Being hungry prompts a search for food. You look for the best snack or meal for you at that moment. Being starved because you missed your breakfast and here it is 3 in the afternoon and you still haven't eaten anything all day..leads to desparate measures. The skinny mini girl at the front desk offers you her health bar, another person exclaims that you may eat the rest of his salad in the frige because he just couldn't eat the whole thing. The craving in your body can only be filled with a big mac or a giant sized meal deal even though you vowed on January 1st in your New Years resolution that you would lose weight and only eat healthy from now on. Desparation breeds defeat.
When the real estate market was bountiful, a desire for a deal just took some slight planning and inspiration to work another one out. Agents were proud of their business planning, meticulous working of the fertile soil and planting plenty lead-seeds, watering them with 33 touches and 8x8 fertilizers which always brought a bountiful harvest. Like the sharing of an unneeded half a salad, happy Realtors were willing to share leads because they just couldn't handle them all.
When the market changed, Realtors needed to change. They needed to change their eating habits, their spending habits, their marketing habits and their planning habits. Business didn't jump into their laps anymore. Buyers were more skeptical about whether they should just wait for another tax credit or at least for the market to hit bottom. No longer did each Realtor have his own fertile field and leads. Many fields dried up in the economic drought. Realtors tried to plan ahead for next year's crop or hoped there would be a sudden change in the weather so this season wouldn't be a total loss. Realtors started buying leads from a national chain store but many of these leads were unedible. Realtors cut down on their cultivating, on their planting, on their harvesting because, as their hunger turned to starving, they lost ambition and energy. It became easier to blame the economic drought and go stand in line at the soup kitchen. Desparation breeds defeat.
What is the solution? How can you make sure you don't get desparate? First of all, have a plan. When a country knows there is a drought coming, they build warehouses and store food for years in advance.
1.Don't let the crops' failure surprise you. There have been signs broadcasted for years in advance.
2. Slim down your needs and thus your cravings. Go on a diet. Learn to live on less; learn to run your business on less; find deals on your supplies; don't hire help you can't afford to pay; and learn to do the crop watering on your own. Later on, you will know how to train new field hands.
3. Save a portion of the crops you receive rather than consuming all of them.
4. Be mindful of how far a word of encouragement or sharing of low risk ideas and collaboration can go with your fellow Realtors. Take care of your family first but be looking for ways to see your friends through too.
5. Read, take some coaching or mentoring, take online classes that are free, fill up your mind with knowledge of new and better ways to get leads and then plan. Next spring, when the ground thaws and the price for fertilizer comes down, try again. Plant only healthy seeds in fertile soil that has been worked hard by the sweat of your brow, and expect a crop that will be sufficient for your needs.
Desparation leads to defeat. Desparate people quit. No one will succeed who quits. Taking positive steps to avoid desparation leads to hope. Hope, well watered, leads to victory.
Ruth Parker, Productivity Coach, Keller Williams Midway, Thorndale, PA Homes@RuthParker.net Http://kwprocoach.blogspot.com
Monday, January 24, 2011
Monday, January 10, 2011
OPEN HOUSE DREAMING
OPEN HOUSE DREAMING
By Ruth Parker
I sit very comfortably on the oversized leather sofa of my listing. The owner has put jazz on the radio (or is it a cd?) and lit the little flickering candles all over the house. I don’t take my boots off because, any minute now, some eager buyers are going to come to the door and ask to come in to see this house they have had their eye on since the beginning. It is important that I don’t show the vegetative state of relaxation I am sliding into just one second before they come.
In my imagination, the doorbell does ring and a young couple, probably newlyweds, come in with a look of awe on their faces. No sooner had this couple come in but another knock came on the door from another man who can’t wait to see this home… I smile as I see the imaginary couple go up the turned staircase and find the spectacular bedroom at the top of the stairs that would be perfect for a nursery. While they are ooing and ahhing up there, the other buyer is exclaiming about the woodwork shop in the basement and how it is so much more spacious than he expected from the outside. Both are giving me all their contact information and asking me if I will help them make an offer. “Tomorrow afternoon” the man says. “ Today, now!” the young couple says enthusiastically. I sweetly excuse myself from their combat to let another looker in the door…ahhhh, a recent graduate from the local swanky college. This young man will probably pay cash, I think. Not sure whether it is the Benz parked in the driveway or the bills hanging out of his pockets that give me that idea. He does a quick sweep of the house while the couple in the kitchen yells out things to dissuade him from liking their new house. They say, “Oh my, I think the roof leaks!!” and other untrue things like that. I feel like a canary with the silly smile of bliss on my face. Wait, have I ever seen a canary smile?
I sit down on the soft leather sofa in my ruminating state and contemplate how I am going to solve the issue of all three buyers making offers with me being their dual agent, because of course, in my relaxed fantasy, none of them have a buyer’s agent to represent them. All three are willing to pay whatever it takes, one outbidding the other noisily like at a cattle auction. As I lean forward to peek into the kitchen to see if things are getting out of hand, I lean a bit too far forward and my laptop, which has been hibernating on my lap, falls with a crash onto the floor. The crash wakes me and my laptop up and I realize sadly that only one hour has gone by in the three hour open house. The only noise coming from the kitchen is the ice cube maker in the refrigerator. The little candle still flickers on the shelf next to the pile of fresh flyers I printed out for all the lookers, just last night. The jazz still plays lightly on the stereo in its very un-syncopated way and I realize….. I am dreaming.
I pick up my laptop, and begin writing a fantasy about an Open House Dream. Will it be a waste of time? Only if no one comes!!
By Ruth Parker
I sit very comfortably on the oversized leather sofa of my listing. The owner has put jazz on the radio (or is it a cd?) and lit the little flickering candles all over the house. I don’t take my boots off because, any minute now, some eager buyers are going to come to the door and ask to come in to see this house they have had their eye on since the beginning. It is important that I don’t show the vegetative state of relaxation I am sliding into just one second before they come.
In my imagination, the doorbell does ring and a young couple, probably newlyweds, come in with a look of awe on their faces. No sooner had this couple come in but another knock came on the door from another man who can’t wait to see this home… I smile as I see the imaginary couple go up the turned staircase and find the spectacular bedroom at the top of the stairs that would be perfect for a nursery. While they are ooing and ahhing up there, the other buyer is exclaiming about the woodwork shop in the basement and how it is so much more spacious than he expected from the outside. Both are giving me all their contact information and asking me if I will help them make an offer. “Tomorrow afternoon” the man says. “ Today, now!” the young couple says enthusiastically. I sweetly excuse myself from their combat to let another looker in the door…ahhhh, a recent graduate from the local swanky college. This young man will probably pay cash, I think. Not sure whether it is the Benz parked in the driveway or the bills hanging out of his pockets that give me that idea. He does a quick sweep of the house while the couple in the kitchen yells out things to dissuade him from liking their new house. They say, “Oh my, I think the roof leaks!!” and other untrue things like that. I feel like a canary with the silly smile of bliss on my face. Wait, have I ever seen a canary smile?
I sit down on the soft leather sofa in my ruminating state and contemplate how I am going to solve the issue of all three buyers making offers with me being their dual agent, because of course, in my relaxed fantasy, none of them have a buyer’s agent to represent them. All three are willing to pay whatever it takes, one outbidding the other noisily like at a cattle auction. As I lean forward to peek into the kitchen to see if things are getting out of hand, I lean a bit too far forward and my laptop, which has been hibernating on my lap, falls with a crash onto the floor. The crash wakes me and my laptop up and I realize sadly that only one hour has gone by in the three hour open house. The only noise coming from the kitchen is the ice cube maker in the refrigerator. The little candle still flickers on the shelf next to the pile of fresh flyers I printed out for all the lookers, just last night. The jazz still plays lightly on the stereo in its very un-syncopated way and I realize….. I am dreaming.
I pick up my laptop, and begin writing a fantasy about an Open House Dream. Will it be a waste of time? Only if no one comes!!
Friday, January 7, 2011
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