A Fresh Approach to Real Estate Rookie-hood with Jennifer Allan

How Do You Think Your Current (and Future) Clients Might Feel About Your 80/20 Plan?

Jennifer Allan-Hagedorn, Author of Sell with Soul (Sell with Soul) — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 07:14:35 -0500

There was a featured blog here in the Rain a few weeks ago advising agents to devote 80% of their time prospecting for new business and 20% dealing with current business (i.e. active buyers and sellers). This isn't the first time we've seen this advice and it won't be the last; in fact, most Big Name training programs proclaim that a real estate agent's primary job is to prospect; that agents should vigorously resist the temptation to abandon their daily prospecting when clients call with pesky, administrative, non-income-producing problems to solve.

But I can't help but wonder... If a real estate agent's primary job is to prospect... and if the job our clients have hired us to perform for them can be done in a few hours a week... how on earth do we justify charging fees in the thousands and thousands of dollars?

Hold that thought while we return to the advice to devote far more time to prospecting than to serving...

Let's say that all this focused prospecting is paying off, and an agent is gathering an impressive book of real estate business - 5, 10, 20, 40 active buyers and sellers. Bravo!

But, hmmmmm, just because the agent now has more clients to serve doesn't add hours to the day, so if he insists (as he's advised to do) on sticking to his 80/20 plan (because it's working so well!), his current clients are obviously going to be receiving smaller and smaller slices of his care and attention.

"But," the Power Prospector protests, "if I don't make prospecting a priority in my business and I do focus on my current clients, down the road I'll find myself with an empty pipeline and I can't have THAT! So, even if I'd like to do the job I promised to do I'd prefer to provide great service to my clients, I can't because I need to ensure that I always have new business coming in."

Well, um...

I'm guessing your current clients wouldn't think much of this argument, especially as they're feeling more and more neglected by the agent who promised them the world in service - and isn't delivering. I'm guessing they aren't singing his praises around the water cooler or at yoga class. I'm thinking that if they knew his business model was predicated on spending the vast majority of his time searching for, preparing for and pitching to his future clients instead of taking care of THEM, his current clients, they might have thought twice about hiring him in the first place.

Here's the thing. Taking proper care of your clients takes time. Your need for a full pipeline doesn't change the fact that you made promises and commitments to the buyers and sellers who believed you would take great care of them and their real estate needs. Believe me, they did NOT hire you because they were impressed by your prospecting prowess; they hired you because you assured them you'd take better care of them than any of the other agents they considered honoring with their business.

The bottom line is that if you can't handle more than X number of active buyers and sellers without sacrificing your service to them, then I guess you shouldn't be looking for more business when you already have as much as you can properly take care of.

Now let's go back to the first concept in this blog - if you're only devoting a few hours or even a few minutes a week to your clients, don't you think they might start to wonder what on earth they're paying you so much money for? And IF WHAT WE DO FOR OUR CLIENTS IS SO EASY THAT IT ONLY TAKES 20% OF OUR TIME OR WE CAN HAND IT OFF TO A $12/HOUR ASSISTANT, are our services really worth the fees we charge?

You can't have it both ways. You can't say, on one hand, that client care is simply a collection of administrative tasks that can be handled in your spare time or by an assistant, and THEN in the next breath declare that your client-care services are extremely valuable and should be well-compensated.

For the record, I don't believe that what we do is easy and I do believe we deserve to be well-compensated... as long as... we're doing the job we were HIRED to do and giving it our full attention.

I'll continue this soon, but please share your thoughts with me!

Who Sez You're Not Good Enough? And Why Are You Paying to Hear it?

Jennifer Allan-Hagedorn, Author of Sell with Soul (Sell with Soul) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 07:12:56 -0500

I’d already been rather distressed this last week about something - and the timing is unfortunate because I have so many other things to do besides rant and rave and whine and fuss about my Issue du Jour (or du Week?) ... and then I saw Leslie Ebersole's excellent featured blog called "Mocking Me Won't Make Me Buy" and was inspired to put my rantings and ravings and fussings on "paper."

In the last 7 days, I’ve received no fewer than 12 emails or calls from real estate agents who are frustrated with the messages they’re getting from their high-priced "coaches" telling them that WHO THEY ARE isn’t good enough and unless they change WHO THEY ARE, they’ll fail. They’re paying Big Bucks for this message to be delivered to them on a regular basis and they seem to think the advice is warranted - that they truly aren’t good enough.

What a number that message is doing on their psyches! I have to wonder… maybe this is being snarky… but I have to wonder if that’s the intent – to play on the agents’ insecurities so they’ll keep forking over the $200/month, $500/month or even $1,000/month for coaching that seems intent on convincing the coachee that they’re, well, not good enough!

Now, I’m not talking about simply encouraging these agents to work a little harder, or work a little smarter or be a little more consistent. No, as far as I can tell, these programs are advising agents to venture WAY out of their comfort zones into places that they REEEALLY don’t want to go – and for some reason the agents aren’t making the connection that something that creeps them out might be wrong for them!

Here's the thing. Hiring a coach and writing him or her big check doesn't change who YOU are. If today you're creeped out by an approach to prospecting or deal-closing, don't think it's going to be any different tomorrow just because you signed up for an expensive program. You'll still be creeped out, I promise.

As I’ve said once or twice or a dozen times… if something feels wrong to you; if something makes you feel icky and dread getting up in the morning – it’s WRONG for you! And you don’t have to do it to succeed, no matter how much money you just paid someone to convince you that you should or how much they try to make you feel inferior for hesitating! You CAN succeed by being wonderful, extraordinary, one-of-a-kind YOU, I promise!

Okay, rant over. For now.

The Proper Care & Feeding of Sellers From Listing to Contract - a Free SWS Teleseminar

Jennifer Allan-Hagedorn, Author of Sell with Soul (Sell with Soul) — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 07:28:05 -0500

Especially for Rookie Agents (but everyone is welcome), this teleseminar show is about what happens (or SHOULD happen) between the time you get your new seller client's signature on the listing agreement and that glorious day you go under contract.

Contrary to what some seem to believe, there are a LOT of things that a listing agent can (and should) do once the sign goes in the yard, way above and beyond the 3P's (Put a sign in the yard, Put it in the MLS, Pray). Things like communicating with the seller every day during the first week and on a regular basis thereafter. Making sure the seller approves your MLS listing. Keeping up with market activity in the area and ensuring the seller knows you are. Checking in on your listing in person every week or so. Verifying with the HOA what the seller told you about it. Soliciting and communicating showing feedback. Updating your photos when the season changes. And so much more.

You do these things not only because they make your seller happy (which is certainly not an insignificant reason!) but also because the more in touch with your listings you are, the more likely they're going to sell, and when your listings sell, everyone wins.

So, on November 10th, we'll discuss all these things a listing agent should be doing during the listing-to-contract phase, based off of Jennifer's New-Listing Checklist which you can review at the SWS VIP Lounge here: www.SellwithSoul.com/vip_lounge.html.

During the show we'll cover topics such as:

What you need to do right away once you have a signed listing agreement
What you need to make sure your seller does prior to going on the market
What you need to do one week, two weeks, three weeks (and beyond) after the list date
What sorts of things (and when) to communicate to your seller throughout the process
How to communicate feedback
Proactive steps to take to head off problems before they arise
And... whatever else we think of to tell you about!

Sound like fun? If so, please mark your calendar and join us on November 10th!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

THE DETAILS
Date: Thursday, November 10th, 2011
Time: 8:00am Pacific / 9:00am Mountain / 10:00am Central / 11:00am Eastern
Duration: 60 - 75 minutes
Equipment Needed: A computer with a high-speed connection and speakers or a telephone.
Cost: Free, but you must register, below.

REGISTER FOR THE SHOW HERE!

Surviving the Home Inspection - You are NOT Powerless! A Free SWS Teleseminar

Jennifer Allan-Hagedorn, Author of Sell with Soul (Sell with Soul) — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 11:29:07 -0400

REGISTER FOR THE SHOW HERE

It used to be that the inspection period of a real estate transaction was biggest hurdle to overcome once your buyer (or listing) were under contract. Get through the inspection and sigh with relief - you're heading for a closing!

Well, that may not be the case today, but it doesn't mean that inspections aren't still a painful process for everyone, and are responsible for their fair share of failed real estate transactions. And when a sale falls apart due to inspection issues, everyone loses - the buyer, the seller, the lender and of course, both agents involved.

Sure, there are some properties that are simply in such poor repair that unless your buyer is Joe Handy(wo)man or your seller is Mr(s). Cheerful Moneybags, the deal should crash & burn. But most of the time, inspections kill the sale not because the home is a money pit, but because emotions and egos get in the way... and down the proverbial toilet we go.

But the good news is that YOU, as the buyer or listing agent, have a whole lot more influence over the outcome of the inspection than you may have given yourself credit for. You CAN hold these sales together (if it's the right thing for your client, of course!) and do your part to help everyone happily continue the journey toward the closing table.

So, if inspections have been a deal-buster for you in the past, or if you're a new agent and aren't really sure what your role is during the inspection process, please join us for a frank discussion about Inspections and How to Survive Them.

THE DETAILS
Date: Thursday, October 13th, 2011
Time: 8:00am Pacific / 9:00am Mountain / 10:00am Central / 11:00am Eastern
Duration: 60 - 75 minutes
Equipment Needed: A computer with a high-speed connection and speakers or a telephone.
Cost: Free to attend live, but you must register below!

REGISTER FOR THE SHOW HERE

Aspiring Real Estate Agents - NO! You Do NOT Need a Website (yet)!

Jennifer Allan-Hagedorn, Author of Sell with Soul (Sell with Soul) — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 09:30:52 -0400

I recently released two newsletter mini-clinics especially for aspiring real estate agents - that is - real estate agent wannabe's who are not yet licensed, but hope to be someday. The first is called "So You Wanna Be a Real Estate Agent" and was created to help people decide if real estate is a good career for them, and the second - "So, You're ALMOST a Real Estate Agent" is about helping pre-licensees (those currently in real estate school) figure out what they can be doing NOW to prepare for that happy day they hang their bright shiny new real estate license on the wall of their new office.

Anyway, since I released the two mini-clinics, I've been contacted by several aspiring agents asking for my advice on the whole pre-rookie experience. Guess what the number one question is?

"Should I start putting together a website?"

My answer is always the same (I tend to be predictable that way). I say NO (although I do advise them to get a domain name for email purposes).

Here's why.

Brand new real estate agents have a lot to do. A LOT. They need to be learning about their real estate market. They need to be mastering their contracts and disclosures. They need to become intimately familiar with their MLS and their contract software. They need to understand how the buyer process works from showing to offer to contract to closing. They need to put together a plan to market their listings and decide how to structure their fees. They should be shadowing other agents on showings, inspections, appraisals and closings. They should be creating their team of great lenders, inspectors and handymen. They need to be reconnecting with their spheres of influence and creating transaction checklists. They need to learn about short sales and foreclosures. They need to learn how to properly price homes and create coherent, compelling, persuasive CMAs. They need to choose a contact management system and learn how to use it.

PLENTY to do.

Now, if there were unlimited hours in the day, unlimited dollars in the bank and unlimited energy in the proverbial gas tank, then sure, let's add "creating a website" to that list. But the reality for most new agents is that there is not unlimited time, an unlimited budget or an unlimited supply of energy, so a little triage is necessary.

(By the way, if a new agent is finding that they DO have plenty of time on their hands, something is WRONG! Take a look at that list above and determine what it is you aren't doing... and do THAT).

Your website can wait. For now, just sign up for your broker-provided site, do the minimum required to not look like a slacker, and focus on creating a great product (that would be YOU) so that when the time comes to Create Your Website, you actually have something compelling to say about that great product!

The moral of the story - rookie agents - mark "Create My Website" off your list of Things to Do Today. Whew - one less thing!

The Proper Care & Feeding of Buyers From Contract to Closing - a Free SWS Teleseminar

Jennifer Allan-Hagedorn, Author of Sell with Soul (Sell with Soul) — Wed, 28 Sep 2011 07:26:14 -0400

Especially for Rookie Agents (but everyone is welcome)!

Our next SWS teleseminar show is about what happens during that mysterious period between writing an offer... and receiving your commission check. While rookie agents sometimes receive lots of training about how to SHOW houses and maybe even about how to write up offers, they are rarely given much guidance as to their duties and responsibilities once their buyer is under contract/in escrow heading for the closing table. And there's a lot going on behind the scenes!

But here's the thing. The process of getting from Contract-to-Closing varies significantly across markets. In some areas, attorney involvement is common, even required. In others, attorneys aren't involved at all except in very special circumstances. In some markets, the property officially changes hands at the closing table; in others, the new owner must wait for the paperwork to be filed and recorded. In some areas, the inspection period allows the buyer to terminate the contract for any reason whatsoever; in others, they must give the seller the opportunity to correct any deficiencies they find.

My point is that any non-market-specific class about how the period from Contract-to-Closing works will unfortunately be imperfect due to such variances. But that doesn't mean we won't do our best to help our new agents better understand the process!

On September 29th, we'll have three agents here in the SWS Virtual Studio, from three different geographic locations, describe the Contract-to-Closing process in their market. We'll have an agent from the Northeast, one from the Rocky Mountains and one from California. During the show we'll cover topics such as:

What you need to do immediately following contract execution
What you need to make sure your buyer does immediately following contract execution
How, why, when and with whom to follow up throughout the process
Your role during the inspection period
Proactive steps to take to head off problems before they arise
What your responsibilities are prior to, during and after the closing
And... whatever else we think of to tell you about!

Sound like fun? If so, please mark your calendar and join us on September 29th!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

THE DETAILS
Date: Thursday, September 29th, 2011
Time: 8:00am Pacific / 9:00am Mountain / 10:00am Central / 11:00am Eastern (Please show up a little early to get settled in.)
Duration: 60 - 75 minutes
Equipment Needed: A computer with a high-speed connection and speakers or a telephone.
Cost: Free to attend live, but you must register, below.

REGISTER HERE

The Real Estate Numbers Game in Reverse - Did You Impress More than You Annoyed?

Jennifer Allan-Hagedorn, Author of Sell with Soul (Sell with Soul) — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 09:50:33 -0400

As the Introverted Real Estate Agent's New Best Friend (I just made that up), I give out a lot of advice on how to make a real estate career work even if you aren't the most outgoing, charismatic social butterfly in town. The other day I was asked about the appropriateness of adding people to your mailing list (either email or snail-mail) without their permission. Spam issues aside (we're talking about people we know, not strangers), many introverts are hesitant to begin any structured communication with a friend or acquaintance for fear of annoying them.

I get that. Oh, how I get that. I agonize over my mailing list every time I send something out, whether it be to my real estate Sphere of Influence or my Sell with Soul readership. I wonder if I'm communicating too much; if I'm wearing out my welcome; or conversely, if I'm not communicating enough and my audience has forgotten who I am. I worry about the appropriateness of including a little promo for my next product or new listing. Conversely, I worry that if I don't, I'm not fulfilling my duty to myself to effectively market my stuff.

It's easy to over-think such things and end up doing nothing. Which is a bad plan. So, if this sounds anything like you, here are a few thoughts to put your mind at ease...

First, ask yourself if what you're getting ready to send out is something you're proud of. If it's something you'd enjoy receiving in your mailbox or inbox. Or, egads, if it's some cheesy newsletter or sales piece that you'd toss without reading if it were sent to you.

If your communication is something you are proud of and would enjoy receiving, then move on down to the next point. If it's not, if you're actually embarrassed by your effort, then you need to honor that gut feeling and return to the drawing board. Because, in my opinion, sending something cheesy or dorky is NOT better than doing nothing at all! But that's a topic for a different day.

If you're pleased with your piece, send it out. To everyone. Here's the thing. A few might be annoyed or feel spammed. That's a fact. But most won't. The vast majority won't. If you're sending out good stuff, most will enjoy it and be impressed by you. Which is good for business.

I'd rather impress 10 people and risk annoying one than take the chance of some other agent getting my SOI's business because I was worried about the one...

"Good for you, let me know if you need anything."

Jennifer Allan-Hagedorn, Author of Sell with Soul (Sell with Soul) — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 07:53:01 -0400

That's the response my first-month real estate agent friend got from her Big Name broker when she emailed to say she had a $1.5M buyer lead. "Good for you, let me know if you need anything."

Are you kidding me?

My friend, smart as she is ;-] can barely spell MLS. She doesn't know what radon is, she doesn't know any inspectors, she doesn't yet have a relationship with a lender. She doesn't know how to select the best homes to show her new buyer.

But of course, she's been thoroughly trained on scripts, farming and other prospecting strategies as part of her Big Name training package.

We've all been there, and it's a scary place. An exciting place to be, for sure, especially when a $1.5M buyer comes to call (hmmmmm... yeah, I can do that math). And yes, being new implies a level of scariness when presented with one's first customers. But Puh-leeeeaze! To tell a brand spanking new agent to "let me know if you need anything" is criminal, in my opinion. Okay, that's melodramatic, so if not criminal, let's say irresponsible. Heck, how about downright STUPID? My friend is on a 60/40% split, so the broker's take on this deal is... how much? A LOT. And the chances of my friend closing this deal without help are slim-to-none. Oh, and the guy is qualified up to $3.5M but claims that he's "cheap," so he asked my friend to try to stay around $1.5M.

My friend calls me for help. Of course, I don't know her market or her contracts or her MLS or her local customs, but so far, I've been a hell of a lot more help to her than her on-site, stands-to-make-$20k-on-the-deal broker.

I won't name names, but this is a national company that recruits rookie agents and promises them world-class training. I'm underwhelmed, to say the least.

Thanks for listening.

When’s The Best Time to Plant a Tree?

Jennifer Allan-Hagedorn, Author of Sell with Soul (Sell with Soul) — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 08:10:05 -0400

Have you ever heard the little ditty about the “What's the Best Time to Plant a Tree?”

25 years ago.

What’s the next best time to plant a tree?

Today.

Put another way – What, one year from now, will you wish you’d done today?

Or even another way – What, one year from now, will you be thrilled you did today?

Do that. Today.

So tell me… what’s on your To-Do-Today list that you’ll be tickled with yourself for doing one year from now?

So My Contacts Are Loaded... Now What? Part 2

Jennifer Allan-Hagedorn, Author of Sell with Soul (Sell with Soul) — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 09:59:49 -0400

As promised... here is the follow-up to my earlier blog about what to do with your contacts once you've loaded them up in your contact management system to maximize the likelihood that your sphere of influence (the people who know you) will support your real estate business. If you'd like to read the first installment where I covered Steps 1-6, here 't'is: http://activerain.com/blogsview/2454716/so-my-contacts-are-loaded-what-now-

In a nut, Steps 1-6 had you going through all the names in your database to identify any missing bits of information, then categorizing your contacts as Group One, Group Two or IDK's and then creating sub-groups.

By the way, if you'd rather just watch the video of the whole webinar, you can do that here: www.sellwithsoul.com/cms-contacts.

So, here are Steps 7 and 8:

Step 7: Research all the missing bits of information that you identified earlier and fill them in on each contacts' profile. Facebook is a great resource for email addresses and birthdays, BTW.

Step 8: Concurrent with Step 7, identify each person in their profile as a Group One, Group Two or IDK, as well as any sub-group they belong to.

(Depending on your contact manager, this last step can probably be done on a "mass" input basis.)

Once you've completed Steps 7 and 8, you should have a relatively complete and up-to-date database (wasn't that fun? LOL). If you stay on top of it, you'll never have to go through this entire exercise again, although I believe it's a good practice to print out your database and review it a few times a year, just for kicks.

So, now, it's time to start reconnecting with the people whose names are in that database.

Depending on your business model and future plans for your sphere of influence, you may want to send out a "reconnection letter." I won't talk about that today because it would take too long, but I have a live workshop coming up this fall on the subject.

But whether you send out a mass reconnection letter or not, there are several things you can be doing to reconnect with your sphere of influence, starting now!

Here's what I would do.

First, I would print out my Group Ones (my social network) and go through the list name by name to see who I feel like reconnecting with in the next week or two. The cool thing is that your "mood" will change week to week, so NEXT week, you can go through the list again and be drawn toward completely different people. I'd try to go out for coffee or drinks with two or three people a week until I'd had a face-to-face with all my Group Ones (or at least attempted to, thus making contact).

As I'm going through my list of Group Ones, I'd try to remember the last conversation I had with each person to remind myself where we left off in our friendship.

Then, on an ongoing basis after each social encounter, I'd immediately write down something we talked about that I can follow up with in a few days or weeks, and enter that follow-up as a task in my contact manager. For example, maybe my friend told me she was getting a new puppy over the weekend; I could call the next week to see how it's going. Or maybe a friend tells me her mother has been ill - I can follow up in a few days to see if she needs anything.

What about your Group Twos (your "everyone else" contacts who aren't in your social network)? Well, I communicate with my Group Two with postal mailings and mass emailings. I don't try to socialize with them or make personal contact unless I have a bona-fide reason to, but my Group Two was always a significant source of business for me, even without the face-to-face/voice-to-voice contact.

So, that's the show for today ;-]. Hope you enjoyed this little mini-series on What To Do Now That Your Contacts Are Loaded!

To read more about my Contact Management ramblings, just go here: www.SellwithSoul.com/contact-management.

Negotiate with Soul - a Free SWS Teleseminar

Jennifer Allan-Hagedorn, Author of Sell with Soul (Sell with Soul) — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 07:40:48 -0400

Excerpted from Chapter Ten of "If You're Not Having Fun Selling Real Estate..."

I used to be afraid of the word “negotiate.” I considered it, paradoxically, to be both beneath me and also over my head. My vision of a master negotiator was someone who was expertly manipulative, who had the attitude of one of my first clients: “It’s not a good negotiation until both sides feel some pain.” I pictured a cheesy salesperson in an expensive suit making his opponent feel inadequate and inexperienced so that she eventually gives in against her will.

I wanted no part of that!

On the other hand, I was also intimidated by the concept of becoming a good negotiator. I read books on the Art of Persuasion and Negotiation and found the methods to be interesting but not terribly practical. When I’m having a conversation with someone, I simply can’t intentionally steer the conversation in the direction I want it to go using rehearsed scripts. And, frankly, being a girl, it’s important to me that there is a mutual trust in any conversation I have—y’know, that whole feminine relationship-building thing.

So, for years, the idea of being a great negotiator wasn’t something I was interested in becoming.

But you know what? Somehow I became one without even trying. No, not by listening to subliminal sleep tapes, reading books or taking an expensive weekend course, but rather by trusting my own common sense and understanding of human nature.

***

I hear from agents all the time who say they "hate the negotiation part of real estate." Yikes! While negotiating may not be the most important skill we possess (although then again, it might be!), it's certainly something we should be reasonably competent at, and therefore, not hate the thought of!

And becoming a reasonably competent negotiator really isn't all that difficult - a lot of it is common sense and common courtesy.

So, if you find yourself dreading the negotiation process during your real estate transactions, let us help. On August 18th, I'll be joined in the studio by Blake Farley, an SWS'er who has discovered the joys of Negotiating with Soul. We'll each share our tips and strategies for getting your clients what they want -- without alienating the other side!

THE DETAILS
Date: Thursday, August 18th, 2011
Time: 8:00am Pacific / 9:00am Mountain / 10:00am Central / 11:00am Eastern (Please show up a little early to get settled in.)
Duration: 75 - 90 minutes
Equipment Needed: A computer with a high-speed connection and speakers or a telephone.
Cost: Free to attend live, but you must register, below. You may purchase a recording afterwards for $3.99 in the SWS Bookstore.

REGISTER HERE

Isn't That Why I Hired You?

Jennifer Allan-Hagedorn, Author of Sell with Soul (Sell with Soul) — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 17:19:35 -0400

Excellent rebuttal post to my recent blog which included advice to shut up and write up a low-ball offer for a buyer instead of trying to talk him out of it. Brenda (very politely) called me on my stance, and it appears that 100% of the comments so far agree with her and not me (hmpf!). ;-]

Actually, I'm glad she made an issue out of my advice AND that her blog was featured because it gave me the opportunity to clarify my opinion on the matter (both in my own head and here on my blog)!

If you didn't catch this on the Active Rain Gold Star page already - Enjoy!

Via Brenda Mullen, Realtor® Selling Guadalupe County Real Estate (Smart Moves Realty):

Isn't That Why I Hired You?

I commented on a very good blog from Jennifer Allan yesterday called How Do I Talk My Buyer Out of Low-balling? The blog generated some discussion, but one of the points that Jennifer brought up was...write the offer up, if the buyer wants your opinion, they will ask for it. Now I am a HUGE fan of Jennifer Allan and her Sell with Soul philosophy but...

I disagree just a tad with this premise. Not the premise about writing the offer up, because I will, but the idea that if the buyer wants my opinion, they will ask for it and that I need to wait until they do or they might think I'm not on their side. I believe that is why the buyer hired me in the first place...my educated and experienced opinion on buying a home in the area that they want and for the price range that they are pre-approved for.

Buyers today have choices in who they hire as a Realtor® and when I become their Guadalupe County buyer's agent, I become their advocate and advice giver about all aspects of the home buying process and that includes the entire process from beginning to the closing table (and sometimes even after). I am not, nor do I want to be just a door opener and contract writer, although I do both of those things very well if I do say so myself :). When (not if) we find home for the buyer, I advise them that I will prepare a comparative market analysis for them to give them an opinion about the value of the home and how we can come together to best get them the home that they want.

Once I present to them the comparables, and given what they want to spend and if they want any seller contributions, we will then discuss a strategy how to best get them into the home they want. Now, so that everyone understands where I am coming from, ultimately the decision will come from the buyer. If they choose to low ball because it's a buyers market and there are deals to be had, I don't have any issue with that. I will let them know, however, the possible consequences. Is it true that the seller may just accept the offer as written...sure. We never truly know what a seller will accept or not accept until we ask.. and this is a truism...however, a lot of the time a low ball offer will get at the minumum countered. I feel it my duty to at least let the buyer know "my opinion" on what or how the seller may react to the offer so that there are minimal surprises if and when the offer comes back countered to full price (which happens all of the time) or gets rejected in favor of another offer (which happens all of the time).

Again, I must note...I will not try to "talk the buyer out of the offer or make them go up". All I can do is present the information and allow the buyer to make their own decision based on that information.

If I don't counsel (provide my opinion to) them, and they lose the home because of the low ball offer, then the buyer is sure to wonder why I did not give them any input.

What happened...?

well..you didn't ask for my opinion...if you had I would have provided you these comparables and let you know your options.

Well isn't that why I hired you?

Don't beat me up Jennifer :).

Would you like more information about the Guadalupe County Real Estate Market or do you need to sell your home in Schertz TX, Cibolo TX or Selma TX? Call Me, Brenda Mullen Realtor® Smart Moves Realty at 210-807-0819 or send an e-mail at brenda.mullen@sbcglobal.net. I would be happy to prepare a Free Comparative Market Analysis for you and show you the marketing that will set your home apart from the rest! Can't wait to hear from you!
--

Follow Me at These Cool Places

Brenda Mullen
Realtor®, ACRE®, ABR®, ePro®

Smart Moves Realty - Helping You Find Home
17156 I-35 N
210-807-0819
brenda.mullen@sbcglobal.net
http://www.findurwayhome.com

How Do I Talk My Buyer Out of Low-Balling?

Jennifer Allan-Hagedorn, Author of Sell with Soul (Sell with Soul) — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 08:01:01 -0400

So, you have a buyer who is bound and determined to get a killer deal on some real estate, huh? He’s heard-tell of this here “buyer’s market” and wants to get himself a piece of that action. Even if it takes all year…

Sigh.

We’ve all been there. Worked with buyers who, in our opinions, were unrealistic about the extent of this here buyer’s market and the depths to which sellers are willing to go to offload their properties. They’ve listened to late-night seminars or their Uncle Charlie who provided “expert” advice on how to properly offer on a property (asking price MINUS repairs needed MINUS profit desired MINUS margin for risk MINUS 25%-for-good-measure) without regard for whether or not the asking price is reasonable or not.

They want a deal. And they want you to help them get a deal.

So, you find them exactly what they say they’re looking for. A well-priced home in a good location that needs just the right amount of work to satisfy their need for adding value with cosmetic upgrades.

Yay, sez you! Yay, sez your buyer!

You head for the offer table and the buyer wants to offer low. Really low. Obnoxiously low. Ridiculously low. Unreasonably low. (I’ll stop now, you get my drift).

What do you do?

Write ‘er up.

Yep, write it up as per the instructions of your client. No fussing, no arguing, no defending the asking price. If your buyer wants your opinion, he’ll ask for it. Not to say you can’t provide market data if he seems at all interested, but in most cases, especially early on, he won’t be. He wants a deal and he’s certainly entitled to go after it.

Why shouldn’t you try to talk him out of low-balling?

The buyer is the boss. It’s his money and he has the right to spend it (or not) the way he sees fit.
You never know what the seller will accept. If you tried to talk your buyer “up” and the seller accepts his low offer, you’re toast in the credibility department.
The buyer hired you to be on his team. His wants are your wants. His preferences, your preferences.
If you argue with your buyer over offer price, he’ll wonder if you’re in cahoots with the seller or listing agent, again, jeopardizing your credibility.

Of course, it’s up to you to decide if you want to continue working with the low-balling buyer! You are certainly entitled to end the relationship if it’s not satisfying to you, just as he’s entitled to make whatever ridiculous, unreasonable, obnoxious offer he wants to. But before you fire a low-balling buyer, consider this…

Think of all the good that can come of this experience!

Um….what good, Jennifer?

Tell ya what – I’ve overstayed my welcome on this blog today, so I'll open the floor to your comments. Any thoughts on why you might not want to fire that bottom-feeding, low-balling buyer o'yours?

Sitting Down With Real Estate Sales and Sphere of Influence Expert, Jennifer Allan-Hagedorn, Author of “Sell With Soul”

Jennifer Allan-Hagedorn, Author of Sell with Soul (Sell with Soul) — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 18:17:54 -0400

Hey, that's me! My good friend Rich Gaasenbeek of IXACT Contact asked me some great questions about SOI and contact management and I must admit, I'm rather enamored with some of my answers.

Enjoy!

If you'd like to do a 60-day trial of my new favorite contact management system (that would be IXACT), just go here: www.ixactcontact.com/ja. First year agents can get SIX MONTHS free - email me for details.

Via Rich Gaasenbeek (IXACT Contact Solutions Inc.):

Jennifer Allan-Hagedorn, the top producing real estate broker turned Author, Speaker, and Trainer, knows how to energize a real estate sales career, and, as any of her followers will tell you, can motivate, inspire, and advise like no other. Jennifer’s books, Sell With Soul: Creating an Extraordinary Career in Real Estate without Losing Your Friends, Your Principles or Your Self-Respect and If You’re Not Having Fun Selling Real Estate, You’re Not Doing it Right, have been tremendously successful and instrumental in helping REALTORS® improve their careers. Her most recent book, Prospect with Soul for Real Estate Agents, was just released in May of 2011. When Jennifer was a broker, she sold between 40 and 60 houses per year and since then has been passionate about sharing her knowledge with others.

IXACT Contact recently sat down with Jennifer for a special Q&A blog post. “It’s all about professionalism; acting as an advisor, not a prospector, and loving what you do,” she says.

IXACT Contact: I’m curious to know what motivated you to move from your successful career as a real estate broker to the work you’re doing now?

Jennifer: Well, it was a series of serendipitous events that led up to the career change – which at the time didn’t seem so serendipitous! I owned a real estate company with a partner who, one day, decided she didn’t want to be in real estate sales anymore. BAM! I wasn’t in a position at the time to continue without her, so I took the “opportunity” to finish up a book I’d started three years earlier. I had no idea at the time what was involved in becoming a world-famous author so I made a lot of mistakes, took a lot of wrong turns and enjoyed a bunch of “learning experiences!” But it’s been worth every single painful moment – I absolutely LOVE what I do and appreciate my extraordinary good fortune to do what I love AND get paid for it.

IXACT Contact: “Sell With Soul” is such a captivating phrase! What is the essence of the Sell With Soulapproach to a real estate sales career?

Jennifer: The definition of Selling with Soul is to enjoy a wildly successful career selling real estate by treating clients and prospects respectfully, as you yourself would like to be treated. Sounds suspiciously like the good old Golden Rule, huh? But to go a little further – on the cover of Sell with Soul (the book), there are four words: Respect, Competence, Enthusiasm and Confidence, which I believe are the inter-related pillars of success in a real estate career: Respect your clients and prospects… Be competent (even exceptional) at what you do… Love what you do… all of which leads to a self-confidence that is far more attractive to your potential clients than any elevator speech, fancy brochure or scripted sales pitch will ever be.

IXACT Contact: That’s such a refreshingly common sense approach and I can understand why it has resonated so powerfully with so many people. On the flip side, what are the most common mistakes you see new REALTORS® making?

Jennifer: Oh my… where do I start? The biggest mistake I see them make is to head out into the world looking for business before they know what to do with it – in other words, focusing on real estate prospecting without taking the time to learn how to BE a competent real estate agent. I’ve seen agents literally on their first day of work handed a list of expired listings and told to start calling them for appointments – before the agent can even spell MLS! Aside from the obvious issue of whether or not that agent is capable of handling any business his efforts might produce, this can be highly frustrating and discouraging for a new agent. I hear from these poor agents all the time. They think there’s something wrong with THEM. These REALTORS® would like to have a little training before they try to drum up business.

Another very common mistake is to enter the profession without proper funding. Most people wouldn’t dream of opening their own business without a nest-egg to get them started, but it happens every day in real estate sales. Selling real estate is not a get-rich-quick career, or even a get-paid-in-a-reasonable-amount-of-time career in the beginning but I see agents every day who enter the field with less than $1,000 to their name. Crazy!

IXACT Contact: Good points Jennifer! We would add that failure to capitalize on existing contacts is another common rookie REALTOR® mistake. So many new agents feel they have to generate all their business from strangers that they completely overlook the gold in their own contact list.

Most seasoned agents know it’s important to stay in touch with their clients, but they’re not sure how to go about it. How do you recommend REALTORS® keep in touch with and market to their clients better?

Jennifer: By “clients” I assume you mean their sphere of influence – the people they know (as opposed to just their current active buyer and seller clients). So, let’s use the abbreviation “SOI”, okay? The secret to an effective stay-in-touch campaign with one’s SOI is NOT to bombard them with postcards and newsletters and doo-dads every two weeks. Your goal in communicating is not simply to remind your SOI that you exist, but to inspire them to smile and think of you fondly. No off-the-shelf or boilerplate real estate marketing piece is going to do that; in fact, being bombarded with such material will likely have the opposite effect – that of annoying your sphere or at the very least, training them to ignore your communication efforts.

A better approach is to take the time to create quality real estate marketing pieces – and by “quality” I mean ones that will be interesting to the intended audience and reflective of who YOU are. If your marketing materials are quality materials, you don’t have to send them out nearly as much, but the irony is that your audience won’t mind if you do because they’re enjoying them!

IXACT Contact: We couldn’t agree more! We’re big proponents of only sending quality keep-in-touch marketing communications that are relevant, personalized and timely. It’s downright sad how many real estate sales people are still doing the old monthly “batch’n’blast” of a poor quality generic email or postcard that might actually be doing their reputation more harm than good.

Let’s explore this a bit more. Why exactly are relationships so important in real estate sales?

Jennifer: There are so many different ways to answer this question! If you look at it from a purely financial perspective, inspiring people you know to support your real estate sales business is going to be a whole lot less expensive than going after strangers with any mass-marketing effort. And most real estate agents don’t have it in the budget to implement a strong-enough real estate marketing campaign to create any real brand or name recognition in their market area.

So, if we agree that it’s more cost-effective to focus on the people you already know instead of strangers, then it becomes critical that you make an effort to nurture the relationships you have, and to always have your antenna up to make new friends. Not that you have to spend all day, every day hanging out with and making new friends (when would you get your work done?), but if you’re going to rely on your sphere of influence for most of your business, it’s obvious that you’ll have to stay in touch with the people you know and to come across to them as someone they can trust with their business and referrals. So, while I don’t consider real estate sales to be a traditional “numbers game” it is true that “the more people who know you, and like you, and trust you… and know that you sell real estate, the more real estate you’ll sell!”

IXACT Contact: This raises another question. Why is building a business based on referrals such a great approach?

Jennifer: Well, building a business based on referrals is optional, of course. I see two paths to success in a real estate sales career – the first path is the traditional burn ‘em & churn ‘em – the heavy real estate prospecting model where the agent spends the majority of his or her time looking for new business. Since there are only so many hours in the day, if one is spending most hours on the hunt for new customers, it’s likely they aren’t spending much time taking care of the ones they have, which, unfortunately can mean that those current customers will never become good sources of future business for the agent (which may not be a problem for the agent as he enjoys and is good at the process of prospecting, or “making rain.”)

The other path to success is to take such great care of one’s current clients that in a few years, the agent has enough satisfied past clients to keep his pipeline full for the rest of his career. The beautiful thing about this path is that it creates a sweet cycle of business – the less time an agent has to spend searching for new business, the more time he can devote to his current clients, and therefore, the more raving fans he has in his database. If a real estate agent does a fantastic job for someone, all he has to do to guarantee their future support is to stay in touch with them on a reasonable basis after the transaction is closed.

For many agents, a referral-based business is the preferred model, not only because it’s easier business to get, but it also affirms that we did a good job for our clients and they obviously trust us with their precious referrals! To me, this is critical – if you’re getting referrals from past clients on a regular basis, it means you’re good at what you do – and if you’re going to get up every day and go to work, doesn’t it sound like more fun to be so darn good at what you do that your clients happily refer you to others?

IXACT Contact: That’s a very profound point. Too often we focus only on what approach or system will make us the most money. But isn’t it better to find a way to be successful that not only makes us money, but also lets us feel great about ourselves and our lives?

Let’s switch gears and talk about the execution side of the business as opposed to the relationship side. Do you see poor time-management and/ or organization a common barrier to success in the field?

Jennifer: Yes! Many people think of real estate as primarily a relationship business – that is – the more of a “people-person” you are, the more successful you’ll be. While there’s some truth in that, and being a people-person certainly won’t hurt your business, it’s not the most important factor. What we do (if we do it well) involves managing a lot of moving pieces and parts, staying on top of dates and deadlines, making sure everyone involved is doing their job… all of which requires a fairly high level of time management and organizational skills. Sure, an agent who is socially outgoing and extroverted may bring in a lot of business, but if they can’t manage it, if things continually fall through the cracks, they will likely fail sooner or later.

IXACT Contact: How can a real estate contact management system help a REALTOR® become better organized and in control?

Jennifer: I think every busy real estate agent (or one who hopes to become busy!) owes it to him or herself to have (and use!) a contact management system to manage their business. I call it conTRACT management – that is – using the system to stay on top of their active listings, their listings under contract and their buyers under contract.

Once you have any business at all – that is – a few buyers, some active listings and some listings under contract, it’s easy to let things slip through the cracks if you don’t have specific, detailed checklists. And any time something slips through the cracks, you take the risk that 1) you’ll lose the trust and affection of your client (and therefore his future business and referrals), 2) you might get to write a check – maybe a big one – to correct the problem your negligence caused or 3) you’ll lose the sale all together.

Paper checklists are better than no checklists, but having your checklists in a contact management system that auto-populates your to-do list – ahhhhhhh – it’s a beautiful thing!

IXACT Contact: You’ve worked with many of the leading real estate CRM systems over the years. Why did you ultimately select IXACT Contact as the system you recommend to your clients and partners?

Jennifer: I used to be a Top Producer fanatic – I loved it! At one point, I was even a distributor for the product because I was such a fan. BUT, as I was introducing it to others, I was reminded of the steep learning curve. In the year I sold Top Producer, not one of my customers was happy with their purchase because they simply didn’t want to take the time to learn it.

So I went on the hunt for a simpler real estate CRM solution to recommend to my readers. I found several, gave them a test-drive and was very disappointed. The contact management systems either didn’t do the very basic functions I thought they should do (e.g. notify me of upcoming birthdays) or they just weren’t intuitive to learn so I gave up in frustration. I decided that there just wasn’t an easy-to-learn contact management system that would do everything I wanted it to do, so I stopped looking.

But then I discovered IXACT Contact and found it had the perfect combination of features and was very easy to learn for the average, non-technical REALTOR®. I call it Top Producer OFF steroids because it’s not overwhelming to learn and does 95% of what I think a real estate CRM system should do. And the 5% it doesn’t do – those features are either in the works or there are easy workarounds to them. I’m very satisfied with IXACT Contact. In fact, it’s one of only three or four real estate products I fully endorse and stand behind (outside of my own, of course!).

IXACT Contact: Any last words of wisdom you’d like to share with our readers regarding effective contact management and/or IXACT Contact?

Jennifer: For those who say they can’t afford contact management, I hear you – with every dollar being squeezed to death these days, an extra $35/month can seem like an unnecessary expense, especially if you don’t quite understand how it will help you. But when I recommend any product to a real estate agent, I do so with the caveat that it will pay for itself and more (if you use it, of course). And I’m 100% convinced that if you use a contact management system, even on a very basic level, you WILL see a return on your investment.

IXACT Contact: Thanks so much for taking the time to chat with us, Jennifer. It’s been a pleasure as always, and I know our readers will appreciate the ideas and insights you’ve shared with us today.

If you’d like to learn more about Jennifer Allan-Hagedorn, please visit her website at http://www.sellwithsoul.com.

Rich Gaasenbeek| Vice-President, Sales and Marketing| IXACT Contact

T: 1-866-665-0018 ext.2| Email: rich.gaasenbeek@ixactcontact.com | Sign up for a free 5-week free trial at www.ixactcontact.com

Attracting Real Estate Business by Mastering Your Market

Jennifer Allan-Hagedorn, Author of Sell with Soul (Sell with Soul) — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 06:10:27 -0400

Picking up from yesterday's installment of things you can do TODAY to ensure a Happy Next Year, today's topic is how becoming a Master of Your Market can get you business.

First, what does being a "Master of your Market" mean? To me it means that if someone tells me where they live, I get a mental image of their neighborhood or subdivision or condo building. I don't necessarily know how big their house is or what year it was built, but I can probably guess within a decade or two, and I have a general sense of the overall ambience, what amenities are nearby and even a personal anecdote or two about the area I can toss out.

What being a Master of your Market doesn't mean is that you're a walking encyclopedia of facts, figures and statistics (click here to read my thoughts on the irrelevancy of the DOM statistic). No amount of research sitting behind your desk will give you the level of intimacy and familiarity with your market that you'll need to be a master of it. Again, a good definition of a market master is the ability to visualize a neighborhood when given an address - and there's no way you'll get that from MLS research.

How does being a Market Master help you attract business?

Well, as a real estate agent out there in the world with your antenna up, what do you have to offer the Average Joe who strikes up a conversation with you? Does he care how many listings you have? Does he care how gorgeous your home brochures are? Does he really want to hear about your 32-step marketing plan for selling houses? Probably not. But if he's at all interested in what $300,000 buys you in his neighborhood (and you know), or how much it costs these days to get into South Park Hill (and you know), your ability to make intelligent conversation about the market will get him, if he's gettable.

But if the best you can come up with is something like: "I'm not sure about that, but I'd be happy to find out for you;" well, it doesn't have quite the same effect.

The same thing applies when you're sitting on floor time or at an open house. If the best you can do is hand a visitor a list of other homes in the neighborhood, but can't really make conversation about them, the possibility of watching that stranger walk back out your door just went way up. But if you can chatter about nearby listings or comparable neighborhoods, you just dramatically increased the chances that your visitor will ask for your business card.

When you're on floor time, or take a sign call, again, if you can speak intelligently about the market either surrounding your listing, or that your office specializes in, you'll easily capture those leads.

So, what should you be doing right now to ensure that you're a Market Master? Well, following the advice of Todd Clark in his featured blog: "How Long of an Article is Too Long?" I'll answer this tomorrow... but please share YOUR thoughts today!