I vividly remember the inflationary 1980’s.  It would be impossible for me to forget.  During those crazy times of double- digit inflation and double-digit interest rates I started to sell Real Estate and became a Realtor.  Now I say to myself,  ”What was I thinking?”  I was a single mother with two very young children and diving into an extremely challenging market.

Those were the days of “Creative Financing” and it was definitely a large part of my training as a Realtor.  When we found one of those “old” mortgages still existing on properties that we were wanting to sell it was like finding gold.  The amount might have been small but the time remaining on those mortages could still be many years and they were valuable. Many of these mortgages had been on the property for numerous years.  Imagine seeing a property with an exisitng  6% mortgage when interest rates were at 18% or higher. 

Another Mortgage that was common during the 1980’s was the Vendor Take Back.  I came upon an article in The National Post this weekend that referred to these Vendor Take Back Mortages. 

Like everything there are pros and minuses to Vendor Take Back Mortgages but I know during my early days of being a Realtor there are many properties that I would not have sold without that possibility.  Did you experience selling during those days and what are your thoughts on Vendor Take Back Mortages today?

As Albert Schweitzer said

In the same way as the tree bears the same fruit year after year, but each time new fruit, all lastingly valuable ideas in thinking must always be reborn.

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I am not sure if my attitude is shared my many, but personally, I love Monday mornings and the beginning of the week. Mentally, I prepare for the week ahead on Sunday night and I have my list prepared of what I want to accomplish. It is no problem for me to get up and into the office early on Monday mornings raring to go. By Friday morning, I am finding it more difficult to have the same attitude and it becomes more difficult for me to accomplish what I am wanting to achieve. I began to realize that on Friday I had the same number of hours to accomplish what I wanted to achieve, but there was definitely a difference. I had the same amount of time but not as much energy.

 ENERGY not TIME is our most precious Resource. During the week, many of us are constantly racing through the days. We are picking up and answering messages; gulping down or missing our meals; coming home from work late at night, often irritated and then crawl into bed exhausted. The work day never seems to end and at the end of it we are burned out.

One of the books that I refer to when my energy level is sapped, The Power of Full Engagement. Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz offer a lot of solid, common sense advice. The authors recommend going to bed and getting up at a consistent time – not exactly Ben Franklin’s “early to bed, early to rise,” but close. They recommend regular exercise. They say it’s good to work and to rest, and each has its place. They say to examine yourself and try to see yourself as others see you. In other words, they recommend many time-honored techniques of physical, mental and spiritual growth, combined with prioritizing how you use your energy and how you recharge your batteries. This attitude makes the book unique.

 Jim Loehr is chairman, CEO, and co-founder of LGE Performance Systems. They are a training company specializing in helping business executives, professional athletes, and others to achieve full engagement in high stress environments. It is interesting to note that many of the professional athletes come to the Training Centre when they are struggling. They don’t get assistance in their skills at the Centre but how to manage their energy more effectively. As LGE Performance Centre branched out into the business world, they discovered that performance demands that most people face in their everyday work environment dwarf those of any professional athlete.

Why? Professional athletes train, they remain totally focused for set periods of time. While professional athletes typically enjoy an off-season of four to five months a year in order to rest and renew, business people usually have only a few weeks of vacation a year and seldom use that time for resting and recovering.

Listen to an excerpt from the book:  http://hpinstitute.com/book_audio.html

 Take time to read the book, and challenge yourself to manage your energy more effectively. I will do more about Energy Management Principles in another Post.

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The previous post listed three important rules to ensure that Realtors are providing outstanding CUSTOMer Service. 

Let’s examine a few more and grade yourself on your level of Service.

4)  KEEP YOUR PROMISES

Losers make promises they often break.  Winners make commitments they always keep.  ~Denis Waitley

When you keep your promises you build up trust with your CUSTOMers.  Trust is hard to gain and easy to lose.  It allows for the correction of honest mistakes, and we all make them.  I am a strong believer in writing down what you are going to do and make sure that everyone understands and is in agreement.  Put yourself in your CUSTOMer’s shoes.  It is easier to understand the expectations from that angle. 

5)  UNDER PROMISE AND OVER DELIVER

Get the reputation as the Realtor that goes the extra mile, it is never crowded. Success is spelled H-A-R-D-W-O-R-K. Money can’t buy the marketing that you get when your CUSTOMers are raving about your service.  Testimonials can be one of your best Marketing tools.

6)  BE THE EXPERT

Know your Market!  Read, Research, get a Mentor.  Become the expert, the go-to-person in your area. 

7)  LOVE WHAT YOU DO

If you truly love what you do, your CUSTOMers will know.  It will be apparent in everything you do. 

 And HAVE FUN! 

vist www.realtorcareermentor.com

Realtors know that one of the first steps to building a great business is to have a strong data base.  Your Data Base can contain hundreds of “names” BUT what must you do to ensure that they will refer you. Remember, their reputation is on the line. 

Great CUSTOMer Service is about bringing customers back.  Ensuring that they are happy with the service you have offered and happy enough to give positive feedback. 

A good salesperson call sell anything to anyone once but will they get referrals.  Great CUSTOMer Service is all about relationship building.

Great, no let’s change that to “fantastic”, CUSTOMer Service leads to CUSTOMer Satisfaction.

  “Customer service is a proactive attitude that can be summed up as: I care and I can do.”  

The word CUSTOM is a word within the word CUSTOMer. 

 The definition of CUSTOM-MADE  is “made  according to the specifications of an individual purchaser”.

What do you do in your business that makes your CUSTOMer feel “special”?  Do you deliver your CUSTOMer service with PASSION!

It isn’t really very difficult to understand if we ask ourselves, “What do we want when we are looking for service?”  CUSTOMers want from us what we want, they want to have their problems solved.  If you set your standards higher than your CUSTOMer sets them you will achieve your goal of CUSTOMer satisfaction.    

Great CUSTOMer Service is about bringing customers back and getting referrals. 

What can you do to improve your CUSTOMer Service?

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In  my mind, building an honest relationship with the customer is paramount.  The power of your brand is directly related to how you connect with the customer.

Today’s customer still wants a human element and it is critical that your brand presents your message and your personality.   Branding needs to present a  ”human face.”  Customers will disconnect from faked personalities just as they avoid such personalities in their private lives.  They will avoid people with questionalble character and who do not deliver on their promises.

Realtors, and in fact all companies, must offer a positive contribution to their customer to obtain Brand Loyalty.  Once we have a Mission Statement that sets out our Goals and Values, our Branding must truly represent what we have stated.  You must be your Brand.  Ensure that the way you are operating your business truly represents the way that you have branded that business.  What contribution are you bringing to the consumer?

If you want to offer a positive contribution to your customer, you need to give them a human face and ensure that they are aware of your values to behaviour and communication.   

I recommend checking out The Touch Market Website

http://www.thetouchmarketing.com/

The power of the Re/Max Branding

 http://www.eatthatfrogmovie.com

Check out the Video on Eat That Frog

Procrastination is the bad habit of putting of until the day after tomorrow what should have been done the day before yesterday.
Napoleon Hill

This bad habit is the cause of many failures in life and business.  One of my favourite books on helping to overcome Procrastination is Brian Tracy’s Eat That Frog. 

“A key part of personal time management is for you to take the time to look into the future. Project forward five years and think about where you want to be. Create a mental picture of your ideal future- your best future- and then think about the steps that you would have to take, starting today, to make it a reality. Remember, it doesn’t matter where you are coming from. All that really matters is where you are going.

Think about the things you would like to achieve, so that your future focus is on your goals rather than focusing on the past. Focus on opportunities rather than problems. Think about solutions and what specific actions you could take, rather than things that have gone wrong and who is to blame. Keep asking, “Where do we go from here?” As John Maynard Keynes said, “We must give a lot of thought to the future, because that is where we are going to spend the rest of our lives.”

In many companies, 80 percent of the time of senior people is spent on the problems of yesterday rather than on the opportunities of tomorrow. Keep thinking of ways that you can change the things that you are doing today, so that your future focus is consistent with what you desire.”

Check out Brian’s Tracy’s blog on the 5 Key Questons for Setting Priorities http://www.briantracy.com/blog/general/5-key-questions-for-setting-priorities/

What do most Realtors say when they are asked “How’s the Market”? They don’t really answer the question that has been asked. Peoople really are wanting to know how is “my market”. One of my favourite dialogues is from Joe Stumpf on how to answer that question and develop a relationship with the potential client. Check out Joe’s website and listen to the video to get the magic words to reply to what they are really asking.

http://www.magicwordsthatmakeyoumoney.com/index.php/hows-the-market/

Realtors and the public should take time to listen to this interview. It allows you to hear the questions that are called in and the answers that Don gives to the public. Don makes some very good points in this interview and says comparing our Housing Market to the US Housing Market “nonsensical”. The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives published a report saying smart mortgage rate setting is needed to prevent the bubbles hanging over the housing markets in Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal from bursting. Don states that he “giggled” when he first heard the report. Don also points out that at the same time this report came out CD Howe came out with a report that said it was all ok. Of course, the media picked up on the “Perfect Storm” Report when they hear the words “HOUSING BUBBLE”. Don points out that when you really look at the wording of David McDonald in the Report he says “this could occur” or “may occur”. Although, Don is talking about the Vancouver Market specifically, he makes some very good points that pertain to all of Canada.

I was sent this article today on ten retirement lessons and felt it was worthwhile for everyone, young or old to read.  In my experience, Realtors seldom plan for their retirement, in face most people don’t.  There are some great life lessons as well as financial lessons in the article. 

Paul Merriman’s article has been widely circulated and broadly reprinted. Even though it was written five years ago in a very different economic climate, the ten retirement lessons he wrote about then are just as relevant today.

Since the mid-1960s, I have helped people manage their money and their lives before and during retirement. I have seen the good, the bad and the downright ugly. A successful retirement, like a successful life, rarely happens by accident or default. It happens by design. I’ve had the good fortune to know thousands of very smart people. Here are 10 lessons they taught me.

Lesson One: Happiness in later life is not a direct function of how much money somebody has. This is hard for many folks to accept, but it is never a surprise to the smartest people I know. Happiness depends much more on attitudes and behavior than on the numbers in somebody else’s computers. In today’s world, essentially that’s what money is: numbers in distant computers.

 Lesson Two: Wealth comes from choices people make, not chances they take. Smart people do not wait for luck to make them wealthy. Every day, they cultivate habits and follow rules that others don’t. Live below your means if you want to be wealthy. Pay yourself first and build wealth, not a lifestyle that saddles you with expenses. When you save and invest, make your money work hard for you. My new book, “Live It Up Without Outliving Your Money,” contains eight chapters that tell exactly how to do that.

 Lesson Three: Those who plan also prosper. Smart people plan for retirement – in writing. I know a written plan has no magic of its own. People who are serious enough to put their plans in writing are likely to identify where they are, where they want to go and what they must do to get there.

 Lesson Four: Don’t wait to start saving. Smart people learn early in life how to defer gratification. If you are in your 20s, retirement seems pretty remote, but time gives you an opportunity to do a lot, for a little. A one-time investment of $5,000 when you are 25 will grow (at 10 percent) to $140,512 by the time you are 60. If you wait until you are 45, you need to invest $33,638 to get the same result.

Lesson Five: Retirement belongs to those who are still with us. Smart people take care of their health. If you want to retire rich, you need to live long enough to retire and be healthy enough to live it up. Smart people see their doctors periodically and follow the doctor’s advice. They do not neglect their mental health, either.

Lesson Six: The quality of your life is shaped by the quality of the people in your life. The happiest people I know seem to have many favorite people in their lives – including some who are younger than they are. At the end, life can sweep our dignity and money away, but if we have friends with whom we can share joy, pain and respect, we are blessed.

 Lesson Seven: We older folks could learn some common sense from high school students. That may surprise you, but it should not. Every year I speak to high school students. I ask them if they had money to invest, would they invest like millionaires or like poor people. They never get this wrong, but I’m continually amazed why so many of their parents continue to invest like poor people. In a nutshell, here’s the difference: If you invest like a millionaire, you carefully choose an advisor who has no conflict of interest with you. You invest in hundreds or even thousands of stocks. You take a long-term view, and you keep your costs low and your expectations realistic. There are many ways to invest like a poor person. One popular route is going to a broker and buying some “hot” individual stocks, hoping to get rich by exploiting insight and knowledge that you believe you or your broker have, and everybody else on Wall Street is too dumb to recognize. Yeah, right!

 Lesson Eight: Active trumps lazy, every time. Smart people of all ages keep themselves active mentally as well as physically. People who regularly challenge their brains live longer than those who get intellectually lazy. Do you want to have a long, happy retirement? Then do stimulating things like reading, crossword puzzles, taking a class or teaching one. If you can, travel to unfamiliar places and try new things. Lesson Nine: Smart people do not wait around for “real life” to start. The happiest people I know, whether retired or still working, would have no trouble making a list of 100 things they would love to do if they had the time. Places to go. People to see. Books to read. Golf courses to master. Smart people know that all the tomorrows we assume are ours can be snatched away in an instant. They identify their passions, their dreams and their goals, and then find ways to make those dreams reality, starting now.

 Lesson Ten: The very best investment you can ever make does not cost a dime. This is not news to the smartest people I know. Every person who reads this article has something valuable to give which they have not given, yet. It might be money. It might be time or volunteer work. It might be a helping hand. It might be as simple as the gift of listening. If you take the time to discover what this gift is for you, and you give it generously, two things will happen: Your life will be richer and more satisfying, and you will make the world a little better place. You might be surprised by how few people purposely and consciously live their lives this way. Those who do are the smartest people I know.