This made got everyone in the group thinking……..

• Do we want good service or great service when we are spending my money?
• Do we want to have a good year or a great year?
• Do we want good clients or great clients?
• Do we want to feel good or do I want to feel great?
• Do we want a good relationship or great?

The answer to all those questions for me and most others is GREAT.  Honestly, good just doesn’t cut it any longer.  Clients, customers and everyone else in between want and deserve great experiences and why not.  The competition in any industry is great and my industry, real estate is no different.  Gone are the days where you are “the only one” who sells, does or makes a certain widget.  Because good just isn’t enough, even at 99% here’s what you’d get:

·         No electricity, water, or heat 8.6 hours each year.

·         Two short or long unsafe landings at Kennedy Airport each day.

·         2 million documents lost by IRS per year.

·         20,000 incorrect drug prescriptions written per year.

·         Nearly 500 incorrect surgical operations per week.

·         22,000 checks deducted from wrong bank accounts every hour.

·         12 babies given to the wrong parents each day.

·         More than 15,000 newborn babies accidentally dropped by doctors or nurses each year.

·         2,000 lost articles of mail per hour.

·         No telephone or TV transmissions for nearly 10 minutes each week.

·         1,314 phone calls misplaced by telephone company each week.

We all want to have a great experience and provide our customers and clients with great service.  It’s a fact that repeat business and referrals come from providing great service.  In our company we all read “Raving Fans” by Ken Blanchard to help improve our customer service and retention skills.  Creating a great experience for clients and customers makes then raving fans.  Raving fans tell others and your great service takes your good business to great.

I hope that you have as much business as you want in 2010.

Hint:  Bookmarking websites and putting them into folders is extremely helpful when you are doing research on a subject.  Say you’re planning a vacation.  Labeling the folder the name of your destination and putting all the sites you’re planning to go back and reference into that folder can make finding them again very easy.

Using these features has saved me time and kept my frustration low when I’m looking for something and I just can’t recall the exact URL for.  However with all the bookmarked sites, I’ve worried about backing them up and found a super easy way to do that.  There are also sites that allow you to share or save your bookmarks.

Note – in FireFox, it’s called Bookmarks, in Internet Explorer it’s called Favorites.

Worry no more!  Favorites and Bookmarks are incredibly easy to backup or transfer to a new computer so that you don’t lose those precious links!  Here’s how:

INTERNET EXPLORER – EXPORTING FAVORITES

Click File
Import and Export.
A wizard will open
Click Next
Export Favorites
Click Next
Select the Favorites folder
Click Next
Select where to export the file to
Click Next
Finish
Now burn that file to a disc or save to a flash drive

INTERNET EXPLORER – IMPORTING FAVORITES

Click File
Import and Export
A wizard will open
Click Next
Import Favorites
Click Next
Browse to where your Favorites file is located
Click Next
Click on the Favorites folder
Click Next
Finish

FIREFOX – EXPORTING BOOKMARKS

Click Bookmarks
Manage Bookmarks
Click File
Export
Select where to export the file to
Click Save
Now burn that file to a disc or save to a flash drive

FIREFOX – IMPORTING BOOKMARKS

Click Bookmarks
Manage Bookmarks
Click File
Import
Browse to where your Favorites file is located
Click Next
Select the file
Click Open

There are other add on program that run well in FireFox that allow you to save your favorites on the web.  Here are a few I’ve used:

delicious.com

www.allmyfavorites.net/

www.stumbleupon.com

digg.com

www.bookmarkall.com/bookmark/default.aspx

Many of my clients have found that backing up the favorites they use at home and copying them to their office PC is very useful and a real time saver.  Keeping track of all your favorites and making sure you never lose them is easy.  Taking the time to back them up or adding them to an online resource can save you frustration and aggravation in the future should you have a computer failure.

A while ago I was shared a link to a recording that has really made a difference in my life.   I’ve listened to it countless times and shared it with others as well.  Each time I hear something new, something helpful for me at that moment and something that really has an impact on me at that immediately.

I’m sharing this link in hopes that you enjoy it as much as I have.  It’s a recording by Earl Nightingale titled The Strangest Secret.  It’s free to listen to, download and take with you and to share via Mark Victor Hansen’s website.  There is a brief intro and closing by Mark as well telling his story and how this recording has helped him.

http://www.markvictorhansen.com/strangest_secret.php

Enjoy!!

With unemployment rates at record highs across the USA, I’m guessing that many people aren’t thinking like me.  They aren’t looking for ways to improve their business while doing less of the daily activities.  They aren’t looking for ways to increase their income by spending more time working on the business, and less working “in” the business.  They aren’t focused on marketing, driving traffic and converting leads.  They are instead, listening to the news and following everyone else and cutting back.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying you should spend with wild abandon, but you should also not be doing everything in your business, especially when you need to focus on thriving in spite of the tough economic times that surround us.

I’m reading or actually rereading a great book by Dan Kennedy called the No B.S. Time Management for Entrepreneurs, The ultimate No Holds Barred, Kick Butt, Take No Prisoners Guide to Time Productivity & Sanity.  Now before you jump online and order this book, I’ll warn you, it’s not for the faint at heart.  He is brutally honest and at times some may say even rough, but there are so many nuggets of information in this book that can be applied to our businesses, it’s so worth the time you’ll spend reading it.   Until your copy arrives, I’ll give you a few gems I’ve picked up.

Know the value of your time and pay yourself first.  Establish what you expect to make income wise, then figure out the per hour rate that you’ll need to generate to reach that income.  Remember of course that even the best don’t get in a full 8 hours of productive work each day.  Determine how many hours you aren’t productive at making income, i.e. driving to appointments, filing documents, time on hold, etc. and subtract them from the equation.

In other words, if you plan to make $150k per year, then the formula for determining your hourly rate would look  something like this.

At 40 hours per week and 52 hours in a year, there are 2080 hours to work.  Of those 80 should be vacation and 40 for personal and sick days.

This leaves us 1960 working hours.  Now, here’s where the real formula for making us think about the value of our time.  How productive are we during those 1960 working hours?  This will determine our hourly rate.  There is no one at least human that can work at 100% productivity all the time.  So you’ll have to figure out how productive you are in your day, but for this example let’s say 60% productive  Based on that the number of hours worked are 1176 and to make the income goal of $150k, you’ll need to pay yourself $127.55 per hour.  Let’s take this one step further, if your only able to work at 50% productivity, then the number of hours worked is 980 per year and you’ll need to pay yourself $153.06 per hour to hit your income goal of $150k.

Next time you pick up the phone, walk to the file cabinet or any other activity, stop and ask yourself, is this something I’d pay someone else $150.00 an hour (or whatever your number is) to do? Or is this an activity I need to delegate or eliminate?

Knowing what your time is worth is a REAL awakening for most of us.

Minimize interruptions. In Dan’s book he calls people who steal your time “Time Vampires’.  I love the way he puts it and when you really think about it he’s right.  He explains that just minutes interrupted in your day can lead to fewer and fewer productive hours over the course of a week, month and year.  He says if we want to really manage our time, it’s our job to slay the Time Vampires and regain control.  Some examples are the people who just wonder by your office and stop by with a quick question or thought.  While to many they may seem harmless, in fact they are dangerous.  These people while they may not intend it really have no value for your time. They feel that their interruption is more important that whatever you were doing.  The best way to control them is to be busy and shut your door.  But if they persist, you must drive a stakes right through their heart (his words, not mine) and take the upper hand. When they stop by unannounced, say something like “I’m really busy working on a deadline right now, let’s talk at 4:00”  You can also do this with people who call you as well.  It may take a few “stakes” to get their attention and regain control of your time, but trust me, it’s so worth it.  My other favorite suggestion is that when you begin a conversation with someone, let them know how much time they have and stick to it.  “Hi Sally, I’m really pressed for time, but I also want to help you.  I only have about 10 minutes so we’ll need to get right to the point.”  Amazingly this one also works very well.

Turn time into wealth. Think about the unproductive time you have in the day, driving, standing in line, waiting on an appointment, etc.  Then find ways to turn that time into something other than the clock simply ticking by.  Always carry a book with you.  I read about a book every week to two weeks, depending on my schedule and the thickness of the book.  Dan’s suggestion is one I’ve done for years and one that I also encourage my children to do.  I can’t begin to tell you how much this has improved my life.  Finding time to read at night or maybe during the day when others are around can be difficult.  But when I’m waiting at an appointment I can fill in that time with productive activities and read something new.  He also suggests taking CDs with you to listen to them while you drive around town.  My collection is vast of the CDs I’ve listened to and learned from.  Many I’ve even listened to twice.  Now with the MP3 world, it’s even easier to buy audio books, download them to your MP3 player and take that with you everywhere.  Many cars even have a jack to plug one into.  If you commute for work, imagine how many hours of education you can have at the end of the year.  You’ll have time to learn a new language, new business strategies and so much more.  It’s up to you.

All in all it’s really up to us to determine the thing or things that are the most important to generating income in our business.  I’m just as guilty as the next guy of checking my Blackberry way too often, replying instantly to something that could have waited until I finished lunch.  Or getting to work with only a list of things to do, nothing on the calendar to say from 12:00 to 1:00 write blog and from 2:00 to 2:30 check email, etc.  Too often we just show up, the day happens and at the end we can’t figure out why we aren’t getting more from our business.  What Dan suggests and I really aspire to do is be in control of our time.  With a few tweaks in the way things are done little by little you’ll see it really change for you, having more time to do the activities that make the phone ring and generate sales is the role of an entrepreneur.  That is the way to thrive in any economy, especially a tough one.

OK, so I’m listening.  I’m putting this together TODAY with my assistant.  It’s going to be fun, a place to connect with others, share stories, vent and learn.

The market is full of REO (Real Estate Owned) properties right now.   According to a recent press release from RealtyTrac.com, there was a 9 percent increase in the first quarter of this year.  http://www.realtytrac.com//ContentManagement/PressRelease.aspx?channelid=9&ItemID=6180 The press release goes on to say that “It’s very likely that we’ll see the number of REOs increase again now that most of the moratoria have been lifted.”

What does this mean to you, as a real estate professional?  More Work!

While it can also mean the possibility for more income, if you’re involved in a deal that is an REO, it will almost always mean more administrative work.

Of course, these deals are what many buyers are looking for.  The news is plastered with the statistics and buyers are seeking bargains.  However the follow-up involved with these transactions (not to mention the extra paperwork) can be overwhelming and extremely time consuming.  One of our clients recently told us she called and emailed the title company for the REO lender about 20 times before she got a reply.  This was of course before she started using our services.

1. She was told “we’re very busy”.   Wow!

1. If you don’t have an assistant or a transaction coordinator, then you’ll be the one doing all the extra work, which will cut into your time for prospecting and lead conversion as well as your free time.

So you have three options:

1. Do the extra work yourself.
2. Hire and manage your own assistant.
3. Do what many other agents have done and use the services of the Online Closing Team.

Check us out at www.OnlineClosingTeam.com and be sure to view our testimonial page.  There you’ll see what others have to say about our services.  Then, give me a call and let’s discuss how our team can help you coordinate all of your transactions.

I’ll even let you in on a little secret about how some of our clients don’t even pay a dime for our services.

Committed to your success –

Best wishes,

Michelle Spalding

No One Gets Paid Until Something Closes

Knowing how to effectively manage your deals and the many things to watch out for can dramatically increase your income as well as reduce the time you spend handling them.

Increase your free time and income generating opportunities.  Don’t do another real estate transaction without first going to  http://tiny.cc/FormsToolKit for complete details.

]]> http://michellespalding.wordpress.com/2009/08/16/manage-your-deal-the-do-it-yourself-tool-kit/feed/ 0 michellespalding http://michellespalding.wordpress.com/2009/08/11/we-need-to-achieve-a-few-stretch-goals-a-whole-lot-faster/ http://michellespalding.wordpress.com/2009/08/11/we-need-to-achieve-a-few-stretch-goals-a-whole-lot-faster/#comments Tue, 11 Aug 2009 09:58:23 +0000 michellespalding http://michellespalding.wordpress.com/?p=42 ]]> I found something I thought you would be interested in. I am excited about it, so I just signed up as an “Evangelist”!

This company (ThinkTQ.com) has developed a new training system that helps people achieve their goals sooner (personally and professionally) — by giving you the tools to immediately produce better results.  Their starter package costs nothing but 2 minutes of your time.

They are the ONLY people in the world who can show you…

* What you are doing RIGHT — so you can do MORE of that…

* What you are doing WRONG — so you can do LESS of that…

* Exactly what you need to do DIFFERENT to accelerate your success.

To introduce their new product line, they are giving away 10 million audio CD training programs covering different areas of your performance: setting goals, making plans, team-building, organization, time management, your attitude, etc.

You should get one before they run out! There’s no obligation to purchase anything.

The idea is to simply choose one area of your performance, either a major strength… and make it stronger… or a limiting weakness… and eliminate it. Either way, this program focuses on personal improvement in a whole new way.

They have all kinds of simple on-line tests, assessments, workshops and a Daily Lessons in Excellence email training program that really works! I highly recommend it.

To sign up, just go to http://www.ThinkTQ.com/Gift

Enter this number in the Gift Certificate box: 110308

Let me know what you think of your free TQ Gift.

Talk to you soon.

Michelle Spalding

www.OnlineClosingTeam.com

Now, I totally understand the way that flyers work, that most of the time the neighbors take the flyers and aren’t interested in purchasing the home.  But others like me, who are serious about relocating to the beach, find this troubling.  While I’m pretty savvy and can look this up on most websites, I thought how about the buyer who isn’t as geeky as me.  He or she may pass this home by and go for one that’s easier to get info on.

As I walked, I recalled a client of mine who uses a great service that has totally eliminated his need to stuff boxes with flyers. Here’s a link to the site to learn more about it – http://tiny.cc/N9F89 .  Basically, it’s a toll free service with extensions that you can record all the details about the home and me, a buyer could easily call and get everything I want.  Best of all for the agent or investor is that my info is them captured by the phone system so you can call me later to see if I got everything I needed and maybe sell a home.

It also totally eliminates the need to stuff those boxes with paper.  For someone like me to is always looking for ways to “go green” and make life easier, this seems like a no brainer.

So I contacted this company today and found out how simple it was to use and decided I needed to share this with you.  They even offer a free 12 chapter e-book on real estate marketing  to generate you more sales, just click on this link to get your copy http://tiny.cc/N9F89

Take a moment right now and visit http://tiny.cc/N9F89 to see for yourself.  It cost nothing to learn more and to receive their 12 chapter e-book.  If you like what you see, then incorporate it into your business.  If not, I’m sure you’ll still learn something in that e-book that can help you.  Either way, you can’t lose.

Enjoy your weekend.

P.S.- If you have a cheap fixer upper the Flaggler area for sale, let me know.  I have a friend who is cash buyer looking for a great deal.

What does this mean to you, as a real estate professional?  More Work!

While it can also mean the possibility for more income, if you’re involved in a deal that is an REO, it will almost always mean more administrative work.

Of course, these deals are what many buyers are looking for.  The news is plastered with the statistics and buyers are seeking bargains.  However the follow-up involved with these transactions (not to mention the extra paperwork) can be overwhelming and extremely time consuming.  One of our clients recently told us she called and emailed the title company for the REO lender about 20 times before she got a reply.  This was of course before she started using our services. She was told “we’re very busy”.   Wow!

If you don’t have an assistant or a transaction coordinator, then you’ll be the one doing all the extra work, which will cut into your time for prospecting and lead conversion as well as your free time.

So you have three options:

1. Do the extra work yourself.
2. Hire and manage your own assistant.
3. Do what many other agents have done and use the services of the Online Closing Team.

Outsourcing is the simplest way to grow your business.  Bringing on a Transaction Coordinator to manage your REO deals as well as any others will free you up for more income generating activities.

Check us out at www.OnlineClosingTeam.com and be sure to view our testimonial page.  There you’ll see what others have to say about our services.   I’ll even let you in on a little secret about how some of our clients don’t even pay a dime for our services.

Committed to your success.