What's Really Important

No, haven't forgotten about #2 in the series.... Am working on that one! But something occurred to me today and I wanted to share.

What is important in your life? I mean really important. Necessary for your well being. Think about it for a minute. Can you name the top 5 things other then "air, food, water, clothing/shelter" basics?

What "stuff" could you just not "live without". Not talking about the people you share the earth with... not the emotions you want & need...not your spiritual relationships... but the "things". Stop reading now and list your top 5 or so.

I did this exercise and my first thought was without food/water/clothes/people/spirituality and emotions, I didn't really "need" anything! -- So, I listed the things I "like" to have the best - a cup of hot tea, a blanket/fireplace/warmth of some kind, a good book, my Iphone (+"service", power & charger!), and gosh... I guess if I had those 4, that's all I'd really need! OK, my computer and the internet... yep. That would be it...

Take a look at your list. Here's another thought... are they really expensive things ~ or not? Hmm...

Just something to think about when you are "worrying". It's all good. Really.

Go out there today and be sure to have one of your favorite things... oh my... did I forget Chocolate!!!?? (whew... that was covered under "food", right?)

For REAL ESTATE AGENTS

Your ship has come in! Sales are increasing, inventory is stabilizing, interest rates are flirting with all-time lows, prices are at or near the bottom of the bottom! When has there EVER been a better time to be a Real Estate Agent? NEVER! When has there ever been a better time to list or sell? NEVER!

THIS IS IT! It's time to get your business in ship-shape condition for smooth sailing. YES! It's time for fine tuning, for helping buyers and sellers with your expertise (and if you are reading this you probably ARE more expert than 98% of your agent competition) and reaping the rewards as the great Agent you are. Working hard to learn and get better every day... to serve your clients with the BEST real estate services available in the market! They NEED you... your pricing and marketing expertise -- and they need you to be in great shape in your business too. It's time to work on a checklist of potential challenges that could slow you down or cause your ship to slow or stall.

Number 1 in this series is Lead Follow-Up

Have you ever generated (or been referred or even handed) a lead, only to let it "slip through the cracks" and never follow up on it? Have you ever promised someone a CMA or information on a home, never to call on them again? Have you ever found a piece of paper with a lead on it 2 weeks later and were too embarrassed to call?

This Leak in your Ship is in Lead Follow-Up. I firmly believe that this is the biggest and most costly leak you can have in your business. And SOLVING this one will take you immediately to the next level! Too many agents are so busy "generating business" that they lose the business they HAVE in their hands! What is the system you have for leads? Do they all go to a central database? Do you check that database every day? Do you do lead follow up every day? Why not? What is getting in the way?

Your system should be nearly fool-proof and this one area needs more hours daily than most agents give it in a week I pose to you that a contact to a Lead is MORE important than a contact to a cold prospect. You need a SYSTEM.

Steps in your system could look something like this:

1. EVERY lead generated - no matter where from (by prospecting, referral, floor time, etc.) immediately goes into your lead database system. If you have a web based system, that becomes easy on your smartphone. If it's in excel, or other program or even in a special folder, that's fine, but put it SOMEWHERE consistently.
2. Start every day with lead follow-up immediately after your affirmations. Who do you need to do something for? Who do you need to call to see if they got what you sent? When do you need to contact them again?
3. Prioritize the leads into categories. HOT, WARM, COOL - if they are COLD they don't belong in leads... maybe a COI file or referred to someone that can help them, but not in your leads! The purpose of contacting WARM and COOL leads is to get them moved into HOT, or defined as COLD and OUT of the leads. You can have TOO many leads, so know your limits and stick to it.
   
4. Figure out how many HOT leads you need at any given time to reach your goals. This requires you TRACK your # of leads and # of transactions for a period of time. (I can help with that if you don't have a system)
5. Get a Coach, Broker, Manager or accountability partner to talk to about your hottest leads each week and ask them to hold you accountable to moving the leads forward or out.
   

Next segment in the leaky ship series is on CUSTOMER SERVICE for both existing leads and clients as well as past clients.

Watch for it soon! Would love your comments and to hear what YOUR biggest Leak is... let's brainstorm together. Thanks!

PLANNING - 15 minutes could save you

I woke up this morning thinking... if I had only planned better, I wouldn't be eating this energy bar for breakfast again! It got me thinking on the way to work about how Planning can solve just about any problem. Think about it.... If I planned my meals a week in advance, had all the right food prepared and ready, would I eat better? Yes. Would I lose that extra 15 lbs? Yes. And then I went on... if I planned what I was going to wear for the entire week on Sundays, would my mornings go smoother? Yes. If I planned my week precisely, hour to hour for the week, would I accomplish more? Yes. Would I earn more income? Yes. Would I do a better job for my clients? YES.

I know... we all KNOW this, but do we DO it? As I look at my in-box right now and see all the things in it that I don't even know what they are... I'm in a state of conscious incompetence. Going through the pile and making 3 stacks - Important to do today - Do before the end of the weekend - and the famous "later" pile could really help.... Would I begin to move into conscious competence? Yes! Being concious is the first step, right?

Our real estate business is so often done unplanned... Yet, if we planned better our activites - daily - weekly- bi-weekly - monthly - quarterly- semi-annually- annually it could make a tremendous difference. Think about how much more you could do! If we TRULY planned our business, the way a big company does, with a strategic plan to move forward, we could take our businesses ahead in a fraction of the time it takes to muddle through like most of us do. Do we have checklists for each of those timeperiods? Think about it... 15 minutes could save you - ah but that's another slogan, isn't it....

So, here's the question for you to comment a reply:

What are of your life or business do you need to spend 15 minutes doing some planning with today?

Can't wait to see your responses, because each response will help someone else! Let's hear it!

Donna Stott • Executive Vice President

Quantum Training Systems

The Power of Knowledge • Shared

DStott@qtscoaching.com

Based in Atlanta Georgia • Serving all of North America

What Successful People Do

"Most people see what is, and never see what can be." - Albert Einstein

Successful people see "what can be". They do not get stuck in what today looks like or what their current situation is. We have all heard the stories of downtrodden people with everything working against them who manage to turn their lives around.

What do they have that you don't? Nothing.

You have everything you need to be successful in any area of your life that you want to be. The only thing you need to do is DECIDE that you are going to accomplish it. You can't just decide once. It takes a daily, sometimes hourly, decision to continue moving in the direction you want to go.

"Happy are those who dream dreams and are ready to do whatever it takes to make them come true." - Leon Suenens

The only thing that can stop you from getting what you want, is deciding to give up. If you keep deciding it's worth it, if you keep deciding what it will take to get there, if you keep deciding to take one more step - you will move from "what is" to "what can be".

"Your success depends mainly upon what you think of yourself and whether you believe in yourself." - William Boetcker

It is time. Time to decide what you really want. Live every day moving toward what you want. Don't stay stuck living a life you've settled for. You are worth more than that.

This week, let's decide and then do.

"You miss 100% of the shots you never take." - Wayne Gretzky

Reprinted with permission of: Linda Giles 360.306.8712 office To get Linda's e-newsletter in YOUR e-mailbox, click on title of this post and sign up!

POSTED BY: Donna Stott • Executive Vice President
Quantum Training Systems
The Power of Knowledge • Shared

DStott@QTSCoaching.com
O • 678.999.0900 ext. 303
C • 678.477.4897

1280 W. Peachtree Street. NW
Suite 200 • Atlanta, Georgia 30308

The New Normal

Real Estate in today's Market IS the new Normal. And NORMAL is GOOD! We need to accept this market and go ahead to buy and sell for all the good reasons our parents and grandparents did. Pride of ownership, stable payments, mortgage interest deduction, investment to pay off by retirement, investment a tenant will mostly pay for, etc. Real Estate is still the BEST and safest investment most people can make in their lifetimes, if they are realistic about it and allow time to pay off. If you doubt this IS the new Normal... read on. And take a look at the links.

A lot of people are waiting for the "good old days" of skyrocketing prices again and it may never happen, or at least not for a very long time. Appraisers are more careful than ever. Banks have learned hard lessons that will be remembered. My research is telling me that another "boom" is not only not likely, but wishful thinking. Banks are feeding the market slowly on the foreclosures and will begin adding more of them if the market improves... and they have a LOT to add... Articles on "shadow inventory" abound and the fact is, the moratorium put on foreclosures has caused some of the little "rebound" we've seen in sales the last few months. Let's grow up and face it the GOOD NEWS. This is the new NORMAL... we have many years to clean out the foreclosure inventory and the next wave of ARM's coming due in 2011/2012 are going to keep the prices fairly stable (at best) for the next 3-8 years.

Call your Realtor. Make that move NOW. Why? At or below RECORD interest rates make NOW the best time to make a good long term decision. Fixed rates below 5% for 15 yr loans! Go buy something. You'll be glad you did! I invite your comments....

Daily Word today

It's time for a shift.... click the title. And don't worry if it's got a bible verse. It won't bit you, I promise. :)

Be sure to read the post below! There's a theme going on in my life.... you think?

Donna

Could you? ~ Would You? ~ When?

My friend Linda Giles posted her Regular Email today and mentioned 3 Questions I thought were pretty deep! Hope you enjoy them, and I'd love to get your feedback. Simple Questions to ask.... tough to answer. Have fun!

In any situation where a certain outcome is desired, ask yourself:

"Could I? ~ Would I? ~ When?"

The first part - could I? Well, in most situations the answer would be yes. Yes, you could, you are capable... if it's something you really want to do.

The next part - would I? Okay, I could do that, but would I do it? Again, if you want to do it, then you would do it.

The last part - when? This is where, as they say, the rubber meets the road! ~ I could do it, I would do it, but WHEN is the kicker, isn't it?

If not NOW then when? There is no time like the present!

So... I challenge you! Ask yourself, "Could I, would I, when?"

Let me know! I'd love to hold you accountable....

"How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives." - Annie Dillard

Thanks Linda for a GREAT message to pass on! Click HERE for Linda's Website.

I've got a feelin' - It's gonna' be a GOOD day...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1fvk4GhKoQ

Check it out. Click on the title and it should go there... Today IS going to be a good day...

Be sure to watch from the beginning... this may take you to the middle of the YouTube video, just pull the curser to the left to see it all. Don't you wish you were there? 4 very cool minutes.... This was 4 days ago...

Blessings on Good News in YOUR life and business.

Donna

Life Lessons

Just got an email from a client... Life lessons from a 90 year old. Google took me to her site, and she was 50 in 2006, so although not quite 90, still a good list... My favorites from the list are:

*Life isn't fair, but it's still good. (stop saying "it's not fair")
*Make Peace with your past, so it doesn't mess up your Present.
*Don't compare your life to anyone else. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
*Life is too short for long pity parties. Get busy living, or get busy dying.
*You can get through anything, if you stay put in TODAY.
*No one is in charge of your happiness except YOU.
*Forgive everyone everything.
*Believe in Miracles.
*Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful, or enjoyable.
*The Best is yet to come.
*No matter how you feel, get up, dress up, and show up.
*If you don't ask, you don't get.
*Yield.

Here is the full list if you'd like to take a look:
http://www.cleveland.com/brett/blog/index.ssf/2006/05/regina_bretts_45_life_lessons.html

Enjoy. Would love to hear YOUR favorites! Comment below...
Donna

LOVE MY LIFE

Hi All,

Here's something worth celebrating... The teens at our local church were talking about a Facebook site called FML that many of the kids they knew were posting on regularly. The ML stands for "my life"... you can guess the "F" part... It was a place for teens to post gripes & complaints and generally wallow in their misery, sharing it with others... Wow...

So our kids said to each other, what can WE do to counter that negative in our world. They decided to form a new site called LML - Love My Life - and post things they were happy about and grateful for. They had a goal to get to 2000 members in a few months... Within just a few WEEKS they beat that goal of 2000 and have a new goal to get to 5000 members by the end of September. They'll set a new goal after that... It's a "movement" as the kids say.... If you want to join and invite YOUR friends to join, click on my title above, or CLICK HERE.

Here's a thought.... What can WE do to counter the negative in our lives? And maybe cause a SHIFT in our world! What negatives are you facing? What can you do about them? What could you do INSTEAD of focusing on them?

These kids teach us an important lesson. They didn't just stand by and do nothing, watching their peers fall into a group depression and maybe even be in danger of joining them... No. Instead they started their own movement!

I started this Blog. What are YOU doing to bring something Positive into YOUR life and YOUR WORLD? Let me know... I want to know! Let's spread the good news....

What can you do to make a DIFFERENCE?

A friend of mine writes a blog that I love.. If you click my title above, you'll link to her blog and can read her last entry about a Good Deeds Challenge. It was one that really got me thinking...

What do we do each day to make a difference in someone else's life? I think if I were a nurse or newspaper editor, or hospice volunteer, or minister... I might feel every day I made an intimate difference every day. But are we making a difference in what we do when it's not that direct a connection?

I believe I am making a difference with my Coaching Clients. I believe I give them ideas, be a sounding board, hold them accountable, and challenge them to goals that stretch them to make their businesses better. I believe that they in turn, do a better job for their buyers and sellers. I know that our real estate group, The Burke and Stott Team makes a difference for our buyers and sellers. We have helped many owners this year that really NEEDED to sell, get sold and move on in their lives. We've helped many buyers purchase a first home or a move-up home, or even an investment. I know those transactions made a difference.

In little ways, I hope that we all take Linda's challenge to make a difference... sometimes just with a smile to someone that needs it, instead of looking away. Meeting people with a smile and direct look in the eye is so important when so many tend to withdraw and are afraid to share that intimate moment with a stranger. Maybe a gentle pat on the shoulder or hug for a friend or acquaintance that needs it. With a kind word or even biting our tongues when it would be easy to argue. What are you doing today to make a difference? I'd love you to comment... Have a blessed day.
Donna

It's been awhile...

It's been a long while (for me) since my last post. My precious wonderful mother and friend died on July 21,2009. The day she was to be released from Mayo Clinic Hospital and had been cleared the day before to go home. It's been a long few weeks and it seems like months ago already. I know all is in divine order and mom is where she is supposed to be. I feel her daily. And I'm not sure I really "know" deep down that she's gone yet.

I am grateful for her being my mom. She gave her entire life to her children and grandchildren and to her students, teaching for 24 years. Her memorial was beautiful and a joyful party, the way she often told us she wanted it. The Bluegrass band singing her favorite tunes from the "O' Brother, Where Art Thou" soundtrack was way cool. Over 160 people came to bid her farewell and Godspeed and she was featured in the Orlando Sentinel obit. I'm so proud of her. And grateful for all she was (and IS) to me... and for all the wise and wonderful lessons she taught me. Thanks Mom.

To read her AMAZING article in the Orlando Sentinel, Click HERE. What's the GOOD NEWS here? It's good news she was here... and she left the world a better place. May I be honored to do the same...