Coach Dan Foster | Purpose Driven Broker

You’re At The Top – Now What?

Dan Foster — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 15:30:00 +0000

It seems like everywhere I turn there is an article or blog post written for professionals that are struggling in this challenging market. As in every business cycle there is another group of professionals that are consistently “hitting it out of the park” and having a great year. If you find yourself in the latter category, this post is for you. I want to encourage you with these five steps to keep you engaged and continuing on the road to a productive and successful year.

Take time for your personal priorities. When business gets crazy usually the first appointments to be cancelled or forgotten are your personal ones. Make sure you are scheduling time for your workouts, dates with significant other, and reflection time. Review your Life Plan regularly and stay rested. Your mental, physical, and relational health is essential for continued success.

Connect with other successful professionals. The need to connect with others that are experiencing a high level of success has never been more important. Iron sharpens iron and you need to spend time with other successful professionals. This can be done via social networking, attending conferences, or through a regularly schedule face to face meeting. Choose people that have a positive attitude, are hardworking, and willing to give of their time.

Continue to focus on outstanding customer service. Your ability to offer outstanding customer service and differentiate yourself is obviously working. Don’t let up or cut corners on how you provide a great experience for your past, present, and future clients. Look for new and innovative ways to serve and don’t hesitate to ask for repeat or referral business.

Mentor someone. You’ve been blessed in your business so don’t hesitate to pour into someone else that needs encouragement and a helping hand. Mentoring increases your confidence and your standing among peers. It is easy to fall into the trap of thinking that you have to keep your best practices a secret. We all benefit when everyone is a growing and developing professional. You have a great opportunity to be a mentor in this market; take it.

Stay focused and don’t let up. My friend, Daniel Harkavy talks about bi-focal vision where you keep one eye on your vision and one eye focused on the day to day operations of your business. If you lose focus of your vision you will end up somewhere you never intended to be and run the risk of spread yourself and your business too thin. If you focus only on vision, you will lose touch with reality and the ever changing market around you. Don’t let up. I know it is exhausting sometimes but we are in for a long fight and you will need to stay healthy in all areas of your life and business (see step 1 above). There will be a time to rest in the future but right now you need to be firing on all cylinders.

Question: What are you doing this year to stay focused and driven towards success?

Make it a Great Day!

Coach Dan

You’re At The Top – Now What? is a post from: Purpose Driven Broker

7 Tips For Planning a Great Event

Dan Foster — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 23:53:17 +0000

My team and I recently had the opportunity to plan a large event that benefited our chamber of commerce and local artists. It was an event that took eight months to plan and required a lot of hard work from my volunteers. The day after the event I was asked why I thought the event was successful and what I learned from the experience. I was not able to give a complete answer at the time but now that I’ve had a few days to reflect on the question I can. Below is a list of seven tips that I believe will help you plan a great client party, benefit event, retreat, or fundraiser in your local community.

Define and share your vision for the event before you start planning or creating your strategy. Start with what you want your guests or clients to walk-away from the event feeling, thinking, and experiencing. Go to the place of your event and visualize how the event will unfold at the setting. Once you have a vision it’s time to share it with others and ask them to embrace the vision and journey with you as you make it a reality.

Surround yourself with a great support team that believes in your vision. Empower them to take ownership in your vision and delegate specific portions of the event that compliment their skill set and strengths. Trying to run an event all on your own with no delegation or trust in a team is a recipe for disaster.

Develop a strategy for achieving your vision. This strategy must include your marketing plan, your event setup and coordination, your volunteer/staffing requirements, your facilities management, etc. I like to envision the experience that each participant will have that is associated with the event and outline every detail that affects them. Put yourself in their shoes from the moment they learn of the event to the moment their experience at the event is over. The goal is to strategize how each of these groups of people will participate in your vision and have a great experience.

Hold yourself and your team accountable to deadlines and results. Accountability is the friend of greatness. Don’t be afraid to replace someone on your team that is not meeting deadlines or getting the results you need to achieve your vision. Hold regular meetings with your team to get a status report on the areas that have been delegated to them.

Complete at least two practice runs of the event prior to the big day. Practice runs should be thorough enough for your team to identify any potential problem areas or “weak” points in your strategy for conducting your event. Make any changes that need to be made during the practice runs and notify all participants affected by the changes. These practice runs serve as a great opportunity to get people more aligned with your vision for the event.

Develop your contingency plans. If possible, make sure you have a Plan B if something goes wrong with any part of your original plan. While predicting every hiccup or mistake is impossible, you can reduce the stress and impact by having a contingency plan ready and easy to implement.

Have fun and enjoy the fruits of your labor. A properly planned event will have a certain level of stress but it should also be fun and a time of celebration as you watch your vision come to life. Be sure to thank your team for a job well done and make sure they are recognized publicly.

Question: What would you add or take away from this list?

Make it a great day!

Coach Dan

7 Tips For Planning a Great Event is a post from: Purpose Driven Broker

Running a Low Risk – Profitable Business

Dan Foster — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 19:46:47 +0000

This morning I had the opportunity to interview Lee Dunn, Vice President/Principal Broker and Risk Reduction Manager for Prudential Northwest Properties. The interview was for my monthly webinar series in which I interview leaders and sales professionals in the real estate industry about best practices and success.

Lee is an amazing leader and has a wealth of knowledge and experience in the real estate industry. He has managed branches, owned companies, and served in many leadership positions across the nation on behalf of real estate broker associations.

This month Lee and I discussed how to run a low risk and profitable business in today’s real estate market. Lee provides us with his Top 10 Risk Reduction Tips and answers audience questions.

If your reader does not show you the video, you can click here to watch and listen to my interview with Lee.

Make it a great day!

Coach Dan

Running a Low Risk – Profitable Business is a post from: Purpose Driven Broker

8 Tips For A Successful Open House

Dan Foster — Thu, 27 May 2010 04:17:54 +0000

Let’s be honest, holding an open house is more for the benefit of a real estate broker than it is for a home owner. The 2009 National Association of Realtors® Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers reports that only 46% of home buyers used open houses as a means of searching for homes. Most articles that I have read tell me that only 1-2% of home buyers actually purchase a home they visited during an open house. I encourage you to share these stats with your seller and be completely honest with them about the probability of an open house leading to a sale of their home. If they still request an open house or allow you to hold one for your own benefit, than consider these eight tips for holding a successful open house.

Walk the neighborhood before the day of the open house inviting other home owners and renters to attend the open house. Make sure you stop by all non-owner occupied homes (rentals) to invite the potential buyers to the event. This is a great opportunity to meet potential future clients.
Send an open house postcard to various move-up neighborhoods. You should consider walking this neighborhood as well. These home owners or renters may be looking to move-up in this type of market and your listing may be the right home for them. Again, it is a great opportunity to meet future clients.
Advertise a give-away in your Open House ad. Make sure you use social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter to get the word out about your Open House. I recommend giving away a nice bottle of wine, dinner for two, or movie tickets to a lucky visitor. Try to create a “buzz” around your open house and draw as many people in as you can to provide you with feedback.
Arrive early to prepare the house for visitors. Turn on lights and prepare the home to have guests. Make sure the counters are clear, the rooms are tidy, and the house smells good. Many brokers arrive late, scramble to get things setup before someone arrives, and come across flustered to guests that arrive early. Make sure the home is inviting and that its best features are “showcased” to visitors.
Have some type of light food and drink for your guests to enjoy. Place a label with your contact information on a water bottle and tell your guests to take a few for the road.
Bring relevant materials for potential buyers. I encourage you to have comparable homes, including active, pending, and sold homes for buyers to review in comparison to your listing. If you are priced ahead of the market then highlight this as a strong selling point for your listing. Provide market stats on the city you are in and information on the general real estate market. The helps you to demonstrate your knowledge of the area and market.
Be able to articulate your value and offer solutions to prospective buyers. Prepare for your open house by going over common objections and questions from buyers. Review the features, benefits, and data on your listing so you are prepared to answer your visitors’ questions. Be able to demonstrate why not all Realtors are the same and that working with you is in a buyer’s best interest.
Engage your visitors and ask for feedback. While the likelihood of an open house leading to the sale of a home is very small, it is a great opportunity to get feedback on the price and condition of the home from visitors. Ask the guests what they are looking for in a home. If they say your listing is not the right fit, ask them why and give this candid feedback to your seller. Don’t just sit on the couch while people walk-through the home. Remember you are in sales and you have something to offer them no one else does, YOU. Engage them so that you can learn about their needs and wants and potentially deliver a solution for them.

What techniques have you found to be helpful in holding a successful open house?

Make it a great day!

Coach Dan

8 Tips For A Successful Open House is a post from: Purpose Driven Broker

Webinar: Handling Client Objections & Questions

Dan Foster — Wed, 26 May 2010 22:21:12 +0000

Do you wish you knew exactly what to say and how to say it when your client asks you to reduce your commission or to hold an open house every weekend? The answers are on the way!

Our next webinar, Thursday May 27th at 10AM, will feature a panel of experts discussing how they handle client objections and questions in today’s market. Join us on Thursday to learn from the best of your peers and walk away with the key talking points and scripts that will help you win more listing and make more sales.

Click here to register for this FREE webinar and training experience.

Webinar: Handling Client Objections & Questions is a post from: Purpose Driven Broker