The early eighties. A wonderful time in the lives of many of us (at least as it sits WAAAAAY back in our rear view mirrors). Maybe not so much. The music was mediocre, the clothes were horrendous, and interest rates were not appealing. The 80’s brought much change. My first wife, Della, and I had a newborn, some money in the bank and some horses and dogs to looks after.… Read More »Want A Better Housing Market? Remember the Early 80’s!
As a Certified Instructor for the Council of Residential Specialists, I attend meetings twice a year with my fellow instructors. Typically, we discuss courses in general and specifically, as well as the overall state of the classroom. In the last couple of years, a hot topic has been the emergence of laptop computers in the classroom. Instructors have differing opinions on the impact of students possessing these technological contraptions in… Read More »iPads Everywhere (almost)!
That’s using your tools, dog. Whenever I deliver a company class about tools and resources, like I have these past couple of months at three different Coldwell Banker companies, I am reminded of the number of real estate agents that are not aware of the tools at their disposal. Most of the major real estate brands have spent millions of dollars attempting to give their agents an edge in the… Read More »If You Got ’em, Use ’em!
Grandpa and Me 1953 Nine days ago, I celebrated my birthday. As it always does, this birthday carried with it memories of my Father’s Father, my Grandpa Sands. You see, we have the same birthday. I always thought that was THE coolest thing. I mean, what are the odds, right? Well, I don’t actually know the odds, but they must be less in the Sands family as my son, Matthew,… Read More »Seven Lessons From My Grandfather!
Loyal Tiger Fans! Anywhere I teach, real estate agents share a common obstacle they face when working with buyers… LOYALTY! They say there is no problem getting sellers to be loyal, but those buyers… they are tougher. My answer is always the same: Maybe you should treat your buyers more like you treat your sellers. Our sellers are loyal because we lavish attention upon them. We send them info in… Read More »Looking for Buyer Loyalty?
At the National Association of Realtors Convention in Orlando several years ago, Daniel Pink (author of “A Whole New Mind”) had the members of his audience do an experiment. We placed our index finger on our foreheads and drew a capital letter E. Whether we drew it to read ourselves or to be read by others said something about our ability to empathize with others. Two-thirds of the audience showed… Read More »Got Empathy?
I’m typing this on my Macbook with my iPhone sitting nearby. In the office sits my 24″ iMac, tall, like the guardian to the gates (no pun intended) of my speaking business. I owe it all to Steve Jobs. Basically, I switched from being a Windows PC sort of guy to being an OS Mac kind of guy because of the iPhone. It seemed so simple, worked so effortlessly and… Read More »Rest In Peace, Steve Jobs. And Thanks!
I was chatting with a friend today about a class I teach called “Visual Chi: Creating and Delivering Outstanding Electronic Presentations.” He seemed to go somewhere else for a few seconds (maybe a bad memory popped up) and then said, “Oh, another PowerPoint class, huh?” “Geez, I hope not,” I replied. It’s not that I have anything against PowerPoint, or Keynote for that matter, it’s just that anything can be… Read More »DEATH by PowerPoint
In the last month, I have had the pleasure of attending five different classes taught by as many instructors. Over my lifetime, I have understood several lessons that have served me well in specific times: salespeople make the worst buyers, doctors make the worst patients and teachers make the worst students. Let’s make something clear. By “worst,” I don’t mean terrible-people worst. I mean picky, high standard, challenging worst. In… Read More »Teachers Make the Worst Students!
I had another one of those experiences last week. You know the ones, you’re involved in a sales experience and while in the middle of the “sale,” you mentally leave and begin critiquing the salesperson. I won’t go into who the company or the actual sales person was, but please understand that this was a high placed regional person on the company’s sales team. Doesn’t happen to you? Well, it… Read More »R.I.D.E. to Sales Success!