Dagmar Sands www.DagmarSands.com

I went to University of West Georgia today to see my son Michael perform in a concert.
I spent the afternoon and evening surrounded by young people. Some of them studying
to be a doctor, some languages, others want to be professors or teachers.

What I find amazing is the child-like quality in these 21 and 23 year olds. They still have
this NAIVE and SWEET outlook on life. I wish I could protect them and let them keep
this for many more years because when they get out there in the real world of dealing
with stocks, money, paying bills and today's economy, this SWEET outlook will be
replaced with STRESS and having to focus on hard WORK and lot less play.

I think by surrounding yourself with young people today you laugh more, you have
more trusting outlook and staying young attitude. I hope to visit with these students
again soon and it was great to laugh, to enjoy the evening and to relax in a totally
different athmosphere. I loved it!

It's hard to believe that I'm so consumed about this social networking, blogging, sharing,
learning and discovering the new technology that I look at the clock on my computer and
I see that it's 5:51 a.m. already. Another night without sleep but I love it! I'm absolutely
amazed with everything that internet brings us.

Yes, it's a time stealer and it's addictive, however, I rather be learning than sleeping.

Good night everyone or perhaps to those of you early birds, GOOD MORNING!
Dagmar Sands

I am so pleased that I can offer my clients something very different and something that makes me stand out as the "Purple Snowflake" in my real estate business.

I promote properties locally for all my sellers - by sending out e-mails, flyers, postcards to my investors and clients in the local area, but then I take it to the next level by marketing my listings and properties nationally and internationally through FIABCI and through Proxio in addition to all of my social networks.

I have been a member of the International Real Estate Federation since 1987 and I absolutely love our marketing sessions, our monthly calls, and our broadcast e-mail.

I can now take every one of my listings and market it in 70 different countries and have my listings translated into 11 languages. It's really KOOL for my properties to be translated into Chinese, German, Spanish, Korean, Italian, etc...

"SOLD IN ANY LANGUAGE" has been my motto since 1979 when I first received my real estate license and decided that I wanted to help foreign buyers and investors to invest in Atlanta, Georgia real estate and sell them their first home in metro Atlanta, Georgia area.

I advertise all of my listings from Johns Creek, GA, Alpharetta, GA, Duluth, GA, Cumming, GA, Atlanta, GA, Suwanee, Georgia, Suches, GA, Florida properties, Churches, Homes, Land, etc. all on my social networks, FMLS, but I also promote them through FIABCI and Proxio.

I want to share with you something about OSCRE!
What is it? Why do we need it? Here is what OSCRE organization says about that:

Just as a car needs a company to build it and engineers to keep it running, so the OSCRE Standards need people to maintain, develop and promote them.

That organization is OSCRE Americas, set up to administer the Standards. It is a non-profit company limited by guarantee and funding comes from membership fees only. Our members provide real-world business expertise to develop our Standards via democratic Workgroups.

The rapid adoption of e-commerce is vital to the continued prosperity of the property industry. This vital change process has to be led by the industry itself. The expertise of our property professionals is world class, and now is the time to get the industry together to agree how best we can really improve our services using e-commerce.

Our organization not only provides the forum for change, but also actually is delivering the means for change.

Their Mission is:

"Deliver global standards for exchanging electronic real property information and drive their adoption"

Managing International Standards

OSCRE Americas is the organization responsible for the development and adoption of the OSCRE Standards within the United States, Canada and South America. OSCRE America is co-founder of the OSCRE International Consortium that drives the adoption of open e-business standards for the real estate industry.

Making Sure Your Customers Are Really Satisfied
Thank you so much Bob Corcoran for sharing this with us.

Have you ever thought of using a satisfaction questionnaire to keep in touch with your clients? According to Businesstown.com, most unhappy customers will not complain directly to the business they are unhappy with. Instead, they will complain to everyone they know while taking their business to a competitor. To counteract this possibility, businesses are increasingly making follow-up calls or sending out satisfaction questionnaires after a sale is made. If you go to Walgreen's, Red Lobster, or JC Penney's, you will find a number on the receipt to call to complete a customer satisfaction survey.

You might consider sending out a survey to clients who have completed a transaction or even to prospects who have received a few months of your emails. Your questionnaire can be very simple and straightforward, and if done right, the survey can convey that you care about your service and want to improve it. This means that you may ask customers questions that can be answered by checking choices like "Very satisfied," "Somewhat satisfied," or "Not satisfied," but you also offer them a chance to voice an opinion about why they made the choice.

The responses to open ended questions can offer insights about what you do right and what needs improvement. It may spotlight employees who did a great job. If you follow up on your negative or lukewarm responses, you can pave the way for repeat business or at least soften the anger of a customer who feels he was mistreated. Often, even a customer who was unsatisfied with aspects of a transaction can be pacified with a call that attempts to make things right or at least offers an apology.

Make sure you are prepared to act on negative responses. Nothing turns a customer sour faster than to complete a questionnaire voicing dissatisfaction, only to never be contacted by that company again. On the other hand, businesses who promptly follow-up and resolve customer complaints quickly are finding that those customers are more likely to do repeat business than the average customer who does not have a complaint.