‘Business Rescue Strategies 101′  Three Cd Set

If you want to learn the secrets strategies to securing Auction Listings, vendor marketing contributions and setting the right reserve to get the property Sold under the hammer, then this double Cd set is for you. Heres what you will get: Reducing days on the market to double your income, pricing the property, methods of sale, property promotion, keeping buyer interest hot, creating competition, the three opportunities to sell, listing the Auction, marketing structure, door speak, vendor feedback and business success strategies.

“The scripts and dialogues in the Auction Strategy CD will change the way you do business and will definitely change your results” – Marie Raos No1 Salesperson Ray White New Zealand, No10 Salesperson Internationally.

Price AUS$67.00

Prices in Australian Dollars (plus taxes if applicable) plus postage

One of the most effective ways to grow your business is to have your existing clients refer new business to you. After all, they are already using your services and continue to do so because they are satisfied in all respects.

People do not have a natural mind set to look for opportunities to refer our ‘service providers’ to colleagues, friends or family. The focus is often on what am I getting not what I can share.

By referring a service provider to someone within your sphere of influence you are achieving three key things.

•    You are giving your friend or colleague a chance to use a service or product they may not have been aware of if you had not brought it to their attention – a gift to them!

•    You are supporting someone who is currently doing business with you (your service provider) and feeding them additional business.

•    And you are fostering a reciprocal arrangement which will start to lead to mutual referrals between two parties that already understand each others businesses. A chance for you to get some business back!

Referrals work in such a simple way but it requires that you first train everyone around you to refer, remember it is not a natural state for them to think this way. This can be done in a couple ways, by referring to them first and by association they will start to see the rewards from this practice. Give and you shall receive!

And secondly by constantly asking all those around you if they know anyone who is thinking of ‘needing your service’ in the near future? A key point here is you are not hounding the person you know to do business with you, you are asking them to refer you to anyone they know who is thinking of needing you in the near future.

Once you get a referral it is very powerful, the new client comes to you with ‘advocacy’ the blessing of your mutual contact, and in many instances will not even bother to get your competition in the door for a comparison. The business is yours!

We have a natural filter in place that stops us seeing this ‘potential business’ which is right in front of us every day.
So we need to first train ourselves, then all around us, to open up this filter and to start looking for potential clients through the people we already know and are already doing business with.

To ensure that you start thinking this way, the first step is to make it a new personal minimum standard to simply ask every person you are in contact with if they know anyone who could use your service in the near future. That’s everyone, even the person at the grocery store checkout, or your lawyer, or your mother! Leave no one out of the equation. Everyday we walk over ‘Fields of Diamonds’ and don’t see these opportunities because we are so busy working to create business, when if we just asked…….?

(Things I’ve learnt about the real estate business from fishermen) written by Tony Rowe

Spend time in a boat with a fisherman and you are bound to get some advice. I’ve spent some time on the Manning, Hastings, Clarence and Richmond Rivers over the years – and some of the advice the old fishermen up along the coast dispense can easily be applied to the real estate business.

They’ve got a lot to say about life, or business, or the universe, when they’re telling you about fishing.

Fishing is a recreational pursuit for many Australians. It is the largest participation sport in the country.

My Dad loves fishing and he’s passed that on. He knows a bit about it, and has dispensed his own advice about how to catch particular fish over the years. He used to beach fish, but doesn’t any more. He would rarely go “black fishing” when we were kids – but likes to now. We used to go fishing on the river bank – but now he’s got a boat. He likes to catch flathead, whiting and bream, but won’t eat them.

He knows what bait to use; where to get the bait (live or not); and knows where the “fish are biting” (even if they’re not, he reckons he does!).

Applying the same principles to the real estate game, a good fisherman can catch whatever they are fishing for. If they have the skills (or know where to get them); if they can apply the knowledge; if they have the right gear (or know where to get it); then it’s likely they’ll eat a hearty meal of good sized fish – as regularly as they like!

The parallels are yours to draw. See how the lessons of fishermen apply to the real estate industry.

There’s a fine line between fishing and just standing on the shore like an idiot.
~ Steven Wright

1. You really need to know what you’re fishing for

a.    whatever you’re fishing for, you need to know what it is

b.    what it likes to eat

c.    when it’s likely to be around

d.    what will make it come out of the water for you

2. Decide on the right location for the fish you’re after

a.    deep sea, lake, beach, surf

b.    river mouth, mountain stream, fresh water, salt water

c.    boat or shore

3. Have the right bait

a.    know what the fish you’re after like to eat

b.    flies, live bait, fresh bait, frozen bait, smelly bait

c.    is burly needed

d.    make sure the bait is secure on the hook

Good things come to those who bait.  ~ Author Unknown

4. Have the right gear

a.    rod, reel, handline, net, trap

b.    hooks, sinkers, floats

c.    dress for the conditions (& recognise that they might change)

d.    waders, hat, “aeroguard”, chair

e.    have a tackle-box that’s full of options for changing conditions

5. Sometimes the gear gets tangled – know how to sort it out

a.    The line can get tangled when pulling ‘em in

b.    Be careful when landing the fish, that the line is out of the way

c.    Use a net if you have to, to land them

The solution to any problem – work, love, money, whatever – is to go fishing, and the worse the problem, the longer the trip should be. ~ John Gierach

6. Sometimes, you’ll hit a snag – know how to deal with it

a.    Hazards are everywhere (rocks on the bottom, floating debris, seaweed, etc) – keep an eye out for them; avoid them if you can

b.    Have a contingency plan and supplementary equipment – in case you have to cut the line & lose some gear

7. Don’t jag the line at the first feel of a bite

a.    Fish can take your bait, but not the hook

b.    Be patient and let the fish swallow the bait (& the hook)

c.    Different fish take the bait in different ways – some “strike & run”, others “suck it & see”

d.    Make sure the fish is hooked, before you reel it in – or you might lose the bait, your hook & the fish

8. Know the habits of the fish

a.    Have an idea where the fish you’re looking for might be

b.    “Big Game” fish won’t be found upstream

c.    Fresh Water cod won’t be caught off the beach

d.    What bait they’ll swallow usually depends on what they like to eat

9. Know the tides

a.    It affects when the fish will bite

b.    It affects what gear you might use

c.    It impacts on the success of your trip

d.    It can affect whether you get home!

10. Keep an eye on the sky

a.    The weather can change quite quickly

b.    That can impact on your capacity to catch the fish you’re after

The charm of fishing is that it is the pursuit of what is elusive but attainable, a perpetual series of occasions for hope.  ~John Buchan

11. Big fish are harder to catch than small ones, but you get a bigger meal

a.    “Small fish are sweeter” – but they take more bait, more time, more effort, have little bones (which can cause problems for you)

b.    When it comes to fish, size does matter!

c.    A big trout is better than a small one!

12. Don’t go after bream on a full moon

a.    You won’t catch them – they’ll see you see them and go away

b.    Small brains they might have, but they still know to run from a predator

13. Bag/size limits are important

a.    Ensure there’s a sustainable future for the activity you enjoy so much

b.    Leaving the little one in the water for a while longer, means they‘ll grow up into bigger ones for later

c.    “There’s plenty of fish in the sea” – being selective about what you catch can be an important distinction between the professional and the amateur

14. Don’t make too much noise; you’ll scare the fish away.

a.    It’s quiet in (and on) the water – keep it that way

b.    Let the bait & the gear do the talking

15. Be patient

a.    That’s part of the exercise

b.    Relax, wait, “chill”

c.    Good things come to those who wait!

d.    Enjoy the experience anyway – full bag or not, enjoy the fishing!

Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. ~ Henry David Thoreau

Skills can be developed; opportunities come our way; circumstances change. The message of people who fish – old & young, men & women – remains pretty much the same: It is a pursuit all can enjoy – if you have the right gear and the right approach, a fishing trip can be just what the doctor ordered!

Tony Rowe is General Manager of Best Practice Training, a specialist provider of training to the property sector in NSW. Best Practice Training has fully qualified trainers with extensive knowledge, expertise & experience in the delivery of assessment & training services in real estate across Australia and New Zealand.

Tony can be contacted on +61 411 800 880 or www.bestpracticetraining.com.au

Seth Godins Book ‘Unleashing The Idea Virus’

For your Free Copy download it here.

Godin himself notes that much of the content of his book (and his earlier Permission Marketing) seems obvious. Yet, as he goes on to show convincingly, that which is obvious has rarely been practiced. When you read Godin’s thoughts about permission marketing and ideaviruses, they may sound obvious yet almost all marketers continue to throw huge sums of money at old-fashioned interruption marketing. The infamous peak of this was the spurt of expensive Superbowl ads by transient e-tailers.

Like his previous book, Godin’s Unleashing the Ideavirus entertains the reader while successfully setting off bursts of ideas along the way. Rather than marketing at the consumer, Godin’s approach seeks to maximize the spread of information from customer to customer. The book provides the expected examples of successful ideavirus marketing, then develops a recipe for concocting your own ideaviruses. In order to show how to make your idea infectious, the book examines what makes a powerful ‘sneezer’, how ‘hives’ work, and applies the concepts of critical velocity, vector, medium, smoothness, persistence, and amplifiers. As Godin shows, the now-familiar idea of viral marketing is one very specific form of ideavirus marketing. Most businesses will not be able to engage in true viral marketing, but all can use the ideavirus approach.

While you may finish Unleashing the Ideavirus thinking that you really did not learn anything drastically new, it is unlikely that you will feel that you’ve wasted your time. Godin has once again written an enjoyable book that cleverly packages important ideas that have obvious practical use. Any book like this that causes the reader to continually stop and rapidly jot down ideas to implement is well worth the hour or two it takes to read.

Reviewer:Max More, Ph.D. from Marina del Rey, CA USA

Presented by Grant Thorpe Global Real Estate Coach and Jeff Miles ‘The Business Doctor’ this CD set (which includes a second bonus CD on the secret to ‘Harvesting property Management’) has been designed to give you the plan you need to grow your Property Management business dramatically in the next twelve months.

Why wait for natural organic growth, get out there and take the share you deserve! Implement Grant and Jeff’s ideas to move fast and profitably into the big league!
Included Bonus CD Two ‘Harvesting’ – How to extract hundreds of thousands of dollars each year from your property management business and still own the asset.

Only A$67.00

The latest product in the ‘Sales Managers Success Guide’ audio series designed specifically for Real Estate Principles and Sales Managers
Brought to you by Grant Thorpe Global Real Estate Coach and Jeff Miles ‘The Business Doctor’ they share their clever ideas and strategies to:
Coach Salespeople like a Sports Team
Create the Right Culture
Create Profit and Freedom
and give you the inside trading on their wonderful Wealth Strategies.

Creating profit through Dollar Productive Activity, Technology costs, paying down debt and the Danger of being under resourced. Using graphical weekly reports to measure your business and how to train your staff to care about their own business.

And lastly what to do with all the money you earn?

This two CD set is Only A$67.00

This style of obstruction comes mostly from our belief systems, what we believe to be true, even if it is completely wrong. For many of us, these beliefs, about what is fair, the way things work, or what we deserve or can expect, are in place by the time we reach our late teens. The problem is most of them are wrong, in some cases not just a little bit off the mark but up to 180 degrees away from reality.

Carrying around these beliefs is in effect a disability, as it restricts us in our ability to make an informed decision about the next best move forward.

Often our beliefs are passed on by those around us. These people may be seriously under qualified to give an opinion and they just continue their cycle of belief through into us. What they know and believe may once have been true; but could now be a generation out of date, and has long been passed by with the advance of discoveries in technology, science, medicine or finance, to name a few.

The dream we have, to achieve something specific in our lives, can be easily quashed by someone near to us who doesn’t believe it is possible and voices that opinion. A dream can be diverted or diluted by someone who wants to protect us from failure and so convinces us to take a safer option. The result in the end can be a journey much further away from our original goal, so far in fact that the end result is the ‘other person safe dream’, not ours.

Many wonderful singers, who as children may have taken the brave step to sing out loud only to be told, it wasn’t good enough, or to be laughed at for trying, quietly retreat away, never to sing again.

When people pass comment about us, they are telling us all about themselves. The person, who told the child they couldn’t sing, didn’t want to sing themselves. Or did want to sing, but didn’t have the courage. They passed on their beliefs and fears to the child. The result a disaster for both parties!

So the first step to success is being careful who you share your dreams with, make sure they are people who will support you on the journey, and that they will be able to put wind under your wings.

The next step is to ensure that if you need advice; to only get it from someone skilled in that area. Why would you take financial advice from someone poorer than you? Why would you take medical advice from a builder, or take real estate advice from a restaurateur.

So you can see how others can affect your journey, and that can be much easier to see because you will have someone ‘external’ to blame.

You need to remain totally focussed on the outcome of your goal or your dream and no matter what, no matter who tries to divert you, who tries to dilute it or who tries to contain it or whoever tries to quash it, you remain true to yourself and to your dream!

But what about yourself? The number one internal terrorist to achieving your dreams!

The last step is to deal with your internal conflict, and perhaps the greatest hurdle to overcome, is getting started then sticking to the plan. A test I like to use when I have to complete a task that I don’t really want to do, but needs to be completed to get me one more step closer to my end goal is the ‘Pleasure or Pain’ test.

It is simply this, no matter how bad the next task is, how much I fear it or how much it puts me out of my comfort zone, – will the end result be more pleasurable of more painful to me.

If it is going to be more pleasurable then I do it. If the end result is more painful I don’t. Everyone will have an opinion about why it can or can’t be done. You will be bombarded with facts and figure, opinions, strategies and ideas but….

Just remember this!

“If the dream is big enough – the facts don’t matter”

Well a big part of that Sphere of influence is their current and previous clients. These people, if you have done your job well should be very happy with your service and the results you have achieved for them.

It’s just not practical to have everyone phone up your past clients for a reference so the answer is to ensure that you obtain a written testimonial that can be used many times, over and over again, during your sales career

The best time to ask for a testimonial is in the ‘post deal’ 24 hours of euphoria’. A good technique is to simply ask your clients if they were happy with your service. The answer will undoubtedly be yes!

At this point the trick is to ask the vendors straight up if they would be happy to give you a written testimonial to use at your next client appointment?

Of course they will be willing, but a big mistake would be to leave the request at that, in the hope that at some time in the future the testimonial will arrive in the mail.

No, the best solution is to let your clients know when your next appointment is, and that you would love to collect the testimonial from them prior to that, so you can use it to get this new listing on-board.

Perhaps it is this Thursday at 5pm. This clearly gives the vendor a time frame to work within and they will feel obligated to perform to this measure.
If they need help with writing one, you may like to leave your current testimonial book with them to give them some ideas of the style of writing that is required. Another good idea is to have the testimonial ‘undated’ so that it remains timeless.

You may collect a large amount of testimonials this year, but they don’t look to good a few years later. It says you were good back then, but are you still good now?

Getting the content right is important too. You may also like to prompt the vendors to mention how well you negotiated the price for them, or how the marketing campaign was such a success? How creative your marketing was or how reliable and efficient and you were.

If you employ assistants it may be best not to have their individual names included in case they later leave, making this letter out of date too? Perhaps just mention ‘your team’

Create a series of books with copies of all your testimonials, (keeping the original safe and sound) have at least 10 ready to go, so these can be sent out with your presentation.

You will need to have a few in the system, as not all of them will come back, especially if sent off to out of town clients.

What is a written testimonial worth? I estimate that each letter is worth at least $20,000, probably double that. Quite simply it can mean the difference between getting the business and missing out all together.

Using a testimonial book is a powerful selling strategy, especially if you know you are up against a competitor who the client is yet to meet; The script here is to remind the client to ensure they ask the other sales person to show them their testimonial book. And if they can’t produce one, then to ask them why?

Robert Yates once said
“It is amazing what can be accomplished when nobody cares about who gets the credit.”