Heather & Nancy Cloward The Cloward Team

Few things are as powerful as words. However, never forget that many words sound positive but create negative pictures or feelings in the prospect's mind. Unfortunately most agents use the negative words with prospects everyday thinking they are producing a positive effect.

This is the purpose of this week's lesson. We want you to discover how to say the same message to your prospect but use words causing a more positive feeling.

Sign

Instead say: Approve, endorse, okay, authorize

Prospects fear signing on the dotted line, as it causes red flags in the decision making process. When using the other words your prospect feels more comfortable, thus the decision process continues and concludes positively.

Problem

Instead say: Challenge

A problem stops your prospect while a challenge encourages a desire for a solution.

Commission

Instead say: fee for personal service

Eliminate commission from your vocabulary. In its place substitute 'fee for personal service' since this is exactly the kind of service you are giving to sellers. Use this sentence when discussing the commission. "Fortunately our company has built a fee for personal service into our agreement. That's exactly what you can expect to receive from me, personal service and it is worth every cent you invest into selling your home."

Appointment

Instead say: Visit

Appointment creates the feeling of commitment while visit the feeling of friendship association.

Just looking

Instead say: Research

When you are dealing with a buyer, you should never say to them 'You're just looking'. This means they are haphazardly viewing homes. Rather use the word 'research' as it implies a careful and thoughtful investigation on their part.

Decision

Instead say: Make an investment

The word 'decision' causes the prospect to think of a sudden decision. Rather say it like this: Are you ready to make an investment into your future? It causes a much better emotional response within the client.

Objection

Instead think: Area of concern to be addressed

This word is for yourself to use within your own mind. Whenever a prospect gives an objection, you should not think of it as an objection since it causes negative feelings to flow within yourself. Rather think of it as an area of concern needing to be addressed and resolved.

Prospecting

Instead think: Investing into my business

This word is for yourself to use within your own mind. Most Realtors hate to prospect and the very thought often causes pain. Instead train yourself to think and say 'I'm investing into my business today for 2 hours when working with FSBOs, expired listings, etc.'. You will, in time, develop a good internal feeling about this essential part of the business.

Presentation

Instead say: service plan

Realtors say listing presentation, and this is fine when speaking with another Realtor. But when with a seller, say service plan. Example: Mr. Seller, I would like to discuss my service plan on how we will sell your home.

Service plan implies personal dedication to the seller while presentation feels more like the seller is just another brick in the wall.

Please contact us for any further questions

www.TheClowardTeam.com

Nancy & Heather Cloward

Prudential Clalifornia Realty

Direct: 949-495-2819 or 949-228-4523

Nancy@NancyCloward.com or Heather@HeatherCloward.com

With the damp and cold ushered out for the year, enjoy the lively colors, flowery fragrances, and gentle warmth of the Spring season.

Ladybug Rocks

Your kids can make these adorable ladybugs as shelf decorations, or make a large one as to be used on Mom’s desk as a paperweight. While the average ladybug is red, ours come in several vibrant colors. Let your kids pick their favorite!

What you'll need:

How to make it:

1. Completely wash and dry all rocks.
2. Paint rocks in desired colors, allow to dry. Apply second and third coats if needed. Lighter colors will require more coats than darker shades.
3. Paint head on using black acrylic craft paint. There is no pattern needed, simply paint about ¼ of the rock black in the “front”.
4. Use a black Sharpie to draw a straight line down the center of the rock, starting at the center of the base of the “head”.
5. Dip the end of a large paint brush, or the eraser of a pencil, in black craft paint. Dot on the spots, reloading with paint after every dot.
6. Once the paint is dry, spray the rock(s) with acrylic sealer spray. Allow sealer to dry completely.
7. using white craft glue, attach wiggle eyes and let dry.

Tips:

• If you are doing this in a group setting such as scouts or a classroom, you may find it easier to prepare the rocks ahead of time. Wash, dry and apply a coat of Liquitex Basics Gesso to each rock. This is a craft medium (white) that works well with many projects. It will also create a base so that less coats of color paint will be required.
• Bigger rocks are easier for small hands to manipulate. They are also heavier, so be sure that there are enough adult helpers for a group of little ones.
• White and black paint can be used instead of wiggle eyes. Simply dot on white paint, allow to dry, then use a smaller tool to dot on the black.

www.TheClowardTeam.com

Nancy & Heather Cloward

Prudential Clalifornia Realty

Direct: 949-495-2819 or 949-228-4523

Nancy@NancyCloward.com or Heather@HeatherCloward.com

Most Dashboard widgets are useless pieces of crap. With that said, a good widget can be both fun and useful.

Our list of 12 must-have widgets covers a wide range of categories, which should appeal to pretty much everyone looking to get the most out of their Mac experience. Of course, not everybody’s favorite can be included so if there’s one you feel should be added to the list, let us know in the comments!

1. iStat Pro
The ultimate widget to get an overview of everything that’s going on with your Mac. At a glance you can check your CPU & RAM usage, available hard drive space, network status & speeds, internal temperatures, fan speed, battery levels, current processes, and more — all with a great, elegantly designed interface.

2. Amazon Album Art
iTunes automatically downloads album cover art for your music, but only if you have an iTunes account and if they sell the music in your library. If a song or album isn’t for sale in iTunes, no cover art for you. This widget will quickly get album cover art from Amazon’s large database for the currently selected songs in iTunes.

3. Harmonic
Harmonic makes it extremely easy to get lyrics to your favorite songs. All you need to do is play a song in iTunes, launch Dashboard, and the lyrics will automatically display and copy right into iTunes. Lesser known songs lyrics may not be available, but for the vast majority of popular music it works great.

4. xCuts
Remembering all the keyboard shortcuts Mac OS X has to offer is just about impossible. When you need a good reference for shortcuts, the xCuts widget will probably have what you’re looking for — right on your Dashboard. You can even view by category and search the database.

5. QwikConvert
Apple bundles a widget called Unit Converter with the Mac operating system, but it’s a bit clunky and slow to work with. QwikConvert, however, is incredibly fast and offers a ton of conversions that update as you type. It doesn’t get much better than that.

6. Asteroid Run 2
I don’t normally like games on my Dashboard because they suck up system resources and fill valuable screen real estate. Asteroid Run 2 has me hooked for some reason, though. It’s a fun little time-waster where you navigate your spaceship through an obstacle course of asteroids to pass through a series of loops before time runs out. It’s fairly challenging and has decent graphics, so it’s definitely worth a try.

7. Time Machine Buddy
Time Machine is an excellent feature introduced in Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, but it doesn’t give users much feedback in terms of what’s going on behind the scenes. For most people, that’s exactly what they want. For others like me, a little more information is good to have. The Time Machine Buddy widget will display the system logs generated by each backup, whether they are in progress or already completed.

8. Recently Added Widgets
If you’re always looking to make new additions to your Dashboard, this is the perfect widget for you. It keeps you updated on the latest widgets by grabbing the feed from Apple’s website to display the 20 most recently posted Dashboard widgets.

9. iPassword
For some security freaks, a simple word-based password is the equivalent of a technology sin. They can be easily cracked, which leaves your online accounts open to hackers. The iPassword widget helps to alleviate this risk by randomly generating stings of text and numbers (at a character length of your choice), which you can use as passwords when you sign up for new accounts on the web.

10. Apple Retail Store Event Widget
Some people may not be aware that Apple Stores regularly hold free events and workshops to teach visitors how to perform certain tasks on a Mac, like creating a home video in iMovie or a song in Garageband. This widget provides a list of upcoming events at your local Apple Store so you know when to stop by for a presentation that interests you.

11. gMap
Get Google Maps on your Dashboard with this lightweight, easy to use widget. You can zoom in & out, use a variety of views (map, satellite, and hybrid), and even set your home address as a reference point. Sorry, no turn-by-turn directions though.

12. UpcomingBirthdays
Forgetting birthdays of friends and family is a big problem for a lot of people. It’s not that you don’t care… you’re just so busy you don’t even realize, right? Unfortunately, that excuse can only work so many times. This helpful widget takes your contacts’ birthdays from Address Book and displays them so you can easily see when there’s one on the way.

Posted by Ant on October 11th, 2008 at 2:40 PM

Please contact us for any further questions

www.TheClowardTeam.com

Nancy & Heather Cloward

Prudential Clalifornia Realty

Direct: 949-495-2819 or 949-228-4523

Nancy@NancyCloward.com or Heather@HeatherCloward.com