1,001 Real Estate Tips to improve, re-energise and re-style your real estate career

Kirsty has joined forces with some of the biggest names in real estate worldwide to put together this 1,001 tips to improve, re-energise and re-style your real estate career guide.

Covering all areas of real estate this program will be a huge asset to new agents, however those who have been in the industry for years will still find heaps of ideas to improve their careers.

Here are just 6 tips from our 1,001!

New Agents

Each week when you view the new homes listed by your company – go through without finding out the listed price and estimate what you think it will sell for. Then once the home sells, grade yourself on how close you were to the sale price. Some agencies even make this into a competition with a monthly prize for the most accurate agent. Kirsty Dunphey

Set a daily time and place for prospecting. Don’t work your prospecting around your day. Instead, work your day around your prospecting. Dirk Zeller

Open Homes

Where are you on an average Friday night – say 7.00pm? At the pub? Home with your family? Having dinner with friends? Where are your clients who have their first open home the next morning. If we think about it we know they’re at home cleaning, panicking and generally stressing out. Alleviate what you can of this by sending them a simple text message or calling them with the message “Hi – I’m looking forward to a great open home tomorrow, see you there at 10.45am”. Kirsty Dunphey

Qualify - Ask quality questions not a quantity of questions! Yes this industry is about building relationships and I can’t stress that enough, but there is a fine line between spending too much time with the wrong people at an open home. Aleisha Peers

Databasing

“When is the best time to set up your database?” Prior to starting in real estate, with the second best time being right now. The earlier you start, the easier the set up is going to be, but if you don’t have a proper comprehensive database the second easiest time is right now and cannot be overlooked if you want to be truly successful. Kirsty Dunphey

To mine your resources effectively you have to put most of your effort toward contacts with the highest referral potential. Contrary to popular opinion, you can’t afford to treat all referral sources with equal attention. Unless you establish priorities, you won’t have the time or energy to devote to those sources who will benefit your business the most. Dirk Zeller

As well as tips from Kirsty this program features - John McGrath, Pat Mesiti, John Schackleton, Glen Coutinho, Peter Kakos, Jillian McGrath, Kirsty Spraggon, Craig Stephens, Amber Werchon, Karen Schmidt, Carly Crutchfield, Pete Williams, Paul Fenech, Candice Gillies, Aleisha Peers, Malcom Riley, Colin Dick, Tekla Kriddle, Katey Lane, Dirk Zeller, Ron White, David Knox, Rich Levin, Darryl Davis, Elizabeth Ward Small & Richard Robbins.

To find out more or to purchase head to www.unleashedknowledge.com/1001tips.html

Kirsty Dunphey is one of Australia’s most publicised young entrepreneurs and is the founder of www.reallysold.com - the ultimate tool to help real estate agents write amazing advertisements. The youngest ever winner of the Australian Telstra Young Business Woman of the Year award, Kirsty started her first business at 15, her own real estate agency at 21, was a self-made millionaire at 23 and a self-made multi-millionaire at 25. For more information on Kirsty or either of her books – Advance to Go, Collect $1 Million and Retired at 27, If I can do it anyone can, or to sign up to her weekly newsletter head to: www.kirstydunphey.com

Endless Email - Tips to Curtail the Convolution (or how to get control of your inbox)

Is email ruining your life and your productivity? Ok, sure it may not be as dramatic as that… but if you’re heart beats a little faster every time you hear that tone your computer makes when you get mail, or if you’re checking your email every few minutes (hey, did you just go and check it while reading this sentence?) maybe there’s a few little things you can do to get your productivity (ie: your actual work) back up the priority list.

1. Get the news, when you want it

I looove newsletters but if I stopped to read each one as it came in, I’d never have any time at all. Instead I’ll sit down with a cocktail (or on a plane) once a week or every few weeks and read through the ones that grab my attention. To make sure I’m not bogged down with them in my inbox I can set up rules so that they go into a special folder in my inbox called (shock horror) “To Read”.

2. Alias it up

An even more advanced version of tip 1 (so that you don’t have to create a new rule for each newsletter) is to have a different email alias for your newsletter subscriptions. So you might be jane@rockstarrealestate.com but you might sign up to all your newsletters with janenews@rockstarrealestate.com. That way all your newsletters will automatically go into the folder you’ve set up.

3. Ditch it

Still on newsletters and regular mailings. Be a little cruel and ditch the ones you don’t read.

4. File like a crazy person

I like to keep my inbox empty or with only the most pressing items that need to be done that day. To do this, I’ve got about 5 folders set up that I file my work into. These ones work for me:

• To do this week (and I have a diary note to check this once a week)
• To do soon (I usually only check this once a month, but if I put something in here that has a specified time frame I’ll put a diary note in to remind myself)
• Waiting on other people (so that I can keep track that what I’m delegating gets done, I find it’s easiest just to CC myself in on any emails that I delegate and pop them in this folder)
• To read (which we’ve been through)
• Funny (for the emails that make me giggle, it gives me somewhere to go back to when I need a pick up)
• Delete (ok, so I didn’t make that folder up, but the only way to stay on top of your email these days is to put MOST email in here! Stop clogging up your system and your mind, deal with it and dump it)
• Others (I have a few specific folders for different business ideas I’m working on, people I need to visit and other folders that work for me. You’ll figure out what works for you, just don’t go folder mad and have so many folders that you only file and never do the work!)
  

5. More on the Sydney Bristow (aliases)

I travel a lot, and when I’m away someone else (fabulous Megan) will check my email. If you’ve got your very own Megan, consider another email alias that you can give people as a contact in case of emergency email (I just use my hotmail account for this as it’s web based and I know that I can get quick access to it almost anywhere in the world).

6. Be Zen like

Keep your in box as empty as possible. I don’t care how brilliant you think you are at email, having 1,500 emails in your inbox is a recipe for disaster.

7. Just say no

If you’re constantly getting swamped by annoying emails (perhaps the ones that promised doom and gloom if you don’t pass them on to everyone you know within 4 seconds) just kindly let the repeat offenders (and they are usually repeat offenders) know that you’d prefer not to receive them anymore.

8. Recycle (good for the environment, and for your inbox)

In an ideal world you should only write the answer to a question once. From there you’ll blog it, or add it to your website’s FAQ or you’ll keep a template so that you can reuse it.

9. Don’t be a robot

On that last point, any standardised or template emails you send out should still sound like a human (not a robot) wrote them! Don’t be afraid to inject a bit of personality.

10. Delegate with style

If you pass an email onto someone else so that they can action it, CC the person who sent it to you in on this delegation so they know that you’ve done it and they know who the contact person is now. This covers your butt and lets the person know you’ve done something all in one step.

11. Break the addiction

Turn off your email program and just come back and check your emails say… twice a day. If the thought of doing this sends you into a cold sweat, just check for emails every hour to start off with. If you need to keep your email program open to work from say your calendar or to do lists just schedule the auto send and receive link so that you have to click it (and then hands off the button!)

Kirsty Dunphey is one of Australia’s most publicised young entrepreneurs and is the founder of www.reallysold.com - the ultimate tool to help real estate agents write amazing advertisements. The youngest ever winner of the Australian Telstra Young Business Woman of the Year award, Kirsty started her first business at 15, her own real estate agency at 21, was a self-made millionaire at 23 and a self-made multi-millionaire at 25. For more information on Kirsty or either of her books – Advance to Go, Collect $1 Million and Retired at 27, If I can do it anyone can, or to sign up to her weekly newsletter head to: www.kirstydunphey.com

What do I think about networking?

Inspired by this post by Naomi Simson founder of redbaloondays.com.au where she said that when she walks into a room full of strangers at a networking opportunity she thinks: “Goody, a whole room of potential new friends”.

• “I can stop networking as soon as I’ve got reasons to write 10 hand written cards tomorrow when I get back to work to people I’ve met here tonight”

If you’ve got the opposite problem and you know you talk a little (ok a lot) at these sorts of events, challenge yourself by thinking:

• “How can I limit my elevator pitch to a fabulous 30 seconds?”
  

And if you have my problem and you’re overly fascinated by the munchies and cocktails on offer, rephrase the above goals so that you can eat one piece of food per 2 business cards exchanged.

• “How many of these people know potential clients?”

• “Who in the room can I become or refer a client for?” (reciprocity works wonders and the best way to get a referral is to give one!)

• “Who in this room has done something I’d like to do” (ie: who can I learn from?)
  

Kirsty Dunphey is one of Australia’s most publicised young entrepreneurs and is the founder of www.reallysold.com - the ultimate tool to help real estate agents write amazing advertisements. The youngest ever winner of the Australian Telstra Young Business Woman of the Year award, Kirsty started her first business at 15, her own real estate agency at 21, was a self-made millionaire at 23 and a self-made multi-millionaire at 25. For more information on Kirsty or either of her books – Advance to Go, Collect $1 Million and Retired at 27, If I can do it anyone can, or to sign up to her weekly newsletter head to: www.kirstydunphey.com