Elite Agents Real Estate Podcast with Debbie De Grote

Hello and welcome to Debbie's Tips.

I wanted to talk to you today about your mindset.

As you woke up this morning and were heading to work or going to your office or your desk at home, what were you thinking about?

Were you thinking about the problems and the dramas ahead, that you might be facing in the day? Were you worrying about where your next deal is going to come from? Or were you thinking about the opportunity?

One of the tough things about being an entrepreneur is that you must create every day from scratch, and there's no guarantee of payment. There's no security. And yet the great thing about being an entrepreneur is that opportunity is unlimited.

So as you think about your day today, I want you to think, what are the opportunities that I should be taking advantage of?

What are the calls I should make that will lead to my next big transaction?

And what am I avoiding that if I just do it, I will have a successful day?

So remember, think opportunity.

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Hello and welcome to Debbie's Tips.

I was thinking about something as I was reading a book this weekend called, Talent is Overrated.

Is it truly the natural born talent that separates the super achievers in the real estate industry from those who don't achieve the success they deserve?

After 20 years of coaching and over 80,000 coaching calls, I believe that while talent is great and it's incredible to be a natural, what I notice to be consistent when it comes to top achievers and top producers is drive and determination.

Sometimes people who are super talented are content to rest on the laurels that their talent will pull them through, leading them to possibly be a little bit lazy at times about doing the work.

They may not always put in the effort to laying the foundation, practicing skills, to showing up and doing the things that they need to do even when they don't feel like it.

However a person who is very driven and very goal oriented seems to always find a way.

So if you don't feel like you're a natural born salesperson, don't worry about it.

Because I also read there's only about 2% of the population that would be considered natural born for anything. The rest is just a learned habit.

So practice your drive and discipline.

In fact, one of my clients calls it being rigorous.

It’s time to be rigorous about the activities today to achieve the goal that I have set.

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Hello and welcome to Debbie's Tips.

What is your pre-appointment warmup?

I was talking to someone in Canada, and he is the leader of a team that lists over a thousand properties a year.

Here is his pre-appointment warmup: He puts the top down on his car, and he blasts the theme from Rocky, the Eye of the Tiger song.

This is how he gets his mind in the game, and maybe it works because of course he takes a lot of listings. What’s funny is he even does this in the winter, even though it's a little cold in Canada in the winter. But he's discovered that that's what he needs to get his mind in the game.

But how many times have we done the opposite of this?

We kept putting off preparing for the listing appointment until the last minute, and now we're throwing things together and we're rushing over there. We’re worried about running late, we're maybe even talking on the phone trying to fix a deal problem as we drive, only to arrive with our mind in turmoil and chaos.

So instead, let's set aside at least the 30 minutes before.

Remember, there's a lot of money on the table, so take your time to get your head in the game. Take your time to get organized.

Whatever works for you, if it's listening to great music, listening to scripts, or just driving over quietly thinking about the appointment ahead.

You worked hard to get to the table, we want to be sure that we're at the top of our game when we get there.

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Hello and welcome to Debbie's Tips.

Today I wanted to talk a little bit about referrals. We all love referrals and want more referrals, and yet sometimes you wonder, why do my friends, my family, my raving fan clients, not give me the referrals I deserve?

A couple of reasons for this could be possible.

One, they just might not be the connector type. There are certain people who are very proactive about helping, but others are a little shy or timid to bring it up. So it could be just their personality type.

Also, often we can give the impression that we're so busy and so successful, potentially they think that you don’t need them. It could also be that they're not completely clear on all the market areas that you service. Along that same line, they might not be aware of all the price points that you cover.

So let's make sure that you talk to them about how much you value and appreciate the referrals, and how you love to build your business working with the people you know and their friends and family, that you're passionate about it.

Also, let them know the geography that you cover. In fact, some of our clients simply say, “I'm licensed in the state of X.” And of course, let them know that whether it's a condo or a mansion, you are there to help.

Be sure to tell them how to deliver those referrals to you.

I always used to say to clients, “I so appreciate it if you will mention my name and give them my number.”

But sometimes they're just a little bit too shy to do so.

In that case you could try saying, "Why don't you do this for me? If you'll call me or text me their information, I'll be happy to reach out, because I want to make sure they're well taken care of."

Make it a great day and go get those referrals!

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Hello and welcome to Debbie's Tips.

There is something I keep hearing. I hear it as I travel across the country, and I've already heard it three or four times this week. "I need systems for my business."

Great top producing agents are making terrific money, and yet they're saying, "I'm not sure where that next deal is going to come from. I hope I achieve my goal, but how do I create this predictable machine that delivers the same amount of production, month after month after month? I need to be sure this gets me towards that ultimate annual goal that I have set."

This is probably one of the biggest challenges of the real estate business.

In the book the E-Myth, which Michael Gerber wrote years ago, he talks about the entrepreneurial myth. Just because somebody, for example, is a great pie maker, doesn't mean there'll be a great pie shop owner. So there's a difference between being an entrepreneur and being a technician. The real estate business attracts entrepreneurs.

I want you to ask yourself, are you truly building a business?

There needs to be structures and systems for everything you do, so that you can fine tune those structures and systems to create a predictable process.

Next, there needs to be at least three to five methods of lead generation. I always encourage agents to start first with their three best methods. This is common sense, going to areas that you're already good at and closing the gaps. When you have your three methods dialed in and running like a machine, you add a fourth and even a fifth.

Running a successful business includes tracking your numbers. Both your conversion numbers, money and financials, profitability. We need to track our numbers because businesses measure profit.

Also, I want you I think about increasing your opt-in list.

Now, there's a difference between leads and contacts and connections. I know an agent that has 20,000 people in his e-marketing list. Now, some of those people, a much smaller number, are receiving mailings and phone calls.

But then there's this nice large group that are just the community connections that his team has collected over time, that they e-market to. And you know what? They get seven to nine listings a month, often from people they don't even know or remember.

So think about yourself as a business. Run your business as a business.

If you need some help, reach out to us. Our coaches are experts at creating a business that is yours, unique and alone, your custom success blueprint.

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Hello and welcome to Debbie's Tips.

I wanted to answer an interesting question that came in to me today.

Someone asked, "Debbie, what do sellers really want from me when I go out on a listing appointment?"

This is a great question. Often here at Excelleum, the coaches and I say to clients, let's enter the conversation that's going on in the mind of the prospect. Let's not push our agenda at them, instead, let's meet them where they're at. So if we think about it that way, what does the seller really want from us?

First of all, they want to be heard. They want us to listen to their goals, their dreams, their wishes. They want to tell us about their property. They want us to appreciate their property. They want us to be the champion of their home, of their value, and they want to know that you're going to fight for them.

Next, they want to hear about the marketing. What are the things you're going to do to bring exposure to the property, but to also deliver that right buyer? And for all of you listening to or reading this, if you think about emphasizing the proactive marketing methods, you can also get a little bit away from some of the heavy spend. Because now you're showing them that it's not just about running ads in a magazine, it's about the proactive things you do to go out and find the ideal buyer.

And let's be sure that you're leveraging the tools and the resources that your company provides and always thinking too, that whatever feature or tool we're presenting, we're going to need to also answer the question, what benefit does this provide to the seller? Because to everything you say, often they're thinking, so what does that mean to me?

Of course they want to know a little bit about you and your track record. For those of you who have a great track record, leverage the power of that. For those of you who do not have a big track record, leverage the power of the track record of your company. Use what you've got.

After that, are we going to be able to prove to them that everything we say we'll do, we'll actually do? Absolutely. The proof would be in your reviews and your testimonials.

So here’s what they really want to know, to sum it up.

That you're on their side, defending their home, defending its value.

They want to know who you are and what you bring to the table and if they feel comfortable working with you.

They want to know a little bit about what are you actually going to do to market their home and find their ideal buyer.

And last but not least, they want some reassurance or proof that you will actually keep those promises and keep those commitments.

So think about it from their perspective.

Walk a mile in their shoes, enter the conversation in their mind and make sure that when you're there at that meeting, that it's very engaging and interactive and they feel that you are really listening.

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Hello and welcome to Debbie's Tips.

Do you time block?

Agents often come to me and tell me that they need to time block, and that it's one of the things that they struggle with most. There's just so many things flying at them every day throughout the day, that it's hard to focus.

Often, I even hear, "One of the reasons I got into real estate is because I wanted freedom, I wanted flexibility. I don't like a rigorous schedule." So then I figure out what's going on in their business and ask them, “How is that working out for you?” And usually, not that well.

Here's what I would encourage you to do.

What if you just started by time blocking just the morning? Set a specific time that you're going to wake up. Figure out what time will you be at your desk, either at your home desk or your office desk working. What are the important things that you must do in the morning so that we can keep feeding that machine?

Things like lead follow up, new lead generation, negotiating contracts, or preparing for the day's appointments ahead. If you’re locked and loaded and focused intensely in the morning, for most people the afternoon is going to take care of itself. You're going to have appointments, activities, and a little bit more freedom and flexibility. So let's start with time blocking the morning.

I read something the other day and it said, all the money is made before noon. This makes sense and here's why. In the morning, you're at your best in terms of energy and focus, the day's problems haven't beat you up yet. So it just makes sense that that's the time to get those big rocks out of the way.

And by the way, speaking of big rocks, try to limit the big rocks on your list. Most of our coaching clients feel that if they start out in the morning with a list of five big rocks on their list and they can check those off and get them done in the day, then it’s a pretty good day.

Of course, if you have time left after that, you can always add a few more rocks to the pile, but let's just start with five big rocks a day. So remember, a terrific morning routine supports a fabulous career.

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Hello it's Debbie and welcome to Debbie's Tips.

Are you still on track to hit your goal for the year?

Perhaps you’ve fallen into the trap where you set these great goals at the beginning of the year, we've all done this, and somewhere along the line you lost the vision, maybe you fell a little bit behind.

So is it time to revisit the goals that you have set? Are you still committed to that number that you selected at the beginning of the year?

As I've worked with top agents across North America and over the last 20 years, one thing that's very clear to me is that the year isn't even.

Here's what I mean by that. You don't take your number for the year and divide it by four quarters. In a perfect world, that would be great. But many markets are seasonal, and I find that most agents do the majority of their business in the second and third quarter.

If you're not on track for your goal, if you're falling behind, take a moment and do the math. If you took the number you wanted to hit in the remainder of the year and you divided that up over the number of months ahead, would you be able to catch up?

Now, if you're feeling overwhelmed and you're feeling that it would not be possible to hit that number, then take a minute and reset your goal. Reset and set a new goal that's realistic and that you're excited about.

I do encourage you though, don't give up on yourself too early, because it's amazing when I see what agents can often turn around and do in just a quarter.

So ask yourself these questions. What is the goal that I really want to achieve this year? If I break that down into weekly actions and activities, what do I need to do? What is it that I'm avoiding that if I stopped avoiding and just embraced it, would make a huge difference? What changes in my schedule and improvements in my skill do I need to make so that I can make more money faster, and achieve this goal with less effort?

So remember, it doesn't take much to have an incredible 90 day cycle. Usually it's just a few tweaks or changes.

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Hello and welcome to Debbie's Tips. And today I wanted to talk a little bit more about overcoming the "Will you cut your commission?" objection.

I know we've talked about this before, but it's something that I hear every day from great agents, who say that they're just struggling to hold the line on commission.

Now of course we all know that commission is negotiable by law, and yet I also believe that you do have the right to earn what you deserve to earn, to support your business and to support your family.

Today's consumers, though, they're more savvy and they're more demanding than ever, aren't they?

Today's consumer is probably going to ask you to cut commission. And yet, just because they ask you doesn't mean they won't ultimately pay more.

In fact, I read that if you take any group of consumers for any product, 70% will pay more for perceived value. This is why it's critical to have a well-prepared and a well-planned listing presentation. Because so much money is on the line, it just makes sense to practice, to rehearse, and to find at least three to five outstanding ways to handle the commission objection so that you'll feel comfortable and confident that you can respond with ease.

Also, remember it's critical to stay in rapport with your sellers. So if you flinch, scowl, or act mad, you won't be able to maintain rapport. So when they bring it up, just be calm. And one thing you can control, don't ever volunteer to take a cut. Because when you do, you show the seller that you're weak and you open the door for them to try to get into your pocket for even more later. Here are just a few scripts that I've used and our clients are using to hold the line to earn what they deserve. I hope you find them helpful.

"Will you discount commission?"

"You know, if I were you, Mr. Seller, I probably would ask the same question. And when you think about it, I'm sure you'll realize commission is really a powerful marketing tool.

And what I mean by this is, when you offer a reasonable rate of commission, it incentivizes me to work overtime to spend the money I need to spend to properly market and expose the home, and it causes the buyer agent to put your property at the top of the list.

So when you think about it, Mr. and Mrs. Seller, I'm sure you realize, you are not paying anyone anything today. Today, commission is actually nothing more than a marketing carrot. And when the offers come to the table, you're going to make the decision whether or not to accept that offer.

Now, let's do the right thing today. Let's put the proper incentive out there to attract the showings we need, in order to sell your home for the highest realistic price possible."

Now I understand they may say to you, yes, but the buyer will find my house on Zillow and tell their agent that they want to see it. And to that, you can say, "Yes, you're right. That very likely may happen. And yet we can never underestimate the agent's ability to persuade them towards or away from your property. So again, let's do the right thing today."

And if they're really grinding on you and you need to do it, you can always say to them, "You know, Mr. and Mrs. Seller, I am a reasonable person and I want this deal to go together. So if we get an offer on the table but we're a little way apart and we just can't quite make it work, I'll work with you."

Because you see, if you're going to have to take a cut, I would rather you are able to put that off and do that at the end when there's an offer on the table, because now we have a buyer, a seller, and potentially two agents involved. Plus when you take the cut up front, they just think they're going to be able to get in your pocket later.

So be well-prepared. Have a great presentation. Use your reviews and testimonials that talk about how you got them the highest price possible. Go out there with at least two or three great ways to overcome the objection with confidence to earn what you deserve to earn.

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Hi, it's Debbie and welcome to Debbie Tips. I got a message this week and I thought it'd be good for us to talk about today. The question was, “Debbie, I've heard you talk about being a wise advisor in your marketing to your geographic farm and to your past clients and sphere. But what exactly should I be mailing?” In other words, they were asking me if it was okay to still be mailing out things like a calendar on the local sporting events, a recipe card, or dropping off pumpkins or 4th of July flags. Their point was, I know that's not really sending anything that's making me shine as a wise advisor, but it is getting my name out there. Well, and it's fine. I mean, it doesn't hurt you. Well, I should take that back. I did hear a story last 4th of July that caused a bit of damage.

An agent told me that they got a bright idea to pass out happy 4th of July door hangers in their geographic farm, and they thought it'd be really cool to attach a sparkler to the door hanger. Well, if they'd been coaching with us, I would have told him that's a not a good idea because every action has a reaction. So guess what happened? All the little kids in the neighborhood dug lighters out of the junk drawer in the kitchen, and they were running around with lighters and sparklers in the neighborhood. Not a good idea. Right? So that might have hurt them a bit. But generally speaking, stuff that just gets your name out there, it won't hurt you, but it also won't necessarily help you. And it can be expensive.

Now for example we're here in Orange County, California, my daughters went to Mater Dei High School. If you guys watch sports, you've probably heard of Mater Dei, they're obsessed with sports at that school. So if I was sending to the neighborhood around Mater Dei, a sports calendar, they might really love it. That might be a good thing to do.

So there will be situations where it would make sense, but for the most part, what I'd like to encourage you to mail is things that are helpful resources. For example, we give our coaching clients consumer guides on topics such as how to move up, how to downsize with distinction, selling your home through divorce, buying your first home, buying an investment, etc. And those are educational books that our clients offer via postcards, they offer through Facebook ads, and then when a consumer see that great information and they raise their hand and say, yes, I would like a copy of that, then we shine as wise advisors by providing relevant content about the conversations that might be going on in their minds.

This way we're using our marketing dollars wisely, because we're offering bait that they want. Bait that they will bite on. So I'm not saying that it's bad to send a sports calendar. However I am saying it's bad to send a postcard saying it's time to change your clocks. You guys have heard me talk about this before, but I think they already know to change their clocks, right?

So think about your marketing dollars. What's the point you're trying to make? What's the impression you're trying to make? And is that going to set up some lead bait that will cause them to bite and reach out to you? If you need some more examples or some help with that, just email me debbie@excelleum.com, and I'll make sure you get invited to one of our upcoming marketing webinars.

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Hello and welcome to Debbie's Tips. I wonder, are you making your lead generation harder than it needs to be?

Here's what I mean. Do you have all of your past clients and your leads and your database on some type of automated email campaign? Do you have your A's and AAA’s separated out where you direct mail to them? Are you texting, are you sly voicemailing? Are you inviting them to events? In addition, are you letting those out and about in the community know that you're in real estate by wearing a name tag or a branded polo shirt when you're out at the soccer field or at the grocery store? Or maybe a t-shirt with a company logo when you're at the gym? Because see, if you're a secret agent, it's hard for them to find you.

But if you're marketing consistently, we call it the web of connections, and if you're out there wearing that career apparel, people will just come up to you. I see some agents that are still using car signs. I also see a lot of people that reach out to us to say, you know, I'm part of groups, whether it's a PTA or a mom's club, or I'm the head coach of my son's football team, but I don't meet anyone. I don't convert any leads. Well, we have to make sure that somehow, they're constantly and graciously reminded you're in business. And then we also have to look and listen for those conversations and those opportunities. You can step in and contribute, step in and share an answer to a question. You can talk about something exciting that just happened in the real estate industry or that you just read.

So just think about this. You do things that change people's lives every day. What you provide is an incredibly valuable service. But sadly, if they don't know you're in the business, then you won't get to help them. So yes, you'd like to make more money and we want to help more people. So be proud of what you do. Talk about what you do. Provide interesting and relevant quality information, because guess what? People absolutely love to know about real estate. So no secret agents! Go out there and talk to the people. Or as Zig Ziglar used to say, see the people. All right, talk to you soon.

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Hello and welcome to Debbie's Tips. I had a question sent in to me and I wanted to answer it for you today. “How effective are print newsletters?” So this person was actually asking if it would be equally effective to send an email newsletter or would I really, really recommend doing a print newsletter instead?

Hands down, a print newsletter is the best. It's not that sending an e-newsletter is bad - if you have one that you're not paying for and it's easy to push it out, go right ahead. Because at least they're seeing that you sent them something. It's keeping your name top of mind, but they're probably not going to open it up and read it. But with a print newsletter, people love it. They don't just stand over their mailbox and throw it away like they do a lot of the other stuff that they get in the mail. Maybe they do with some of the other stuff they get in the mail from us, but with the newsletter they are more likely to take it, lay it by the coffee maker, lay on the coffee table, lay it by their bed and pick it up later to read it. This is especially true if there is a good variety of articles. So you must keep the articles of a good variety, not all real estate, but just general, interesting stories and articles. Put your real estate articles on the inside, so that they actually read the articles on the front and open it up.

You’ll always want to have a couple of strong call-to-actions, information, or valuable resources that you're offering. If you can, buy a newsletter that's already done for you. In our Inner Circle we give our coaching clients a newsletter every month to customize, print, and mail. And I actually write those newsletters and it's not easy to do. So I wouldn't suggest you necessarily try to write your own, unless you're just a gifted writer and you love it - because I do it every month and I don't love it. But it's valuable to our clients and it's valuable to their clients.

Now, for some ways you could reduce the cost. You can mail it flat, which will cost more, maybe 80 cents or so, or you can fold it in half so it's double folded, and that will probably cost the normal postage rate. Depending on your farm, you might be able to send it every door direct, you'd want to check on that. You certainly could co-brand and partner with a lender, or even local business owners who might like to put a coupon or an ad in the newsletter and share some of the costs. And even though we do ours in full color and many of our clients use the full color version, we also remind them that if they feel that's too expensive for them, they could always run it in black and white and it's going to be a lot less costly.

So if you said to me, okay Debbie, would I be better off to mail it quarterly, full color, and not co-branded? Or monthly, co-branded, or with an advertiser in it, and black and white? I'd say do it monthly, the affordable way, because frequency is important. They enjoy the content; we just need to get it out there and get it in front of them.

If you have an interest in finding out more about the other marketing resources that we automatically give our clients in the Inner Circle, please feel free to reach out to me. I look forward to talking to you soon. Have a great day.

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Hello and welcome to Debbie's Tips. I was thinking about open house today. I know we've maybe talked about it in the past when you've gotten together with me, read my blogs, or gone on a webinar, but here's what came up today. It was more about the basics of open house that, as I was speaking to this great agent that called us enjoying coaching, and this truly is a great agent, they've been in the business for maybe 30 plus years. They work in a very high end market and they're extremely professional. I was asking them though, what are your open houses like? And they said, very, very busy. And I asked, well, how many transactions this year have come from open house? Actually the answer was none. And I said, talk to me about what you're doing for yourself to ensure that you have a successful open house and maximize the opportunity to get another listing or sale from each open house.

Well here's what I found out. So the first question I asked was if they did any marketing, any targeted Facebook ads, any going into the community and inviting the neighbors to come in, any pre-marketing to drive more traffic to that open house. And the answer was no. Then the next question I asked was, well, if you've got a super special property are you ever reaching out to any of the people in your lead bank or your database, letting them know you're going to be there and inviting them? And the answer was no. And then I asked, is there any limitation or restriction on the amount of signs that you can have in your community? And they said, no, there is no limitation, there's no restriction. And I said, okay, good. How many then do you put up? And they said about five.

Well, interestingly enough, many of our top agents across the country who have very successful open houses often put up 30 or more signs around each open house. Now again, you would have to check the restrictions in your community and you can't break the rules. But if that's permissible, think about it. You can literally find all the touch points where you can flag them into that neighborhood, all the different entry points. I'm just thinking about the neighborhood, for an example, where I live. There are three main points of entry into that neighborhood, and they're really far apart. So the traffic going one way would never know about the open house if it wasn't flagged at every entrance into the community. And then the neighborhood itself is fairly large. So if there's not enough open house signs in the neighborhood, people will get lost.

And remember, these are like your mini billboards out there in the community. So everywhere people go, all weekend they see your signs. When they're driving by, all the neighbors inside that community, they see your name. Whether they come into the open house or not, they see your name. So if you don't like putting up open house signs, which I don't and I did it for years and I hated every minute of it, you can do what many of our top agents do and hire high school students. Give them your map, tell them where to put them, take them out and teach them. I don't know what the going rate would be in your area, but a lot of our agents report that they pay around $20 to put them up and $20 to take them down.

Now let's talk about the time to put them up. It's actually ideal, whether you're having it done or you're doing it yourself, to put them up really early in the morning. That way there's no traffic, it's safer, just easier, and it also increases the opportunity that somewhere in the course of that day, the right buyer might just happen to drive by. So what if they drive by at 9:30 in the morning and the open house hasn't started? That’s fine. You get those signs where you can write on a section with chalk, when the open house begins. Or you can tape on a printed piece of paper that says what time the open house begins. Well, why would I put them up early if people can't get in the house? You might be wondering. Well, just imagine I'm driving by there at nine o'clock to take my kids to the soccer game. I see the open house sign, I drive by and I think, oh my gosh, I love that house. Well, it's open today from one to five. You know what? I'm going to make a special point to come back during the open house. So it definitely increases the traffic.

So just think about all this. What are you doing to maximize the amount of bodies that come through that open house? Give yourself the opportunity to pick up at least two quality leads. And you never know, you might even sell the property. All right, have a great day. I'll talk to you soon.

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Hello and welcome to Debbie's Tips. What I wanted to talk about today is lead follow up, but maybe in a little different way than we've discussed before, if you've ever listened to our recordings or read our blogs or attended our webinars on lead follow up.

This is such an important topic and the reason for that is because for most agents, 70% of their business is going to come from their lead follow up. And yet most agents admit that they don't follow up often enough. Now if you have online leads, I understand you may have only their email address so you'll have to depend on only emailing them. I have had some agents have success sending an email that says, “We have some great coming soon properties. If you'll send me your phone number, I'll text you the information.”

But I do understand that a lot of your email campaigns may be tied around your online leads. You've got those built in drips, and some of your CRMs even have those drips built in for you. But let's talk about a different type of lead.

I was talking to an agent this morning and I discovered that he was doing a good job with his drip campaigns on his online leads, and he was also actually doing a really good job mail marketing and online marketing to his past clients and sphere and farm. However when it came to the leads, the quality leads that he was speaking to, here is what he was doing. He was putting those leads on an index card and sitting them up in a card file box, and calling them back when they told him to. And that's not necessarily bad, right? I understand why that would be important for him, to hold those cards in his hand. That's just what works for him. But here's what I suggested to him and here's what I suggest to you.

So just imagine if I called you today, you don't know me. I'm an agent who is a complete stranger to you and you’re a potential home seller, and you're thinking that you wouldn't think about listing your home for another three or four months. So if I just get your information and I call you back in two months or three months, guess what? I'm still a stranger. You've forgotten all about me. You probably don't even remember the conversation that we had that day. I haven't done anything to incubate or nurture you, or indoctrinate you to me, right? I haven't warmed you up.

So what I suggested to the agent I was talking to this morning, is why wouldn't we immediately drop them into our marketing funnel? Why wouldn't we send them the weekly email blast? Why wouldn't we add them to a direct mail list? Why wouldn't we call them once a month? Why wouldn't we text them once a month and say, are there any questions you have this month? Just looking to stay in touch.

Because you see, over the course of the next few months I want to set up as much as I can through that automated nurture campaign. By the time I follow up with them and they're potentially ready to sell the home, I want them to see how professional and how diligent I am. I want them to feel they owe me just a little bit for all of this great quality time and information I've been providing, and I want them to feel like they know me. So think about that. Think about those leads that are 30, 60, 90 days, even 12 months away. What are you doing to nurture and to build that relationship? And if you have some questions, just email me direct at debbie@Excelleum.com.

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Hello and welcome to Debbie's Tips. Today I was reading a great article that my friend Diane Hartley over at the Luxury Institute for Home Marketing sent over to me, and I just really loved it and I thought maybe we would talk about it a little bit today. The subject of the article is, "Habits of Highly Successful Upper Tier Agents." So I took a look at this article, which breaks down six common habits of high-end real estate agents. Whether or not you work high end, all these habits are very appropriate.

Habit number one, balance work and personal life. So when you're doing the things that are for fun, for recreation, dinner with family, going to a movie, make sure you really work to be in the moment. I scolded my husband the other night because, as you all know, he is a full-time real estate agent of over 34 years. And we went out to dinner on a Friday night, a nice dinner, great restaurant. And what's he doing? Checking his texts and answering his phone. And I said, goodness, can't you put it away for just one hour? So it's about really trying to find that time. I know it's challenging because remember, we're a real estate family, I get it, but let's try to carve out just that little bit of balance for your work and for your personal life.

Number two, network constantly. You know, I often say to the great agents that we work with, that terrific prospects are everywhere. If you're at the gym working out and you hear a conversation come up about real estate, or you wear your branded polo shirt to your kid's soccer game, there are leads everywhere. So always be on the lookout. No secret agents.

Number three, practice your people skills. And that can be just how you meet and greet, interact with people, make it all about them. My husband and I were talking the other day about some acquaintances that we have that are connected to some best friends of ours, a couple that we see them occasionally at social gatherings. And our conversation was that they're really nice people, but we really don't want to be around them because she never stops talking. You know the kind of person I mean, right? The kind that when you're with them, you absolutely cannot get a word in. So practicing people skills doesn't mean you have to be a great talker. As a matter of fact, if you're great at asking questions and listening, they'll love you. One of the best ways to build rapport is to make eye contact. Smile. Also, you can mirror and match their rate of speech, because slow talkers like slow talkers and fast talkers like fast talkers. Then ask great questions about things that matter to them.

Next on the list is, stay tech savvy. Now I get it. Tech may not be your favorite thing. For some of you, you may love it, good for you, but for others it's not your favorite thing. And you know what? Our business still is an eye to eye and ear to ear business. And yet we don't want to be left behind as dinosaurs. So, set a goal. Just learn one new technology each and every week. Spend a half an hour, learn something new.

Number five on the list, top professionals stay in touch. I was talking to someone today and they told me that they have 2,000 people on a list, on a paper list, great connections in their community, but they don't mail, they don't email, they don't text, they don't call. They basically just see them around town and they're such a great person and they did such a great job, that they do get a fair measure of repeat and referral business. But just imagine what could happen if they stayed in touch. So drop that web of connection so that there's multiple touch points from which they hear from you each month.

Number six, invest in learning. And no, they really did say this in the article, I'm not making this up. Because you might be thinking, oh, Debbie, you're just saying that so that we'll call you and sign up for coaching. But the point is, invest in learning. And that could be everything from buying a great book, to buying some new scripts, to investing in coaching, to attending a workshop, to earning a designation. The best in the business always know that there's more, that there's always that next step that you can take to gain mastery and to gain momentum. Top producers are always working to perfect what they do.

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Hello it’s Debbie De Grote and welcome to Debbie’s Tips! Today we’re talking about instant revenue.

Just this week the coaches and I had a great mastermind call and we were discussing how to help our clients fire up their year by focusing them on activities to create instant revenue.

I thought you might like to hear about some of the items on our list:

Time block 1 hour a day to hunt for new business
Text 5 past clients per day offering an annual real estate check up to update them on the value of their home.
Pull every lead in your system and time block 100% focused lead follow up time and have your scripts ready to spark urgency, why they should do it now
Call or see all of your AAA past clients, you probably have 10 or 20 that are your top raving fans, and ask them for a referral. And remember, they love you and will be happy to help you.
Get price reductions on any unsold listings right away!
For your buyers who are stagnant, have a heart to heart talk with them about what must change to find them a home and press them into reality and get them out shopping.
Put 10 business cards in your pocket each day and find 10 people to give one to, and to have a real estate conversation with.
Hold an open house and doorknock around it to invite the neighbors.
Wear your name tag or career apparel in the business day.
On any day you don't have an appointment find 2-3 people you can get in front of.
Ask all active current buyers and sellers for a referral.
Call your vendors and affiliates and pledge your support to them and ask for 1 contact or referral they might be able to give you.

These are just a few from our list and I hope they are helpful. I would suggest you choose at least 2 and go do them!

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Hello and welcome to Debbie’s Tips!

And today I wanted to ask you, what are the new opportunities in your market?

Recently we had a Shifting Market event here in Newport Beach, California where we discussed how to prepare for the changes that the next year or two may bring.

One of the things we discussed is that while a market shift brings new challenges to be met, it also brings new opportunities. I would encourage you to consider this thought: What are the new opportunities that your market conditions are presenting that you are not taking advantage of?

For example, there will be more expired listings. What is you plan to work them?

There will be newer opportunities in the high-end market, as days on market increase and many agents will flock to the lower price points because they are easier.

Past clients may decide now is the time to sell and downsize to maximize equity, so it would make sense to call them now and inform them of the shift. You have more power to spark opportunity than you think you do!

If you aren’t sure what to do or how to prepare for the shift, maybe it’s time for you to talk to us.

If you would like to talk to one of my experienced coaches to discuss your questions, you can easily do so by either going to our website to request a complimentary business strategy call, or just email me direct at debbie@excelleum.com. We’d be happy to speak with you. Good luck and happy hunting!

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Hello, welcome to Debbie’s Tips. Today we’re talking about tips to increase your income producing hours.

If you are like most of the great agents who come to us for coaching, you are probably working too many hours and not earning all that you deserve, am I right?

At Excelleum, our goal is to help our coaching clients make more money in less time. To help them in this process, we often encourage them to keep a time log for a week in order to track what percentage of their day is income producing.

I thought I would share this exercise with you, because it’s easy to do and just the act of focusing on how your time is spent almost instantly improves your productivity.

Here is how it works. Grab a scratch pad, carry it with you, and log what you are doing every 30 minutes of the day for the next week. At the end of the day, go back over your log and write the following next to each 30-minute segment:

IP = income producing

IS = income servicing

S = stuff

The goal is to get to a minimum of 50% income producing activities in your day. If you have an admin or a team that you’re delegating to, or could delegate to, then you really should be pressing towards 80% of your time being income producing.

By the end of the week, as you keep your time log and you measure your IP hours, you should have more clarity on what your distractions and interruptions are. This should help you see what can be eliminated so that you can make improvements to your schedule.

Remember, multi-tasking is a sin, not a virtue. Practice time blocking, as there is power and efficiency in staying focused and completing one task at a time.

By the way - you may want to consider checking email only 3 times a day. Obsessive, excessive email checking is a major distraction for most agents.

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Hello and welcome to Debbie’s tips. I wanted to talk to you about earning what you deserve.

Have you ever found that past clients, friends, and family often grind you to cut commission? Whether it’s because you know them, or because you did a deal with them before, or there will be two deals involved this time?

The first thing I’d ask you to do, to earn what you deserve, is STOP volunteering to cut commission. Don’t offer it, at least wait for them to bring it up!

So don’t say, “Okay, because you’re going to buy another home from me,” or “Because I sold you a home in the past,” or “If I sell it myself, I’ll do x.” So just stop volunteering. Let them ask you.

Then if they ask you, the next step is to be prepared with what you will say when they bring it up. Be sure to practice that, because you know this is going to come up again and again and again.

We have some new scripts that I recently wrote for our clients to help them with this situation, and if you’d like to check those out, go ahead and email me, debbie@exceleum.com, and I’ll be happy to share those scripts with you.

And just remember, your time is valuable. When you give your money away easily upfront, they often ask for more as the deal progresses!

So just a couple of quick tips. Number 1 – stop volunteering. Number 2 – practice your best scripts for overcoming those objections. And number 3 – don’t be upset that they asked. Just because they ask though, doesn’t mean that they won’t pay you more.

Feel free to reach out to me and I’ll be happy share our scripts. Just say – I would like the script for working with friends, family and past clients who are asking to cut commission.

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I wanted to talk to you today about how to triple your referrals.

Have you ever wondered why your friends, your family, your sphere, and past clients don't send you more referrals? It's frustrating isn't it?

You work so hard, you do so much, they tell you how much they love what you do!

So what happens?

They don't know all the areas you service.
Maybe they don't understand all the price points and types of properties you serve.
They think you are too busy.
They themselves are busy and you don't remind them often enough.

It’s a shame when you think of the fact that direct referrals have a high conversion ratio, often 25-50%, and usually it doesn't cost a thing to get them.

So here are the tips we have our coaching clients working on to squeeze more referrals from the folks they know.

Quarterly, send a marketing postcard to your database that reminds them of all the areas and price points you service. Also work this into your script as you call them.
Start asking every buyer and seller for a referral upfront as you begin to work with them, and also throughout the process whenever something great happens and they are thanking you. The goal is to extract 2 names per client by the closing.
Pull your vendor and affiliate list together and ask them monthly for just 1 name of someone they can refer or introduce you to.
Consider creating a small business owner "farm" in your community. Refer business to them and ask for their referrals in return.
Pull together your triple A top raving fans. Ask if they can find 3 people to refer to you this year.
Post a sign in your car or by your desk to remind yourself to ask everyone, everywhere for a referral.
When making a big-ticket purchase on a new car, furniture, etc., ask the commission sales person for a referral.

I love the quote by Zig Ziglar, “Timid salespeople have skinny kids!”

Make the next 30 days your big referral push to frontload your lead pipeline for the spring and summer market.

Good luck!

P.S. Remember they really need your help!

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Hello and welcome to Debbie’s Tips!

I was wondering, is it time to expand your range, reach, and influence in your community?

As a professional coach I have an opportunity to travel across North America to meet with some of the most elite agents and real estate professionals in the nation. They commonly share with me that 80% of their business comes from the people that they know, their past clients, sphere, and connections in the community. What they also tell me though is that they still need more business, that they are often disappointed by the lack of repeat and referrals from their database.

When you consider the fact that the average homeowner is staying in their home longer than ever before and that most homeowners know more than one agent, and that customer loyalty in most industries has declined by 50%, you can see why you may need to expand what you do in order to grow your business.

When a new coaching client hires us to help them, one of the first things we do is examine their system for working their database. There are almost always gaps. In fact, usually they are doing very little to market to these valuable people.

We encourage our clients, and I encourage you, to drop a web of connection over these folks, to direct mail monthly, to email weekly, to text quarterly and to call and visit as often as possible and appropriate. By staying top of mind, we cement the relationship and increase the likelihood that they will call you when they are ready to make their next move or have a friend or family member that you needs your help.

Once we have a system to ensure our connections with our warm list, next we should be obsessed with growing the list with quality connections. Some of the best sources of new additions to your list are the people you do business with, workout with, meet at school, church, and other activities you participate in.

Often, they may not even realize that you are in the real estate business. That’s why many top agents now wear their name tag or branded career apparel every day! People love to talk about real estate and when they see you are an agent, odds are they will ask you, “How is the market?” Because this can open the door for a new lead or opportunity, it’s important to have a go to way to spark a great conversation.

Here is the script I have our coaching clients use. So when they ask you, “How’s the market?” Say, “Thank you for asking! Actually it’s a very opportunistic market. There are great opportunities for buyers and still some very strong opportunities for sellers. I am curious, is there an opportunity you are interested in?

Of course they may say that they are not interested in buying or selling any real estate, which then gives you an opportunity to invite them into your marketing list so that we can expand your web of connections.

“You know, I have something I do for my friends, family, and great past clients. I send them valuable bulletins and updates about the market and things they need to know to stay well informed. Would you like to be included in my information loop?”

Remember, it’s important to get their name, address, and phone number, enter them in your CRM in the appropriate category, and stay in touch. If you focus on it, you should be able to add 2-3 quality people in a week, and over time it’s amazing how quickly your list can grow.

But what if you don’t know enough people and you don’t like cold prospecting? Consider forming your own organic networking group of like-minded business professionals who have access to your ideal client.

One of the great coaches who works with me on the Excelleum faculty, Alyssa, started years ago in the business as a single mom with no extra dollars to spend for marketing. She decided to put together a group of moms who were all in the sales business. They met each Tuesday for breakfast, and it was fun! They shared marketing ideas and they brought leads to each other. And because Alyssa put the group together, she was the only real estate agent in the group! It worked. Within a couple of years she was doing over 100 units without a team. She continued to grow and eventually needed to build a team to assist her with all the business she created.

So I hope you go out and do likewise. And remember, you change lives doing what you do. So go out there and meet some new people to help!

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Hello and welcome to Debbie's Tips!

I was talking to someone today who said, “I've been listening to your tips about getting ready for the rest of the year ahead, and I realized that one of the things I'm going to have to do is to learn how to delegate more effectively.” This person was telling me that they feel like they must control everything are afraid to let go, what if a mistake is made?

With this mindset, they're really limiting the billable hours in their day because they are so busy doing the servicing. I would encourage you to take a look - just start with the things that are affordable and easy to delegate, and let's start delegating them. This could even be working more efficiently with your vendors and your affiliates, letting them take on more of the load that they should be.

Remember, if you try to - what is that old saying? If you try to be the chief cook and bottle washer, it's going to fall apart. So we must learn to run a business that's efficient, has predictable sources, and high efficiency. In order to do that, you need to learn to delegate the things that are not your highest and best use. Ask yourself as you go throughout the day, is this my highest and best use? Am I doing the most productive thing at this moment and is this something I absolutely must do myself? Because there is only so much time in the day and there's only so much of you to go around.

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Hello, welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips. I was talking to someone just the other day about cross cultural selling.

I'm a member of a couple of organizations that really cater to different cultures in the real estate industry, NAHREP and AREAA. And what always impresses me when I attend meetings put on by these groups is the variety of cultures that are represented. It makes sense when you think about it, because as a real estate professional, what a great idea to mix and mingle with agents of other cultures and to really work to improve our own personal sales versatility.

The definition of culture isn't necessarily just about race, it's often a shared set of beliefs. For an example, I think that here at Excelleum we have a culture. It's a culture of service and commitment and dedication to our clients. If you have a team, maybe your team is a culture of integrity or fun.

So if someone is born in America, they're going to operate inside the American culture. However, if they've moved here from a foreign country, then it's really important to meet them where they're at to try to adapt to that culture. Can you imagine moving to a foreign country, not understanding the real estate process, maybe barely understanding the language and trying to make an investment as important as buying a home?

We need to be patient, we need to adapt, we need to listen. Slow down and maybe read a couple of great books on the topic. I have a favorite, Cross Cultural Selling For Dummies. This book breaks down different nationalities and goes through what is acceptable or expected or even a turnoff when you're working with them as a client or a prospect.

We have a choice. We could work with the people who are just like us and easy to work with because of that fact, which will limit your sales success and opportunity. Or, we can embrace the world and work to adapt to those that aren’t like us and to meet them where they're at. So I hope you'll do that because there's a lot of great people out there that really need your help.

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Hello and welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips. I'm wondering, do you talk too much?

Certain personality styles do talk more than others. For example, if according to the DISC Index you're a high I, you are by nature likely to talk more than a high S. The high I being a high influencer, high S being very steady, amiable, and calm.

But I’m sure all of us gone into a selling situation and said too much, whether we presented in too much detail or ran on with too much information, ultimately raising more objections than we would have had if we just kept our presentation simple.

I want you to think about this. On your next listing appointment, you should not talk more than 50 percent of the time. Set a goal to refrain from talking more than 50 percent of the time, and make sure that 50 percent of the time you are talking is 50 percent of you asking questions.

So that would mean 25 percent of the total time you are asking questions, 25 percent of the time you are making statements that are important, and 50 percent of the time they're talking, right? Because when we talk too much, you never know what objections might be triggered.

Now go be a great listener!

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Hello, welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips. I wonder, are you prepared to handle any buyer or seller objection that comes your way?

I did something once, where I created a list to see how many true typical buyer objections and typical seller objections actually exist. I came up with about 12 or 13 for each buyer and seller, and then I noticed that in any given market there's usually three to five that will consistently surface.

Now if the objections never really change, and we assume we need to learn 13 for buyers and 13 for sellers, it's only 26 different objections total. If you had one, two or even three great answers to each one, and you really became a student of mastering those answers, can you imagine how competent you would be? You would not hesitate to make any prospecting call, to walk into any sales situation, to handle any challenging customer if you knew, no matter what objection they threw at you, you could handle it with confidence.

See, over my career I have made this a science. I took it very seriously, to breakdown and study every objection that I might get from a buyer or a seller. And then I did that again as I built my coaching business. What are the objections that someone would give me when I'm asking them to join coaching and they're afraid? Then I drilled, I practiced, and I rehearsed.

I encourage you - what if you made this year the year to master those objections? What if you just simply started with the top three to five that you get you the most stuck and started there? You can come to me, I'll send you some scripts, and you can write down your favorite things that you like to say.

You can also ask your friends in the office and compile two to three objection handlers for each of those three to five objections. Put them on flash cards, study them, record and listen to them when you're driving. Find a practice partner, because you know what? It is worth it. In fact, if I could pick one easy thing that someone could work on to improve their sales skills and to increase their profits, I would say work on your objection handlers.

Good luck!

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Welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips, and today I wanted to talk a little bit about persuasion.

Here at Excelleum one of the things we work on a lot with our clients is building rapport, that sales versatility. We have the New Art Of Persuasion For Real Estate course because I believe that really learning to be a master negotiator and a powerful persuader is worth its weight in gold. Let's remember, persuasion will not occur easily without rapport.

I thought for today’s tip, if I could just give you one technique to be more powerful at building rapport instantly with anyone, anytime, anywhere, what would that technique be? Here's what I have for you: mirroring and matching. Maybe you've heard of this before, maybe you even do it or you do it unconsciously, but it is a powerful technique.

This means mirroring and matching someone’s rate of speech, mirroring and matching their tonality, mirroring and matching even some of the words and phrases that they use and say. Everyone talks a certain way and their mind processes information at a certain speed. And when we can get into their zone, they relax, they can focus, they feel heard and understood.

So think about it. Are you a fast talker by nature? Because if you're a fast talker, odds are you don't have a lot of friends that are slow talkers. Of course you may have family members who are slow talkers, but you didn't pick them, right? But your friends most likely talk at the rate and speed that you do, they most likely use a lot of the same words, phrases and slang that you do, and that's not accidental. You were attracted to them for a reason, so let's turn that around and work that same magic on our clients. Mirror and match their rate of speech, their tonality, and if you're in front of them, even expand it by mirroring and matching their body language.

Don't forget, people love it when you ask questions about things that matter to them. Ask questions all about them and they're naturally going to be more likely to like you, to be in rapport with you, and to be that much easier for you to persuade so they can take the steps to achieve the goal that they have set.

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Hello, welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips. People are asking me lately, is the shifting market a good or a bad time to get into the luxury market? It's a great question.

When you think about it, in a red-hot market, everybody's chasing those higher end listings because they sell easily and they pay well. The reality is, when the market starts to shift and it takes longer for the listing to sell, that can be a fantastic opportunity, a fantastic time to go after some of those higher end listings.

There's the old saying that you’re better off to be the first born, the second wife or the second and third agent on an expired listing. Why? Because sometimes when those higher end listings come out of the gate, the seller wants too much. They're unreasonable, they're asking too much, and that first agent, wastes a lot of time and energy. What a great strategy, to break into the luxury market by going after those higher end expireds. Remember, it only takes a few to make a significant difference in your volume.

How do you prepare for luxury? First, know the market. Know the market segment you're going after, be the expert. Next you upgrade. Upgrade your presentation, upgrade yourself, for example how you dress for the appointments. Prepare for the question, how many luxury homes have you sold? Because if you haven't sold any or many, you may need to partner with a luxury agent on the first few or have your answer ready. “You know Mr. Seller, that's a great question. I haven't personally sold many in this area and that's exactly why you should choose me because I am determined to break into this market, and I am going to work harder for you than anyone else will.” So you can really own it with enthusiasm.

You are going to need to stay in touch, you will need to work your price reductions, and you will need to provide five star service. But is now a great time to break into the luxury market? Absolutely.

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Hello, welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips.

I'm answering a question that came up in an email today. The question was, how do I prepare an elevator speech? What is it and how do I write it?

An elevator speech, when you think about it, is really like this - let's pretend you and I are riding an elevator and you have less than a minute until we hit the ground floor. On that elevator ride I ask you, “What do you do for a living or why should I hire you?” If you can't sell me on it by the time we've hit the ground floor, you may have lost my business forever.

The reason it's so important to grab someone's attention in 30 to 60 seconds, whether it's on a prospecting call, out doorknocking, at an open house or at an appointment, is because the attention span of the average person is very, very short before their mind begins to wander off to other things.

Let's face it - your customers and prospects have a lot on their plate and a lot on their minds. If they don't determine quickly that you're worth listening to, they'll rule you out and maybe even start grinding away on you for a lower price or throwing objections at you because they really haven't seen the value of what you have to offer.

What are the basic components of an elevator speech? It should be short: 30 to 60 seconds. It should be clear, it should be a little bit sexy. It could even have third party stories or examples, and ideally, it should be specifically created for that customer type. So maybe it's an elevator speech for an expired. Why should they meet with you or talk to you? Maybe it's an elevator speech for a seller, for a buyer, and it needs a hook, something that makes them want to know more and engages that customer or prospect in the conversation.

Your goal is not to do a speech that bores me. It should really grab me and make me want to hear more. It can be shocking how long 30 to 60 seconds really is. And if you don't believe me, time it. Start now, be quiet. Count the seconds - it's quite a while, isn’t it? It's certainly enough time for you to put some great thoughts together. So how do you begin? Jot down ideas, jot down thoughts. What are your USPs, why are you good? Why are you valuable? I read something the other day that I thought was an outstanding tip. It said, go to your testimonials. Go to your reviews because what your clients are saying about you could be absolutely your best elevator speech of all.

Bottom line, you're valuable. You bring a lot to the table. So how do we say that in a way that engages and excites that customer or prospect? It’ll take a little practice. Just a little work, but it'll all be worth it.

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Hello and welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips. Today we're talking about how to network, even if you're afraid of talking to strangers.

As we helped our clients get ready for 2019, one of the suggestions that we had for them is that they find a networking group. That they find something they are passionate about and where they can meet people, hopefully people that have their ideal clients, or even put together and form their own networking group. But of course, depending on your personality, that might be terrifying to you because you hate to talk to strangers.

I was thinking a little bit about this. What would be a few things to make it easier for you to talk to strangers? Well, one thing would be choosing your audience, right? Who do you have a lot in common with, so that there'd be a lot to naturally talk about? Also, maybe you bring a wingman. Bring a friend, bring someone with you so that you're not there on your own. Plus, they may even know some of the people in the room.

Another thought, it’s good to always have a few go-to opening lines. For example, if I am at an event with a bunch of people and it's a real estate event, often one of my opening lines is, “How’s your year? What have been some of the best things that you've accomplished?” or, “Tell me, what's a significant project that you're excited about or working on? I wonder, where does most of your business come from? What are you really good at?”

I try to always have a few of these opening lines, because I know that it's easier if I can ask questions and get people talking about themselves. One of the best ways to build rapport is ask questions about things that matter to them and to then pay attention, right? It's a great way to get to know someone and to decide, is this someone that I would like to have a conversation with and build a deeper business relationship with? You could ask questions like, “What are some of the fun things you're working on right now? Tell me, how did you come to be a member of this group? What business are you in? How is your business doing?” Ask them where they live and say, “You know, this may be an odd question, but I'm in real estate and I always like to know where people live and how they enjoy it.”

A great goal for when you have networking events is to meet five people you don't know and try to ask them three to five questions. Maybe talk to them for at least three to five minutes, and hopefully you’ll then come away with a good lead, a good connection, maybe a new friend, and their contact information so that they can be opted in to your marketing web.

Alright, so be prepared, have your goal, set your opening lines, and maybe take your wingman. Have a great day. I'll talk to you soon.

If you are a real estate agent or broker that is looking to for more insight and direction on how to get more listings, sell more homes to your investors, and work with more buyers, then this podcast is just for you!

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Hello and welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips. Today I thought we could talk about how to improve your daily efficiency.

I know that sometimes we all feel overworked and overwhelmed, and our business day just extends far beyond what is reasonable, sometimes consuming our quality of life. I was having an interesting conversation the other day with a friend of mine who is the largest independent distributor of batteries in the entire nation. This is an individual owner, so I know he's incredibly busy. He has hundreds and hundreds of employees, locations across the nation, and a battery factory in Asia. He is just a really busy guy.

I said to him, “How come you always seem so calm? You must be overworked and overwhelmed!” And he said, “You know, Debbie, there's one thing that I do that I think is very important to my sanity and my happiness. At the end of each day, I take a couple of minutes and I write down my five critical items that I must do the next day. So that old saying, you know, come heck or high water, no matter what happens, I have got to get these five critical items done. So that way, when I come in to work the next morning, I focus on those five. I batch the work, I get it done, and then if possible, I have time to add additional things to the day. That way I feel like I really had a successful day.”

I read an article not too long ago, written about corporations across America being very frustrated with the fact that there was a lot of wasted time in their employees’ days. The article talked about trying to get people into the flow, helping to get them in a groove where they're just focused on one thing and getting it done. Some of these companies decided to experiment with what they called an hour of quiet time each day. Each employee, for one hour a day, couldn't talk to anyone, couldn't communicate with the outside world, and would just focus and work on the paperwork, the files, the issues, and projects on their desk. As they tracked this, they found that they were often completing in an hour what would normally take three hours to do and that they were happier, that they were less stressed, that they were less exhausted. My takeaway from this was that multitasking is not necessarily a virtue, it's a sin that often leaves you flipping from job to job, activity to activity, feeling exhausted and wasting a lot of time in between. Also, the article talked about getting into the flow, trying to set yourself up where there are chunks of your day where you are just focused, not allowing distractions, not allowing interruptions and you're powering through. And then of course the obvious, take a look at what can be delegated or outsourced.

So how do we apply this to your world? Well, what about having a very specific starting and ending time to your day? What about chunking out that first four hours of the morning and saying, I need to minimize my distractions and I really need to make this the money portion of my day? So, I'm going to do my prospecting, I'm going to do my lead follow up, I'm going to prep for my appointments. Then I'm going to respond to my emails and voicemails at the end of the four hours.

Now the interesting thing about it is, I think you'll find your prospecting results will improve when you're prospecting and following up with focus. Maybe you simply try the one hour of quiet time, maybe in the afternoon. I’ve noticed that sometimes midafternoon can be a little bit quieter in real estate. So maybe after lunch you take that hour and you just work on cleaning up the projects on your desk.

Going back to that article I mentioned, I have some stats here. The article talks about the fact that the average worker checks their emails 74 times a day, and the average person touches their smartphone 2,617 times a day. Guys, that's a lot. That's crazy! What if you checked your email three or four times a day? What if you put your smartphone away? You know, while I'm doing coaching calls or I'm at an event or I'm recording this for you, my phone is always turned off because I don't want the interruption or distraction.

So just try it and remember the power of focus. And there's actually a great book with that exact title, it might be a good one for you to read. Alright, have a great day. I'll talk to you on the next Debbie's Daily Tip.

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Hello and welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips, and I wanted to talk to you today about the fear of failure.

I wonder if the fear of failure is stopping you from setting bigger goals or tackling new things. I was on an airplane and I was reading an article in the Harvard Business Review and they had an article on this topic, a terrific article. Some of the points really made me connect it back over to what may limit performance in the real estate industry.

If you think about it, fear is really worrying about doing something wrong. In our case, in a sales position, maybe it's the fear of being rejected or the fear of failing and having a major setback in a situation. I look at this and, in the business of being an entrepreneur where every day we're faced with challenges, I always tell my team, we're going to innovate. We're going to try new things. We're going to embrace new opportunities. We must be agile, we must be flexible, and we also need to understand that sometimes we're going to make mistakes.

Another tip on failure, from this Harvard Business Journal article, is to adopt a new mindset. After you make a mistake, if you can just look at that and say, alright, what did I learn from this? How can what I learned actually be worth the lesson learned? In other words, maybe you’ll use it in the future to make more money, to be more successful, to streamline your processes, or in some cases, maybe have a better quality of life, a better work environment.

Embrace the fact that every day you need to do something that might make you just a little bit uncomfortable. Every month you need to examine the new opportunity, an out of the box idea, and then maybe play the game that I do, which is looking at the worst-case scenario. In other words, if X, Y and Z happens, or I try this and I fail, what is the worst-case scenario? And truly, usually the worst case is not that bad, especially when you think about it with something as simple as prospecting. If I make this call, what is the worst-case scenario? What if they hang up on me? Well, guess what guys? You probably don't know them or don't know them well or they're not really all that important in your life, so you can simply hang up and go on and call somebody else.

There’s a quote on a little magnet that we have on our microwave here at the office, “Do one thing every day that scares you,” Eleanor Roosevelt. Get used to stretching your comfort zone a bit. When you were a were kids, did you ever have silly putty? You may remember that when you stretched it, it wouldn’t go back to its original shape. It probably rebounded a bit, but it was still bigger than how it started. If you think about your tolerance for trying new things, your tolerance for getting out of your comfort zone, your tolerance for overcoming rejection, you can stretch that tolerance. The more you do it, the more you attempt it, the more you stretch it, the greater your tolerance becomes, so that it is easier for you to try new things.

So think about it, what's the worst thing that can happen? Probably nothing too bad, right? Zig Ziglar often used to say when he was alive, 80% of what you worry about will probably never happen. And when it comes to the 20% that does happen, you can't do anything about it.

I'm going to ask you this last question as we wrap up the Daily Tip for today. What is one thing that you are avoiding that you know, if you stopped avoiding it, embraced it, and did it, it might be a game changer? Think about it. Maybe it's time. Give it a try. Be Brave.

Alright guys. Have a great day and I look forward to talking to you on the next Debbie's Daily Tip.

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Hello and welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips. Today we're talking about shifting market opportunities.

What are some of the opportunities that a shifting market can present? One can be the opportunity to break into higher-end expired listings because you see, when the market makes it not as easy to get the home sold, what you'll often see impacted first is the higher-end properties. Oftentimes what happened is that an agent overpriced the home initially, didn't work their price reductions, and these properties ended up expiring.

Now the great news about it is this. There's an old saying that you're better off to be the first born, the second wife, and the second or third agent on an expired listing. Why? Because the seller is potentially more ready than before to take your wise advice as an agent. Expired listings, especially the higher-end, in a shifting market can be a great opportunity.

Now for sale by owners, they can also be a great opportunity. When the market is red hot and they can put a sign in the yard and it can sell right away, you’ll find that they may not be as flexible or as open to paying a commission. Based on that, when we go into a market cycle where it's harder to get that home sold, those owners may now feel they need your knowledge, your expertise, and the results that you can bring to the table.

Also with a shifting market, you might find that some of your past clients and sphere of influence become much more interested in potentially buying investment properties. So why not talk to them and, if they have equity in their home, ask if they would like to pull some of that out and do something to build their retirement, their nest egg for their future?

Remember, there is always opportunity in every new market. Just find that niche, that way in, and find what is most attractive and most comfortable for you. Do one thing every day that scares you. So, in other words, why not get out of your comfort zone today? Try something new.

Make it a great day. I'll look forward to talking to you very soon.

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Hello and welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips. I wonder, do you ever wear a name tag or maybe a branded polo shirt, or another piece of career apparel that identifies you as a real estate agent?

I get it, some of you listening or reading may be very fashion forward, always making sure you are dressed sharp and look right. And I totally understand. However, every day I hear stories of people who are at the grocery store, at the carwash, putting gas in their car, picking up their kids from school, sitting on the soccer fields, all in their branded career apparel or wearing a name tag, and they pick up a fabulous lead.

Because you know what people love to talk about? Real estate. The fact that you are easily identifiable as a real estate agent makes you approachable. In fact, I remember when I was a young agent and I was doing well, I was selling on average 12 to 15 homes a month, working hard. I had an agent in my office that always was just right behind me. Our difference was always right around just a couple homes, but I had no children and she had five. So that's just crazy! Guess what her secret was? At the time we worked for Century 21, and she wore her Century 21 Gold vest everywhere. And boy was she ever out and about a lot, with five kids, on the sports fields or at the school lot and everywhere else. About 90% of the business came from people that she knew. Now she was a smart woman, she had great market knowledge and expertise, was very friendly and approachable. But a lot of those deals just came to her.

So I wonder, what if you could create deals, basically out of thin air, because someone came up and asked you about real estate, simply because you were are wearing your name tag? Would it be worth it? I have a challenge for you. What if you tried it for a week or two? Just wear it everywhere you go inside the business day, and let's see what happens.

Okay, so remember, no more being a secret agent. Alright, have a great day. I'll talk to you soon.

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Hello and welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips. Today we're talking about effective pieces to mail to your past clients and sphere of influence.

One of the things I love is a newsletter, although I’m not talking about an e-newsletter. Nothing wrong with an e-newsletter, other than only 20 to 25% will open it. And that's being optimistic. We know there's a large group of people that you might send your e-newsletter to that would never actually open or read it, but if you physically mail that interesting, informative newsletter, they are likely to lay it on the counter and leave it there for a couple of days. Now with most other pieces they won't do that, so we want to make to have a variety of interesting content. It could be home improvement-related, something to do with general hobbies, travel, you could have a recipe or a puzzle, and certainly at least one real estate article that's directing them to reach out and contact you for more information.

Ideally, I would love to send that out monthly, but if your budget cannot afford it you may want to consider, if you can do so legally, co-branding with a lender to be able to get it out more frequently. You could also consider printing it in black and white, or just mailing it quarterly.

Again, remember, it wouldn't necessarily be all about real estate. If you'd like a sample of the newsletter that we create for our coaching clients at no additional charge, I'd be happy to share with you a copy of our Lifestyle Advisor Newsletter. My email is debbiedegrote@gmail.com

Remember, make sure it's a good piece, because they do keep it around. True story, years ago I went to visit a past client who had called me to come list their home. And when I got there, they actually pulled out a three-ring binder where they had kept copies of my newsletters from over the last couple of years that I had been sending them. Now to be honest, that's only ever happened to me once in my career, but it was pretty cool.

Alright, have a great day. I look forward to talking to you soon.

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Welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips. Today we’re going over some assumptive techniques.

This is a favorite subject of mine, because I do believe that one of the best closing techniques of all time is just simply the assumptive close. And I thought, before I give you a couple of tips, I would tell you a quick little funny story. I call it Melanie's near disaster.

One of our coaching clients shared with me that she had just hired a new assistant, and the assistant really didn't quite understand the difference between a listing that had already been taken and needed to be processed, and a listing appointment where the listing was still just a potential. So, Melanie had a very expensive home that she was super excited about trying to attain as a listing. She got everything ready, drove over to the appointment, and as she pulled up in front of the house, she noticed that the “For Sale” sign has already been put up in the yard. Instantly Melanie panicked. This is what typically happened as soon as a listing was taken, they ordered the sign up. Except this one hadn’t been taken yet. Well, the door slammed open and the seller came running down the sidewalk. Melanie got out of the car, ready to face the music thinking, oh my goodness, he’s going to yell at me, he's going to be so upset. Instead, he rushed over and said, “Melanie, Melanie, can you believe it? You haven't even listed my home yet. And you already got the sign up in the yard. How incredibly efficient you are!”

Of course she was very, very relieved and the rest of the appointments went quite well. Now I'm not saying that this is a good assumptive technique to use, but I think what it does is demonstrate that people want action. When we are in action and we're assuming they're moving forward with us, they're much more likely to go with the flow.

When you think about the best assumptive techniques, I would start with assumptive language. Instead of saying, “If you list your home with me,” try, “When you list your home with me, when we get together, when we work together, when we have offers on your home.” See, I'm going to proceed as if they've already hired me or told me that they're absolutely going to hire me. I'm going to make sure that my language reflects that.

Another great assumptive technique with a seller is to ask them if they'll have a key ready for you. “You know, Mr. and Mrs. Seller, I'm going to need to have a key when we get that home on the market. So, if you could have that ready and in an envelope on the table for me, because I often forget to ask for it, that would be great.” You might think, well what if they say they’re not sure they’ll choose me? You say, “Well that's fine and yet, odds are you may indeed choose me, because I have a great marketing plan but whoever you choose, ultimately, you're going to need to have a spare key ready. So just might be easier for you to go ahead and have one made. And by the way, I don't want to give you a homework assignment, however, it would be incredibly helpful if you would put together a list of all the things you have most enjoyed about the home. I would love to get a list from you of all those great points so that I can incorporate that into the marketing. Doesn't have to be anything fancy, but if you would just jot down some thoughts that would be terrific.”

One of our coaches said that when they go out on a listing appointment, as they're touring the property and they have their phone handy, they say to the seller, you know what, I'm going to record just a few marketing messages for Mary on my team, who's going to manage the marketing of your property. And he'll say, “Hey Mary, make a note that we've got to be sure that the drapes are pulled back in the master bedroom when we show the home, because the view is stunning.” “Hey Mary, make a note that there is an extra storage area above the garage that is huge.” “Hey Mary, can you make a note?” So that is the agent taking ownership of that marketing, right?

So remember, people like to go with the flow. Be assumptive, be powerful, be confident. And when it comes time to close for the signature on the listing, don't ask them, “Are you ready? Do you have any other questions? Will you choose me?” Instead, simply say, “By when would you like your home sold to the right buyer? Perfect. Then that's exactly why we need to go ahead and list today.” Remember to assume that they're going to sign the listing.

Alright, have a great day. Be assumptive, be powerful and be confident. I'll talk to you soon.

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Hello and welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips. Today I wanted to talk about pre-listing packages.

There was a time in the market when lots of agents were sending out a pre-listing package. The purpose of this was to prepare for the sale. It was to sell the seller in advance on all the great stuff that you do, your track record, your credentials, etc. It was very popular for a while, and then I noticed that agents kind of just stopped doing it. I will sometimes ask them, why? Why did you stop? One of the common answers is, “I found that the people didn't read the package, so I felt that it was a waste of my time to do it.”

My marketing expert, Pete Mitchell, and I were talking about this just the other day and he reminded me of something called the thud factor. If you do choose to deliver a pre-listing package, keep in mind that emailing is probably not that effective. Are they going to open it up? Are they going to download it? Are they going to print it? Are they really going to read it? Probably not. Everybody's busy, and they may not even see it in their email.

So if you choose to actually print and deliver it the package, you know it has the impact of being a professional piece with lots of great content, a piece that, even if just briefly flipped through, does give you a little extra measure of credibility.

Now, when you go on that listing appointment, don't assume that they've actually read it. In fact, don't ask them if they read it because if you ask them, they might feel the need to lie and say yes. Just proceed, assuming they have not read it. Take your key points, your highlights, the things you want to discuss with them on that listing appointment about the marketing that you do and the services you provide. You could say something like this, “Mr. and Mrs. Seller, I hope you had an opportunity to flip through the information that I sent over to you. What I'd like to do, is I'd like to just go through the highlights together, the things that I feel are most important for you. So if you don't mind, I'd like to share with you what we're going to do so that I can arrive at the highest realistic price possible.”

So again, I would keep your presentation simple and concise, not lots and lots of pages, but really distilled down to who you are, what you're going to do, and then of course, what the property is likely to sell for.

Alright, so make it a great day, and email me, debbiedegrote@gmail.com, if you have any questions.

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Hello, it’s Debbie De Grote and welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips.

We're getting ready for the year ahead so that we will be in great shape and ready to roll on January 2nd.

One of the things I encourage you to do is to really sit down and work on your schedule. Set a starting and ending time each day, select a day off, and also time block for your prospecting, your lead follow-up, and your other critical activities.

If you look at this now, that will give you a chance to keep a time log as you're getting ready for the New Year. At the end of each day, I want you to label each hour of the day. Was that an income producing hour, something directly related to listing or selling? Was it prospecting? Were you out on appointments and negotiating contracts? Or was it an income servicing hour? This could be meetings and inspections, or getting documents signed with an appraiser. Or lastly, was it just stuff?

IP is income producing, IS is income servicing, or just S for stuff. Meaning, I don't know what I was doing, but it was probably a waste of my time.

The goal would be that you have at least 50 percent of your day at income producing.

Now, if you have staff supporting you, we want to be pressing that much harder to get you to 80 percent of the day being income producing. Whenever people say to me, “I'm struggling, I'm not on track for my goal.” One of the first things I often ask is, do you have a schedule? And if so, are you sticking with it?

Your schedule really is the foundation, the cornerstone to achieving your goals for the year ahead. Put that schedule together, work on it, try it out, test it. If you need to make some changes, make those adjustments. It takes about 90 days for the brain to accept a new pattern, so now is the time to get a great start on this before the New Year begins.

Let's maximize those money-making opportunities and hours in your day.

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Hello and welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips. We're talking about a strong finish to 2018.

One of the things I'd like to like you to do in this last quarter of the year is get together with your vendors and your affiliates. Tell them how much you appreciate them and their hard work and how committed you are to being loyal, supportive, and sending them as many referrals in the New Year as possible.

If there are ways that they can improve their service to you, be more helpful so that you can grow your business without hiring more staff, tell them. Even ask them, “What might you be able to do for me that would be fair and reasonable to request, but I just don't know that I could ask for?” And then also ask them for a referral.

Now I get it that because many of them are going to be working with multiple real estate agents it would not be fair that we would expect all of their referrals, so just ask for one name a month. Say, “You know, I don’t even know if it would work out, it might amount to nothing, but if you could just find one name a month to send my way, I would really, really appreciate it.”

So let's meet with them as soon as possible. Let's set a game plan for the New Year ahead. Re-cement that loyalty and relationship, because truly they are a valuable part of your team.

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Hello, it's Debbie De Grote and welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips.

As we work hard to a strong finish for 2018, one of the things I'd like to put on your project list is to update and upgrade your listing presentation.

Look at it and start from scratch. Do you need to add new materials? Do you need to remove some pages because it's too cumbersome? Do you have fluffy pages in there that are unnecessary? What about your reviews? Are you showcasing your reviews, your track record and your performance? Remember, it's great to give good service. What they're really looking for is expertise and results.

Next, what about how you dress for your appointments? Do you prepare by doing advanced research on the seller? How much customizing of the marketing proposal do you do? Remember, we're asking them to pay us a lot of money and we are facing a lot of disruption.

Part of that disruption is the flat rate commission cutting companies, so we've got to be prepared to go in to those appointments and look strong. Be powerful. Show them that you are their champion and advocate and that you have the answers to how to sell their home for the highest realistic price possible.

Also, even if you know them, even if they're your friends, they're family, or they're a past client, let's still be sure to go in prepared, as prepared as we would if we thought they were interviewing other agents. Do not take anything for granted and let's get our game face on. Someone out there somewhere is practicing, and when they meet you at the table competing for that listing, I don't want them to beat you.

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Hello and welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips.

As we talk about the strong finish of 2018, something that I say a lot is, “Stand out as the wise adviser.” Here's what I mean by that.

As you prepare for the year ahead, think about increasing your market knowledge and expertise. Today’s consumers can go online and check their values, which may or may not be accurate. They can do a Google search and get answers to any question imaginable. But to put it all together really requires the wisdom of a wise adviser.

My husband and I recently sold our house and purchased another. My husband has been active in the real estate business for over 35 years and he said to me, “You know, Debbie, you are the most annoying buyer and seller I've had for a long time.”

It is amazing how challenging it can be to navigate the buying, the selling, the ups, the downs, the waiting for contingency removal, the inspections, the walkthroughs – it’s all very, very stressful. So we need to hold their hand through that process, right? They're not going to find the answers and support when they Google, it's you sitting down with them, holding their hand and being that wise advisor.

In conclusion, I really want you to own that space of being the market expert. Be the high-level business consultant and remember how much actual value you bring to the table.

They want to talk to you, they need to talk to you, you have the answers, you have the support, and you'll talk them down off the ledge if they get scared.

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Hello and welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips. As we talk about plans for the New Year ahead, have you ever conducted any community events? This is something that we're encouraging our coaching clients to look at adding to their menu of opportunities for the New Year.

There are two types of events you might consider putting together. There is the fun type of event that might include a family photo in the park or photo with Santa, or maybe even a shredding day. The next type of event is the educational event. You might have a seminar on moving up, downsizing, or renting versus owning. In our Inner Circle, we have kits developed for each of these topics. If you ever choose to join us, we make it easy for you to just plug and play.

I do, however, want to share a couple of tips with you in the meantime. If you're doing the fun, community type of event, it can be easier to get attendance and yet the conversion of actual sales or listings will typically be lower. If you choose an educational event, it will be a little tougher to get them to the event, but the conversion might be very high, often up to 50 percent.

One of the biggest problems is filling the event. That is why you are going to want to work with your joint venture partners, the type of partners that have your ideal clients in their database. This way you can share the work, share the cost, and each of you invite your own group. For example, if your lender is participating and you are meeting their consumer group at the event, there is a bit of a warmer connection than if they were simply a cold stranger. If you want to know more about this, we have a webinar on this topic that I'd be happy to share with you. Just email me, debbie@excelleum.com. In the subject line put, “Send me your Webinar on community events.”

I hope that will help you and remember, wherever there are people there is opportunity, we've just got to get out there and meet them.

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Hello and welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips. We're working on a strong finish to the fourth quarter and a powerful beginning to 2019.

I have a suggestion for you today. What if you formed your own organic networking group? One of our coaches, Alyssa, when she was a young, single mom, she grew her business to over 100 personal transactions without a team. The way that she did this, is she put together her own organic networking groups.

So for example, she put together a group of women in businesses in her local market that were all in a commission sales type of job. They got together and strategized how they were each growing their business. They encouraged and supported each other and they had a strong commitment to send business back and forth to one another. Alyssa shared with me that from that one group alone, she would close typically at least 25 transactions a year and it was easy. They just met once a month for dinner or for lunch and in addition to the success, it was fun. So maybe consider that.

It's also absolutely valuable to join the Chamber of Commerce or a BNI group or some type of charity that you're involved in. What about it though? What if you created your own commission, salesperson networking group and invited other sales professionals into that group so that you can all support each other with your great referrals?

So remember, it can be a great way to do rejection free prospecting.

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Hello and welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips.

As we power through the fourth quarter into the New Year, it will be here before we know it, right? Time flies. Someone signed up for coaching this morning and they said to me, “I have a pretty good business,” and actually it was quite a good business, they were doing over 50 deals a year. But he said, “I never get past 50. I'm stuck there and in fact, I feel that there's some erosion of my business occurring recently because customer loyalty just isn't the same as it was in the past.”

So we talked about some the great agents across the country that we have the pleasure of coaching, that as the coaches are working with them to upgrade and improve their business, we're working to make sure that they have a minimum of three quality sources of business, because this particular gentleman did not.

Basically all he was doing was working with the people that he knew, past clients in his sphere, and if they didn't call, he didn't get a listing. So certainly, database is a huge invaluable piece of your business, and yet I want you to extract absolutely everything from that group that you possibly can.

And then let's expand to make sure you have at least two to three additional quality sources. So I'd like you to have three quality sources of listing opportunities. Once those are cemented, locked in, and running like a machine, let's add a fourth and even a fifth because just imagine if you've got five quality sources that you're working like a machine. You're always going to have new listings coming through the pipeline and you're not going to be overly attached or overly reliant on just one source.

Alright, so let's get ready. Remember the fourth quarter is a great dress rehearsal for the New Year ahead.

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Hello and welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips as we're powering forward into a new and exciting 2019.

One of the things we want to do as we set your goals for the year ahead, is we want to review your numbers from this year. So let's take a look at where you're at listings and sales. I would love to have you break down what percentage is buyer versus listing business.

Also, if you can, go back and reconstruct your listings taken ratio. What percentage of those appointments that you went out on did you actually take? Because what I like to do is look at where your business came from, your success ratios, and then set growth goals in each and every category.

For example, let's say that you discover you're listings taken ratio was quite good. It was 85%, 85% of what you went out on you took. But then what I want you to do is challenge yourself. What if you could bump that to 90% or 95%? Just like the Olympic athlete when they say that record can never be broken, and yet someone always does.

So let's set your goals. Set your numbers for the year ahead and aim to break your personal best record. Set growth goals in each and every category. And remember, dig deeper into your current sources of business. That's often where the low hanging fruit is, just waiting for you to pick it up.

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Hello and welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips and our series on ramping up for the new year ahead.

So as you're thinking about your goal for next year, I would assume that you're hoping to make more money, right? And to make more money than just enough to get by, to just to pay our bills, which we all need to do - but wouldn't it be nice to have some leftover profit?

I'm assuming that as you're setting your goals, you're planning to have some leftover profit. So as you're looking at that number, after expenses, after overhead, after taxes, what will you have left to put away in the bank or to put in your pocket?

Then I'd like to ask you to do what we call, “spend it on paper.” In other words, sit down and think about what would be your use for every penny of that money.

Now, it might be setting up a six month reserve account. It might be investing in a new property. It might be paying off debts. It might be taking a vacation. It might be a little bit of all of the above. The reason I encourage you to spend it on paper is that it actually creates a real need for it.

Then be sure to look at it every day. Share with those in your life who support you so that they'll hold you accountable, because it's a natural human tendency to get a little bit complacent. Because as you move forward towards your goals, when the basic needs are met, it's kind of easy to take your eye off the ball or to take your foot off the gas. And yet, when you go back to this exercise and see all those terrific things that money is going to help you accomplish, I hope it inspires you to push a little harder to get out of that comfort zone and to take some new action.

So set your goal, subtract your overhead, subtract your taxes, and then you take that leftover profit and you spend it on paper.

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Hello, welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips! We're continuing on in our series to get ramped up for the year ahead. So as you're thinking about your strong finish for 2018 and your launch into 2019, hopefully the best year of your entire career, I'd like to ask you to consider this. What is your definition of success?

Success is very different for everyone. For some, it's really going to be all about the income. For others, it might be about building a career that gives them the freedom and flexibility to have time with their children or family. And for some, there may be a different, big why.

I just spoke with someone today who just finished putting their son through nine years of college and law school. He said, “You know Debbie, thank you so much. If I hadn't had the coaching to keep me motivated and on track, my son would have lots and lots of student loans.”

So we all have our definition of success. We all have our big “why,” and yours should be uniquely your very own. It’s what drives us to get through the tougher days when we'd rather not do it, when we'd rather take a nap, right? When we’d rather just avoid the prospecting.

What is it that makes you excited? What is it that your success will help you achieve, and what is your true definition of success for you?

Remember, whatever the mind can conceive and believe it can achieve. So, believe it and now let's go get to work and do it.

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Hello its Debbie and welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips.

I just had a conversation with an agent and I thought this would be a great topic for us to talk about today. We were discussing the fact that often real estate agents just focus on being a great salesperson with their buyer and seller, but they forget that part of being a great salesperson is selling everyone in the deal on how to do what you need them to do. In other words – gaining their cooperation.

We were discussing in this conversation how it’s shocking that sometimes, real estate agents who have offers written on their buyer’s behalf, are rude, unprofessional, or aggressive to the listing agent. What do they really think that will accomplish for them?

And then of course other times you see certain veteran real estate agents who are very prima donna-ish, and very difficult to deal with, to the point that sometimes people actually avoid working with them.

And yet in every market there are the examples of those incredibly gracious people that you seek out because you want to sell their listings. You want to help them get their buyer offer accepted.

So let’s think about that. Not just in terms of professional courtesy, but also that as a great salesperson, your job is to sell everyone in that transaction on cooperating, on achieving the outcome that your customer or client needs to achieve. So it doesn’t stop with the buyer or seller.

Be respectful, be efficient and professional, be gracious, and be a great salesperson. Convince the lender why they should do what you’re asking. Convince the other agent why they should accept your bid, because you are going to be easier to work with and your buyer is fantastic.

In any time of conflict, try to take the high road in those conversations with your vendors, your affiliates, and the real estate agents. Because if you plan to be in the business for a long period of time, you want to shine as that outstanding example, that agent that everyone wants to work with.

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Hello welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips.

How do you communicate to a client why they should choose you?

Often they’ll ask, “Why should I choose you or how are you different?”

I wonder – in 60 seconds or less, can you explain what you do and why it’s unique?

It’s the old elevator speech.

Elevator speeches are no longer than 60 seconds. So as you’re setting up your elevator speech, use clear and concise words and make it interesting and engaging. You might even include a third party story.

A great elevator speech is even crafted for that particular type of customer. It should have a hook, something that makes that customer want to know more about you.

An outstanding elevator speech allows the customer to determine very quickly that you are worth listening to. It could include your value proposition, a short statement that communicates the potential benefits they will experience when they choose you.

And remember – they do buy the benefits, not the feature. So everything you say, as you’re explaining services you provide, as your crafting your elevator speech, should all be designed to answer the question in their mind, which is, “So what? What does this mean to me?”

Here’s another helpful tip. When crafting an elevator speech, read your online reviews. Because in your online reviews, what your clients say about you is actually exactly what you do that’s special and unique.

Read your reviews, work on your elevator speech, and practice it. Because the more you practice it, the more likely you’re going to be to drop it into a variety of conversations.

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Welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips and today we’re talking about community events. It is important today to increase your range, your reach, and your influence in your local community. In fact we encourage our coaching clients to expand their reach, to expand their database, and to raise the level of their connections and communication with those prospects in their market.

A rejection free way to do that is through community events. Now these events can be fun events, things like a family photo in the park, a pet photo, or maybe a concert in the park. A client of ours recently even hosted a day at the local small zoo, a zoo that’s small enough to actually close for a private event. They invited the community and they invited their past clients. So events like this can be fun and can be a great place for you to meet, greet, and reconnect

You can also choose to put on an educational event. In our Inner Circle program, we provide an events planning kit for our coaching clients that has 8-9 different types of events. Some of them are those fun community connection events and many of them are educational events. These educational events include topics such as “Downsize With Distinction,” “Should I Move Up Or Stay And Remodel My Current Home,” “Renting Vs. Owning: Is It Time To Buy,” and investor seminars.

So just think about all the fun and interesting things you could do as a topic that you could promote in your community.

And by the way, you may be thinking, “Well, I’m not a good speaker.” If that’s the case you can just focus on the fun events. Or what you could do is joint venture with a partner, a lender, an affiliate, someone who is a good speaker and would be able to help you with your event.

Now if this interests you, we actually have a fully recorded webinar on these different types of events, including how to set them up, how to fill the room, etc. I would be happy to send that to you upon your request. Just email me, Debbie@excelleum.com.

I believe in community events, because I use them all the time to grow my business. And I love it. I could cold call, or I could get a great group of people in a room, make friends with them, and have a whole group of warm prospects. So I encourage you to consider it.

Remember – if you want a copy of that webinar, Debbie@excelleum.com, and I’ll send you our full events planning informational webinar.

Have a great day, I’ll talk to you soon.

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Welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips and today I was thinking about the difference between being a super star salesperson and an average agent.

There could be a number of factors, obviously we could make a big long list, and yet here’s the one that struck me most. Super achievers in any field, in any industry, do what others know they should do, but simply don’t. And they do it whether they feel like it or not.

As I think of the mega producers that we coach, which are many, I think about their approach to their business. They don’t make excuses and they don’t whine about the hard work. They have a routine and a schedule, they are very protective of their billable time, and they make sure they’re maximizing those billable hours in the day. In fact, many of them measure and track it.

For example, one of our great clients keeps a time log every week. Their goal is that 80% of the day, every day, will be income producing. So there’s IP, income-producing, IS, income-servicing, which of course we all have to do some of that, and then S, which is just stuff.

Super salespeople are very focused on that income-producing activity. And the income-producing activity isn’t always easy – because that would be prospecting, right? That would be part of the income-producing activities, but they are hunters. They know every day they have to hunt.

They know every day they have to show up and work. They know they have to put their game face on when they hit the parking lot of the office. It’s show time. Personal problems, drama, issues, all have to get put to the side, and they show up and they focus and they do their job.

Now of course in life we all have disruptions and illness and things that occur. I want you to take care of your family as you need to, and yet I also want you think about this. When you look at the amount of money that you intend to earn this year, I want you to think about this. If you were paying that amount of money to someone, what would you expect of them? Would you expect that they show up well dressed, well rested, and ready to work every morning, bright and shiny? Or would you expect excuses?

There’s a big difference! Super achievers in any industry do what others know they should do but simply don’t do.

Alright so good luck, and make it a super powerful day.

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Hello, welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips!

I wanted to talk to you today about what you need to do to have a strong listing year.

First of all, you are going to need to dig in. You’re going to need to hunt and be at the top of your game. You are going to need to outshine your competition at every turn.

You are going to need to maximize your strengths and your key sources of business. We cannot let any leads, any past client, or quality prospect go unattended. In other words, we don‘t want to leave any money on the table!

Are you guys with me so far? Ok good! If you don’t mind, I would like to say - stop worrying about the disruptors! The commission cutters who want to erode your share of your listing market.

Don’t get mad, get even. Get even by shutting them down, by locking in your clients’ loyalty and setting yourself apart as the wise advisor.

We need to have a more logical, systematic, and deep approach to the business segments you choose to work. In other words, you need to work smarter, not harder.

If you need some help, reach out and we‘d be happy to help you.

Have a great day and I‘ll talk to you soon.

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Hello its Debbie and welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips!

You know, in each of your markets there are areas of opportunities. So for a moment let’s focus on the geographical areas.

Whether you are a geographical farmer or are simply looking for the pocket markets that offer greater potential, you will want to identify where the best areas of opportunity might be.

Here is what I mean. Let’s say you plan to make calls, send letters, or door knock and that you‘re doing this in an area with only 1% turnover versus an area with 4% turnover.

Logically it just makes sense to choose the area with greater turnover. And yet, agents often give this very little consideration before launching their marketing campaigns.

In addition to geographical territories, we can next take a look at the segments of the population that interest you, or that you feel have a powerful potential for return.

Now these segments could include absentee owners, downsizers, or networking groups that have your ideal type of clients as members. What I want you to leave today with, very clear, is: maximize your listing opportunities.

To do that, you need to identify at least 3-5 key sources of pursuit and then have the action plans, the scripts, the technology, and systems that allow you to extract every ounce of potential from those systems and sources.

So we need to find the market hot spots! You can do it by looking at turnover mapping, potentially through your title company, price versus turnover, figure out quadrant farming, the areas you want to focus on, or target prospecting, going after a particular type of opportunity.

Alright but bottom line, do something!

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Hello, welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips!

How do you gain the listings you need? Well, you must expand what you do.

If you don’t have all of the listings you need, it just makes sense that you are going to need to expand what you do, but there are many many ways that you could actually expand.

For example, you could work a bigger geographic area.

You could try a new type of prospecting method.

You could increase your marketing budget.

You could improve conversion ratio.

Before you expand though, my first challenge to you though is to identify what you do best already. What are your key sources of listings? And close the gaps. In other words, set a goal to extract more out of those key sources and then add a web of systems so strong, drop that web on them, that you stay top of mind, and that you stay top of mind as their wise advisor.

Okay so don’t forget, expand something that you do, and then set yourself apart as that wise advisor.

Talk to you soon!

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Hello it’s Debbie De Grote and welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips!

Did you know that 85% of homeowners still choose an agent they know and trust?

As I travel around the country, so many agents tell me that they are worried about the disruptors, the online lead portals who are trying to take their seller leads away.

They are worried that their future seller will ditch them and go online in search of their new real estate opportunity.

But here is the good news: 85% choose an agent they know and trust. However, the scary part is that they know a lot of agents and they‘re are being marketed to by lots of agents.

We need to be certain that you are top of mind, and yes, that you are a shining bright light of knowledge and wisdom.

Because let’s face it - they can get data and they can even Google answers to their questions. What they need though is that wise advisor to put it all together for them.

So again, you need to own that space. Your marketing needs to showcase your skills, your expertise, and your results.

And of course, service is important but it’s also expected. If you want them to choose you and pay you what you deserve, then they need to believe you have the expertise to sell their home at the highest possible price while still making it as stress free as you can.

Alright have a great day, I’ll talk to you soon.

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Hello it’s Debbie, and welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips.

I was thinking today about marketing, because so often I speak to real estate agents who are frustrated with their marketing campaigns.

They’re just not getting the results that they want to get. So as you sit down and strategize about your marketing campaigns, you need to be thinking about the conversations that are going on in the mind of your marketing prospects.

Let’s take a look at some of the things they may be thinking and may need your help with:

Should I move up?
Are we heading into a down cycle?
Is it time to downsize?
Should I buy an investment?
Will rates increase?
How can I help my kids buy a house?
How do I time the market?

You know, a few years ago I was reading an Inman report and the report said that as real estate agents, we are always telling homeowners, “Now is the time to move up!!!!”

But what we haven’t been addressing is the how, the process, the system, and how we can help them do it in a way that doesn’t leave them homeless or owning two homes.

It struck me that this is a huge space, that as wise advisors we can own this space as experts, offering high level real estate consultations, and by providing systems and resources that actually make the process simple for them.

As we know, the move up market in many parts of the country though is not the hottest hot spot. So then what is? Find it. Address the conversation in their mind, and win the business.

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Hello and welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips!

I was thinking about the downsizing Baby Boomers today.

I realized, The Baby boomers are a massive generation, and what you may not know is that they own 40% of the real estate. Many of them are looking to upgrade their quality of life, diminish their overhead, unload the maintenance of owning a large house, and move in to a smaller property in a cooler location. In fact, some are even buying two smaller homes, one in their neighborhood to be close to friends, family or aging parents, and one in a different destination, maybe what in the past for them has been a vacation destination. You hear a lot about the snowbirds, right? Snowbirds move between their locations depending on the season.

The Boomer generation is not defined by their age; they see themselves and young and vibrant and on the move.

They often do express concerns about a dip in the real estate values, which is something they fear.

They may feel their home is at the top market price and if the market dips, they don’t want to wait around for the market to return.

So they may be wondering, what is the window of opportunity?

Today‘s prospects, today’s Boomers, share one thing is common.

Because they have the information online and it‘s easily accessible, they may start their searches well in advance of when they are ready to make a move.

So re-connect with them.

Talk to them about the opportunities that are available, nurture them so that you will have their future business, and even potentially spark them into taking action sooner!

And remember – the Boomers were born 1946 to 1964. There is big money to me made by tapping into the downsizing Baby Boomer market.

Alright, have a great day, go find some new opportunity! I‘ll talk to you soon.

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Hello, it’s Debbie De Grote and welcome to Debbie’s Tips.

You know, I had an email this morning. It was perfect, just in time for me to record this tip for you.

It was a list of questions from a guy that we coach, a fabulous guy, who is all fired up and ready to go with a mission of making 40 contacts per day.

Now, I get it, that that’s a big goal, and I get it that many people who would listen to this Debbie Tips, would not have an interest in doing 40 contacts a day or a plan to do so, but his questions were so valuable and appropriate, I’d thought I’d answer them for you on the Debbie’s Tips today.

So, number one question that he asked is, do I count a contact if they’re a new lead, or does it count if they’re also people from my database, and does it count if they call me or do I have to make the outbound call?

So guys, I want you to think of it this way. In a very pure sense, think of a contact as a live conversation, eye-to-eye or ear-to-ear, with a decision-making adult, that potentially could spark a new real estate opportunity, okay?

So, if you think about it, you could see a friend at Starbucks and ask them for a referral. That would count as a contact. A past client could call in and give you a referral. That’s a new business opportunity. That could count as a contact.

So, inbound or outbound, I don’t care, it doesn’t matter. They can be a stranger or they can be your best friend, or they can be your mother, that’s all fine as long as it’s a conversation that could potentially lead to a new business opportunity.

Now, it doesn’t mean that every call would give you a lead. It would still count as a contact if you had that conversation.

Next, he went on to ask, do lead follow-up calls count as a contact

Well, let’s say that someone reached out online, you’ve never spoken to them. Absolutely, that’s a fresh contact. 100%. But, what he was really saying is, what about the people who are in your pipeline and they’re saying, you know, I’ll sell in 60 days, or I’ll sell in 90 days, or maybe I’ll buy in 6 months, and you’re having those repetitive conversations with them, does each conversation count as a contact?

No, unless you’re asking for a new business opportunity. So, let’s say I’m calling Fred, and I’m saying, “Hey, Fred. I’m just checking in. Do you still have a plan to get your home sold in the next three months?” “Yes, Debbie, but I’m not ready yet.” “Okay, Fred. Well, I’m going to be here for you. I want to meet with you at that time. And by the way, Fred, you know a lot of people. Is there anyone that you can think of today, that might need my help?”

See, it was an ongoing lead follow-up call, but I did ask Fred for new business, so absolutely, I can count that as a contact.

Next, he was asking, well, what about if I’m following up with my sellers on listings, or what about if I’m following up with my buyers who are already under contract, just, you know, to give status reports and updates, can I count those as a contact?

Well, when you’re just following up on existing business, no, that wouldn’t be a contact, unless you ask them for a referral, right? So, if I’m calling my buyer and saying, “Hey, just want to let you know, appraisal came in signed. We’re good to go. We’re going to be closing on time.” And they’re so excited, and you say, “I’m so delighted to help. And, by the way, you know, I love working with you, and now I’m going to need a new client. Is there anyone you can think of who might need my help?”

See, now, I accomplished two great purposes. I did my follow-up conversation with my seller or my buyer who’s pending, so that’s all good because I want to, you know, lock them in as a client for life, and I want them to feel comfortable referring business to me in the future, and I asked for a referral. So now, they could be a contact.

So, then he says, what about open house?

Absolutely. Anybody that you’re talking to at open house, and prospecting to pick up, that’s a contact.

So, you kind of get it, right guys? Just think of it this way: doesn’t have to be a new person, but it needs to be a conversation about a new opportunity, and that could even include, as you speak to your vendors and your affiliates, and you’re asking, hey, is there anyone you know today who needs my help.

Because here’s what I want. I want you to be hunting for business all the time, anywhere and everywhere, seeking, and searching out that new opportunity. See, it’s easier than you think when you think about all the places you might be in the day, and all the conversations you may have. The only thing we have to do is start asking more directly for what you want.

So, good luck and happy hunting today. Talk to you soon.

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Welcome to Debbie’s Tips, and I’m going to answer a question that just came in today. And it’s not a unique question. I do get asked this question a lot:

If I’m not a team, if I do not have a team, I’m a good veteran agent and I’m out there competing against a big team, how do I do that? How do I sell against them?

Well, it reminded me of a book Barbara Corcoran has. You can find it, on Amazon or Barnes & Noble, and the title of the book was, If You Don’t Have Big Breasts, Put Ribbons In Your Pigtails. The subtitle was: Use What You’ve Got. Alright? So, let’s think about it.

If you have a team, certainly there are some advantages you bring to the table.

If you don’t have a team, though, there are some advantages you also bring to the table, and that is that most likely, that seller is going to have your full attention.

That when they list the home with you, and they call in tomorrow for something that they need, they’re going to get you. They’re not going to get passed around through a pipeline of team members that don’t know their name.

Now, I’m not saying, if you have a team that you shouldn’t, or that your team is bad. Not at all. But, remember, use what you’ve got.

So, if I’m selling against a team, first of all, I may know who the team is and I’m not going to trash that team. I’m not going to trash any agent because I don’t think it’s appropriate, and also, it just makes me look bad, and it will make the seller defend whoever they’re interviewing. So, it totally backfires.

But I could say something like this. So, let’s say I know that you’re interviewing a team, top team in the area, and I’m not a top team. So, I come in and I’m at that interview, and I say, “You know, Mr. and Mrs. Seller, I know that you mentioned that you were interviewing a team, and that may be the way you choose to go. And I am not a team, and yet, if I may share with you, I do have a team behind me. I have my leadership team at my company, I have the powerful tools, resources, and team members behind me at the brand that I’m affiliated with, and then, I have my powerhouse team of lender, of title, of other support services that will be working with us to close our transaction. So, you see, I do have a powerful team, and yet, when you list with me, you will be working with me as an individual agent. So, you will know that you have my attention. You will always be able to get to me. So, it’s a little bit like the boutique owner who meets you at the door and takes care of you personally. So, while I’m not a team in the traditional sense, I do have a powerful group behind me, and I will give you the white glove attention and five-star service that you deserve.”

So, I haven’t trashed the other team, I just pointed out the benefits of that personal and customized attention.

And you know what, guys? They get it.

In fact, some of our best teams, some of our top teams in the nation, the team leader does not go out on appointments and talk much about the team. And the reason for that is, they are afraid that the seller might feel that they will not get that personal attention.

So, just a thought, right? So, use what you’ve got. It’s a great book. You may want to check it out, and good luck out there.

And I’ll talk to you soon on the next Debbie’s Tips. Have a good day.

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Hi, welcome to Debbie's Tips.

Today, I'm going to talk to the brand-new agents. Because often, I will be at events and new agents will say to me, my goodness. It's such a competitive market.

How can I sell myself when I'm new, especially to a seller? Because buyers are a little bit easier, am I right? Because they're not actually paying you commission.

So, you know, you find them the right house, they're, for the most part, pretty easy. But a seller is a different story because they are paying a commission, and there are some big veterans out there, and there are some big teams out there, so how does a new agent really get their start? Well, here's what I would suggest.

First of all, a very easy way to do it is to consider partnering with a veteran on a few listings until you've got your groove, until you feel more confident, and see what you can learn from them. This is always an option, especially if you're working higher-end properties, you may need to do that.

Now, another idea would be, because you don't yet have your own data and statistics, pull from the company data. You know, going into that appointment saying, we, "we" meaning you and your company, we have X market share. We have sold this many homes in your market. We have an outstanding marketing plan.

If you're knowledgeable, have done your homework and research, have a well-organized presentation, you're very confident and you use those stats and those numbers, a lot of the time they won't even ask you how long you've been in the business or what your personal track record is.

But, let's say that they do.

We should be ready for that, right?

So, if you're two months into the business, you can certainly, honestly say, “You know, I'm in my first year. Thank you for asking. And I want to assure you that I have a wealth of wisdom and knowledge at my fingertips in the leadership of my team or the leadership of my company, whatever applies to you. So, Mr. and Mrs. Seller, you've got the best of everything, an outstanding company with strong senior leadership and experience, and then you have the enthusiasm and the work ethic of someone who is absolutely willing to work overtime and go to the mat, because I am hungry to dominate this market and to win your business for the future.”

You know, as a top producing agent, I took most of the listings that I went out on. I worked hard to be good at it, and yet, every now and then, I would lose a listing to a new agent.

And, you know what the seller would say?

You know, Debbie, we just thought you'd might be too busy, or we might not get the same focus from you that we would get from this agent because they're new, they're hungry, and they don't have anything else going on. We would be their only point of focus. So we know that some of them like that. So, if you're backed into a corner, and you're going to have to admit that you are new, that you do not have a track record, then own it with pride.

Yes, I am a newer agent. Yes, I've been in the business less than a year, and that's exactly why you want to hire me. Be excited about it. Right guys? Because you're hungry, you're going to work overtime, and you can assure them that they will have your full attention.

Have a good day. Be confident, be well-prepared, and get out there and be powerful. I'll talk to you soon.

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Hi, welcome to Debbie's Tips.

Today we're talking about newsletters for marketing. I get asked this question a lot:

Are newsletters good? You know, do people like them? Do they like to get them? Should I do them?

And, of course, there's a lot of electronic newsletters that you can purchase, or maybe even your company has for you that you can plug and play and send that out to your clients. And by all means, go for it. So, that's fine if you have that available to you.

I would share with you, though, that electronic newsletters are not opened and read as often as I wish they were, because there is some great content out there that you may be sending.

So, personally, my preference is to actually send a written newsletter, and we do that every month at Excelleum.

We have our Excelleum newsletter, and that goes out to our clients and our warm connections. In fact, if you'd like to get it, send me an email at Debbie@Excelleum.com and say, please add me to your newsletter list.

Because, see, here's what I know.

If somebody gets a newsletter in the mail, and it's well done and interesting and has a variety of content, they'll tend to keep it around for more than a minute.

So, if you're sending out to, let's say, your past clients or your geographic farm, a postcard that talks about how fabulous you are, and it's like a branding postcard, well, they're looking at that on the way to the trashcan and, boom, goes in the trash.

But, you send them a well done newsletter, they lay it down until they can sit with a cup of coffee or a glass of wine and read it.

You know, I sometimes get those types of things, and I'll read it, and I'll lay it by the coffee maker so my husband can read it, and that's really what we would hope for.

So, I know it's a lot of trouble to write your own. That's exactly why, for our coaching clients, we provide that newsletter for them monthly, so they don't have to. But, if you're good at it, by all means, go for it.

I would suggest though that if you can't get one out every month, and that's going to distract and derail you from other important prospecting activities, maybe you do one quarterly.

And again, there's lots of good ones that you might choose from out there, that you can purchase. But to answer the question, absolutely. Newsletters are popular, alive and well, and may be a good, valuable tool that you want to consider, especially for your warm connections.

Alright guys, have a great day. I'll talk to you soon.

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Hello, welcome to Debbie's Tips.

I thought what we should probably talk about today is e-blasts and video, and using that in your marketing.

People ask me a lot, because they see me do a lot of email marketing and a lot of video marketing, “Is it really appropriate, necessary, to do much of it for my real estate clients? You know, do I really need to do that with my database and my lead pipeline?”

And the answer absolutely is yes.

Now, I do want to say though, that direct mail marketing to your great groups is super valuable.

Because, think about it. I read somewhere the other day that the average person gets like, 110 emails a day, even if they only open 20%.

And, even of the ones they open, they don't even read them all, right?

So, we know that our impact on an e-blast is not as great as someone driving up in their driveway, going to their mailbox and taking out four or five pieces of mail, and right there is your fabulous mail piece. But of course, that's expensive.

So, if you're looking at your mail marketing, we want to be marketing to our best groups, your geographic farm, past clients and sphere of influence.

We want to stay top of mind.

And as you're doing that, we also want to look for any way we can to cut costs without cutting quality.

So, in a geographic farm, I think you guys know about every door direct. Every Door Direct Mailing, EDDM, very cost efficient. And we also want to make sure that those messages are setting you up as the wise advisor and have a call to action.

Now, on your e-blasts - you know, I often ask my marketing person, Pete Mitchell, so, what's too much? And he said, well, weekly is not too much.

The rule, though, is just don't be boring.

So, on your e-blast you're going to pick a variety of topics. Maybe it's updating them on new listings, maybe it's community news and information, maybe it's sharing an article on home improvement.

If you're one of our coaching clients, you have access to our lifestyle advisor newsletter, which you can tear apart and turn into different e-blast messages.

But at a minimum, I would suggest at least once a month, get an e-blast out there.

More frequent if you can.

Now, what about video? I remember when video for real estate first became a thing, and people would spend thousands and thousands of dollars on these professionally made and professionally edited videos.

And you may feel you need to do that, and you certainly may have that and it's working fine for you.

And yet, you know what people love? Organic. Right?

They love the interesting things you're doing out in the field, or the great new hot property that you have, or a quick little message and market update that you have for them. I guess you'd say it's kind of like reality TV, right?

They love that glimpse into the real world. But agents avoid video, because they don't feel like they have a good script, or they don't feel they look good enough on camera, or they don't know how to do it, and I would really encourage you to stop over thinking it.

When you're making those videos, be yourself.

Here's what I mean by that.

I'm not excessively comedic. You know, I can tell a couple jokes or a funny story if I'm speaking or doing some kind of conference call. I can do it. But I wouldn't say I would call myself a funny person, so I'm not going to try to make videos that are comedic because it would fall flat. It's not me.

So, when I make my videos for the coaching company, it's very much about content because that's my groove. I know the real estate industry. We're a real estate family. I talk to some of the brightest and best across the nation every day. So, it's about content for me.

So find your groove. Find your niche.

Get a couple of simple tools and technologies that make it easy for you to make your video, or to send that video out to your clients.

You know, when an email has a video attached, or a video email versus a regular, written email, I have read, and I've also noticed it on our marketing material, that the open rate, the rate of engagement, increases dramatically.

In fact, if we attach a video, we'll see our open rate go from 20% to over 50%. So, e-blasts and video. Let's make sure you're utilizing your tools to have even greater connections with your database, your farm, and any of your past clients.

Alright guys, have a great day and I'll talk to you soon.

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Hello, and welcome to Debbie’s Tips.

How would you like an easy way to increase your referrals?

Sound good, right? Everybody would like more referrals.

Well, here’s a thought. Often, we miss great referral opportunities because the people that like us, past clients, sphere of influence, database, friends, family, you name it, they have their belief about the market that we serve. Or the price points that we serve.

You know I’m right, because we’ve all had this happen, where we have that distressing conversation where someone says, “Hey, you know, my friend or my family member - guess what? They just sold their home.” “Well, my goodness. I’m curious, why didn’t you have them call me? I would’ve loved to have helped them.” “Oh, but I didn’t think you worked that area,” or, “I didn’t realize you covered that price point. I thought it’d be too low for you, or too high for you, or too far away for you.”

And it’s so frustrating, isn’t it guys? You’re thinking, are you kidding me? I would’ve loved to have had that opportunity. So, we know that this happens. There are only a couple of things you can do that will, hopefully, expand that opportunity, and do so easily.

One of the things that you can do is, whenever you get the opportunity in your marketing material to talk about the areas you service, do it.

There was an agent - I’m not saying copy this because it was actually kind of an ugly piece, but maybe very effective - I saw on my door a little flyer that she had left because she farmed my geographic area, and it was just a cheap piece of paper that had a cartoon horse corral.

In the middle of the corral it had her big, giant, floating head. Just her head. And it said that while she was serving that particular area, it also said, “Don’t fence me in!” and it went on to talk about all the areas that she services.

Now, my husband Don, as you may know, is, you know, thirty-plus year veteran, actively selling along with my daughter, Erika, and one of the things that Don will say in his marketing material and in his scripting with his past clients is, “I service most of LA and Orange County. Everything from condo to mansion. So, whether you’re moving across the street, across town, or across the nation, call me first because if I can’t handle it, I have an incredible network of elite agents to pull from to get you to the person you need to serve you best.”

So, we need to build it into the marketing, we need to build it into our scripting, when we call our database and we talk to our clients, and we need to keep repeating.

And another thing you could do is, if you're sending out marketing material to your past clients or to your sphere, occasionally do a piece that says, “Recent Sales,” and showcase a variety of price points, a variety of neighborhoods.

Recent could be one week or a few months. It doesn't matter.

But, we want to give that indication and that impression that you've got it all going on, that you've got it all covered. You know, I talked to a great agent the other day and he said, “I just make it easy. I just say I'm licensed in the State of California.”

And I thought, wow. That's brilliant. Now, he's not going to handle everything they give him, but it gives him the opportunity to get that phone call, okay? So, remember, you've got to tell them, tell them, tell them, and then, tell them again.

Alright, have a great day, guys. I'll talk to you soon.

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Hello, and welcome to Debbie’s Tips.

So something has been coming up a lot lately, and it’s the question: how do I establish my value with buyers?

This may seem like a crazy question because we all know how hard you probably work to get a buyer into a home, close that transaction and hold their hand through the process, and yet, it seems that as buyers come in to open houses, they’re more reluctant to give their information.

Plus, of course, we know how hard we chase them when they come in through an online lead portal.

You know, if you get into their head, I wonder if it’s because they think they have easy access to information, so why do they need us, right?

So if we can go to that thought and address that thought when we’re having that conversation with them – and you know, I was roleplaying with an agent today and we were talking about what our value is as agents.

Well, in today’s market, it’s helping them beat the crowd to some of the best properties in town. It’s being willing and proactive to get out there and actually find homes for them, whether that’s doing call arounds in the neighborhoods they want to be in, knocking on doors, reaching out to expireds, FSBOs, canceleds, old expireds sending, I have a buyer letters, etc.

So let me try this script out with you and see what you think. Let’s say that you’re at my open house and I’m trying to get your information.

I say, “Here’s what I do for my buyers. First of all, I only work with a small select group at any given time because I want to give outstanding service, and I leave no stone unturned to find them a home they love.

"Obviously, I check all the normal places, the multiple listing and any other online sources and resources, but I also go out and proactively hunt. That includes prospecting, that includes mail marketing, and a very strategic approach to finding those right properties to help my clients beat the crowd to some of the better properties in town.

"And you know, the great news about it, Mr. and Mrs. Buyer, is you don’t pay me a dime for that service. In fact, all I ask for is your loyalty, that as I go out and work with you and hunt for you, that you will work with me and be loyal to me, and I will help you find the best possible match and best possible property.

"So, let’s do this. Why don’t we get together this week? Let me put together a couple of samples. You may or may not buy them, odds are you won’t, and yet, when you see the samples I have for you, you can help me fine-tune adjust and get my mind around your exact criteria, so that, as I’m out there hunting, I find what’s hottest and best for you.

"I’ve got a little time tomorrow. Why don’t we get together at 4:00?”

See, we’ve got to sell the hook, the sizzle, the sexy, of why they should give their contact information to you. Why should they change their mind about just searching online and hunting on their own, and be willing to commit and connect to you?

You’re going to have to try a little harder, you’re going to have to dazzle a little bit more, and certainly, you are going to have to get out there and hunt those opportunities if we want to move them forward quickly.

One last thought. Of course as you begin your search process with them, they’re going to have their goals, their vision, their idea of their ideal property, and you may or may not be able to find it.

That’s why you’re going to want to go back again and again and again and refine that search criteria. See if they can expand their areas.

My favorite question I always love to ask a buyer was, “If we find a home that’s perfect in every way, what is absolutely the most you’re willing to pay? I don’t want to leave any possibilities off the table, so absolutely the most you’re willing to pay, so I know how far I can go in bringing possibilities to you.”

So, it’s really hard work, I get it, to get out there and find them those properties, and that’s exactly why we want to make sure we’ve got quality buyers, completely prequalified, and loyal, and willing to work with you.

Alright, have a great day and I’ll talk to you soon.

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Hello, welcome to Debbie’s Tips.

I wanted to talk to you today about something called, The Promise Technique.

Now, some of you may have had training on neuro-persuasion. We often call it NLP, Neuro Linguistic Persuasion/Programming, and it’s really nothing specifically created for real estate.

It’s actually just very powerful words, phrases, and methods of communicating that motivate, inspire, and connect with people psychologically.

Now, there is a technique called The Promise Technique that I learned as I went through some NLP training. It’s very simple, and I’ll tell you how to apply it to your business in a very practical way.

So, here’s the thought behind it: When you get someone to promise you, about 90% of the time, most people will make an effort to keep that promise.

So, how can that help us in the real estate industry?

Well, have you ever gone on a listing appointment and a seller said to you, oh my goodness. Great meeting. You are so professional. I’m looking forward to working with you. Yes. Yes. Yes.

We’ll be ready in a couple of weeks, and you walk out of there and you’re super excited, but also a little worried because you don’t have them signed on the dotted line, and you know what can happen.

They get distracted or pulled away, or meet someone at church, or some friend who now has a real estate license, and then suddenly, they show up on the MLS, and they’re not listed with you.

Well, one thought- of course, we want to get it signed while we’re there and do everything possible, and yet, if that isn’t possible, then let’s utilize the promise technique, and it’s quite simple.

“So, Mr. and Mrs. Seller, I’m so excited that you’re excited about working with me. And I want you to know, I am going to do my very best to get you the highest, realistic price possible. And so, all I’m asking is that you promise me that we are going to work together because I can’t wait.”

“Oh, yes, Debbie. We promise you.”

“Oh, excellent. I appreciate that promise.”

Now, let’s say that they’re a couple months out, and I’m going to be doing some follow up with them over the next few weeks, I want to find any way that I can, you know, without being weird about it, to remind them of their promise.

“So, you know, Mr. and Mrs. Seller, remember, you promised me, I’m your girl. I’m really looking forward to working with you.”

Maybe, the next time I call them back I say, “Okay. So, don’t forget, we’ve got a promise, we’re working together.” So, I just want to keep reminding them that they have made a commitment to me.

Of course I can’t promise you that they won’t break their commitment to you.

But it just is going to slow them down, give them pause, and remember, for the majority of people, if they make you a direct promise, they’re going to try very hard to keep it.

So, just a thought. It’s one great technique, it’s easy to use, and it might give you that little bit of extra insurance and opportunity.

Alright, make it a great day. I look forward to talking to you soon.

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Hello, welcome to Debbie’s Tips.

You know, a lot of conversation is going on right now about how to get more listing opportunities. Because, of course, listings are so valuable. That’s the name of the game. And, across the country, we all know that listing inventory has been tight.

So, as I travel around and meet with some of our best clients, some of the top listers in the nation, it’s interesting that an old-school technique has become very popular again. And what I’m talking about when I say an old-school technique is open house.

In fact, I’m seeing a lot of the top-listing agents that, possibly for years, have not been actively holding open house, using that as an aggressive opportunity to attack that neighborhood.

So whatever they need to do to navigate and set up the time, so they have a two-week opportunity to prepare marketing, get their ads ready, drive traffic to that open house, putting it on the MLS, but then doing it strategically, so that it’s not sold before the weekend of open house happens, giving themselves a chance to meet neighbors, to pick up new sellers, new buyers, and really leveraging that listing opportunity into one - two - three, and in some cases more, deals.

So, just a thought.

When you have that opportunity for that great new listing, let’s make sure that we’re doing everything we can to turn that into an event and to really go in there, setting a goal that, as a very, very minimum, you want to get one additional transaction from it.

Now, of course, I hear from agents, also, all the time, that they find it’s harder to get people’s numbers and information and make those great connections at open house, because they’re a little withdrawn, and quite frankly, maybe they feel they don’t need us, right?

They can go online and do their research.

So, if you need some help with your open house conversion, we actually have a very good conference call recording, and I’d be happy to share that with you.

So if you’re listening to this or reading this tip, and you need that, please go ahead and reach out to me, Debbie@Excelleum.com, and say, I’d like to take you up on your offer of converting from open house, and I’ll be happy to send that to you.

Okay, so, have a great day, and I look forward to talking to you soon.

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Hello and welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips, it’s Debbie De Grote. And today we are talking about the disruption that’s occurring in the real estate industry.

So I guess if I had to have a title for this particular segment, it would be, Will the Disrupters Make Real Estate Agents Obsolete?

So, of course, my belief is absolutely not, and here is what I mean by the disruptors. So we all know that the major real estate portals are going after the seller leads as aggressively and as extensively as they went after the buyer leads. So, of course, that’s going to change the real estate game to some degree because a lot of clients are going to go online and do their searches for data and information there. But here is the reason that I believe firmly that there is such a great need and such a great value in what you do. You see, while data is important, knowledge, meaning answers to questions, is helpful. There needs to be that wise adviser, that wise adviser that pulls all of this information together, sorts through, sorts it out, applies it to the client situation, holds their hands throughout the stress of the deal and takes it across the finish line to the closing.

See, the online portals can’t do that for them. You and I could go to a bookstore today and we could buy a medical textbook, right? We could easily do that, and that would tell us all about how to do an open heart surgery. And we could Google and get answers about how to do an open heart surgery and yet we wouldn’t actually have the wisdom to perform the operation.

Same type of thing, right? So if you want to continue to dominate your community, if you want to disrupt the disrupters, then I really want you to own your power as a wise adviser, as a consultant, and own your market knowledge so that you can speak with expertise to trends, to data, to important things that they need to know to maximize the sales price of their home or to buy the best property possible.

So sure, there's always something looking to interrupt and disrupt our business, always something. Yet I find that at times those challenges make us better, stronger, more focused. It's just simply time to own that space as that wise advisor. Look at that as you do your marketing, how you position yourself on your website, your testimonials that prove the value of who you are and the services that you bring to the table.

Alright guys, so make it a great day. Go out there, be powerful and help some of those great people achieve the goals that they have set. Talk to you soon.

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Hello, it’s Debbie De Grote and welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips.

So today I wanted to talk about closing techniques, classic closes. You know I remember watching a video once and I can’t even remember who the author of this video was, it was many, many, years ago and they had all these different classic closing techniques. Techniques like reducing it to the ridiculous, major close on a minor issue, the take away close. And you know as I was thinking about all of these different closes and I thought okay, what is the number one best classic close that’s also the most effective? And bottom line, it’s the assumptive close.

So what I mean by that is because you are very good at what you do, when someone reaches out to you and let's say for an example you come and list their home and you go and meet with them, why wouldn't you just assume that you're going to take that listing? And therefore, why wouldn’t you prepare all of the paperwork? And as you’re having the dialogue with that seller, why wouldn’t you say, “When we work together, as I list your home, when I bring you offers”? So instead of saying, “If you choose me, if we work together,” why wouldn’t you just assume that that's going to happen?

You know it made me think of a couple of fun techniques and you may or may not want to try them but they actually work quite well. I remember that one of our coaching clients told me that he would always pull up in front of the home, he knew the seller was watching, so he always had a small stakes sign, and a for sale sign that he would pull out of its trunk. He wouldn’t be so presumptuous as to stick it in the front yard, but what he would do is he would carry it up to the front porch and just kind of respectfully lean it on the sidewall, not obnoxiously in their face but just that when they would open that door they would see the sign leaning there. He didn’t make a comment about it, didn't say a word, would just go right on in the door and do his thing.

I also thought about the fact that one of my assumptive techniques is when I would be booking the appointment I would always ask the seller to have a key ready. “You know Mr. and Mrs. Seller when we get together and list your home for sale, I will need to have a spare key, so if you have one, would you please put that in an envelope for me and if you don't have a spare, would you mind having one made? And by the way, I always forget to ask for it, so if you could, just have it in an envelope on the table with my name on it and that way I'll remember to ask you for that key.”

So think about it, if we use the proper language from that first conversation all the way through the appointment, if we’re extremely well-prepared, have our contract filled out as much as possible, all our documents, all our ducks in a row, if we drive up and start making notes of the property, taking pictures, pull that frame out of the trunk, lean it to the sidewall, we've asked them to have a key ready, now we walked into that front door and I use our great verbal suggestion, “Mr. and Mrs. Seller, I am so excited to be here and I am 100% confident that at the end of our meeting today, you will be certain that you should choose me to sell your home, so let’s get started.”

Now 98% of the world prefers to be led, so lead them! It’s much more likely that they’re going to go with the flow if you make it easy for them to do so. So when it comes time to close them, don't say, “Do you want to buy, do you want to sell, do you want to make an offer, do you have any more questions?” Instead assume that they're moving forward. “You know Mr. Buyer, what is the most that you're willing to pay to make sure another buyer doesn't take your home away?” or “Mr. Seller, tell me, by when would you like your home sold to the buyer who is willing to pay the highest realistic price? By when would you like to have the home under contract? Perfect. And that’s exactly why we should go ahead and get started today, right?”

So we’re going to take that next step, we’re going to help guide them. This is not about being pushy, it’s not about being overly aggressive, it's just simply helping them overcome their fear and hesitation to make the decision that they need to achieve the goal that they have. So let’s assume they’re going to invite you over, let’s assume they're going to do what you ask, let’s assume they're going to sign with you, let's assume that you have the business.

Alright guys, make it a great day. I’ll talk to you soon.

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Hello and welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips.

And I have an interesting question to answer today, the question was, when I’m on a listing appointment, how much of the time should I be spending talking?

Well, I thought a lot about that and I thought well, first of all, it shouldn't really be more than a 50-50 balance, right. 50% of the time I’m talking, 50% of the time they’re talking. If I'm not engaging them in the conversation, they’re going to glaze over, they’re going to get bored, they’re going to tune me out and I may not win the listing. So I think 50-50 is a good ratio to shoot for.

Now inside of that 50% of the time that I’m talking or that you're talking, I feel that that should be asking powerful question. So 25% of the time, powerful questions, 25% of the time, statement and introduction, 50% of the time they’re doing the talking, they’re very engaged and inspired by you.

So remember, it's not a pitch, it's not a sermon, it needs to be an interactive conversation.

Okay, make it a great day and I'll look forward to talking to you very soon.

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Hello, it’s Debbie De Grote and welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips.

So I got an email this morning that said, “Help! I'm bored by my prospecting.” So here's my advice, because you as your listening to this today, you might be saying, me too! I'm bored with my prospecting too.

So the first thing I would suggest is stop saying that. You know, I remember something I read a long time ago and it said that an airline pilot had commented in a news article that their job was about 98% sheer boredom and about 2% sheer terror. So bottom line guys, anything that you do a lot, anything that is repetitious, anything that you get good at it and it becomes easy and routine, it's going to get a little bit boring. My broker once told me, let repetitious boredom become your friend. Expect it, embrace it and that you don't have to be every day having so much fun making those prospecting calls, instead you’re going to have fun with the result that it gives you, right?

So as I’m making these calls and I’m telling myself stop it, you know this is my prospecting equals freedom, this is my ticket to my future, these are all the great things ahead that I wanted to for my family.

So if it were fun every minute of every day, it would be called a vacation, right? But it’s not, it’s work, it’s a job, so you don't have to be entertained by what you're doing. You have to be entertained by what it will give you.

So just do a quick checkup, how are my results? What’s my attitude? What’s my expectation? What am I doing to raise my energy and enthusiasm and to keep myself dedicated to the prospecting calls that I know I need to make to achieve the goal that I have set?

Alright guys, go make it a powerful day and remember, watch the self-talk. Alright, I’ll talk to you soon.

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Hi and welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips. And today I have for you a book recommendation and it's actually a book that I often recommend, The E-myth Revisited by Michael Gerber.

I believe that every entrepreneur should read this book because in this book Michael explains the entrepreneurial myth. Which is that just because a person excels at the technical aspects of a job, doesn't mean that they will ultimately be a good business owner. And I know this is true because I have countless agents coming to me who have tried starting a team. They try to expand their businesses and they need coaching because they feel that they’re failing. I encourage them to read this book as we work with them to create systematic and predictable processes for their business.

So think about it like this, let's take a franchise like McDonald's. They all look the same, for the most part, the menus are the same, they buy their food from the same food supplier, they have the same uniform, there is a predictable process. Now I get it that your own independent real estate team or business may not be a franchise and you might not actually ever be intending to turn it into one, and yet what if you develop it as if you could, as if you would, so that everything you do has a system, a reason? And then we’re always working to fine-tune those processes to get more and more results out of less and less time given.

So, read the book, I’d love to hear your thoughts, Debbie@excelleum.com. Send me an email and we'll talk about it. Talk to you soon.

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Hello and welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips. Today I wanted to talk to you a little bit about your listing presentation materials.

You know if you're like many real estate agents that I speak with, you may have questions about your listing presentation materials. I’ve noticed that when clients join our coaching program, one of the first questions they often ask us is to help them clean up their presentation and to actually distill it down to something usable. See most of the major real estate brands have ready-made presentation materials for you to use and that’s great. The challenge that I see, however, is many of these company generated listing packages are often 50+ pages long. Agents get lost in them, clients get bored by them and then some of the great stuff never gets talked about.

So today's consumer, as we know, they’re more impatient than ever and the last thing they want is to be pitched at. So we want your presentation to be well prepared, visually appealing, engaging, interactive and concise. And here’s what they want to know: who are you and can you actually get the job done? What is your plan to market the home and maximize the exposure, what is the highest realistic price their home can sell for?

So if you're struggling with your big packet and what pages to keep and what pages to discard, here's what I would suggest you do. Lay all the pages out on the floor one by one where you can see them all, go through and extract fluffy stuff, pages that have no real valuable reason to be there, nothing that specifically important to say. Next, I want you to pull out anything that could be sent to them as a pre-list or given to them after they finished listing with you, so that you’re only covering the heart of what it takes to cover to take that listing when you're there.

Now, then I want you to put the pages in order and think about it this way: who is the brand that you work for and why should I as the seller care? Who are you and why should I choose you? What’s your marketing plan and marketing strategy? And then, what are the success stories or the references that prove that you do what you say you're going to do? And then, of course, the market evaluation or the CMA.

So ideally not including your market evaluation but just your core pages, I would like to see that they are close to 10 or 15 pages as possible because when it's 25, 35, 50 pages, you're not going to use it and they're probably not going to listen to it, right?

So let’s do a little work, let's fine tune it, and if you have questions about it, go ahead and email me, Debbie@excelleum.com.

Alright, make it a great day. I’ll talk to you soon.

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Hello, and welcome to Debbie’s Daily Tips. And today I want to challenge you to play the seven pennies game.

Now here's what you do, you line up seven pennies on the edge of your desk as you’re prospecting. Each time you get a resistance, a no, I want you to move up a penny because you are pushing through with another question.

So I’ll give you an example. Let’s say that you are talking to an expired listing and they say, “You know what, I'm not going to sell my house right now.” So you could hang up, right, or instead, you could say, “I'm curious, when do you think you'll try again?” And boom, I get to move a penny. And they might say, “You know I’m not, we’re going to keep it off the market for now, so I don't really need any help.” “Okay, no problem. Before I let you go, may I ask, what do you think happened that caused your home not to sell?” Boom, I get to move another penny. “Oh I don't know I don't think the agent did what they should and the agent said it was too high, so we’re really discouraged.” “Okay, but if you felt confident that the home could be sold, would you still be open to taking a look at that?” Boom, I get to move another penny.

So each time I met with that resistance, I ask a question, I continue on with my script or I close again. See, I keep moving that call forward until one of three things have happened. Number one, maybe they hung up on me because they really weren't interested, they really weren't serious and they just wanted to get rid of me and okay fine, whatever, I'll call the next person. Or number two, they set an appointment, great. Got that appointment set, I get off the phone and move on. Or number three, I went through all of my questions, I covered my entire script and I just discovered they just really wasn't anything there for me to get. And you know, that’s fine, I did my job, right? I moved all seven pennies, I finished the script and there isn't a lead there, on to the next call.

Now here's the cool thing. I have discovered that when clients play the seven pennies exercise that what always happens is instantly their results from prospecting triple. But you know they seldom keep it up for the long haul and I know why. It’s hard, right? It’s hard to be that focused, it’s hard to be that diligent but I want to encourage you, play the seven pennies game because if you are going to be on that phone prospecting, making outreaches for business, I want you to be getting the results that you desire and you deserve.

Zig Ziglar has a great quote, “timid salespeople have skinny kids.” So please, don't be timid.

Alright guys, have a great day. I look forward to talking to you soon.

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Hello, this is Debbie and welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips.

Today we wanted to spend a couple of minutes with you talking about how to be more powerful on the phone.

You know I often talk to people who say, I'm really good in person but I just don't love the phone. Now I don't know that they’re necessarily talking about the fact that they don't love making cold calls, I think what they're saying is they just don't feel as confident in their communication skills over the phone as they do in person. And of course, that makes sense, right, because when you're face-to-face with someone, they can see your energy, they can feel the presence of you.

So it’s not just your words and your tonality connecting with them. However when you're on the phone, now it’s all going to be relying on how much energy, how much passion, enthusiasm, and personality you can bring through that phone line.

Now here is one of the challenges guys, you know when you are speaking on the phone only 15% of who you are, of that energy of you, gets through that phone line and reaches that customer or a prospect. So what that means is you’re going to have to ramp it up. Think about it like this. If you were an actor and you were in a theater on stage, you would have to overdress, wear extra makeup, very grand gestures, very big voice, compared to if you were an actor that had a camera right on your face, right?

Because you see, if you're on that stage in a big theater, you've got to reach that person sitting way up there on the balcony. You’ve got to reach them with your energy and your enthusiasm and the phone is exactly like that.

So if you are prospecting, making your follow-up calls, doing all the things you do in a day, and people around you aren’t complaining a little, saying hey, shhh, you’re little too loud, then possibly, you're not putting enough energy, enough ramp-up, and enough volume into those phone calls.

So remember, you’ve got to take it up a notch because you're trying to reach through that phone. You know, I remember when I first got into the real estate business and my broker said to me, and you guys have heard this before, this is like no new thing under the sun, but he told me to put a mirror in front of my desk because I needed to smile. When you're smiling, they can tell.

When I had a business coach who said, “You know, when you're talking over the phone, use your hand gestures, do all the things that you would do if you were physically in front of that person because that energy translates through the phone.”

Now, of course, we want to be conscious to mirror and match their rate of speech because we want them to feel comfortable as they converse with us. Also obviously we want to have a great scripts because when you have a great scripts in front of you and you drill, practice and rehearse those scripts, you’re going to be much more likely to speak with confidence and power and to be really in tune to listening to what that person on the other end of the phone line is actually saying.

So my tips for you today would be the following: be well prepared for the calls you’re going to make, get enough rest, eat the right food, make sure you have a great environment so that when you get on that phone, there's nothing physically weighing you down. Then ramp it up, ramp-up the volume, ramp up the energy and really work to reach through that phone line and connect with that prospect by mirroring and matching their rate of speech, by asking a great question, by being interested in them and interesting to listen to.

Alright, so power on the phone, practice it today, let me know how you do. And you know you can always email me your question, Debbie@excelleum.com. I look forward to talking to you soon, have a great day.

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Hello and welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips.

And today I have an interesting thought that I wanted to throw out there to you. Is the fact that you are an independent contractor inhibiting your success?

And here is what I mean. You know, the good news about the real estate career is that it does give you so much freedom and the flexibility, it gives you the freedom to earn whatever you choose, to pursue this segment of the business that you love most, there really are no limits. But it also gives you the freedom to get up late, to not show up at the office, to take too much time off when you're pursuing an aggressive goal. Because of course, there's no boss, there is no time clock, and that’s where the discipline and the accountability really have to come to play.

Now when you think about it, if you look at the goal that you have set for your year ahead and you think about the amount of money that you expect and desire to earn, what if you were going to pay someone that amount of money to work with you or to work for you? What would you expect from them? Would you expect them to get up on time? To dress professionally? To show up at the office with a good attitude and to work diligently and with focus and a sense of urgency, complete the task at hand with no excuses? Probably, right? Because hey, we’re paying a lot of money, we’re going to expect a lot in return.

So I would encourage you, be respectful of the goal that you have set, be respectful of what it takes to earn that amount of money and be accountable to the schedule, to the discipline and to the activities that it’s going to take to help you achieve the goal that you have set.

Now if you’re like most great real estate sales professionals, you could use an accountability partner. Now, who should that be? It could be your broker potentially, but I find it often a broker is a great go to, maybe a terrific mentor, but they don't necessarily have the time to be your accountability partner.

Now maybe it could be your office manager and yet again, most office managers have anywhere from 50 or more agents to manage and their primary focus has to be the success of their entire office. So while they may be also a great mentor, they may not be your best accountability partner.

So what about a business coach? Well, I like to think that that's where we can really come into play to really help you get your next level of success, because not only are we going to hold you accountable, but you see we have to help you develop what it is that that you want to be held accountable to.

So here's what I’d like to ask you to consider. If you look ahead and it’s three to five years from now, where would you like to be? Where do you want to live? What do you want your business to look like? How much money do you want to be earning?

Now, if we step backward from that and we say, okay, so what is the path to get there? What is your own customized success blueprint? Then we follow that blueprint and we hold you strictly accountable to stay the course of that plan.

And accountability doesn't mean someone yelling at you, not at all. In fact, it should be very direct, very precise, very powerful, very encouraging and very supportive. So whether you choose to allow Excelleum to be your accountability partner or you select someone else, I would encourage you find someone, someone who supports, you who believes in you, who will encourage you no matter what and will not let you run from the challenges ahead, because you know what? You deserve all of the success that this industry has to offer.

So I’m going to leave you with this last thought today, to achieve the goal that you have set for the year ahead, discipline is not an option.

Alright, so go make it a great day, do what you need to do and I look forward to talking to you soon.

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Hello and welcome to Debbie’s Daily Tips.

And today I’m going to answer a question: what is the difference between building rapport and establishing a commonality?

And it’s actually a question because they are drastically different, neither one is bad but they’re just so different. And I want to explain that and show you where the attempt to establish a commonality could really create an issue for you.

So let's say that I walk into a seller’s home and I’ve never met them before and as they’re touring me around, l happen to notice that they are a golfer and so I say, “Oh, Mr. and Mrs. Seller, I noticed that you're a golfer, you know I'm a golfer too. In fact, let me tell you about my golf game, and last week where I played and what my score was and my trophies,” and on and on and on.

See what happens when I’m meeting someone for the first time or maybe the first couple of times, and I'm working overtime to establish a commonality, they see through that. They often see that for exactly what it is, a sale’s person attempt to build rapport.

So instead of leaning on the crutch of establishing a commonality at that first meeting, instead, go to building rapport. And how you build rapport is you stop talking about you, you maintain eye contact, you mirror and match their rate of speech, you acknowledge and approve, you ask great questions all about them, the who, what, where, when, why and how, and you listen to their answers.

Now, there's nothing wrong as you get to know them with establishing commonalities of discussing your hobbies and your interests in common. All I’m suggesting is that you don't use that as your first and only go to when attempting to build rapport with a new prospect or customer.

Alright, thanks for joining me today, have a great day and I’ll talk to you next on the next Debbie's Daily Tips.

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Hi, this is Debbie and welcome to Debbie’s Daily Tips.

What we’re going to talk about today is the pattern of acknowledgment and approval or as I like to call it, “the response pattern.”

You know, it's not natural that we walk around all day giving people lots and lots of approval, and yet they absolutely love it and respond to it. Yet if it’s something we’re going to do it and do it a lot, we’re going to have to practice it, because it really needs to become almost second nature.

So here's what I mean by the response pattern. I want you to write this down. Great, terrific, excellent, really interesting, good for you, tell me more, perfect.

See if you're acknowledging someone, you're not necessarily telling them that they’re right. Or if you are approving, you are telling them they’re right, that’s great, right.

But it all makes people feel good because you're listening, you’re engaged in the conversation and you're giving them that warm glow of acknowledgment and approval and that causes them to feel more comfortable opening up and trusting you with their goals, their plans, and their dreams.

So I want you to look at our scripts because we have a lot of these acknowledgments and approval language built right into them.

Then I want you to take those words that we just went through, the great, terrific, excellent, good for you, really, that’s exciting, you’re kidding, you know, just some great little patterns there, put them on a sticky note, stick them on your computer, stick them on your phone and get into the habit of sprinkling them into your conversation.

Watch what happens. Watch how people open up and tell you even more. Watch how it defuses confrontation.

Alright, so practice it, let me know what you think and you can email me, Debbie@excelleum.com.

Alright, make it a great day, I’ll talk to you soon.

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Hi, welcome to Debbie’s Daily Tips. Today we’re going to talk just a minute about being a great listener.

You know I was at an event today and someone came up to me, very, very, talkative. So talkative, oblivious to the fact that they were commanding all the moments in the room with their talking, right?

And people are standing in line waiting to get to me and they’re just talking and talking and talking, and part of what they were talking about is while they are a new agent, they’re so confident that they’re going to be a great salesperson because everyone's always told them they’re such a great talker.

You know, I took them to the side a little bit later and I said to them, “I want you to think about something, it's so much better to be a great listener than it is to be a great talker.” Now part of being a great salesperson is being a good communicator. That doesn't mean filling the room with your words, instead, it’s paying attention, asking great questions of your prospects, questions about things that matter to them, really listening to their answers, taking it all in, absorbing it.

So I want you to think about that this week as you work with your clients. Think about the who, what, where, when, why and how.

So who are they? What are they looking to accomplish? When do they want to be there Where would they like to go? What are the concerns in their mind? Who are they talking to? How will they be persuaded or make a choice to choose you?

All constructed around great questions designed to get in their heart, to get in their head so that you can assist them in the best way possible to achieve the goals that they have set.

Now I will warn you when you take your DISC assessment, if your I is up in the high 80s and the high 90s, probably your friends and family would agree with me in telling you, you probably should talk just a little bit less.

On the other hand, if your I is very, very low, you may need to push yourself to get in the habit of talking a little bit more and by talking I mean, asking great questions, questions that will unlock their motivation, their frame, and their fears and put those on the table, so you can help them.

You know I have a great affirmation that I've always loved: my job as a great salesperson is to help people overcome their natural fear and hesitation to achieve the goal that they have set. So to do that, we need to know what their goals are. So ask great questions.

Alright, guys, make it a great day and I’ll talk to you very, very, soon.

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Hello and welcome to Debbie’s Daily Tips.

I’m here to talk to you today about how to identify someone's personality style, because you know, we talk so much here at Excelleum about the DISC assessment, and really recognizing the fabulous people that we have the opportunity to coach and work with for being unique and understanding their style.

So, therefore, we always have our clients take the DISC assessment. We encourage them to have their friends take it, their family members take it, and unfortunately we’re probably not going to be able to talk their own clients into taking it, but if you can, please by all means, go right ahead.

Send them to my website, excelleum.com, right there on the free resources tab, it’s going to pop right down. And as you know if you’ve taken it, it only takes about 5 to 7 minute and it’s easy, right? It will get you a full report, all about you.

But let’s say we can’t ask our clients to take it, so how would we know, are they a high D? A driver. Are they a high I? Extremely expressive. Are they a high S? Very soft-spoken, very amiable. Are they a high C? Very analytical.

So while we’re all parts of all four styles, we’re looking to speak to their most dominant style because when we speak to their most dominant style, we’re going to have the best opportunity to connect and communicate with them at a very high level.

Here are some tips on how to find their dominant style.

First of all, you may want to ask them what they do for a living. So here's an example. If I ask a client what they do for a living and they say that they teach chemistry at the local high school, odds are, they’re very analytical. But what if they say they are a teacher? That doesn’t mean they are necessarily analytical, I need to ask what they teach, and they might say, I run the drama department. Well, they’re probably going to be a very high I. If they’re a social worker, they could potentially be a very high S.

So while it's not the only clue and won't always work depending on their profession, it could give you a little bit of a tip-off to what their personality style might be. You know I read the other day, most CEOs of companies are a DC combination, driver and analytical. So just a little tip, look at what they do for a living.

The next thing is listening to how they speak. Each high style really has its own language. For an example, a high D, they will say things like, “give me the bottom line, cut to the chase, get to the point.” They’re very direct, their sentences are sharp, they’re short, they could almost appear very harsh and maybe even a little intimidating if you're not a high D personality yourself. So it's all about hurry up, they’re very impatient.

Now a high I, on the other hand, they often have what we call “grandiose language.” Very dramatic, oh my gosh, is so ridiculous it's just insanely complicated to make this move, I’m absolutely losing my mind, let me tell you why. That would be a high I personality, dramatic language, lots of words, maybe have a lot of hand gestures going on and yet they also are a very strong personality. So they have that emotion and yet in a very strong and dramatic way.

Then you have your high S people. They’re going to be more soft-spoken, little bit more timid and they're going to say things like, “I want to make sure everyone’s happy, I don’t want to cause any trouble, I need this to go smoothly.” See they’re about not standing out, not pushing forward; they’re really all about making sure everyone is happy.

And then you have your high C people. And they’re going to talk about facts and figures and data and spreadsheets and numbers. So you see they all speak their own language. If you're paying attention, you can pick up the words, you can pick up the phrases.

Okay, now that I know that information, what do I do with it? You adapt.

If you’re speaking to a high D seller, you get right to the point and you even say, “let me cut to the chase, I’m going to give you the bottom line.” They love it.

If you're dealing with a high I, you may use the phrase, “tell me or tell me more,” because if you don't let them talk, they are not going to like you.

With a high S, I need to calm down, I need to slow down, I need to be patient, I need to help them graciously and carefully move forward and make that decision.

And with a high C, I have to be aware that if I don't give them facts and figures and data, they are not going to be likely to make a decision.

So remember, it’s all about meeting them where they're at, selling them in the way that they're comfortable being sold. And to do that, you need to pay attention.

As you’re creating your buyers presentation, your listing presentations, let's be thinking about who is this person and how do I connect, what do I say, what do I do, how fast do I speak and how do they like to be sold?

Alright, make it a great day and I’ll talk to you soon on the next Debbie’s Daily Tips.

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Hello and welcome to Debbie’s Daily Tips.

Today we’re talking a little bit about the DISC assessment.

So the DISC assessment is an incredible, simple but powerful little tool to identify your personality style, your strengths, your tendency, it’s really fabulous and so easy. So if you've not taken it, and you hear me mention it often, I want you to go to the website, excelleum.com and go to the free resources tab.

Now here's what I want you to do - first of all, it only takes about 5 to 7 minutes to do the assessment. And please remember, there's no right or wrong answers, and don't over think your answers because who you are will shine through when you just answer instinctively. Now what’s really cool is, as soon as you push the button when you're done answering those very simple questions, it will tabulate your report and it’s going to send you back over a 25 page report, all about the real you.

Now I’d like you to do this, I’d like you to then print it out and read it. Do what we call validating the DISC, and naturally looking to see if you feel that it’s accurate. If you're not sure, show it to a friend or loved one and ask them, “Does this actually sound like me?” And they may tell you, “Oh, yes, it’s exactly like you.”

You know it’s really funny, the other day I was at an event and a lady said to me, “You know, the DISC assessment keeps telling me that I'm extremely analytical, and yet I don't agree. And I took the test seven times and I took it approximately 5 minutes apart each time.” And she went on to explain to me in a highly analytical fashion why she didn't agree with the DISC. Well, I think it pretty much nails her.

So pretty funny, our views of ourselves and then the reality of our style, and as you take this assessment again, please remember, there are no right or wrong answers. There is D- driver, I-influencer, S- steady or amiable, C-cautious or analytical. So with the D I S and C, you have a little bit of each of those in you, we all do.

When you see your report, you’re going to see a scale of 0-100. 100 doesn’t mean you get an A+, it has nothing to do with that, it's just the level or the amount of that particular personality style. So for example, I’m a 99 D, so a 0-100, I’m considered a very high D. Anything above the level of 50 is a considered a higher level.

It’s going to be very clear, very easy to read, but if you questions, go ahead and email me, Debbie@excelleum.com. And keep in mind that this is a free resource, you can use it as many times as you choose, and you are more than welcome to have friends or family members or even staff members, which is really important, take their DISC assessment. And then, look at page 19, where you’ll find the crib notes of how someone should communicate with you, the dos and don’ts.

So if you have your staff, your friends or family take it, you can read their page 19 and have terrific insight on how to communicate with them more effectively. Don’t you wish we could ask our clients to take the DISC? We would really be able to get inside of their mind, right? But I’m going to give you some tips on my next Debbie’s Daily Tips on how to read them without having them take the assessment.

Alright, thanks for joining me today, and I’ll talk to you very soon.

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Hello, welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips.

Today we’re talking about how we can actually, without meaning to, repel our prospects from working with us.

I know repel is a pretty strong word, am I right? And yet thinking about it, have you ever been in a situation where you met someone and their personality style, their approach, their method of communication, was so uncomfortable for you, so repelling for you — and quite frankly, they really weren’t doing anything wrong, they weren’t being rude, they weren’t being obnoxious, they were just being themselves. And so here is the challenge, we all have our personality style, our trades, our tendency, it’s just who we are, it’s the way we were born. And that can work for us, and it can also work against us.

So I’m going to use myself as an example. On the DISC, which you're welcome to take on our website if you haven’t done so already, free DISC assessment right there under the free resource tab. I am a 99% D, 99% driver.

So here’s the good thing about my personality, I get things done, I'm a person of action, I'm tough, I’ll prospect, I’ll do what it takes, I am aggressive in my pursuit of my goals and my business. But here is the downside. If I were to go into a seller’s home to list it and the seller is not that high-D personality, they are soft-spoken and quiet and a little bit withdrawn, if I don't dial it back, if I don't take it down a few notches, almost like turning a thermostat up or down, if I don't take it down, calm down, slow down, not be quite so hyper-aggressive, I will instantly repel that seller.

So I could potentially be the most qualified agent for the job, I could have tremendous integrity, be willing to provide outstanding service, and yet that disconnect in our personality styles and our method of communicating could be so strong that it prevents that seller from choosing me.

So think about the chameleon, right, that little lizard. You can put them on your shirt and he'll match your colors because he adapts to his environment. So that’s exactly how we want to be as a salesperson, chameleon-like. That doesn’t mean to be phony, that doesn't mean to be fake, it just means to be aware of your situation, to be aware of their methods and style of communication. And think about it like that thermostat, dialing it up or down to meet them where they’re at.

So sales versatility, I want you to watch the people around you this week that you're communicating with. Let’s take a look at who repels you and why. So, without judgment, is it just simply the fact that they are not communicating in the style that you are comfortable with?

There are a lot of great books on this topic - Instant Rapport by Michael Brooks, The Little Black Book of Persuasion, and I think the author is Rintu Basu.

So read up a little about it and also on our website, I think we have a lot of great little tips and tools for you, and again take your DISC assessment because the first step in creating sales versatility is knowing who you really are.

Alright, guys make it a great day and I’ll talk to you next on the Debbie's Daily Tip.

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Hello and welcome to Debbie’s Daily Tips.

So today we’re going to talk about Power Persuasion.

You know it’s interesting that not too long ago, I did a little promotion for a webinar that I was planning to do on closing 98.2% of your prospects.

Now the reason I pick that percentage is because of course, we will never close 100% because quite frankly we may not want to, right? We've all been on that listing appointment that once we got there, we kind of wished we hadn’t even arrived. So you know what I mean. And yet if we think about it, whatever your record is, whatever your closing ratio is, whether it’s 75, 80, 85%, records can always be broken, right? We should always be striving to close a higher percentage of the prospects that you meet.

Because of course, I would assume you'll do a great job and they would benefit tremendously from having you as their agent, we just have to convince them to choose you. And that’s where the power of persuasion comes in.

You know what’s interesting, that someone sent me an email and said, “Well I don't believe in manipulative tricks and techniques, I give fabulous service and do an incredible job for my people.” And my response was, “I agree 100%, no tricks, no gimmicky techniques, and yet we have to be able to persuade them at a high level to choose you or you never have the opportunity to show them what a great job you can actually do.”

So when you think about power persuasion, the main tip I wanted to get across to you today is this: let go of the golden rule. You know the golden rule, do unto others the way you would have them do unto you. And instead, embrace the global rule. Do onto others the way they want you to do onto them.

So pay attention, show up, ask questions, stop talking about yourself. You know, mirror match their rate of speech, be well prepared, make it all about them. Make them feel that you are important, that you are focused and that you are there to customize your approach to selling their home.

So in other words, persuade them the way they want to be persuaded. Not a gimmick at all. In fact, it's really giving up who we selfishly would like to be or how we would like to perform or close or more - let's use that person’s word - manipulate a client into making a decision, and instead, are meeting them where they're at, graciously with integrity and with a very high level of persuasive power and skill.

So thanks for thinking about it, thank you for joining me today, and then I’ll give you more on this topic because it really is probably one of our most popular subjects. So more coming soon.

Alright, make it a great day. Talk to you on the next Debbie’s Daily Tip.

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Hello and welcome to Debby's Daily Tips!

Today I wanted to answer a question that I often get from the agents that we're coaching and the question is: ''How do I properly use e-mail blast?''

So here's the main question they often ask: ''How much is too much?''

Well, in talking to my marketing guru Pete Mitchell, one of the things he always tells me is it's perfectly fine to e-blast them once a week, just don't be boring.

So if you think about it, what are some of the things they might like to hear about from you?

Well, it could be hot buys, new listings, exciting properties and opportunities. It could be a local market update. Now of course, it would have to be a little bit bigger picture, not specific to their neighborhood.

So for example we're in Orange County, California, so I might do a Southern California market update, because that would cover all of our past clients across L.A. and Orange County.

You could do something that's more community oriented, a food and wine festival, some type of charity event that you're participating in. So the key is you're using it to stay connected.

Now something important to remember though is that statistically, now I can't remember where I got this so please bear with me, I don't know if it's 100% accurate but it seems about right. I read that statistically the average person gets up to 160 e-mails a day and that even if they know you, only about 20% will actually open and read your e-mail.

So that's exactly why if you're using e-blasting as the only method to market your past clients and sphere of influence, you're running a little bit of a risk of not connecting with everybody at the highest level.

So I always recommend to our clients that in addition to the e-blast, which is great and it's free, that they also mail something every month and if budget will only permit, at least to mail something once a quarter.

Okay now, one thing also that I've learned, if you add a video and it doesn't have to be professionally produced, just a quick little video, some kind of short message that you send them and if you add that video to your e-mail that the open rate soars, that it goes up dramatically because people like to watch videos.

So we want an e-mail, we want to mail, we want to call, we want to text, and you know some of our clients are even using sly dial when they want to get a message into their voicemail without actually speaking to them.

Alright, so we’ve got to communicate, we’ve got to keep you top of mind, and certainly if you are going to email let's get it on a consistent calendar so it happens like clockwork and we stay connected and in touch.

Alright, have a great day guys and if you need some help with this and you'd like to speak with one of the coaches, if you're in coaching talk to your coach, if you're not in coaching let us know, you can go to www.businesstrategycall.com and book a complimentary session with one of our coaches.

Alright, have a great day and I'll talk to you soon.

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Hello and welcome to Debby's Daily Tips!

And so today I want to talk a little bit about connecting with people in social situations.

So of course, as you're out at your PTA meetings and maybe at church or maybe at some other type of activity that you might be attending, you know, you don't want to be obnoxious and abrasive and literally shoving your business card in everyone's hand, and yet we know that those meet and greet opportunities are valuable. Because no matter where you go, there are prospects there.

The other day we were looking at apartments with my daughter, who's going to be moving soon and there was one apartment complex that had an incredible gym and all of the people in that apartment complex were, I would say probably 25 to 40 years old, that's the majority, the make-up, which is the young professionals in Orange county, if they're paying that amount of rent, they have a substantial income.

They all have a good job for the most part and I said to her, “This gym could be a wealth of conversations and connections that could lead to some great buyers for you.”

Now, her question then was ''Well mom, how do I do that? I'm not gonna go around when they are on the elliptical and hand them my business card''.

I said ''Well, there's a few ways you can do that and one of them is just to be open to new conversation''.

Just to be friendly, to say hello, to strike up a conversation, make it all about them, how long have they lived there, what do they do for a living, how's their business going. If you just get them talking about themselves, for the most part, most people, to be polite, will turn around and ask you questions about you and when they do. Of course the topic is going to come up that you're in real estate.

Now when they ask you how's the market, which obviously they will, remember here's your script, ''Thank you for asking. It's actually a very opportunistic market. There are terrific opportunities for buyers, equally powerful opportunities for sellers. I am curious, is there some opportunity you are interested in pursuing?''

Now I also told her why not get a couple of t-shirts for working out with the logo of the company on them so that when she's there working out, she's got a real estate t-shirt on, I mean what the heck, why not?

She was appalled and horrified of course, because she is 24 years old and yet I said, ''Honey, you know your average commission check is over ten thousand dollars, so if just wearing a t-shirt to the gym got you two, three transactions a year, that would be more than enough to pay your rent. I think it might be worth it''.

Now for the rest of you maybe that's wearing your name tag but, you know, do anything you can to be visible, how people approach you and engage you in conversations it will be easy then for you to run with, right?

So no secret agent. Zig Ziglar, which you've heard me quote before, had a great saying: ''Timid salespeople have skinny kids''.

So leads are everywhere. Get out there and meet some people.

Have a great day; I'll talk to you soon.

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Hello and welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips.

So you know, I was talking to the coaches today and we were talking about commission cutting and overcoming the commission objection.

Well first of all, we have some great scripts for this and if you're in coaching with us then absolutely you have access to those scripts. Now, if you are not in coaching with us and you need some help with this then reach out to me.

In fact, you can go to www.businessstrategycall.com and you can request a complimentary consultation with one of the coaches because I do know that this is a big issue and I know that it can potentially cost you a lot of money.

So we want to get you practiced on your different commission objection handlers, but there's a couple of things I'd ask you. One, don't volunteer to cut. Let’s stop that once and for all and number two, when you handle the commission objection don't hesitate, don't allow silence.

Instead move immediately on to another subject. Well, ''Do you cut commission?''

''Mr. and Mrs. Seller thank you for bringing that up, I don't and here's why. Because if you think about it, commission is really a marketing carrot and I want to put all the resources and attention into doing what we need to do to create the top price and encouraging the best buyer agents to bring buyers to your home so that ultimately you net more.

'Now Mr. and Mrs. Seller may I ask you, when would you like to see your home sold to the right buyer?''

See, I don't want to hesitate, because when I hesitate after handling the commission objection, I give them an opportunity to dig in or it's an awkward, uncomfortable silence. Instead, I just need to move on and let it pass.

Now of course I wish it would be as simple as one objection handler might solve every problem but of course we know that that's not the case.

So what we want to do, if we want to make sure that you have multiple opportunities, multiple ways to handle and overcome that objection.

Because it's not going to go away, you're going to get hit with it on most appointments because most people are going to ask, so I want you to invest some time working on it and if you need some help let us know.

I look forward to talking to you on the next Debbie’s Daily Tips. Talk to you soon.

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Hello and welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips! Today we’re talking about your listing presentation, and we’ve got a lot to cover, so I’m going to hit it hard and fast.

One of the things I noticed is it’s very common hat when real estate agents come to us for coaching, they always need help with their lasting presentation materials. Also what I noticed is that most of the major brands have some terrific stuff that they give you to use. However they often have so much stuff it can often be 25, 30, 45, usually, more than that, pages, which is just so overwhelming. I find that most of the agents don’t use it and, quite frankly, most of the consumers don’t want to hear it. One of the things I know is, a confused mind doesn’t act. So in other words, when you overwhelm them with data and information, it doesn’t cause them to listen, in fact it may cause them to say, “I need to think it over.” Sometimes real estate agents tell me they spend two hours plus at a listing appointment. At a certain point, it’s information overload. So let’s think about it. What do they want when they invite you over? They don’t want a presentation or a pitch – not really. They’re looking for answers to three things:

Who are you, can you get the job done, can I work with you, should I hire you?
What is your marketing proposal?
What’s the highest realistic price my home will sell for?

Remember, they don’t buy the plane ride, they buy the destination. When you’re reviewing your marketing proposal, it should not be about the features, the service, the photography… it should be about how the things you’ll do for them will benefit them to sell their home for more money.

Your marketing proposal should be an interactive discussion, because if you have too many pages, you will never be able to cover it all. You will get lost in it and you will revert to pitch mode to get everything done.

Think about this, sell the power of your brand, your company, you, and then talk about the marketing proposal and then finally of course, review the data and select the price.

So take all of your materials – this is what I’d like you to do this week – lay them all out on the floor. And then, I want you to go back through and I want you to remove any of what I could call, the fluffy stuff. Divider pages, even things that while it may be good, it’s really not relevant to listing the property. It could be sent as a free listing information package, it could be sent after the fact. What I mean by that –often they’ll be things like “the sales process,” or “how to prepare your home for sale,” or “how to show your home.” That doesn’t need to be included in the materials that will cause them to list with you. That could be a nice value add that you leave behind later.

I do think it’s important to have some testimonials or success stories. You tell them what you’re going to do to market the home, and then you show them that you do what you say you do, which is really your success story. I also think that those pages that are often in the branded packages, such as “the dangers of overpricing,” should potentially be removed. You can take them with you, you can pull them out and put them on the table, should you need them, but really, you don’t need to go over that with them In the listing presentation unless they’re going to overprice their property.

So, what they need to know. Right? So let’s not overwhelm them, let’s pull the pages that you feel are the most powerful and impactful, let’s have at least a great paragraph to talk about that page, and then a few questions to engage them because remember, they should not be a pitch. It should be a consultation. And if you have some more questions and you need help, or would like to actually have one of the coaches review your listing presentation materials, and maybe talk to us about getting some additional help, please feel free to go to www.businessstrategy.com and register for the consultation , and of course you can always email me direct, Debbie@excelleum.com I look forward to talking to you soon, have a great day.

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The coaches and I were talking this morning about what you can do when you need to find contracts fast. So we made a quick little top ten list.

Call every new and old lead aggressively; getting them into action, sparking them into why now is a good time. If they’re not ready, ask them for a referral!
Go back to every old expired, withdrawn and cancelled of your own or appointments that you went on that did not list, and try to reengage them.
Call your AAA sphere and past clients and ask for a referral.
Hold a high quality open house and invite the neighbors.
Preview 5 houses a day and knock 10 doors on each side, talking to the neighbors.
If you have listings that are not selling, get price reductions as soon as possible!
Have a heart to heart with every buyer you have and get them on track. Expand search criteria, get them to spend more if they can, and ask them for a referral.
Call every affiliate you work with and ask for at last one referral name.
Get in front of 2-3 past clients, expireds, or for sale by owners daily.
Do your 5-5-5-5 daily (5 contacts, eye-to-eye or ear to ear, 5 emails to create business, 5 texts to create business, 5 handwritten notes) and bump your contacts to 20 on any day you can.

So take aggressive action – and do it now!

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Hello and welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips!

Today I wanted to talk a little bit about selling the forgotten real estate skill.

You may think that sounds strange, but the real estate industry doesn’t need to worry that we’re ever going to lose focus on the importance of technology, because we are obsessed with it!

Every day of our careers we are reminded of such, thanks to the efforts, of Zillow, Realtor.com, Trulia, our real estate brokerages, our software companies, all which are dominating our conventions, extolling our contact management systems to us, the pervasive role of mobile devices in our lives.

Industry institutions like Ris Media and others make ensure that we remain on the cutting edge by providing‎ us with both web and mobile content, as well as guidance on its importance and application.

So this ever emerging trend, without question, has diminished the once revered emphasis on the second oldest profession (please forgive me) the second oldest profession: selling. That's right SELLING!

I remember when I began selling real estate, it’s a long time ago, almost on a daily basis I was encouraged to work on my sales skills. I grew up in the business believing that selling was/is an art.

Over the years I’ve continued my quest to study, drill, practice and rehearse to perfect my sales skills. I always feel that there is a next level of mastery that we can achieve. Yet most salespeople often stop at just good enough to get by.

In coaching our clients to their next level of mastery we focus not only on the nuts and bolts, the scripts and objection handlers, we also dive into areas like:

The science of persuasion
The difference between hard and soft sell
Neuro-linguistic programming...that was developed in the 1970's
How to persuade with the power of questions
How to strategically lead generate
How to set themselves apart as the clear choice in the mind of the prospect as the wise authority and market expert
How to be consumer centric in their marketing and how to get that right approach that will create the results they need and deserve

Now please do not misunderstand me, at Excelleum I have invested a small fortune in developing for my coaching clients, leading social media strategies, marketing strategies and materials, auto dialers, texting platforms and all of the latest and greatest tools that can help them work smarter and faster.

Now because my husband and daughter are full time real estate agents I actually get to use them as guinea pigs and try it all out on them first!

However, as a coach who has likely conducted more coaching calls with elite agents across North America (over 70,000) I will never stop reminding them that they need to be a salesperson first and a tech wizard second!

One of the reasons I got into real estate sales, is I read in a magazine that there were more millionaire sales people than doctors and lawyers combined.

But no one is going to be a million dollar a year sales person or a hundred thousand dollar a year sales person if they don’t go beyond being engulfed and sucked in by technology alone.

I want you to love and embrace selling. After all, we’re not selling widgets, trinkets or something nobody wants, we are selling the greatest product in the world.

When you believe in what you do, when you are passionate about helping others and you’re focused on helping them achieve their goals, your high caliber sales skills will simply help you move them forward faster and with less stress for them.

Here’s a favorite affirmation I made up for our terrific coaching clients: “My job as a great salesperson is to help my customers overcome their fear and hesitation to achieve the goals that they have set."

As I believe Zig Ziglar used to say, "You have to go out and see the people!"

Alright, have a great day! Go practice the art of selling. If you need some help, if you’re ready to go the next level, contact us, www.business trageycall.com. We’ll get you booked to talked to one of my great coaches and feel free to reach out to me via email, anytime, Debbie@excelleum.com

Have a great day, I’ll talk to you soon!

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Hello and welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips!

Today we’re finishing up our series on the best tips to find listings now.

Call absentee owners in your market. Tell them how hot the market is, and that now may be that time to sell they’ve been waiting for.
Wear your career apparel or name tag everywhere. I know this one is simple, but you know what? We are around the corner, next door, at the gym, at the grocery store, and if they see that you’re a real estate agent, they will often approach you.
If you aren’t farming, now is the time to hit it hard. Be strategic about what you are sending. It needs to set you up as an expert, offer valuable information, and have a strong call to action.
Every day do a minimum of 5 high quality contacts, 5 hand written notes, 5 emails, and 5 texts to your best prospects! This is the 5-5-5-5. Would I like, as a coach, to see you making more than that? Absolutely! I would leave to see you making 20 contacts a day, 100 contacts a week. However, just think about it. If you did your 5-5-5-5 every day over, say, 285 days in the year, that’d be 5,700 great connections. That’s not bad, right? Probably a little more than you might have done in the past few months.
Now again, stretch to hit 100 contacts a week. Ear to ear or eye to eye conversations, every week. This is the time to dig in and ramp it up.

I know we’ve covered a lot, but just go back over the tips and pick 2 or 3. If you’re in coaching with us now, talk to your coach about these tips. If you’re not in coaching but you would like to talk to us, get some help and find out more, go to www.precoachingconsult.com and we’ll help you book your session. It’ll be complimentary, no pressure, and we’ll get to know you better.

Thanks for joining us and have a great day!

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Hello and welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips!

We’re continuing on with our series: Best tips to find listings now, and today we’re on number 11.

Consider working divorce filings. 22% of homeowners who file for divorce list within 12 months of filing. We know they need help, as it’s a very stressful, very trying time.
Contact old expireds. 90% typically list within 18 months. So contact them! Call them, knock on their door, let’s go find them!
Send an “I have a buyer” letter to at least 100 homeowners for each buyer that you are working with, because you might as well hit those neighborhoods. If you are willing, I’d love it if you’d call or door knock behind those 100 letters.
Another idea is to contact landlords who are trying to rent their properties and ask if they would consider selling. You know how it is if you own rental property. Just when you get everything all ramped up and ready to go, you have this thought, do you really want to rent this property to someone who’s just going to tear it up once again? So you can really be hitting them at a very good time.
Look at your past clients and sphere of influence list. Look at it like an FBI profiler. Who can you spark into selling? Do they need to move up, do they need to move down? Is it time for them to help a family member buy or sell a property? Let’s take a look at those opportunities that you might be able to reach out to them about, because remember, you are their real estate advisor.

Thanks for listening; we’ll finish up our tips on the next Debbie's Daily Tips!

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Hello and welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips.

Today we’re going on with our series of: best tips to find listings – now. We left off with tip #5 so now we’re on tip #6:

Preview 5 new properties each day. New listings from the hot sheet or bulletin. Knock 10 doors on each side, talk to the neighbors and find out, do they also want to make a move? And you never know – they may know of a buyer for the home. And you know what’s really cool about this. Because they’re not quite sure how or if you’re connected to the neighbor – they’re often rather friendly and certainly very helpful in terms of trying to find a favored person to move next door. And they always are nosy so it makes for very easy conversation.
See every for sale by owner in your town. I get it that in some markets there’s just not a lot of for sale by owners, but you might as well keep eyes on them. Go see them, because If they won’t list with you, you can always use them for pocket inventory.
Because expireds are few and far between in some markets, it should be easy to hunt them down. Call them, knock on their door. Again, they too can be good pocket inventory if they are not willing to list right away. If you work the higher-end expireds, there may be even less competition.
Ask every current seller and buyer you have for a referral. When someone is in the process of buying or selling, their mind is very focused on it. They’re talking to their friends, their talking to their family and they do know people. They might even be telling those people to call you. And the people just don’t get around to it. “Inventory is low, who do you know who wants to buy or sell, that you’d be willing to connect me with?” So let’s get in there and ask for those referrals right away.
Consider conducting a “How to Move Up” seminar. Invite your farm and database. Don’t forget to include a couple of joint venture partners so they can help you drive attendance to the event. Because you know there’s a lot of pent up demand in this move up group and they just don’t know how to navigate that process. “Do I buy first, do I sell first?” and we want them to know you have a move up system and that you are the move up specialist.

Tune in again, we’re going to give you some more tips on Debbie's Daily Tips on the best tips to find listings now.

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Hello and welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips.

Today we’re talking about the best tips to find listings – now. I have about 20 tips for you, so since it’s supposed to be Debbie’s Daily Tips, I’m going to give you a few and then if you want to check back in tomorrow, I’ll give you a few more, and we’ll work our way through the series so I don’t overwhelm you.

Call anyone that you’ve met with in the last 12-24 months who maybe decided not to list at that time. And see if you can spark them back into action.
Call any of your own expireds, withdrawns, or cancelleds. Sometimes I know you feel a little bit weird about that, that they might be mad at you – but you know what? They get over it. It’s easier for them to go back to you rather than go to a stranger. So why don’t you give them a call and see what they’re up to?
Call or knock 100 doors around every listing that you take inviting the neighbors to a sneak preview of the home. This has been very successful for so many of our coaching clients. The neighbors are nosy, and it gives you a great opportunity to get them in in advance of the open house and build a rapport with them, and possibly find a future or even immediate potential seller.
Find one group to get in front of each week where you can mix and mingle. When the subject of real estate comes up, tell them, “It’s a very opportunistic market. There are outstanding opportunities for buyers and terrific opportunities for sellers and I wonder, what opportunity are you considering exploring?”
Call every new lead and every old lead that you have this week. Re-qualify them and try again to spark them into action. I find that 75% of our clients’ business comes from their lead follow-up, but often it’s very neglected. So you want to try them in the mornings, the afternoons, the evenings, and even take one Saturday a month, just to clean them all up.

Alright so let’s dig in, go after it, and tune back in for more of the best ways to find listings now.

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Hello and welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips!

I had an interesting thought the other day. I was driving in and I was thinking abbot the fact that I’m always challenging you guys not to get complacent and not get too mired into a rut. And I realized I always strive to work the same way. I thought, you know, I need to do a pattern interrupt.

Every day in my life I have to find something different to shake up the pattern, to keep me from getting lazy, to keep me from getting complacent and just stuck in that routine. I feel like when you’re used to interrupting your pattern and making yourself just a little bit uncomfortable, you’re definitely more likely to embrace new challenges.

So I want to challenge you this week, often throughout the week, today, throughout the day, just find different thing to do to interrupt your pattern. All sorts of crazy things – drive to work a different way. If you always go to lunch at the same place, go somewhere different. If you always order a sandwich, order a salad. There are all sorts of things we could make a list of. You might think, well that’s kind of silly or simple, and yet, it’s just teaching your brain to adapt to change and to take on new habits and new patterns.

So find something today that you can interrupt your pattern. Maybe it’s something really good like your used to eating that donut every morning, and you’re going to interrupt your pattern and have oatmeal. I’m just saying!

Alright have a great day and I look forward to talking to you soon!

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Hello welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips!

I was at an event and I heard somebody say, “What got you here won’t get you there.” I love that. Think about this, what got you here, won’t get you there. I was looking at something and I may have mentioned this before, it was a picture of a dinosaur, dinosaur bones standing up at a museum and it says, “You were powerful, once before.” You’ve heard it said, “Don’t let on your laurels,” and I’ve even heard, “You’re a legend in your own mind. “

So I think you get it, you always have to be evolving and changing, climbing to that next level of mastery. Because you know, there are always those young and aggressive hunters coming up behind us, looking to take our spot.

When I decided to launch my own coaching company a few years back, I had a slogan in my mind. I thought, I don’t want to be worried about out competing and thinking, what is the competitive coaching company doing or not doing? Because quite frankly, I don’t care. In most cases, I don’t necessarily agree with some of the practices, or I want to improve or grow beyond some of those practices. So why would I worry about what they are doing?

Instead, I decided I wanted to out innovate them. So to out innovate them, I have to listen to what’s going on in the market, I have to study the market, I have to study the trends, I have to talk to all of you about what you’re experiencing because my self, my team, my coaches, we cannot rest or stop. And neither can you!

I want you to think about that. You cannot be complacent. If you are, someone is out there gunning to take your position. So I want you to think about what got you here, and how it won’t get you there. And therefore, you need to challenge yourself daily.

Have a great day! I look forward to talking to you soon.

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Hello it’s Debbie De Grote and welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips!

I wanted to talk to you today about growing your business. You always hear that saying, “you need to invest time working on the business, not just in the business.” That’s sometimes very difficult to do because you have so much going on in your day, and your life, and your business and yet, here’s what I would like to suggest that you do this week. What if you took just 30 minutes? Pick a day, pick a time that’s a little bit easier for you, a little less distraction and interruption, and just pick a time and budget 30 minutes. I’d like it to be a time where you can go in to a room all by yourself; maybe you sit with a scratch pad, no distractions, no interruptions, leave your phone somewhere else, and just choose a topic to think about. Let me give you an example. Let’s say you went into a room and you said, hm, I’m going to think about, how can I increase my repeat and referral business? Now don’t overthink it, don’t try to over structure it, just relax and let the ideas flow. Jot them down on your scratch pad. Now maybe you get busy, you get sucked into the week and you don’t even have time to look at it, but the next week when you go into the room for your 30 minute session of working on your business, you can pull out those notes and develop them a little bit further. I’m very fortunate, sometimes I have to admit it feels a little bit unfortunate, I’m very fortunate to be on an airplane a lot. As I’m flying across North America and going to lots of different events and meeting all of you, what I have disciplined myself to do is that my time on the airplane is just that, my working on the business time. I work on marketing, I work on new programs, I work on new scripts, I work on new books I’m writing. I can put all that in my bag, carry it on the plane and just turn off everything around me and dive in. It’s amazing, the time just flies. Now obviously that may not work for you, because you probably aren’t on an airplane that often. So find a time that does. Just start with 30 minutes a week. You might find it so helpful, so amazing, that you choose to expand that. I even know some agents that take one full physical day a month and they go to a beach or a park or a library, or they just shut themselves sup in their home and use that entire day for planning and business development. Sometimes you have to slow down to go fast. So have a great day, spend some time working on the business, and I look forward to talking to you soon!

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Hello and welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips!

Today I wanted to talk to you for just a moment about one thing that I feel is very important, that we communicate often to agents that are talking to us about investing in coaching. You really are your best investment. Now, I’m not saying that to convince you to sign up for coaching or stay in coaching, I’m saying that because what I often see is agents buying lots of tools and trinkets and gadgets, thinking it’s going to save the day and make everything perfect for them. Yet they find they don’t use it, it doesn’t work, and they have thrown away a lot of money and maybe even a lot of time. In reality, if we stop and look at it, you are the magic. Not the tool, not the toy, not the trinket, because let’s remember: before any of these gadgets existed, back in the day, agents sold real estate just fine. They, in fact, made lots of money doing it, and how did they do that? Well, Zig Ziglar always said, “Go see the people.” Invest time in improving your own skill. Invest time in taking care of yourself physically and mentally. Invest a little time each day in reading a great book or talking to an inspiring person. Continue to invest in coaching, in training, in having a workout, a trainer, whatever it is that improves and grows you. Because you are the magic, you are the power, you are the talent, and you are your own best investment. So I want you to think about what the investment in yourself is that you need to make this week so that you can continue to grow, to change, to improve, and to be happy. Alright have a great day and I’ll talk to you soon on the next Debbie’s Tip.

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Hello it’s Debbie De Grote and welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips!

I wanted to throw something out there to you. We have a saying around here that we often talk about. Discipline is not an option. My staff will kid each other about working out, or avoiding the donut, or making that one extra phone call, because we’re tough. I always think about it like, the few, the proud, the brave. Discipline is not an option. So I wonder, are you practicing the habit of discipline? You know what’s great about is, is it’s really like a muscle. The more you practice, the stronger you get. I remember someone telling me once that they would set up one weekly discipline. Something simple that they could do such as, “Okay for this entire week, I’m not going to eat any bread.” Simple enough, right? Or, for this entire week, I’m going to get up 30 minutes earlier. Or, this entire week, I’m going to read 15 minutes of a book daily. Because they said that they noticed when they would take one small discipline and practice it every week, it really developed in them the habit of keeping their disciplines and keeping their commitments. So give it a try. It may be something to do with making one extra phone call or adding in one evening of lead follow up. But one discipline this week that when you stick with it the entire week it is something that, with the accumulation effect, would really make a positive difference in your life and that it actually would not be that difficult to do. So remember, discipline is not an option. Pick one and I hope to hear from you! Tell me what it was and how you did with it, Debbie@excelleum.com. Have a great day, I’ll talk to you soon.

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Hello and welcome to Debbie’s Tips!

I was at an event the other day and someone quoted someone, so I’m not sure of the source, but what they said was, “If what you have is less than you deserve or desire, then consider this: it might be your effort.” So in other words, how often do we wish that we had more money or more transactions, more stability or more listings? All the different things that we wish for in our lives – you could even add wishing that we’re in better shape physically – the list could go on and on. And yet when you stop to think about it, let’s consider this: are you really putting forth the effort to have what you desire and deserve? So it’s a short tip today because it’s a pretty heavy thought, but I’d like to ask you, as you walk away from this conversation, sit for just a moment and write it down. What is something that you really desire or deserve? And exactly what actions are you taking to achieve that? Maybe even a better question would be, what actions are you avoiding, but you know if you stopped avoiding them you could have what you deserve? Then dig in a little bit and think about what is it that’s causing you to avoid that action. If you’d like to talk about it, feel free to give me a call or shoot me an email at Debbie@excelleum.com, because I’d love to hear your thoughts. What is it that you desire and deserve? And what is it that you’re going to do to make it happen? Make it a great day! I look forward to talking to you soon.

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Hello and welcome to Debbie's Daily Tips!

Today I was thinking, what if you chose one skill, what if one skill if you worked on to improve could have a significant and possibly immediate impact on your income?

I find as I travel around to speak to agents across the nation, it’s very common to find that they are often in competition for the listings that they are trying to win.

Even just today in a group of 200 agents that I was speaking to, over 90% raised their hand to admit that they did not have a well organized listing presentation.

And then, that same 90% raised their hand to say that they usually did not pre- qualify their sellers! And most of them also acknowledged that they get stuck if they have to ask for the signature more than once.

These were veteran agents, so just think about it, if they, if you, perfected your listing presentation skill and process, how much more money would you make? And I wonder if you would prospect more because you would feel more confident about reaching out and prospecting more to people you don’t know?

Do the math. How many listings in the last 12 months should you have taken that you did not take? How much money do you think you left on the table?

Isn’t it worth setting aside just a bit of time each week to polish up and perfect your presentation? If you need some help, let us know and we’ll be happy to help you!

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