Roll The Goal

Hello all,

"Roll The Goal"

I spent some time with a good friend of mine last week who is a sales manager in another profession. He reminded me that it is that time of the year to let the troops know you might want to "Roll The Goal". You may have started the year with a goal of 3M, 5M, 7M... Guess what, between closed production and your pipeline for the end of the year your at 3M, 5M or 7M. Why not "Roll The Goal", if you wanted 3M why not shoot for 4M, 5M why not 6M... Santa might need to deliver a Playstation 4 this year for the holidays.

Enjoy the coffee,

Joe 

INSPIRATION FOR TODAY:

"Nothing is particularly hard if you divide it into small jobs." 

 

~ Henry Ford 

 

PUZZLED BY THE DETAILS? 

 

Ever felt overwhelmed by the details? Like there are just too many little things to be done on the way to something big? If you haven't tried one recently, think back to the last time you tackled a 1000- or 5000-piece jigsaw puzzle. 

 

Pursuing your goals is like opening up that box and dumping out all the pieces. You concentrate on that picture of the completed puzzle on the front of the box. You start sorting out the pieces according to what part of the puzzle they'll complete. You spend endless hours diligently working, but you know you'll never finish it unless you are enjoying the process of piecing it all together. 

 

Small successes inspire you to continue. Maybe you have a "team" of others who help you put it together, or maybe you enjoy working alone. If you have a lot of responsibility at work, and are expected to run the show and perform without constant supervision, it's easy to feel overwhelmed. But remember as you work that you carefully place one piece at a time, and you know that you are in charge and that you will enjoy the fruits of your labor. 

 

Taking care of the little things can be extremely satisfying, especially when you know that's what it takes to keep the operation going and progressing toward your goals. A study published in Human Kinetics (Orlick, 1998) actually showed that "life satisfaction" is 22 percent more likely for those with a steady stream of minor achievements than those who express interest only in major accomplishments! 

 

So keep at it - one piece at a time - with an eye toward the big picture. Enjoy the pleasure from all of your accomplishments, remembering the unattributed phrase, "True worth is doing each day some little good, not dreaming of great things to do by and by." 

Uncertainty

Hello all,

"Uncertainty" 

We all know to leave politics out of our business unless the politics will have an effect on our business. In that case we need to be ready to discuss the ramifications of how the political climate will affect Real Estate. In my opinion we dodged a very large bullet for the the late fall and early winter Real Estate market. When people are dealing with uncertainty about the future they put things like Real Estate on the back burner. September last year we were dealing with great uncertainty with the election two months away and things came to a grinding halt.  With the Government shutdown and the fear of default the uncertainty was starting to creep back in. If this would have gone on for an extended period of time I think it might have been pretty bad for us. However with the deal being reached pushing everything back 3 months we should have a good end to the year and people will not be worrying about this again until the beginning of next year. The uncertainty is gone for the time being. Which brings me to my point, if this does come up again (I do not believe it will) it will be in the middle of January and the beginning of February which is the start of the spring market. The effect will be far less than it would have been now, bullet dodged. Even through all of the bad years we have been through the one thing in Real Estate that has always been "certain" is the spring market. 

Enjoy the coffee,

Joe

INSPIRATION FOR TODAY:

"Whatever we expect with confidence becomes our own self-fulfilling prophecy." 

 

~ Brian Tracy

 

 PUT IT IN WRITING! 

 

“How do you get there from here?” A common enough question when you don’t know where you’re going. If you were planning a long trip, you would certainly check MapQuest or a road atlas to verify and write down the directions. 

 

But what about your life, your dreams, your expectations? “How do you get there from here?” Have you bothered to write down the directions? Do you even have a starting point and a destination planned? Here it is – the most important journey you face, and you probably haven’t even written down your thoughts or plans on how to travel. 

 

Writing down your goals and ideas helps to make them more concrete, more real. It helps you realize and take the necessary steps toward achievement. By defining what you want, and your ideas for getting it, you increase the chances that you’ll actually pursue and accomplish your goal. 

 

Don’t know what you want to do? How about thinking of what you “need” to do? Most people have even less of an idea of what they need than what they want. But often, our career choices have more to do with necessity than desire. Yet we all hear that we’re happiest when we’re doing what we love. 

 

A study on “journaling” showed that people who keep some kind of written record of their aspirations are 32% more likely to feel they are making progress in their lives. If a daily entry is too much commitment, at least sit down once a week and write something, anything, whatever comes to you. Thoughts about work, family, food, politics, whatever. 

 

You’ll begin to see patterns and discover things you might have forgotten (or not even known) about yourself. The notion of what you “need” to do will begin to show itself, and then you can begin drawing that road map. Happy motoring! 

Ebbs & Flows

Hello all,

"Ebbs & Flows"

Ever take a listing that looks great, priced right and in a good location. Then 10 days later you have one showing and no offers? Phone rings and it is your seller? 20 days later one more showing and no offer? Phone rings again? 30 days later no showings and no offer? Phone rings again? I suggest you be proactive and call your sellers before they call you but either way you need to be ready to have the conversation. Average days on market in Montgomery County right now is 45 so you are going to have some listings that sit a while and you are going to need to have some talk tracks ready for you sellers. A good talk track to have on the 10 day or 20 day phone call is to talk about "Ebbs and Flows" in any market. 

"You never know when things are going to slow down a bit, the market has not given us enough time to evaluate the situation. There are Ebbs and Flows in every market so we really need to see where we are in another 10-15 days. I am keeping a close eye on the activity for your listing and my others as well as activity in the office. Things have slowed down a bit but we need to see if this is a short term issue or long term? Even in hot markets we get unexplained bumps in the road where things slow down for a short time. I believe that is the case and the activity should be picking back up". 

If you have an overpriced listing, in bad shape and in a bad location it would be a different conversation... 

Enjoy the coffee,

Joe 

 

INSPIRATION FOR TODAY:

 

"Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles he has overcome trying to succeed." 

 

~ Booker T. Washington 

 

 

ON-THE-JOB STRAINING? 

 

Ever get that “burned out” feeling? You’re operating at maximum capacity and doing a darn good job of it, but the inspiration and the motivation start to wane. Don’t feel badly about it – after all, you can only really hit a slump when you’ve been experiencing a streak of success! Slumps do not happen to “losers,” because frankly, they’re always in a perpetual slump! 

 

So what can be done when you hit a bump in the road? Dr. Robert H. Schuller once observed that “when you can’t solve the problem, manage it.” Maybe you can’t control whatever outside forces are weighing down on your ability to move forward. You can, however, take a break and take a step back to look at things you actually can control. 

 

If you’re banging your head against a wall, please stop and walk away! If success lies beyond that wall, you’ll have a much better chance of getting there by going around your obstacles and not through them. Walls are not doorways – you need to refresh your perspective and find passage back to your previously winning ways. 

 

Perhaps you’ve just gotten so good at what you do that you’ve forgotten “the basics” of your activities. It’s like you’re operating on “auto-pilot,” and there are a thousand little details that you don’t even think about anymore as you carry on your routine. Take some time to “re-train” yourself. Start by pretending it’s your first day on the job and everything is new. 

 

New employees who have to learn the ropes often bring a fresh perspective that exposes ways to do things more efficiently. Look through your “apprentice” eyes for new ways of working, and it’s a good bet that your performance will improve, and you’ll find yourself operating with renewed enthusiasm. Now, give yourself a bonus! 

Potomac/Rotating Manager

Hello all,

"Potomac/Rotating Manager" 

In an effort to better serve the agents in Potomac we are going to implement a rotating manager system in the Potomac office. Mark, Al, Paulette and myself will each be taking one day a week for 4-5 hours in the middle of the day. I will still oversee the operations of the office with Michelle and Gladys but I believe a little more agent support would be welcome. I have full confidence in the management team, they will be there to help answer any questions for agents or handle situations that come up in the office. This will start Monday the 13th. I often tell people there is not a manual on how to handle a growing Real Estate Company... I believe this will serve the needs of the Potomac office however if we need to move in a different direction in the future we will. As always your feedback is welcome.

For my challenge group please remember to keep up with your activities!

Enjoy the coffee,

Joe  

INSPIRATION FOR TODAY:

 

"It is time I stepped aside for a less experienced and less able man." 

 

~ Professor Scott Elledge on his retirement from Cornell

 

MASTER OF THE UNIVERSE? 

 

Today's quote has got to make you laugh. Professor Elledge had a clear concept of his intelligence and qualifications, but also a sense of humor about his confidence in himself (or lack of confidence in others!). Then his words make us start to think about how we perceive our own talents, and how unwilling we might be to "let go" of some of our control, meaning our control over our responsibilities and tasks - what we are expected to do and how well we are expected to do it. 

 

What happens when the time comes to relinquish some of that control? Perhaps you have finally gotten to the point of needing an assistant or - horrors - to train someone else to perform your duties. Personal confidence is a superb trait, to be sure, but what happens when that confidence makes you feel like you're the only person in the world who can handle what you do? Maybe it's time for a reality check. 

 

If you have these feelings, it's possible that you've already got too much responsibility in the first place. Sometimes it is very difficult to give up some of your responsibilities out of the fear that someone else will just "screw it up." Did you know how to do everything your job involves on the first day you started? A time always comes to let someone else learn how to do things, and allow them to help you if necessary. 

 

Chances are that we all started out as "less experienced and less able," and along the way we surely made our own mistakes, learned and coped and ended up where we are today - Masters of the Universe! So don't worry about relinquishing some control - in the end it often proves to be better for you and for whomever needs to develop the experience that led to your own success! 

Sales Meeting/Speaker

Hello all,

"Sales Meeting/Speaker"

We had an opportunity fall into our lap last week to have a national speaker come in and speak to us at a reasonable rate (thanks Gary Macdonald in Aspen Hill). I saw Rick DeLuca speak at a Turning Point conference in 2008, it was a breakout session for Brokers and Managers. I learned more in that hour about being a manager then I can tell you. Rick's specialty however is working with agents, his company is the Real Estate Idea Club. This will help everyone with their business.   

 http://www.realestateideaclub.com/

I am finalizing a date, time and place for the end of the month for this event. It will be free to all and in lieu of the sales meeting. So the sales meeting on 10/7 is cancelled. More details for the event to come soon.

Enjoy the coffee,

Joe 

INSPIRATION FOR TODAY:

 

"Lost, yesterday, somewhere between Sunrise and Sunset, two golden hours, each set with sixty diamond minutes. No reward is offered, for they are gone forever." ~ Horace Mann 

 

"How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives." ~ Annie Dillard 

 

LOSING YOUR MARBLES? 

 

It’s Monday morning, and we’re back at the office or factory or wherever we work for a living. How was your weekend? Did you do anything important, or fun, or that you’ll remember for some time to come? Were you away from family because you needed to work? You need to remind yourself that you’re losing your marbles. 

 

No, no, you’re not going crazy. Just consider this story of a very perceptive gentleman: He sat down one day and did some arithmetic. Figuring the average person lives seventy-five years, he multiplied 75 times 52 and came up with 3,900. That would be the number of Saturdays the average person would have to experience during their lifetime. 

 

He was already fifty-five years old when he first figured this out, so by that time he had already spent over 2,800 Saturdays. Doing the math, he realized he had only a little over 1,000 Saturdays left if he lived to seventy-five. 

 

He went to every toy store in town, buying out all the marbles they had in stock, and he managed to collect 1,000 marbles. Taking them home, he placed them in a large clear container positioned in plain view. Every Saturday since that day, he removed one marble and threw it away. 

 

If you start now, no matter how many marbles you have, watching those marbles diminish week after week will, without doubt, inspire and motivate you to focus on what’s really important in your life. There is nothing like having a physical manifestation of your remaining time on Earth to get your priorities straight. 

 

In his seventy-fifth year, that gentleman took the last marble out of the jar. He figured if he made it to the next Saturday, he’d been given a little extra time. And isn’t that one thing we could all use a little more of? 

Challenge

Hello all,

"Challenge"

One of my favorite sayings in this business is "The money you are making today is reflective of the work you put into it six months ago" The top agents in this business have consistent cash flow because they have the proper systems and marketing in place. In other words, the work never stops. So the time to start preparing for 2014 is today. There are 14 weeks left in the year and I challenge each of you to do 2-3 money making activities each week for a total of 28-42. I will send a follow up email at the end of each month asking you to report your numbers and activities to me. I will let you decide what is a money making activity because everyone's business model varies. Floor duty, open houses, networking group, business lunch, marketing campaign, personal notes, door knocking... Your call for whatever else you would like to add. For whoever accepts the challenge and sees it through we will have a special fun gathering involving grown up beverages and food the first week of January. It will be a wonderful way to kick off the new year because it will be a great 2014 for those who join in. If you would like to participate please respond just to me with a simple "In".

Enjoy the coffee,

Joe  

INSPIRATION FOR TODAY:

 

"Nobody makes a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could only do a little." ~ Edmund Burke
 

"Inches make a champion." ~ Vince Lombardi
 

LESS IS MORE! 

 

During an NFL matchup, one of the announcers observed that the favored team’s quarterback had been guilty of trying to do too much on the field. Apparently linemen, receivers, and running backs had not been pulling their weight last season, and the quarterback was feeling all of the pressure to produce a winning performance for the team. 

 

What changes did the coaching staff make? For one, they brought in players who could run the ball better and more often, relieving their offensive leader of having to throw so many passes. With other players stepping up their performances, the quarterback didn’t feel so much pressure, and his completion percentage went way up. 

 

It’s a classic case of “less is more.” When the pressure is released and we feel that we don’t have to do so much, we actually feel free to do more! We learn to share the responsibility with those who are there to support us when we let go of our “universe will end if I don’t make this work” mentality. 

 

By asking others to step up and share responsibility, we become more successful. It should never be up to one person to make the project work, although having a leader helps keep everything organized and focused. 

 

The leader understands that success is not all about leaps and bounds. It’s about each individual taking the right small steps that will carry everyone forward. Louis L’Amour wrote that "victory is won not in miles, but in inches. Win a little now, hold your ground, and later win a little more." 

 

Don’t make the mistake of doing nothing because you think you can only do a little. On the flip side, don’t try to do everything because you feel you must. Sometimes doing less will allow you to do even more.

Assumptions

Hello all,

"Assumptions"

An agent in the office suggested that I should talk about this. I thought it was a great idea because it is something I have been guilty of. Have you ever had a seller you could not control? A buyer who thought they could lowball everything? Clients who were unreasonable about home inspection items? Parents of clients who stuck their heads into everything? The thing is agents on the other side of deals are dealing with these issues as well. Many times when things don't go as well as we would like with a transaction we "Assume" it is the fault of the agent. What I would ask of you and me (have a drink with Lisa and she will tell you how patient I am...) is to keep in mind our past experiences with our own clients and not to blame the other agent so quickly. As I have talked about before this business is difficult enough, maintaining a good relationship with the agent on the other side will always help. Keeping the peace is also the right thing to do for our clients.

Sales meeting today, 11:30 at That's Amore. Hope to see you there.

Enjoy the coffee,

Joe

INSPIRATION FOR TODAY:

 

"Learning is the fountain of youth.

No matter how old you are,

You mustn't stop growing." 

 

- Taoist Meditation, Deng Ming-Dao

 

KEEP A YOUNG MIND!

 

Don't believe the phrase "You can't teach an old dog new tricks." Creativity isn't only for artists, writers, or musicians. Creativity isn't just what is represented by a canvas or a novel or a song. We can all be creative in our own way, and the most common way that we can all do this is through learning.

 

As long as we continue to learn and to try new things, we keep our minds fresh and young, and we engage in the act of "creating ourselves" continually. Today's world presents plenty of opportunities for learning, especially about the environment, other cultures, and technology. Technology itself provides ever-easier ways of accessing knowledge through computers and the Internet. And no one is too young or too old to start!

 

Look around you at the most vital and energetic seniors you know. What do they have in common? A continuing interest in learning and sharing their knowledge and experience with others - so they are engaged constantly in the process. They keep their minds challenged and young, and in so doing, feel younger in body and spirit. They are certainly different than in their youth, but they continue the learning that began there.

 

Each new phase of our lives brings us new challenges and opportunities for growth. Growing older necessarily means learning new things. We are constantly creating ourselves in this way, and we can adapt ourselves to any situation by that continuing act of creativity that keeps us young.