Elite Agents Real Estate Podcast with Debbie De Grote

Hello and welcome to Debbie's Tips. I wanted to talk to you today about your mindset. As you woke up this morning and were heading to work or going to your office or your desk at home, what were you thinking about? Were you thinking about the problems and the dramas ahead, that you might be facing in the day? Were you worrying about where your next deal is going to come from? Or were you thinking about the opportunity? One of the tough things about being an entrepreneur is that you must create every day from scratch, and there's no guarantee of payment. There's no security. And yet the great thing about being an entrepreneur is that opportunity is unlimited. So as you think about your day today, I want you to think, what are the opportunities that I should be taking advantage of? What are the calls I should make that will lead to my next big transaction? And what am I avoiding that if I just do it, I will have a successful day? So remember, think opportunity.

Hello and welcome to Debbie's Tips. I was thinking about something as I was reading a book this weekend called, Talent is Overrated. Is it truly the natural born talent that separates the super achievers in the real estate industry from those who don't achieve the success they deserve? After 20 years of coaching and over 80,000 coaching calls, I believe that while talent is great and it's incredible to be a natural, what I notice to be consistent when it comes to top achievers and top producers is drive and determination. Sometimes people who are super talented are content to rest on the laurels that their talent will pull them through, leading them to possibly be a little bit lazy at times about doing the work. They may not always put in the effort to laying the foundation, practicing skills, to showing up and doing the things that they need to do even when they don't feel like it. However a person who is very driven and very goal oriented seems to always find a way. So if you don't feel like you're a natural born salesperson, don't worry about it. Because I also read there's only about 2% of the population that would be considered natural born for anything. The rest is just a learned habit. So practice your drive and discipline. In fact, one of my clients calls it being rigorous. It’s time to be rigorous about the activities today to achieve the goal that I have set.

Hello and welcome to Debbie's Tips. What is your pre-appointment warmup? I was talking to someone in Canada, and he is the leader of a team that lists over a thousand properties a year. Here is his pre-appointment warmup: He puts the top down on his car, and he blasts the theme from Rocky, the Eye of the Tiger song. This is how he gets his mind in the game, and maybe it works because of course he takes a lot of listings. What’s funny is he even does this in the winter, even though it's a little cold in Canada in the winter. But he's discovered that that's what he needs to get his mind in the game. But how many times have we done the opposite of this? We kept putting off preparing for the listing appointment until the last minute, and now we're throwing things together and we're rushing over there. We’re worried about running late, we're maybe even talking on the phone trying to fix a deal problem as we drive, only to arrive with our mind in turmoil and chaos. So instead, let's set aside at least the 30 minutes before. Remember, there's a lot of money on the table, so take your time to get your head in the game. Take your time to get organized. Whatever works for you, if it's listening to great music, listening to scripts, or just driving over quietly thinking about the appointment ahead. You worked hard to get to the table, we want to be sure that we're at the top of our game when we get there.

Hello and welcome to Debbie's Tips. Today I wanted to talk a little bit about referrals. We all love referrals and want more referrals, and yet sometimes you wonder, why do my friends, my family, my raving fan clients, not give me the referrals I deserve? A couple of reasons for this could be possible. One, they just might not be the connector type. There are certain people who are very proactive about helping, but others are a little shy or timid to bring it up. So it could be just their personality type. Also, often we can give the impression that we're so busy and so successful, potentially they think that you don’t need them. It could also be that they're not completely clear on all the market areas that you service. Along that same line, they might not be aware of all the price points that you cover. So let's make sure that you talk to them about how much you value and appreciate the referrals, and how you love to build your business working with the people you know and their friends and family, that you're passionate about it. Also, let them know the geography that you cover. In fact, some of our clients simply say, “I'm licensed in the state of X.” And of course, let them know that whether it's a condo or a mansion, you are there to help. Be sure to tell them how to deliver those referrals to you. I always used to say to clients, “I so appreciate it if you will mention my name and give them my number.” But sometimes they're just a little bit too shy to do so. In that case you could try saying, "Why don't you do this for me? If you'll call me or text me their information, I'll be happy to reach out, because I want to make sure they're well taken care of." Make it a great day and go get those referrals! 

Hello and welcome to Debbie's Tips. There is something I keep hearing. I hear it as I travel across the country, and I've already heard it three or four times this week. "I need systems for my business." Great top producing agents are making terrific money, and yet they're saying, "I'm not sure where that next deal is going to come from. I hope I achieve my goal, but how do I create this predictable machine that delivers the same amount of production, month after month after month? I need to be sure this gets me towards that ultimate annual goal that I have set." This is probably one of the biggest challenges of the real estate business. In the book the E-Myth, which Michael Gerber wrote years ago, he talks about the entrepreneurial myth. Just because somebody, for example, is a great pie maker, doesn't mean there'll be a great pie shop owner. So there's a difference between being an entrepreneur and being a technician. The real estate business attracts entrepreneurs. I want you to ask yourself, are you truly building a business? There needs to be structures and systems for everything you do, so that you can fine tune those structures and systems to create a predictable process. Next, there needs to be at least three to five methods of lead generation. I always encourage agents to start first with their three best methods. This is common sense, going to areas that you're already good at and closing the gaps. When you have your three methods dialed in and running like a machine, you add a fourth and even a fifth. Running a successful business includes tracking your numbers. Both your conversion numbers, money and financials, profitability. We need to track our numbers because businesses measure profit. Also, I want you I think about increasing your opt-in list. Now, there's a difference between leads and contacts and connections. I know an agent that has 20,000 people in his e-marketing list. Now, some of those people, a much smaller number, are receiving mailings and phone calls. But then there's this nice large group that are just the community connections that his team has collected over time, that they e-market to. And you know what? They get seven to nine listings a month, often from people they don't even know or remember. So think about yourself as a business. Run your business as a business. If you need some help, reach out to us. Our coaches are experts at creating a business that is yours, unique and alone, your custom success blueprint.

Hello and welcome to Debbie's Tips. I wanted to answer an interesting question that came in to me today. Someone asked, "Debbie, what do sellers really want from me when I go out on a listing appointment?" This is a great question. Often here at Excelleum, the coaches and I say to clients, let's enter the conversation that's going on in the mind of the prospect. Let's not push our agenda at them, instead, let's meet them where they're at. So if we think about it that way, what does the seller really want from us? First of all, they want to be heard. They want us to listen to their goals, their dreams, their wishes. They want to tell us about their property. They want us to appreciate their property. They want us to be the champion of their home, of their value, and they want to know that you're going to fight for them. Next, they want to hear about the marketing. What are the things you're going to do to bring exposure to the property, but to also deliver that right buyer? And for all of you listening to or reading this, if you think about emphasizing the proactive marketing methods, you can also get a little bit away from some of the heavy spend. Because now you're showing them that it's not just about running ads in a magazine, it's about the proactive things you do to go out and find the ideal buyer. And let's be sure that you're leveraging the tools and the resources that your company provides and always thinking too, that whatever feature or tool we're presenting, we're going to need to also answer the question, what benefit does this provide to the seller? Because to everything you say, often they're thinking, so what does that mean to me? Of course they want to know a little bit about you and your track record. For those of you who have a great track record, leverage the power of that. For those of you who do not have a big track record, leverage the power of the track record of your company. Use what you've got. After that, are we going to be able to prove to them that everything we say we'll do, we'll actually do? Absolutely. The proof would be in your reviews and your testimonials. So here’s what they really want to know, to sum it up. That you're on their side, defending their home, defending its value. They want to know who you are and what you bring to the table and if they feel comfortable working with you. They want to know a little bit about what are you actually going to do to market their home and find their ideal buyer. And last but not least, they want some reassurance or proof that you will actually keep those promises and keep those commitments. So think about it from their perspective. Walk a mile in their shoes, enter the conversation in their mind and make sure that when you're there at that meeting, that it's very engaging and interactive and they feel that you are really listening.

Hello and welcome to Debbie's Tips. Do you time block? Agents often come to me and tell me that they need to time block, and that it's one of the things that they struggle with most. There's just so many things flying at them every day throughout the day, that it's hard to focus. Often, I even hear, "One of the reasons I got into real estate is because I wanted freedom, I wanted flexibility. I don't like a rigorous schedule." So then I figure out what's going on in their business and ask them, “How is that working out for you?” And usually, not that well. Here's what I would encourage you to do. What if you just started by time blocking just the morning? Set a specific time that you're going to wake up. Figure out what time will you be at your desk, either at your home desk or your office desk working. What are the important things that you must do in the morning so that we can keep feeding that machine? Things like lead follow up, new lead generation, negotiating contracts, or preparing for the day's appointments ahead. If you’re locked and loaded and focused intensely in the morning, for most people the afternoon is going to take care of itself. You're going to have appointments, activities, and a little bit more freedom and flexibility. So let's start with time blocking the morning. I read something the other day and it said, all the money is made before noon. This makes sense and here's why. In the morning, you're at your best in terms of energy and focus, the day's problems haven't beat you up yet. So it just makes sense that that's the time to get those big rocks out of the way. And by the way, speaking of big rocks, try to limit the big rocks on your list. Most of our coaching clients feel that if they start out in the morning with a list of five big rocks on their list and they can check those off and get them done in the day, then it’s a pretty good day. Of course, if you have time left after that, you can always add a few more rocks to the pile, but let's just start with five big rocks a day. So remember, a terrific morning routine supports a fabulous career.

Hello it's Debbie and welcome to Debbie's Tips. Are you still on track to hit your goal for the year? Perhaps you’ve fallen into the trap where you set these great goals at the beginning of the year, we've all done this, and somewhere along the line you lost the vision, maybe you fell a little bit behind. So is it time to revisit the goals that you have set? Are you still committed to that number that you selected at the beginning of the year? As I've worked with top agents across North America and over the last 20 years, one thing that's very clear to me is that the year isn't even. Here's what I mean by that. You don't take your number for the year and divide it by four quarters. In a perfect world, that would be great. But many markets are seasonal, and I find that most agents do the majority of their business in the second and third quarter. If you're not on track for your goal, if you're falling behind, take a moment and do the math. If you took the number you wanted to hit in the remainder of the year and you divided that up over the number of months ahead, would you be able to catch up? Now, if you're feeling overwhelmed and you're feeling that it would not be possible to hit that number, then take a minute and reset your goal. Reset and set a new goal that's realistic and that you're excited about. I do encourage you though, don't give up on yourself too early, because it's amazing when I see what agents can often turn around and do in just a quarter. So ask yourself these questions. What is the goal that I really want to achieve this year? If I break that down into weekly actions and activities, what do I need to do? What is it that I'm avoiding that if I stopped avoiding and just embraced it, would make a huge difference? What changes in my schedule and improvements in my skill do I need to make so that I can make more money faster, and achieve this goal with less effort? So remember, it doesn't take much to have an incredible 90 day cycle. Usually it's just a few tweaks or changes.

Hello and welcome to Debbie's Tips. And today I wanted to talk a little bit more about overcoming the "Will you cut your commission?" objection. I know we've talked about this before, but it's something that I hear every day from great agents, who say that they're just struggling to hold the line on commission. Now of course we all know that commission is negotiable by law, and yet I also believe that you do have the right to earn what you deserve to earn, to support your business and to support your family. Today's consumers, though, they're more savvy and they're more demanding than ever, aren't they? Today's consumer is probably going to ask you to cut commission. And yet, just because they ask you doesn't mean they won't ultimately pay more. In fact, I read that if you take any group of consumers for any product, 70% will pay more for perceived value. This is why it's critical to have a well-prepared and a well-planned listing presentation. Because so much money is on the line, it just makes sense to practice, to rehearse, and to find at least three to five outstanding ways to handle the commission objection so that you'll feel comfortable and confident that you can respond with ease. Also, remember it's critical to stay in rapport with your sellers. So if you flinch, scowl, or act mad, you won't be able to maintain rapport. So when they bring it up, just be calm. And one thing you can control, don't ever volunteer to take a cut. Because when you do, you show the seller that you're weak and you open the door for them to try to get into your pocket for even more later. Here are just a few scripts that I've used and our clients are using to hold the line to earn what they deserve. I hope you find them helpful. "Will you discount commission?" "You know, if I were you, Mr. Seller, I probably would ask the same question. And when you think about it, I'm sure you'll realize commission is really a powerful marketing tool. And what I mean by this is, when you offer a reasonable rate of commission, it incentivizes me to work overtime to spend the money I need to spend to properly market and expose the home, and it causes the buyer agent to put your property at the top of the list. So when you think about it, Mr. and Mrs. Seller, I'm sure you realize, you are not paying anyone anything today. Today, commission is actually nothing more than a marketing carrot. And when the offers come to the table, you're going to make the decision whether or not to accept that offer. Now, let's do the right thing today. Let's put the proper incentive out there to attract the showings we need, in order to sell your home for the highest realistic price possible." Now I understand they may say to you, yes, but the buyer will find my house on Zillow and tell their agent that they want to see it. And to that, you can say, "Yes, you're right. That very likely may happen. And yet we can never underestimate the agent's ability to persuade them towards or away from your property. So again, let's do the right thing today." And if they're really grinding on you and you need to do it, you can always say to them, "You know, Mr. and Mrs. Seller, I am a reasonable person and I want this deal to go together. So if we get an offer on the table but we're a little way apart and we just can't quite make it work, I'll work with you." Because you see, if you're going to have to take a cut, I would rather you are able to put that off and do that at the end when there's an offer on the table, because now we have a buyer, a seller, and potentially two agents involved. Plus when you take the cut up front, they just think they're going to be able to get in your pocket later. So be well-prepared. Have a great presentation. Use your reviews and testimonials that talk about how you got them the highest price possible. Go out there with at least two or three great ways to overcome the objection with confidence to earn what you deserve to earn.

Hi, it's Debbie and welcome to Debbie Tips. I got a message this week and I thought it'd be good for us to talk about today. The question was, “Debbie, I've heard you talk about being a wise advisor in your marketing to your geographic farm and to your past clients and sphere. But what exactly should I be mailing?” In other words, they were asking me if it was okay to still be mailing out things like a calendar on the local sporting events, a recipe card, or dropping off pumpkins or 4th of July flags. Their point was, I know that's not really sending anything that's making me shine as a wise advisor, but it is getting my name out there. Well, and it's fine. I mean, it doesn't hurt you. Well, I should take that back. I did hear a story last 4th of July that caused a bit of damage. An agent told me that they got a bright idea to pass out happy 4th of July door hangers in their geographic farm, and they thought it'd be really cool to attach a sparkler to the door hanger. Well, if they'd been coaching with us, I would have told him that's a not a good idea because every action has a reaction. So guess what happened? All the little kids in the neighborhood dug lighters out of the junk drawer in the kitchen, and they were running around with lighters and sparklers in the neighborhood. Not a good idea. Right? So that might have hurt them a bit. But generally speaking, stuff that just gets your name out there, it won't hurt you, but it also won't necessarily help you. And it can be expensive. Now for example we're here in Orange County, California, my daughters went to Mater Dei High School. If you guys watch sports, you've probably heard of Mater Dei, they're obsessed with sports at that school. So if I was sending to the neighborhood around Mater Dei, a sports calendar, they might really love it. That might be a good thing to do. So there will be situations where it would make sense, but for the most part, what I'd like to encourage you to mail is things that are helpful resources. For example, we give our coaching clients consumer guides on topics such as how to move up, how to downsize with distinction, selling your home through divorce, buying your first home, buying an investment, etc. And those are educational books that our clients offer via postcards, they offer through Facebook ads, and then when a consumer see that great information and they raise their hand and say, yes, I would like a copy of that, then we shine as wise advisors by providing relevant content about the conversations that might be going on in their minds. This way we're using our marketing dollars wisely, because we're offering bait that they want. Bait that they will bite on. So I'm not saying that it's bad to send a sports calendar. However I am saying it's bad to send a postcard saying it's time to change your clocks. You guys have heard me talk about this before, but I think they already know to change their clocks, right? So think about your marketing dollars. What's the point you're trying to make? What's the impression you're trying to make? And is that going to set up some lead bait that will cause them to bite and reach out to you? If you need some more examples or some help with that, just email me debbie@excelleum.com, and I'll make sure you get invited to one of our upcoming marketing webinars.

Hello and welcome to Debbie's Tips. I wonder, are you making your lead generation harder than it needs to be? Here's what I mean. Do you have all of your past clients and your leads and your database on some type of automated email campaign? Do you have your A's and AAA’s separated out where you direct mail to them? Are you texting, are you sly voicemailing? Are you inviting them to events? In addition, are you letting those out and about in the community know that you're in real estate by wearing a name tag or a branded polo shirt when you're out at the soccer field or at the grocery store? Or maybe a t-shirt with a company logo when you're at the gym? Because see, if you're a secret agent, it's hard for them to find you. But if you're marketing consistently, we call it the web of connections, and if you're out there wearing that career apparel, people will just come up to you. I see some agents that are still using car signs. I also see a lot of people that reach out to us to say, you know, I'm part of groups, whether it's a PTA or a mom's club, or I'm the head coach of my son's football team, but I don't meet anyone. I don't convert any leads. Well, we have to make sure that somehow, they're constantly and graciously reminded you're in business. And then we also have to look and listen for those conversations and those opportunities. You can step in and contribute, step in and share an answer to a question. You can talk about something exciting that just happened in the real estate industry or that you just read. So just think about this. You do things that change people's lives every day. What you provide is an incredibly valuable service. But sadly, if they don't know you're in the business, then you won't get to help them. So yes, you'd like to make more money and we want to help more people. So be proud of what you do. Talk about what you do. Provide interesting and relevant quality information, because guess what? People absolutely love to know about real estate. So no secret agents! Go out there and talk to the people. Or as Zig Ziglar used to say, see the people. All right, talk to you soon.

Hello and welcome to Debbie's Tips. I had a question sent in to me and I wanted to answer it for you today. “How effective are print newsletters?” So this person was actually asking if it would be equally effective to send an email newsletter or would I really, really recommend doing a print newsletter instead? Hands down, a print newsletter is the best. It's not that sending an e-newsletter is bad - if you have one that you're not paying for and it's easy to push it out, go right ahead. Because at least they're seeing that you sent them something. It's keeping your name top of mind, but they're probably not going to open it up and read it. But with a print newsletter, people love it. They don't just stand over their mailbox and throw it away like they do a lot of the other stuff that they get in the mail. Maybe they do with some of the other stuff they get in the mail from us, but with the newsletter they are more likely to take it, lay it by the coffee maker, lay on the coffee table, lay it by their bed and pick it up later to read it. This is especially true if there is a good variety of articles. So you must keep the articles of a good variety, not all real estate, but just general, interesting stories and articles. Put your real estate articles on the inside, so that they actually read the articles on the front and open it up. You’ll always want to have a couple of strong call-to-actions, information, or valuable resources that you're offering. If you can, buy a newsletter that's already done for you. In our Inner Circle we give our coaching clients a newsletter every month to customize, print, and mail. And I actually write those newsletters and it's not easy to do. So I wouldn't suggest you necessarily try to write your own, unless you're just a gifted writer and you love it - because I do it every month and I don't love it. But it's valuable to our clients and it's valuable to their clients. Now, for some ways you could reduce the cost. You can mail it flat, which will cost more, maybe 80 cents or so, or you can fold it in half so it's double folded, and that will probably cost the normal postage rate. Depending on your farm, you might be able to send it every door direct, you'd want to check on that. You certainly could co-brand and partner with a lender, or even local business owners who might like to put a coupon or an ad in the newsletter and share some of the costs. And even though we do ours in full color and many of our clients use the full color version, we also remind them that if they feel that's too expensive for them, they could always run it in black and white and it's going to be a lot less costly. So if you said to me, okay Debbie, would I be better off to mail it quarterly, full color, and not co-branded? Or monthly, co-branded, or with an advertiser in it, and black and white? I'd say do it monthly, the affordable way, because frequency is important. They enjoy the content; we just need to get it out there and get it in front of them. If you have an interest in finding out more about the other marketing resources that we automatically give our clients in the Inner Circle, please feel free to reach out to me. I look forward to talking to you soon. Have a great day. 

Hello and welcome to Debbie's Tips. I was thinking about open house today. I know we've maybe talked about it in the past when you've gotten together with me, read my blogs, or gone on a webinar, but here's what came up today. It was more about the basics of open house that, as I was speaking to this great agent that called us enjoying coaching, and this truly is a great agent, they've been in the business for maybe 30 plus years. They work in a very high end market and they're extremely professional. I was asking them though, what are your open houses like? And they said, very, very busy. And I asked, well, how many transactions this year have come from open house? Actually the answer was none. And I said, talk to me about what you're doing for yourself to ensure that you have a successful open house and maximize the opportunity to get another listing or sale from each open house. Well here's what I found out. So the first question I asked was if they did any marketing, any targeted Facebook ads, any going into the community and inviting the neighbors to come in, any pre-marketing to drive more traffic to that open house. And the answer was no. Then the next question I asked was, well, if you've got a super special property are you ever reaching out to any of the people in your lead bank or your database, letting them know you're going to be there and inviting them? And the answer was no. And then I asked, is there any limitation or restriction on the amount of signs that you can have in your community? And they said, no, there is no limitation, there's no restriction. And I said, okay, good. How many then do you put up? And they said about five. Well, interestingly enough, many of our top agents across the country who have very successful open houses often put up 30 or more signs around each open house. Now again, you would have to check the restrictions in your community and you can't break the rules. But if that's permissible, think about it. You can literally find all the touch points where you can flag them into that neighborhood, all the different entry points. I'm just thinking about the neighborhood, for an example, where I live. There are three main points of entry into that neighborhood, and they're really far apart. So the traffic going one way would never know about the open house if it wasn't flagged at every entrance into the community. And then the neighborhood itself is fairly large. So if there's not enough open house signs in the neighborhood, people will get lost. And remember, these are like your mini billboards out there in the community. So everywhere people go, all weekend they see your signs. When they're driving by, all the neighbors inside that community, they see your name. Whether they come into the open house or not, they see your name. So if you don't like putting up open house signs, which I don't and I did it for years and I hated every minute of it, you can do what many of our top agents do and hire high school students. Give them your map, tell them where to put them, take them out and teach them. I don't know what the going rate would be in your area, but a lot of our agents report that they pay around $20 to put them up and $20 to take them down. Now let's talk about the time to put them up. It's actually ideal, whether you're having it done or you're doing it yourself, to put them up really early in the morning. That way there's no traffic, it's safer, just easier, and it also increases the opportunity that somewhere in the course of that day, the right buyer might just happen to drive by. So what if they drive by at 9:30 in the morning and the open house hasn't started? That’s fine. You get those signs where you can write on a section with chalk, when the open house begins. Or you can tape on a printed piece of paper that says what time the open house begins. Well, why would I put them up early if people can't get in the house? You might be wondering. Well, just imagine I'm driving by there at nine o'clock to take my kids to the soccer game. I see the open house sign, I drive by and I think, oh my gosh, I love that house. Well, it's open today from one to five. You know what? I'm going to make a special point to come back during the open house. So it definitely increases the traffic. So just think about all this. What are you doing to maximize the amount of bodies that come through that open house? Give yourself the opportunity to pick up at least two quality leads. And you never know, you might even sell the property. All right, have a great day. I'll talk to you soon.

Hello and welcome to Debbie's Tips. What I wanted to talk about today is lead follow up, but maybe in a little different way than we've discussed before, if you've ever listened to our recordings or read our blogs or attended our webinars on lead follow up. This is such an important topic and the reason for that is because for most agents, 70% of their business is going to come from their lead follow up. And yet most agents admit that they don't follow up often enough. Now if you have online leads, I understand you may have only their email address so you'll have to depend on only emailing them. I have had some agents have success sending an email that says, “We have some great coming soon properties. If you'll send me your phone number, I'll text you the information.” But I do understand that a lot of your email campaigns may be tied around your online leads. You've got those built in drips, and some of your CRMs even have those drips built in for you. But let's talk about a different type of lead. I was talking to an agent this morning and I discovered that he was doing a good job with his drip campaigns on his online leads, and he was also actually doing a really good job mail marketing and online marketing to his past clients and sphere and farm. However when it came to the leads, the quality leads that he was speaking to, here is what he was doing. He was putting those leads on an index card and sitting them up in a card file box, and calling them back when they told him to. And that's not necessarily bad, right? I understand why that would be important for him, to hold those cards in his hand. That's just what works for him. But here's what I suggested to him and here's what I suggest to you. So just imagine if I called you today, you don't know me. I'm an agent who is a complete stranger to you and you’re a potential home seller, and you're thinking that you wouldn't think about listing your home for another three or four months. So if I just get your information and I call you back in two months or three months, guess what? I'm still a stranger. You've forgotten all about me. You probably don't even remember the conversation that we had that day. I haven't done anything to incubate or nurture you, or indoctrinate you to me, right? I haven't warmed you up. So what I suggested to the agent I was talking to this morning, is why wouldn't we immediately drop them into our marketing funnel? Why wouldn't we send them the weekly email blast? Why wouldn't we add them to a direct mail list? Why wouldn't we call them once a month? Why wouldn't we text them once a month and say, are there any questions you have this month? Just looking to stay in touch. Because you see, over the course of the next few months I want to set up as much as I can through that automated nurture campaign. By the time I follow up with them and they're potentially ready to sell the home, I want them to see how professional and how diligent I am. I want them to feel they owe me just a little bit for all of this great quality time and information I've been providing, and I want them to feel like they know me. So think about that. Think about those leads that are 30, 60, 90 days, even 12 months away. What are you doing to nurture and to build that relationship? And if you have some questions, just email me direct at debbie@Excelleum.com.

Hello and welcome to Debbie's Tips. Today I was reading a great article that my friend Diane Hartley over at the Luxury Institute for Home Marketing sent over to me, and I just really loved it and I thought maybe we would talk about it a little bit today. The subject of the article is, "Habits of Highly Successful Upper Tier Agents." So I took a look at this article, which breaks down six common habits of high-end real estate agents. Whether or not you work high end, all these habits are very appropriate. Habit number one, balance work and personal life. So when you're doing the things that are for fun, for recreation, dinner with family, going to a movie, make sure you really work to be in the moment. I scolded my husband the other night because, as you all know, he is a full-time real estate agent of over 34 years. And we went out to dinner on a Friday night, a nice dinner, great restaurant. And what's he doing? Checking his texts and answering his phone. And I said, goodness, can't you put it away for just one hour? So it's about really trying to find that time. I know it's challenging because remember, we're a real estate family, I get it, but let's try to carve out just that little bit of balance for your work and for your personal life. Number two, network constantly. You know, I often say to the great agents that we work with, that terrific prospects are everywhere. If you're at the gym working out and you hear a conversation come up about real estate, or you wear your branded polo shirt to your kid's soccer game, there are leads everywhere. So always be on the lookout. No secret agents. Number three, practice your people skills. And that can be just how you meet and greet, interact with people, make it all about them. My husband and I were talking the other day about some acquaintances that we have that are connected to some best friends of ours, a couple that we see them occasionally at social gatherings. And our conversation was that they're really nice people, but we really don't want to be around them because she never stops talking. You know the kind of person I mean, right? The kind that when you're with them, you absolutely cannot get a word in. So practicing people skills doesn't mean you have to be a great talker. As a matter of fact, if you're great at asking questions and listening, they'll love you. One of the best ways to build rapport is to make eye contact. Smile. Also, you can mirror and match their rate of speech, because slow talkers like slow talkers and fast talkers like fast talkers. Then ask great questions about things that matter to them. Next on the list is, stay tech savvy. Now I get it. Tech may not be your favorite thing. For some of you, you may love it, good for you, but for others it's not your favorite thing. And you know what? Our business still is an eye to eye and ear to ear business. And yet we don't want to be left behind as dinosaurs. So, set a goal. Just learn one new technology each and every week. Spend a half an hour, learn something new. Number five on the list, top professionals stay in touch. I was talking to someone today and they told me that they have 2,000 people on a list, on a paper list, great connections in their community, but they don't mail, they don't email, they don't text, they don't call. They basically just see them around town and they're such a great person and they did such a great job, that they do get a fair measure of repeat and referral business. But just imagine what could happen if they stayed in touch. So drop that web of connection so that there's multiple touch points from which they hear from you each month. Number six, invest in learning. And no, they really did say this in the article, I'm not making this up. Because you might be thinking, oh, Debbie, you're just saying that so that we'll call you and sign up for coaching. But the point is, invest in learning. And that could be everything from buying a great book, to buying some new scripts, to investing in coaching, to attending a workshop, to earning a designation. The best in the business always know that there's more, that there's always that next step that you can take to gain mastery and to gain momentum. Top producers are always working to perfect what they do.

Hello it’s Debbie De Grote and welcome to Debbie’s Tips! Today we’re talking about instant revenue. Just this week the coaches and I had a great mastermind call and we were discussing how to help our clients fire up their year by focusing them on activities to create instant revenue. I thought you might like to hear about some of the items on our list: Time block 1 hour a day to hunt for new business  Text 5 past clients per day offering an annual real estate check up to update them on the value of their home. Pull every lead in your system and time block 100% focused lead follow up time and have your scripts ready to spark urgency, why they should do it now Call or see all of your AAA past clients, you probably have 10 or 20 that are your top raving fans, and ask them for a referral. And remember, they love you and will be happy to help you. Get price reductions on any unsold listings right away! For your buyers who are stagnant, have a heart to heart talk with them about what must change to find them a home and press them into reality and get them out shopping. Put 10 business cards in your pocket each day and find 10 people to give one to, and to have a real estate conversation with. Hold an open house and doorknock around it to invite the neighbors. Wear your name tag or career apparel in the business day. On any day you don't have an appointment find 2-3 people you can get in front of. Ask all active current buyers and sellers for a referral. Call your vendors and affiliates and pledge your support to them and ask for 1 contact or referral they might be able to give you. These are just a few from our list and I hope they are helpful. I would suggest you choose at least 2 and go do them!

Hello and welcome to Debbie’s Tips! And today I wanted to ask you, what are the new opportunities in your market? Recently we had a Shifting Market event here in Newport Beach, California where we discussed how to prepare for the changes that the next year or two may bring. One of the things we discussed is that while a market shift brings new challenges to be met, it also brings new opportunities. I would encourage you to consider this thought: What are the new opportunities that your market conditions are presenting that you are not taking advantage of? For example, there will be more expired listings. What is you plan to work them? There will be newer opportunities in the high-end market, as days on market increase and many agents will flock to the lower price points because they are easier. Past clients may decide now is the time to sell and downsize to maximize equity, so it would make sense to call them now and inform them of the shift. You have more power to spark opportunity than you think you do! If you aren’t sure what to do or how to prepare for the shift, maybe it’s time for you to talk to us. If you would like to talk to one of my experienced coaches to discuss your questions, you can easily do so by either going to our website to request a complimentary business strategy call, or just email me direct at debbie@excelleum.com. We’d be happy to speak with you. Good luck and happy hunting!

Hello, welcome to Debbie’s Tips. Today we’re talking about tips to increase your income producing hours. If you are like most of the great agents who come to us for coaching, you are probably working too many hours and not earning all that you deserve, am I right? At Excelleum, our goal is to help our coaching clients make more money in less time.  To help them in this process, we often encourage them to keep a time log for a week in order to track what percentage of their day is income producing. I thought I would share this exercise with you, because it’s easy to do and just the act of focusing on how your time is spent almost instantly improves your productivity. Here is how it works. Grab a scratch pad, carry it with you, and log what you are doing every 30 minutes of the day for the next week. At the end of the day, go back over your log and write the following next to each 30-minute segment: IP = income producing IS = income servicing S = stuff The goal is to get to a minimum of 50% income producing activities in your day. If you have an admin or a team that you’re delegating to, or could delegate to, then you really should be pressing towards 80% of your time being income producing. By the end of the week, as you keep your time log and you measure your IP hours, you should have more clarity on what your distractions and interruptions are. This should help you see what can be eliminated so that you can make improvements to your schedule. Remember, multi-tasking is a sin, not a virtue. Practice time blocking, as there is power and efficiency in staying focused and completing one task at a time. By the way - you may want to consider checking email only 3 times a day. Obsessive, excessive email checking is a major distraction for most agents.

Hello and welcome to Debbie’s tips. I wanted to talk to you about earning what you deserve. Have you ever found that past clients, friends, and family often grind you to cut commission? Whether it’s because you know them, or because you did a deal with them before, or there will be two deals involved this time? The first thing I’d ask you to do, to earn what you deserve, is STOP volunteering to cut commission. Don’t offer it, at least wait for them to bring it up! So don’t say, “Okay, because you’re going to buy another home from me,” or “Because I sold you a home in the past,” or “If I sell it myself, I’ll do x.” So just stop volunteering. Let them ask you. Then if they ask you, the next step is to be prepared with what you will say when they bring it up. Be sure to practice that, because you know this is going to come up again and again and again. We have some new scripts that I recently wrote for our clients to help them with this situation, and if you’d like to check those out, go ahead and email me, debbie@exceleum.com, and I’ll be happy to share those scripts with you.   And just remember, your time is valuable. When you give your money away easily upfront, they often ask for more as the deal progresses! So just a couple of quick tips. Number 1 – stop volunteering. Number 2 – practice your best scripts for overcoming those objections. And number 3 – don’t be upset that they asked.  Just because they ask though, doesn’t mean that they won’t pay you more. Feel free to reach out to me and I’ll be happy share our scripts. Just say – I would like the script for working with friends, family and past clients who are asking to cut commission.

I wanted to talk to you today about how to triple your referrals. Have you ever wondered why your friends, your family, your sphere, and past clients don't send you more referrals? It's frustrating isn't it? You work so hard, you do so much, they tell you how much they love what you do! So what happens? They don't know all the areas you service. Maybe they don't understand all the price points and types of properties you serve. They think you are too busy. They themselves are busy and you don't remind them often enough. It’s a shame when you think of the fact that direct referrals have a high conversion ratio, often 25-50%, and usually it doesn't cost a thing to get them. So here are the tips we have our coaching clients working on to squeeze more referrals from the folks they know. Quarterly, send a marketing postcard to your database that reminds them of all the areas and price points you service. Also work this into your script as you call them. Start asking every buyer and seller for a referral upfront as you begin to work with them, and also throughout the process whenever something great happens and they are thanking you. The goal is to extract 2 names per client by the closing. Pull your vendor and affiliate list together and ask them monthly for just 1 name of someone they can refer or introduce you to. Consider creating a small business owner "farm" in your community. Refer business to them and ask for their referrals in return. Pull together your triple A top raving fans. Ask if they can find 3 people to refer to you this year. Post a sign in your car or by your desk to remind yourself to ask everyone, everywhere for a referral. When making a big-ticket purchase on a new car, furniture, etc., ask the commission sales person for a referral. I love the quote by Zig Ziglar, “Timid salespeople have skinny kids!” Make the next 30 days your big referral push to frontload your lead pipeline for the spring and summer market. Good luck! P.S. Remember they really need your help!

Hello and welcome to Debbie’s Tips! I was wondering, is it time to expand your range, reach, and influence in your community? As a professional coach I have an opportunity to travel across North America to meet with some of the most elite agents and real estate professionals in the nation. They commonly share with me that 80% of their business comes from the people that they know, their past clients, sphere, and connections in the community. What they also tell me though is that they still need more business, that they are often disappointed by the lack of repeat and referrals from their database. When you consider the fact that the average homeowner is staying in their home longer than ever before and that most homeowners know more than one agent, and that customer loyalty in most industries has declined by 50%, you can see why you may need to expand what you do in order to grow your business. When a new coaching client hires us to help them, one of the first things we do is examine their system for working their database. There are almost always gaps. In fact, usually they are doing very little to market to these valuable people. We encourage our clients, and I encourage you, to drop a web of connection over these folks, to direct mail monthly, to email weekly, to text quarterly and to call and visit as often as possible and appropriate. By staying top of mind, we cement the relationship and increase the likelihood that they will call you when they are ready to make their next move or have a friend or family member that you needs your help. Once we have a system to ensure our connections with our warm list, next we should be obsessed with growing the list with quality connections. Some of the best sources of new additions to your list are the people you do business with, workout with, meet at school, church, and other activities you participate in. Often, they may not even realize that you are in the real estate business. That’s why many top agents now wear their name tag or branded career apparel every day! People love to talk about real estate and when they see you are an agent, odds are they will ask you, “How is the market?” Because this can open the door for a new lead or opportunity, it’s important to have a go to way to spark a great conversation. Here is the script I have our coaching clients use. So when they ask you, “How’s the market?” Say, “Thank you for asking! Actually it’s a very opportunistic market. There are great opportunities for buyers and still some very strong opportunities for sellers. I am curious, is there an opportunity you are interested in? Of course they may say that they are not interested in buying or selling any real estate, which then gives you an opportunity to invite them into your marketing list so that we can expand your web of connections. “You know, I have something I do for my friends, family, and great past clients. I send them valuable bulletins and updates about the market and things they need to know to stay well informed. Would you like to be included in my information loop?” Remember, it’s important to get their name, address, and phone number, enter them in your CRM in the appropriate category, and stay in touch. If you focus on it, you should be able to add 2-3 quality people in a week, and over time it’s amazing how quickly your list can grow. But what if you don’t know enough people and you don’t like cold prospecting? Consider forming your own organic networking group of like-minded business professionals who have access to your ideal client. One of the great coaches who works with me on the Excelleum faculty, Alyssa, started years ago in the business as a single mom with no extra dollars to spend for marketing. She decided to put together a group of moms who were all in the sales business. They met each Tuesday for breakfast, and it was fun! They shared marketing ideas and they brought leads to each other. And because Alyssa put the group together, she was the only real estate agent in the group! It worked. Within a couple of years she was doing over 100 units without a team. She continued to grow and eventually needed to build a team to assist her with all the business she created. So I hope you go out and do likewise. And remember, you change lives doing what you do. So go out there and meet some new people to help!

Hello and welcome to Debbie's Tips! I was talking to someone today who said, “I've been listening to your tips about getting ready for the rest of the year ahead, and I realized that one of the things I'm going to have to do is to learn how to delegate more effectively.” This person was telling me that they feel like they must control everything are afraid to let go, what if a mistake is made? With this mindset, they're really limiting the billable hours in their day because they are so busy doing the servicing. I would encourage you to take a look - just start with the things that are affordable and easy to delegate, and let's start delegating them. This could even be working more efficiently with your vendors and your affiliates, letting them take on more of the load that they should be. Remember, if you try to - what is that old saying? If you try to be the chief cook and bottle washer, it's going to fall apart. So we must learn to run a business that's efficient, has predictable sources, and high efficiency. In order to do that, you need to learn to delegate the things that are not your highest and best use. Ask yourself as you go throughout the day, is this my highest and best use? Am I doing the most productive thing at this moment and is this something I absolutely must do myself? Because there is only so much time in the day and there's only so much of you to go around.

Hello, welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips. I was talking to someone just the other day about cross cultural selling. I'm a member of a couple of organizations that really cater to different cultures in the real estate industry, NAHREP and AREAA. And what always impresses me when I attend meetings put on by these groups is the variety of cultures that are represented. It makes sense when you think about it, because as a real estate professional, what a great idea to mix and mingle with agents of other cultures and to really work to improve our own personal sales versatility. The definition of culture isn't necessarily just about race, it's often a shared set of beliefs. For an example, I think that here at Excelleum we have a culture. It's a culture of service and commitment and dedication to our clients. If you have a team, maybe your team is a culture of integrity or fun. So if someone is born in America, they're going to operate inside the American culture. However, if they've moved here from a foreign country, then it's really important to meet them where they're at to try to adapt to that culture. Can you imagine moving to a foreign country, not understanding the real estate process, maybe barely understanding the language and trying to make an investment as important as buying a home? We need to be patient, we need to adapt, we need to listen. Slow down and maybe read a couple of great books on the topic. I have a favorite, Cross Cultural Selling For Dummies. This book breaks down different nationalities and goes through what is acceptable or expected or even a turnoff when you're working with them as a client or a prospect. We have a choice. We could work with the people who are just like us and easy to work with because of that fact, which will limit your sales success and opportunity. Or, we can embrace the world and work to adapt to those that aren’t like us and to meet them where they're at. So I hope you'll do that because there's a lot of great people out there that really need your help.

Hello and welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips. I'm wondering, do you talk too much? Certain personality styles do talk more than others. For example, if according to the DISC Index you're a high I, you are by nature likely to talk more than a high S. The high I being a high influencer, high S being very steady, amiable, and calm. But I’m sure all of us gone into a selling situation and said too much, whether we presented in too much detail or ran on with too much information, ultimately raising more objections than we would have had if we just kept our presentation simple. I want you to think about this. On your next listing appointment, you should not talk more than 50 percent of the time. Set a goal to refrain from talking more than 50 percent of the time, and make sure that 50 percent of the time you are talking is 50 percent of you asking questions. So that would mean 25 percent of the total time you are asking questions, 25 percent of the time you are making statements that are important, and 50 percent of the time they're talking, right? Because when we talk too much, you never know what objections might be triggered. Now go be a great listener!

Hello, welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips. I wonder, are you prepared to handle any buyer or seller objection that comes your way? I did something once, where I created a list to see how many true typical buyer objections and typical seller objections actually exist. I came up with about 12 or 13 for each buyer and seller, and then I noticed that in any given market there's usually three to five that will consistently surface. Now if the objections never really change, and we assume we need to learn 13 for buyers and 13 for sellers, it's only 26 different objections total. If you had one, two or even three great answers to each one, and you really became a student of mastering those answers, can you imagine how competent you would be? You would not hesitate to make any prospecting call, to walk into any sales situation, to handle any challenging customer if you knew, no matter what objection they threw at you, you could handle it with confidence. See, over my career I have made this a science. I took it very seriously, to breakdown and study every objection that I might get from a buyer or a seller. And then I did that again as I built my coaching business. What are the objections that someone would give me when I'm asking them to join coaching and they're afraid? Then I drilled, I practiced, and I rehearsed. I encourage you - what if you made this year the year to master those objections? What if you just simply started with the top three to five that you get you the most stuck and started there? You can come to me, I'll send you some scripts, and you can write down your favorite things that you like to say. You can also ask your friends in the office and compile two to three objection handlers for each of those three to five objections. Put them on flash cards, study them, record and listen to them when you're driving. Find a practice partner, because you know what? It is worth it. In fact, if I could pick one easy thing that someone could work on to improve their sales skills and to increase their profits, I would say work on your objection handlers. Good luck!

Welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips, and today I wanted to talk a little bit about persuasion. Here at Excelleum one of the things we work on a lot with our clients is building rapport, that sales versatility. We have the New Art Of Persuasion For Real Estate course because I believe that really learning to be a master negotiator and a powerful persuader is worth its weight in gold. Let's remember, persuasion will not occur easily without rapport. I thought for today’s tip, if I could just give you one technique to be more powerful at building rapport instantly with anyone, anytime, anywhere, what would that technique be? Here's what I have for you: mirroring and matching. Maybe you've heard of this before, maybe you even do it or you do it unconsciously, but it is a powerful technique. This means mirroring and matching someone’s rate of speech, mirroring and matching their tonality, mirroring and matching even some of the words and phrases that they use and say. Everyone talks a certain way and their mind processes information at a certain speed. And when we can get into their zone, they relax, they can focus, they feel heard and understood. So think about it. Are you a fast talker by nature? Because if you're a fast talker, odds are you don't have a lot of friends that are slow talkers. Of course you may have family members who are slow talkers, but you didn't pick them, right? But your friends most likely talk at the rate and speed that you do, they most likely use a lot of the same words, phrases and slang that you do, and that's not accidental. You were attracted to them for a reason, so let's turn that around and work that same magic on our clients. Mirror and match their rate of speech, their tonality, and if you're in front of them, even expand it by mirroring and matching their body language. Don't forget, people love it when you ask questions about things that matter to them. Ask questions all about them and they're naturally going to be more likely to like you, to be in rapport with you, and to be that much easier for you to persuade so they can take the steps to achieve the goal that they have set.

Hello, welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips. People are asking me lately, is the shifting market a good or a bad time to get into the luxury market? It's a great question. When you think about it, in a red-hot market, everybody's chasing those higher end listings because they sell easily and they pay well. The reality is, when the market starts to shift and it takes longer for the listing to sell, that can be a fantastic opportunity, a fantastic time to go after some of those higher end listings. There's the old saying that you’re better off to be the first born, the second wife or the second and third agent on an expired listing. Why? Because sometimes when those higher end listings come out of the gate, the seller wants too much. They're unreasonable, they're asking too much, and that first agent, wastes a lot of time and energy. What a great strategy, to break into the luxury market by going after those higher end expireds. Remember, it only takes a few to make a significant difference in your volume. How do you prepare for luxury? First, know the market. Know the market segment you're going after, be the expert. Next you upgrade. Upgrade your presentation, upgrade yourself, for example how you dress for the appointments. Prepare for the question, how many luxury homes have you sold? Because if you haven't sold any or many, you may need to partner with a luxury agent on the first few or have your answer ready. “You know Mr. Seller, that's a great question. I haven't personally sold many in this area and that's exactly why you should choose me because I am determined to break into this market, and I am going to work harder for you than anyone else will.” So you can really own it with enthusiasm. You are going to need to stay in touch, you will need to work your price reductions, and you will need to provide five star service. But is now a great time to break into the luxury market? Absolutely.

Hello, welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips. I'm answering a question that came up in an email today. The question was, how do I prepare an elevator speech? What is it and how do I write it? An elevator speech, when you think about it, is really like this - let's pretend you and I are riding an elevator and you have less than a minute until we hit the ground floor. On that elevator ride I ask you, “What do you do for a living or why should I hire you?” If you can't sell me on it by the time we've hit the ground floor, you may have lost my business forever. The reason it's so important to grab someone's attention in 30 to 60 seconds, whether it's on a prospecting call, out doorknocking, at an open house or at an appointment, is because the attention span of the average person is very, very short before their mind begins to wander off to other things. Let's face it - your customers and prospects have a lot on their plate and a lot on their minds. If they don't determine quickly that you're worth listening to, they'll rule you out and maybe even start grinding away on you for a lower price or throwing objections at you because they really haven't seen the value of what you have to offer. What are the basic components of an elevator speech? It should be short: 30 to 60 seconds. It should be clear, it should be a little bit sexy. It could even have third party stories or examples, and ideally, it should be specifically created for that customer type. So maybe it's an elevator speech for an expired. Why should they meet with you or talk to you? Maybe it's an elevator speech for a seller, for a buyer, and it needs a hook, something that makes them want to know more and engages that customer or prospect in the conversation. Your goal is not to do a speech that bores me. It should really grab me and make me want to hear more. It can be shocking how long 30 to 60 seconds really is. And if you don't believe me, time it. Start now, be quiet. Count the seconds - it's quite a while, isn’t it? It's certainly enough time for you to put some great thoughts together. So how do you begin? Jot down ideas, jot down thoughts. What are your USPs, why are you good? Why are you valuable? I read something the other day that I thought was an outstanding tip. It said, go to your testimonials. Go to your reviews because what your clients are saying about you could be absolutely your best elevator speech of all. Bottom line, you're valuable. You bring a lot to the table. So how do we say that in a way that engages and excites that customer or prospect? It’ll take a little practice. Just a little work, but it'll all be worth it.

Hello and welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips. Today we're talking about how to network, even if you're afraid of talking to strangers. As we helped our clients get ready for 2019, one of the suggestions that we had for them is that they find a networking group. That they find something they are passionate about and where they can meet people, hopefully people that have their ideal clients, or even put together and form their own networking group. But of course, depending on your personality, that might be terrifying to you because you hate to talk to strangers. I was thinking a little bit about this. What would be a few things to make it easier for you to talk to strangers? Well, one thing would be choosing your audience, right? Who do you have a lot in common with, so that there'd be a lot to naturally talk about? Also, maybe you bring a wingman. Bring a friend, bring someone with you so that you're not there on your own. Plus, they may even know some of the people in the room. Another thought, it’s good to always have a few go-to opening lines. For example, if I am at an event with a bunch of people and it's a real estate event, often one of my opening lines is, “How’s your year? What have been some of the best things that you've accomplished?” or, “Tell me, what's a significant project that you're excited about or working on? I wonder, where does most of your business come from? What are you really good at?” I try to always have a few of these opening lines, because I know that it's easier if I can ask questions and get people talking about themselves. One of the best ways to build rapport is ask questions about things that matter to them and to then pay attention, right? It's a great way to get to know someone and to decide, is this someone that I would like to have a conversation with and build a deeper business relationship with? You could ask questions like, “What are some of the fun things you're working on right now? Tell me, how did you come to be a member of this group? What business are you in? How is your business doing?” Ask them where they live and say, “You know, this may be an odd question, but I'm in real estate and I always like to know where people live and how they enjoy it.” A great goal for when you have networking events is to meet five people you don't know and try to ask them three to five questions. Maybe talk to them for at least three to five minutes, and hopefully you’ll then come away with a good lead, a good connection, maybe a new friend, and their contact information so that they can be opted in to your marketing web. Alright, so be prepared, have your goal, set your opening lines, and maybe take your wingman. Have a great day. I'll talk to you soon.   If you are a real estate agent or broker that is looking to for more insight and direction on how to get more listings, sell more homes to your investors, and work with more buyers, then this podcast is just for you!

Hello and welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips. Today I thought we could talk about how to improve your daily efficiency. I know that sometimes we all feel overworked and overwhelmed, and our business day just extends far beyond what is reasonable, sometimes consuming our quality of life. I was having an interesting conversation the other day with a friend of mine who is the largest independent distributor of batteries in the entire nation. This is an individual owner, so I know he's incredibly busy. He has hundreds and hundreds of employees, locations across the nation, and a battery factory in Asia. He is just a really busy guy. I said to him, “How come you always seem so calm? You must be overworked and overwhelmed!” And he said, “You know, Debbie, there's one thing that I do that I think is very important to my sanity and my happiness. At the end of each day, I take a couple of minutes and I write down my five critical items that I must do the next day. So that old saying, you know, come heck or high water, no matter what happens, I have got to get these five critical items done. So that way, when I come in to work the next morning, I focus on those five. I batch the work, I get it done, and then if possible, I have time to add additional things to the day. That way I feel like I really had a successful day.” I read an article not too long ago, written about corporations across America being very frustrated with the fact that there was a lot of wasted time in their employees’ days. The article talked about trying to get people into the flow, helping to get them in a groove where they're just focused on one thing and getting it done. Some of these companies decided to experiment with what they called an hour of quiet time each day. Each employee, for one hour a day, couldn't talk to anyone, couldn't communicate with the outside world, and would just focus and work on the paperwork, the files, the issues, and projects on their desk. As they tracked this, they found that they were often completing in an hour what would normally take three hours to do and that they were happier, that they were less stressed, that they were less exhausted. My takeaway from this was that multitasking is not necessarily a virtue, it's a sin that often leaves you flipping from job to job, activity to activity, feeling exhausted and wasting a lot of time in between. Also, the article talked about getting into the flow, trying to set yourself up where there are chunks of your day where you are just focused, not allowing distractions, not allowing interruptions and you're powering through. And then of course the obvious, take a look at what can be delegated or outsourced. So how do we apply this to your world? Well, what about having a very specific starting and ending time to your day? What about chunking out that first four hours of the morning and saying, I need to minimize my distractions and I really need to make this the money portion of my day? So, I'm going to do my prospecting, I'm going to do my lead follow up, I'm going to prep for my appointments. Then I'm going to respond to my emails and voicemails at the end of the four hours. Now the interesting thing about it is, I think you'll find your prospecting results will improve when you're prospecting and following up with focus. Maybe you simply try the one hour of quiet time, maybe in the afternoon. I’ve noticed that sometimes midafternoon can be a little bit quieter in real estate. So maybe after lunch you take that hour and you just work on cleaning up the projects on your desk. Going back to that article I mentioned, I have some stats here. The article talks about the fact that the average worker checks their emails 74 times a day, and the average person touches their smartphone 2,617 times a day. Guys, that's a lot. That's crazy! What if you checked your email three or four times a day? What if you put your smartphone away? You know, while I'm doing coaching calls or I'm at an event or I'm recording this for you, my phone is always turned off because I don't want the interruption or distraction. So just try it and remember the power of focus. And there's actually a great book with that exact title, it might be a good one for you to read. Alright, have a great day. I'll talk to you on the next Debbie's Daily Tip.   If you are a real estate agent or broker that is looking to for more insight and direction on how to get more listings, sell more homes to your investors, and work with more buyers, then this podcast is just for you!

Hello and welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips, and I wanted to talk to you today about the fear of failure. I wonder if the fear of failure is stopping you from setting bigger goals or tackling new things. I was on an airplane and I was reading an article in the Harvard Business Review and they had an article on this topic, a terrific article. Some of the points really made me connect it back over to what may limit performance in the real estate industry. If you think about it, fear is really worrying about doing something wrong. In our case, in a sales position, maybe it's the fear of being rejected or the fear of failing and having a major setback in a situation. I look at this and, in the business of being an entrepreneur where every day we're faced with challenges, I always tell my team, we're going to innovate. We're going to try new things. We're going to embrace new opportunities. We must be agile, we must be flexible, and we also need to understand that sometimes we're going to make mistakes. Another tip on failure, from this Harvard Business Journal article, is to adopt a new mindset. After you make a mistake, if you can just look at that and say, alright, what did I learn from this? How can what I learned actually be worth the lesson learned? In other words, maybe you’ll use it in the future to make more money, to be more successful, to streamline your processes, or in some cases, maybe have a better quality of life, a better work environment. Embrace the fact that every day you need to do something that might make you just a little bit uncomfortable. Every month you need to examine the new opportunity, an out of the box idea, and then maybe play the game that I do, which is looking at the worst-case scenario. In other words, if X, Y and Z happens, or I try this and I fail, what is the worst-case scenario? And truly, usually the worst case is not that bad, especially when you think about it with something as simple as prospecting. If I make this call, what is the worst-case scenario? What if they hang up on me? Well, guess what guys? You probably don't know them or don't know them well or they're not really all that important in your life, so you can simply hang up and go on and call somebody else. There’s a quote on a little magnet that we have on our microwave here at the office, “Do one thing every day that scares you,” Eleanor Roosevelt. Get used to stretching your comfort zone a bit. When you were a were kids, did you ever have silly putty? You may remember that when you stretched it, it wouldn’t go back to its original shape. It probably rebounded a bit, but it was still bigger than how it started. If you think about your tolerance for trying new things, your tolerance for getting out of your comfort zone, your tolerance for overcoming rejection, you can stretch that tolerance. The more you do it, the more you attempt it, the more you stretch it, the greater your tolerance becomes, so that it is easier for you to try new things. So think about it, what's the worst thing that can happen? Probably nothing too bad, right? Zig Ziglar often used to say when he was alive, 80% of what you worry about will probably never happen. And when it comes to the 20% that does happen, you can't do anything about it. I'm going to ask you this last question as we wrap up the Daily Tip for today. What is one thing that you are avoiding that you know, if you stopped avoiding it, embraced it, and did it, it might be a game changer? Think about it. Maybe it's time. Give it a try. Be Brave. Alright guys. Have a great day and I look forward to talking to you on the next Debbie's Daily Tip.   If you are a real estate agent or broker that is looking to for more insight and direction on how to get more listings, sell more homes to your investors, and work with more buyers, then this podcast is just for you!

Hello and welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips. Today we're talking about shifting market opportunities. What are some of the opportunities that a shifting market can present? One can be the opportunity to break into higher-end expired listings because you see, when the market makes it not as easy to get the home sold, what you'll often see impacted first is the higher-end properties. Oftentimes what happened is that an agent overpriced the home initially, didn't work their price reductions, and these properties ended up expiring. Now the great news about it is this. There's an old saying that you're better off to be the first born, the second wife, and the second or third agent on an expired listing. Why? Because the seller is potentially more ready than before to take your wise advice as an agent. Expired listings, especially the higher-end, in a shifting market can be a great opportunity. Now for sale by owners, they can also be a great opportunity. When the market is red hot and they can put a sign in the yard and it can sell right away, you’ll find that they may not be as flexible or as open to paying a commission. Based on that, when we go into a market cycle where it's harder to get that home sold, those owners may now feel they need your knowledge, your expertise, and the results that you can bring to the table. Also with a shifting market, you might find that some of your past clients and sphere of influence become much more interested in potentially buying investment properties. So why not talk to them and, if they have equity in their home, ask if they would like to pull some of that out and do something to build their retirement, their nest egg for their future? Remember, there is always opportunity in every new market. Just find that niche, that way in, and find what is most attractive and most comfortable for you. Do one thing every day that scares you. So, in other words, why not get out of your comfort zone today? Try something new. Make it a great day. I'll look forward to talking to you very soon.   If you are a real estate agent or broker that is looking to for more insight and direction on how to get more listings, sell more homes to your investors, and work with more buyers, then this podcast is just for you!

Hello and welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips. I wonder, do you ever wear a name tag or maybe a branded polo shirt, or another piece of career apparel that identifies you as a real estate agent? I get it, some of you listening or reading may be very fashion forward, always making sure you are dressed sharp and look right. And I totally understand. However, every day I hear stories of people who are at the grocery store, at the carwash, putting gas in their car, picking up their kids from school, sitting on the soccer fields, all in their branded career apparel or wearing a name tag, and they pick up a fabulous lead. Because you know what people love to talk about? Real estate. The fact that you are easily identifiable as a real estate agent makes you approachable. In fact, I remember when I was a young agent and I was doing well, I was selling on average 12 to 15 homes a month, working hard. I had an agent in my office that always was just right behind me. Our difference was always right around just a couple homes, but I had no children and she had five. So that's just crazy! Guess what her secret was? At the time we worked for Century 21, and she wore her Century 21 Gold vest everywhere. And boy was she ever out and about a lot, with five kids, on the sports fields or at the school lot and everywhere else. About 90% of the business came from people that she knew. Now she was a smart woman, she had great market knowledge and expertise, was very friendly and approachable. But a lot of those deals just came to her. So I wonder, what if you could create deals, basically out of thin air, because someone came up and asked you about real estate, simply because you were are wearing your name tag? Would it be worth it? I have a challenge for you. What if you tried it for a week or two? Just wear it everywhere you go inside the business day, and let's see what happens. Okay, so remember, no more being a secret agent. Alright, have a great day. I'll talk to you soon.   If you are a real estate agent or broker that is looking to for more insight and direction on how to get more listings, sell more homes to your investors, and work with more buyers, then this podcast is just for you!

Hello and welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips. Today we're talking about effective pieces to mail to your past clients and sphere of influence. One of the things I love is a newsletter, although I’m not talking about an e-newsletter. Nothing wrong with an e-newsletter, other than only 20 to 25% will open it. And that's being optimistic. We know there's a large group of people that you might send your e-newsletter to that would never actually open or read it, but if you physically mail that interesting, informative newsletter, they are likely to lay it on the counter and leave it there for a couple of days. Now with most other pieces they won't do that, so we want to make to have a variety of interesting content. It could be home improvement-related, something to do with general hobbies, travel, you could have a recipe or a puzzle, and certainly at least one real estate article that's directing them to reach out and contact you for more information. Ideally, I would love to send that out monthly, but if your budget cannot afford it you may want to consider, if you can do so legally, co-branding with a lender to be able to get it out more frequently. You could also consider printing it in black and white, or just mailing it quarterly. Again, remember, it wouldn't necessarily be all about real estate. If you'd like a sample of the newsletter that we create for our coaching clients at no additional charge, I'd be happy to share with you a copy of our Lifestyle Advisor Newsletter. My email is debbiedegrote@gmail.com Remember, make sure it's a good piece, because they do keep it around. True story, years ago I went to visit a past client who had called me to come list their home. And when I got there, they actually pulled out a three-ring binder where they had kept copies of my newsletters from over the last couple of years that I had been sending them. Now to be honest, that's only ever happened to me once in my career, but it was pretty cool. Alright, have a great day. I look forward to talking to you soon.   If you are a real estate agent or broker that is looking to for more insight and direction on how to get more listings, sell more homes to your investors, and work with more buyers, then this podcast is just for you!

Welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips. Today we’re going over some assumptive techniques. This is a favorite subject of mine, because I do believe that one of the best closing techniques of all time is just simply the assumptive close. And I thought, before I give you a couple of tips, I would tell you a quick little funny story. I call it Melanie's near disaster. One of our coaching clients shared with me that she had just hired a new assistant, and the assistant really didn't quite understand the difference between a listing that had already been taken and needed to be processed, and a listing appointment where the listing was still just a potential. So, Melanie had a very expensive home that she was super excited about trying to attain as a listing. She got everything ready, drove over to the appointment, and as she pulled up in front of the house, she noticed that the “For Sale” sign has already been put up in the yard. Instantly Melanie panicked. This is what typically happened as soon as a listing was taken, they ordered the sign up. Except this one hadn’t been taken yet. Well, the door slammed open and the seller came running down the sidewalk. Melanie got out of the car, ready to face the music thinking, oh my goodness, he’s going to yell at me, he's going to be so upset. Instead, he rushed over and said, “Melanie, Melanie, can you believe it? You haven't even listed my home yet. And you already got the sign up in the yard. How incredibly efficient you are!” Of course she was very, very relieved and the rest of the appointments went quite well. Now I'm not saying that this is a good assumptive technique to use, but I think what it does is demonstrate that people want action. When we are in action and we're assuming they're moving forward with us, they're much more likely to go with the flow. When you think about the best assumptive techniques, I would start with assumptive language. Instead of saying, “If you list your home with me,” try, “When you list your home with me, when we get together, when we work together, when we have offers on your home.” See, I'm going to proceed as if they've already hired me or told me that they're absolutely going to hire me. I'm going to make sure that my language reflects that. Another great assumptive technique with a seller is to ask them if they'll have a key ready for you. “You know, Mr. and Mrs. Seller, I'm going to need to have a key when we get that home on the market. So, if you could have that ready and in an envelope on the table for me, because I often forget to ask for it, that would be great.” You might think, well what if they say they’re not sure they’ll choose me? You say, “Well that's fine and yet, odds are you may indeed choose me, because I have a great marketing plan but whoever you choose, ultimately, you're going to need to have a spare key ready. So just might be easier for you to go ahead and have one made. And by the way, I don't want to give you a homework assignment, however, it would be incredibly helpful if you would put together a list of all the things you have most enjoyed about the home. I would love to get a list from you of all those great points so that I can incorporate that into the marketing. Doesn't have to be anything fancy, but if you would just jot down some thoughts that would be terrific.” One of our coaches said that when they go out on a listing appointment, as they're touring the property and they have their phone handy, they say to the seller, you know what, I'm going to record just a few marketing messages for Mary on my team, who's going to manage the marketing of your property. And he'll say, “Hey Mary, make a note that we've got to be sure that the drapes are pulled back in the master bedroom when we show the home, because the view is stunning.” “Hey Mary, make a note that there is an extra storage area above the garage that is huge.” “Hey Mary, can you make a note?” So that is the agent taking ownership of that marketing, right? So remember, people like to go with the flow. Be assumptive, be powerful, be confident. And when it comes time to close for the signature on the listing, don't ask them, “Are you ready? Do you have any other questions? Will you choose me?” Instead, simply say, “By when would you like your home sold to the right buyer? Perfect. Then that's exactly why we need to go ahead and list today.” Remember to assume that they're going to sign the listing. Alright, have a great day. Be assumptive, be powerful and be confident. I'll talk to you soon.   If you are a real estate agent or broker that is looking to for more insight and direction on how to get more listings, sell more homes to your investors, and work with more buyers, then this podcast is just for you!

Hello and welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips. Today I wanted to talk about pre-listing packages. There was a time in the market when lots of agents were sending out a pre-listing package. The purpose of this was to prepare for the sale. It was to sell the seller in advance on all the great stuff that you do, your track record, your credentials, etc. It was very popular for a while, and then I noticed that agents kind of just stopped doing it. I will sometimes ask them, why? Why did you stop? One of the common answers is, “I found that the people didn't read the package, so I felt that it was a waste of my time to do it.” My marketing expert, Pete Mitchell, and I were talking about this just the other day and he reminded me of something called the thud factor. If you do choose to deliver a pre-listing package, keep in mind that emailing is probably not that effective. Are they going to open it up? Are they going to download it? Are they going to print it? Are they really going to read it? Probably not. Everybody's busy, and they may not even see it in their email. So if you choose to actually print and deliver it the package, you know it has the impact of being a professional piece with lots of great content, a piece that, even if just briefly flipped through, does give you a little extra measure of credibility. Now, when you go on that listing appointment, don't assume that they've actually read it. In fact, don't ask them if they read it because if you ask them, they might feel the need to lie and say yes. Just proceed, assuming they have not read it. Take your key points, your highlights, the things you want to discuss with them on that listing appointment about the marketing that you do and the services you provide. You could say something like this, “Mr. and Mrs. Seller, I hope you had an opportunity to flip through the information that I sent over to you. What I'd like to do, is I'd like to just go through the highlights together, the things that I feel are most important for you. So if you don't mind, I'd like to share with you what we're going to do so that I can arrive at the highest realistic price possible.” So again, I would keep your presentation simple and concise, not lots and lots of pages, but really distilled down to who you are, what you're going to do, and then of course, what the property is likely to sell for. Alright, so make it a great day, and email me, debbiedegrote@gmail.com, if you have any questions.   If you are a real estate agent or broker that is looking to for more insight and direction on how to get more listings, sell more homes to your investors, and work with more buyers, then this podcast is just for you!

Hello, it’s Debbie De Grote and welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips. We're getting ready for the year ahead so that we will be in great shape and ready to roll on January 2nd. One of the things I encourage you to do is to really sit down and work on your schedule. Set a starting and ending time each day, select a day off, and also time block for your prospecting, your lead follow-up, and your other critical activities. If you look at this now, that will give you a chance to keep a time log as you're getting ready for the New Year. At the end of each day, I want you to label each hour of the day. Was that an income producing hour, something directly related to listing or selling? Was it prospecting? Were you out on appointments and negotiating contracts? Or was it an income servicing hour? This could be meetings and inspections, or getting documents signed with an appraiser. Or lastly, was it just stuff? IP is income producing, IS is income servicing, or just S for stuff. Meaning, I don't know what I was doing, but it was probably a waste of my time. The goal would be that you have at least 50 percent of your day at income producing. Now, if you have staff supporting you, we want to be pressing that much harder to get you to 80 percent of the day being income producing. Whenever people say to me, “I'm struggling, I'm not on track for my goal.” One of the first things I often ask is, do you have a schedule? And if so, are you sticking with it? Your schedule really is the foundation, the cornerstone to achieving your goals for the year ahead. Put that schedule together, work on it, try it out, test it. If you need to make some changes, make those adjustments. It takes about 90 days for the brain to accept a new pattern, so now is the time to get a great start on this before the New Year begins. Let's maximize those money-making opportunities and hours in your day.

Hello and welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips. We're talking about a strong finish to 2018. One of the things I'd like to like you to do in this last quarter of the year is get together with your vendors and your affiliates. Tell them how much you appreciate them and their hard work and how committed you are to being loyal, supportive, and sending them as many referrals in the New Year as possible. If there are ways that they can improve their service to you, be more helpful so that you can grow your business without hiring more staff, tell them. Even ask them, “What might you be able to do for me that would be fair and reasonable to request, but I just don't know that I could ask for?” And then also ask them for a referral. Now I get it that because many of them are going to be working with multiple real estate agents it would not be fair that we would expect all of their referrals, so just ask for one name a month. Say, “You know, I don’t even know if it would work out, it might amount to nothing, but if you could just find one name a month to send my way, I would really, really appreciate it.” So let's meet with them as soon as possible. Let's set a game plan for the New Year ahead. Re-cement that loyalty and relationship, because truly they are a valuable part of your team.

Hello, it's Debbie De Grote and welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips. As we work hard to a strong finish for 2018, one of the things I'd like to put on your project list is to update and upgrade your listing presentation. Look at it and start from scratch. Do you need to add new materials? Do you need to remove some pages because it's too cumbersome? Do you have fluffy pages in there that are unnecessary? What about your reviews? Are you showcasing your reviews, your track record and your performance? Remember, it's great to give good service. What they're really looking for is expertise and results. Next, what about how you dress for your appointments? Do you prepare by doing advanced research on the seller? How much customizing of the marketing proposal do you do? Remember, we're asking them to pay us a lot of money and we are facing a lot of disruption. Part of that disruption is the flat rate commission cutting companies, so we've got to be prepared to go in to those appointments and look strong. Be powerful. Show them that you are their champion and advocate and that you have the answers to how to sell their home for the highest realistic price possible. Also, even if you know them, even if they're your friends, they're family, or they're a past client, let's still be sure to go in prepared, as prepared as we would if we thought they were interviewing other agents. Do not take anything for granted and let's get our game face on. Someone out there somewhere is practicing, and when they meet you at the table competing for that listing, I don't want them to beat you.

Hello and welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips. As we talk about the strong finish of 2018, something that I say a lot is, “Stand out as the wise adviser.” Here's what I mean by that. As you prepare for the year ahead, think about increasing your market knowledge and expertise. Today’s consumers can go online and check their values, which may or may not be accurate. They can do a Google search and get answers to any question imaginable. But to put it all together really requires the wisdom of a wise adviser. My husband and I recently sold our house and purchased another. My husband has been active in the real estate business for over 35 years and he said to me, “You know, Debbie, you are the most annoying buyer and seller I've had for a long time.” It is amazing how challenging it can be to navigate the buying, the selling, the ups, the downs, the waiting for contingency removal, the inspections, the walkthroughs – it’s all very, very stressful. So we need to hold their hand through that process, right? They're not going to find the answers and support when they Google, it's you sitting down with them, holding their hand and being that wise advisor. In conclusion, I really want you to own that space of being the market expert. Be the high-level business consultant and remember how much actual value you bring to the table. They want to talk to you, they need to talk to you, you have the answers, you have the support, and you'll talk them down off the ledge if they get scared.

Hello and welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips. As we talk about plans for the New Year ahead, have you ever conducted any community events? This is something that we're encouraging our coaching clients to look at adding to their menu of opportunities for the New Year. There are two types of events you might consider putting together. There is the fun type of event that might include a family photo in the park or photo with Santa, or maybe even a shredding day. The next type of event is the educational event. You might have a seminar on moving up, downsizing, or renting versus owning. In our Inner Circle, we have kits developed for each of these topics. If you ever choose to join us, we make it easy for you to just plug and play. I do, however, want to share a couple of tips with you in the meantime. If you're doing the fun, community type of event, it can be easier to get attendance and yet the conversion of actual sales or listings will typically be lower. If you choose an educational event, it will be a little tougher to get them to the event, but the conversion might be very high, often up to 50 percent. One of the biggest problems is filling the event. That is why you are going to want to work with your joint venture partners, the type of partners that have your ideal clients in their database. This way you can share the work, share the cost, and each of you invite your own group. For example, if your lender is participating and you are meeting their consumer group at the event, there is a bit of a warmer connection than if they were simply a cold stranger.  If you want to know more about this, we have a webinar on this topic that I'd be happy to share with you. Just email me, debbie@excelleum.com. In the subject line put, “Send me your Webinar on community events.” I hope that will help you and remember, wherever there are people there is opportunity, we've just got to get out there and meet them.

Hello and welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips. We're working on a strong finish to the fourth quarter and a powerful beginning to 2019. I have a suggestion for you today. What if you formed your own organic networking group? One of our coaches, Alyssa, when she was a young, single mom, she grew her business to over 100 personal transactions without a team. The way that she did this, is she put together her own organic networking groups. So for example, she put together a group of women in businesses in her local market that were all in a commission sales type of job. They got together and strategized how they were each growing their business. They encouraged and supported each other and they had a strong commitment to send business back and forth to one another. Alyssa shared with me that from that one group alone, she would close typically at least 25 transactions a year and it was easy. They just met once a month for dinner or for lunch and in addition to the success, it was fun. So maybe consider that. It's also absolutely valuable to join the Chamber of Commerce or a BNI group or some type of charity that you're involved in. What about it though? What if you created your own commission, salesperson networking group and invited other sales professionals into that group so that you can all support each other with your great referrals? So remember, it can be a great way to do rejection free prospecting.

Hello and welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips. As we power through the fourth quarter into the New Year, it will be here before we know it, right? Time flies. Someone signed up for coaching this morning and they said to me, “I have a pretty good business,” and actually it was quite a good business, they were doing over 50 deals a year. But he said, “I never get past 50. I'm stuck there and in fact, I feel that there's some erosion of my business occurring recently because customer loyalty just isn't the same as it was in the past.” So we talked about some the great agents across the country that we have the pleasure of coaching, that as the coaches are working with them to upgrade and improve their business, we're working to make sure that they have a minimum of three quality sources of business, because this particular gentleman did not. Basically all he was doing was working with the people that he knew, past clients in his sphere, and if they didn't call, he didn't get a listing. So certainly, database is a huge invaluable piece of your business, and yet I want you to extract absolutely everything from that group that you possibly can. And then let's expand to make sure you have at least two to three additional quality sources. So I'd like you to have three quality sources of listing opportunities. Once those are cemented, locked in, and running like a machine, let's add a fourth and even a fifth because just imagine if you've got five quality sources that you're working like a machine. You're always going to have new listings coming through the pipeline and you're not going to be overly attached or overly reliant on just one source. Alright, so let's get ready. Remember the fourth quarter is a great dress rehearsal for the New Year ahead.

Hello and welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips as we're powering forward into a new and exciting 2019. One of the things we want to do as we set your goals for the year ahead, is we want to review your numbers from this year. So let's take a look at where you're at listings and sales. I would love to have you break down what percentage is buyer versus listing business. Also, if you can, go back and reconstruct your listings taken ratio. What percentage of those appointments that you went out on did you actually take? Because what I like to do is look at where your business came from, your success ratios, and then set growth goals in each and every category. For example, let's say that you discover you're listings taken ratio was quite good. It was 85%, 85% of what you went out on you took. But then what I want you to do is challenge yourself. What if you could bump that to 90% or 95%? Just like the Olympic athlete when they say that record can never be broken, and yet someone always does. So let's set your goals. Set your numbers for the year ahead and aim to break your personal best record. Set growth goals in each and every category. And remember, dig deeper into your current sources of business. That's often where the low hanging fruit is, just waiting for you to pick it up.

Hello and welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips and our series on ramping up for the new year ahead. So as you're thinking about your goal for next year, I would assume that you're hoping to make more money, right? And to make more money than just enough to get by, to just to pay our bills, which we all need to do - but wouldn't it be nice to have some leftover profit? I'm assuming that as you're setting your goals, you're planning to have some leftover profit. So as you're looking at that number, after expenses, after overhead, after taxes, what will you have left to put away in the bank or to put in your pocket? Then I'd like to ask you to do what we call, “spend it on paper.” In other words, sit down and think about what would be your use for every penny of that money. Now, it might be setting up a six month reserve account. It might be investing in a new property. It might be paying off debts. It might be taking a vacation. It might be a little bit of all of the above. The reason I encourage you to spend it on paper is that it actually creates a real need for it. Then be sure to look at it every day. Share with those in your life who support you so that they'll hold you accountable, because it's a natural human tendency to get a little bit complacent. Because as you move forward towards your goals, when the basic needs are met, it's kind of easy to take your eye off the ball or to take your foot off the gas. And yet, when you go back to this exercise and see all those terrific things that money is going to help you accomplish, I hope it inspires you to push a little harder to get out of that comfort zone and to take some new action. So set your goal, subtract your overhead, subtract your taxes, and then you take that leftover profit and you spend it on paper.

Hello, welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips! We're continuing on in our series to get ramped up for the year ahead. So as you're thinking about your strong finish for 2018 and your launch into 2019, hopefully the best year of your entire career, I'd like to ask you to consider this. What is your definition of success? Success is very different for everyone. For some, it's really going to be all about the income. For others, it might be about building a career that gives them the freedom and flexibility to have time with their children or family. And for some, there may be a different, big why. I just spoke with someone today who just finished putting their son through nine years of college and law school. He said, “You know Debbie, thank you so much. If I hadn't had the coaching to keep me motivated and on track, my son would have lots and lots of student loans.” So we all have our definition of success. We all have our big “why,” and yours should be uniquely your very own. It’s what drives us to get through the tougher days when we'd rather not do it, when we'd rather take a nap, right? When we’d rather just avoid the prospecting. What is it that makes you excited? What is it that your success will help you achieve, and what is your true definition of success for you? Remember, whatever the mind can conceive and believe it can achieve. So, believe it and now let's go get to work and do it.

Hello its Debbie and welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips. I just had a conversation with an agent and I thought this would be a great topic for us to talk about today. We were discussing the fact that often real estate agents just focus on being a great salesperson with their buyer and seller, but they forget that part of being a great salesperson is selling everyone in the deal on how to do what you need them to do. In other words – gaining their cooperation. We were discussing in this conversation how it’s shocking that sometimes, real estate agents who have offers written on their buyer’s behalf, are rude, unprofessional, or aggressive to the listing agent. What do they really think that will accomplish for them? And then of course other times you see certain veteran real estate agents who are very prima donna-ish, and very difficult to deal with, to the point that sometimes people actually avoid working with them. And yet in every market there are the examples of those incredibly gracious people that you seek out because you want to sell their listings. You want to help them get their buyer offer accepted. So let’s think about that. Not just in terms of professional courtesy, but also that as a great salesperson, your job is to sell everyone in that transaction on cooperating, on achieving the outcome that your customer or client needs to achieve. So it doesn’t stop with the buyer or seller. Be respectful, be efficient and professional, be gracious, and be a great salesperson. Convince the lender why they should do what you’re asking. Convince the other agent why they should accept your bid, because you are going to be easier to work with and your buyer is fantastic. In any time of conflict, try to take the high road in those conversations with your vendors, your affiliates, and the real estate agents. Because if you plan to be in the business for a long period of time, you want to shine as that outstanding example, that agent that everyone wants to work with.

Hello welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips. How do you communicate to a client why they should choose you? Often they’ll ask, “Why should I choose you or how are you different?” I wonder – in 60 seconds or less, can you explain what you do and why it’s unique? It’s the old elevator speech. Elevator speeches are no longer than 60 seconds. So as you’re setting up your elevator speech, use clear and concise words and make it interesting and engaging. You might even include a third party story. A great elevator speech is even crafted for that particular type of customer. It should have a hook, something that makes that customer want to know more about you. An outstanding elevator speech allows the customer to determine very quickly that you are worth listening to. It could include your value proposition, a short statement that communicates the potential benefits they will experience when they choose you. And remember – they do buy the benefits, not the feature. So everything you say, as you’re explaining services you provide, as your crafting your elevator speech, should all be designed to answer the question in their mind, which  is, “So what? What does this mean to me?” Here’s another helpful tip. When crafting an elevator speech, read your online reviews. Because in your online reviews, what your clients say about you is actually exactly what you do that’s special and unique. Read your reviews, work on your elevator speech, and practice it. Because the more you practice it, the more likely you’re going to be to drop it into a variety of conversations.

Welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips and today we’re talking about community events. It is important today to increase your range, your reach, and your influence in your local community. In fact we encourage our coaching clients to expand their reach, to expand their database, and to raise the level of their connections and communication with those prospects in their market. A rejection free way to do that is through community events. Now these events can be fun events, things like a family photo in the park, a pet photo, or maybe a concert in the park. A client of ours recently even hosted a day at the local small zoo, a zoo that’s small enough to actually close for a private event. They invited the community and they invited their past clients. So events like this can be fun and can be a great place for you to meet, greet, and reconnect You can also choose to put on an educational event. In our Inner Circle program, we provide an events planning kit for our coaching clients that has 8-9 different types of events. Some of them are those fun community connection events and many of them are educational events. These educational events include topics such as “Downsize With Distinction,” “Should I Move Up Or Stay And Remodel My Current Home,” “Renting Vs. Owning: Is It Time To Buy,” and investor seminars. So just think about all the fun and interesting things you could do as a topic that you could promote in your community. And by the way, you may be thinking, “Well, I’m not a good speaker.” If that’s the case you can just focus on the fun events. Or what you could do is joint venture with a partner, a lender, an affiliate, someone who is a good speaker and would be able to help you with your event. Now if this interests you, we actually have a fully recorded webinar on these different types of events, including how to set them up, how to fill the room, etc. I would be happy to send that to you upon your request. Just email me, Debbie@excelleum.com. I believe in community events, because I use them all the time to grow my business. And I love it. I could cold call, or I could get a great group of people in a room, make friends with them, and have a whole group of warm prospects. So I encourage you to consider it. Remember – if you want a copy of that webinar, Debbie@excelleum.com, and I’ll send you our full events planning informational webinar. Have a great day, I’ll talk to you soon.

Welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips and today I was thinking about the difference between being a super star salesperson and an average agent. There could be a number of factors, obviously we could make a big long list, and yet here’s the one that struck me most. Super achievers in any field, in any industry, do what others know they should do, but simply don’t. And they do it whether they feel like it or not. As I think of the mega producers that we coach, which are many, I think about their approach to their business. They don’t make excuses and they don’t whine about the hard work. They have a routine and a schedule, they are very protective of their billable time, and they make sure they’re maximizing those billable hours in the day. In fact, many of them measure and track it. For example, one of our great clients keeps a time log every week. Their goal is that 80% of the day, every day, will be income producing. So there’s IP, income-producing, IS, income-servicing, which of course we all have to do some of that, and then S, which is just stuff. Super salespeople are very focused on that income-producing activity. And the income-producing activity isn’t always easy – because that would be prospecting, right? That would be part of the income-producing activities, but they are hunters. They know every day they have to hunt. They know every day they have to show up and work. They know they have to put their game face on when they hit the parking lot of the office. It’s show time. Personal problems, drama, issues, all have to get put to the side, and they show up and they focus and they do their job. Now of course in life we all have disruptions and illness and things that occur. I want you to take care of your family as you need to, and yet I also want you think about this. When you look at the amount of money that you intend to earn this year, I want you to think about this. If you were paying that amount of money to someone, what would you expect of them? Would you expect that they show up well dressed, well rested, and ready to work every morning, bright and shiny? Or would you expect excuses? There’s a big difference! Super achievers in any industry do what others know they should do but simply don’t do.  Alright so good luck, and make it a super powerful day.

Hello, welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips! I wanted to talk to you today about what you need to do to have a strong listing year. First of all, you are going to need to dig in. You’re going to need to hunt and be at the top of your game.  You are going to need to outshine your competition at every turn.  You are going to need to maximize your strengths and your key sources of business.  We cannot let any leads, any past client, or quality prospect go unattended. In other words, we don‘t want to leave any money on the table! Are you guys with me so far? Ok good! If you don’t mind, I would like to say - stop worrying about the disruptors! The commission cutters who want to erode your share of your listing market. Don’t get mad, get even. Get even by shutting them down, by locking in your clients’ loyalty and setting yourself apart as the wise advisor. We need to have a more logical, systematic, and deep approach to the business segments you choose to work.  In other words, you need to work smarter, not harder. If you need some help, reach out and we‘d be happy to help you. Have a great day and I‘ll talk to you soon.