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Real Estate, financial education and much more.
Blog by PeggyAnn McConnochie
Juneau, Alaska
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Real Estate, financial education and much more.2008
Oct. 12, 2008
Categorized in: Moving Past Good to Excellent!
Tagged with: prsopecting
Probably the most important question you should be asking yourself right now is how can you stop or prevent the wasting of your valuable time. Many articles and blogs are quick to tell you what you should do; i.e. write a blog, join and post to Facebook or My Space, join and post to LinkedIn and Twitter. But then how do you spare some time for calling current clients; or heaven forbid past clients? Or marketing your listings? Or seeing your transactions through to closing? Never before have there been so many options from which to choose. So which prospecting tools do you choose? Which ones actually work? The choices boggle the mind.
Here's where I think you should start when budgeting your time: first split prospecting activities into two categories i.e. activities that are considered to be "active" and those that are considered "passive." Active is designed to put you face to face or voice to voice with those that may want to "do" real estate (buy/sell/rent/lease) or may know someone who wants to. An example of active prospecting is setting aside time each and every day to call 5 people who have used your services in the past or who are friends to see if they or someone they know may need your real estate services. Passive is where you are keeping your name and expertise in a public forum while allowing visitors to get to know you on a personal basis - the best examples of this are the social networking sites such as Facebook and My Space.
Active prospecting will always be more important and with faster results compared to passive activities; but passive activities consistently applied (and that is the key) are vital for the long term continued success of your business.
My mixture for success is 80/20 (where have we heard that before?); 80% of your time should be spent actively prospecting and 20% of your time should be spent on passively prospecting.
So how would that lay out in your typical week? Here is what I believe you should look at scheduling.
Active:
· Monday through Friday at a specified time each day, set aside 30 minutes and call at least 5 people who have used your services. These are fairly quick calls. Check in with them to see how they are doing, give them an interesting fact about the market today, and remember at the end of the conversation to remind them that if they know anyone who needs your real estate services to please pass your name and contact information along (or ask them for the information so you may contact them directly) and say "thank you" for their business. Rotate through all your past clients. Ideally you want to contact them at least once a quarter, or better yet once a month. And yes they love to speak with you and yes they love getting "inside" information on the current real estate market. Who wouldn't!
· Saturday is the day to spend one hour, the same time each Saturday, walking through your "farm." If you don't have one set up (next time I will make some suggestions on how to set up a successful farm), start with the neighborhood in which you live. Say "hi," give them some information about their neighborhood that they may not know, leave your card or some other advertising piece (how about information on a listing that is in their neighborhood! Or market facts!) Say "thank you" and move on to the next home or property.
Passive:
· For residential REALTORS®, I recommend using the REALTOR.com Blog (which you can get for FREE!). http://solutioncenter.realtor.com/Agents/FeaturedBlog.aspx Yes, there are all sorts of Blog sites where you can get the software for a fee and for free, but which ones get you business? If you are a residential REALTOR® why not get a Blog at the site where the clear majority of home buyers and sellers start their agent/home purchase search? That's a no brainer for me. Now to add it into your schedule: spend 1 hour every week and write a brief factual article (remember those high school English classes, please and why not use what you came up with for your past client calls!) on a topic that is pertinent to your market place. Posting an article no less that once a week keeps your Blog fresh and provides the people who visit REALTOR.com an interesting tidbit to read and a way to see what you know and care about on your market. It also helps to drive traffic to your website and moves you up in the search engines - cool! Remember to add your Blog address to your business cards, your e-mail signature, and a link on your website plus add it to all your advertising pieces.
· Join Zolve.com; a referral site for agents. Spend 1 hour once to fully set up your profile and to invite other agents from areas where you have or might send or receive referrals, into your "sphere of influence." Then respond promptly to e-mail notifications that will come over time to your inbox from Zolve. Zolve is also a fantastic place to receive information on a variety of topics through its "Coaching Corner."
Notice I did not recommend that you join a social networking site. I do not believe at this time it is worth your valuable time. Call me crazy but you know there are only so many hours in the day etc.
That is it for the moment. Send me your comments and your thoughts. I hope you find my comments useful.
Sep. 9, 2008
Categorized in: Technology
Cool tip of the day for REALTORS®!
You know that I am obsessed with great , cool, "free" stuff. Here is another one best for residential listings (although I can see a commercial application to it, especially for commercial leasing) you may want to check out:
http://www.propertypreviews.com.
It gives you the ability for "free" to create :30 or :60 videos with your photos! Once created it looks as if you can upload it to your MLS, you can do some simple editing, and you can upload to various listing sites.
Simple, cool, and free! Check it out!
Aug. 27, 2008
I don't usually fall in love with a camera -however I found one that is perfect for real estate. Take a look at this link: http://reviews.cnet.com/digital-cameras/canon-powershot-sd850-is/4505-6501_7-32441340.html?tag=contentMain;contentBody. If you are in the market for a new digital camera, make sure this is one you consider.
Aug. 25, 2008
Categorized in: Technology
Tagged with: improving your skills, technology
I just returned from a 4-day teaching engagement in Vietnam. I was asked to come by the Vietnam Real Estate Association in conjunction with the International Real Property Foundation (IRPF - a non-profit arm of the National Association of REALTORS®) and give a seminar covering everything from brokerage management and sales training to real estate technology. It was an amazing opportunity to bring to a country new to property rights how we in the US help people buy, sell, rent, and lease residential and commercial property. There was shock and amazement with many things we take for granted; such as our MLS systems, standardized contracts, and relatively easy access to capital. We had great discussions on all these topics plus we discussed how we value properties in the US and how the US market actually was versus what they saw on the news.
But what struck me most, was that at the end of the segment on real estate technology, one young woman came to me and said that no matter how much technology she might use in the future, she felt that personal one on one interaction was her key to success so far in the real estate business.
Right on! That's something for us all to remember; real estate whether residential, commercial or management is always going to come down to our personal contact and interactions. Don't get so wrapped up in technology that you forget that one very important fact.
Aug. 8, 2008
Categorized in: Moving Past Good to Excellent!
Tagged with: getting on track, swot analysis
Sometimes we just need to take a break and start from the beginning. In fact it is cathartic to sit down at least once a year and take the time to assess our strengths and weaknesses, our opportunities and threats. It allows us to see what we are doing well and what we need to work on, it also allows us to look at the market around us and determine where the opportunities may now be versus the past several years and to assess the current and potential future threats. This type of assessment is referred to as a SWOT Analysis. It is a worthwhile exercise you should take the time to use to improve your business. A free resource on SWOT is available at www.businessballs.com. For more tips and tricks check out this link to my website: http://www.achconsulting.com/new_page_18.htm For coaching information: http://www.achconsulting.com/new_page_10.htm
Aug. 4, 2008
Categorized in: Technology
Here's a cool item for your Treo from Mike Flynn (RVP Region 12), Washington State! It's a cell phone "kill pill." This is a way to send a coded SMS message to your Treo phone in case it's lost or stolen that will delete all your sensitive information. It's cheap ($15) and does other great stuff too; it is also packaged with a "do not disturb" feature, "super alarm," news and weather etc. http://www.bluefishwireless.com/products/Central_for_Treo.htm
And from Robert Bass, Phoenix, Arizona for you Blackberry users: Jott.com also has a special feature for BlackBerry 8800, 8300 (Curve), and 8100 (Pearl) users! It seamlessly integrates into the email application you already use, and is a huge leap forward for BlackBerry lovers in three ways: 1) it is 3-5 times faster than 'thumbing' text; 2) you won't be known for sending terse replies because you don't want to thumb type a more normal email message; and 3) you will be safer because you won't have to take your eyes off the road.
Thanks guys for the great tips!
Jul. 25, 2008
Categorized in: Technology
All right, many of my friends in real estate throughout the country are using it, but I just didn't see the need. Why would anyone leave voice messages on their cell phone that are turned into text e-mail messages? After all I can take the time to put reminders into my Smartphone or heaven forbid write them down the old fashioned way. I don't need another e-mail message to check...and then the day came when I was goaded into trying it. OK. So I was wrong; dead wrong.
www.Jott.com is one of the more useful services for agents on the go. And it is free - that is the best part. It takes you about 2 minutes to set it up, then you verify your phone then you are off and running in all of about 10 minutes. Easy peasy. (I can deal with an extra ad or two to use this service.)
So next time I am running around and need to "jot down" a note, I'll just use my cell phone and have Jott turn my voice message into a text e-mail message ta da! Keeping organized, keeping sane. :-) Cool. Try it for yourself.
And if you have an iPhone like me they have a special app for you that is way cool too!
Jul. 21, 2008
Categorized in: Moving Past Good to Excellent!
Tagged with: book review, good to great
Book Review Day!
I don't read many "business books" that are filled with beautiful sayings and tightly turned phrases that make you say ahhhhh. (I'll reread any Nathanial Hawthorn book again for that.) I don't want to waste my precious reading time. I want a book that is going to tell me straight out the information I need to improve myself and my business. Good to Great by Jim Collins is one of the latter. He gives you well researched, real world examples that you can apply to your business to improve your competency. His subtitle "why some companies make the leap and other don't" tells you what the book is going to be about. Plus at the end of each chapter he has a chapter summary if you are really pressed for time (or for you reread when you want to remember the point of that chapter).
A fantastic book and one you'll pull great ideas from that you can apply to your business today and tomorrow.
Enjoy!
Barnes and Noble: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Good-to-Great/Jim-Collins/e/9780066620992/?itm=1
Jul. 18, 2008
Categorized in: Technology
Tagged with: energy efficiency
Cool Tip of the Day!
With everyone looking for solutions to reduce their energy costs, check out this website site: www.eere.energy.gov/consumer/your_home. It is a great site for your clients and for you. It gives your clients useful information on how to improve the energy efficiency of their homes. It helps to educate us with information on topics such as new building techniques to reduce energy costs as well as information on saving money with energy efficient appliances. Cool!
Jul. 13, 2008
OK. Not all of our clients will search for a home on the internet. Not all of our clients will even visit our great websites. And unfortunately not all of our clients have a cell phone.
Did you know that according to a recent Neilson Marketing Association survey almost 20% of the respondents said they would purchase goods or services via texting!
So do your clients text? Can and do you text?
Here are a couple great links to get you started so you can add texting to your list of abilities:
· http://www.realtor.org/library_secured/web_intelligence/85 (Texting is half way down the page)
· http://www.netlingo.com/emailsh.cfm (List of text shorthand! Very handy!)
· http://soysilk.blogs.com/be_inspired/2007/04/learning_to_tex.html (Proves texting is everywhere!)
· http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,234282,00.html (Parents are using it to keep track of their children!)
Now make sure that you are signed up for text messaging (SMS) on your cell phone and text me!
Jul. 7, 2008
Categorized in: Moving Past Good to Excellent!
Tagged with: organizing your week, success
Here is a quick way to improve your weekly organization. · Sunday: take an hour today to plan your upcoming week; first acknowledge what you accomplished the week before, see what you still need to do, then put together your plan. Prioritize your items or projects into three categories: 1) current client needs and activities; 2) midterm client needs and activities; and 3) enhancing business activities / business development. Then add these activities to your calendar. For some if you are worried about the day getting away from you, add your “must dos” as appointments and stick to them. Note all your appointments both for business and personal, list your items to do on the appropriate day. I always set aside a lunch appointment with my husband once a week. :-)
· Monday: Spend your first hour on the computer checking and returning e-mails, and phone calls. Set aside 1 hour today and call 5 people ask them how they are doing, let them know one new fact about the local real estate market that they may not know, and then close by reminding them if they know anyone looking for a REALTOR® to please pass your contact information along, or to give you their contact information. As you are going through your calls write a quick handwritten thank you note to each person – whether you were able to contact them or not – as appropriate. At the end of the day, note what you accomplished and what you still have to do. Add those items into the remainder of your week.
· Tuesday: Spend your first hour on the computer checking and returning e-mails, and phone calls. 5 calls and 5 thank you notes. At the end of the day, note what you accomplished and what you still have to do. Add those items into the remainder of your week.
· Wednesday: Spend your first hour on the computer checking and returning e-mails, and phone calls. 5 calls and 5 thank you notes. At the end of the day, note what you accomplished and what you still have to do. Add those items into the remainder of your week.
· Thursday: Spend your first hour on the computer checking and returning e-mails, and phone calls. 5 calls and 5 thank you notes. At the end of the day, note what you accomplished and what you still have to do. Add those items into the remainder of your week.
· Friday: Spend your first hour on the computer checking and returning e-mails, and phone calls. 5 calls and 5 thank you notes. At the end of the day, note what you accomplished and what you still have to do. Add those items to Saturday or the following week.
· Saturday: Spend your first hour on the computer checking and returning e-mails, and phone calls. Prepare for appointments.
· Sunday: Repeat last Sunday’s activities.
I hope that if you try this for one week you will find that you will have a better handle on your weekly schedule and your life.
Jul. 2, 2008
Categorized in: Technology
Tagged with: cool tip 0f the day, technology
Cool tool for the day! For REALTORS® Add great banners to your e-mails or newsletters or websites! Get them free on www.realtor.org and search for "free e-mail banners" or use this direct link: http://rodomino.realtor.org/pac.nsf/pages/E-mailBanners |
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