I don't know about any of you but I am tired of cold and snow. It is time to get back outside and show some homes. Time for buyers to be out buying and sellers to be out selling. With good southern weather just around the corner, it is also time for we realtors to get back in shape and get on the ball. I was out showing houses yesterday and it really made me want spring to arrive SOON! I know we are still in for some more winter, but the spring feeling is in the air.
The upcoming weekend is filled with a Saturday of showings and a Sunday of holding a neighborhood open at Weatherstone in Kernersville. Come on out and take a look around, or just come by to say hello. I will be there Sunday from 1-5. My fingers are crossed for sunshine and great traffic.
With interest rates still LOW LOW LOW and the sun shining I am sure something will sell. When talking to other agents I am constantly getting feedback that things are picking up! This is the exact opposite from a year ago and is good news to my ears and I am sure it is to yours as well. If you are an agent and you have not been doing opportunity time, open houses, cold calling and everything else you can do to dig up leads, now is the time to dust off the rust and get back into the game. The best way to turn the economy around is hard work, great advertising and a conscious effort to be up beat.
When a prospective buyer or seller asks about the market tell them the good news. I am a believer in makings ones own fate. Know the statistics and know the market. In 2010 while there still was a decrease in units sold, the decrease over 2009 was only down 5.1% as compared to an 18.4% decrease 2009 over 2008. Michael Clapp sees this as a possible indicator that the decline in the sales volume could be bottoming out. The number of new listings increased 4.1% so homes will be on the market for a longer than average amount of time but that adds up to better deals for the buyers. Average sales price for 2010 was up .8% to $158,389 which could indicate sales prices might be about to stabilize. While The Clapp report tells us that there is no clear trend as of yet, some of these indicators are heading in the right direction.
This all adds up to something positive to tell your clients. If you can get both your buyers and sellers to think positively it will help everyone. It all starts at the source, we agents need to be prepared with facts and be able to present them in the best light we can. If we have a wintery tone in our voices it will be passed on to the consumers. Just like I said in my last post, wake up in the morning with a smile on your face and greet the world with a good attitude. You will be amazed how far that will go to turn everything around.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
What's it all about? "ATTITUDE"
Today I woke up, jumped out of bed, walked the dog and tried to wake my son up to go to school. He got up but was dragging as I suppose most seniors in high school do. It struck me that he needs to get an attitude adjustment. Not the kinds I can provide, or in his eyes (YELL at him), but rather one that only he can do for himself.
This entry is not about my son nor is it about the overwhelming hardships of being an 18 year old (I say in jest). This entry is about attitude. If there is one thing in life that a sales person should own it's his or her own attitude. Actually we all do own our attitudes but not many of us understand that we control it as well. I try every day to have a good attitude about things. I wake up and am in a good mood, I am optimistic, some even say over optimistic, I am smiling and ready to go. I see each day as a new challenge and one which I want to be in control of the situations which are ahead of me.
My mother told me once that I was her only child who always woke up in a good mood. While I don't really remember that it was a nice thing to hear. After reading the book "FISH" by Stephen C. Lundin about 10-12 years ago I have made a conscious effort to own my attitude and face the challenges of the day with a smile on my face. It is so much easier to work through issues when you are in a good mood. When you realize that you can only control certain things, and as such only try to control those things, the rest of the marbles will fall as they may.
In sales it is so important to try to stay even keeled. Look at each step as an opportunity to excel rather than a problem to fix. Attitude is a state of mind and once you start to think with a "smile on your face" you will find that you are indeed in control of your own attitude. I had a talk with an agent in my office this morning and she wanted some advice on setting goals and how to reach her objectives. What struck me was that she really had good intentions and good ideas however, I thought that she needed to change her entire attitude about it.
When telling me her goals and objectives she kept using words like "I want to", I think", "I might be able to" and so on. She did have some goals in mind but what she needed to do was change the entire way she talked about them. Instead of "I want to" how about "I Will" or "I am going to," change one word and change the entire meaning. Her initial thoughts were by no means negative, in fact she was quite positive about her ideas, but instead of committing to them she was hedging on them by saying and THINKING she only just wanted them or might be able to attain them.
Thinking like that is not owning your attitude, it is setting yourself up for a nice easy landing should you fail to reach your objective. It is ok in my opinion to fall short on a goal as long as you did everything you could do in order to succeed, and as long as you own it and can accept it was your own fault that you failed. Once you accept its your own fault you can actually do something about it to achieve the next time around. Goals need to be set high, in fact setting a goal at a bar low enough that you know you will succeed is not setting a goal at all. It is simply stating the obvious and takes no initiative what so ever. Set those goals high and strive to reach them. Own the issues, and own the successes, and you will own your ATTITUDE. Use words like "I WILL" and "I AM" rather than "I want to", you will be very proud of yourself in the end when you have accomplished what you have set out to do.
So let's bring it all back to the beginning. MY SON NEEDS TO OWN HIS ATTITUDE! Hey I am working on it. He is 18 and knows much more than I. Might take some time but it will sink in one day. Probably when he is as old as I am.
This entry is not about my son nor is it about the overwhelming hardships of being an 18 year old (I say in jest). This entry is about attitude. If there is one thing in life that a sales person should own it's his or her own attitude. Actually we all do own our attitudes but not many of us understand that we control it as well. I try every day to have a good attitude about things. I wake up and am in a good mood, I am optimistic, some even say over optimistic, I am smiling and ready to go. I see each day as a new challenge and one which I want to be in control of the situations which are ahead of me.
My mother told me once that I was her only child who always woke up in a good mood. While I don't really remember that it was a nice thing to hear. After reading the book "FISH" by Stephen C. Lundin about 10-12 years ago I have made a conscious effort to own my attitude and face the challenges of the day with a smile on my face. It is so much easier to work through issues when you are in a good mood. When you realize that you can only control certain things, and as such only try to control those things, the rest of the marbles will fall as they may.
In sales it is so important to try to stay even keeled. Look at each step as an opportunity to excel rather than a problem to fix. Attitude is a state of mind and once you start to think with a "smile on your face" you will find that you are indeed in control of your own attitude. I had a talk with an agent in my office this morning and she wanted some advice on setting goals and how to reach her objectives. What struck me was that she really had good intentions and good ideas however, I thought that she needed to change her entire attitude about it.
When telling me her goals and objectives she kept using words like "I want to", I think", "I might be able to" and so on. She did have some goals in mind but what she needed to do was change the entire way she talked about them. Instead of "I want to" how about "I Will" or "I am going to," change one word and change the entire meaning. Her initial thoughts were by no means negative, in fact she was quite positive about her ideas, but instead of committing to them she was hedging on them by saying and THINKING she only just wanted them or might be able to attain them.
Thinking like that is not owning your attitude, it is setting yourself up for a nice easy landing should you fail to reach your objective. It is ok in my opinion to fall short on a goal as long as you did everything you could do in order to succeed, and as long as you own it and can accept it was your own fault that you failed. Once you accept its your own fault you can actually do something about it to achieve the next time around. Goals need to be set high, in fact setting a goal at a bar low enough that you know you will succeed is not setting a goal at all. It is simply stating the obvious and takes no initiative what so ever. Set those goals high and strive to reach them. Own the issues, and own the successes, and you will own your ATTITUDE. Use words like "I WILL" and "I AM" rather than "I want to", you will be very proud of yourself in the end when you have accomplished what you have set out to do.
So let's bring it all back to the beginning. MY SON NEEDS TO OWN HIS ATTITUDE! Hey I am working on it. He is 18 and knows much more than I. Might take some time but it will sink in one day. Probably when he is as old as I am.
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