Three Keys To Be Amazing in 2012

It’s the time of year when all the prognosticators, experts and well-wishers are telling you what you must do now, tomorrow and the next day in order to fulfill all your dreams and leave a legacy worth having. Well, add these to your pile of mental “To-Do’s” if you really want to be Amazing this year!

1. Write it down! - We’ve all heard it from every consultant, coach, trainer and guru on the planet… what is written is real. Or, when you think about it, it’s a dream. When you talk about it, it’s a possibility. When you put it on paper, it’s a goal! Well, I’m going to suggest that merely writing it down is only half of the battle… granted it’s an important battle, but it will not win the war against mediocrity alone. The secret is in how many times per year, quarter, month, week, and/or day that you review your goals, keep them front and center, adjust them up when needed and focus on them. In life, you get what you focus on.

2. Don’t Judge. Be Curious. - When you do not achieve the outcome you expect, instead of suffering from the fallacy of the hasty generalization and “judging” someone, something, some circumstance… Be curious instead. Pause and ask yourself, “Other than my first assumption about him/this/it what else could be going on that I’m totally unaware of? This will allow you the time you need to regroup from life’s momentary setbacks and/or as I like to consider them… life’s attitude adjustments. You will be amazed at how easy most challenges will be to overcome when you become curious about them instead of judging them.

3. Be Intentional and Act As If. - How do Amazing people act? Do they arrive early or fashionably late? Do they read? Study? Exercise? What do they eat? How much sleep do they get each night? Do they view failure as a series of feedback, outcomes and results? Are they humble? Is there congruency in their words and actions? How bad do you want it? Are you willing? This is one of my favorite “actions” to take on any given project. Acting as if… is an incredible way to learn on the job. It requires dedication, tremendous spirit, enthusiasm and intensity. Find a mentor. Look for others that have achieved greatness and model them, talk with them and dare I say, ask them to spend some time with you because you have tremendous respect for how they accomplish life. Most importantly, Act Amazing Intentionally and you will begin to see and be seen in an amazingly new way.

Make this year your best year ever and be amazing today!

The Agent Reboot Tampa - Takeaway!

Wow! What an awesome time we had in Tampa for Agent Reboot. As usual, Katie Lance, Tim Smith, Will Hansen and the gang put on another outstanding event filled to the rim and overflowing with knowledge, new ideas, apps, more apps and did I say more apps?

So, in a nutshell, if you didn’t attend, here is what you would have / should have “taken away” from the event and begin implementing in your business.

1. Determine the Highest and Best Use of your time, focus on that and get others to do the less valuable “stuff” for you.
2. If you’re not using video, planning on using video, paying someone to do video… then start planning your exit strategy because you will not be around much longer.
3. If you’re not using email (mass blast programs), Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Blogs OR you have not already made plans to hire a program, product or company to do this for you… then, for the love of everything Holy, what are you doing? Here is a hint: www.realemerge.com All the links in point number 3 are built, managed, promoted by RealeMerge for the work I do for RE/MAX franchising in the Florida Region. This will give you a great idea of what they can do for you as well.
4. Learn how to engage the “lifestyle” of your sphere of influence and demonstrate to them that you care about what is important to them… not just about unloading that overpriced listing you keep cramming down their throat.

We learned a few insightful things as well. For example, BRAND matters. In fact, how you grow, manage and market your brand matters a lot. There was a lot of “squirming” in chairs at this notion because many agents were in attendance that are affiliated with inadequate or suffering brands that don’t really matter anymore and as a result, they’ve been told for years that brand doesn’t matter. In today’s market you need to be Global.

Remember, 8 out of 10 home buyers and sellers only interview two agents before deciding who will represent them. You are either Coke or Pepsi in their mind-space and all the other brands are irrelevant.

The greatest overall takeaway from the Tampa event was the victory for anyone that wants to buy or sell a home. It was refreshing to see so many capable professionals gathering to fine tune their skills and share best practices about what’s working and what isn’t.

Stay tuned for more fantastic events from Inman and Agent Reboot for 2012. Don’t be afraid to send them an email or a tweet and invite them back to Tampa again!

Make Today Your Best Day!

Three Lies Social Media Experts Are Telling Realtors®

Do you feel yourself getting more and more stressed each time a “guru” talks to the real estate industry about the “future” of our business, technology and social media marketing? Do you sometimes feel as if you’re falling behind the email and social media marketing learning curve? Worse yet, do you feel that your company is schizophrenic when it comes to pitching, presenting and persuading you toward the latest “best” products and services available? If you answered, “YES,” then please know that you’re not alone. If you didn’t answer, “YES,” then you probably do not work in real estate… or shouldn’t work in real estate.

In an effort to help you catch your breath and recover your sanity, I’ve compiled the top three lies that Social Media Experts are telling us. Also included is a truthful response as well as some solutions or “take-a-ways.”

So, Let’s Be Frank about email and Social Media marketing:

Lie #1: It only requires minutes per day to benefit from email and social media marketing.

Truth: Effectively implementing email and social media marketing strategies requires specific knowledge, substantial time, intention, thought, planning, discipline and follow up. If you don’t believe that then you may also believe internet generated real estate leads can be incubated in one phone call. Comparably, you will not receive buns of steel in only 3 minutes per day… unless you commit to somewhere around 3,650 consecutive days. The fact is that long-term, sustainable business relationships take time, effort, patience, resolve and strategy, with specific-measurable-deadlines.  For years, I’ve watched all the latest marketing products and companies advertise their websites, email programs, etc., as some sort of game-changing opportunity that will be realized in a matter of minutes, once you pay them handsomely. Then what? You still have all the work ahead of you. It’s kind of like paying for a lawn service to simply drive over to your house and drop off a few mowers, weed-eaters, hedge-trimmers and a blower. 

Read More