Holiday Listings

Each year, about this time, Realtors across the country hear those same three little words “…after the Holidays”. The real estate market tends to go into an economic hibernation for a couple of months as activity slows down. Our focus shifts from seeking listings and promoting sales activities to turkey and hanging out with the family. We spend more time in the car trying to GET to the mall, than we spend in the mall itself, and those lights aren’t going to hang themselves. We plan our cross-country trips, buy gifts for our loved ones, and make sure that we are stocked up on eggnog. Mmmm, eggnog!

Years ago, I would send out a postcard to my farm area entitled “8 Reasons to List during the  The intent was not only to promote myself and the services I could provide, but also to create a shift in the mind of the seller who had already decided to put off listing until the New Year. I would also send the little card to my current listings who I knew might expire during this period. I will share a few of those ideas with you.

Holidays”.

First, the listed home is already looking pretty! No need to “tidy up” before company comes over or make the place look festive, or bake wonderful smelling cookies in the oven to make it all seem like home. It already does. The owners did you staging for you! As professional marketers, our intent is to allow the would-be buyers see themselves living there. What better family time to make them think of than the Holidays?   There’s also no need to cut the grass just before a showing appointment.

Another good consideration is the Holiday schedule itself. Many times, manufacturing plants and other businesses will completely shut down for a couple of weeks.  This means those “by confirmed appointment” sellers are now much more flexible, and easier to reach by phone. Most offices in the Middle Tennessee area have some sort of appointment system that a client could simply block out important family days and sub-Holidays like New Years Eve. Buyers are in the same boat, so there is not a need to wait until the weekend to set appointments.

In my first few years in the business, I made myself available to anyone and everyone who want to buy or sell. Without fail, I always picked up new clients at this time because everyone else had their phones turned off. Consistently, I heard stories of how people must have called a dozen agents, but no one picked up or returned their call. Well, I did, and I got new clients out of it, too. Many of them were people relocating to the area in a few weeks or months, and had this time to look for properties. I always did business!

Yes, there are a lot of points to consider during the Holiday season, but your mental default should not be that of “Nobody wants to buy or sell during the Holidays”.  By working smart and being available, you just might be able to put a nice little bow on the end of your business year.  

BlaineSpeaks@gmail.com

The End is Near!

What does the end of 2016 mean? It’s time to start thinking about our ambitions for 2017. (Pssst, it's just a number). According to a recent article in Forbes Magazine, only 8% of Americans actually achieve their New Year’s resolutions each year. Yikes! Statistically speaking (92% to be exact) I will NOT achieve my 2017 goals. Now what? Well what is a "goal" any way? It's a dream we write down on a piece of paper to make us feel like we have accomplished something, or that we're at least on our way. In short, we get a certain short-term satisfaction for having done something positive that day. We believe we are beginning to take charge of our lives! Sadly, reviewing our little wish lists, is not taking action. And what were we doing the REST of the year, anyway?

Of course, you could scrap those goals all together, and simply BECOME the person you want to be, irrespective of the number on the calendar. That's right, simply take on the disciplines and behaviors of the top sales rep in your company, act as if you were already regional manager, or earned that coveted industry designation.  We can incorporate the aspects of a positive personality TODAY, and that will get us to where we want to be a whole lot faster than a "wish list" on a slip of paper. In order for us to redesign our lives, it's going to take... wait for it... CHANGE. Perhaps we avoid change not only out of complacency, but more the fact that to change today is to admit we were wrong yesterday. It’s a vicious cycle, but we can break it by becoming, rather than planning. That’s something we can do that any time of the year!  

http://SpeakingForEffect.com/

Slience Is Golden

The Holidays are here, and some of us will spend more time with our extended families than we spent in the first eleven months. Hey, it’s family, what could go wrong, right? Well, you all know the answer to that! Nonetheless, this is the time of glad tidings, and good cheer. So, why not give them the gift that may ultimately reward us in the long run; silence.

If you are in management, education, or sales, you are taught to talk, and talk a lot. Talk every chance you get. But, when grandpa start describing his latest stomach ailment in graphic detail, or when little sis goes on nonstop about her fifth boyfriend this year, it may be time to pause, and spend some time on the OTHER half of communication; listening. You don’t have to have a degree in psychology to know there may be a greater reason for our loved ones to “dump” all their problems on us.

Perhaps they think WE are the only ones who will actually listen to them. Think about that, just remaining quiet, could be very important to those we care about. This is not to say the project should be attempted without a good stiff eggnog, but it is an exercise in your own level of compassion. By remaining quiet, and hearing them out, we remove ourselves as active participants in their latest challenge, dilemma, or scheme. When we are just with them in a nonjudgmental way, we allow them to vent, and remove what they have been carrying around with them all year long. Don't attack them, defend them, or try to "fix" the problem. Instead, just hold your tongue. They may finally move off the point of their own issues, and ask about you! Nonetheless, they will be convinced, it was one of the best “conversations” they ever had with you. So this year, give the gift that is worth its weight in gold, just be quiet, and LISTEN.

http://SpeakingForEffect.com/