Thursday, July 29, 2010
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Need Some Immediate Business?
If you need some immediate business, ask yourself: What am I currently doing to get referrals from my sphere of influence? Sometimes it can be as simple as picking up the phone and saying, "Hey mom I need your help. Please don't keep me a secret". My Money Making Business cards have produced some great results for agents. You can often times generate an immediate referral by slipping 3 or 4 of them into a card with a hand written personal note to your friends, family and advocates letting them know about your book (see www.SimpleListingSolutions.com to get your own) and asking them to help you make others aware of it. Your friends, family, past clients, advocates, teammates, dentist, chiropractor....all want to help but you have to ask! People enjoy helping people. We all feel good when we help others but we often have to confront our own issues about not wanting to ask for help, as if we somehow don't deserve it when in fact, we do!
Remember that when asking for help, you need to be clear on the kind of help you'd like. When someone asks you how to help you need to be able to respond with clear instructions like this: "Well, I've put together a book that will let people understand the options they have if they currently owe more on their home or investment property than it's worth. Can you think of someone you might know at your work or church or gym who might currently be in that situation? Would you give them my card and let them know that they can visit my website to get this book?
Stay in touch with your sphere of influence constantly and you will stay "top of consciousness" with them when they run into a friend or colleague who could use some good real estate advice and assistance. Slip off peoples radar screens or create the impression you don't need anybody's help and who knows what's slipping right by!
Remember that when asking for help, you need to be clear on the kind of help you'd like. When someone asks you how to help you need to be able to respond with clear instructions like this: "Well, I've put together a book that will let people understand the options they have if they currently owe more on their home or investment property than it's worth. Can you think of someone you might know at your work or church or gym who might currently be in that situation? Would you give them my card and let them know that they can visit my website to get this book?
Stay in touch with your sphere of influence constantly and you will stay "top of consciousness" with them when they run into a friend or colleague who could use some good real estate advice and assistance. Slip off peoples radar screens or create the impression you don't need anybody's help and who knows what's slipping right by!
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Zen & The Art Of Real Estate Marketing
What you think about you bring about so be careful what you spend your time thinking about!
If you're always thinking, "I need more business" or "I need this listing to sell" than you'll just continue to feed the need by giving energy to it. The thought and feeling of needing means that you don't have something. Not having that something will only increase if you keep putting thought energy into the not having, and needing it.
Does that make sense?
I always pay attention to my "self-talk" and make moment to moment conscious efforts to shape it in order to fit my intentions. By paying attention to the voices in my head I'm able to correct them when they start to go needy on me. I say things not only to myself, but out loud to my clients all the time that sound like this, "The perfect house for you is right around the corner! If it's not on the market yet, it's coming soon" or, "the buyer of this house is going to have a large down payment, be willing to close according to our schedule and be a pleasure to work with - you'll see!"
Now, it's critical that when this "perfect" buyer comes along (the one I've attracted through the power of positive thought plus a little help from my bag of tools) that "I" show up in a way that makes them want to continue to be perfect and work according to my sellers tricky closing requirements - or whatever.
My coach, friend and mentor used to say it like this, "Chris, talk to me in a way that makes me want to serve you". Have you ever tried talking to the woman behind the mile long check in line at the airport whose obviously about to have a melt down in a way that would make her honored to serve you? I have and it gotten bumped up into 1st Class when the flight was full coming home from a business trip on the east coast!
"Who we be" and "how we show up" in our daily interactions with the world is, I believe, fundamental to a healthy real estate practice. Our clients notice and appreciate it so much so that they continue to not only use our services, but become actively involved in referring people to us because they want their referral to have the same experience they had.
I've studied the Japanese martial art of Aikido for many years. In aikido, there are zero attacks. In other words, you can't really walk up and "do aikido" on someone, yet is is extremely martial. If someone throws a punch or grabs you, aikido techniques could be used to instantly break an arm, hand, elbow or drive them into the ground face first. Aikido is a circular as opposed to linear art and is very beautiful to watch and arguably the most technically difficult to learn of all martial arts.
The mat we train on is representative of the world we live in and our life in general. I've noticed that karate and other "striking" arts tend to create, or at least reinforce a mindset of "I strike" - as opposed to "I will not be struck", which is Aikido. Again, the focus is on "who you be". I am not a striker or kicker of people; I am a person who will not be struck or kicked - it's very different. O'Sensei, the founder of Aikido once said, "you can not wrap the world in leather but you can make leather moccasins".
How do we learn to walk in this often sharp and jagged world? The way seems simple enough to me.
If I want referrals, I be referrable. Want more business? Make the light of my authenticity and true desire to serve shine brightly and then put myself in front of people who need to buy and sell. I stop "needing" and start attracting through paying attention to who I be and know that it is coming if I just keep knowing it.
If you're always thinking, "I need more business" or "I need this listing to sell" than you'll just continue to feed the need by giving energy to it. The thought and feeling of needing means that you don't have something. Not having that something will only increase if you keep putting thought energy into the not having, and needing it.
Does that make sense?
I always pay attention to my "self-talk" and make moment to moment conscious efforts to shape it in order to fit my intentions. By paying attention to the voices in my head I'm able to correct them when they start to go needy on me. I say things not only to myself, but out loud to my clients all the time that sound like this, "The perfect house for you is right around the corner! If it's not on the market yet, it's coming soon" or, "the buyer of this house is going to have a large down payment, be willing to close according to our schedule and be a pleasure to work with - you'll see!"
Now, it's critical that when this "perfect" buyer comes along (the one I've attracted through the power of positive thought plus a little help from my bag of tools) that "I" show up in a way that makes them want to continue to be perfect and work according to my sellers tricky closing requirements - or whatever.
My coach, friend and mentor used to say it like this, "Chris, talk to me in a way that makes me want to serve you". Have you ever tried talking to the woman behind the mile long check in line at the airport whose obviously about to have a melt down in a way that would make her honored to serve you? I have and it gotten bumped up into 1st Class when the flight was full coming home from a business trip on the east coast!
"Who we be" and "how we show up" in our daily interactions with the world is, I believe, fundamental to a healthy real estate practice. Our clients notice and appreciate it so much so that they continue to not only use our services, but become actively involved in referring people to us because they want their referral to have the same experience they had.
I've studied the Japanese martial art of Aikido for many years. In aikido, there are zero attacks. In other words, you can't really walk up and "do aikido" on someone, yet is is extremely martial. If someone throws a punch or grabs you, aikido techniques could be used to instantly break an arm, hand, elbow or drive them into the ground face first. Aikido is a circular as opposed to linear art and is very beautiful to watch and arguably the most technically difficult to learn of all martial arts.
The mat we train on is representative of the world we live in and our life in general. I've noticed that karate and other "striking" arts tend to create, or at least reinforce a mindset of "I strike" - as opposed to "I will not be struck", which is Aikido. Again, the focus is on "who you be". I am not a striker or kicker of people; I am a person who will not be struck or kicked - it's very different. O'Sensei, the founder of Aikido once said, "you can not wrap the world in leather but you can make leather moccasins".
How do we learn to walk in this often sharp and jagged world? The way seems simple enough to me.
If I want referrals, I be referrable. Want more business? Make the light of my authenticity and true desire to serve shine brightly and then put myself in front of people who need to buy and sell. I stop "needing" and start attracting through paying attention to who I be and know that it is coming if I just keep knowing it.
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