The 30 Most Important Days of Every Year!

Many agents find that their businesses slow down, with some shutting down completely, between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

While I know there are many holiday parties going on and I often attend a few, it's important to not hurt your business by missing the opportunity of getting a jump on the new year.

During the holidays, it's a great time to go shopping and spend more time with your family and friends, but it's equally important to not stop working all together.

Here's a couple of strategies to keep you in the game:

- Go through your client database and see if you have your clients' most recent info, including updated cell phones & email addresses as well as their links to Facebook and LinkedIn.

- Find all of your old prospect leads and contact them to see if they aleady bought or plan to buy in 2012. You'll be surprised how many prospects haven't done anything and they could be in a better position to buy or sell a home.

- Design your business plan for 2012, but focus on the activities that you'll be doing for the first 90 days. How many listings and sales do you want to have?

- Break it down even more and set up what daily activities you need to do to achieve your goals.

- Which 2 - 3 marketing strategies generated the most income for you in 2011 and how can you expand on
them to make them even better by generating more business for you in 2012?

The reality is most agents have a "holiday hangover" come January 2nd and so when it's time to get back to selling real estate, they are not ready to hit the ground running, because they have no momentum to start out the new year.

Take the next 4 weeks to mix pleasure and a little bit of planning and you'll be way ahead of most real estate agents in your area.

To your success,

Dan

The 6 Essential Elements of Your Online Success!

Whether you’ve been selling real estate for 6 months or 30 years, the communication landscape is changing…and fast!

If your clientele is younger than baby boomers, you’ve probably noticed that they aren’t into faxing, emailing and using landline phones any more. My 11 yr old daughter said today that I was listening to some ‘oldies’ songs. They were from the 70s & 80s. I said those aren’t oldies… oldies are from the 50s & 60s. She said “No Dad, those are oldies”. Ouch!

Many 20-somethings & 30-somethings are now Facebooking, Tweeting, texting, using mobile apps and so much more.

What’s it going to take to be successful in real estate in the next 5 – 10 years? Well, if social media isn’t one of your main tools, you’ll probably be struggling or looking for another career.

There is so much technology out there today that it can often be completely overwhelming. You may be wondering how to figure it all out.

Well, as a real estate agent, I have 6 recommendations that I believe you must master to achieve your online success.

If you focus on these 6 essential elements of online social media, you will be ahead of most Realtors.

1. Facebook


2. LinkedIn


3. YouTube


4. Twitter


5. ActiveRain


6. Blogs

Now, you may look at this list and think that’s a lot of work and a lot of wasted time. Well, it does take time to set up, but it’s worth it. You need to take social media seriously and yet at the same time you need to set up systems and time frames each day to maximize your results and do it with time efficiency.

I’ll be writing more about these topics in future posts as I continue to improve my social media skills as well as provide you access to some of the training tools I'm currently using.

Please comment below and let me know if you’re actively using these tools to keep in touch with your clientele and prospects.

Follow me on www.Twitter.com/CincyREguy
Connect me on www.LinkedIn.com/in/CincinnatiRealEstateGuy
LIKE me on www.Facebook.com/CincinnatiRealEstateGuy

Do You Have A LinkedIn Profile?

Do You Have a LinkedIn Profile?

With everyone talking about Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, is it all really worth it?

I believe there are effective ways to market your business and gain new clients in these different social mediums, but if you're not careful there can also be a lot of time-wasting.

I've had a LinkedIn profile for awhile, but didn't know what to do with it, so I've been watching different webinars and reading up on various LinkedIn strategies.

The best thing to do right now, if you don't have a LinkedIn profile is to set yours up and start requesting connections to others you know.

In addition to your clients, prospects and service vendors, you should connect with real estate agents around
the country, who have the ability to refer business to you.

Please send me a request at http://www.linkedin.com/in/cincinnatirealestateguy and I will add you to my network or you can type in "Dan Weis" and I'm in the Cincinnati Ohio area.

Look at my profile as an example.

I will be making improvements to my profile and adding different application.

The #1 rule to remember about social media is " to build networks of people, who know you, like you and trust you". By servicing their needs, you're PAID in direct proportion to the number of people you serve.

Finally, there are some POWERFUL strategies that you can implement in LinkedIn, but you have get set up first. I will share some of these strategies as I implement them myself and let you know how they're working.

Remember, go to: http://www.linkedin.com/in/cincinnatirealestateguy

To your success,

Dan

Do You Want To Be GREAT?

Whether the economy is good or bad, we've all gone through times were it's been tough.

It could be when you're new in the business or you've hit a plateau after achieving a certain goal...

Because you became very busy "IN" your business, you may have stopped doing the activities that got you there.

In business today, once you have your systems in place, it's more achievable to be a great agent than an average one, if you put in the hard work it takes to get there.

So, the question you should be asking yourself is "Do I want to be a great agent?"

Then the next question is "How do I do it?"

Well, I remember reading this anonymous quote many years ago and just found it again.

It says: "The single, biggest difference between the good and the great is that the good do what the great do only some of the time; while the great do what the great do - all of the time."

Stop here and re-read the quote above!

So determine which aspects of your business you're best at doing and do it more often. Make sure that you're focused on dollar productive activities and delegate the rest to others on your team.

Realize that top producing agents aren't that different than you, except for the fact that they know what they must do the most of, they do all of the time and they delegate the rest.

It's time for you to make a stand and be the best you can be too!

A Value-Added Service To Protect Your Clients!

I hope your real estate business is going well or is at least turning around right now.

Would you like to earn some extra income while helping your clients while reducing your real estate liability?

I found a simple way to make extra money part-time by offering a service to my clients that offers them nationwide access to quality law firms for only $26/month or less.

See below how easy it is to share these services with your clients. You let the video or DVD do all the talking!

Now you may or may not be interested, but you owe it to your family to check out this membership plan.

I believe strongly in my heart that every smart person should have this Life Events legal membership. One of the benefits you can receive is a FREE WILL ($500 value). Approximately 70% of Americans don’t have a will in place to protect their family! A will is considered by many to be a love document for your family. I would hate to hear about something terrible happening in your life and you not having known about this service.

Would you be more likely to pick up a phone to call an attorney to help you with an actual or potential legal problem, if you knew you weren’t going to be billed $200 - $300 per hour for the phone consultation?

Do you have auto insurance?....health insurance? WHY? This service is just as important, if not, more!

1.5 million families in the United States and Canada own this membership plan! Find out why!

PLEASE watch this quick 10-minute video.
http://www.greatlegalbenefit.com
Your family and clients deserve it!

It’s very easy to add this service into your real estate presentation and differentiate yourself from your competition. You can even visit your past clients and show them a 10-minute video or to see if they’re interested in this service. RESULT: Many people will sign up for a membership and they will refer others to you. That can increase your real estate referral business as well!!! EARN a commission on every membership sign-up and you can receive residual income too!

If you want to get more detailed, Realtor-specific information about the marketing and compensation plan, go to: http://www.RealtorsHearThis.com.

“The person who told me about this service was a top-producing Realtor in Maryland and is now earning over 5-figures per month by offering this service to everyone he knows. I will never be without this service!”

Please contact me after viewing the video and let me know if you’re interested.

Dan Weis
Real Estate Consultant since 1985
Cell/text: 513-615-1890
dan@danweis.com

Oprah's 3 Secrets Revealed...

Oprah Winfrey Revealed 3 Secrets on her Final Show!

Now I want to preface this post by saying that I rarely watched Oprah over her 25 years, but you never would have guessed that I was an Oprah viewer for her farewell season. I had seen some interesting promos about her final season and decided to record each day's show and if it was inspirational in nature, I would watch it.

Well, after watching her final show, which moved me, I saved the recording for 2 months until I had the time to write down some of her words of wisdom...her life lessons. So here's 3 of Oprah's philosophies that she's lived by in her life and I hope you can somehow incorporate them into yours:

1. Everybody has a calling. Your real job in life is to figure that out and start doing it. What are you called to do? Passion is the joy of doing what you're meant to do in life. Passion is a calling...it lights you up and it lets you know you're doing exactly what you should be doing.

2. You are soley responsible for you life...no one else! The choices you make every day will shape your future. Where you are today is based on the choices you've made in the past.

3. Everyone you meet wants validation and they want to know 3 things: "Do you see me?...Do you hear me?...Does what I say mean anything to you?" Focus on really acknowledging your children, your family, your friends, your co-workers, your clients and others.

If you really look at each point, there's a lot to comprehend in those 3 philosophies.

What does this have to do with real estate? Well, whether real estate is your calling...your passion or just a job that funds your life, figure it out and then determine how to maximize it to its greatest potential.

Oprah also said that "you have the power to change people's lives. Wherever you are is your platform." Her platform was a TV stage visible to millions. Yours can be wherever you are, whether it's helping your family and friends or your community or beyond.

These are some points to ponder...is your calling what you're doing now? Is it something you can do part-time? Any time given to help others is valuable.

To your success,

Dan

A Forgotten, Valuable Resource!

Have you ever stopped using strategies and resources that were profitable in your real estate business and wondered why?

You had a good thing going and over time you got busy and stopped doing what had worked so well.

Well, here's a free resource that I used to get referrals from other real estate agents as well as some directly from consumers too.

It's called ActiveRain - it's a real estate network, where real estate agents, lenders, appraisers, inspectors, etc share their valuable knowledge and experiences through blogging.

Using ActiveRain's point system, you can be ranked in your area by how many blog posts you write, comments you make on other posts, referring others to the network. There's no money involved.

There is such a wealth of information there too. You can search topics and join groups. I started a "Facebook Tips" group, where you find learn from others what's working for them in using Facebook.

So before you leave my blog today, click on this link:

http://www.activerain.com/action/referrals/dweis

and register for free. There are some paid services, like ads and designing an outside blog, etc, but you don't have to do that.

My new goal: I'm going back to spending a minimum of 15 minutes a night - 5 days a week to learn about strategies in ActiveRain that are working for others and that I can implement into my business.

To your success,

Dan

April Fool's Day...Are You Ready For Today?

What an appropriate day to write a post!

I'm just waiting to see what kind of gags are going to be played out today.

Well, for an update from what's been happening over the past month, I've been busy completing my listing presentation, pricing analysis presentation and have started working on my buyer's consultation presentation.

In updating these presentations, it's taken me back in time, looking at how I used to do these presentations years ago. Wow, they seemed so outdated!

Just like having your business photo updated every couple of years versus using the same one from 10+ years ago, your presentations also needs to get a make-over.

So if you haven't updated your photo or presentation, take some time to update it. If you'd rather get a tooth pulled, then hire a real estate virtual assistant to do it for you.

How's Your 2011 So Far?

As we've completed one month into 2o11, I hope you've been busy building your business for the new year.

I've been working hard on re-designing my business and it's still an ongoing process. I've been focused on 2 words for 2011:

Simplify & Templates

It's easy to get sucked into making real estate harder than it is. Everybody is trying to sell you the latest and greatest gadget, product or service that will make your business explode.

What you need to do is step back and look at what you're good at and what you want to achieve in your business.

A few strategies I've been working on is:

• redesigning my listing presentation
• redesigning my market analysis & pricing presentation
• redesigning my pre-listing packet (in PDF format to be emailed)
• redesigning my buyer's consultation presentation

By doing these things as well as other stuff, it's allowed me to focus more on serving my clients and gaining more client referrals, because I'm not always worried about preparing my presentations.

Simplifying your business will give you your sanity back. Yes, there are still times when we all rush around putting out a fire, but by having presentations completed ahead of time, it allows you to be more focused.

By also designing templates, it allows you to complete your tasks much more quickly and you won't get distracted wondering what do I need to do today. I'll talk more about this later.

As 2010 Comes To An End....

Now is the time to reflect on what went right and what went wrong this year.

Many agents had struggles, pain and setbacks while others maintained or did better than 2009.

Don't be too critical about your shortcomings. Look at which strategies in your business provided the best results and which ones you should either tweak or just get rid of in 2011.

I believe it's better to go deeper in 2 or 3 target markets and really focus on maximizing those couple of niches than to say that you will work on 5 - 10 different strategies.

It's just not possible to be really good at more than a couple of target markets, unless you have a large team and have been adding new strategies each year.

Being a jack of all trades and a master of none will break you!

With only 3 business days left in 2010, now is the time to determine if there's any last-minute business supplies or purchases you can make to be covered in your 2010 expenses.

I'm going to buy a Kodak zi8 video camera for posting my videos on YouTube and my blogs. They are now under $100.

May you have a safe, enjoyable and profitable New Year!

What is an “I.D.I.Day”?

It’s an I Did It Day!

We all have things that we procrastinate over. The prospecting calls we don't want to make…putting off cleaning out the attic or the garage…our office desk areas, which just seem to grow files all by itself…the back seat of our cars…picking up the phone to call an old friend or family member we haven’t spoken to in years…need I go on?

By not doing or completing these tasks, you feel like you haven't achieved anything for the day and seem like they take up far too much guilt space in your head. They can even keep you from doing the things you really want to do. Have you ever said you couldn't do something with friends because you had 'xyz' to do in the weekend and then when Monday arrived you hadn't even touched the project, even though you spent the whole of Saturday and Sunday dreading it?

This is where an “I.D.I. Day” comes in.

Here’s how it works: You find 2 other people to join in the challenge and do a 3-way call. On the first call, you each state what tasks you’re going to complete that day. You also state which tasks you’re going to complete within the first hour. At the top of each hour, the 3 of you share your results of that past hour and what you plan to achieve in the following hour. Then you all hang up and attempt to get as much done as possible. The next hour, you’ll check in by sharing what you've completed and then what you plan to do next hour. You'll continue this until the last hour listed in the schedule is over.

The first time you do this challenge, I wouldn’t go for eight hours. I’d do it for 3 hours, say from 9:00am – 12:00 noon or from 1:00pm – 4:00pm.

You can use this day to work on anything you need to get done, from business to household chores, planning budgets to making up with people we need to make peace with. It's a great way to get some things done and a lot more fun when you know other people are doing the same. And, as everyone knows who has participated in an I.D.I.Day, the time goes by very quickly!

Don’t overcomplicate the tasks you want to achieve! Whatever you’ve been putting off for weeks or months, whether business or personal stuff, write down the items you really want to complete that will help you reduce your tolerations list and/or improve your business. What things do you think about on a daily or weekly basis that if you just did them, would make you feel better? You may end up doing several things during an hour or have one big thing to complete.

Remember, it’s not a competition among each other as much as it is with yourself to do more in less time. Don’t take on something that would take more than an hour to complete. Break it down into smaller bites that you can finish in less than an hour.

If you would like to raise the level of intensity to the challenge, you can even add a fine of say $10 or $20 that you pay the other 2 people, for each hour that you don’t complete your assigned task.

At the end of the I.D.I. Day, you’ll feel like you really accomplished something and feel good about yourself. You may even want to play the challenge more than once.

How To Increase Odds of Getting Your Offer Accepted!

Would you like to increase the chances of getting your buyer's offer accepted?

When an offer is written in Cincinnati Ohio, where I live, it's usually delivered (in person or by email) to the seller's agent, who then presents it to the seller. Obviously customs differ from market to market, so you may do it another way.

When writing an offer, review these steps:

• Make sure all of your offer paperwork and disclosures are filled out completely.
• Include an underwriter-verified, pre-approval letter with your offer.
• Have your buyers write a personal letter telling their story

This last step is one that's rarely used, but can be the difference between getting your offer accepted or rejected. Your buyers should explain in writing (in one to two paragraphs) why they want to buy and live in the seller's home. It's like they are "Putting A Face on The Offer".

Your buyers may want to share details about their old home and where they are coming from. They may want to talk briefly about their jobs and their children, if any. You may need to help script out the letter for them.

Many times, a home seller never sees the buyer until the closing. So by putting a face on the offer, you make it more personal and it gives them a chance to bond...even if it's only on a subconscious level. They may realize that they have similar interests or backgrounds. People like to deal with others that they like.

As you write the letter, consider including a family photo of the buyers (with their permission, of course) as this is another way to connect with the sellers.

I've used this strategy successfully many times and it does make a difference...even in multiple offer situations, where we've gotten the home over another buyer when everything else was equal.

Now if the property is a lender-owned or corporate-owned, the odds of this strategy working can decrease, but what can it hurt. You're still dealing with people. Give it a shot!

Are You Staying In Touch With Your Clients Enough?

In today's market, servicing your active and continuing to serve your inactive clients is critical to your business. I believe consumers looking to buy or sell a home find an agent in one of three ways:

1. through information-gathering while on the Internet
2. by getting a recommendation from family or a friend
3. by driving in a neighborhood and seeing a yard sign

Here's a list of questions you need to ask yourself to see if you're maximizing your client referrals:

• How well is your current client retention program working?
• How can you become more involved in your client's life?
• How well is your current client retention program working?
• What improvements can you make to it?
• How can you increase the number of times you interact with them (without annoying them) and what value can you offer them?
• What can you do to increase their lifetime value?
• What do other industries do to create long term relationships with you?
• Have you provided an opportunity for your clients to allow family and friends to learn more about you without person to person contact?

Take some time to analyze these questions and bounce them off with some other agents in your office. You need to realize that when you take care of your clients, they will usually continue being your clients after the transaction is over. But if you ignore them, they will quickly forget about you.

"Points For Results" System

Do you sometimes struggle to have a productive day?

The purpose of this system is to keep you focused on completing your daily activities (Mon - Fri) that will help you achieve your goals. You need to determine the # of activities you need to accomplish on a daily basis.

I recommend between 5 - 10 activities. Write down what rewards you'll give yourself for completing the system each week, month.

Bonus points for the day:

• 1 point for setting a new qualified appt
• 1 point for writing an offer

Penalty: pay $1 - $10 for each point you don't get at the end of each day (depending on how serious you want to play). Pay the money into an envelope every day you don't hit your goals and donate it to a charity of your choice.

Work every business day to getting your total number of points. At the top of your list, put "Get ___ Points". The key is to use the points system daily. Don't wait until Friday and try to get all the points in 1 day.

If you tally ___ points per day, you will never run out of business, your pipeline will always be full, you'll rarely ever have a slow period and you will have a consistent business.

Use this system for 15 business days and then decide for yourself if it should become an integral part of your selling arsenal.

You can even have a contest with one or more other agents in your office.

Today Is A Day of Sadness!

I probably shouldn't have posted today.

My intent was to bring a conscious awareness to the risks we sometimes put ourselves in being Realtors and being too trusting. Obviously, we don't know the details about the attacks of our fellow Realtors, but it's important to remember them as they serve as a reminder of the dangers that do lurk out there.

The reason I shouldn't have posted today was because I found out that one of my clients died in a fiery crash today in Cincinnati. He had a flat tire and was waiting in his car on the berm for assistance when a man, who was allegedly weaving in and out of lanes at speeds of up to 130 MPH, rammed his car. Reports say he died instantly...I hope he didn't suffer. I have such sadness for his family.

R.I.P. Jim!

2 Realtors Murdered & Another Assaulted!

It is with deep sadness that we report on the murders of two prominent Northeast Ohio REALTORS last week.

Andrew J. VonStein, with Cutler Real Estate Ravenna Office, was found dead inside a vacant property listed for sale in Portage County. According to news reports, the Portage County Sherriff’s Office has ruled the death a homicide and is undergoing an extensive investigation.

Vivian Martin, broker-owner of Essence Realty from Youngstown and a member of the Youngstown Columbiana Association of REALTORS was also the victim of a violent homicide. This case is also under investigation.

In addition to these situations, we have been informed that there was an additional incident this week involving another Youngstown REALTOR being held at gunpoint for over an hour by three males.

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Often, one of the last things on our minds when we show property is our safety.

Do you know who you're showing properties to? Did you meet them in your office first and make a copy of their photo ID? Do you let others know where you'll be showing? Do you have a 'code word' to implement in an emergency? Is your cell phone charged with you during showings? Would you walk into a vacant home where the door was already unlocked?

Always take a moment before going to show properties and ask yourself if you're prepared for an emergency.

You must also decide if you are going to do open houses and if so, how will you prepare for them and what steps will you take to protect yourself during an open house.

Here is a great, blog post about safety on ActiveRain from Realtor M.C. Griffin Campbell:

http://activerain.com/blogsview/1882979/realtor-s-safety-first-protect-and-serve-an-urgent-need-to-protect-ourselves

Be safe out there!

Where Are The Invisible Home Buyers Hiding?

With over 90% of home buyers searching for properties on the internet today, it's tougher than ever to find home buyers, who are willing to raise their hands and come out of hiding. It's very easy for consumers to hide behind their computers and smartphones and not have to talk with us agents until they're ready to act.

Here's great 3 ways to find home buyers today:

1. Keep in touch with your sphere of influence and client base.

Since the trust factor is very important, buyers still rely heavily on family/friend recommendations of whom to work with. Keep in touch with everyone you know and share the various, free services that you can offer them that can make it easy to refer you to their family and friends.

2. Provide as many quality photos & details online as possible.

It still amazes me as to how many agents don't post quality (staged or at least organized & decluttered) interior photos and exterior (in-season) photos of their listings online. Few or no photos of a listing sounds the alarms going off in my head...what's wrong with this property? Whether they call you or their agent, the more information you provide online, the better chance you have of a buyer wanting to view your listing.

3. Use hotline #s and for sale sign brochure boxes for drive-by traffic.

Many buyers will still drive by a home before viewing it and that's the time to give them some information about the property by using hotline recordings and brochure box flyers. I personally don't list the price on the brochure, because I want the buyer to call me for more details. The only bad thing about brochures is you don't know who's picking them up, so it's important to use direct-response marketing on the brochures to offer value and hopefully the buyer will call you.

I'd love to hear your comments...please post them below.

To your success,

Dan

P.S. Are you on ActiveRain? If not, you need to be...it's an unbelievable, free source of real estate training, knowledge and possible referrals. Even if you don't blog, sign up today and discover the wealth of information that's there.