David Coffman

I've been sitting at home for the last week sick with one of the worst colds I can remember in decades. As a consolation of my work time lost, I've spent my time interacting with people on Facebook and Active Rain. It has been a real eye opener! My normal routine would be to spend about an hour a week (combined time) working my Sphere on these two site. I enjoy the time and conversations I have on these sites, but never really connected with the depth of opportunity that can be had by being involved.

Over the last week while in total misery, I've connected with four agents that are entertaining a move to my brokerage, shared two referrals and reconnected with an old High School friend that has been on my mind for a long time. This is pretty productive for a few sick days!

Next time you find yourself thinking about your time on these sites, try and operate as though you were at work trying to refine and explore your Sphere of influence. The results might surprise you!

PS...... I still have 7 positions left to work our new REO program! Are you the right Tucson Agent to get the job done?

Agents that have been in the market for decades understand the ups and downs, or cycle of Real Estate, but those that joined the industry in the last 3-4 years can find themselves scratching their heads. For some of those agents, the markets of 2004-2007 made the business seam very easy and they never really gave Basic Training courses very much notice. Some brokers also made the mistake of skipping the basic training required of their agents that joined their teams right out of school, because even the part timers that came on board had great production during those years.

The easy years are over for those not heavily involved in the REO or short sale business. Now we must all renew our commitment to the business and get back to basics. Every agent needs to take a serious look at their business and learn to change with the markets. Here are some basic steps I feel must be revisited and in some cases re-learned if agents are going to be successful in the coming months and years.

• Build a business plan and stick to it! Review it every 2-4 months and determine if you are on track with your goals. You must have Goals and a plan to meet them!
• Reorganize and update your Sphere of influence. The list doesn't have to be large, but it does have to be complete and mastered.
• Get your Sphere placed into a good contact manager. The idea of the contact manager is that it allows you to automate and supplement your efforts to be in front of your clients regularly. More important, none of us can be in two places at once. With a good contact manager, your branding, message and face can be in front of the client even when you can't!
• Get back into the habit of visiting your office on a regular basis. Much synergy can be leveraged by being near the people that you work with. The virtual office has freed us from many business chains, but it has also left us with a huge disconnect.
• Get back to the phones! Many people misunderstand the "do not call laws". You can't let the fear of the law paralyze your efforts to work. Your due diligence is to make every effort to avoid calling those people on the list, but as record keeping goes the lists are never complete or accurate. Make those calls and if you stumble into a Do Not Call person, politely apologize for the call & NEVER CALL THEM AGAIN!
• Work those expired listings and FSBO's. You already know they want to sell their home. Why spend so much time marketing/prospecting to people that may or MAY NOT want to sell. The first question of prospecting is already answered. Give them a reason to work with you.
• Time Block your schedule. Include your personal activities as well as business activities. You will find new time that was lost and get a lot more accomplished.
• Make sure you are handing out business cards every day. I keep my pocket full of at least 10 and never go home until they are gone.
• Learn to hand write notes and cards to clients and friends again. Emails are great, but the art of hand written notes is being lost. The personal touch goes a long way!!
• Get a daily, weekly and monthly routine in place and stick to it. If you can make yourself stick to it for 6 weeks without fail, it will become second nature. When you break down the task of business creation to simple small daily steps, suddenly the work get easier and not so overwhelming. You can move mountains one rock at a time!
• Don't bargain away your commissions. Those agents that discount their pay know their own worth.
• Get back into the game by attending mixers and industry functions. Secrete agents never get noticed!
• If you are spending money on marketing, make sure you review quarterly what your marketing dollar is producing. This is not to say cut back when it is slow, but be conscience of your efforts. Avoid trying new unproven marketing methods. Stick to what works. The classified ad is dead. Find where the big names spend their efforts and money and join the party! If your company offers a marketing department, consult them with your plans. If you aren't an advertising generous, leave it someone who is.
• Invest in the tools of your trade. Make sure you have a smart phone, text capability, fax connection, update your photos, websites etc. I recently saw a photo of an agent that screamed "I'm an old Photo". I know because she was holding a "brick" cell phone from the early 80's in her hand.
• Get connected and team up with good lenders and title people. Make an effort to really work business together with these folks. If you haven't built a relationship with these folks, do it today!!
• With REO and short sales such a huge part of the market, start building a network of asset managers. DON'T CHASE THE GOLDEN CARROT BY WORKING ENDLESS BPO's, but get involved. Ask for listings! No one ever gets the sale unless they ASK!
• If your broker isn't commited to you and providing what you need to function, dump them and find a great company to work with. Forget the split. Thats the short cut to higher earning not the long term solution to better income. Production wins every time!

I'm sure I left out so many other important topics that I will get many comments on what
I missed, but these are all great starting points. If an agent managed to work into their schedule even one half of what is listed here, they will rise to the top like Cream!

Get commited to your career again!

Hello all!

There is no doubt in my mind that the last 12 months have been challenging and we probably all agree that the coming twelve months will present challenges as well. With that said, I'm reminded daily at the mental erosion that occurs among fellow REALTORS by simply spending time with what the media presents to us 24/7/365. Never in the history of the planet have people been able to not only access news in such a plethora of times and methods, but we also have never been so heavily attached mentally with the media's message.

Over and Over I meet agents that can regurgitate the last 24 major headlines and feel compelled to dwell on those topics ad nauseam. Some of these battered souls have experience some level of personal trauma due to the very topics that are in the headlines that they are reading and hearing, but still I'm amazed at how many use them as the excuse why the didn't "WORK" today or last week or last month. Heck, I even met someone this week that admitted that they had been purposely inactive for the last year waiting for the market to turn. In fact this agent (from a company that will remain nameless) was unaware that the prices had dropped so low on foreclosures in his area that clients he already knew could benefit. I showed him how he was missing an opportunity because he wasn't paying attention. Today he called and told me he had written a contract with an old client and thanked me for the wake up call.

The market won't turn until we decide as an industry to MAKE it turn! The market is between your ears!

I spend every day PREACHING to my agents this very topic, but you will also find that our local EXIT Broker/Owners practice what they preach. We won't ask our agents to do anything we aren't willing to do ourselves! With that said, Here's what we all need to do...

Get back to basics! Start making those calls, knocking on those FSBO & Expired listing doors, working that sphere of influence, mailing to those farms, handing out business cards, researching our markets and specialty areas, writing those personal thank you cards and notes. And the basic list goes on and on.

We've only forgotten what we have all known since our careers began. The boom years stripped us of our need to do these basic tasks. THE ENTIRE INDUSTRY GOT LAZY!!!! Those days are over and we can no longer Forest Gump our way through real estate sales.

I promise to get back to work ... back to basics! In fact, I'm already there!

Will you take my challenge and join me?