I was recently chatting with someone who has just started in the Real Estate business about our team and I was telling him that being part of a team is a huge advantage over being an individual Realtor.

Here are 10 reasons why I feel it is an advantage to be part of the Columbus Home Show Team.

1) Problem Solving. When one of our team members is having a problem, we collectively kick it around and almost always one of our team members comes up with a workable solution.   It is pretty much impossible to think of all the possible solutions by yourself no matter how smart you are or think you are.   Within our group there is a lot of experience and free thought which we encourage.

2) Cover. Our business comes in waves and there are a lot of times that I cannot be everywhere or a team member cannot be in more than one place at the time.   This is when we call on another team member to cover for the overwhelmed team member.   This has a huge impact as sometimes it is important to be at 2 places at the same time but physically impossible.   With a team it is possible!

3) Ideas. When we need new marketing ideas or efficiency ideas or whatever we need, we kick them around just like problem solving.  If we hit on a good idea, we then kick it around some more within the group to refine it. Continue reading this post

It’s a typical scenario: you get an email from a couple wanting to see a home. Adrenaline surges as a closing check flits across your mind. You eagerly set up an appointment, drive across town, show the property at the appointed hour then set up another appointment to show them more homes on the weekend.

Friday comes and you get an email with 17 MLS numbers they’d like to see. A small gnawing feeling starts working at corner of your stomach as you realize you need to do some educating. You dive into the list and quickly discover that 14 of them are short sales that can be shown by appointment only. That uncomfortable feeling in your tummy is expanding into a minor digestive disorder as you get ready to start making the calls to set up the appointments.

I could go on with scenarios all too common for too many REALTORS® … ending with the unreturned calls, failure to respond to emails and finally the devastating realization that the clients you’ve been carting around for the past three months have just purchased a home from another agent at an open house.

You’ve just been managed.

From the first moment you come in contact with a prospective client, they have expectations. In many cases, these expectations are not based on reality: they’ve been garnered from conversations with their friends, reading posts on sites like HomeGain, Zillow and Trulia and by watching HGTV. Often, their expectations are way out of alignment with reality. It’s up to you to manage their expectations and direct them forward in a positive manner. You’d think it would be easy, yet statistics state that by the time a buyer gets to you, they’ve already been in contact with numerous other Realtors. How do you get this food chain to stop with you?

Bottom line: if you don’t mange your buyers, they will manage you. Right out of business.

In reality, I’ve discovered that most buyers want to be “managed.” Used in the right context, the word “manage” is a good thing. Continue reading this post

Nowadays there are lots of coaches teaching people how to be successful in real estate, but I haven’t seen anyone instructing people on how not to be successful.

If you simply don’t want a lot of business or can’t handle too much, here is your game plan:

1.  Do not use the internet. The majority of buyers start shopping for a home on-line so it’s going to bring you too many contacts.  Do not create your own website - instead, stick with the newspaper.  You’ll get less prospects for more money here.

2.  Do not follow up with any prospects. If they want your help, they will call you.  Absolutely do not call them - you may wind up with more business than you can handle.

3.  Do not return phone calls promptly. If the people really need you, they’ll call back.

4.  Hold lots of open houses. It’s better to have prospects come to you instead of you going after people.

5.  Take up-desk time at your office. Again, you can sit back and wait for people to call.  You don’t have to make any effort to get business.  And an additional benefit, you can eat all of the food in the office fridge and swap war stories with other like-minded sales associates.

6.  Do not attend any conventions or trade shows. Too many new fangled, untested ideas there.  Stick with the tried and true.

Well, that should get you on your well to a nice, slow start.  Don’t want to overwhelm you with too many ideas at once.

Barry Karch is a REALTOR® with Prudential BKB, REALTORS in El Paso, TX www.HomesForSaleInElPasoTexas.com

Here we are, half way through the year almost. Have you looked in the mirror lately?  On a daily basis I receive emails from Realtors all around the world struggling to succeed in this business.  I am a little perplexed at all the emails actually.  As soon as I ask them my first question, though, the answer is clear.

My question is usually something like, “How are you doing compared to your yearly business plan?” or “What are you doing to ensure you have implemented your business plan?”  I always get the same old answer: “Well I don’t really have a written business plan” or “Sure, I wrote my goals down, I always do…what’s an action plan?”

So what seems to be the disconnect between Realtors and running a business?

Firstly, let’s look at yourself.  Do you run your business as a business?  I had a great letter from an Agent of mine this year, it was for me to read to all my Agents.  Anna May has been in real estate for 20 years and has had many successes.  I don’t have the email handy, but I’ll paraphrase it:

Continue reading this post

In September 2005, I eagerly traveled to San Diego to work my first trade show for HomeGain — the California Association of Realtors annual expo. The booth was set up to the tee with newly printed literature and various giveaways (pens, highlighters, notebooks, etc.) carefully spread across the table. “This is going to be a great show, I’m going to see a lot of sales today,” I thought as visitors began to approach the booth.

However, that wasn’t the case. Every time I told someone what HomeGain did (provide marketing services and leads) I was met with one of three responses:

1. “ Oh, you’re one of THOSE companies? I’m not going to talk to you…”
2. “Yeah? I was with XYZ company and they screwed me. Are you them?”
3. (I can’t repeat the 3rd response here)

I knew then that we had some work to do……this Real Estate marketing industry for years has not treated its customers very well. Whether it’s false promises, underdelivery or an overall me first attitude; public opinion of real estate marketing companies has suffered.

That’s why almost four years and several hard fought battles later; nothing pleases me more to see the A+ rating HomeGain received from the BetterBusinessBureau. The service staff at HomeGain has worked deligently over this time to ensure that its customers are taken care of.  This includes all customers we deal with; paying and free, happy and upset, everyone.  We take the time to hear out every customer and offer every possible suggestion or solution we can.

In 2005, we received probably 10 complaint emails to every compliment. Today, those numbers have switched. We now hear almost daily from agents who are satisfied with the service in addition to the success they’ve had on product. Continue reading this post

To grow a city you need infrastructure. To grow a Real Estate team you need the same thing.

I say this because my wife Donna and I tried to grow a team before we were ready. I see other Realtors do the same thing we did. They are successful right out of the gate so they want to duplicate that success with a team. The problem is that they do not have the systems and other key growth factors in place to make a “team” successful.

A team needs 4 key items in place before they will be able to grow successfully.

1) A team needs systems in place to handle leads, client care, and all the problems that are inevitable in Real Estate. Without systems the ball will get dropped a lot and everyone will get frustrated. One agent may do very well without systems because of their force of personality or their contact base but this is not something that is easily duplicated. To grow a team you need systems that will allow everyone to duplicate success if they just follow the system!

2) The team needs an adequate amount of leads to keep everyone busy. Without leads Realtors die on the vine. Again, they will get frustrated and begin to drift. Your team needs leads and/or the tools to acquire leads or they will become a group with a bad attitude and it is downhill from there.

Continue reading this post