Spartanburg, SC

If you work with buyers you know many of them find the home of their dreams but are reluctant to "pull the trigger" and write an offer. Making that commitment can be difficult. They use a number of excuses such as we need to sleep on it, there is one more house we want to see next weekend, I want to talk with my Mom and Dad first and so forth. Great Buyers Agents will often put things in perspective by asking; "If you delay your decision and decide in a couple of days to make an offer and I have to tell you that this house is under contract, are you going to be happy with that?" The answer is almost always NO! For them, the fear of loss is greater than the anticipation of gain.

Buyers may think that the market we are in today is going to be like this tomorrow or whenever they decide to make a decision. It is not! It's important that we explain that the interest rates today will not be here forever and neither will the inventory! Delaying the decision could cost them the home of their dreams and a lot of money$$

It's easy for an agent to get caught up in all the hype. Even experienced agents in this shifting market search for ways to improve their business and sometimes get away from the things that have made them successful.

When we first got into real estate, every agent gave us different advice. One said work FSBO's, another Expired Listings, others Farming and so forth. We tried them all and nothing worked. It didn't work because no one told us we had to be consistent in our efforts so after 90 days or so we gave up.

We identified that the problem was lack of training and leadership with our office. We made a move and today we've finally figured it out and have focused on new ways to perform these task (the ones that work for us) in a more efficient and effective manner. We learned that you should figure out what works best for you and do it very well.

If you feel like you're Running in Bubble Gum, take a close look at where you have had success and find ways to make it better. If you need help and can't find it where you are....MOVE!

So often we see agents get off their game plan with "Petty Things" that end up ruining their day. A lot of it comes from getting caught up with "Water Cooler Talk" and has nothing to do with running their Real Estate Business!

Then, to make things even worse, they grab hold of the "Sweaty Things" and share them with the rest of the office. This in turn disrupts everyone else's day.

Talk about Killing Productivity!

If you are truly in the Real Estate Business and you are running a business (not a hobby), failure is not an option. However, if you have not changed your business in these shifting times failure may be the ultimate outcome.

Change is difficult, but it must come as the market changes. Expensive printed advertising has been replaced with ZERO Budget Marketing. Cash on hand and Cash flow has taken priority over "you have to spend money to make money" and new strategies have been implemented to increase revenue while reducing expenses.

If you are not sure what these strategies are or how to implement them you should ask your owner, broker or team leader. If you are not satisfied with their answers or they simply don't work, you should seek out those who do know and move your license. You see, Failure is NOT an Option!

The landscape of Real Estate has, and will continue to change. Small real estate companies are merging, being acquired or going out of business. Large franchises are closing offices and many are in financial difficulty with insurmountable debt. Most have fewer agents and have lost market share. Many will not make it through this housing crisis. House On Fire!

Most owners of these companies don't share financial data with the agents, closed book company, so the agents don't know the degree of financial trouble they are in. They simply wake up on morning and find that their company no longer exists.

In some cases you can smell the smoke and then there are flames. Some will depart at the first signs of a fire, while others will vanish in the flames. Simple question, will you be left in the flames? Is the House on Fire???