Real Clues

[RealClues] #266: Are You Listening?

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Join the best female talent in the industry for the most awesome conference ever. We still have a few seats for Jennifer Cumming's Potato Chip Marketing Session. This will be worth thousands of dollars to your business. Visit www.ReallyAwesomeWomen.com to sign up now before this opportunity passes you by! This AWESOME conference is sponsored by women leaders for women leaders. March 19-21, 2007, Sandia Resort, Albuquerque, NM. Managers, broker/owners, association officers, executives, entrepreneurs--if you're in leadership, don't miss this amazing opportunity to network with the top female talent in the industry. Sign up today!

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Table of Contents
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1. CoachingClues: The Most Important Skill for 2007
2. Welcome Notes: Meet Three Awesome Women
3. Reprise: Powerful Questions: The Key to More Profit
4. Create a Better Life:
5. Featured Products: Give Yourself the Gift that Gives You Back Thousands
6. Increase Your Production with Personal Coaching
7. Give Us Your Feedback on this Newsletter
8. How to Subscribe/Unsubscribe

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1. CoachingClues: The Most Important Skill for 2007: Listening
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I recently attended the Luxury Conclave, the annual conference where the stars of luxury real estate come together to network and share strategies. Anne Murray Randolph, the editor of lore Magazine, and Jennifer Cummings, of KEYTURA, INC., shared their perspectives on what these superstars needed to know to market even more effectively to the ultra high end clientele they serve. If you want to stay ahead of the curve in your business, here are some important points you cannot afford to ignore.

1. The most important skill to master for 2007: Listening
Both Randolph and Cummings emphasized the importance listening. Today's consumer expects to have a dialogue with the agent rather than being told what to do. Meredith McKenzie of Troop Real Estate in California summed it up this way: "Instead of doing a listing presentation where you talk at the seller, a key strategy for success is to conduct a 'listening consultation' where you ask questions and write down what the seller says." When you work with a buyer, conduct a thorough interview to determine as much as possible about the buyer's lifestyle, what their "must-haves" are, as well as the features they are willing to sacrifice.

2. Be an expert, not a "potato"
One of the most compelling parts of Cummings' talk was her "potato chip marketing" program. The problem we face as an industry is that consumers view agents the same way they view commodities. We're like a pile of potatoes--there's nothing unique that makes us stand out from the other potatoes. In contrast, the opposite of a "potato" is being an "expert." Today's buyers and sellers want expert representation coupled with a superb customer experience. Cummings uses the following analogy to describe her approach: "Imagine that you will win $100,000 if you can get 12 squirrels to eat out of your hand in a single day. You will be required to stay within a few feet of a park bench. All you have to attract the squirrels is a bag of potato chips." Would you be able to do it? The point here is that you have to provide something of value to first attract the squirrel. In this case, it's a trail of potato chips. Many agents expect people to do business with them without first providing something of value. This is the notion of "give to get marketing." The second point is that you must earn trust. You are not going to attract any squirrels if you jump up and try to catch them as soon as they approach you. Trust comes from concentrating on what matters to the client, delivering what you promise, and putting the client's interest above your own. The first step in achieving each of these goals, however, is to listen carefully to your clients' concerns. Ask questions about their interests, how they spend their time when they are at home, the name of their pets, what the like to do for fun, etc. The more you concentrate on the client, the stronger your connection will be.

The "Learn Button is Missing"
Today's consumers are searching for a wide variety of real estate information on-line. While we have done a relatively good job of providing content regarding our listings, Randolph argues that we are forcing consumers to go other places to obtain information about how to buy or sell a property. This is another key example of how our industry is not listening carefully enough to what our clients want and need. For example, where are the brokerage websites that tell first time buyers what they need to do to qualify for their first loan? Where do consumers with poor credit go to learn how to clean up their credit so they can purchase a property? How should buyers and sellers choose an agent, mortgage, and title company? What inspectors do they need? What disclosures will they receive and what are the pitfalls they must avoid? What is the difference between a foreclosure, bankruptcy, and short sale? What is a transaction tracking platform and how does it work? How does data from the MLS differ from data from other web sources? Randolph argues that we need to add the "learn button" to our websites in order to provide them with all the content they need, not just listing or local community information. "Wikis" (www.ImmanWiki.com) are attempting to meet this need.

While most of our industry is still busy talking at our clients, you can stand out from the potatoes by listening and actively searching how to provide your clients the best possible buying or selling experience.

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2. Welcome Notes
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Welcome to our new subscribers this week. Each week RealClues provides you with great strategies to improve both your business and your life. If you find this issue of RealClues helpful, take a moment to hit the "forward" button and send it to another friend in the business.

This week's RealClues features wisdom from three of the awesome women who will be attending our awesome women conference in just two weeks. Meredith McKenzie will be joining RealEstateCoach.com as part of our new consulting team that will launch later this year. Anne Murray Randolph, the editor of lore Magazine, is also one of the leading experts in the world on real estate. Along with her brother Steve Murray, they are the publishers of Real Trends, the publication most firms rely on to assess what is happening in the industry. Jennifer Cummings will be joining us for a private session on the first night of the conference as well as sharing her approach to having an extraordinary business coupled with a great personal life. You won't want to miss my interview with Jennifer--it's amazing. You can listen to it at the link below:

http://realestatecoach.com/speaker-downloads.html#donnaleelaue

Have a great week!

Warmly, Bernice Ross, MCC, and Byron Van Arsdale, MCC
www.RealEstateCoach.com, www.LuxuryClues.com, www.RossdalePress.com, www.ConferenceCallTraining.com, and www.TeleconferenceLine.com

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3. Reprise: Powerful Questions: the Key to More Profit
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Closing is about asking powerful questions, not forcing people to list or sell. This article first ran in 2003 and is an excellent model for helping you to ask the questions that will let you close more business.
http://www.realestatecoach.com/articles_archive/art20030804.html

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4. Create a Better Life: How's Your Customer Service Savvy?
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When competition for buyers and/or sellers is fierce, customer service is often the deciding factor. To test your customer service as well as getting ideas on how to improve it, click on the link below:

http://realestatecoach.com/assessments/agent/ast_5.html

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5. Featured Products: Give Yourself the Gift that
Gives You Back Thousands
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For only $69.95, you can order the 82 scripts from Waging War on Real Estate's Discounters. If you already own the book, the audio CD script set is the best way to master the principles in the book and integrate the scripts into your presentations. If you're still caving in to sellers' demands to reduce your commission, stop throwing away thousands of dollars and order today!

http://www.realestatecoach.com/wagingwar.html

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6. Increase Your Production with Personal Coaching
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Looking for a well-trained coach who knows the real estate business? Our coaching team can help you increase your production and make your dreams come true! Send an e-mail to Shane@RealEstateCoach.com and we'll help find the right coach for you.

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7. Give Us Your Feedback On This Newsletter
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We want your feedback-to share your thoughts and suggestions, please e-mail us at Shane@RealEstateCoach.com.

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8. How to Subscribe/Unsubscribe
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Visit our Web site, http://www.RealEstateCoach.com to subscribe/unsubscribe to RealClues.

Copyright (c) 1996-2007, RealEstateCoach.com and Teleclass4U.com, LLC. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to reproduce, copy or distribute RealClues as long as this copyright notice and full information about contacting the contributors to this newsletter is attached.

Contributors to this newsletter:
Bernice Ross, MCC, and Byron Van Arsdale, MCC, Owners, www.RealEstateCoach.com, www.LuxuryClues.com, www.ConferenceCallTraining.com; www.RossdalePress.com; and www.TeleconferenceLine.com
Shane Bowlin, REC General Manager

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