POWER Systems, Boulder, Colo.

8 ways to ease e-mail overload

You can’t control your incoming e-mail, but you can be smart about what to do with messages once they arrive. Stever Robbins of Stever International in Cambridge, Mass., suggests these ways to ease the flow.

• Unless the sender is a client or prospect, don’t feel obligated to respond. If you reply, you’re encouraging the sender to keep sending you e-mail.
  
• Be ruthless. Fine yourself $5 every time you spend more than five seconds deciding how to handle each message. This will force you to prioritize your mail.
  
• Make it harder for people to reach you. Give out your e-mail address only to those who truly need it.
  
• Create separate e-mail accounts. Using different accounts for personal and work messages will help keep incoming mail to each address to a minimum.
  
• Check e-mail only twice each day. Explain in your signature that you don’t constantly monitor your e-mail and that if people have truly important information they should call you. Or have an assistant monitor your inbox.
  
• Opt out or delete. When marketers send e-mail, by law they’re required to give you an opt-out feature. Use it. If you’re not sure the source is reputable, however, just delete the message.
  
• Use your e-mail program’s spam filters. Keep junk e-mail from reaching you in the first place.
  
• Follow the rule of three. Once a third e-mail has been written on the same subject — i.e., original message, response, second response — pick up the phone and call the other person.

More: NAR’s e-PRO® certification offers further guidance on e-mail management .

9 key rookie mistakes

Real estate is harder than it looks, as many rookies learn. But even experienced sales associates can fall into bad habits. Here are some traps to avoid, and ways to spring yourself if you’ve slipped.

1. Neglecting to develop a business plan and then to work the plan. A salesperson without concrete goals and timelines is likely to flounder. Without a plan, salespeople too often allocate funds and time in ways that don’t pay off, says Ruth Marcus, training director with Russell & Jeffcoat in Columbia, S.C.

2. Failing to create a consistent marketing look and stick to it. New associates often waste money on advertising and promotion without focusing on what will really generate business, says Marcus.

3. Forgetting to purchase equipment, such as computers, as a business entity. Buying equipment as a business instead of as an individual allows you to depreciate equipment over a five- or seven-year period and deduct that depreciation from your income taxes. Also, as a business, you can generally access business customer service when you have a technology problem. Often this is much more responsive than tech help lines for consumers, says Terry Watson, ABR®, CRS®, president of Watson World Inc. in Chicago.

4. Putting off prospecting or lead generating. Generating leads should be an everyday task for sales associates. When she’s working with new recruits, Jan Brand, director of career development at Ebby Halliday, REALTORS®, tells new sales associates that they need to make 30 contacts a day, five days a week. Lead generation can include phone calls, handwritten notes, and mailing to one’s sphere of influence, as well as networking.

5. Ignoring the training and other resources your brokerage has to offer. Sales associates need to keep up to date on industry changes and continually work to improve their business and selling skills, regardless of their tenure in the business, says Brand.

6. Failing to work their sphere of influence. It’s much harder to get business from a new customer than from a repeat one, says Marcus, so it’s critical to stay in touch with past customers, friends, and contacts.

7. Having no accountability. Being held accountable helps people stay focused. If you don’t feel as if you’re getting the feedback you need, take the initiative and set up regular meetings with your mentor or broker. Also make yourself accountable to customers by providing written guidelines on exactly what services you’ll provide for them, suggests Frank Cook in his book 21 Things I Wish My Broker Had Told Me (Dearborn, 2002).

8. Being paralyzed by what you don’t know. Marcus says that she sees some new salespeople who worry so much about not understanding every aspect of a contract or a disclosure form that they postpone prospecting. Although education is crucial for sales associates at all levels, rookies should remember that they can rely on their brokers, sales managers, or company attorney for answers, says Marcus.

9. Failing to have enough resources to establish yourself. It isn’t only living expenses, says Marcus. New sales associates also need funds for marketing themselves and any listings they get. She recommends having six months’ income in reserve, more if you don’t have a spouse that works. After each closing, set aside funds to reinvest in your business. And don’t forget to put money aside for income taxes, cautions Brand.

More: Mark Leader’s Red Hot Rookie, available at the Real Estate Bookshelf at REALTOR.org.


Know your neighborhood

You’re new to an area, or you haven’t kept up with neighborhood changes. How do you learn about the housing stock and what trends are occurring that may affect inventory and price? There’s no single source but many:

• Fire up your computer. Start your day by checking the MLS for new listings and expireds. Begin tracking how long houses remained on the market and what they sold for.
  
• Attend open houses. Particularly if there’s a lot of new inventory coming on the market, take time to see what’s available and learn about restrictions. One building may not permit pets; another may have a history of special assessments.
  
• Learn the geography. Buy good maps or use a global positioning system device to master getting around. Drive through new areas yourself before trying to navigate them with buyers.
  
• Sightsee. Make notes of popular house styles and the proximity of stores, schools, and parks. Note For Sale signs, vacant land, and foreclosures.
  
• Talk to residents. There’s nothing as straightforward as information from those living in an area.
  
• Network. Get to know area developers, architects, designers, contractors, zoning officials, and other real estate professionals. A developer may tell you, before word is out officially, that a 300-acre farm is slated to become a planned development. A lender may be able to explain an area’s cycles.
  
• Be visible. Join your chamber of commerce and National Association of Home Builders chapter. Attend your local REALTOR® association and city council meetings. Look into specialty organizations, such as the National Association of Women Business Owners. Go to planning and zoning board meetings to learn about building, tax, and assessment changes.

Sources: Stephen Beers, ABR®, CRB, Keefe Real Estate, Lake Geneva, Wis.; Jeff Brooks, Real Estate Convergence, San Francisco; Marianne Curran, ABR®, GRI, Realty World First, Raleigh, N.C.; Anthony Cutaia, Cutaia Mortgage Group, Boca Raton, Fla.; Gail Missner, CRS®, Baird & Warner, Chicago; Diane Saatchi, The Corcoran Group, East Hampton, N.Y.

More information
For a variety of real estate business titles, visit the  Real Estate Bookshelf at REALTOR.org.

THE LIST ISSUE

Intro

Need to Know

Style & Design

For Brokers

Business Smarts

Prospecting & Service

Tech Watch

Download the 2006 Lists (PDF)