Luxury Clues

Boost Your Luxury Real Estate Commissions by Setting "SMART" Goals

Virtually all agents want to increase their business. If they closed 25 transactions in 2012, they may set a goal to close 50 transactions in 2013. While lots of experts talk about increasing your production by setting different goals, virtually no one talks about how to achieve these goals except by working harder. If you want to make more money in your business, here are the steps you need to take.

1. Define Your Purpose

Beyond making money for you, begin by identifying what is your real purpose in terms of being in the real estate business? For example,do you serve a particular market niche such as golfers or luxury retirement communities? Do you serve a particular geographical farm? If you cannot pin point at least three specific service components of your business, then determine your three largest profit centers for the last 12 months. (i.e. the three specific activities that produced the most income for you in 2011-12). For example, if most of your business came from a specific area or price range, make that area or price range your top priority. Then focus on expanding in your business in those areas.

2.  Identify Your Strategic Points of Focus 

Next, take the three areas you identified above, and identify at least three strategic points of focus for each area. For example, if your goal was to expand a profitable geographical farm, your strategic points of focus could include the following:

a. Generate more closed listings and sales from present geographical farm.

b. Generate more referrals from present geographical farm outside farm area.

c. Increase farm area by 250 homes

3.What Two Activites Will Help You Achieve Your Strategic Points of Focus?

Identify two activities that you will use to achieve each strategic point of focus. Make sure each strategy you select is an activity you are excited about doing rather than something that will make you miserable. For example, if you hate door knocking, this activity is probably not sustainable on a daily basis for the next year. In terms of determining which activities would be best, the critical question to ask is, “What am I willing to do each day, to bring me more business in this area?”

4. Write Your “SMART” Goals for Each Strategic Point of Focus.

The acronym “SMART” stands for Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Relevant, and Time-grounded. Here’s what a set of “SMART” goals might look for the example below.

A.  Generate more listings and sales from present geographical farm.

1.  Specific: Generate an additional listing and sale each month from this farm for the next twelve months.

2.  Measurable: Increase the number of traditional mail contacts from six per year to twelve per year.  Increase the number of Email contacts from zero per year to 12 per year for each family in my sphere of influence. 

3.  Actionable: Use viral marketing on my web site to increase contacts by holding a drawing, providing an Email newsletter, offering a special report, or an E-coupon from a local vendor to anyone who registers on the web site.

4.  Relevant: Items offered will change monthly and will be specifically related to events in the farm area or discount E-coupons residents can use from local vendors for their homes.

5.  Time-grounded: 

a.  First of each month, send out email newsletter to past customers with this month's E-coupons. 

b.  Tenth of the month, design web campaign.

c.  Fifteenth of the month, send out traditional mailing pieces. 

d.  Twenty-fifth of the month, post new web site offers.

e.  End of month, update comparable sales and add them to Email Newsletter to go out on the first day of the next month.

5.  Set Your Daily Objectives.

Remember,keep your focus on your three profit centers and set your priorities accordingly. If an activity doesn’t serve the development of those three areas, don’t waste your time on it. When you allocate your day, these three areas are your “hard rocks,” i.e. what must be accomplished today before you tackle anything else.

Working with “SMART” goals keeps your focus on those activities that will create the greatest amount of income for your business. Remember, the most successful agents specifically focus on two or three income producing activities rather than trying to do everything. Bottom line—a “SMART” focus translates to more money in your pocket with less work. 

Posted by Bernice Ross, CEO, RealEstateCoach.com

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Are you ready to upgrade your social media and web marketing skills? If so, check out our 7 minute demo of our new 14 session online Real Estate Dough® Experienced Agent Online Training program that covers blogging, web and social media marketing, as well as the best of the tried and true strategies you need today to master how to be a wildly successful real estate agent tomorrow.

 

Put Your Intuition to Work in Your Business

Have you ever had a little voice inside that said, “Do this” and you didn’t do it and regretted it? If so, you have experienced the power of intuition. 

Most people are unaware that half of their brain (their non-dominant hemisphere as scientists call it), has virtually no language function. It knows basic words like your name and commands such as "stop" and "go."  Nevertheless, your non-dominant hemisphere constantly processes incoming information and is a powerful resource when you know how to use it.

For 90 percent of the population, their right brain (which controls the left side of their body), is their non-dominant hemisphere. If you have ever had a gut feeling that something was wrong and it turned out that it was, the signs were perceived by your right brain. Your left brain (the dominant side) doesn't have access to these feelings. (Think of a robot that talks--that's the left side.) The right side is where all the emotion and feeling is located. It's also home to your intuition and all those so-called "gut feelings."

Let me give you several examples. I once was approached by a student at the college where I was teaching about 15 minutes after all the classes had cleared out for the evening. I had a bad cold.The student wasn't in any of my classes. He was attractive and well-dressed. Nevertheless, I held my left hand out to stop him from coming in my office. I told him to come back during regular office hours but he persisted. Fortunately, one of my male colleagues came in a few minutes later and I excused myself to meet with him (i.e. get away from this guy.)

I didn't think much about this, although I did tell my husband. He insisted that I contact the campus police. Apparently, this man was known to them and had been arrested on numerous occasions, although no one had managed to make the charges of assault against him stick. My right brain read that something was off even though my logical side didn't pick it up. I had a police escort to and from class for the remaining four weeks of the semester.

Let me give you some other examples. Several years ago I had the strongest feeling I should contact my closest friend from college that I hadn't seen in about 15 years. The thought kept nagging me, but I didn't do it. She died from an unexpected heart attack just a few weeks later.

I experienced the same thing a couple of years ago. A little voice inside kept telling me to go see Jack Douglas (the founder of the company where I worked for 18 years). I hadn't seen him since he sold the company back in 1997. I had a speaking gig in California and flew out a day early to meet with him. We had a wonderful morning together remembering so many great things about working together. He died three weeks later. 

Another time when I was doing a weekly commute from Austin to L.A., I was booked to fly home and the airline goofed up my reservation and didn't have my seat reserved. Since I had status, they would have bumped another passenger off the flight. My gut said don't get on the flight. I asked if I could get on the early flight the next morning and be upgraded to first. They said they would do that and they gave me a voucher for dinner. I had a nice evening. Three days later I was flying back with many of the regular commuters who were all telling me how lucky I was to have missed that flight. Apparently, the turbulence as so back that virtually everyone on the plane was throwing up, including many of the frequent flyers. 

So here's the bottom line. If your intuition says, "Go see Aunt Sally," "Don't work with this client," or take a much needed vacation--listen to it. Chances are there's a reason that doesn't make a lot of logical sense, but may make great sense when all is said and done. 

Posted by Bernice Ross. Join us this week on RealEstateCoachRadio as Greg Douglas of United Real Estate shares a terrific five part series called, “Open House with a Purpose.” This is probably the best lead conversion tool for open house ever. Listen in to learn how to apply this in your real estate business.

Two Hot New Apps for Your Real Estate Business

If you want to stay ahead of the competition, especially in the luxury real estate market, it's important that you are aware of the latest tools and apps that can help you better serve your clients. Here are two very useful tools that you be great resources for your real estate business. 

1. ThingLink: This is a new tool for Facebook that allows you to make your images and your videos on Facebook interactive. With Thing Link you can also post captions on your pictures. For example, if you get a price reduction on one of your listings, take a new photo and use the ThinkLink app to post a "Price Reduced $17,000" on top of the picture. 

According to the ThinkLink Website, you could also "use the tool to place a SoundCloud recording on a house image that introduces the for-sale home." 

One of the most powerful aspects of ThingLink is that it allows you to track metrics on what you post. You can tell how many page views your pictures and videos have had on Facebook. Right now, most agents don't track this type of data. ThingLink makes it simple.

The basic program is $5.00 per month for up to 500 images or $20.00 per month for an unlimited number. 

2. Real Estate Blog Ideas:This is a free tool that provides you with a list of ideas from various news articles that you can use in a wide variety of ways. For example, you can use these ideas to create a blog post, be the basis for a marketing post card or newsletter, as well as for creating a special report. The list constantly changes as news stories change, so you always have a wealth of ideas from which to choose.

Now here is an extremely important point. DO NOT copy an article and claim it as your own. If you are doing a blog post, the correct etiquette is to do a one or two sentence summary and then link to the article. If you want to use the article in print form, you must obtain written permission from the person who wrote the article and/or controls the copyright.  

Also, if you just want a quick update about what is happening in the real estate industry (as well as in the general news as well), this is a great way to have everything aggregated into one place.

Posted by Bernice Ross.

Don't miss this week on Real Estate Coach Radio as Terri Murphy joins us for a five part series called, "The Power of a Red Hot Pre-Appointment System. Terri consistently sold 100 properties a year without the help of an assistant. Her Pre-Listing package is an important key. Here's what Terri will be covering: Monday: How to Stand Out from the Competition; Tuesday: Creative Ways to Deliver Your Pre-List Package; Wednesday: The Power of Strategic Alliances; Thursday: What to Include in Your Pre-List Package; Friday, Special Marketing Tools to Set You Apart

 

 

 

Stop Playing the Win-Lose Game in Your Luxury Real Estate Business

Lots of real estate salespeople reference the idea of win-win negotiations. A bigger question is to what extent are you playing "win-win" in your life and in other areas of your business? In most cases, many agents, especially in the luxury real estate market, play win-lose more often than they play win-win.Here are three proven steps to shifting from win-lose to win-win. 

1. Be OK with making mistakes

Instead of believing that you always have to be right, a different approach is to look at what happens as one of the many different types of possibilities. Most of us are terrified of making a mistake or looking foolish. Mistakes often make us feel like losers. That's a critical distinction. To illustrate this point, almost no one considers Thomas Edison to be a loser or a failure. Nevertheless, he tried over 10,000 different ways to make the light bulb before he hit on one that worked. His approach was to say, "I discovered 10,000 ways that didn't work." His approach creates a win-win rather than a win-lose situation.

To illustrate this point in your luxury real estate business, assume that you lose a million dollar listing after working hard on it for six months. Instead of being angry or resigned to the situation, you could ask, “What new possibilities are open to me now that this listing is no longer occupying my time?” “How could you locate a more motivated, realistic seller?” If it’s time for a much needed vacation, you could create lots of possibilities by asking the question, “Where can I go?” Asking questions about possibilities moves you out of the up-down spiral of win-lose and into the "can't lose" realm of win-win.

2. Win-lose is nothing more than a game

Have you ever thought about the fact that all games are essentially inventions that someone made up? What constitutes being a winner or loser is like baseball or football—it’s a game someone made up. Consequently, there’s no requirement that you play “win-lose.” Instead, you can make up your own game where there are no winners or losers. For example, rather than looking at how much money you earned or focusing on production goals, shift to focusing on the contributions you make to others. When you approach the business from the realm of possibilities, the types of contributions you could make are limitless. Specifically, did you help someone set a realistic price on their home, even though you did not get the listing? Did you provide someone with excellent service that they may not have received elsewhere? Did you bring a smile to someone who was in an unhappy situation? To master the practice of possibility, constantly focus on all the unique ways you can contribute to others.

3. Don't take yourself so seriously

If you have been in business for any length of time, can you name all of your past clients? In most cases, the answer is "NO!" Yet, during the time when you were having problems with their transaction, it may have seemed as if it was the end of the world. While it's true that the client may remember you, most clients don't even remember their agent's name.

One of the best ways to make sure that your clients remember you in a positive way is to let go your need to be right. A key point to remember is that, "It's their house, it's their mortgage, and it's their decision." When you let go of having to be right and focus on the possibilities for helping your clients make the best possible decision, you have let go of win-lose and created a win-win for everyone involved. 

When it comes to your business or your life, you have three choices—resignation, anger, and possibility. You cannot live a full life under the shadow of resignation, bitterness, or anger.  Isn’t it time to consider the possibility of exploring possibilities?

Posted by Bernice Ross,Join us this week on RealEstateCoachRadio.com with New York Times Best-Selling author Don Hutson, the author of the One-Minute Negotiator. If you want to negotiate more effectively, you can’t afford to miss this incredible two weeks of shows with Don. Here’s what he will be covering this week in his 10-part series called: The Selling Style that Works:  Monday: How to Create Low Stress and High Trust; Tuesday: Communicate Like a Pro;Wednesday: What’s Right vs. Who’s Right? Thursday:  Handle Customer Concerns; Friday: Maximize Customer Loyalty.

 

Avoid These Five Behaviors that Can Undermine Your Luxury Real Estate Business

Luxury real estate agents are held to a higher standard, even though every one of our clients deserve the best possible service that the agent can provide, regardless of the price point. The list below contains five behaviors that can undermine your real estate business, regardless of what price range that you serve. If you are engaging in any of these, there's no better time than right now to stop.

1. Failure to delegate

Are you doing $8.00 an hour tasks? Are you poor at doing the paperwork and the filing? If so, your luxury real estate business will suffer. The best agents recognize what they do well and they delegate the rest. This gives you more time to do lead generation and it also reduces your stress because you're not engaging in behaviors you hate doing.

2. Lack of reserves

Clients are like people who date. They have finely tuned radar that allows them to recognize people who are desperate. If you're struggling with living from commission check to commission check, start looking for places where you can cut expenses as well as what you can add to your business that will generate more income. Get in the habit of allocating at least 10 percent of every commission check to reserves until you can safely go for a year without closing a deal. 

3. Burnout

This is one of the most serious issues luxury agents face. Let's face it, the luxury market has been a mess due to the lack of financing as well as the high percentage of short sales. If you're experiencing burnout, take steps immediately to take better care of you. Schedule more time off--this means creating at least one day a week that is a "real estate free day." If you struggle with taking off a full day, then take off Friday afternoon and Sunday morning. Spend time with loved ones, take part in your favorite recreational activities, and carve out time for quiet time to read or just relax without anyone else around.  

4. Failure to keep learning

With all the technology changes coming at us fast and furious, you absolutely have to keep learning to stay on top of your game and to be competitive. Learning doesn't just have to be taking courses or reading. It can be exploring a new recreational activity or trying something you have never tried before. There's always something new to learn and every transaction brings some new piece of information about how to do your job better. Seek knowlege and dont' be afraid to ask help from those who know more than you do. It's how you grow. 

5. Failure to maintain "luxury standards"

The best agents take responsbility for their actions--they don't blame others, even when someone else is at fault. Instead, they approach their business as providing solutions for their clients. Futhermore, you never discuss your clients or their situation with anyone else--period. Their business is their business--not anyone else's. Luxury standards also means doing everything with the finest quality--this means that your marketing materials are top notch and so is how you present yourself professionally.

Finally, it also means having clear cut boundaries about the way that people treat you. If someone doesn't treat you with respect or meet your quality standards, refer them to another agent. While this may sound harsh, you will attract a much higher quality clientele. Saying "No," to the wrong types of clients is one of the smartest moves that you can make for your business. 

Posted by Bernice Ross, CEO RealEstateCoach.com. This week at RealEstateCoachRadio.com our guest is Jimmy Mackin, the founder of the Real Estate Tech Support Group and a super sharp Gen Y who will be sharing "An Agent's Guide to Working with Gen Y." Here’s what he will be covering:

Monday: Don't Waste Your Money Advertising to Us

Tuesday: People Share Awesome

Wednesday: We Get Our Information from Each Other

Thursday: Fans and Followers Don't Buy Homes—People Do

Friday: Being First is Overrated

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Avoid This Common Trap that Nails Most Luxury Real Estate Agents

Do you find yourself trying to control everything? Many luxury agents are so concerned about getting everything right for their high end clients they are completely convinced that no one could do as good of a job as they can? If you're feeling that no one can do things as well as you can, you have probably fallen victim to the "I'm-the-only-one-who-can-do-it" syndrome. To rid yourself of this stress-provoking, self-defeating behavior, consider the "cost" of doing it all yourself.

We had dinner with a friend who openly admits she is a complete and total control freak. Even though she is extremely successful and has severe allergies, she insists on cleaning her own house. When we tried to persuade her that hiring a housekeeper would be a better use of her time as well as in the best interest of her health, our arguments fell on deaf ears. No one could clean her house to her satisfaction.

We then asked her to consider the "cost" of cleaning her own house. The four hours she spent cleaning the house multiplied by what she earns per hour selling luxury real estate ($150 per hour billing) means the true cost of cleaning her house herself was $600. This really got her attention! Not only was she paying a huge price in term of her health and well-being, she was "wasting" money as well!

Having a sense of balance and control in your life is important. Going overboard and having to do EVERYTHING can be both costly­ and potentially unhealthy. 

If you feel that you need to delegate some of your work to take your business to the next level, there are a number of great options. The first and most important is to let go of the menial tasks such as running errands, filling brochure boxes, installing lockboxes, and other activities that can be handled by a minimum wage person. 

You can also consider hiring a virtual assistant. You only pay for the time you use each month and since they are 1099 independent contractors, they are trained, have their own equipment, and are quite capable of working independently. Best of all, they generally work from home so you don't have to pay for office space.

If you're still feeling challenged, another option is to refer business to other agents that doesn't fall specifically into the niche(s) that you serve. 

Finally, if you need one-on-one help, hiring a well qualified real estate coach is a great way to go. 

Posted by Bernice Ross, Join us this week on RealEstateCoachRadio.com to hear some really great positive news about what's happening in the real estate market from Steve Cook, the Managing Editor of Real Estate Economic Watch. Believe it or not, even with all the awful news about the stock market and the U.S. credit downgrade, there is truly good news on the real estate front in many places.

Happy Independence Day: Presidential Quotes

I thought it would be fun to take a break from real estate content and to share some quotations from our past presidents. Below you'll find some of the most important historical quotes from various U.S. Presidents as well as some that I hope you will find to be inspirational. Enjoy!

If we do not lay out ourselves in the service of mankind whom should we serve?
John Adams

Let us all take more responsibility, not only for ourselves and our families, but for our communities and our country.
William J. Clinton

All growth depends upon activity. There is no development physically or intellectually without effort, and effort means work.
Calvin Coolidge

America - a great social and economic experiment, noble in motive and far-reaching in purpose.
Herbert Hoover

We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Thomas Jefferson

And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.
John F. Kennedy

Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth.
Abraham Lincoln

A man is not finished when he is defeated. He is finished when he quits.
Richard M. Nixon

Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!
Ronald Reagan

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
Franklin D. Roosevelt

If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn't sit for a month.
Theodore Roosevelt

America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand.
Harry S. Truman

Liberty, when it begins to take root, is a plant of rapid growth.
George Washington

America lives in the heart of every man everywhere who wishes to find a region where he will be free to work out his destiny as he chooses.
Woodrow Wilson

I hope you will join me in celebrating the fact that we are truly blessed to live in this great country. 

Posted by Bernice Ross

 

 

Make Your Real Estate Productivity Engine Purr

What would it take for you to achieve maximum productivity for your business? Surprisingly, it’s easier than you may think.

While everyone experiences both high and low levels of productivity, the steps outlined below will help you keep your productivity engine purring with minimal amounts of effort.

1.  Don’t starve the engine

Many real estate professionals jack themselves up with caffeine and sugar to get through their day. It’s common for us to skip meals as well. If you’re getting that 4:00 p.m. low or need a double espresso to get started in the morning, here’s how to put your body into high gear without sugar and caffeine.

Begin by getting in the habit of eating five or six times per day. Instead of having three large meals, eat three smaller meals with 100-200 calories snacks between meals. Nutritionists recommend this approach for people who are diabetic since it keeps their blood sugar and energy levels constant.

In terms of what to eat, most nutritionists suggest balancing your intake of carbs, proteins, and fats. What has really worked for me is having at least 15 grams of protein, coupled with one complex carb such as vegetables plus a small serving of a fast carb such as fruit, potato, or rice at each meal (total 30-45 carbs total).

Between meals, have at least two or three snacks daily which can be a protein bar, nuts, or almost anything as long as it does not exceed 200 calories. The goal is to eat something every two to three hours while avoiding foods with added sugars.

Also, eat close to the source. The less processed the food is, the better.

I originally looked at this approach as a way to lose weight. While I haven’t lost or gained, I am eating a lot more. What really surprised me was an extraordinary increase in my energy. Best of all, I’m sleeping better and not getting drowsy late afternoon—no caffeine required!

2. Synchronize your brain

Research on peak performance indicates that humans perform best when both sides of their brain are in synchrony. There are a number of ways to achieve brain synchronization, the easiest of which is to listen to music you love.

The way you can tell if both hemispheres of your brain are in synchrony is that you feel like dancing or snapping your fingers to the beat. There’s also a smile on your face. If you’re having an off day, as little as five minutes of the right music can put your brain back into top performance mode.

3. Take advantage of peak productivity times

Each day, your body has high and low cycles. For example, most people wake up or become hungry at about the same time each day. Your body temperature and other functions rise and fall throughout the day.

To take full advantage of these cycles, pay attention to when you are the most productive. The way to determine your peak energy time of day is to keep a log for several days. Note your energy level each hour and how easy or difficult it is to accomplish work-related tasks. In most cases, you probably already know whether you are a morning person or a night owl. Whatever is the case for you personally, schedule your day so that you do your most important and difficult tasks at your personal peak time periods.

For example, if you are at your best in the early morning, handle your prospecting, showings, any transaction problems, as well as your negotiations when you are at your best. Do your paperwork, social networking, and less important face-to-face activities during the afternoon.

 4. Can the negative self-talk

 Most of us are our own worst critics. If you catch yourself complaining about a transaction, the traffic, or your weight, the best way to eliminate this negative self-talk is to shift gears and ask, “What are five things that are going right today?” It could be something as simple as the sun is shining, my car is running perfectly, or my technology is working with no glitches. By immediately focusing on what is going right in your life, you increase your optimism and your energy. This in turn leads to increased performance.

5. Narrow your focus

To keep your focus strong, use time blocking. For example, if you are prospecting by phone, don’t allow any interruptions during your scheduled prospecting time. Devote 45 to 50 minutes per hour for the scheduled activity as well as 10-15 minutes per hour to check in for emergencies or to handle other urgent issues.

Also, while it’s tempting to respond to text messages or phone calls as they come in, remember that it takes almost 30 minutes after you return to your original task to reach the same level of concentration that you had before the interruption.

6. Allocate only 20 percent of your time to handle the bottom 80 percent of your activities

A common way we overwork our high performance engine is by trying to have it carry a bigger load than it was designed to carry. The 80-20 rule says that 80 percent of the benefit for our businesses comes from the top 20 percent of our activities.

Many agents beat themselves up because they didn’t accomplish the 53 things that were on their to-do list today. A better approach is to identify the three most important activities that you must complete each day. These are in your top 20 percent.

Allocate only 20 percent of your day to the other 80 percent. The reason? The bottom 50 percent of your activities yields less than five percent of benefit for your business. Consequently, you’re better off focusing primarily on the top 20 percent, doing what you can to complete the next 20-30 percent, and delegating or dumping the rest.

If you’re ready to make your productivity engine purr, then follow the simple tips above. You may be pleasantly surprised at how much better you feel as well as how much more you accomplish. 

Posted by Bernice Ross, This week at RealEstateCoachRadio.com, Jimmy Dague joins us to explain how Realtors can help homeowners age 62 or older stay in their homes with a reverse mortgage. This is really valuable information and can make a huge difference to a senior citizen between having to give up their home vs. being able to continue to live there.

 

Is It Time to Upgrade, Shift, or Change Your Real Estate Business?

Do you consistently take steps to upgrade your business and your personal life or are you someone who goes kicking and screaming when forced to change? Upgrading takes effort, but clinging to the old could cost you both your health and your business.

Let's face it. Upgrading your systems is downright painful. While I love new products, when it comes to changing something that is working just perfectly for me, I tend to be pretty resistant. It seems as if every time I have to upgrade my phone or my computer, there's always a huge learning curve. I don't know about you, but there are some days where you simply feel like throwing the device out the window. The old adage, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" is tempting to follow. Besides, all this new technology costs a bundle.

While it's tempting to fall into, "It's too much trouble to change trap," don't yield to it. It's also easy to argue that you don't need to spend the money. While it requires time, effort, and money to upgrade, choosing not to upgrade can be even more costly.

For example, if you wait for your current technology to start having problems, there's a chance it may fail when you need it most. The point is there is a cost in making a change, but there's usually a greater cost in choosing not to change.

What stops us from changing? Most people view change as taking away something they value rather than adding to what they already have. To illustrate this point, when people are asked to change four things about their appearance, most will remove their jewelry, shoes, or jacket. Rather than adding something new, they take away something they are already wearing.

If you view change as "taking away," it will be much harder for you to adapt. In contrast, when you view change as improving on or adding to what you already have, change becomes less intimidating.

Another thing that stops us from changing is the cost. Replacing an old slower computer costs money. On the other hand, if the computer is 30 percent faster than your current machine, this means the twenty hours you spend each week at your computer may be reduced to only fourteen hours. Assume your billable rate is $100 per hour. This means the cost of NOT changing is $600 per week or $2400 per month. The savings in just one month is almost enough to pay for the entire upgrade.

A third factor that stops us from changing is the fear of the unknown. How hard will it be to adapt to the change? Many agents argue that "I don't need to make serious changes when there's plenty of money coming in right now." The pain associated with changing is too high, especially when everything seems to be all right for the moment. 

A fourth factor is denial. We ignore the warning signs that indicate a change is brewing. We're receiving fewer referrals than in the past. It's harder to obtain listings and traditional prospecting techniques are creating fewer leads. These signs tell us it's time to make change.

Denial occurs in our personal lives as well. We're so busy with our businesses we ignore the signs that there's trouble at home or that there's something wrong with our health. If we keep busy, perhaps the problem will go away.

While this strategy works occasionally, most of the time the problem will only get worse. The longer you wait, the harder it will be to make the change.

How can you cope with change? On excellent approach is to treat change like a detour. A detour is "a temporary inconvenience that results in a long term improvement." Detours are aggravating because they're often slow going, inconvenient, and create additional barriers to achieving our goals. Nevertheless, once the detour is behind us, the new road is faster and easier to travel.

Posted by Bernice Ross, Two great speakers to check out on www.RealEstateCoachRadio.com. Hoss Pratt, fondly known as "the King of Prospecting," shared his great tips last week on how to convert For Sale by Owners and Expireds into signed business. His website has a number of sample calls that actually shows what he did when he calls these folks and they hang up on him. (Yep--he calls them back.)

This week we're pleased to welcome real estate’s leading expert on keeping safe—Andrew Wooten ofwww.JustBeSafe.com. Andrew’s book, Live, Work, and Play More Safely, addressed the challenges we face today in maintaining our safety at open houses, listing appointments, and vacant properties. Andrew has been speaking on safety for 26 years and has interviewed a number of felons about how they target their victims. Join us to learn about what you can do to protect yourself and your family both on and off the job. 

What to Do If Your Cell Phone Is Lost or Stolen: Nine Lessons Learned

On December 17 while I was traveling, I lost my iPhone while I was out shopping. Two years ago, I had my Palm Treo die over the same holiday weekend. Regardless of when it happens, losing your cell phone can be extremely frustrating. Here are nine lessons I learned (some good, some bad) that can help you weather the storm should this happen to you.

1. First, I have never been so grateful to have an iPhone than I was when this happened. When I purchased my new phone, Apple immediately restored all 2500 of my contacts. Furthermore, all I had to do was drag and drop my apps and my music onto the phone icon and all those files were restored. I don't know of any other phone that does this with this much ease.

Furthermore, if I had been smart, I wouldn't have disabled my MobileMe settings which would have allowed Apple/AT&T to use the geo-location services to find the exact location of my phone. There's another app on the iPhone called "hound dog" that does the same thing. I didn't learn about these until my charge on my phone was already used up. 

2. No matter how busy you are (or how many packages you are carrying), when you take your phone out to use it, make sure it goes back into a zipped portion of your purse or into a carrying case where it is safe from being pick-pocketed. 

3. Passcode protect the phone so no one can use with without your password.

4. Have all of your data backed up in the cloud (in other words, your data is not just on your computer and/or on your phone--it's stored offsite on another server.) In my case, the data was stored on Apple's backup as well as on Mozy.

5. Suspend your phone service immediately until you get a replacement phone. Before suspending the service, however, have someone send you a text message with a different phone number that you can be reached at if someone does find your phone. 

6. Most phone carriers will redirect any phone calls to another number. You can also use a service such as Google voice to have your calls routed to any of the numbers where you may be reached. 

7. When you lose your phone, it's a great time to upgrade. I had a 3G iPhone and decided to upgrade to the 4G with the video and the other goodies. I saved $200, but had to commit to being with AT&T for another two years. Part of the reason I made the decision is that Verizon will be coming out with their own version of the iPhone sometime soon. The challenge is there will be a rush of Verizon users to use all the Apple related services. Verizon will have all the same problems AT&T had when they switched over. I believe there will be a lot of users leaving AT&T when this happens. The net effect will be that AT&T has most of the capacity issues ironed out--Verizon users will be dealing with them for months to come. 

8. Have the folks at the phone store (or Apple store) set up your email for you. AT&T has done this for me twice and saved me tremendous amounts of grief. They were also very patient and nice about it. The reason this is somewhat of an issue for me is that we have our own domains and private servers. 

9. If you have passwords or other critical financial information stored on your phone, make sure they are encrypted or encoded in some way. For example, if you're using a name as a passcode, don't put that name into your phone. Instead, choose something that reminds you of that name such as a reference to an event or date. If you're using a number, avoid writing out the number. Instead, use something that reminds you of the number such as "date of my first date with my spouse" that would be hard for someone else to determine.

Posted by Bernice Ross

Need help taking your business to the top in 2011? If so, check out RealEstateCoachRadio--our first guest for 2011 is New York Times Best Selling author Don Hutson, author of the One Minute Negotiator and The One Minute Entrepreneur. Don't miss these great tips from one of America's most honored speakers and authors.