The Race Has Started. Have You?

Photo by Derek Gavey via Flickr

Monday Morning Match is a quick post - maybe a quote, inspirational story or idea - intended to spark some motivation inside each of you so your week gets off to a fantastic start on Monday morning.

We're just a few hours from the first month of 2012 being over, yet many of our real estate brothers and sisters haven't even started their year. Oh sure, they may have turned their calendar and they have done the ceremonial business plan but they really haven't begun because they are still waiting for business to come to them.

Many of the active agents I know have some sort of business - at least one new listing or one new buyer.

Do you?

"The thing that has not been begun cannot be finished"

~ Robert Henri

If you don't have any business yet, ask yourself this: "Why not? What am I waiting for?"

It's been a few years since I have heard agents kick off their January so excited by the business at hand in the first few weeks of the year. I know listings are up in our local market and buyers have been pushed to jump in to the action with a combination of low interest rates, pent up demand and warmer than usual weather in the Central, Midwest and Northeast portions of the United States. I expect pending deals in January to outdistance 2011 and that's good news for a market that is in desperate need of a recovery.

How is your local market doing? Do you know the inventory that is available right now and how it compares to last year? How about the list price to sales price ratio? The average days on market? The average sales price? 

If you are knowledgeable enough, you will quickly become the "market expert" your client demands. Shouldn't you know the numbers of your market better than your local grocery store bag boy knows which aisles to find Tabasco sauce and condensed milk? Show you're a true professional and dig deep to understand your market inside and out.

"Can anything be sadder than work left unfinsihed?

Yes; work never begun."

~ Christina Rossetti

The old cliche is true - "He who lists, lasts." Get out there this week and start making phone calls to past clients and members of your sphere of influence. Contact local FSBO's and any listings that might have expired heading into the holidays. Their 30+ days of misery are over and it's time to get them on to their next phase of life. Build your inventory and get ready for the flood of buyers that will be coming soon.

I've never met a top agent who had a great year in real estate that didn't include a busy first quarter. There are about 60 days left until April 1st. Maybe the work you do these next two months will be what you look back on in December and say, "that's when I really got started."

Start today. If you don't, you'll quickly look up and realize it's the last week of 2012.

Focus on how you can build relationships, solve problems and have fun. 

Don't wait. Start right now.

The Magical 300

Figuring out the most difficult feat in sports is a great discussion. Depending on who you are talking with there are arguably some great candidates.

• Bowling a 300 game 
• Being dealt a royal flush in poker
• Dunking a basketball
• Hitting a pitch thrown by a professional pitcher
• Running a sub 4 minute mile
• Hitting a hole-in-one in golf

I've bowled many times and have even broke the 200 barrier several times but to get 12 strikes in a row seems very difficult...but it's been done. In fact, some bowlers have rolled three perfect games in a row for a hard to beat 900 series.

I don't play poker but imagine getting a suited 10, Jack, Queen, King and Ace from the dealer? The odds are stacked against you but you don't really have any control over this feat. It's really a matter of luck.

Dunking a basketball? I'm a 6 foot tall, 44 year old. Clearly I won't be demonstrating any aerial skills and accomplishing this but this is done daily by many "average Joes" in gyms and on playgrounds across the globe.

Hitting a pitch is certainly difficult for major league players, let alone a regular person. Heck, if a major leaguer hits three out of ten times they get up to bat, there's a great chance they will be considered for the Hall of Fame at the end of their career. So is it hard to do consistently? Yes. Is it hard to do once? Probably not.

It took years for anyone to break the 4:00 barrier in the mile but once Britain's Roger Bannister accomplished the task and proved it could be done, others have followed.

Hitting a hole-in-one? While many golfers will never experience this awesome feeling, even a hacker can knock it in the hole with one swing. I've had two holes-in-one in my life and hope there will be a third someday soon.

What is your "Perfect Game"?

So what's the equivalent in real estate? If you and your fellow Realtors were sitting around having a few beers, what would you say is the most difficult feat?

• Setting the right price on a new listing?
• Finding a buyer who picks a house the first time out?
• Delivering a "perfect presentation" that results in a signed listing with no objections to overcome?
• A transaction that proceeds to closing with no delays?
• An appraiser saying your listing is actually a bit under priced?
• Receiving the HUD-1 statement two days prior to the closing?

I guess if you stay in this business long enough, you'll achieve all of these and many more feats which sometimes seem impossible. Look back at your career and think about your Rookie year. What tasks or actions did you once think were impossible but now you laugh and wonder why you didn't think it was possible?

300?

This is the 300th post of The Realtor's Toolbox. There have been over 50,000 page views since Day 1 almost three years ago. I certainly didn't think this day would get here the day I wrote my first post but when you just keep "swinging" you're bound to make contact on a few. I am very proud of every post and certainly some have been more significant than others. Mainly I am appreciative that you continue to return and read my thoughts, ideas, suggestions and stories. Thanks for being such a loyal reader. 

Still waiting to deliver that perfect listing presentation? Keep practicing and contacting homeowners who might need to sell.

In search of that "perfect buyer"? You've got to start with a great Buyer Counseling Session.

Maybe you've thought about blogging but haven't started yet? Take it from me...you won't ever get to 300 posts until you get to 1.  

Get out there today and start building relationships, solving problems and having fun.

Don't let any feat seem too big for you to accomplish.

Are You Prepared to Win It Before You're In It?

It’s been said before that you usually won’t win a listing before meeting with a Seller but you certainly could lose them!

I recently was a featured speaker at the Coldwell Banker Gen Blue Experience in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is always an honor to be selected to present to your peers and getting to deliver two sessions in front of a "standing room only" audience is quite a thrill.

In this session we discussed the ten critical steps Realtors should take to maximize their time, increase their professionalism and secure more saleable listings. The presentation I delievered is below via SlideShare.net, but before you scroll down to view it, ask yourself a few questions.

• Do you have a consistent process for handling all of your potential listing opportunities?


• Are you doing everything you can to stand out from the competition?


• Are you creating a point of differentiation with a Pre-Listing packet?


• Do you feel like you’re “in control” from start to finish on your listing presentations?

Win It Before You're In It - The Power of a Pre-Listing Process

View more presentations from Sean Carpenter

I'm curious to know which of these 10 steps you're already doing? Do you have any other steps that you add in or any that you would take away? Are you using a one-step or two-step listing presentation? Do you use a pre-listing packet on every listing appointment you attend?

Drop a comment down below and let me know what's working for you out there.

Until next time...keep building relationships, solving problems and having fun.