Who Is Watching You?

Who is watching?.......

These three words have become so important to RE/MAX Ability Plus and I have to imagine they are equally important to every full-time professional REALTOR.

 So one of the hats my brokerage wears is to seek out full-time professional REALTORS and get to know them for two reasons. The first is to build a relationship with Indy’s Top Talent and the second is to recruit Indy’s Top Talent to RE/MAX Ability Plus. Lately much of the discussion from agents we are talking with is how they have been “watching us.” At first I said, “Watching us?” but what I now understand is they take two steps back and watch to see if we are who we appear to be, and lucky for us the answer is yes.

 So this is probably no surprise that you sold a home in a neighborhood and the neighbor to your listing is watching to see how you perform. Is your sign of high quality or old and worn out? Do you do open houses? Is your brochure box empty, or are you using technology or 800 numbers? When you meet with the sellers are you on time or late? Do you look professional and represent the seller in your actions the way the neighbor would like to be represented? When you are out on the town, do you often bump into past clients? How often do you think your clients may see you but you don’t see them? Are you a polite person who handles bad service politely, or the one who makes a scene when you aren’t happy while unaware that a client might be sitting three tables away? Better yet, you don’t even know the person sitting at the table near you but when you leave they ask the server “Who was that person being rude to you?”  What if that person was thinking about working with you, would they still want to work with “that jerk?”  I doubt it.

 Steve Clark in my office recently had his car broken into at a North side mall, so he made an appointment to take it to the dealership to be repaired. While sitting in the waiting room working on his laptop and relaxing, he overheard the people next to him talking about their relocation to the Indy area. Naturally Steve introduced himself and yes, he worked with them selling them a $600k home. More importantly than his interaction with the staff of the dealership and how his story could have changed, he was there because someone broke into his car. He was stuck at the dealership, it’s the holiday season, and this is a huge waste of time for a guy having a killer year. But what the person watching saw was a polite and happy guy. What Steve saw was an opportunity to turn lemons into lemonade.

 For some people they just need to see one good deed, and for others they need results over a long period of time, but someone is always watching you.

Bon appetite

Jimmy Dulin

 

Family First

 You are busy and there are always more homes to sell and more people to help. It's the time of year where we stop, reflect, and plan for our future. For most, the planning of this includes more business, bigger targets, and helping more families. I think it is important for this "pot" to not call the kettle black. I mean after all, I told 32 REALTORS in March of 2008 we would sell a billion dollars in real estate, have 350 agents and be the Number 1 real estate company in Indiana without an "*" by December 31st, 2015! With all that said, I won't do it at the cost of not valuing the people around me that make my life as wonderful as it is.

 In my company, I encourage out agents to maintain balance by setting goals that reflect their aspirations in life which include family, physical, mental or any other thing a person holds in their hearts as important. In the spirit of this, I strive each day to build a company that allows dreamers to dream without the kind of sacrifice they live to regret. It is safe to say that goals come with sacrifice, but done correctly they can also come with great joy. What if your goal was to sell 25 homes this year and every time that you did you also donated a portion of each commission check to a charity? You would then be achieving two goals with the success of selling the same 25 homes.

As the leader of RE/MAX Ability Plus it is my job to Inspire, Create, and Support my agents and there is no better way to that than helping someone create or achieve their goals beyond their sales activities. Just the other day, I was fortunate to be invited to lunch by Angela Dant, a very successful wife, mother, and agent with my firm. The purpose was, "how can I give more to my church while maintaining my other priorities?" I so admire Angela her desires, and I enjoyed the chance to participate in this new exciting journey of hers. She and so many RE/MAX Ability Plus agents do so much good in the world which helps me fulfill my goals as well.

Let's Move Into the 21st Century!

Far behind..... Why would the real estate industry, one of the largest and strongest industries, lack so much in technology? That's right-- we are light years behind other smaller and less lucrative industries. In today's age, we don't need to print, scan, reprint, and email the same documents, but many times we do. Reason is, we are so fragmented and no one wants to allow their tool to talk with another tool so we can streamline this very long and complicated process.

 I look forward to the day when I can input a listing in the MLS via my iPad and answer a few questions along the way, so prior to me walking out of the door the process has begun. Imagine I scan the room using #magicplan which measures and creates a floor plan! I complete all the documents and get signatures using #docusign, create my virtual tour by taking pictures with my iPad with #circlepix and input the showing instructions to #css. Then all the documents are emailed to my office to be electronically filled and approved, my sign ordered and confirmed, the brochure is made at the office and my sellers receive a thank you email and a time line of the process as well as valuable coupons for things they will need during the moving process. All that happens before I leave the listing appointment!

This is real and all the technology exists today. We don't need to waste billions of pages of paper, ink and time printing and scanning. All we need is to connect the dots and that's exactly what I intend on doing........

Bon Appetite,
Jimmy

Are You Scared Of Being Rated?

Ratings..... They are everywhere! Yelp, Angie's List, postings on Facebook, Tweets, Linkedin, and so many more I can't name.

So why is the Real Estate industry scared of a trend that could push the cream to the top?

As a Real Estate professional, I have made my living relying on my reputation, as every REALTOR I know has. Now I'm not foolish enough to believe that every comment made about "Jimmy Dulin" was a positive one, nor do I believe every comment should have been. I have made my fair share of mistakes, but like everyone in the business world, year after year I have gotten better at my trade.

Today instead of selling homes, I am using my Real Estate reputation to build a Real Estate Company, recruiting some of Central Indiana's top agents. Whether selling homes, cooking a meal, or recruiting Indy's top Real Estate talent I, like you, live by my reputation. So I say bring on the ratings, let REALTORS rate their brokers, and let consumers rate their experience with a REALTOR, office, or even a brand. Last year KW won the prestigious JD Power and Associates Award after receiving favorable ratings. The year before RE/MAX won the award and we celebrated our success. So like the JD Power or the Yelps of the world, it's time to accept ratings exist. Some will be good and others no so much, but in the end we shouldn't be scared.

Bon Appetite,
Jimmy

Plan To Finish Your Fourth Quarter Strong!

Summer is drawing to a close, and like most agents, you benefited from the summer wave of business. Now what?... I was talking about this very topic in our Monday morning coffee (designed to help start the week off right.) It seems many agents track the closings, pendings, listings and even who the client is and where they came from, all of which is great. But you can't tell the complete story with just this information. The story begins on the day you did the activity that led to the result of someone doing business with you, so the information you need is the activity information. I bet if you looked at Jan-March activity you would find you did more activities that led to sales and listings, and in June-August you had more closings than any other months but did less lead generating activities for the following quarters sales and listings. So as the summer begins to slow down why not kick in strong on third quarter activities that you do to generate leads that lead to more sales and listings in the fourth quarter? Example: calls, networking, door knocking (my lead generating activity of choice) client parties, mailers, open houses, pop bys and following up on the online lead sources you have. Even more important, create a spreadsheet that tracks activities and how many of the activities you do does it take to get a lead and how many leads to get a sale or listing.

Example: Knock on 100 doors, talk to 30 people and of the 30 people 5 have some thought of buying or selling. If I close one to do business with me, then I know for every 100 doors I know on, I close one deal. If it takes me 5 hours to knock on 100 doors then I now know how many of these activities I have to do and the number of hours I have to commit to it in order to have the number of sales I want.

For this example, I just picked numbers but I hope you can see how valuable this information can be for your business. If you do the reverse and say you want to close 10 deals from now to December 31st and 25% of your deals come from referrals with the balance coming from your activities, then it would look like this.

10 Deals

2.5 from referrals
7.5 from my activity of choice which takes 5 hours to generate 5 leads and results in 1 deal.
7.5 sales x 5 hours = 37.5 hours of activity time. My next step would be to time block 37.5 hours so I can PLAN to do the activities and PLAN my 4th quarter success.

I hope by now I have beat this horse and shown you why tracking activities will help you plan the kind of year you want to have.

Bon appetit

Are You Really That Good?

Are you really that good?

Real Estate is picking up more speed and everybody who can breathe and has a license has sold a home or two. Does that make you good or just lucky? So I will admit right up front I don't know diddly squat about your business, but after 23 years of practicing, I do know a bit about the business of "Real Estate." Below are a few questions for you to consider and they should help you determine if you are good or lucky...

1. Did you quit making phone calls to your past clients?
2. Have you canceled or quit any lead generating activities?
3. Have you quit attending training, office meetings and other educational offerings?
4. Have you quit doing open houses?
5. Have you quit your mailing programs?
6. Have you quit looking for ways to improve?
7. Have you quit giving feedback to agents after you show their listings?
8. When people ask, "How's Real Estate?" Do you respond, "Never been busier?"
9. Have you become comfortable?
10. Have you forgotten how hard the last few years really were?

If you are answering yes to these questions, and the long list of others that follow this vein, you may just be lucky... I think good is the person who says no way! No way would I quit doing what works, no way would I become complacent, no way would I stop proactively prospecting or looking for new ways to grow  my practice. Only you know the truth and only you can make sure you move toward good and not lucky.

Bon appetite,

Jimmy

Do You Have A Plan For The Unexpected?

 Recently I wrote my succession plan for RE/MAX Ability Plus. First let's get this out I'm not planning on going anywhere. So now that we know I have a plan and those plans DO NOT include me moving on anytime in the near future, what do they say and why?

 I care.... Much the same way I care about my family at home, I care about the people in this organization. So on a long flight to Denver I set out and completed all my thoughts surrounding what if.... I won't bore you with those details but it is safe to say I have taken some of my current time on earth to think about the future of RE/MAX Ability Plus and the people affiliated.

 Have you planned for your future or even more importantly have you planned for your family's future in the event you don't get to complete your professional plan? If you can take away three things from what I'm saying it would be have a plan for your time here, have a plan if that plan ends unexpectedly, and associate yourself with an organization that also has a plan.

 Have you ever wondered what if... The Real Estate Company you wake up every day and associate with had a loss of leadership? What would happen?  If your eggs are in that basket then it's fair for you to be concerned as well as have questions about this concern. I believe I'm what you would call a transparent person and I run a transparent organization so sharing this plan for what if... Bothers me none. I understand people are counting on me whether I'm here or not and I owe them security and confidence. If you haven't asked these questions of your broker or if you haven't written a will for your family or you don't have a succession plan for your business, then you need to step back and ask yourself are you doing the best you can do to plan for the what if.... Remember this will be your legacy.

Bon appetite, Jimmy

Does the Company you keep make a difference?

 We believe the company you keep can weigh you down or lift you to new heights. I’m often asked in the interviewing process by other agents “why do you think my business will be better with you?” I used to spend time thinking about the individual person and how they work and their individual style, until one day I finally got it. Universally we all perform better with a better supporting cast, staff, and other agents, who are a critical part to our individual success.

Very few people reach great heights alone. Edison may get credit for the light bulb. Jobs may have received the accolades for Apple’s success as did Gates with Microsoft, but I would guess they would all share the applause with worthy people that helped along the way. I have attended a lot of golf matches over the last year with my 13 year old son and when we started he would look for events where the kids had higher scores so he would have a better chance at placing in the top 3. Half way through the year we realized he was scoring better when he played with the top talent, and even though he was not an award winner, his game was improving and his score was coming down.

Much the same in real estate, if you work with higher producers they help you stay on track and the conversations are generally the type of positive conversation that keeps your head in the game and pushing forward. Think about what you can learn and share with like-minded people and how you can push and challenge each other.

Recently, I attended the Real Trends convention and found out what happens when you put a lot of very successful agents under one roof and it felt great, so I must brag just a bit about my all star agents. In case you don’t know, Real Trends tracks the Real Estate Brokerage business—yes, all 77,000 Real Estate offices in the U.S. and Canada. While attending the Real Trends convention, I learned that RE/MAX Ability Plus was recognized for the following success:

10^th Fastest growing RE/MAX in the USA for % of Volume growth out of 3,300 offices.

12^th Fastest growing RE/MAX in the USA for % of Transaction growth out of 3,300 offices.

37^th   Fastest growing Real Estate Company in the USA for % of Volume growth of of 77k offices.
 

45^nd Fastest growing Real Estate Company in the USA for % of Transaction growth out of 77k offices.

One of the teams with my office had a 17 year career with another local broker in my area and then joined RE/MAX Ability Plus. In their first year they went from their normal 10 million dollar year to 18 million-- same team, same market and honestly the only major change was the association with people who had sold more than them and helped them to challenge themselves to new heights. No magic, just dreaming bigger.

Bon Appetit, Jimmy Dulin

Don't Be Indifferent....Change The Game And Stand Out!

  Late last year I took a train ride from Oregon to Seattle Washington, no big deal right, I mean it was just public transportation from one place to another.  Well that is what I thought but not what I got.  I arrived at the train station and was greeted by a very nice ticket person who was eager to serve me, I showed him my ticket and he said “have you been on this trip” I responded “no sir” he said “I’m going to switch your seat to a seat with a better view” I of course said “thank you” and went about my business and that my friends is where it started not ended with this extraordinary experience. 

 When I boarded the train I found a huge comfortable seat all by its self with a large picture window to the world, but even better yet was what happened next.  See I was sitting in my chair using the free Wi-Fi and looking out the window when all of the sudden the game changer happened.  That’s right a voice came over the speaker and said “hello my name is Julie and I’m in the beverage car which is car #5 and although it will be 10 minutes or so until we depart I wanted you to know the beverage car is open for business and we have breakfast, coffee, juices and wonderful bloody mary’s, and right now we don’t have a line for service if  you would like to join me”.  To me this was and invitation to come try out the beverage car, I mean she could have just said I’m open or even say nothing at all.  But not in this case, we all received a warm welcome that to me differentiated my experience and made me feel like a valued customer.

  So many times as Broker Owner I get to talk to agents about their business and what makes them stand out, many times the response is “my service, I really care about my clients”. Although I’m sure that is the case I’m also sure many other Realtors feel and display the same concern and care for their clients, so ‘HOW” do you change the game… I would suggest you review your customary experience you provide your client and see if some where in the process you could elevate your game. 

 Some ideas, when you show your listings maybe leave a hand written note behind thanking your clients, begin to leave behind a signature piece of candy each time you visit a home or meet with some one. Maybe you have someone present for all showings on your listings, or meet face to face with your client during all negotiations.  Whatever the choice do consider finding that “thing” makes you stand out and changes the game in the eye of your customer. 

 Bonn Appetite, Jimmy

 

Practise at the office or at home but not at the clients house...

How many professionals do you know that show up at the interview without practicing the presentation?
Let's see.... Sports, no. Doctors, hope not. Attorneys, yikes. Accountants, no way... These people all prepare and practice their profession long before they ever meet with a potential client or enter a sporting event.
So how many Realtors show up at a listing appointment without practicing their presentation? I have heard every excuse in the book. Heck, I have added to the book myself. In a time when inventory is down in Central Indiana, can you afford not be on your game for even one listing appointment? I think not...When you arrive, be ready to bring it and I don't mean the rehearsal version. I mean the "no way you can't list with me version". Every time you walk in the door, it is your super bowl. If you consider the call to come out as a base hit, the appointment your double, and the listing a triple then the home run of Real Estate is the sale which means YOU CAN NOT SHOW UP AND MAKE BASE HITS!
 Grab a co-worker or friend and role play. Grab your kid or borrow one but don't show up and practice with the consumer. Have you considered what makes your presentation unique to you? Do you sell what you bring or just what your office brings to the table? Take the approach of finding out what the consumer wants and bring them the information. Talk less and listen more. Be prepared to share your stats, your brands stats (for those that believe consumers don't care about brand, skip this part), your specific office stats, and share the accomplishments of your organization in the community like charitable giving. But in the end DON'T FORGET TO ASK FOR THE BUSINESS!
That's right, many agents do a great job but for some reason are scared to ask for the business. If I'm the home owner and you are scared to ask me for my business I would be concerned you will also be scared to ask the potential buyer to buy my home. Remember you are on stage at the listing appointment so like an actor get ready, clean car, polished shoes (that you offer to take off the second you walk in the door) and whistle as you approach the door. It is hard to be in a bad mood and whistle all at the same time!
Best of luck, Jimmy

Invest in yourself!

As I prepare for my annual trip to the RE/MAX International Convention it seems approiate to talk about the investment we make in our selves or don't make.  Annually on behalf of my Office I travel to the RE/MAX International Convention, RE/MAX Broker Owner Convention, Real Trends "Soar with the Eagles" it is and invite only for the top 500 Real Estate Companies in the United States and the NAR Convention. So How do you invest in yourself? Please this is not and attempt to point fingers but rather ask you if you are exspanding your edeucationa and your best practise knoweledge from other people around the world.  Whether you are with a one person firm or a National player there are opportuinities to get out and grow.  DON'T rely on your local office or local board or even your state board to expose you to the type of "Best Practises" that are going on around the world.  When I attend I find it helpful to carry my ipad, I make alot of notes, take pictures, gather cards and do my best to meet and talk with as many succesful people as I can.  One example 2 years ago while attending the "Gathering of the Eagles" 9Broker/ Owners Only btw Convention I was in a room and the speaker who was the Owner of one of the US's largest independent Real Estate companies was talking about complimenting services a firm can offer it's agents.  The gentelmen sitting next to me asked about Insurance to which the speaker spoke very highly of.  When the meeting concluded, I who had the same interest in Insurance asked the gentelmen who asked the question about Insurance questions about his thoughts, after 30 mins of talking we had really hit it off and the plans were set! I set a date to fly to his Pennsylvania office for a visit, he had one office and 120 agents and knew the RE/MAX system backwords and forwards.  I flew in and enjoyed 3 days of great food and conversation about his office and the "annual meeting" was born.  From that trip I have now iplemented 3 to 4 great ideas and that doesnt even include the launch of our own Insurance Copany to help our Agents and their clients.  Travel, ask questions, meet great people and share what you know because the reword is greater success than you will ever find alone...

Today I begin a new segment of my life that I could never imagine...  I will begin regularly posting about the world of Real Estate and what I love and well don't love about it.  This is like standing on a cliff for a person scared of heights so I have to establish rules, lol.  The rules are as follows: laugh as often as you like about bad grammar, misspelled words or any other general screw ups but don't tell me.  So that's it, enjoy my posts and my screw ups but don't bother to tell me about them.