I decided it wasn’t worth the trouble.  We both know the truth.  I don’t need to share charts, survey percentages or statistical bona fides, do I?  The truth is plentifully self-evident.

The average and ordinary majority of selling agents, DO NOT stay in touch with buyer clients after closing.  The deal is done, it’s time to run.  Fresh leads needs chasing and an uncertain future needs feeding.

At first blush, closing and running seems logical, maybe even smart.  After all, gleefully settled buyers won’t be moving for years, why waste your finite attention on a years-distant possibility.  Bills need to be paid now.  Right?

Dead Wrong!  Closing and Running is abandonment and financially unwise.

Why?  Because of this - The Three People Principle.

The buyers who chose you and now know and trust you, they know three people at work, at worship, in Katie’s Girl Scout Troop, at BUNCO, or wherever, they know three people who are going to move in the next year.  Invest attention in these fans friends people and you’ll earn referrals, accompanied by recommendations.  These are the best leads, are they not. And they’re free. Well almost free, you have to invest some emotional labor to remain relevant and remarkable and therefore, recommendable, but that’s easy.  It’s what you do.

So, staying close and relevant is smart and profitable. Agreed?

But wait, there’s even a higher level of business cultivation.  Wise ones capitalize by monetizing the mistakes of  the average and ordinary majority.  Some might consider this business-getting tactic – stealing.  I call it smart.

Listing Agents, Listen Up – Are You Adopting Abandoned Buyers

Pretty straight forward.  The average and ordinary majority of selling agents abandon their buyers after closing. When you’re the listing agent, grow your success by cultivating a relationship of relevancy and trust with the abandoned buyer of your listing. Yes, you heard right.  I believe you should adopt the abandoned buyer and become their Go-To-Girl for all things home, community, lifestyle and real estate.

The How-To varies from person to person.  I wouldn’t presume to tell you what you should do or say.  But, I will share a few directionally-correct ideas.

1. After closing, mail a handwritten note card.  Wish them well, welcome, etc.  Of course, include two business cards.
2. Thirteen days after closing, between 2:37pm and 7:57pm, stop by in person and see how things are going.  Follow-up your visit by mailing a handwritten note card (nice talking to you, blah, blah, etc.). Use purple ink, a hot-pink envelope and a real postage stamp.  Just kidding.  Doesn’t matter what time you stop by or the ink and envelope color. I’m not kidding about the stopping by or sending the note.
3. While you’re visiting (in person) ask for permission to stay in touch.  I’d say something like this, “Hey, would it be ok if I touched base from time to time to see if your need anything real estate related?” or “Hey, I send monthly market report updates to my friends, I’d like to include you, would you be offended if I shared my market report with you?”
4. If you’re granted permission, include these fine folks in your thoughtfully created Top Of Mind Awareness campaign.

Smart or Stealing

I believe it’s smart for listing agents to adopt abandoned buyers.  Some might think it’s stealing.  I don’t.  If they’re abandoned, you’re not stealing.  If they aren’t abandoned, and you ask for permission to stay in touch and the say, “No-Thank You”, then don’t.   Some will, some won’t, so what, next.

Pretty simple, but uncommon.  Are your actions uncommon?

Thanks for reading. Cheers.

What Is The DNA Of Success?

Here it is:

“Knowing What Other’s Don’t

+

Doing What Other’s Won’t.”

Smart-Action breathes life into the Universal-Success-Law equation: Knowledge + Action = Success.

Knowing What Others Don’t

The more you know, the more valuable and attractive you are (provided you share it).  Let me ask you, as I ask myself:

1. What do we know that others don’t?
2. How do we unlearn the familiar old, the formerly friendly and currently weak obsolete?
3. How do we embrace the unfamiliar, the uncomfortable new and the currently valuable?
4. What new important valuable things are we learning?
5. How are we reinventing ourselves, our value and our relevance?

If we don’t, others will drink our creamy milkshake.

Doing What Other’s Won’t

It’s pretty straight forward.  We gotta take action. Dramatic action. We gotta lift our asses off the chair bed couch, back away from computer TV water cooler screen and DO SMART THINGS.  We know what we have to do. Do we talk about it or do we DO IT?  Let’s DO IT NOW.

That Is All

Cheers friends and thanks for reading.

“All truth passes through three stages:

First it is ridiculed.

Second, it is violently opposed.

Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.” – Schopenhauer

Your favorite retail stores do it.  Video cameras surveil and monitor shopper your behavior, interaction and experience.  Schools, hospitals, restaurants, bars, casinos, friends and corporations use it too – video.

Imagine the quality of feedback the listing agent and their seller would receive if showing appointments were monitored by video equipment?  You could see and hear how prospective buyers react – live, unbiased and unspun.  No more begging the listing agent for fuzzy feedback, no more spin, no conflicts of interest, no BS, simple straight facts.

I know.  You might be thinking I’ve lost my mind.  At worst it’s a violation of privacy, at a minimum it’s rude and icky.  I get that.  Let me ask you this, while showing property, do you ever allow your clients to video tape or photograph the interior of the property during the showing? Is this a violation of the owners privacy?  If you do or have, you have one foot in door.  Did you ask for the seller’s permission?  Should you?  Why or why not?

Guess what?  Virtually every retailer in America has cameras rolling.  Why?  To minimize theft?  Of course.  And, do you think that savvy retailers don’t analyze their video data for more than theft.  Do you think they might monitor traffic patterns, shopper behavior, employee performance, consumer comments and more? Of course they do.

Do you think that there are sellers across the country who have installed video equipment to record agents showing, with or without the knowledge of their listing agent? I do, how about you?

Showing Agent Feedback Is Next To Worthless

I wrote about property preview/broker open house a while back. Many jumped to the conclusion that I was an idiot.  Maybe so, maybe not. Let’s move on, suspend your judgement just a few paragraphs more.  Please.

Asking, begging and pleading for showing agents to share their impressions of their buyer’s impressions, and their professional opinions about your listings yields next to worthless insight . Whoa!  Hear me out.

I understand the seller wants it and you try to provide it.  I understand all the motivations and expectations.  I think Showing Agents Feedback is next to worthless because it’s shared third hand.  I imagine you’re familiar with the joke where a story is whispered into one persons ear, then that person whispers the story in another persons ear and on and on.  When the last person in line tells the story out-loud, it’s not anywhere near the same story. Most of the time, showing feedback is like that.

What If..

Video recording equipment is relatively inexpensive these days.  What if you found an affordable video surveillance vendor and offered this service to your clients or you bought and installed the equipment yourself. Bye-bye chasing, begging and pleading for showing feedback, hello happy sellers and an extreme point of difference.

Imagine your local MLS adding a checkbox on your data entry, a disclosure, you check the box – “Video Surveillance”.  Everyone knows, it’s not a secret.  Full disclosure.

If your sellers knew the video recording of showings was available to them, would they pass or say, “Hell YEAH” or “No thank you, we don’t want to know what people are saying about our house.”

Would You Resist…

We know our every move is being recorded when we visit a retail store, would you object to being recorded when showing properties? Would your buyers refuse to view a listing if they knew they were being recorded?  If you refused to offer this service and your competitor did, as an option, do you think some sellers would choose them over you?

Does NAR, your local association or your broker have a policy addressing the video recording of showing appointments?  If they exist at NAR or with my local Borad, I couldn’t find them (I didn’t spend all day looking, but I made an attempt.).

Conclusions…

Showing agent feedback is a Jurassic tradition, it’s inaccurate and next to worthless.  Some sellers, unbeknownst to their listing agent, are already using video/audio surveillance to monitor showings. Like we use smart brand management thinking and practices for our on-line and off-line interactions, we should show properties as if we were being recorded.

Half-Hearted Homework

On-line Discussion – Can You Record Showings?

Is A Nanny Cam Legal?

People can be sneaky – Check These Out.

Audio Recoding Laws In The US

Epilogue

I do believe that when and if you get it, most Showing Feedback is worthless.  Assuming you’re a pro, you know if your listing is priced correctly, how the property shows and what needs to be done to position your property competitively. If the buyer is interested, they’ll ask questions and submit an offer.  If you are a showing agent and your buyers are interested in the property, showing your hand too early will give the listing agent time to generate competing offers, that’s their job.

Because I wrote this article on this subject, don’t think I’m a privacy, stalker, secret video recording freak or creep.  I’m not and I don’t.

I’m not suggesting that we should all run out and rig-up, secret or unsecret surveillance systems in our listings.  I am saying that there are sellers today who are recording showings without our knowledge.  I am asking us all to consider how we would show properties if we knew we were on Candid Camera.  I am suggesting that recording property showings has pros and cons.  I am suggesting that presented correctly, an agent or brokerage might create a point of difference and attract an unserved niche of sellers.  I am suggesting that offering showing surveillance services is first mover advantage and something that most competitors would not choose to match or compete with.

There you have it, some strange thinking.  What do you think.  Remember, don’t shoot the messenger and no name calling please.

Cheers and thanks for reading.

Photo Credit

For real estate agents, it’s even better or worse! Read on to find out who’s doomed and who’s charmed.

Ad Age Headline

In The Age Of Friending, Consumers Trust Their Friends Less

Edelman Study Shows That Only 25% of People Find Peers Credible, Flying in Face of Social-Media Wisdom

Ad Age Article pull quotes…

“If consumers stop believing what their friends and the “average Joes” appearing in testimonials say about a product or company, the implications could be significant not just for marketers but for the social networks and word-of-mouth platforms selling themselves as solutions to communicating in a jaded world.

Platforms such as Facebook and Twitter have allowed people to maintain larger circles of casual associates, which may be diluting the credibility of peer-to-peer networks. In short, the more acquaintances a person has, the harder it can be to trust him or her. Mr. Edelman believes the Facebook component has “absolutely” played a role in diluting trust levels.”

“Richard Edelman, President and CEO of Edelman, believes it’s a sign of the times — and the lesson for marketers is consumers have to see and hear things in five different places before they believe it.”

What’s Really Going On?

The 2010 Edleman Trust Barometer reports that people who trust their friends and peers as the source for trustworthy source of information about companies has swooned from 45% in 2008 to 25% in 2010.

Oddly, the publicly released report does not have the chart above, but, there is lots of interesting information in the report. It’s worth reading.

The survey reports that people like you and me, we’ve lost trust in just about everything; companies, politicians, banks, etc.  In times of trouble, we look for safety, leadership, certainty and expertise.

Here’s a quote from Mr. Edelman…

“The events of the last 18 months have scarred people,” Mr. Edelman said. “People have to see messages in different places and from different people. That means experts as well as peers or company employees. It’s a more-skeptical time. So if companies are looking at peer-to-peer marketing as another arrow in the quiver, that’s good, but they need to understand it’s not a single-source solution. It’s a piece of the solution”

“Consumers are a distrustful bunch in general — the credibility of TV dropped 23 points and radio news and newspapers were down 20 points between 2008 and 2010.”

I believe it’s true!  Recent cataclysms cause us to trust less in general.   Specifically, we trust companies, government and corporations less than ever.  But (Behold the Underlying Truth), I believe these troubled times make social media more important than ever, for real estate agents.  Here’s why, in the yellow box above Edelman shares…

“People who say their friends and peers are credible information sources about companies is down from 45%.”

I bolded two words, “about companies”.  The survey question and answer is about companies, not an individual REALTOR®.  I believe that citizens choose their real estate agent 180 degrees differently than choosing a company/corporation/institution.  As you know, in real estate, citizens generally choose the agent first, not the company.  That an agent is partnered with a brand name company enhances the odds of being chosen.  Company brand can be an important consideration, it’s rarely the defining factor in choosing the agent.  An agents personal brand is the most important factor, and, correctly using Social Media enhances an agent’s personal brand.

Plus, Social Media is not a Money-Getting-Machine, it’s a Destiny-Accelerator. If a person sucks, Social Media accelerates their downfall.  If a person is remarkable, Social Media will accelerate their success.  Since Social media accelerates your destiny, here’s…

Seven Destiny-Accelerators For The Charmed

1. In troubled times, people clamor for expertise – use social media wisely to demonstrate your expertise.
2. In troubled times, people need to see it a few times to believe it – use social media to share and show what other experts say and how it supports what you believe. Don’t TELL!  Do SHOW!  Use 3rd, 4th and 5th party proof.
3. Long term success in real estate is dependent upon healthy relationships – for business, use social media primarily to stay in touch, share, conversate, educate and entertain.  Go slow on the selling.
4. In troubled times life, trust is a differentiators – beam trustworthy behavior in all your social media efforts.
5. Use Social Media to strengthen Top of Mind Awareness – Relevant, Remarkable, Repetition.
6. Social Media accelerates the inevitable.
7. Use Social Media to position yourself for what’s MOST IMPORTANT:   In-Person, On-Purpose Contact > Conversation > Discovery > Connection > Service & Help.

Here’s What Others Have To Say About The 2010 Edelman Trust Barometer.

Consumers Trust Friends Less? I don’t agree

Mark Twain & Benjamin Disraeli

Global Advertising: Consumers Trust Real Friends and Virtual Strangers the Most

A Pretty Cool Report from Razorfish

What Do You Think?

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Thanks for reading.  Cheers.

Photo Credit.

Bonus: Edleman’s Digital Visions – 10 New Ideas For The New Decade (These may be new to some, perhaps you know this already.)

“What ever is happening to YOU now, YOU either created it, YOU allow it or YOU promote it.” ~Unknown

Reread that.  It’s stark truth and reality for 97% of what is going on with our real estate careers.  Success and challenges alike.

Setting things right is simple…take personal responsibility and embrace The Fix It or Fire It Method.

Fix It or Fire It

Current Listing Inventory Not Selling?  Fix It or Fire It?

1. Fix how the property shows compared to the competition.  Sellers won’t help themselves?  Fire them.
2. Adjust the price to a competitive level.  Sellers won’t help themselves? Fire them.
3. ReEvalute your marketing and promotional competitiveness.   If you are unwilling or unable to compete and deliver as promised, do yourself and you seller(s) a favor – release them and Fire Yourself.

Current Buyer Prospects Not Buying?  Fix It or Fire It?

1. Re-Qualify prospects for urgency, motivation and ability.  If buyer prospects can’t or don’t need to buy, Fire Them (firmly but gently) as current buyer prospects, but stay close and earn referral recommendations.
2. Re-examine what you think your prospects are looking for, Fix It and get back on track.  If you can’t draw it out of them or you aren’t listening, Fire Yourself.
3. If you believe your prospects are qualified, you understand what they want, you’ve  shown it to them and they still aren’t buying, uncover the barrier/resistence/reluctance/fear/obstacle/etc.  If you can’t figure it out and Fix It, Fire Yourself or refer them to a trusted collegue who beams a different personality.

Current Prospecting Systems Attract Flies, Felons and Phony-Balonies or The Deafening Sound Of Crickets?  Fix It or Fire It?

1. Examine all print and direct mail advertising.  Is it paying for itself, plus a profit?  How much have you wasted spent?  Where are you advertising.  How often?  Who’s your target?  What’s your message?  How many closed transactions has it generated in the last 6 months? If it’s not profitable, Fix Something about it (the message, the medium, the frequency, the quality, etc.) and reevaluate in 30 days or Fire It.  Seriously, if it’s not profitable, STOP.

Is Your Leader Really A Loser?  Fix It or Fire It?

1. Assuming your committed, dedicated and motivated, does your broker Leader provide you with the intellectual, emotional, technological, strategic support necessary to thrive?  If not, talk to them about meeting your needs, if they are unwilling to adapt, Fire Them.
2. If you feel you’re working with a bona-fide Leader, but your success is sketchy, examine your commitment, motivation, strategy and execution.  If you’re unwilling to adapt, do your broker leader, yourself and occasional victims clients a favor, Fire Yourself.

Do Your Vendors Make You Look Magnificent and Send You Referrals?

1. Recommending competent lenders, title companies, painters, plumbers, baby sitters, roofers, etc., is what our clients expect us to do.  If the vendors we recommend aren’t reliable, courteous, professional and a source of referral recommendations, talk to them about your service requirements and your expectation for reciprocal referral recommendations.  If they are unwilling or unable to perform, bang-bang.  Next.

Are You Hugging It Out With Friends or Slugging It Out With Frienemies?  Fix It or Fire It?

1. To have friends, you must be a friend.  If you are and they aren’t, talk to them and fix your relationship.  If they are unwilling to be a friend, Fire Them.
2. If your friends are Debbie Downers, gossips, back stabbers or two faced, Fire Them.
3. Hang and hug it out with positive, supportive, bright people.  Like people who read AgentGenius:-)

Our Shiny Future

Like I said, if we look around, evidence is everywhere.  If we always do what we’ve always done, we’ll get less and less. I’ve listed six areas where immediate action will yield semi-immediate results.  Listings will sell faster, clients will be happier, marketing dollars will work harder, we’ll attract qualified prospects, the people we bless with business will bless us, we’ll enjoy the benefits of competent leadership and the warmth of true blue friends will make our lives richer.

I guess the obvious question is, “When should we start?”

Photo Credit

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Cheers and thanks for reading.

PS.  If you have a Fix It or Fire It idea, it’d be super cool if you’d share it in the comments.  If you know anyone who would benefit from this memo, please forward.

Thanks:-)

Good News!  Your Raise Is Effective As Soon As YOU Are.

No Brown-Nosing, glass ceilings, boot licking, politics, nepotism, seniority, annual performance reviews or begging for a raise.

In our real estate world, YOU are your own boss.  That’s good news for hard persistent faithful smart committed motivated workers, bad news for slackers.

Why?

Because the real estate business is pure pay-for-performance.  Want a raise?

“Your raise is effective as soon as you are.”  Marilyn Eiland

3 Questions You Have To Ask Yourself:

1. When do you want it?
2. What do you need to do differently? Doing nothing is not an option.
3. When will you start?  Today?

Stuck In Stupid

Intellectually, it’s seems simple.  If we’ve created success in the past, in the present, if we do what we’ve always done, won’t we always get what we’ve always gotten?  Nope!

Why?

Because in my world, and maybe yours, everything that surrounds me is changing.  ReInvention, obsolesce, options, upgrades, choices, knowledge, value, creation, young-guns, expectations, cannibalism and Black Swans — boom, echo and ricochet — hourly.  If I stand still and things around me are vibrating with change, my comfortable position will wobble out of orbit and any success I’m currently enjoying will inevitably vanish.  It’s real estate entropy in action.

To create break away impact, the first thing I need to do is make sure I’m not “Stuck In Stupid”.  In reality, if I always do what I’ve always done, I’ll get less and less and eventually nothing.

What To Do Now

There’s a constellation of small and large changes you can make and actions you take.  The main thing is action.  We have to start…TODAY.

Behold, 15  Anti-Stuck-In Stupid, simple and mostly free or inexpensive things you can immediately do to create the raise you deserve.

1. When someone asks you, “How’s the market?”, for the love of God, don’t go flaccid with your answer.  Consider this sort of approach.
2. It sounds lame, it’s not, it’s profitable. Wear your name badge while you work. Don’t keep what you do a secret, a name badge is a visual reminder to your friends and attracts Q&A opportunities from strangers.  Do it.  Don’t have one, order now.
3. Wear car-signs, not literally, but on your car. Many think this is seriously lame too.  Those that religiously do, report serendipitous listing and selling opportunities.  Ummmm….don’t speed.  Oh, don’t wear them on a listing appointment, it’s like sending a “here’s a listing opportunity Bat Signal” to the neighborhood.  When on listing appointments, go stealth mode.  Don’t have a set, no problem, order now.
4. Take your friends to a super-cool movie. It’s less expensive than running a dumb print ad, it’s personal, it’s relevant, it’s generous and it’s a fun way to create on-purpose and in-person conversation and contact.  You wanna have fun don’t cha? Here’s how.
5. Start wagging your tail. Log into your Facebook account between appointments, during the lull at Open House, between opportunity calls on floor duty (if you have this and it’s productive), before you go beddy-bye and at least once a working day.  See what your friends are doing, make comments, wisely status update, post photos and links.
6. Add a dash of  ” WOW, how’d you do that?”, when sending emails.   Here’s how.
7. Stop bashing your head against cement!   Join a club, a tribe, a team, a cause or a mob of people who are passionate about the things you are passionate about.  Psychographics is the future of your future. Get started.
8. Clean house, Fix or Fire and kick ass.  Don’t take an over priced listing. Counsel with all your sellers this week, reduce or raise the listing price if needed, merchandise, stage, declutter and freshen as needed, double check your property marketing (broadcast, pictures, promotional copy, etc.) and fix what’s lame or fire .  This will free up your time, money and emotion and position your current inventory of the spring rush.  Do it.  If you can’t Fix It, Fire It.
9. Stop asking your current clients for referrals after the transaction closes.  Start earning and asking for referral recommendations during the transaction. Use the Daisy Chain Reaction Technique.
10. Stop avoiding personal contact.  Seriously, set a goal to engage in at least 5 in-person and on-purpose conversations a day (phone or live, not text, email, status update)  Think Pinball Principle.
11. Stop shouting about YOU and start focusing on THEM. Nobody cares if you’re #1, they care that YOU treat THEM like they are #1. How to keep people from thinking your full of crap – a  few ideas.
12. Always remember, There Are Only 3 Reasons you don’t have more listings and sales. Do something on this list today.
13. Stop treating people the way YOU want to be treated. Start treating people they way THEY want to be treated. The Golden Rule is broken.
14. Your old leads are your best leads. Call them all today.  Yes.  Call them all today.  Talking to people is what you do for a living.  Do it now.
15. Fail faster, succeed sooner. Russell Shaw shares the secret to becoming a Top Listing Agent.

Will You Give Yourself A Raise?

Don’t count on others to give you a raise. You’re the boss, act like one….take action today.

Cheers and thanks for reading and if you think this article is worth a crap, forward to a friend;-)

Some people allow events, people and circumstances to impact them permanently negative!  These people are victims. You recognize a VICTIM like so:

1. Victims mope, whine, opine and wish things were like they used to be….way back when.
2. Victims bleat, it’s never their fault, there is no forgiveness or acceptance.
3. Negativity poisons their passion?
4. Setbacks cripple compassion and chinks their soul.
5. Hopelessness brittles their heart and turns their futures fruitless.
6. Misery loves company.  Victims throw impromptu pity parties to infect friends with their victim-virus.
7. Victims are mean and small and petty.

At times, life’s hard, unfair and brutal.  How we handle accidental adversity and unexpected impact is up to us.  Victimhood is a choice, so is Vitaminhood.

Are We Vitamins?

Some people allow events, people and circumstances to impact them permanently positive!  These people are Vitamins.  You recognize a VITAMIN like so:

1. Vitamins get that change is life and life is a wild, sometimes quiet and often scary adventure.  They change, reinvent, improve and adapt.
2. Vitamins take responsibility, they support and forgive and they try to forget. Sometimes they succeed at all four.
3. Negative and positive experiences power their passions.
4. Setbacks and triumphs deepen their understanding, juices their compassion and levels their humility.
5. Vitamins learn, grow and share from their experiences, turning futures fruitful.
6. Vitamins throw impromptu parties to celebrate, recognize, congratulate and compliment.  They infuse their friends with hope, confidence, camaradery and self responsibility.

Yeah, I know.  Humans are imperfect and living life as a Vitamin is a challenge.  When life kicks you in the balls, it’s natural and normal to cry, scream, go fetal, mourn, anger and depress…and that’s the point…it’s normal.  To shine, lead and succeed, we can’t wallow long or hang with victims.  We gotta take our lumps, learn and be THE VITAMIN.

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Cheers and thanks for reading.

Seems I’m stuck in attitudes/hardships/triumphs mode these days.  On the left hand, you might think, what does this have to do with real estate?  On the right, I believe that this Victim or Vitamin perspective is what the real estate business is truly about.  To me, it’s not about selling houses or real estate.  Our business is about people.  It’s about help, service, support, leadership, knowledge, performance, delivery, communication, creativity and more. Prospecting, listing, selling and closing is process and outcome, but not the profession.  If we’re victims we can’t do any good.   At best we’re powerless and worst, we infect and damage others.

I think my recent fixation is a response to my personal feelings caused by the prolonged fatigue of our crushed economy, real estate seasonality and the weight and witness of angels broken.  I am certain a shiny sunrise is peeking over our horizon.  We’ve come so far and we’re so close, now is the time to lock arms and help each other run to the sun.  Will you join me?  Will you be a Vitamin.

Viva La Vitamin revolution, send this to your friends.

Worry is praying for what you don’t want. ~Deepak Chopra