Real Estate Reading List for 2012

With a new year comes a challenge and an endeavor to improve both in knowledge and in skill. My reading list never seems to shrink. As i finish one book I seem to add another two to the pile. What is on your list for 2012?

• Linchpin Seth Godin
• Raving Fans Ken Blanchard
• Trust Agents Chris Brogan
• Tribes Seth Godin
• The Real Book of Real Estate Robert Kiyosaki
• The Millionaire Real Estate Agent Gary Keller
• Unselling: Sell Less to Win More Peter Bourke
• The Law of Success Napoleon Hill
• Google + for Business Chris Brogan
• The Thank You Economy Gary Vaynerchuk

Share

Selling Real Estate Takes Perseverance

Real estate is a great career requiring hard, focused work. Agents reach fantastic emotional highs and then experience dramatic lows. Bouncing back and continuing to persevere receives it unmatched and well deserved rewards. Successfully helping clients reach their dreams is unbelievably rewarding!

Share

Content Marketing for Social Media Sites

Many new Facebookers have true concerns about what and when to post material. Instead of creating a page and then trying to determine what information to provide, do it in reverse. Decide what content to provide and then create a page designed to deliver the information.
Before creating your Facebook page decide what kind of content or information to provide. This will depend completely on who the targeted audience is for the page. This allows the page to focus completely on consumer needs and delivers enough content for the first thirty to sixty days.
Three good questions to ask before creating a Facebook page are:

1. What kind of information does my targeted audience mostly likely need?
2. Why do I love selling real estate?
3. Why do I love this community?

The answers to these three questions are the beginning of a cntent grid. Use the following chart to help create a content grid.

Post several times a day in order to maximize exposure. Some recommend even posting the same material more than once to increase readership. Though this may look a bit like spam to frequent Facebook visitors, allows for the greatest exposure.

With all this great consumer centered information being produced, length of article or post is a concern. Facebook users are accustomed to short bits of information which is why Facebook is not in the center of the social media hub. Facebook allows the consumer to readily find topics and shorts posts of information. The true source of the information is the blog. Facebook just directs the consumer to it Even so, some bits of information may come from other sites like
governmental agencies, Realtor ssociations, school websites, news organizations to name a few. Create a link tothis information and post it directly on Facebook. Add the URL to longer articles or helpful link lists posted on the blog.

Each blog post has its own distinct URL or web address. By clicking on the title of the blog article, the URL will appear in the address bar. Copy and paste the URL for the article to Facebook. This gives the blog article greater exposure. The back link helps in placement in Google searches as well.

Content on blogs and Facebook is not limited to written articles. Content can be as simple as a picture with a title posted from Flick’r onto Facebook and the blog. Use the hub to create a network of sites whenever possible! Content can be shared as a video as well. Imagine, for example, keeping the community informed about a local construction project by posting
frequent and short videos. These videos are stored on YouTube and linked or embedded into the blog and Facebook. Creatively, client testimonials can be video as well. Ask satisfied clients to make a short 30-45 second video instead of writing a letter. These are great show instead of tells for blogs and Facebook.

Now that the social media hub is in place and beginning to work, refocus on the content grid to deliver quality and enjoyable information to your targeted group of consumers. This is the fun part!

Share

Just a few choice words

Just a few words from Jim Rohn to start the day:

Skills: Don't wish it were easier; wish you were better. Don't wish for less problems; wish for more skills. Don't wish for less challenges; wish for more wisdom.

Growth: Don't join an easy crowd. You won't grow. Go where the expectations and the demands to perform and achieve are high.

Change: We generally change ourselves for one of two reasons: inspiration or desperation.

Activity: The few who do are the envy of the many who watch.

Success: Success is what you attract by the person you become.

Share|

You can't hit a your target if you don't know what it is

Setting goals is like going to the dentist. Everyone has to do it but most people don't like it. So, we put it off as long as we can....sometimes years. If you can afford to do that, I guess it's ok. If your career and financial stabilty is dependent on your goals, then it's not!

Jim Rohn, on more than one occassion had a few things to say about goals. Watch part one of Mr.Rohn's interview with Vic Johnson of Goals 2 Go entitled, "Becoming the person you need to be to achieve your goals."

Share|

Thanks Friends I Had a Blast

Recently I changed companies which is no big deal in today's business world. Most people change jobs on an averge of every three years. I was with the same company for ten years! That's 3 jobs and on to the fourth for the average person working today. Wow, that's a long time.
You can guess that after working with the same company for such a long time it was difficult to make a move. I had so many new experiences there and opportunities that I never even dreamed of. I can't find all the words to express my gratitude towards the owners who believed in my abilities even when I wasn't always so sure of them myself.

What happened after I left surprised me more than anything. I can honestly say that after ten years someplace you make a lot of friends. But I never dreamed of the flood of phone calls and emails that came from my change of companies. Starting early Monday, the day my leaving was announced, the phone began to ring. Colleagues from within my previous company, even people from related industries like title and inspection companies, and friends from out of state called to wish me well and offer their support in my new endeavors. I soon became overwhelmed by the kind, heartfelt words. I made a comment to my wife at the end of the week, "It was like being eulogized."

I never realized what I had accomplished and how I had impacted others in my nearly ten years at this company. Most importantly, I made friends and lasting relationships that will go beyond the walls of a company.
How can I put a learning "spin" on this? Easy! Isn't this what we want from our customers? Ken Blanchard and Sheldon Bowles calls them Raving Fans. They wrote the book by the same title.
I'll just call them friends.

Thanks friends. I had a blast.

Branding: Company vs Personal

Jeremiah Owyang, on his blog Web Strategy, recently wrote about Personal versus Career Branding. In his post Jeremiah describes the difference between creating a personal brand and a career brand.As expected, Jeremiah described personal brand as focusing on the individual. Interestingly enough, I thought Jeremiah would describe career brand as developing or helping to develop the brand or the company identity. But he didn't do that. Instead he said that career branding is focusing on what you can do for the consumer.

This is not what I had expected at all! It sounds a bit familiar though. Help me here, I'm feeling a little yellow!

Today in Fast Track training new agents were introduced to the DOORS Listing System, one of Weichert Realtors greatest tools. It isn't great because of its success rate although that helps generate income. It isn't great because of its customization or the size of the portfolio. The greatness of the Door Listing System stems from the focus of the presentation. It's all about the seller and meeting the seller's needs. WOW!

I am encouraged as I hear current marketing leaders write about company values. Their ideas reflect the solid appproach that Jim Weichert has been talking about for years. Weichert Realtors' Core Values reflect the foundation of real estate agency, serving the customer. Wayne Murray loves quoting Jim Weichert, "We are not confused."

What are your goals?

Every year this time someone, through articles or conversation, brings up this very question. Sometimes I can excitedly share my goals and vision for the upcoming year. Other years I skulk into a dark corner and hope that nobody notices that I didn’t answer the personal and prying question.
So, are you skulking, shrinking into the corner or are you ready to share? Huh, are you?
Is the structure of writing the goals the block? For me it has been. Chocolate Orchid blogged a fun alternative to the tedious chore of writing goals, suggesting creating a Vision Board to organize your goals. The Vision Board gives you the opportunity to think through your wants and desires and places them in front of you in a visual manor through pictures.
No writing necessary! Sit quietly allowing yourself to visualize your dreams. Use magazine photos, titles, and phrases to visually represent your dreams. Tear or cut out more items than you could possible use. Organize on a poster board the items into a visual statement. It’s ok to let the board sit for a while and then come back to determine if the board does actually represent your goals and dreams. Post the board in a prominent place so that you may continue to refocus your actions and thoughts toward becoming the goals and dreams you have set. Have fun!

Just a Job?

I was reading Dan Miller's Blog this morning. He was talking about attitude and perception. He posted this quote. I thought it may be of interest to others. It definitely made me think a little. In moments of stress I tend to think that if I could just get others to do what it is that I want them to do, the situation would be better. My anxiety wanes, however, when I get to the realization that I can only control myself and my thoughts. Enjoy!!

'Can’t you get a “real” job?“My mother has always been unhappy with what I do. She would much rather I do something nicer, like be a bricklayer.” Mick Jagger'

On-line marketing goes to the front line!

Your exposure in the marketplace drives business to you! When working on a marketing plan to increase your personal business, you have to consider how to increase exposure within the marketplace. This can come in many forms including yard signs with personal riders, personal contact within your Sphere of Influence, phone call canvassing for Just Listed and Just Sold activity, open houses, direct mail, and internet exposure. Considering that more than 90% of all buyers start their home search online, internet marketing should play a significant role in your marketing plan. Internet exposure, just like marketing itself, comes in many different forms including e-postcards, on-line video clips, social networks, and website postings of your listings and personal information. To increase our exposure locally and nationally Weichert, Realtors has increased its online presence. Our listings now post to many highly trafficked real estate and classified ad websites. To learn more about these online locations visit Weichert University to see the newly revised DOORS presentation.

Not a Weichert agent? Call a local office to learn how you could be a part of a SUCCESSful Weichert Realtors team.

Do you have what it takes?

Do you have what it takes to be successful in real estate, to be an independent contractor working for yourself with nobody to answer to, nobody to call your boss? Take a few minutes to read through the folowing questions and comments written by Dan Miller.
1. Are you a self- starter? Successful people don’t sit around and wait for people to come to them.
2. Do you get along with different kinds of people? Are you conversational, get along with printers, secretaries, mortgage brokers, title people, appraisers etc?
3. Do you have a positive outlook? Focus on the positive. Optimism and sense of humor essential. Small setbacks are just opportunities to stepping stones to eventual success.
4. Are you able to make decisions? Procrastination is the main obstacle to good decision making. “How to Eat a Frog”- concept is to do what you look least forward to and do it early in the morning, of get it over with- out of the way. 80% of decisions made right away.
5. Are you able to accept responsibility? Be willing to listen to your client’s complaints, gripes, and accept responsibility for your mistakes.
6. Do you enjoy competition? Don’t have to be cut–throat, but enjoy competing for listing presentations for example. Even competing against yourself. Dan sets small goals for himself when he was a struggling student he would set small goals for himself like he would 20 cold calls before eating lunch- sometimes he would eat at 12pm, sometimes at 4pm. You could do 40 door hangers and go have a latte after it.
7. Do you have will-power and self-discipline? Without it you won’t succeed.
8. Do you plan ahead? Need a long-term plan to succeed. Know where you want to go and devise plan to get there. For example, I will do 3 find 2 new buyers a month. How to get there- what are the most effective activities to find new buyers- open house, networking, referrals, and postcards.
9. Can you take advice from others? You don’t have to have all of the answers- learn from others. Don’t have to make all of the mistakes yourself- take seminars, read marketing or business books, hire a business coach or mentor.
10. Are you adaptable to changing conditions? Change is constant- market changes, technologies change, relationships change. Do you adapt well and are you able to take it in stride and enjoy that each new day is not like the day before?
11. Can you stick with it? Most new ventures take longer than we would like for them to. If it was easy, everyone would be doing it. Are you prepared to make a one year commitment to this business no matter how bleak it looks sometimes? Will you continue even if your friends or family tell you to throw in the towel?
12. Do you have a high level of confidence and belief in what you are doing? If you don’t believe in what you are doing, you won’t be able to sell it. Enthusiasm is selling what you believe in.
13. Do you enjoy what you are doing? Don’t think that you will be successful if you are in it just for the monetary rewards. You should get a sense of meaning and satisfaction from what you are doing.

Helping people buy and sell real estate is a rewarding job. Getting to help people live thier dreams can't be listed in the job description of a real estate professional. With all its rewards and glory, selling real estate isn't for everbody. Reflect on your answers to these questions to help decide if the exciting career in real estate is truly for you. Still think you have what it takes? Let's talk!!

Hot Links

http://www.byronunderwood.com/
http://www.weichert.com/
http://championsschool.com/
http://texasrealestateacademy.com
http://sierraschools.com
http://davidknox.com/
http://tomhopkins.com/
http://floydwickman.com/

A Perfect Fit...Weichert Realtors