Rules for CORE Agents #21: No News is Still News
You know what the weather is like right now in San Diego? It’s 85 degrees and sunny. You know what it’s going to be like tomorrow? 85 degrees and sunny. Next week? 85 degrees and sunny. The funny thing is, they still do the weather report every day. Turn on the news, and at some…
Read MoreRules for CORE Agents #20: If a Client Calls You With a Question, You've Probably Already Failed
Your phone rings. It’s a seller whose home you’ve listed, and they want to know if that buyer over the weekend had any feedback. Or it’s a buyer you’re working with, wondering if anything new came on the market this week. Guess what? You just failed. Why? Because they felt that they had to call…
Read MoreRules for CORE Agents #19: Never Argue With a Client, Or, Really, Anyone.
I deal with angry clients all the time. I’m the lawyer for my company, and if I’m talking to a real estate client, it’s usually because they’re so unhappy that they want to break a contract or sue me or something. I don’t get to talk to the happy clients. So I talk to these…
Read MoreRules for CORE Agents #18: If You're Not Good at Something, Get Good or Have Someone Else Do it.
It’s staggering how many things real estate agents need to know how to do. They need to be market analysts, appraisers, negotiators, counselors, photographers, videographers, writers, lead generators, stagers, transaction specialists, communicators, marketers — everything that goes into helping people buy and sell homes. But it’s tough to be good at everything. We all have…
Read MoreRules for CORE Agents #17: Never Tell Anyone You're ALWAYS Available For Them, Because You're Not
So you’re sitting down with a client for the first time, and you’re trying to impress upon them your dedication to a great service experience. You take them through your value presentation, answer all their questions, and you can tell that you’re thisclose to locking them in. It’s all going so well, so you decide…
Read MoreRules for CORE Agents #16: Personal Communication Requires an Actual Person Communicating
As modern communication technology advances, it becomes increasingly hard to have actual conversations with other people. I know that seems crazy, since we have so many wonderful ways these days to get in touch: mobile phones, voicemails emails, text messages, Facebook status updates. But we don’t actually “talk” with each other as much anymore; we’re…
Read MoreRules for CORE Agents #15: Great Service is in the Eye of the Beholder
Let’s say you’re shopping for a new jacket, and you pop into a clothing store. Immediately, a salesperson comes up to assist you, asking if you need any help and what you’re looking for. Usually, that’s a great thing, so much better than those times you go into a store and you can’t find anyone…
Read MoreRules for CORE Agents #14: Happy Clients Are Better Than Any Marketing Program Ever Invented
Real estate agents are always coming up with creative places to put their faces. It used to be that you’d see real estate agent faces just in the pages of newspapers and magazines, but now you see them on park benches, billboards, shopping carts – really, anywhere there’s a flat surface and someone willing to…
Read MoreRules for CORE Agents #13: Be Good at Your Job
Take a look at a list of the most successful agents in your market and try to figure out what they have in common. How did they all become top agents? It’s not easy, because successful agents don’t conform to the superficial stereotypes that we all have of the dynamic “superstars” out of central casting. …
Read MoreRules for CORE Agents #12: Whenever Possible, Get Digits
The single most important thing you can do to build your real estate business over the next ten years is simple: get digits. When you meet people, get their mobile phone numbers, and get their email addresses. Why? Because even while we live in a world of “over-sharing” that has become increasingly open and less…
Read More