Hi Everyone! I hope you all had a great holiday season and are on your way to success in 2009. 

I have been working on a lot of new stuff lately and new training programs for The eHomes Realty Network.  Most of what I teach are things that I have learned through my business at Tropical Realty or from books or seminars. 

This past December I had the opportunity to go to see Tony Robbins perform his miracles.  He was truly amazing and I took so much away from his teachings.

So much of what he says relates to our business. 

Here are a few points:

Change the Meaning and Change the Outcome

I’ve learned so many things in my life and never realized how simple something is to change and implement.  As easy as this sounds is as easy as it is.  Here is the deal.  Right now almost every real estate agent I deal with around the country is complaining about how bad the Real Estate market is right now.  I hear the same story from everyone. ” I have 25 home listings and they are not selling.  The home sellers are yelling at me and blaming me because their home is overpriced”.  Everyone is talking about this terrible Real Estate market. 

What if you took a second and looked at it differently?  Firstly, if you are a seller it’s a tough market…no question.  Believe me, our office is in Melbourne, Florida, one of the worst hit in the country.  What if you looked at our business from the buying side?

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“Buy this book.” ”This is the Ultimate Sales System.”  ”You can’t help but succeed when you follow our proven system.”  Blah blah blah.

“What do you attribute your success to?”

“Oh, I’ve always been unique.”

Let’s say that the person actually was unique, that he or she was correctly answering the question.  If that was true would there be any reason whatsoever to even bother listening to anything regarding techniques or methods they had to say about success?  If it couldn’t be replicated what difference would it make? 

Or if you wanted to learn to swim at a championship level would hearing Michael Phelps say, “The secret of winning each of those races was I swam faster than the other swimmers”?  Would hearing that help you to swim faster?  Oddly enough, it just might.

I’ve been in the house selling business for 31 years.  My first twelve years I was an ordinary 17 – 22 deal a year guy: living from one closing to the next, never really having a stable business.  I clearly understood that there was “something” that the stably successful mega agents had that I didn’t but I didn’t know what “it” was.  

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I don’t make New Year’s resolutions - at least not in the traditional sense that many of us think of. Instead, I find it more productive to set goals. Some are general, some specific. For example, it wouldn’t be wise to set a resolution to get more closings in 2009. That’s not going to actually help me achieve more closings that I actually seek.

Instead, I look back to see what I might have done wrong in the past and resolve to improve. For me, this would be that I don’t think that I seized on many of the opportunities to turn leads into clients and clients into closings. Considering the real estate climate last year and the likelihood that it will continue well in to 2009 or longer, I consider making the most out of each and every opportunity the highest priority for 2009.

In other words, conversion.

For many, 2008 was a transitional year while others laid the foundation for a successful career for years to come. Wherever you may be in your career, it’s time to put 2008 behind us and be prepared to seize all opportunities that present themselves to us in the upcoming year. To do this successfully, we need to be prepared.

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While walking the dog around the lake near our home, a friend went busting by me and didn’t even say hi. I have to admit I don’t look my best in the early morning hours. Maybe it was the hat covering my “bed” hair. Or the new facial fuzz.

She flat out didn’t recognize me.

I wasn’t going to let it slide, so I hollered at her. After the obligatory “Omigosh, Omigosh” and “Didn’t recognize you,” came hug hug, talk talk …you know the drill. Walking away, I was reminded me of a very important fact of life.

Like me, opportunity is out there walking the streets every day.

UNLIKE ME, opportunity will not call you out by name.

I’ve encountered so many Realtors who are crying in their soup and wringing their hands. “The market is in the tank and we don’t know what to do,” they say. Meanwhile, home prices are down, sales are up, loan rates are dipping and there are deals to be made out there on every corner. I’m confused.

The old saying, “Opportunity is knocking,” has never been truer than right now. Trouble is, you’ve got to find the door opportunity is banging on! That requires action.

While some sit around and complain, plenty of other Realtors are finding the door and going on through. The ones making it right now are the ones that have a game plan and are working it hard.

As an example, “Think you don’t work with home buyers?” You do now. Buyers turn into listings down the road.

Here are 3 things to do NOW to capitalize on the current opportunities in the market:

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Moving into 2009 I was thinking that the Realtors who plan are going to be the ones who survive and thrive. How many transactions do you want to do in 2009?

Most Realtors will answer quickly that they want as many as they can get. This is true but I personally think you will get the number you plan to get.

What seems to work for many top producers is to set a goal of how many transactions they want to have and then plan there activities based on those goals. There are industry standards that will tell you how many met contacts you need in your database to get a certain number of transactions for the year. How many website visitors you need to get a certain number of transactions from the web? It is the same for your farm and listings.

OK so how can this work for me?  I know that is the question you are asking.

So let’s take an example. Mr. Real Estate Agent would like to do 40 transactions next year.

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SO… it’s official. We’re finally in a depression. You think? And it took our government telling us to know it? Truth is, most Realtors I know have already been in a depression for a LONG time. At least now the government agrees with them. It’s a small consolation to some, I’m sure.

So now what? You could:

• Go out and run up a credit card debt SO large the government will have to bail you out to keep VISA from going out of business.
• Go and buy a larger tub -– you’re already taking a bath, why not invite some friends to join you?
• Go and sell your house on the San Francisco Peninsula and with the proceeds, buy an entire Midwestern state and set yourself up as a ruling monarch.

On a serious note, times like this define a Realtor, and can help break them out of mediocrity. There ARE Realtors out there (other than REO listing agents) who are actually doing well in the current market. They’ve taken the time to build systems into their business which continue to bring a steady flow of prospects.

As any successful Realtor knows, you cannot depend upon one stream of business –- like a stool, you need at least three legs to properly support your business strategy.

Here are 5 things you can do right now to ensure that your business has the foundation it needs to succeed:

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