In this installment, we’ll move on to the third thing you need to become a mega-producer in today’s real estate climate — the tools, strategies, and the discipline to manage all those low-cost leads for the time required to actually complete transactions with a large number of them.

I must confess that it’s very frustrating to see agents possess the very tools they need for their success and yet fail to take that last step — the step to making it all come together. I once was a struggling agent and nearly quit the business until I developed the lead capture gateway that quite literally turned my business around forever, so I’m very passionate about having the ability to generate as much business as you want or need to make your professional dreams come true.

Today’s successful mega-producers are generating plenty of business, but unlike the customers of yesterday, today’s real estate customer is beginning online. According to the latest figures, in excess of 90% (94%) are beginning their search online. In my last installment, I explained how successful agents today are going way “upstream” to capture their business — before the customer has had the opportunity to be attracted by old-school marketing techniques. If you haven’t read it yet, you owe it to yourself to start there.

Salespeople love referrals. They’re the sincerest form of compliment and a remarkably cost-effective route to new business. The idea of attracting referrals is so popular that sales trainers who bill themselves as referral gurus make fortunes promoting magical systems that supposedly deliver more referrals than an agent can handle, all in return for tuition at a three-day seminar. What they talk about for three days is a mystery to me.  Referrals are really pretty simple stuff.  A lot of it you can only acquire through perfect practice of your scripts, over and over, of referral-generating and referral-cultivation tactics.  

Referral Truths and Consequences

For 2 yrs I have avowed this correcting market to be the biggest opportunity we have experienced in over 2 decades.  Some of you have agreed and some of you looked at me like I had “luny” written on my forehead.  I still believe this is the window of opportunity we pray for.  To prove my conviction, I have ventured into a new real estate company in Tucson, AZ.  We just opened a new 5,000 sqft upscale office in the foothills of Tucson.  I believe this new office is a model for future real estate companies.

The culture of a company is highly dependent on how much interaction there is between agents and staff and how nurturing that interaction is.

As i was researching the current market in the USA I came across this and found it to be wonderful new's.

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1. Salt Lake City

Median Home Sale Price: $246,700
Percent Change: 14.1%

Prices in Salt Lake City continued to climb as the city remains largely unaffected by the nationwide housing downturn due to low unsold inventory and a stable lending environment. This median-priced, ranch-style home was built in 1993 and has views of the surrounding mountains. There are five bedrooms and two baths across 1,800 square feet of interior space. The home also features a two-car garage and a rear patio. It is listed for $245,000 through Secure Real Estate.

According to a release on INMAN News on Friday loans entered the foreclosure process at a record rate during the fourth quarter, and things are likely to get worse before they get better, the chief economist for the Mortgage Bankers Association said today. 

Although reductions in short-term interest rates have lessened the shock of interest-rate resets for many borrowers with adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) loans, falling home prices are leaving more homeowners with little or no equity in their homes -- and less incentive to keep up on their mortgage payments, said MBA Chief Economist Doug Duncan. 

First, “thank you” for all of the nice comments and e-mails I received from my recent blog, Part I of “25 Ways to Make Your Next Sales Meeting Sizzle.”  Today I want to focus on three more tips I believe are important to have an effective sales meeting.  To illustrate these points I am going to use a video blog and Microsoft Power Point. 

On Friday, Real Estate Radio USA talked to Stefan Swanepoel about the changes shaping the real estate industry. Billed as probably the most informative interview they have done to date the 45 minute interview is a lively, fast-flowing exchange of ideas and commentary about the state of the market, agents in general, knowledge and recommendations for productivity, real estate trends and the future. You can listen to an archived version of the talk here.

Over the course of the next few weeks, I plan to address some common suggestions and ideas most real estate brokers/managers should consider implementing to increase value and excitement at their weekly sales meetings.

First: