Mentor

As we go through our daily routines, there are people who appear in our life that give us advice and we rely on them to help us answer questions, guide us through a particular process or get us through tough times we encounter. It may also be that you are one – you help others grow, help them become better in business or life and you derive satisfaction from the process known as mentoring. If we analyze the process of mentoring – it may help you find one or help you become a better one. In order to take it to the next level more effectively and efficiently, we need to rely on someone who can provide you with the right advice to get you there. Let’s put the pieces of the puzzle together…

M – Motivation and encouragement are two of the cornerstones of mentorship. By conveying a positive message about the mentee’s approach to their endeavor builds confidence in them which carries them through in all that they encounter. Helping others understand and see opportunities in every situation in an encouraging, optimistic and positive way can help others grow.

E – Education through sharing experiences, asking the right questions and helping others realize the importance of continuous learning helps to build the knowledge one needs to be successful. Also, provide the tools, ”tricks of the trade”, and the model in which to follow provide the guidance necessary to become a success.

N – Nurturing is another step in the mentoring process. Not every encounter is successful. By nurturing people through the tough times they face, and by providing constructive feedback enables them to grow and become better in the end. Everyone faces adversity, it is how it is handled determines if one becomes successful. A good mentor who provides a nurturing environment can go a long way to helping someone overcome adversity and move ahead.

T – Training is crucial to mentoring. Being supportive and helping with rehearsing presentations, dialogues, as well as accompanying the mentee on appointments are a big part of the mentoring process that sometimes gets overlooked. It is imperative to take the time to show, facilitate and educate as it will carry a lot of weight in determining how successful someone will become. Having a program in place to train will help people accomplish more, faster.

O – Organize and help your mentee develop systems, processes and most importantly, their schedule. In an effort to improve efficiencies in daily activities – these areas are extremely critical. Investigate what is in place, analyze and help to revamp or reorganize to improve and promote greatness.

R – Reward with public praise, encouragement, and with continuous support. It is essential to show appreciation for their efforts and to persuade them to pursue their goals and dreams.

By seeking advice, counsel and support from a trusted colleague, friend or business associate can help elevate you to levels of success you are looking for in life and business. When seeking a mentor, be selective, be proactive, and be communicative as well as be receptive to feedback. You will achieve many of the goals you set for yourself. Get it? Got it? Good!
Now, go sell something!

Impact

Impact is a powerful word. One of the definitions includes: to have an immediate and strong effect on something or somebody. Think about the phrases: something impacts the way you feel or think, to impact someone’s life, or if you have an impact on the business – all of these phrases are powerful and are a critical element to success in life and business. As an interesting experiment, let’s examine each letter of the word and how it can influence your thought process and your practices moving forward.

I – innovation is the ability to think creatively or think outside the box. By creating new or different ways of accomplishing something or by coming up with interesting ideas or ways to accomplish tasks will have an impact on your life and business – I assure you.

M - motivation and inspiration are a key element to influencing others to do more than they ever thought possible – very impactful. Make this a daily habit!

P - positivity – in your attitude towards others, situations, and your outlook on life will help carry others and yourself above and beyond most expectations they or you may have. Being positive isn’t the only thing but it gets you further, faster. Now, that has an impact doesn’t it?

A - active – you must be out in front people. You must attend trainings to get educated. Be active by attending seminars, networking events just get busy…you gotta do something; you can’t wait for it to come to you and it won’t happen by isolating yourself behind your desk or by staying at home. Action and activity beget action and activity. Get active and participate and you will see the impact it will have on you and your life.

C - communication – express your opinions, set expectations, follow up and follow through. The ability to convey your thoughts in a clear, concise manner will impact the way others view you and how you conduct yourself in life and business. Communication also entails listening – remember to incorporate this skill into your communication component! It will have impact…

T - trusted – through your actions and beliefs and by putting other people’s interests ahead of yours will gain you trust and respect and will aid you in your success. A servant mentality will help grow trust in you from others and your business will grow as a result. Your education will help give the right advice which will assist in others building their trust in you. Be selfless and giving and you will impact others and all areas of your life will prosper.

If you think about having a positive impact on others in your encounters with them in any situation, you will enhance your life and theirs and will raise the bar in your relationships which will bear you outstanding results! Get it? Got it? Good!

Standards

So many statements reflect what we should be doing as agents in working with today’s market – raising the bar, setting new standards, and rising to the occasion are just a few that come to mind. In order to differentiate yourself, you need to search out a niche, build and fortify your relationships within this niche and develop a business plan that support your plan of action to carry you on to a successful career in our business. Take the time to reflect on where you and your clients are today. Realize that there are opportunities to provide different services to others by looking where people need help so you can become a valuable resource to others that provides solution based advice and helps others achieve their housing wants and needs.

In this troubled, financial time in our industry, you must recognize that there are opportunities that arise that can help you achieve a solid business for years to come. These areas include builders, foreclosure business, short sale business, and providing advice on loan modifications, principal reductions, and deed in lieu of foreclosures to help others deal with the issues they face today. By having a well orchestrated plan, by gaining all of the knowledge you can in your niche area, by providing excellent advice through your education in your niche area, and then by delivering superior customer service – you will find yourself amongst the elite in our industry and will have built a solid business base and a strong referral base that will help you survive in any market. In order to achieve this level of success, you need to stop procrastinating, set priorities to help you achieve your objectives, get thoroughly educated to become the expert and cross train yourself within your business niche to know all aspects of your selected area of expertise to propel you in your career for years to come.

The key ingredients are locating the opportunities in our market and taking advantage of what is available to you to help others which will carry you to success in real estate. If you want to meander through these times and either just get by or barely survive – this may not be the business for you. Step aside to let others who take this business seriously and see that these times require more educated, ethical, and professional agents take care of potential clients. Our business deserves to have a reputation built upon agents who know what they are doing because they know what they are doing and not assume they know what they are doing. In this market, you need to be positive, proactive and responsive not negative, passive and reactive - now is the time to set new standards for our business and yours. Get it? Got it? Good.
Now, go sell something!

Market Update from our meeting with Doug Duncan

In the real estate market there is a learning curve virtually every day.  At RE/MAX Gateway, we do everything we can to keep our agents and our clients updated so they can give the best advice or help our valued clients make the right the decisions when leasing, buying, selling, or investing in real estate.   To that end, we were honored to have Fannie Mae’s Chief Economist, Doug Duncan as our special guest at our quarterly meeting.  We had an open dialogue which covered many topics from foreclosures and short sales to the recent stimulus packages approved through our government. 

Doug spoke about the economy as a whole and noted that the Washington Metropolitan area is rare where a lot of the media statistics and commentary does not apply to this region as it does on the national level. He mentioned that the Case-Shiller Index is not accurate where their data is over weighted with “fringe properties”, not the normal properties we see today in real estate transactions.

In the case of “timing the market”, he said that if you have time to wait for interest rates to go down, then you are a speculator and are only speculating rather than getting in the game of real estate. The question is how many speculators are successful? If your finances are in place, the payment works, the house works…buy the house. There is no reason to wait. Rates are not going to get down past 4%, so this is the time to buy.

The stimulus package provides us with a huge deficit where the government is borrowing from public funds in order to promote consumption with the economy. If people spend more, the economy will be stimulated, but as Doug mentioned, how will these funds be repaid? The answer is threefold: raise taxes, curb government spending, or inflation. Raising taxes never works, the government won’t curb spending, so the only answer that Doug could predict would be inflation in order to reduce the real value of the debts we are accruing.

Homeownership is at 67.5% nationally, that is down from 69.3% (an estimated 1.1 million households) in 2008… a definite sign that home ownership had greatly reduced due to the rise in foreclosures. The government’s plan to reduce or wipe out the mortgage interest deduction option on our taxes returns, according to Doug’s personal opinion, will cause more people to choose lower priced, smaller homes and cause the upper bracket homes to sit on the market longer. It will not affect homeownership rates, but will more than likely cause higher priced homes to sit on the market a little longer while waiting for buyers who do not necessarily need to rely on the mortgage interest deduction.

Lastly, people are saving more. There is no doubt that consumer confidence levels are down at this point in time. Doug noted that in the last quarter of 2008, the savings rate for consumers was 3.6%. That is the highest level of savings since WWII. People are nervous, paying down their debts and saving for what is to come. Therefore, since people are saving their money, instead of spending it, how do we get money back into the economy to stimulate it and make it grow? That was a challenge he posed to us and reminded us that we needed find balance with the spending and saving aspects of the economy as well as take back our buying power from foreign investors, so that we have a more manageable economy.

Again, now remains one of the best times to buy in most of our lifetimes – prices are low, rates are at historic lows, and although inventory levels are down, there are still great homes available for sale.  Contact us today to learn more!

Prospecting Success

We recently covered your performance and the need to rehearse your presentations in all areas of your business – your elevator speech, buyer and sell interviews, etc. and what we need to discuss is how you get yourself in front of people to perform and how to perfect your prospecting.

Prospecting is an art – you must be able to communicate with people of all ages, nationalities and personality types in a friendly, open, positive, and informative way. Your delivery and first impression will get you further, faster with better results and you should receive more referrals in the end. It is imperative that you portray a professional image with a smile and that you make eye contact to show confidence and you are there to help them with their business, housing needs and more. By perfecting this first step in your prospecting efforts you will get results. Too many times we see and hear negative responses and body language that turns suspects away instead of into prospects that eventually move up your loyalty ladder – a phrase coined by my friend Don Hutson.

The question is where do you find the opportunities? The answer is simple and is twofold. First, virtually everywhere you go – from restaurants, to the coffee shop, to the grocery store, to the hardware store, to the gas station – there are people you encounter who are discussing real estate, picking up real estate magazines or see your name tag or RE/MAX pin and ask, “how’s the market?”. You must be prepared to act and answer to take advantage of the opportunity. The second answer is – get involved. Become active in networking through business groups – BNI and Chambers – yes, they are competitive but if worked right, through your performance, and worked consistently you can make it work for you. Become active in associations such as alumni associations, your real estate associations (not all members are Realtors), Parent Teacher Associations (if you have kids), your home owners association, condo board or any other similar associations and don’t just associate, participate. Join clubs – book clubs, car or motorcycle clubs, rugby clubs, chess clubs, or any other hobby club, just get a hobby and join the club. Join community organizations who are involved in helping others like the Rotary club, Kiwanis club, Optimist club, or one of the many other similar organizations to help others and you will be rewarded as well. Youth associations are always looking for coaches for all sports, umpires, and other volunteers – seek them out and help them out. It will pay dividends. Become active in a charity you believe in and dive in and help. Not everyone got right into real estate right after college so network with past coworkers – again, people love to talk real estate nearly every time they get an opportunity with an “expert” – be that expert. Become active in social networking and add valuable content to your profile to attract a loyal following. Blogging can be another tool to grow your database and attract a following by informing others about market conditions, changes in financing, commenting on property values, and so much more. In addition to all of these outlets, continue to market to your sphere of influence, past clients, with vendors, fellow church members, visit new home sites, etc and provide them with information that is valuable to them. As you see, there are so many options and opportunities you just need to keep your eyes open and go do it – get up and get out!

The next question is how do the doors open for you? The answer is give back, be active, be a resource, be a team player, provide valuable information to others by participating – not sitting on the sidelines – and by getting in front of others face to face through coffees, lunches, cocktails or client events or through voice to voice communications. You have to do more than email, blog, send direct mail, or personal notes, you have to get out there and get involved. Remember to stay positive, upbeat and be giving of your time, give good advice, and give it your all in any situation and you will receive what you are looking for both personally and professionally. The more active you are in these areas, the more activity you will see in your business and in your bottom line. Get it? Got it? Good!