Candlelighters Fun Walk

Weichert Realtors – Wayne Murray Properties supports Candlelighters ChildhoodCancer Family Alliance. Candlelighters mission is to provide emotional, educational, and practical support to children with cancer and their families. In addition, Candlelighters desires to promote childhood cancer awareness, and the need for childhood cancer education and research in the Houston community.

Please click this link to watch a video about Candlelighters.

In September, Candlelighters will hold its annual fun run to raise much needed money for its Camp Cliff. Will you please take a moment to read this letter from a father who has been touched by the loving volunteers and staff of Candlelighters?

Dear Friends:

You can make a difference for a child with cancer, Right Now, Today!!!

We are the Camarillos, a Candlelighters family. My name is Gerardo Camarillo and with my wife, Dilma Camarillo, we were blessed with one beautiful daughter, Ivana Laura. Even before birth, Ivana had a tough time. Mom had to undergo surgery on her second trimester to remove some tumors that were outgrowing Ivana. It was at this time that a doctor first touched Ivana, moving her to get to the tumors. Having beaten the odds at such surgery, it came as a tremendous shock when on October 15, 1999 a pediatric oncologist told us that our ten month old Ivana had, among other things, Infant Leukemia. Despite a very poor prognosis, Ivana once again beat the odds and after chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant, she is now a happy ten year old child.

During her long treatment period, we became a Candlelighters family, joining other families that have been touched with childhood cancers and finding some joy amongst the nightmare. First it was just finding someone to talk to at parent meetings, someone who had gone through what we were going through. We were overjoyed when Candlelighters honored Ivana at the annual Lights of Courage Luncheon in May of 2002. The greatest surprise, however, came when we first attended Candlelighters’ premiere family outing, Camp CLIFF, a weekend retreat for children diagnosed with cancer and their families.

The experience of Camp Cliff is unlike any other. It is the one place where a family can go and talk of childhood cancer with families that understand the horror you live through. More than that, it is a camp where you remember to have fun again, to laugh, to have a conversation that can be about cancer or about football. Ironically, it is a time to forget, at least for a moment, that childhood cancer can overtake your life. For our family, like many others that have been financially devastated by cancer, it is an opportunity to enjoy a family vacation that we could otherwise not afford. Candlelighters offer this wonderful, magical camp at NO COST, NOT A SINGLE PENNY, to their families.

At the time when Ivana was diagnosed, and throughout her treatment, family friends would always ask, “How can we help, what can we do?” It is human nature to try to alleviate the burden, to help in anyway you can, to be part of the solution. Some of you may be in this situation at this time. Well, the answer is as simple as “take a walk.” On Saturday, September 11, 2010, the Candlelighters Fun Walk 2010 will be held at Hershey Park once again. The theme this year is “Rock the Walk.” Now the Fun Walk is, as everything Candlelighters does, itself a celebration with a Kids area, food, music and fun for everyone. It seems like a carnival where you can’t help but have fun. The walk is part of the festivities.

Candlelighters Fun Walk is also a fundraising event to support families at Camp Cliff. Candlelighters provide everything for the family at Camp Cliff, at an expense of over $500.00 for a family of four. Candlelighters make it easy for you to participate. There are several ways to make a difference and help families of children with cancer:

You can start by raising “Walk money.” Simply ask ten (10) friends, family members, co-workers, neighbors, etc. for ten dollars ($10) each. Of course the more donations, the better. Every walker who raises $100 or more will receive a walk t-shirt.
You can be a Team Captain to recruit at least ten (10) walkers. A walk team can consist of family, friends, co-corkers, church members, neighbors, etc. who each collect money on Candlelighters behalf and walk with us.
If you can’t participate in the walk, you can make an online donation. Simply go to http://www.candle.org/, and click on donate. Click again to make a donation. Under event donation select Fun Walk, either team or donation. Fill out the Team Name Team Weichert Gold, if any, and the rest of the information requested. It’s that simple.
If you prefer, you can send a tax-deductible contribution of any amount, made payable to Candlelighters to help, to 8323 Southwest Freeway, Suite 435, Houston, Texas 77074.
The Fun Walk monies support Camp CLIFF, so we hope that you will participate this year in helping us. Every dollar helps send one more child and their family to Candlelighters Camp Cliff. This year Candlelighters, like most charitable organizations, is facing funding problems due to our economy, so this year your participation is more crucial than ever. I am enclosing a walk brochure with more details, but if you would like more information about the walk, please don’t hesitate to call the Candlelighters office at (713) 270-4700.

Thank you in advance for your support and we hope to see you at the Fun Walk on September 11th. Remember, You can make a difference for a child with cancer, Right Now, Today!!!

Sincerely,

Gerardo A. Camarillo

Ignore it and it might go away!

All real estate trainers and other sales gurus have some system or plan to overcome objections. Novices in the business and agents with little or no training may just ignore the objection and hope it goes away. Objections often occur when customers have strong positive feelings about a particular home. They are an inevitable part of the buying process. Handling objections appropriately will help an agent close more sales and have satisfied customers.

Six Steps to a Positive Outcome

Pause: Pausing after an objection by a customer allows the customer the opportunity to solve the problem themselves. It also allows the agent the opportunity to gather his thoughts before responding to the objection.

Acknowledge: Waiting too long may make the customer feel that you have fallen asleep. Simply acknowledging the objection by restating it allows the customer to understand that yes, you did hear the objection and clearly understand it.

Isolate: The objection may be no big deal or it may be a reason to not buy a particular home depending on the opinion of the buyer. So, it’s best to ask. Looking to our video for an example, instead of pushing forward with information about schools, the agent could have isolated the buyer’s concern by simply asking, “If it weren’t for the malevolent energy and the dead clown, would you be interested in this home?” If the answer is no, then move on. But, if the buyer answered yes then move on to the next step.

Question: Simply put, asking the right questions will allow the customer the opportunity to solve the problem on his own. For example, “If you bought this home anyway, what would you do about the malevolent energy and the dead clown?” The problem may be solved.

Answer: Yes, sometimes an objection really does have to be answered. Use a question to help move the objection towards a positive outcome. Something like, “What if we got rid of the energy and the clown? Would that work?”

Re-close: There are many closing questions that may be used here. My children often close on me. They have learned not to ask if they can have dessert because I may say no. Instead they give me an alternate of choice. “Dad, may I have ice cream or cookies for dessert?” Choose your favorite way of asking.

Ready, Fire, Aim

No, that’s not a typo!
You have a plan, maybe you wrote out your goals on January 1st, 2010. New decade, new goals,new you. You wrote your long term and short term goals, where you wanted to be in a year, month to month benchmarks, the works, and are tweaking it as you go along.

Failure to Launch...
After I get this started, or once I have this much in the bank or if my spouse starts helping more…what has delayed your plans?

Do Something…
The time to Act in NOW! Some of us have the propensity to plan, plan, plan, waiting for the conditions to become just right before we move towards our goals. This stagnancy can gunk up the flow of action, leaving us floating in a pond of scum. Sometimes we over-think a situation. Yes, by all means, plan your financial strategy and in the meantime, listen to a webinar. Take a class, read a book or talk to 5 new people while working your plan.

Some of us have tendency to act first, think second. This may not be a bad strategy – moving in a forward direction, not waiting for all of the planets to align before commencing activity. Your attitude of ‘Do Something Today,’ can propel your activity, leading you one step closer to success. Attitude, Activity, Success. Don’t wait, Act Now.

Her Only Bad Habit is Me

So the song by England Tyler goes.
Habits are hard to start, or stop. I'm really bad about them, ask my wife. But I have started the evening habit of watching less TV and reading more. I am continuing my education and talking with my wife more.

After staying in her room, doing nothing, feeling depressed, a teenager shares her story of developing a good habit in an article in Success Magazine, David Lee, August, 2010.

"Complaining the entire walk, Emily reluctantly followed her mom through the neighborhood. But by the time they got home, she was actually starting to feel better. “I felt as if a ton of bricks had been lifted from my heart,” Emily said. “I didn’t know how to handle it.”

Emily had been depressed for so long she didn’t know how to be happy. The bad habit of isolating herself from others was hard to shake. Still, that walk made her life almost feel right again. Soon she started walking her dog every week. As spring bloomed, she discovered different fields and paths to follow on her walks that were filled with flowers. Before she knew it, Emily had developed a healthy habit of walking. And she loved it."

What Happy Habit are you doing?
What can you start or stop doing? It's easier to replace a habit, than just stop it. Are you blogging for 20 minutes in the evening? How much TV do you watch? Are you reading a book every evening to learn about your industry? Are YOU walking every day in the sunshine?

What Happy Habit are you going to start tomorrow?

Our brand is built on our service

What you do matters
I helped Mrs. B with her keys and the security code in her new townhome ,a 50 minute drive clear across the city from my neighborhood, after teaching all day Saturday and Sunday at real estate school. Mrs. B is a couple of years older than my mother. Though I was tired, it was my privilege to drive across town and go through her keys to her new home with her. We had looked at townhomes in her price range in less than desirable parts of town – music blaring in the middle of the day, people playing basketball and yelling up the street. The homes she found in her price range made her feel like she was definitely settling – you can’t have low price and safety after all.

Or can you?
With some research, elimination, and weeks of previewing, I found her a gem. As my wife and I drove to her home Sunday evening to meet and go over her keys with her, my wife was commenting on the pretty neighborhood, with mature trees, stately homes, and the quiet. When I asked her if she would pay $65,000 to live in this neighborhood she said “Of course”! The homes were obviously in the $300-400,000 range. Well, that’s what I helped Mrs. B do. We pulled up to her little townhome community on the edge of the neighborhood – quiet, treed, wide streets, and neatly trimmed lawns, and walked to meet her at her updated, clean, lovely, home.

Why so much work for so little money?
Mrs. B is the mother of a previous client. I received a phone call from her son a couple of months ago. He asked me if I could help his mother. Talk about validation of personal service.

Facebook Hits 500 Million Users

Facebook is the third largest country in the world.
Fastest growing demographic group on Facebook - 55 to 65 year old females.
Facebook has more weekly traffic than Google!

As expected, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook surpassed 500 million users today. (Wouldn't it be cool to know that you were the 500 millionth?) Zuckerberg in in his blog, says it isn't about the numbers but about the mission, "to help make the world more open and connected."

To better understand Facebook's mission and to commemorate this milestone, Facebook also announced it's new Facebook Stories, asite to share how Facebook has impaced you and your friends' lives.

In an effort to keep updated on the impact social media has had and presently is having on our lives Erik Qualman has updated his video Social Media Revolution.

Enough About Me…Now I Want to Hear What YOU Think About ME

Selling is Just Shared Enthusiasm
An old saying worth repeating, "Give your customers what they want and they will come back, over and over." Better yet - they will tell their friends and family. Selling is really shared enthusiasm, says Dan Miller, career coach guru.

Oh! Let me Tell You About This Place!
When you eat at a great restaurant or watch a fantastic movie- you can’t wait to tell others about it! You are selling them on it. If you love what you do and believe you can give your clients the best customer service – you will sell yourself, and others will sell you.
If you can sell:

• Quality service
  
• Positive personality


• Ability to communicate clearly
  
• Get the job done

People can’t wait to tell others about YOU!

Goobers and Viruses
My wife’s computer got a virus and searching for a solution, I asked one coworker her experience and she said she had just paid $400 to get rid of it. I found one online who claimed they were cheaper than the “GooberSquad” and quickly booked them. A disaster – I fired them and got my money back.
Then my friend, who had overheard my wife and me talking, came over and insisted we use this indiscriminate little company in a little strip mall. I would have never gone there on my own. They surpassed my expectations of just fixing the computer – my wife kept asking them every time they called to update her– "Are you sure it’s still $64.95?" We would use them again because of their customer service and are telling others we know about the low price and great service!