In fact the law of attraction works 100% of the time whether you’re aware of it or not. The law of attraction is like the law of gravity. Even if you don’t believe in the law of gravity, it’s still working. Whether you’re a good person or a bad person, if you jump off a building, you’ll hit the ground.

The law of attraction can work in your favor or it can work against you, but in today’s economy, it’s even more important to use the law of attraction in your favor. Why? Because the media is painting such a negative doom and gloom picture that your consciousness absorbs all of this media blitz, and consciously or subconsciously you start focusing on what you don’t want, which is scarcity and lack, the two things the media is talking about most.

If you have any exposure to the news, you know how easy it is to start feeling depressed even after just a little bit of news. The law of attraction is still working in this case because what you focus on expands and if you focus on lack and scarcity, doom and gloom, the poor economy and so forth, that is exactly what you will manifest as your result. However, the good news is that it’s possible, and not only possible but actually imperative that you use the law of attraction to your advantage while the rest of the world is focusing on the doom and gloom that is being reported on a daily basis.

The most important thing to remember is that you have a choice. You can either focus on the gloom and become a victim like most people, or you can choose to use the law of attraction to create the kind of results that you want. Remember, like attracts like and you get what you focus on. No matter what is happening in the economy, you always have the choice to focus on abundance as well as the opportunities that are available to you.

What the media doesn’t report is the good news because the media sells better when it reports bad news. All the more important why you should look for the good news. Most people probably don’t know that there were more millionaires created during the Great Depression than at any other time in American history because the media doesn’t report news such as this.

Did you know that Napoleon Hill said: “Within every adversity is an equal or greater benefit,” or that in today’s real estate market there are wonderful opportunities? None of these things are spelled out for us in the news, but you must look for them, because they are there.

One of my former clients is doing exceptionally well in today’s economy because she stands out. She is unique. She doesn’t bring doom and gloom to her clients. Instead, she provides her clients with positive news that will help them benefit in today’s economy.

Do you want the law of attraction to operate in your favor? Then start using it now.

First, know what you don’t want. This should be very easy as the things you don’t want include everything the media is talking about. Once you decide what you don’t want, focus on what you do want. The things you do want will probably be an abundance of ideal clients. Make sure you clearly define what you mean by an ideal client.

Next, clearly define your vision and see what it feels like to have what you want. After you have clarified your vision, ask yourself: “What self-limiting beliefs do I need to release to manifest my vision?” If you have self-limiting beliefs such as “There’s never enough money,” or “To be successful you have to work long hours, struggle, and sacrifice,” or “I don’t have what it takes to be successful,” then those beliefs will stop you from succeeding.

With the help of a mentor or a coach you can find a way to turn these negative beliefs into empowered beliefs such as: “There is an abundance of money,” “We live in an abundant universe,” “I am a child of God and God wants me to have abundance,” “I have all that it takes to succeed,” and “To be successful I need to work smarter, not harder.”

In summary, there’s never been a better time to use the law of attraction in your favor. In fact, if you don’t use the law of attraction in your favor, it will use you and you will become one of the statistics that the news is talking about. Remember what Napoleon Hill said: “In every adversity is an equal or greater benefit.” Your job is to find it.

Dr. Maya Bailey, author of Law of Attraction for Real Estate Professionals, integrates 20 years of experience as a psychologist and 12 years as a business coach. Get Dr. Maya’s free report, 7 Simple Strategies For More Clients in 90 Days, by visiting www.90DaystoMoreClients.com.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

Sensibly, this agent reasoned that his cut of the commission on a home sold in Ruby Hills would be worth 1-1/2 to 2 times what he was earning on homes in other areas. The problem was that he had no listings in Ruby Hills, and thus didn’t know how to attract buyers who were interested in this area.

You Don’t Need Listings to Attract Buyers

I explained to this agent that you don’t need listings to attract buyers for a certain area. In a mere couple of minutes on the phone together, we wrote the ad below. It hits the hot buttons that will attract buyers who want to purchase a home in Ruby Hills, and offers them an easy, free, non-threatening way of getting information on several homes for sale in that area.

RUBY HILLS - Luxury homes on huge lots, professionally landscaped, backing onto Golf Course, trees. Free computerized list of homes for sale in this prestigious area. Call 1-800-000-0000 ID#0000. <<Your Company Name>>

When you run an ad like the one above, a couple of important things happen:

1. You’ll get calls from buyers who are interested in purchasing a home in Ruby Hills. When they call into your hotline to get the computerized list, your script will say something like: “Thank you for calling about the homes for sale in the prestigious Ruby Hills neighborhood. We know of several homes for sale in Ruby Hills that range in price from $500,000 to $600,000. All of these luxury homes sit on huge, professionally landscaped treed lots, and many back right onto the golf course. The homes in this exclusive area offer many elegant upgrades, such as gourmet kitchen, cathedral ceilings and stunning decor. To receive a free computerized list of current homes for sale in Ruby Hills, please leave your name . . . ” etc. etc.

2. You will generate leads with this ad, and it will be easy enough for you to find and show prospective buyers homes in Ruby Hills. With these buyers in your database, you can now advertise to sellers that you have a large database of buyers who are interested in purchasing homes in their area (i.e. Ruby Hills).

With this important leverage, you should be able to gain some listings in this area and build this momentum over time into good business activity in this area. Because you’re not marketing a specific listing (at least initially), it’s impossible for the listing to sell. As a result, the relevance of this ad will never change and you can (and should) keep re-running it forever.

“Classified ads have the unique position to call out directly to the targeted person and have that prospect uniformly respond when and if you identify their dilemma and offer a solution. This process has a built-in qualifier because only the prospects meeting your criteria call. And, as the ad writer, you do not need to be an expert or an area specialist. You simply need to provide what your targeted prospect wants and needs.

Lynn Horner-Baker

“Selecting a target market is most successful when the statistics and the odds demonstrate a high percentage of need and activity. The level of return for each ad increases incrementally when there is a rush of demand and a supply equal to or slightly below the need. Target the emotional benefits of this specific area and offer exclusive and proprietary notification that no one else has. Then limit the number of prospects who can have access to your program either by number or by time of response. Prospects always want something of value more emphatically when they might not be able to have it.” - Lynn Horner-Baker, Marietta, GA

Billion Dollar Agent^TM Craig Proctor has been in the top 10 for RE/MAX Worldwide for 15 years. Craig consistently sells over 500 homes per year to earn almost $4 million in annual commission. Over 25,000 agents nationwide use Craig’s system to make more money in less time. To learn about free Craig Proctor workshops held year round in cities across the country, visit: http://www.hypertracker.com/go/cp/a22c090318/.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

Read more real estate coaching tips and topics on RISMedia.com, see:

• How to Legally Beat Your Competition with Statistics
• How to Sign a Reluctant Prospect
• Tapping Into and Leveraging Your Happy Clients’ Goodwill  

How many of us girls grew up playing with Barbie? I had a Barbie and a Skipper doll, and a blue case which not only had a spot for them to live, but a closet and tiny hangers to keep their clothes tidy and a drawer to place shoes and accessories. My blue Barbie box morphed into SAM - Secret Agent Man - and Barbie, Skipper, my friend from down the street and I would hop over the backyard fence into the open field and solve mysteries. We were the Nancy Drew’s of our time, armed and dangerous. Who knew we were the predecessors of Ms. Congeniality and Angelina Jolie. Barbie enjoyed her time in the private eye-profession, but eventually retired, preferring the life of a prom queen. The wardrobe choices were much more appealing.

I think I’ve had almost as many career and hair changes as Barbie, but hardly the same entourage of beauty professionals, and alas, no personal trainer either. Barbie looks darned good for 50. Sarah Hampson from the Globe and Mail, ‘interviewed’ Barbie on her big birthday, and here’s what she said:

“In many ways, I have come to embody modern mature womanhood. We all juggle various roles in our lives, and we never know what we’ll have to be next. One minute you’re a gourmet cook in a dream house, then you’re dressed up in a party dress for a glam event, next thing you know, you’re firing off e-mail directives from work. We have all worn many hats, or rather, outfits and shoes. (Speaking of which, I have more than one billion pairs.) I am prescient, really. I mean, look at all the women my age who are embracing plastic, when I did that at the beginning.”

She’s also back together again with Ken. They split briefly after 43 years. Barbie was apparently sick and tired of his hair and his constant need to go scuba diving. He came back to her restyled. If only life were that simple!

Here’s the thing. We can say what we will about Barbie, but she has remained a strong icon of a beautiful, independent woman. She’s been a nurse, a doctor, n astronaut, she has run for President, carried a briefcase, climbed mountains, travelled widely, all while maintaining her cool demeanour, classic looks and wearing heels! Barbie has a great frame of mind.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

The mistake many agents make is looking at their advertising dollars as a fixed expense of their business, like rent or salaries, and they hope with a blind faith that this investment is furthering their business.

When I put it this way, I’m sure you can see the error of this way of operating but, as so often in life, knowing and doing are two different things.

Blind faith (or blind resignation) is NOT an acceptable way of running your business. Instead, you should think of each ad as if it were one of your salespeople or employees. If this person never earned you a dollar-or if you had no way of knowing whether they were making you any money-what would you do? Well, you’d fire them and find someone to replace them.

It’s the same with your advertising. Your ad is just like one of your salespeople. However, your ad can be a lot more, because it’s like a thousand salespeople. Ten thousand sales people. This salesperson in print is your “Exponential Salesperson.” One little ad in your newspaper (if well conceived and executed) is like having thousands of salespeople going out into your prospects’ homes telling your story. Clearly you want to make sure that these thousands of salespeople are telling your prospects the most compelling story they can-one that will motivate prospects more than any other.

Without testing, you have no way of knowing what this story should be. The only way you can test and measure your marketing efforts is if every piece you run has a direct response component to it (i.e. a trackable 800# or website address.)

It is very important that you have a way to statistically measure the response to every one of your ads. Your 800# or website provider should be able to give you automatic and accurate test results of your ads in real time. You should be monitoring these tracking reports every day, which will allow you to know immediately what worked best and what didn’t work as well. This gives you the ability to adjust your future marketing programs. It is, in effect, your prospects who are directly giving you this feedback.

You should test not just which ads to run, but also where, which days, how often, etc. You have to look at a number of factors together in order to get a full and accurate picture: media cost, # of responses and quality of responses (i.e. how many of the prospects from this ad actually turn into clients.)

For example, take a look at the following scenarios:

Here are a few observations:

1. Your cheapest ad turned out to be your most expensive ad. Because Ads 2 and 3 made you money, they didn’t actually cost you anything.

2. At first glance, you might conclude that you should run more of Ad#3 because it made you the most money. However, if Ad#2 consistently returned you the same result, spending $2,000 on 10 Ad#2’s would actually be a better use of your advertising dollars since you’d make 12.5X your money ($200 x 12.5 = $25,000) rather than 2.5X your money ($2,000 x 2.5 = $5,000) for Ad#3.

You don’t need to become a financial wizard to do this kind of analysis. It’s really very straightforward. The most important thing is that you’re aware of the implications of what you’re doing so you can make informed and financially profitable decisions about the ads you run.

Gil Szabo

“Only in the past few years, since implementing Craig’s Quantum Leap System in my business, have I tracked and tested every ad I have run. I used to run ads that I thought would be good at getting the phone to ring, without realizing that my vote was of little importance. The only vote that counts is that of our prospects, which is one of the reasons we now track the performance of each and every ad we run. We must give our prospects what THEY want, not what we want to SELL them. We must give our prospects options, test the response and amplify what is working best, which clearly is our prospect’s choice. Now with accurate tracking and testing, I generate between 250 and 300 leads per month at a cost per lead of between $8.00 and $50.00. In my previous real estate career, I HOPED an ad would work, now I KNOW! My prospects tell me everyday which is the best ad to run.” - Gil Szabo, British Columbia

Billion Dollar Agent^TM Craig Proctor has been in the top 10 for RE/MAX Worldwide for 15 years. Craig consistently sells over 500 homes per year to earn almost $4 million in annual commission. Over 25,000 agents nationwide use Craig’s system to make more money in less time. To learn about free Craig Proctor workshops held year round in cities across the country, visit: http://www.hypertracker.com/go/cp/a21c090311/.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

Each Saturday follows the same basic flow of song and prayer. We begin by giving thanks for the Sabbath that is before us, continuing with a reflection of the week that has passed, and then having quiet time for private and personal discussion with God, and finishing with a reading from the Torah (Old Testament). The Torah reading is regarded as the focal point of the service and is executed in a very distinct manner.

Each week, the Rabbi chooses a handful of people from the audience to come up to the altar and assist him in the Torah reading. He assigns a variety of tasks - one person opens the Ark where the Torah is housed, one removes the Torah from the Ark, another removes the Torah’s cover and prepares it for reading, and others recite a blessing prior to the readings. These jobs are considered a special honor.

After each person’s task is complete, the Rabbi takes him or her aside and forms a huddle. His arms around their shoulders, he whispers something seemingly important. The rest of us watch and wait for the private discussion to conclude. Whoever he is huddled with is ALWAYS extremely attentive, nodding periodically, wearing an expression of tremendous gratitude.

Being a relatively new member of the synagogue, this process was a novelty to me. I had never witnessed the huddle before in other synagogues and I often wondered about the content of his intimate discussions. Was he telling them a secret? Was he giving them advice? Was he giving them praise? Marks for their performance?

Almost every time I see the huddle, my mind begins to drift to the same place. I begin to think about the power of the huddle in a classroom setting, in parenting, and in business environments.

Imagine if every day, a teacher paused teaching formally for a few minutes to pull up a handful of students to the front of the class to tell them privately how special and amazing they were. Imagine if that teacher took the time to notice students’ special talents or gifts and shared what they noticed with his/her students. How would the students feel? How would they enjoy learning? How would they perform? How much more effort would they put in for that teacher? How good would you feel if that student were your child?

Imagine a business owner who did the same thing; spent time noticing everything that was going right and made a point of ‘snapping the picture when it looked good’. Imagine a boss who insisted on assigning tasks according to people’s passions. Imagine a business where each team member felt like they were functioning in their sweet spot and the owner knew he was getting the very best from each team member.

What would their corporate culture look like? How about turnover? Would it be high or low? What would productivity be like?

The huddle is not only about giving positive feedback to people, there is one more element - physical touch. Somehow, the action of simply touching someone’s shoulder creates warmth and reduces resistance. The power of touch and its impact on the human spirit is so strong that to describe it effectively in words is a challenging task. There are so many messages that a person receives as a result of a kind touch. The most fundamental message is ‘you matter’.

It’s not all that difficult to implement the huddle, and football fans might find it easier still.

Try it as an experiment at home or at work or in your community and send me an email at kim@frameofmindcoaching.com to let me know how it turns out.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

By Beth McGuire

RISMEDIA, March 4, 2009-Sandy Simmonds knows the importance of building trust with her clients and providing them the most comprehensive system of real estate services in her market, the “City Beautiful” of Orlando, Florida. Her experience and results have elevated her success in the industry, but even with that, she says, in these trying economic times, she knew she needed to find something new, something that both helped her define and differentiate herself further, while at the same time offered her clients and prospects valuable information they could only gain through her.

Enter the Top 5 in Real Estate Network. Simmonds, an agent with Prudential Florida Realty in Orlando, attended RISMedia’s Top 5 in Real Estate Network’s free seminar, “The New Deal in Real Estate” yesterday and immediately saw the value, she says.

“In a nut shell, Top 5 in Real Estate is a network membership of top real estate professionals committed to the future development of their professional skills and services to the consumers,” she stated just after the seminar. “The content will promote the real estate profession as a skill sector versus a service sector. The purpose is to create a greater respect from consumers and raise consumer expectations when choosing a real estate professional.”

She continued, “Through RISMedia, members receive a constant flow of information and educational materials, for consumers and agents, through hard copy materials, daily online news, online articles, and videos. I believe they will also provide the ability to conduct webinars from my website. All of these materials are linked directly to my website(s) and updated on a daily and weekly basis. There are also systems available for marketing to expired listings, FSBOs and short sales, buyers and sellers.”

Florida agents interested in attending a free Top 5 seminar still have two opportunities in Naples tomorrow and Fort Lauderdale on Friday. Event details are as follows:

March 5 - Naples, Naples Grande Beach Resort, 475 Seagate Drive, Naples, FL
March 6 - Fort Lauderdale, Renaissance Ft. Lauderdale-Plantation Hotel, 1230 South Pine Island Road, Plantation, FL

Both events run from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

The event is free, however it is requested that interested attendees register online. Visit events.rismedia.com. For more information, e-mail events@top5inrealestate.com or call Diane at 203.853-2167 x151.

“For less than $5.50 a day, I will effortlessly create valuable content on my website through RISMedia’s leading real estate information systems,” Simmonds added. “It’s a no-brainer in terms of adding cutting-edge consumer resources to my toolbox. This is what buyers and sellers are looking for now and going forward.”

The Top 5 in Real Estate is a network of select real estate professionals from throughout the United States and Canada who have met the Top 5 in Real Estate’s stringent series of various career qualifications and who are committed to the future development of their professional skills and services to the consumers and the community they serve. To learn about the program, read this month’s cover story in RISMedia’s Real Estate magazine, where in an exclusive interview, the president of the Network, Allan Dalton, former president of Realtor.com, discusses in depth the details of the program and how agents will benefit.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

A. I get these letters all the time. People who have embraced my Sphere of Influence (SOI) philosophy and then feel kicked in the teeth when someone in their SOI hires another real estate agent. They almost seem angry at me for leading them to believe that they could count on the loyalty of everyone in their contact database.

Well, first, I always give permission to my friends to feel really, really bummed for an hour or two. If they’re brand new in the business, they can even fret overnight about it. It’s a natural reaction, and I’m not even immune to it. We tend to think that anyone we’ve ever breathed on is obligated to use us to sell their home, as long as we made sure they had our business card in their possession. Heck, just last week, I went out for drinks with a new friend and found out just that day she’d listed her house with someone else! The nerve! Yeah, I was a little flustered by that, I can admit.

But here’s the thing… or things.

First, in the vast majority of time, when people make a business decision that adversely affects you, it has nothing to do with you at all. It’s not personal-not one little bit. I’m rather thin-skinned, so I find myself hurt all the time by perceived slights, only to find out later that the “slight” was completely, utterly 100% reasonable.

An example…last week, someone who I thought adored me unsubscribed from my mailing list. I was crushed. Later, she wrote to me to say she’d changed her e-mail address and wanted to make sure she continued to get my mailings!

When someone in your SOI chooses someone else to work with, it’s almost a certainty that their decision made sense to them and had nothing whatsoever to do with their feelings for you. In fact, it’s likely they didn’t even think of you when making their decision - yes, the people in our world have their own lives to lead and aren’t particularly concerned about ours.

However, if you truly believe that the hiring decision was personal, then you need to ask yourself why that might be so… and it’s not likely that it’s because the other guy is an idiot or a meanie. There’s something about your relationship with them that led them to believe you were not the best (wo)man for the job. But if the extent of that relationship is a series of postcard mailings and an annual calendar, then it’s quite possible another agent is higher on their friendship priority list than you are.

Should my friend continue to market to her daughter’s best friend’s parents? Sure! It’s possible that they won’t be happy with their choice in agent and might someday start fishing around for my friend’s card when the listing expires. But they definitely won’t do that if my friend acts at all miffed or unprofessional about it.

An SOI philosophy does work. 100% of the time? Uh, no. Not even close. But when it doesn’t, yes, you have my permission to pout about it for a little while!

Jennifer Allan is the author of Sell with Soul: Creating an Extraordinary Career in Real Estate without Losing Your Friends, Your Principles or Your Self-Respect, as well as a number of eBooks including The Seduction of Your SOI: Generating Business and Referrals from the Very Important People Who Know You, Dorky Announcement Letters - DEDORKED! and For Sale Signs Don’t Pay the Bills. She is a regular contributor to several real estate newsletters and magazines, a member of the RE/MAX Hall of Fame and one of the industry’s most popular bloggers.

For more information, visit www.SellWithSoul.com.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

Related real estate SOI marketing tips and topics on RISMedia.com:

• The Secret to a Successful Sphere of Influence Business Model
• Creating an Effective Sphere of Influence Business Model
• Social Networking and The New Real Estate Sphere of Influence

• What motivates the target group of prospects that you’re after?
• What factors are most important to them?

Do they want a quick sale or top dollar? Are they after best value or most attentive service or least hassle? How do you find out what prospects want?

Well, it’s simple. You ask them. Failing to understand and address your customers’ needs is one of the biggest marketing mistakes real estate agents make. Rather than assuming or guessing you know the answers, you should be asking your prospects directly by researching their needs. This doesn’t have to be a complicated or time consuming task, and there are lots of ways to get this information, but make sure you know the answers to these questions. With this knowledge, you can develop unique consumer programs to address these needs and set yourself apart from your competitors.

Set Yourself Apart by Giving Your Prospects What They Want in a Unique and Innovative Way

To truly set yourself apart from your competitors in a meaningful and memorable way, you need to develop a powerful USP (Unique Selling Proposition). Your USP addresses a very important prospect issue - it answers the question: “Why should I do business with you?” You must have a very good answer to this question.

If someone asked you what made you different from all the other real estate agents in your marketplace - in other words, why they should choose you to buy or sell a home versus all other options - what would you say to them?

• Could you give them a compelling and convincing answer in 60 seconds or less?
• Would what you say elicit a response from them of: “Wow, how do you do that?”

Chances are your answer to both these questions is no, because the fact of the matter is, most real estate agents don’t know what a USP is let alone have one. Sometimes, even if agents have a USP that they communicate in one-on-one situations (such as a listing presentation), they don’t communicate it effectively to the masses in their marketing efforts. And yet, if you don’t promote a compelling USP, you’re not setting yourself apart from all of the other realtors in your marketplace.

Your USP tells the world who you are and what you do. It articulates clearly and concisely what benefit a prospect will derive from doing business with you instead of your competitors. You should be able to articulate your USP clearly in 60 seconds or less. Astonishingly, most realtors couldn’t begin to clearly explain their USP at all, and if you can’t articulate it, it’s highly unlikely that your customers and prospects will be able to understand it.

What Makes You Different?

The problem is that most Realtors have never sat down and asked themselves these important questions:

• What distinguishes my company or business from my competitors?
• Do my homes sell faster? For more money?
• Do my buyers save money or time?
• Am I more expensive, less expensive?
• Do I have a better system to attract customers?
• Am I more aggressive in my marketing programs and strategies?
• Do I render more service? Give better value? Give a better guarantee? Make it easier to do business with me?
• What makes me different?

When it comes right down to it, most real estate agents don’t have a USP at all. When I review the ads of most Realtors, I invariably come across the same problems:

1. There is no unique selling proposition, or
2. There is a wandering statement that most frequently focuses on vague self-promoting generalities such as:

• we’re #1
• we give the best service
• we have the lowest prices
• we’re the biggest — the best
• and so on

This is what I call “Self Image Advertising”. The fact is, every company says the same old things and somehow expects them to be compelling . . .

• Quality
• Service
• Price
• Dependability

These same vague, broad promises are empty, meaningless, unsubstantiated, unbelievable and completely lacking in credibility. Yet still, everyone says them. Would you really expect anyone to claim that they give the worst service or offer the worst value?

In direct contrast to this, your USP must be benefit-driven. It must be meaningful, relevant and valuable to your prospects. Without these ingredients, your message will most likely fall on deaf ears. It won’t be seen or heard. It will wind up getting “zapped” just like the thousands of other messages the average person is exposed to every single week.

Think About It fromYour Customer’s Perspective

An effective ad must be written from the prospect’s standpoint, not the agent’s. When you write an ad, instead of asking yourself:

“What can I tell them about me?”. . . you should be asking:

“What can I offer prospects that they want or need?”

All you have to do is scan your local paper to see that the average agent doesn’t have a clue about differentiating themselves. Everyone’s saying the same bland old things, or nothing at all. Most Real estate agents waste their money on ineffective ads that produce little or no results other than possibly pacifying their sellers’ demands by advertising their property.

Your Prospects Don’t Care about You as Much as You Care about Them

Think of it this way. You probably have a pretty clear picture of your marketplace and the agents who compete against you. You scour every ad. Your ears are tuned to hear what’s going on in the market. You solicit feedback on yourself and your competitors. You live and breathe your real estate business. In short, because you are so close to your business, you’ve entirely lost your objectivity - your perspective.

Well, let me tell you something very important. Your prospects couldn’t care less about you. When your prospects decide to hire a real estate agent, the sea of choices looks just like that — a sea — a vast ocean of choices with no directional markers to steer his or her path to your door.

You know you’re there. You know exactly who is operating inside this big body of water — who’s fighting for position just underneath the surface. But how can your prospects possibly find you if you don’t put up a marker to show them where you are and — most importantly — why they should use you.

You may think you’ve got a marker up because of all the money you’re pouring into advertising. But if the message you’re spending money on looks just the same as the message that all other real estate agents are using, you really haven’t put up a marker at all. All that you and the other agents in your town have done is raised the water level.

Are you the #1 agent in your town, your company, your state or province? Well, take it from a customer (and I’ve asked the same question of hundreds of customers) - So what?! . . . And what this really means is: “So - what does this mean for me? What’s in it for me.”

What’s in It for Me?

Try to take a step back and look through a customer’s eyes. Every agent in your local paper is #1 for something. Don’t fool yourself into thinking that your prospects will take the time and energy to analyse all these #1 claims to figure out which one means the most. Believe me - they won’t bother. And why should they? You’re supposed to be telling them why they should do business with you - what’s in it for them.

Your USP is quite basically the essence of your entire business concept; that unique advantage that distinguishes your business from all your competitors.

The issues and questions you must address to determine what your unique advantage is are as follows:

• Determine what your customers want
• Find out which of these needs you can fill
• Find a way to clearly state to your customers that you are the source to fill those needs - this is your USP

Here are some examples of some powerful USPs that have been very successful:
• View 6 Homes in One Afternoon With My Sunday Tour of Homes
• Your Home Sold in Under 120 Days or I Buy It
• Move Up to Any One of My Listings and I’ll Buy Your Home for Cash
• Your Home Sold in Under 60 Days or I’ll Pay You $1,000 Cash
• Your Home Will Sell for an Average $3,000 More (with graphs to back this up - ie. your results vs the Real Estate Board)

6 Criteria Your USP Must Incorporate

Here are some general rules of thumb to keep in mind when creating your USP:

1. Be Unique . . . Offer something that is truly different
2. Be Specific . . . It’s always better to be very precise and specific. The more precise and exact a statement is, the more believable it becomes. People generally won’t challenge - or even doubt - precise numbers because they assume that this precision was calculated by some kind of reliable mathematical or statistical method. Instead of saying that your homes sell for 2% more than the real estate board average, say they sell for 2.36% more.
3. Be Relevant . . . This means that you have to offer a benefit that means something to your prospect. You have to connect with them at some deeply felt level.
4. Be Believable . . . Don’t offer something that is so hard to swallow that you fail to be taken seriously.
5. Be Focused . . . Don’t try to be all things to all people. But equally, don’t target your message to too small a group (you have to be able to earn a sustainable income), and don’t forget to keep your eye on the future (your USP may have to evolve with changes in the market).
6. Be Concise . . . You do NOT want a paragraph of copy. Instead, you want a single - easy to understand - thought. You must articulate - in a few words - the precise advantage you have over your competition.

Todd Walters

“There were three big leverage points that allowed me to grow my real estate business to over $1 Million a year. One was a contact managements system. Two was the DISC personal concept and Three was the development and implementation of a Unique Selling Proposition. A USP, like Your Home Sold or I’ll Buy It*, allows the agent to stand out above other competitiors. It answers the question for the prospect “If I use this agent, I will get ‘x’”. When working to get face to face with a prospect or a signed right to sell agreement you must answer the prospects questions of “why should I do business with you over and above all other agents - including doing it on my own or nothing at all”. A good USP like the guaranteed sell above, has allowed me to not just attract more prospects to me, but even increase the demand for my sellers homes. Without a unique selling proposition, I would be just like all the other agents and therefore my results would not be as effective.” - Todd Walters, The Realty Team, GA

Billion Dollar Agent^TM Craig Proctor has been in the top 10 for RE/MAX Worldwide for 15 years and is the only real estate trainer who actually does what he teaches. Craig consistently sells over 500 homes per year to earn almost $4 million in annual commission. Over 25,000 agents nationwide use Craig’s system to make more money in less time. To learn about free Craig Proctor workshops held year round in cities across the country, visit: http://www.hypertracker.com/go/cp/a20c090302/.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

Related coaching tips and topics on RISMedia.com:

• Receive Disappointing Feedback? How to Bounce Back
• How to Step Outside Your Comfort Zone - Building One Relationship at a Time
• How to Increase Your Professional, Personal Radius  

Defined by Wikipedia, social media are: “primarily Internet- and mobile-based tools for sharing and discussing information among human beings. The term most often refers to activities that integrate technology, telecommunications and social interaction, and the construction of words, pictures, videos and audio.”

Hanks and I sat down and chatted about the ins and outs of social media networking and what every sales professional needs to know to take full advantage of connecting with others socially and professionally.

Marylyn B. Schwartz: It seems like every few years the cheese gets moved, and we must step up to the plate, sometimes kicking and screaming, and embrace another level of technology. This particular shift started with the creation of Web 2.0. Tell us about that.

Brad Hanks: Blogs, micro-blogs, social tagging and bookmarking, photos, videos, connection points…all these are parts of the toolbox that is commonly known as social media or Web 2.0. Prior to this, the Internet was mostly an advertising medium. It was about broadcasting messages to the marketplace. Web 2.0 evolved as a result of all the tools we created. These technology tools fostered ‘time drags.’ Information was being spewed out faster than we could respond. Consumers wanted to weigh in with user-generated content, and there was no way to do that with immediacy. In addition, everyone is busier than ever before. Many of us are struggling with financial challenges, and as a result have fewer and fewer hours or resources to interact with friends and family. We’ve disengaged to some degree, and we’re searching for ways to reconnect. The Web provides a way of attending ‘multiple cocktail parties’ from the comfort of our easy chairs, cars, offices, etc. People will keep many sites running at a time and checking in with them periodically. We take the opportunity to connect when we can get it. We ‘chunk up’ our information and interactions when we have time to respond.

MBS: Why are there so many of these sites and how do they differ one from the other?

BH: Each site has a different tone, tenor and personality. It would be akin to attending a Super Bowl party versus an elegant sit-down dinner versus an outdoor barbecue. There are sites for people of all interests, wants and needs to find one another. Facebook.com is already available in 70 different languages. In 2004 the site came into existence. Today there are between 185-200 million members. Globally there are in excess of 500 million people engaged in social networking. Considering how much of the world is not even set up with technology, that is an astonishing phenomenon. All one would need to do is Google a topic of interest to him/her to find a social network for people with that common interest.

MBS: It reminds me of being a young girl of 10 and having a pen pal in Hawaii. That was all the rage back then. Schools worked with each other to link kids up from around the globe up. I guess it was the first attempt at international social networking. I loved connecting with someone from another culture and place to find out how much we had in common and shared. Not so different today.

BH: As technology reaches out to places it has not been before, social media will just continue to grow, and the adage of it being a ‘small world’ is truer than ever. Think of the level of engagement President Obama used to win the presidential election. He drew the audience into a personalized dialogue. While not everyone embraces this way of connecting, the fact is that for everyone who does not want to get involved, there is one who does. People find themselves reconnecting with others to whom they have not spoken in years. And, many who meet on line go forward and marry. On-line matching/dating services are quickly replacing the local watering holes for hooking up.

MBS: No question that most of us know one or more couples who met while surfing a website looking for Ms. or Mr. Right, or Ms. or Mr. right now… We are often warned to be careful of getting what we want. Tell me more about blogging.

BH: The word blogging is a hybrid of blog and Web log. It is a kind of personal journal where people write about their experiences, voice opinions and tell their stories. All you would have to do is to log onto the blog of a popular talk show after the viewing of what might be considered a controversial topic to see those blogs light up with people weighing in… We love having sounding boards at our fingertips. It is cathartic to vent and have no accountability for doing so. We can remain anonymous while having a voice. However, we know that much of what is placed on the Web in our names remains there for perpetuity. Many a person has been scared by what they or someone else posted. Be careful of what you say, what photos you take and/or post and the company you keep.

MBS: So true. Frat parties are just not the same anymore! Why would a real estate sales professional be totally missing the boat by not getting on board with social-media communication?

BH: It is a matter of being in front of the curve or playing perpetual catch up. From the time radio was introduced to the public, it took 38 years to reach tens of millions. Today, we reach that many and far more daily. The agent who thinks this is going away is wrong and delusional. If it goes away, it will leave and be replaced by a faster, more effective form of social communication. We are hooked together forever… Pushing back against the oncoming tide is pointless and impossible. Here is a great experiment that I like to do when I am in a group.

Ask the people in the room how many of them have clients who have asked if they (the agent) has a Facebook, Linkedin or Twitter page? If half of them raise their hands, it is a sure bet that in the very, very near future they all will have hands raised. And, the popularity and effectiveness of sites is also evolving. If I were to have prioritized the sites a year ago by number of members and popularity, it would have been: Linkedin, Facebook and Twitter. Today, I put the order as: Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin. When the President was making his address to congress this week, members were Twittering to each other and their constituents. There are a lot of peeps and tweets out there! The point; if you are not on all three, you have lost positioning and opportunity without even noticing the shift.

MBS: People are always asking where they can find the time to keep posting and keeping current on all these sites. Do you have a suggestion?

BH: Yes, and it is ping.fm. You can enter an update there and have most of your social media sites populated at one time with that update. It makes keeping up quite simple and streamline.

MBS: The more I hear, the more I want to learn. Others are going to feel likewise. What we have here is the proverbial tip of the iceberg. What’s the best way to get the needed knowledge?

BH: I conduct ‘boot camps’ in which I break four modules into three-hour segments. Participants can start out at ground zero and add to their expertise and knowledge in increments as they see fit. These are spaced-training, hands-on applications that teach people real-world skills that they can begin to apply immediately to their businesses. My website (address above) contains the information. Whether one takes a program from me or another qualified person, the point is to take up the challenge now and learn.

MBS: Years ago agents worried that they were going to be replaced by computers. Well, we know that never happened. What did happen, however, is that they got replaced by agents who used computers. If history repeats itself, and we know it always does, we are on the cusp of the next ousting. Thanks for the heads up!

Marylyn B. Schwartz, CSP, is an expert in real estate and corporate sales training/management and team development. She is president of Teamweavers and a trainer for Leader’s Choice. To contact her, e-mail teamweaver@aol.com

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

Read more real estate tips and topics by Marylyn B. Schwartz on RISMedia.com:

The Do’s and Don’ts of Short Sales
Where the Diamonds Are in Real Estate
Re-Inventing Your Career at Any Age

If you think nothing else will happen today … then nothing will happen. You can go to all the classes you want to teach you about real estate, to motivate yourself to work harder, but if you do not believe in your own ability to succeed, it won’t happen.

Of course, real estate professionals have to be realistic about the market in which they work. You can’t constantly have 20% price increases along with 2% wage increases. That kind of market had to come to an end.

So, now, real estate agents need to face the truth of the current market and they have to believe in their own ability to sell homes in this market.

Everything else is teachable, but believing in yourself has to come first.

I’ve developed sixteen basic principles which will allow a sales professional to have not just a good year, but an extraordinary year, regardless of what the real estate market is doing in your area.

Aim. You need to have a definite aim in life, not just a vague sense of what you’d like to be doing in a few years. This aim is what defines your days.

Self-confidence. Every sales professional needs to develop a strong sense of confidence in his ability to do anything. Success is impossible without self-confidence.

Initiative. If you don’t take a chance, you don’t stand a chance. Sales professionals are by nature risk-takers.

Imagination. Every successful sales professional needs to be creative in developing solutions to the problems that occur in every transaction and in finding new ways to attract new business.

Action. You need to be active, not passive in order to be successful, particularly in a slow market.

Enthusiasm. Enthusiasm builds confidence in you and confidence in your clients. No one wants to work with an agent who lacks passion about real estate.

Self-control. Times are tough and agents, along with everyone else, can get frustrated. But expressing that frustration is one of the fastest ways to lose a client or lose a deal.

Develop a habit of performing more work and better work than you are paid to perform. The greatest gift a Realtor can give is great customer service, not an expensive closing gift.

Develop an attractive personality. Everyone in the sales community needs to recognize the traits that make others comfortable and pleasant to be around, and to develop these traits themselves.

Accurate Thought. Would you want to work with a scatterbrain while making the largest investment of your lifetime?

Concentration. Clients need focused, thoughtful support more than ever.

Persistency. There is no giant step that does everything. It’s a lot of little steps.

Failures. Learn to look at your failures as lessons to be learned and then they have a positive impact on your life and your career.

Tolerance and Sympathy. If someone hurts you, learn to forgive them and try to be understanding. The greatest revenge is success.

Work Ethic. Develop the good work habits that earn you a reputation as one of the hardest working agents in your market.

The Golden Rule. Ultimately, in real estate as in life, you reap what you sow.

In good markets or bad markets, the best people succeed and the ones who make excuses always fail. Life is a series of choices. I choose success and so should you.

Mark Leader is the creator of Mark Leader Courses. Mark Leader Courses is North America’s #1 choice for real estate agents who want to increase production and permanently change their lives.

For more information, visit www.leaderschoice.com.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

Read more real estate best practices on RISMedia.com, see:

The Do’s and Don’ts of Short Sales
How One Agent Closes Almost All Her Listing Presentations
3 New Listings, $30,000 More in Commissions

I thought this symbolism was very interesting and decided to take an academic stab at comparing the symbolism of the diary in the novel to the kind of journaling that we do here at Frame of Mind Coaching. The first thought that sprang to mind was to question if journaling is the new word for diary or are they two very different animals? As I researched this on the Internet it became apparent that diary and journal are interchangeable, but journal seems to be the more current term. Both have the same meaning, which is a written daily record. Some theorists observed that a diary was something that one kept when one was younger, whereas a journal felt more grown up and allowed for more serious reflection and philosophical wanderings. One blogger had a lovely interpretation that a journal is a paper soul, suggesting that it is a place to open one’s soul. Another idea I liked was the connection between journal and journey, because our journals are, in fact, the place where we ‘journey’ with our thoughts, ideas, dreams and also where we recount our physical daily travels.

The diary/journal is a place where it’s okay to write anything you want; where you can disagree with common thought, stretch beyond your comfort zone, reflect on your innermost demons and desires. It provides a place to let it all hang out and get in touch with oneself and provides an environment where individual thought is welcomed.

When I think about these ideas in reference to “1984,” I can see that Orwell very consciously chose an extremely powerful symbol in the diary. In fact, it provided a forum for Winston to work through all of his conflicts and issues, and within these pages he drew the strength to rebel against the Party. Even though, his diary was found by the Party and his crime of writing and the treason of falling in love were discovered and punished, he understood that from the beginning keeping the diary was a huge risk, but the freedom of expression and the hope that his writing provided was well worth it.

For me, it underscores the significance of journaling today in 2009. We have passed the ominous date of 1984. The technological revolution has provided us with more freedom, and one can argue that with this global liberty of information comes a certain loss of self and the feeling that our thoughts are exposed. We have definitely become a society that is obsessed with the lives, thoughts, dreams and desires of others, as is apparent by the mass wave of ‘reality’ television shows, where people’s lives are unabashedly exposed.

The journal of the twenty first century, in the midst of our advanced technological world provides a place for us to grow our dreams, search for our identity and process the minutia of details of our lives for the liberty of ourselves.

Jacqui Markowitz is the Director of Communications for Frame of Mind Coaching. You can reach Jacqui at Jacqui@fom52.com.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

Related articles on RISMedia.com:

• How to Turn Down a Billion Dollars
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Every good presentation should have a beginning, middle and an end. One should follow the other, and each should be compelling enough that your prospect is emotionally linked to points you are explaining each step along the way.

While every listing presentation you do should be tailored specifically to the individual prospect you are trying to convert (i.e. you should have a good understanding of his/her home and neighborhood via comparables, and you should try to identify their personality type in order to know how best to explain your benefits), the nuts and bolts of each presentation will be the same.

You should create a physical presentation (on PowerPoint or in a binder) to use as a visual aid with your prospects. This will serve to keep both you and your prospect on track. While you are telling them, your words will be reinforced visually to ensure they understand each point you are making. Even when you are completely comfortable with the information you are communicating, you should still use your presentation visuals for your prospect’s benefit.

8 Tips to a Successful Presentation

I tend to avoid the word “selling” because it has come to have such a negative connotation over the last couple of decades. Whether you like it or not, a “sales person” is perceived by the public to be dishonest and fast-talking; a pusher of products and services on unsuspecting customers, doing anything and everything to “get the sale.” Selling is hard work and it’s distasteful to both you and the prospect(s) you are presenting to. I believe that selling is what you do when your “words” have to take the place of any real and meaningful customer benefits. I do NO selling when I present to a prospect because I don’t have to sell. And neither should you.

The objective of all your communication with your prospects is to get them to say, “Yes, I would like you to help me and represent me.” What you say to them is a large part of obtaining this “yes,” but your phrasing and body language are also critically important. What follows are 8 tips that I have found to be highly effective in the way I present to my prospects. (Note: Pay particular attention to #s 8 and 9).

1. Establish Eye Contact with All of the People You Are Speaking with: Often you will be presenting to at least two people - a husband and wife. Make sure that you divide your attention between both of them by alternating eye contact. It is a major mistake to let one of the two feel alienated because you focused your discussion on the other. Remember that you need both parties to be involved in the decision process of whether they say “yes” to you.

2. Go in Slow and Read Your Audience: Personalities are different. Different people will require different approaches. Some of your prospects will need a lot of detail. Others will want you to get straight to the point. Remember, the secret to successfully helping your prospect make the decision you want is to help them the way they want to be helped — not the way you want to help them. Give yourself a minute or two when you first meet with a prospect to gauge their personality type and thus which presentation style will work best with him or her. This doesn’t mean that the essence of the information you deliver should be different. You still must share all the information with them about the systems and tools you will use to get their home sold successfully. But the manner in which you deliver the information may be embellished for some and abbreviated for others. Start slowly to determine which of these roads will most effectively convert this particular customer. Find out what they do for a living, listen to the questions they ask you and how they ask them. All of these are clues to their personality type.

3. Use Your Prospect(s) Names: Know who you’re speaking with and use their names when you’re speaking with them. Let their names become a natural component of your conversation such as: “Susan, I want to show you this particular chart,” or “The real estate market peaked in 1989 Bill, and what that means is . . .” (Caution: Overuse of this technique may become annoying and obvious to your prospect.) The key is to subtly use this technique every once in a while to catch them off guard, invite them back into the conversation, and let them know that you know who you’re talking to. Everyone likes to be acknowledged. Your prospects are no different.

4. Use Touch Effectively: Touch can be a very powerful presentation tool but, if over-used, it can be a major turn off. Use touch to your advantage, and that means use it judiciously. A warm, sincere handshake (with all parties) when you meet and when you part is a basic. In addition, there may be a time in your presentation when a light touch on their arm to focus their attention on something specific may work to your advantage. When used properly, this technique will make your prospect feel special. When over-used, it will make your prospect feel that you are invading their personal space. As always, read your customer. If you tune yourself in to their personality, you will know if and when to use this technique.

5. Get Your Prospects to Say Key Points For You: You have a lot to tell your prospect. Getting them involved in the delivery of key points is a highly effective way to get them, and keep them, on board with the presentation you are giving. If part of it is told in their own words and out of their own mouths, if you get them to draw the right conclusions as you go along, you’ll have a much better chance of securing the final and most important “yes” at the end of your presentation. Here’s an example of phrasing which will help your customers understand, and say, the points you want to make: “A very common problem for home sellers is trying to juggle the sale of their old home and the purchase of their new home. Timing can work against you. You could be put into the situation of owning two homes or none at all. How would you feel if I told you that we will eliminate this problem for you by guaranteeing the sale of your present home before you purchase your new home?” (Let your prospect respond) As always, use your judgement as to how often you will use this technique. You don’t want to harass your prospect into doing all the work, but effective use of this tool can give your prospects a much deeper understanding of the points you want to make.

6. Ask Them Questions They Cannot Give You a “Brush Off” Answer to: Remember that your goal is to get your prospect nodding their head in your favor - you want them to answer “yes.” Instead of saying: “Would you like to make an appointment to meet so we can discuss the listing of your home?” say “I’d like to show you what we can do to sell your home. Would Tuesday or Wednesday evening be better for you?”

7. Never Call Down Your Competition by Name: Clearly, the purpose of your listing presentation is to show how and why your prospect should list with you versus any other agent. Therefore, the tone of your presentation must be competitively focused. You want them to walk away with the conviction that you are the best person for the job. Which strategy do you think would most effectively win your prospect to your way of thinking?

A. Tell them that you are the greatest and that you sell more houses than any other agent.

B.Tell them what a poor job other specific agents are doing and make the point that you will do a much better job than these other agents.

C. Show them how you have built a system designed around their needs which is something no other agent has done and explain to them how each of these programs will uniquely benefit them

The answer, of course, is “C” because you’re starting with your prospect’s needs and giving them detailed and specific information that they can intellectualize and understand. Very simply:

“A” talks about you,
“B” talks about other agents , and
“C” talks about your prospect and how you can help them.

Which do you think your prospect will most want to hear about? Of course they will want to hear about themselves. Following strategy “A” is like asking your prospect to take an exam without teaching them the course. You’ve given them the answer, but you haven’t given them any reason to believe that the answer is correct. The fact that you sell more houses than any other agent may sound impressive to you, but, without further explanation, it is not necessarily a consumer benefit - it raises too many unanswered questions and issues (such as low-ball pricing and skimpy service) that you must address first. Furthermore, every other agent you are competing with is using this strategy. Open up the real estate section and read what the others are saying. They’re all claiming to be #1, or to have the best service or lowest commission or promise the highest price. Because everyone is shouting the same thing at the same time, with no substance to back up their claim, the prospect is confused. Worse, s/he is skeptical.

If you take strategy “B” - i.e. bad-mouthing other specific agents - this actually has the opposite effect to the one you desire. Instead of adopting your view that this other agent is ineffective, your prospect is more likely to view this agent as a poor underdog who probably doesn’t deserve this criticism. You’ll be doing this agent a favor by highlighting them. If your most compelling argument is that you’re better than Agent X or Y, you can’t have very much to say about yourself. From your prospect’s standpoint, you’re in business to help them, not put other agents out of business.

Of course, to effectively use strategy “C,” make sure you have tested, proven and specific systems that will get your clients consistent and successful results. The agents who use my system are able to offer truly compelling and innovative systems such as the Guaranteed Sale Program, Tour of Homes, Team System and so on. Figure out what systems you can use to put you head and shoulders above your competitors. Remember, price is only a factor in the absence of value.

8. Always Focus on Your Prospects Needs as the Basis of All Your Discussion: Remember why you are making your presentation in the first place. You are there to demonstrate to your prospect that you can help him or her better than anyone else can. Before you can effectively make a link between their needs and your service, you must show them that you truly identify with and understand what their needs really are. This must always be your starting point. State what you know their problem is, and then show them specifically how you are going to solve this problem.

Willie Miranda

“Before being introduced to Craig Proctor’s system, I was trained to take listings with a yellow pad and a company brochure. I was introduced to Craig’s listing presentation on PowerPoint and decided to give it a try. The results were amazing and I was able to show every listing prospect all of the benefits I had to offer and was able to demonstrate all of the unique consumer programs I had to offer. This listing presentation allowed me to keep my presentation on track with my captive audience. I usually get my full commission without hassle because the Seller understands all of the value they are getting with me and my team. Cost is only an issue in the absence of value, and listing prospects want value when listing their homes. - Willie Miranda, Clifton Park, NY

Billion Dollar Agent^TM Craig Proctor has been in the top 10 for RE/MAX Worldwide for 15 years. Craig consistently sells over 500 homes per year to earn almost $4 million in annual commission. Over 25,000 agents nationwide use Craig’s system to make more money in less time. To learn about free Craig Proctor workshops held year round in cities across the country, visit: http://www.hypertracker.com/go/cp/a19c090225/.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

“You know how at work you sometimes feel the need to squelch or at least downplay your off-beat interests or your cultural attributes or your unorthodox approach to projects?” asks Roffer, author of The Fearless Fish Out of Water: How to Succeed When You’re the Only One Like You (Wiley, 2009, ISBN: 978-0-470-31668-9, $24.95). “Well, this is the year to quit hiding your differences and start embracing them. Quite frankly, it’s easier to downsize employees who are too homogenous. ‘Blend in’ too well and you seem expendable.

“The real movers and shakers in this world live their lives with conviction; they never hide who they are,” she adds. “They’re what I call ‘fearless fish out of water,’ and their fearlessness is the one thing about them that should be emulated. The secret to getting ahead at work, or for that matter, forging strong relationships with friends and family, is to make the most of those qualities that make you different from everyone around you.”

The trick, Roffer writes, is to realize that your unusual personality, outlook, appearance, or background-really, any attribute that sets you apart-is not a liability but an asset. Whether you’re the quiet one in a group of loudmouths, the non-athlete in a group of jocks, or the free spirit in a group of buttoned-down corporate types, being different gets you noticed, which is the first step to gaining influence. But even more important, refusing to hide or downplay your uniqueness makes you more authentic-and people gravitate toward those they like, trust, and believe in. (Not incidentally, that includes employers, coworkers, and customers.)

Here are several ways you can learn to capitalize on your authentic self to get ahead:

1. Let go of your 2008 fears. Think about the toll your fears took on you last year. What did they keep you from achieving? Did a colleague get a promotion instead of you because you were afraid to put yourself in the hot seat? Did you lose a client because you didn’t speak up when you knew they were going down the wrong path? When you let your fears squelch your true nature, you lose your creative spark and become a pale shadow of yourself. And if you fear losing your job in 2009, your first instinct might be to retreat to your office and “shut down.”

This is the exact opposite of what you should be doing right now, not just to save your job but to help keep your company viable in tough times.

“Remember, being authentic as an employee isn’t about self-expression for its own sake; it’s about bringing all your unique gifts to the table in order to benefit your company,” says Roffer. “You have to put yourself out there completely and fearlessly in order to keep your organization alive and growing.”

2. Unleash those marketable parts of your personality you normally keep bottled up. Let’s say you’re highly creative or a great problem solver. Have you really been making these traits work for you? Or do you just come to work every day, head for your office, and complete your projects the way your higher-ups have taught you to-even if you’ve come up with a better way of doing things that will save you time and the company valuable dollars?

“Stifling these personality traits at work will only harm you in the long run,” says Roffer. “Sure, to your higher-ups you might be known as the guy who does a good enough job and stays out of the drama, but think about how pleased your boss would be if you came to him with a money-saving idea right about now.”

3. Pick a boundary. Resolve to push it this year. Have you morphed from warm and outgoing to rigid and back biting simply because you think that’s what the business world demands? Or have you become bland and businesslike just because your boss operates that way? If you’ve been hiding a part of yourself just to fit in-whether it’s your flair for the dramatic, your offbeat sense of humor, or your uncanny ability to get people to open up to you-Roffer suggests you take a hard look at what you’re giving up to fit into the accepted mold and make 2009 the year you break out of it.

“If you’re convinced you’d accomplish more by taking an active role with customers rather than toiling behind the scenes, for example, approach your boss with the idea,” she says. “It may seem scary to make such a bold move in tenuous times, but leaders will appreciate any innovation that will get business moving right now.”

4. Take your talents straight to the top. Don’t keep your ideas for the business within your department. Ask your higher-ups for a chance to share them. Point out to them how your ideas align with those aspects of the business they care about. And if you’re working for a stratified corporation, don’t despair-there are ways for savvy employees to penetrate the boundaries of the organizational chart.

“Read the company website,” suggests Roffer. “Listen carefully to team pep talks from higher-ups. If you can manage it, introduce yourself at company events and ask at the appropriate juncture in your conversation, ‘What’s keeping you up at night?’ The answer should reveal the challenge they need to meet or the special project they want to put into motion. You could be the person to support their efforts.”

5. Speak the language of benefits. It’s easy to get so wrapped up in your own ideas that no one can relate to you. It doesn’t matter how clever you are if those in power don’t “get” what you’re trying to do. As a fish out of water, it’s your job to find a common language that allows you to communicate your thoughts and ideas. You must take the time to understand what’s important to the person you’re trying to influence. It’s all about preparation and performance.

“While there isn’t exactly a wrong way to be at the office, there is a wrong way to express your ideas,” notes Roffer. “Sometimes an idea that seems perfectly clear to you might not be so obvious to those around you. A successful fearless fish will stand in the shoes of the person she is pitching and explain with visual words and concrete examples how the idea will benefit the business.”

6. Don’t wear a mask or manipulate. When you unleash your inner fearless fish, make sure you’re being the real you and not wearing a mask or manipulating your personality in order to steal attention or get along with everyone from Joe in the mailroom to Bob the CEO.

“Fearless fish are comfortable in their own skin and know that they can’t please everyone,” says Roffer. “And rather than avoiding or resenting those who are different from them, they accept and even enjoy the differences. If, in 2009, you use your own fearless fish nature to start nurturing the unique qualities of everyone around you, I think you’ll find that at your office problems are solved more quickly and with better results and that the general mood is lifted.”

7. Let your style shine, not shock. If you’ve deliberately adopted an unusual form of dress to stand out at work, you may be coming across as contrived rather than unique. Instead of wearing torn jeans in a workplace filled with tailored suits, simply adapt your look for the most harmonious collaboration. Show your style by the colors you choose and by how you accessorize. Something as small as an interesting watch or a fashion-forward pair of shoes or tie can say, “I’m so much more than what you think I am.”

“Dressing provocatively just to stand out isn’t the proper course for a fearless fish,” says Roffer. “People will see right through and will start thinking of you as someone who is desperate for attention. It’s not authentic, and you’re not fooling anyone.”

8. Find (and be) a fearless advocate. It helps to have someone around who “gets” you, especially when it’s someone you admire. Such people can help strengthen your trust in yourself and show others you’re someone to notice. If no one advocates for you now, look for the person in your office or your field with whom you can establish a connection. Communicate your interest and admiration, and open yourself up to that individual. Both of you can gain from it.

“Once you’ve found an advocate, you should start advocating for someone as well,” says Roffer. “Be a leader to the newly arriving fish out of water at your office. Compassionate leadership benefits everyone. Learning from younger or less experienced people spurs evolution and creates staying power for the senior members of the team. For the fish out of water, an added benefit is that by generously sharing your own expertise, you become involved and integral.”

9. Be different. Make a difference. It’s not the wallflower who’s going to help a company go green, or the conformist who will invent the new business model or product. As a fish out of water, you can create change-and be an inspiration-because you don’t blend in, you do get noticed, and when you put the tools for being a fearless fish into practice, you’ll also be heard.

“Fearless fish out of water are nonconformists who are good at taking the bull by the horns and creating positive change for themselves and others,” says Roffer. “You can make a difference, while capitalizing on the power of your company’s brand and resources. Perceptions about you and your corporation can change as you make them change.”

10. Just like your company, you must change with the times. Whether you were once the hot ticket whose star is now growing dim or you simply want to keep up with new opportunities on the horizon, evolution is essential. Remember, when you’re a fish out of water, the light is already shining on you. You’re more visible and, therefore, more closely scrutinized. If you slack off, it will be noticed.

“You can’t be like one of those reality show contestants who go under the radar to stay in the game longer,” says Roffer. “You have to be the one who’s playing to win. To do this, you must keep growing, stretching, and reinventing yourself. Don’t be like a dinosaur and suffer career extinction because you are unable or unwilling to adapt to a changing marketplace.”

An attitude of fearless authenticity will take you far in life.

“For fearless fish, there are plenty of options available, even in a bad economy,” says Roffer. “It’s just a matter of going for it. Become fearless by setting your intention each day and finding something that brings you back to what’s positively different about you. Once you embrace your authenticity, you’ll be amazed at where it can take you.”

Robin Fisher Roffer (Los Angeles and New York) is CEO of Big Fish Marketing, one of the entertainment industry’s preeminent brand marketing and digital advertising agencies. She has provided the rocket fuel that has ignited the launch pad of dozens of brands all over the world, developing brand-building marketing plans and promotional campaigns for top media companies like Sony, Time-Warner, and Twentieth Century Fox.

For more information, please visit www.bigfishmarketing.com.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

Don’t miss other real estate best practices on RISMedia.com, see:

• Your Success - By Luck or By Design?
• Taking Recruiting to the Next Generation
• Will the Stimulus Benefit Homeowners and Buyers?

RISMEDIA, February 21, 2009-Are you getting the results you want? If you are working long hours, feeling exhausted, and not getting the results you want, you are not alone. Having been a business coach for real estate agents for over 12 years, I often hear my clients saying things like:

“Why do I always seem to get clients that run me ragged?”
“I’m tired of working with clients who aren’t really motivated.”
“Why am I attracting the wrong kind of clients?”

The Problem

Are you spending valuable time and precious energy working with your less than ideal clients?

You will know by the way you feel. Do you feel drained of energy, driven to distraction, and discouraged because your efforts are not bringing you a financial return?

If you’re feeling any of those feelings in working with your clients, then most likely your clients are indecisive, unmotivated, unqualified, and unappreciative of your services. This article will tell you how to attract your ideal clients.

The Good News

You have the power to attract your ideal clients-those that you love to work with-using a powerful tool called the Law of Attraction. Here is a real-life example of the power of the Law of Attraction at work:

When one of my clients, Marsha, and I first started working together, she was afraid to be assertive. She also had subconscious self-limiting beliefs that were keeping her from reaching her desired goals and income. I helped her transform her beliefs to build a strong foundation for the Law of Attraction to work. The results? Here is what she recently wrote to me:

“Since learning the Law of Attraction from you, I find it easy to set boundaries and speak up for what I need. Using the Law of Attraction principles, I am able to attract my Ideal Clients with ease. But most importantly, when we started, I had zero business. Now I am averaging five transactions a month. That’s an increase of about $30,000 a month.”

If you too want to become a magnet for what you desire, achieving financial success in an easy and relaxed manner, then read on. You’ll learn the 5 steps of the Law of Attraction and how it works, plus get tips on you can apply it.

The 5 Steps of the Law of Attraction

Step 1: Get Crystal Clear on What You DON’T Want.

The Law of Attraction teaches that like energy attracts like energy and you get what you focus on. Given that, it seems odd to focus on what you don’t want, doesn’t it? However, in my experiences of empowering others to reach their goals, I’ve discovered that this is what most people do all the time, unconsciously.

How many times have you caught yourself preoccupied with a lack of desired income, ideal clients, etc? Notice that you’re focused on the lack of something.

What are you attracting? More of the same. Get clear about what you don’t want and you can deliberately stop giving it attention. What don’t you want in your real estate career? Make a list and write it down.

Step 2: Get Crystal Clear on What You DO Want.

Now that you know what you don’t want, it’s easier to get clear on what you do want. Look back at your list of “don’t wants” and for each one, develop a strong, detailed statement of what you desire. For instance, you might write something like: I want a six-figure income, I want to work with clients who are ready, willing, and able to close quickly, and so on.

As you write, challenge your status quo. This is about attracting your big dream. Go for it. And when you’re done, cross off everything on your “Don’t Want” list. You only needed to focus there long enough to get clear on what you do want.

Step 3: Get Into the Feeling Place of What You Want.

To attract what you desire, find a way to feel good about your “want” rather than frustrated at the lack of having it. Writing a desire statement helps you do that. This paragraph (about 2-3 sentences) describes what you want as if it were happening right now.

To write your desire statement, get into the feeling place of what you want. How? Ask yourself what serving your ideal client looks like? Visualize holding your dream commission check in your hands. Imagine receiving your desired income easily and effortlessly.

Now write your desire statement and read it aloud. How do you feel? Elated? Grateful? Energized? That’s how you should feel, and it’s how you know you are sending out the positive energy that attracts more of the same.

Step 4: Clear All Your Opposing Beliefs.

Remove all of your self-limiting beliefs so that the Law of Attraction will work for you. This means re-programming self-limiting beliefs and resolving inner conflicts that are not in alignment with what you want.

Don’t worry if you find this challenging. Most people do. Our self-limiting beliefs are usually subconscious, living in what I call a “blind spot.” Most of the time it requires the skill of a therapist or a coach to help identify these self-limiting beliefs and transform them into empowered beliefs. Even Tiger Woods has a coach to help him get past his blind spot.

What do self-limiting beliefs sound like? Take a look at some typical examples of actual beliefs I’ve heard:

“Maybe I don’t deserve success”
“It’s selfish to want more money”
“I’m not sure I want to be in real estate”

Step 5: Take Inspired Action and Allow It to Come to You.

Take Inspired Action and detach yourself from the outcome. In other words, do what feels inspired based on your intuition and inner nudges. Avoid Frantic Action that comes out of fear and a reactive mode. Once you take action, suspend your doubts and believe that what you want is on the way to you. This puts you in a state of joyful anticipation where your vibrations are high and you are magnetic for what you want.

Practical Tips for Applying the Law of Attraction Everyday

1. Practice Gratitude. Open the door for more good to come to you. Start each morning thinking about all that you are grateful for. Keep a gratitude journal; write in it daily; read it often.

2. Visualize. The more you visualize what you want, the faster it will come to you.

3. Observe Your Own Self-Talk. Stop giving energy and attention to that pesky inner voice that brings your energy and vibrations down. Replace self-sabotaging thoughts with empowered ones.

4. Ask Yourself Throughout the Day, “What Do I Want?” By doing that, you are focusing your conscious and subconscious mind on what you want to attract and you are increasing your magnetism.

5. Do What Brings You Joy! I have two rules here:

Rule 1: If it gives you joy, do it!
Rule 2: No, really, if it gives you joy, do it!

Remember that everything is energy-every thought, belief, and feeling-and that energy attracts like energy. So, focus on what you want, tame your inner critic and send out what you want to attract to become magnetic for your ideal clients, new listings, more in commissions…whatever your professional heart desires.

Here is a letter I recently received from one of my clients:

“Dear Maya,
In the last week I have been really focusing on the Law of Attraction. I have been practicing stopping my negative thoughts, and asking myself, “So what do I want?” In addition, I verbalized out loud positive affirmations of having my business succeed.

Out of the blue I have three new listings in one week. I know that it’s my practice of the Law of Attraction. I have been putting out a very positive energy, and expecting results to come to me, and they have.

By the way, all of my new clients are my Ideal Clients. When I work with them I am uplifted to a higher plane. I know that they appreciate the service that I give them, and that makes my work a pleasure, because that makes my work a win-win. I can’t thank you enough for helping me implement the Law of Attraction into my everyday life.”

Paula,
Real Estate Agent

Dr. Maya Bailey, author of, Law of Attraction for Real Estate Professionals, integrates 20 years of experience as a psychologist and 12 years as a business coach with her expertise in the Law of Attraction. Her powerful work creates a success formula for real estate professionals ready to double and triple their incomes. Get Dr. Maya’s free report, 7 Simple Strategies For More Clients in 90 Days, by visiting www.90DaystoMoreClients.com. Also, check out her new Success Program, designed to help you get focused , motivated, stay on track and create a Positive Mindset, no matter what.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

More real estate coaching articles on RISMedia.com:

5 Tips to Make Cold Calls Easier
5 Steps Create Your Ideal Income
Release the Struggle and Start Attracting

Out of the blue, she looked up at me and said, “Mom, I love you.”

Delighted, yet taken by surprise, I said, “Ferne, I love you, too. What made you say that? What was the trigger for you?”

She replied, “You know, Mom, I was just looking at you, and I really think you’re beautiful.”

“Wow Ferne, thank you so much. That is such a nice compliment.” I was beaming from ear to ear. It’s not every day a mother receives unsolicited flattery from her children.

She continued, “You may not be the skinniest person in the world, but you really are beautiful.”

For a moment, the wind was taken out of my sails and everything came to a brief stop. I had to regain my composure.

The conversation with my daughter gave me a choice to make. To focus on the fact that she thought I was beautiful, or to focus on not being the skinniest person in the world. One felt good and one didn’t so much. It was my choice. I went to look in the mirror for my own assessment.

For a 40-year-old, I was still pretty hot, and clearly my daughter shared the same opinion. “You know what, Ferne? Being the skinniest person in the world isn’t so important. But it is important to look in the mirror and like what you see. When we stand together and look in the mirror I see two beautiful women, you and me. Ferne, I really do think that you are beautiful, inside and out.”

I carried on with my day knowing I had a great story to share.

Kim Ades, MBA, is president of Frame of Mind Coaching and one of North America’s foremost experts on performance through thought management. By using her unique process of coaching through journaling, she works with clients to unveil and switch their thought patterns to ignite significant change and life transformation.

For more information, please visit www.frameofmindcoaching.com or e-mail kim@fom52.com.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

Don’t miss other coaching topics on RISMedia by Kim Ades, see:
5 Ways to Make the Most of the Written Word
24 Hours
5 Reasons Why Journaling Works

? You’re working 18 hour days, 6 or 7 days a week and burning the candle at both ends
? You’re stuck at a plateau in production that you can’t get beyond because you can’t possibly work any harder
? You’re becoming burnt out because you’re trying to be all things to all people
? The quality of your personal life is suffering because you don’t have enough time left to enjoy life
? Your business is starting to suffer from the standpoint of customer service - your clients and everyone else in your life is starting to notice that you’re spreading yourself too thin
? Frustration becomes your watch word - every time you cross something off your list there are three new things added to it
? You sometimes get paralyzed in the face of so much to do, not knowing where to start because no matter what you choose to do, there will be scores of other critical jobs you’re ignoring - it’s a lose/lose situation

Now some people will tell you that the whole team issue is smoke and mirrors. They’ll tell you that it won’t increase your personal profitability, because even though you’ll be putting up bigger numbers, you’ll be sharing this with others and thereby not gaining any net personal advantage. This simply isn’t true. I, and thousands of agents I work with, am making much more money now than before I put a team in place.

How? Because the right team members free you up to focus on the parts of the job you enjoy most and are best at - the parts that make you the most money. For most of us, that’s being in front of prospects, explaining the benefits you can give to them and converting them into clients. Because you don’t have to worry about all the other small details, you’re able to spend much more of you time doing this face-to-face.

This is a simple enough concept to understand. But some might still wonder whether the extra income you will generate really filters down profitably to your pocket. The answer again is “yes,” and here’s why. The key is that you shouldn’t try to hire a whole team overnight. Instead, you should grow one person at a time, only adding another person when you can prove financially that the addition of this person will gain your business more than it will cost. That’s pretty simple mathematics, and you don’t have to be an economics major to understand the principle of economies of scale.

With one more agent, for example, you will have very little new overhead. You’ll provide them with a computer, but that’s pretty much it. On the return side, you’ll take 50% of all their net commissions which should easily cover your costs early in the relationship. There’s no extra money put out for marketing or administrative assistance. Basically, hiring a new buyer’s agent should be like turning on another tap which pours out cash.

The decision to hire another unlicensed team member should be made when current job functions have become bigger than the people who are currently managing them, and when this happens, you have to start to be concerned about the level of service you’re providing your clients. If you were to lose a handful of clients because of sloppy follow-up or detail work, that loss in potential income could more than pay the cost of another body to help enhance the service level.

The fact is, the reason that many agents get scared at the prospect of a team is because they’re looking at it as one big unit that may seem very far from where they are currently. But remember, the right way to build a team is one person at a time, and most of you will start the way I did, with one single assistant to handle the time-consuming, administrative day-to-day details that don’t require your level of skill and experience to manage (things like answering phones, filing, making up feature sheets, banging in signs etc.)

Other People Can Extend Your Capabilities

A very important point I want you to understand is that you can gain enormous leverage through people. The right people in the right place at the right time can make things possible. They can extend the capabilities of your business a hundred-fold or more. The key is to develop a system to ensure that you find the right people, place them correctly, and motivate them relevantly.

The first thing that most agents do when they realize that they need help in the form of an assistant is to run out and hire someone - anyone (usually a friend or relative) - to take some of the pressure off. In actuality, this is the last thing you should do. You see, the most common problem I hear from agents is that they can’t get their assistants to do what they want and, as a result, both their money and time is wasted on someone who is unproductive.

I usually counter to these agents: “Well, what did you WANT your assistant to do?” It sounds like a simple enough question, but it’s a thought process very few have gone through, and if you fail to take this important first step, you’re almost surely destined for failure with the people you hire.

How Can Your Assistants Do What You Want If You Don’t Know What You Want Them to Do?
If you don’t have a crystal clear picture of what you want this person to do, how on earth could they have an accurate picture? How can they possibly fulfill your expectations if you don’t really know what your expectations are?

You can’t leave it up to your team members to invent their jobs and thus your business. You must be the one to decide which duties a position will include and how it will be performed. If you leave this decision up to your assistant, they will naturally pick and choose to do the tasks they like to do. And if that doesn’t happen to include (for example) filing or answering the phones, you may find that these duties either don’t get done, or land back on your plate! Remember, you’re in control. You are the Rainmaker. Make sure you make the rain rather than getting rained on.

“When interviewing potential candidates for any position, be sure to administer a personality test so you will have a clear picture of the type of person you are dealing with. Knowing this in advance will not only help you make the right hiring decision, but it will also help you in your training efforts.

“Set goals and expectations for new agents in their first 90 days to determine if they are going to succeed in this business. In addition, all agents who join your team or company need to sign an independent contract agreement with an exit agreement to protect the leads given to them.

“A team can provide leverage which will enable you to focus on the ‘big rocks.’ While you are the master at lead generation, others can assist you on buyer appointments, inputting listings, marketing and administrative duties. Start small and build as your budget allows you to. Never hire an agent just because they have big numbers. They should meet all of your team’s core values: i.e. integrity, strong customer service skills, a desire to succeed and finally, they must be a team player.” - Willie Miranda, Clifton Park, N.Y.

Billion Dollar Agent^TM Craig Proctor has been in the top 10 for RE/MAX Worldwide for 15 years. Craig consistently sells over 500 homes per year to earn almost $4 million in annual commission. Over 25,000 agents nationwide use Craig’s system to make more money in less time. To learn about free Craig Proctor workshops held year round in cities across the country, visit: http://www.hypertracker.com/go/cp/a18c090218/.  

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

• FOCUS: How do you get to where you want to be unless you know where you are going? I always teach my clients a visualization technique in which they imagine where they want to be professionally in one year from today. How much money do you want to be earning? How many hours a week do you want to work? What kind of clients do you want to work with?

• STRATEGIES: Once you’re clear about where you want to be, you need to create strategies to get there. I tell people, “If you already knew what strategies to use, you’d probably already be there.” Strategies help you to chunk big visions into tangible, bite size action steps.

• ACCOUNTABILITY: How accountable are you to yourself? Most people I meet in business for themselves find it far too easy to slide in keeping their agreements with themselves. The magical thing about coaching is that when you have a witness to your accountability, you are much more likely to do what you said you’d do. Just knowing that someone cares and will ask you every week, “How did that action step go?” is huge incentive to staying on track.

• DISCOVERY: As a former psychologist, one of my passions is helping people discover how they block them themselves and get in their own way of success. What I find is that everyone needs to reprogram some self-limiting beliefs, like “I don’t have what it takes to succeed” or “I don’t deserve to have a lot of money”. Another block is that most people suffer from subconscious sabotaging strategies, like procrastination. These need to be reversed. Finally, everyone I’ve ever met has a monstrous, overly developed inner critic, which I call the Gremlin. In discovery you learn to identify the voice of you Gremlin and learn to tame it way down.

• PERSPECTIVE: We all spin our wheels and get caught up in our narrow perspective. The best investment we can make in getting more clients is to have people around us that give us the option of another perspective.

• SUPPORT: If you are in business for yourself , you need all the support you can get. As you put yourself out there to get more clients, you are assuming the responsibility of helping these clients. Who helps you? Who do you lean on? It is invaluable to have a support team or a committed ally in your corner.

• CELEBRATION: How often do you celebrate yourself? As a coach who teaches people how to get more clients I find that learning to celebrate not only your successes but also your efforts is the way to a long a healthy career. By learning to stop, pause and validate yourself for what you’ve done keeps this process light, fun and exciting. Also, think of how impossible it is for your gremlin to beat you up, if you are busy celebrating yourself! It is one of of the joys of my work that I get to help people truly celebrate themselves.

Dr. Maya Bailey, author of, Law of Attraction for Real Estate Professionals, integrates 20 years of experience as a psychologist and 12 years as a business coach with her expertise in the Law of Attraction. Her powerful work creates a success formula for real estate professionals ready to double and triple their incomes. Get Dr. Maya’s free report, 7 Simple Strategies For More Clients in 90 Days, by visiting www.90DaystoMoreClients.com. Also, check out her new Success Program, designed to help you get focused , motivated, stay on track and create a Positive Mindset, no matter what. www.positivebuzzsuccessprogram.com.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

Her friend said to her with heartfelt sincerity, “Renée you are an actress.”

As Renée repeated the words, it became clear to her. “I am an actress,” she declared.

In that moment she went from the “I want to be” to the “I am” and her life did indeed change.

She won the role of Dorothy Boyd in the movie Jerry McGuire, and not only did she melt Jerry’s heart, but she captured the heart of American movie land. The rest, as they say, is history.

That switch in thinking to “I am an actress” struck me hard. How many times do we wish and hope and imagine how wonderful it would be if we were this, or that; how we just know that we are meant to be doing something, how our lives would be perfect if we were following our dreams and our hearts.

Well, why are we not doing this or that? If we honestly believe that we were born to do something else, why are we not pursuing it? What will it take for us to make the turn? How many excuses can we give ourselves; how many reasons can we come up with, to blanket our dreams and hopes and eventually just sweep them out the door and under the mat where we step on them each time we leave the house?

What will be our ‘aha’ moment, when we go from the wanting to the being?

One thing I have learned from working at Frame of Mind Coaching is that we are absolutely capable of making significant changes in our lives.

The reason so many of us are stuck in the shadows is that we are afraid to come out and be the person that is housed in our core. It’s so much easier to stay in the shadow, to follow along the path that we stumbled upon, even though we know it’s not right for us.

It takes a lot of guts to make changes, a great deal of inner strength, but when we do, wow, we are unchained from our bondage. Sometimes we don’t even realize how unhappy we were until we’ve broken out of our ruts, and then we are overwhelmed with the delight of feeling happiness and true joy returning to our lives.

Going from “I really want to be” to “I am” signifies a very powerful shift in our mindset. It’s actually an incredible thing. Try it. Try saying the words out loud. “I am ____.” See how it sounds, feel how it reverberates throughout your body. Enjoy the sensations and allow yourself to dream. It is when we dream and we allow ourselves the opportunity to step into that dream that they really do come true. It’s a very powerful tool in changing our thinking. Try it. Let me know!

Jacqui Markowitz is the Director of Communications for Frame of Mind Coaching. You can reach Jacqui at Jacqui@frameofmindcoaching.com.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

I know this with certainty because it happened to me. In fact, you wouldn’t believe the wastage that occurs in our industry. I’ll illustrate this important point by telling you about my own personal experience.

Several years ago, when I was still trying to put all the pieces of the puzzle in place, I did some analysis on my business which shocked and depressed me. At this point in time, I had the lead generation part of my business working well. In fact, I had hundreds of leads coming into my business, and all these calls were dutifully entered into my contact management system.

However, because I hadn’t firmly put a foolproof system in place to ensure that these calls were followed up properly, I knew I wasn’t converting as many of these prospects as I could. The question was, how bad was it? I decided to find out.

I was devastated by the results . . .

I cross-matched my database of seller prospects against all new listings (by all agents) on the MLS. Astonishingly, I found that 82% of my seller prospects listed within 12 months. Now understand, these were prospects who had called me first (i.e. they were prospects who had called me on one of my ads to request information from me.) In other words, these were people who had told me they were thinking of moving. They’d raised their hands and qualified themselves.

That part was good. After all, it helped me validate that the quality of leads I was generating was high. However, because my follow-up system was not yet fully up to speed, I only converted 17% of this 82%. In other words, I lost the balance of these prospects to other agents!

That was a turning point for me. That was the point when it became crystal clear to me that simply finding a better way to generate the lead was far from enough. In fact, by becoming so good at generating leads, I had inadvertently created another problem: i.e. too many leads to follow-up on . . . unless I found a way to automate this process.

To fix this problem, I needed (and you need) a follow-up system that would significantly improve the conversion of prospects into face-to-face appointments.

4 Step Follow-Up System

Obviously, all your leads need to be followed up no matter where they come from. Whether you meet a prospect out in the field, or a prospect calls your office directly off a sign or property display ad, you’ll need to schedule regular follow-up with them in order to convert this lead into a face-to-face appointment.

For the leads generated through your non-property direct response ads, however, there are some specific additional steps you must take in order to convert this caller. If you’ve executed these ads correctly, your prospects will have been directed to an automated telephone hotline or website because these vehicles represent an easy and non-threatening way for your prospects to get the information they want without having to speak with an agent. When you call these prospects back, you need to structure your call in order to convert this prospect into a person who will be receptive to speaking with you about their relocation plans on a regular basis.

Depending on how ready-to-act the prospect is, the length of time and the number of calls or letters may vary, but the essence and order of the steps is the same no matter whether the prospect is calling for a free special report, a hotlist, or a property listing printout.

There are 4 steps to this process as follows:

1. Pull off the names, addresses and phone numbers of prospects who have left a message to receive information (e.g. free special report, property information etc.). Your hotline and website should offer prospects two different reports: #1 is for those who are moving in the next 6 months or less, and #2 for prospects who have a longer timeframe in mind. While there needn’t be an actual difference in these reports, this simple question will do some automatic sifting and sorting for you, so when you pull off the information, it’s important to note which report they asked for.

2. Send the requested report to both groups. If a prospect asks for both reports 1 and 2 (which sometimes happens), you can enclose another related report. The report must be sent with a cover letter, in a hand addressed envelope with live postage and within 48 hours of receiving the message

3. Enter the names, addresses and telephone numbers of each prospect into the contact management system, as well as which report they requested.

4. Call the prospects who requested reports/listings/print-outs. The purpose of this call is to establish top-of-mind consciousness with these prospects in a non-threatening manner and probe them with qualifying questions to help you understand the quality and time frame of the lead. You will do one of three things depending on how your call goes.

a. NOW BUSINESS - set up a meeting to present your listing/buyer presentation to them
b. FUTURE BUSINESS - put them on a follow up plan which will include a pre-set schedule of calls and letters
c. DUD LEAD - delete them from the system if they are working with another agent or if they have indicated clearly that they’re not moving

Relationship-Building Is Important

It is critical to note that communicating with a prospect (or a client for that matter) is not a one-shot deal. People are inundated with information - you may have to communicate with them two, ten, twenty times before they respond. Be careful to do this respectfully so you don’t become a nuisance, but never forget that . . .if you don’t have top-of-mind consciousness, your prospects will forget all about you.

More to the point, as I found out from first-hand experience, they’ll find someone else who is paying attention (or who just happens to be in the right place at the right time, where you were in the right place at the wrong time) - like your competitor.

Regardless of what you’re mailing, there are two standard parts of either communication that are critical to get right: the outer envelope and the covering letter. Your outer envelope should always be handwritten (both the mailing and return addresses) with live postage (i.e. physical stamps vs a postage meter). Why is this so important? Well, the fact of the matter is, people sort their mail over the garbage, only opening what they want or have to. Mail which looks like advertising or solicitation is quickly slotted into the “junk” category in your prospect’s mind, and sent to the recycle bin, unopened. By making your letter look like personal mail, you fly under your prospect’s advertising radar and get your letter opened.

Once they do open the envelope, they must find that the communication inside is personalized and full of benefits. Whether you’re sending out your prospect newsletter or fulfilling a request for a special report, you must accompany the information with a personalized cover letter which summarizes the benefits and importance of what’s inside. If your prospect opens your handwritten envelope and finds an obviously mass-produced mailing inside, they may decide to toss it out before looking at it.

The Unpredictability of Client Timing

In my experience, about a third of the prospects I speak with are honest and realistic about their moving plans. In other words, they are open to using my services (although not necessarily committed), and the time frame they give me is pretty accurate — i.e. nothing changes for them.

However, there is also a third of the prospects I speak with who are not so open to using me (i.e. they see me as a salesperson or some other negative, or have a relative in the business, etc. and would never use me anyway . . . and as a result give me an arbitrary date just to get rid of me.) And finally there’s another third whose timing prediction changes on them (i.e. they truly think they’ll move in six months but suddenly a transfer or something of this nature comes through and they have to move sooner than they thought.)

What I found is that in the latter two cases, I would follow up as scheduled and find that suddenly they were listed with someone else. Despite the fact that you’ve scheduled your call back based on what they told you, there’s always the possibility that something will go wrong.

As a rule of thumb, always schedule your next call back for half the time they gave you in order to decrease the chance of missing an opportunity due to the unpredictability of client timing.

“Fast and Consistent follow up is key in this business and can make or break you. Our philosophy is to keep following up until they say NO. Also, if someone says they are not ready now, but will be in 6 months, call them in 3. Always, cut the time in half. We may be finding a lot of people who are early in the process of buying or selling a home, however, we are so persistent with our follow up that we recently closed on a buyer client that came to our website 5 years ago. We have actually tested this with our agents. We gave our best agents each 10 leads, they called all 10 leads, got one good one out of the bunch, got excited, ran with it, forgot about the rest and came back and said, the rest were horrible. When we went back and contacted the balance of the leads ourselves, we found that there were many good leads still there, however, the proper follow up was not done with the agents, and many of these people actually ended up buying homes with other agents. The morale of the story here, is again, Consistent Follow Up.” - Willie Miranda, NY

Todd Walters

“Nothing replaces the personal call. Send all the mail you want, send all the emails you want, video’s, CD’s, gifts and more - nothing replaces you picking up the phone and calling back the prospect as close to now as possible and offering them something they want so badly that they will be compelled to meet with you to get it. There is no better follow up script than Craig’s Universal Follow Up script. Becoming an expert at it will dramatically increase your results.” - Todd Walters, GA

Billion Dollar Agent^TM Craig Proctor has been in the top 10 for RE/MAX Worldwide for 15 years. Craig consistently sells over 500 homes per year to earn almost $4 million in annual commission. Over 25,000 agents nationwide use Craig’s system to make more money in less time. To learn about free Craig Proctor workshops held year round in cities across the country, visit: http://www.hypertracker.com/go/cp/a16c090211/.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

Here are steps to attracting your ideal client:

1. Knowing Who’s Right. Have you clearly defined the qualities of your ideal clients? In coaching people for the last 30 years, I have found that most people are fuzzy when it comes to knowing who they really most desire to work with.

To assist you in doing this, think back at some wonderful people you had the pleasure of doing business with. What did you like about them . Most of my real estate agent clients and coaching clients report the same qualities: someone who is positive, committed, motivated, educated, responsible and just a joy to be around. How good are you at attracting these clients?

2. Avoiding Who’s Wrong. How do you know who is the wrong client for you? Just start by listening to your body. Your body always tells the truth. Do you feel relaxed around this person or tense? How is your breathing? If you tend to hold your breath around this person, your body is telling you to beware. If you want to avoid contacting this person, even thought it’s essential, again you’re being given a signal.

3. Get in Front of Your Ideal Clients. Once you know the characteristics of who you want to work with, find ways to meet them and connect with them. Where do they hang out? Do they go to certain health clubs in your area? Then go to those clubs. Do they belong to certain community service organizations? Join them.

Remember, before people will do business with you, they need to know, like, and trust you. So follow your basic word of mouth strategies to be in contact with them. Remember they are your target market now, so you need to join the networking organizations they belong to, speak at places where they will be listening, write articles that they will read and form cross referral relationships with other professionals that work with them.

Use the Power of the Law of Attraction

The Law of Attraction is simple. It basically says to put out the energy that you want to attract back. It’s based on the idea that “like attracts like.” So guess what? If you want to attract your ideal client, you need to express the qualities that they express. So, if you’re ideal client is positive, motivated, committed, educated and a joy to be around, practice being that. Not only will you have fun in the process, but you’ll become a magnet for your ideal clients.

Dr. Maya Bailey, author of, Law of Attraction for Real Estate Professionals, integrates 20 years of experience as a psychologist and 12 years as a business coach with her expertise in the Law of Attraction. Her powerful work creates a success formula for real estate professionals ready to double and triple their incomes. Get Dr. Maya’s free report, 7 Simple Strategies For More Clients in 90 Days, by visiting www.90DaystoMoreClients.com. Also, check out her new Success Program, designed to help you get focused, motivated, stay on track and create a Positive Mindset, no matter what. www.positivebuzzsuccessprogram.com.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.