In This Issue
10 WAYS TO BOOST BUSINESS FAST MAY 2007 I’M SO BUSY…I DON’T KNOW WHAT I’M DOING!	LIKEABILITY FACTOR A SPECIAL MESSAGE

10 WAYS TO BOOST BUSINESS FAST MAY 2007

The first quarter of 2007 was a tough one for many in the real estate industry. But there are ways to give your business a quick boost. Consider trying one or two of these 10 ideas for increasing your production today:

1. Try a prospecting blitz
Want to increase your income? Increase your prospecting time. As Peter Drucker says, "The purpose of a business is to create a customer." If you're serious about getting more business, spend anywhere from 10-11 hours a week prospecting for new leads. While more mediocre agents sit and wait for leads to come to them, take the bull by the horns so to speak and develop your leads yourself. A bonus: in addition to lots of new leads, you'll have more quality prospects to choose from. You won't have to work with marginal prospects because you'll have an abundance of leads and can choose to work with the ones who are more likely to be loyal, motivated and good sources of referrals. Don't let business that could be yours go to your competitors - start a prospecting blitz this week.

2. Get face to face
If you don't already have one, consider hiring an assistant, at least part-time. No matter what, you must free yourself up to do what you do best: getting in front of the customer. You can't do that if you're sitting in the office handling paperwork. Salespeople need to be selling and the more you are face-to-face with clients and prospects, the more business you'll have.

3. Differentiate yourself
Think of one or two ways that you can set yourself apart from the competition. Go the extra mile and do what other agents aren't willing to do. Says real estate coach Joeann Fossland, "It’s much like the horse races that are won by inches. It doesn’t necessarily mean you have to be 10 times better, but just better than the competition. It’s a matter of having a little bit higher standard of excellence and doing just that little extra more." Think of 1 to 2 ways you can do this for buyers and sellers and go for it.

4. Send your past clients something in a box
While your latest postcard may or may not be read, a box will always get opened. Whatever you put inside doesn't have to be expensive, just something a little creative and clever. For example, Bill Koelzer, a real estate expert, recommends buying an inexpensive watch and send it with a note that says something like, "It's time to find out what your home is worth." Follow up with a phone call.

5. Add value
Be the agent who learns so much about his/her clients and prospects that he/she can add value to the relationship easily by sending them articles, recipes, tips, information, etc. on things of interest to them. Accompanied by a note (email or snail mail - it's up to you), you instantly personalize the message and make the recipient feel valued. For instance, for a past client that loves the Food Network, you might send a recipe link with a note that says, "Ellen, I thought about you as soon as I came across this recipe on Emeril's website. I know you love to cook and entertain and are always looking for new food ideas. I hope you enjoy it." The personal touch goes a long way in building loyal customer relationships.

6. Prospect expireds and FSBOs
With properties sitting on the market for longer periods of time, there are sure to be more expired listings and frustrated FSBOs. Create a consumer-oriented campaign designed to show these sellers how you will market their home and get it sold.

7. Pick up the phone and reconnect
What would happen if, for the next 4 weeks, you focused an hour or two a day on reconnecting with past clients and others who love you and are likely to refer business to you? Chances are you'd have plenty of nice, warm referrals very quickly. Offer to take them to breakfast or lunch (again, getting face-to-face) and find some ways you can help each other.

8. Establish a community presence
The more people who know you, the more business you'll create. Consider having a booth at a local street fair or festival. Partner with a popular restaurant in your town and provide napkins or placemats with your photo and information on them. Make sure your local service providers have your business cards and/or brochures on hand in case they have a client with a real estate need (offer a free service to them). Put a professional sign on your car and park it where it will be most visible to passersby when you run errands. Offer current community information on your website. Volunteer for a cause you care about. Whatever you choose to do, be a presence in your area.

9. Be accessible and consumer friendly.
Forward your office phone to your cell phone and talk directly to callers as often as possible. Respond to emails as quickly as you can, using auto responders if necessary. Make your website totally consumer-oriented. We live in a society that expects instant results so do your best to be available and provide outstanding service.

10. Promote your listings individually online
Spend some time photographing each listing thoroughly and create a slide show or video of the home complete with music. Give each listing its own website address, then post the web address on the yard sign. Email the address to everyone you have in your database. It's a great tool to show prospective sellers and ensures your listing gets seen by many and hopefully, sold quickly.


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In today's world, being busy is a badge of honor to many. Think about the number of times you've asked someone recently, "How are you?" and the immediate response has been, "Busy!" Everyone is busy these days, but busy doing what?

Busyness and productivity are two completely different things. One bears fruit; the other does not. Are you so busy being busy that you never get anything done? Results count. We need to start measuring ourselves not by how busy we are but by how much fruit we produce.

What's behind this "busyness" epidemic? For some people, it's an inability to say no to anything. For others, it's being unable to delegate tasks. For still others, it's an excuse not to do what's really important. Many of us never take the time to think about, manage and plan our lives. We think that filling up our time with activities means we are doing something when, in reality, we're just like a hamster on a wheel, running around going nowhere fast. Truly productive people may have times when they are very busy, but they don't let it become a habit. They focus on the things that produce their desired result and do them in the allotted time. Working 80 hours a week isn't necessarily a good thing unless you are producing your desired results. Whatever your reason, it's important to make sure that you are busy doing the right things and doing those things right.

"Workers in the United States put in more hours at work and take fewer vacation days than those in most industrialized countries," writes Stever Robbins, founder and president of LeadershipDecisionworks. "But the U.S. isn't the most productive country in the world. When it comes to full productivity, according to an article in The Economist, France wins, working only forty hours a week with lots of vacation. Conversations with clients and friends suggest we're working hard, but, well, stupidly. We're busy, but our important priorities are falling by the wayside as we work hard when we should be working smart."

Being too busy can result in poor decision making, sloppy work quality and neglect of the people and things that matter most. Chuck Darrah, an anthropologist at San Jose State University, says, "We increasingly define ourselves and our families by doing, not being. A good life has to do with life having a direction, life having a narrative with the stories we tell ourselves. Busyness fragments all that. We're absolutely focused on getting through the next hour, the next day, the next week. It does raise questions: If not busyness, what? If we weren't so busy, what would we be doing?"

Cutting out all the busyness of life and getting down to greater efficiency and productivity can be dangerous, warns Robbins. "Working smart is risky. If you work smart, you'll have more free time. That means more leisure, shorter work hours, or . . . more work. If you use the free time to take on more commitments, you're just as busy as before, but now you are so tightly scheduled that a slip in one project can cascade to many more projects. Happiness happens when productivity enables a higher-quality life, not frantic overachievement."

If you want to get off the "busy" treadmill, here are some ideas to consider:

Know What's Most Important to You
Being aware of what you value most in life will help you keep your priorities straight and allow you to choose activities that are the highest and best use of your time for each of your life areas. Spend some time thinking about and writing down your goals in terms of family/relationships, health, spirituality, career, money, fun/recreation, and physical environment. This will help you to stay focused.

Eliminate Distractions
Everyone has to deal with daily distractions including telephone calls, email, visitors and yes, multi-tasking. Unless these things are bringing in income or producing fruit in another life area (and you need to measure this to know for sure), they are often just interruptions. Look at multi-tasking in the context of work, for example. You may think you're getting a lot done by talking on the phone while filling out paperwork but unless one of the two things you're doing is an utterly brainless activity, one of them will suffer. Ever been talking on the phone and forgot what you were going to say because you were busy looking up a listing on the MLS at the same time? Have you ever stopped an activity to chat with a fellow agent and then started another activity because you'd forgotten you were in the middle of something else before you were interrupted? If so, you've experienced what many studies have already proven to be true - multi-tasking is less productive than focusing on one task and getting it done.

In order to work smarter, block out at least one to two hours a day, turning off the phone and computer, closing your office door and focusing on getting the one or two things done that will have the greatest impact on your life and business. The same rule applies to spending time with your family, your exercise time, etc.

Focus, Focus, Focus
If you're really busy but not producing the measurable results you want, you're probably not spending 80% of your time on the activities that produce those results. If you're spending two hours a day reading and writing emails, for example, that's 25 percent of an 8-hour day. If that time isn't producing at least 25 percent of your income, it's not a high value activity and you need to stop it. If you spend the bulk of your time on the things that are the highest and best use of that time, you'll find that your results improve dramatically even as you find yourself working less. Spending time getting better at those things that add to your bottom line, such as prospecting, is also a great use of your time and will quickly improve your efficiency.

It's no different in other life areas. For example, if your top priority is spending time with your family, you need to focus on them during the time you're together. By investing time in your children or significant other, you produce results in terms of better relationships and a happier home life. If you need to work out, focus on the exercises that help you maintain or lose weight. Whatever you are doing, be present and focus.

Just Say No
We've already touched on this a little, but if you are caught up in the busyness game, you do need to learn to say no to things that you don't value highly or help you produce the right results in your life and work. If someone asks you to do them a favor, by all means, do it if you can but don't let it keep you from doing something else that is far more important. The same goes for activities that are fun but not necessarily top priority. When you say yes to one thing, you say no to another. Make sure the things you are saying yes to are the things that fit with your life goals.

Delegate
We all have things that we don't like to do but must get done. Sometimes, though, someone else can do them better and for a cost that is well worth it in terms of improved life or work quality. If, for instance, you hate to clean your house and you can afford it, pay someone to do it for you. Use the time for something you value more. If you detest keeping track of your tax information, hire a part-time bookkeeper to do it for you. You'll increase your productivity if you use that time to go out and sell another house. In other words, do the things you are best at and delegate the rest.


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LIKEABILITY FACTOR
By Pam Holloway

Strange as it might seem, likeability is not a gift - it's a skill set. Is it worth developing? You decide. Here's what we know about likeable people:

They are more successful in business and in life.

They get elected, promoted, and rewarded more often than those less likable.

They close more sales and make more money.

They get better service from all types of service providers, including Doctors and other health care providers - which means they probably live longer as well!

Still not sure? Take a look at these studies.

• A Columbia University study by Melinda Tamkins shows that success in the workplace is guaranteed not by what or whom you know but by your popularity. In her study, Tamkins found that, "popular workers were seen as trustworthy, motivated, serious, decisive and hardworking and were recommended for fast-track promotion and generous pay increases. Their less-liked colleagues were perceived as arrogant, conniving and manipulative. Pay rises and promotions were ruled out regardless of their academic background or professional qualifications."
  
  
• The Gallup organization has conducted a personality factor poll prior to every presidential election since 1960. Only one of three factors - issues, party affiliation, and likeability, has been a consistent prognosticator of the final election result. Of course, the factor is likeability.

What makes you likable?
We find a plethora of opinions as to the specific elements that contribute to likeability. Tim Sanders in his book, The Likeability Factor notes these 4:

1. Friendliness: your ability to communicate liking and openness to others
2. Relevance: your capacity to connect with others' interests, wants, and needs
3. Empathy: your ability to recognize, acknowledge, and experience other people's feelings
4. Realness: the integrity that stands behind your likeability and guarantees its authenticity

Seven Components of Likeability
Through research and experience, these seven elements are integral for "likability":

1. Positive mental attitude
   Likeable people exude a positive mental attitude. That does not mean they are silly or giddy. They don't ignore hardships or failures, but consciously reframe those difficulties and negative emotions to healthier positive ones. Positive means that you can find a better direction out of a problem, rather than wallowing in the problem or negative emotion.
2. Non-judgmental
   The truly likable are non-judgmental. They recognize that everyone is trying to get by the best they know how, and they treat everyone with respect and understanding.
3. Open
   Passing critical judgment is a sign of inflexibility, a highly unlikable trait. The opposite of that is what we call "openness." The truly likeable are open to new people, other ideas, and different ways of doing things. They demonstrate openness in their behavior, the tone of their voice and in their language.
4. Secure
   Likeable people are, "comfortable in their own skin." They don't feel the need to talk over, correct, constantly make jokes or laugh nervously. They don't brag, talk incessantly or hide behind details or humor.
5. Vulnerable
   One of the most likeable characteristics is vulnerability. People who can say, "I don't know," who are able to admit mistakes or show a sensitivity, are seen as more likeable.
6. Able to get outside the Self
   Those whose primary focus is on themselves rate low on the likeability scale. Conversely, those who are secure in themselves and able to turn their focus outward rate much higher. It's part empathy - our ability to recognize, acknowledge and experience other people's feelings, which is a key attribute of likeability. This is more than the ability to be empathetic. It is the exercise of this ability. It is about becoming relevant. We become relevant in the lives of others when we learn about their interests, wants and needs.
7. Like me
   We like people who like us. We also like people who are like us. As humans we are constantly seeking points of similarity. We look for and are attracted to people who are like us in terms of values, interests and experiences. Studies suggest we are also attracted to people who physically look like us.

More Exposure: Familiarity Breeds Likeability
Recent studies have shown that more exposure is sufficient to increase the likeability of a person (or an object). In short, we are more attracted to and tend to like people who are familiar to us. So, in a selling situation, if the prospect likes you a little when you meet the first time, he may like you even more the second time and so on. With that in mind, your objective is to continue to increase the numbers of exposure to your prospects.

How Likable Are You?
How well would you say you demonstrate those likeability characteristics in your meetings with prospects? The key word here is "demonstrate." You can "feel" as though you are being open, relevant or empathetic, but that doesn't necessarily mean that's how you are being perceived by the prospects.

On a scale of 1-10, where 10 is Extremely High, how would you rate your demonstration of:

• Positive Mental Attitude
• Being Non-judgmental
• Openness
• Feeling Secure
• Vulnerability
• Able to get outside of self
• Own likeability
  

Whether we like it or not, likeability makes a difference in all aspects of how we are perceived. Our likeability follows us all at home, at work and in social settings. The important thing to remember is that it doesn't really what we think of ourselves when it comes to others making decisions about us.

About the Author:
Pam Holloway is a business psychologist and co-founder of AboutPeople, a unique training and consulting firm that helps companies maximize the people side of business. She is a program designer, author and teacher specializing in Market Psychology and Organizational Dynamics. Pam also delivers keynotes and workshops throughout the United States and Europe. For more information on her speaking and consulting, please contact: pam@aboutpeople.com


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A SPECIAL MESSAGE
By: Author Unknown, Source Unknown

A weary mother returned from the store,
Lugging groceries through the kitchen door.
Awaiting her arrival was her eight-year-old son,
Eager to relate what his younger brother had done.
"While I was out playing and Dad was on a call,
T.J. took his crayons and wrote on the wall!
It's on the new paper you just hung in the den.
I told him you'd be mad at having to do it again."
She let out a moan and furrowed her brow.
"Where is your little brother right now?"
She emptied her arms and with a purposeful stride,
She marched to his closet where he had gone to hide.
She called his full name as she entered his room.
He trembled with fear -- he knew that meant doom!
For the next ten minutes, she ranted and raved
About the expensive wallpaper and how she had saved.
Lamenting all the work it would take to repair,
She condemned his actions and total lack of care.
The more she scolded, the madder she got,
Then stomped from his room, totally distraught!
She headed for the den to confirm her fears.
When she saw the wall, her eyes flooded with tears.
The message she read pierced her soul with a dart.
It said, "I love Mommy," surrounded by a heart.
Well, the wallpaper remained, just as she found it,
With an empty picture frame hung to surround it.
A reminder to her, and indeed to all,
Take time to read the handwriting on the wall.

Happy Mother's Day to All You Moms from all of us at Esate Funding!


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