Means Versus Ends

A recent article in the Inman News caught my attention with its use of two of my favorite ideas in the title: "Paperless is Great, But Don't Confuse it with Customer Service!" Perfect! Yes, indeed, being paperless sure doesn't guarantee great customer service, I thought, and I couldn't wait to see the suggestions to make sure the latest trend could be enhanced and optimized to assure the best customer service ever! After all, paperless is a means, not an end, right? We all know that, right?

Once I clicked on the headline and opened the full article, though, I swung right through the author's curveball: "Let's face it, brokers get more out of it than their clients." Really? REALLY? She states that "I can make more money with less effort by taking advantage of technology." That sounds like a good thing, right? Well, not so fast! She goes on to note that in our drive to be more efficient--whew, at least she recognizes that being paperless can certainly make one more efficient!!--that we may be putting distance between ourselves and our clients when we insist on doing things electronically, missing out on potential opportunities for some good old fashioned face time to get their signature on that fifth counter offer.

Okay, I can buy that. But only to a point. Of course, she's correct in the larger sense that for each of our clients, we have to find out how they'd prefer us to communicate with them--face to face, phone, email, text, handwritten note--and then do our best to please them in the context of getting things done and making sure the transaction doesn't fall apart--and not wasting their time, either. We covered that in my post on Leading with Questions, and it's an approach that can prevent a lot of misunderstandings. But the author seems to miss the point that, as technology develops and electronic signature capabilities have improved, that efficiency she seems to disdain is also of huge benefit to our clients!

And that sounds to me like excellent "customer service!”

For example, I've told the story several times of one of our top agents who was too busy last year to fully incorporate electronic signatures into their toolkit, so had to send the typical email with "Please print out the counter, sign it, scan it, and email it or fax it back to me" directive to the client. Within a few minutes after the email was sent, a response came back with the counter signed, clearly electronically! The agent called the client and asked how they'd done it. Turned out the client was sitting in the airport ready to fly out on vacation, got the email, had one of the signature apps on his iPhone--it's not just for real estate, you know--signed it and sent it back. Talk about efficiency! Unfortunately for our agent, the client then of course asked why we didn't use such technology to make our clients lives a lot easier! Can you spell embarrassed?

At any rate, the article's author then steps into silliness as she notes that her clients would be very upset at her paperless approach if she refused to put flyers in the yard box! Okay, she's making the point that we still need some paper, but I wonder if she's never seen those riders where one can text a number and get all the info, or those QR codes that one can scan and bring up a ton of info on one's smartphone or tablet? Hmmm, I wonder which way we're headed on this one?

So, yes of course, we should never force a paperless approach--or any other approach, frankly--on our clients. But why not be leaders in helping our clients learn how a cutting edge firm and masterful agents can speed the process and save them time on relatively simple, mundane things like signing a document, while we focus our face and phone time on strategy and positioning? Then, with that highly efficient and thus totally effective transaction closed, you and your client will both have plenty of time to toast the closing at your favorite restaurant, or even the cigar bar. 

 
Talk about means to an end!

Marketing on Facebook

We’ve written frequently about our Tablet Revolution and becoming paperless in our business, and we’ve often mentioned GoodLife Realty, in Austin Texas, a brokerage that positions itself as the Paperless Brokerage and has lead the charge toward being a completely paperless business as we all look to optimize our effectiveness as well as make the process easier and faster for our clients. 

Of course, part of the paperless approach is also using the internet more effectively for our marketing.  Around the state, we’ve heard from several agents who have found the consistent use of Facebook marketing a great way to grow their business, but we haven’t been able to share much of the specifics of “what” to post on Facebook.

Well, the GoodLife folks recently shared a blog piece on “5 Ways to Use Facbook Ad Campaigns in Real Estate, and here are their ideas:

Promote Your Listings - you can not only promote your listings to your network, but you can promote listings to people who live in a specific area, or who’ve experienced certain life milestones (such as just getting married or a new parent). You can even promote your listings to neighbors of your fans.

Share What Your Buyers Are Looking For - if you are working with a buyer, you can run ads to attract potential sellers by communicating what buyers are looking for in a particular area. Here’s an example: “I have a client l ooking for a home in Fishers in the $150K - $200K range with at least 3 bedrooms... know anyone whose been thinking of making a move?”

Market to Specific Price Points in Your Area - using Facebook’s marketing tools, you can choose to put ads in front of people who live in speficic areas who live in homes that are in specific price ranges in those areas. For example, you can target all people who have homes between $200K and $300 in specific zip codes.

Market to Newly Weds & New Parents - Life events are often signals that someone will be looking to make a move. Facebook gives you the ability to run ads to people who have recently gotten engaged, married, or have children... there’s even an option to run ads to people who FB has determined are “likely to move.”

In each of these cases, you can run a simple Facebook Ad with a minimal budget to get leads from these campaigns. Compared to newspapers, magazines, flyers, and Google, FB is far less expensive to get your message in front of the right people.

So give FB a chance and see what you might be able to achieve—
and remember to thank the folks at the Paperless Brokerage for the tip!

Pass the popcorn and don't forget to read Getting Things Done!

David M. Hassler

Director of Coaching

Action Versus Motion

Have you ever been watching a movie or reading a novel and found yourself asking, “What’s the point of all this stuff going on?” There may be characters flying around or wandering all over the place, yet it all seems pointless, and the story has stopped moving forward, has lost its ability to keep you on the edge of your seat. So instead of being immersed in the story, you lose interest and turn off the TV or put down the book. A disappointment, and you probably consider the time you invested a waste.

In dramatic terms, that failed movie or book had tried substitute “motion” for “action.” Motion simply means “stuff happening,” while action—the key to a successful story—means things happening that move the story forward, that keep the viewer or reader interested. In other words, action leads to the goal of the story, while motion is, well, usually a waste of time.

In our real estate business, action means controlling your time and doing those tasks that move you toward your goals, while motion is pretty much any activity that doesn’t! And we all know how easy it is to fall into time- consuming motions—the interruption of responding to emails or calls; showing those rental homes to clients we know will never buy; putting out fires with clients or other agents that might have been avoided through the right Quadrant II, proactive “action;” or failing to say “no” and allowing our time to be in others’ control instead of our own. We all have our own particular “motions!”

So, in our real estate business, how do we make sure we’re working on action versus simply being in motion?

One key is to make sure you have those monthly, weekly, daily, and yes, even hourly priorities for what you need to accomplish—actions—to keep you on track to meet your overall goal of making more money per hour. Of course, it starts with establishing all those goals in all that detail. Then you can put in place a system of priorities and time management—David Allen in his book Getting Things Done calls these "Next Actions" and I call them an Action Agenda—ideally using a tool like Evernote, to keep you on track so you can avoid falling into time wasting motion, and focus on the action that moves you forward like that story toward your goals. Your coach is there to help you with goal setting and systems to maintain focus on your priorities, so your career story can have a brilliant plot and a successful conclusion. Please pass the popcorn and don't forget to read Getting Things Done!

David M. Hassler

Director of Coaching

The Bandwagon Picks up Speed!

Over a year ago, I wrote a Playbook titled “Me and My Buddy Warren!” that responded to the fact that some of our competitors were showing their first signs of fear about our Prudential brand being purchased by the smartest investor in the world, Warren Buffett, and Berkshire Hathaway.  Well, it looks like that fear has grown to trepidation as the wave of success for Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices spreads across the country!  Sadly, but not unexpectedly, I continue to hear in coaching sessions with agents around the state that the wild tales from our competitors are growing even more foolish and desperate!

So, as the BHHS bandwagon picks up speed and we get ready to jump on board ourselves, let’s make use of this exciting opportunity to enhance and grow our business in all our markets by proactively trumpeting what Uncle Warren brings to us and our clients!

First, Berkshire Hathaway was named by Barron’s last year as “the most respected business in the world.”  Above Apple.  Above Disney.  Most respected IN THE WORLD.  Confidence.  Success.  Savvy.  Quality.  Resources.  Best.  Who wouldn’t want to be associated with that level of recognition, support, and good will? 

Oh, and for those who perhaps don’t read Barron’s, can anyone name the guy who provided the backing for the billion-dollar prize for a perfect NCAA bracket this year?  'Nuff said.

Then, just a couple of weeks ago, Harris Polls Equitrend named Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices as the top ranked Real Estate Agency Brand in the USA!!  Wow, what home seller wouldn’t want THAT name, and all that goes with it, on the sign in their yard!!  And what buyer wouldn’t feel comfortable relying on a trusted pro with that name on their business card!

Finally, for those of you who didn’t attend the BHHS/Pru Convention in Nashville, it was amazing to hear the stories of agents and companies growing their businesses almost overnight as potential clients CALLED THEM simply because of that solid platinum name, Berkshire Hathaway.

No wonder our competitors are quaking in their boots!

Bottom line, if Warren Buffett buys our brand, that’s a heck of a compliment and a long-term commitment—backed up with plenty of financial wherewithal—to ongoing improvement, growth, and excellence.  Sign me up!

So yes, our brand (not our company, and shame on any of our competitors who imply that!) has been bought, and it clearly strengthens our position in the world of real estate.  It means we’ll be getting even stronger when maybe some of those smaller or older or more locally focused companies can no longer keep up!

Get ready to jump aboard that bandwagon!

David M. Hassler

Director of Coaching

Getting Things Done!

Recently, I dug into a book that had been sitting on my desk for about a year, waiting for some attention, but which never seemed to rise to the top of the stack.  Then, at the BHHS/Pru convention in Nashville, I attended Stacey Harmon’s session on Evernote (of course!) and she mentioned David Allen’s Getting Things Done as a key element in her use of that app and her workflow system, which is covered in detail in her great book Untethered, by the way.  I finally got the message and started reading GTD and was surprised to find a system—I’ve read many books on this topic—that actually made sense and seemed to be a real key to organizing not just one’s work, but one’s life!

Allen’s primary point is that we get things done best when we can focus on the task at hand, free from distractions.  Rather obvious, of course.  But he goes on to clarify that by distractions, he doesn’t simply mean a ringing phone or a barking client, but rather all those nagging little voices in our minds, interrupting and reminding us—constantly, it seems—not to forget that we have to run a CMA for that presentation tomorrow or call the brick mason to ask about that chimney repair by next Tuesday or, yes, to take the dog to the vet on Saturday and get to little Sally’s soccer match by 6. 

So, Allen’s first epiphany for us is that our personal and professional lives—especially in terms of planning and controlling our activities and attention—cannot be separated, so we should develop a system that recognizes and accounts for that integration rather than trying to deny it.  He goes on to clarify that the only way we can manage all those competing little voices is to make sure every one of our “projects” is stored in a “bucket” where we have complete confidence that we’ll never forget or miss one!  By creating and maintaining our bucket of projects, Allen says, we’ll have the confidence to quiet those nagging voices and focus on the task at hand, yielding far greater effectiveness in the use of our time, ie, making more money—and more happiness—per hour!

GTD was written before the advent of Evernote, but Stacey Harmon, in her book Untethered, has adapted Allen’s GTD approach and developed a workflow organizing template that makes Evernote the perfect bucket, since it’s with us on our laptops, our tablets, and our smart phones nearly everywhere, letting us be fully in control.

One hint:  when you grab something from your figurative “inbox,” if it would take less than a couple minutes to deal with it, DO IT RIGHT AWAY and be done with it!

I’ll write more on the GTD approach in the future, but for now, just think for a moment how effective you might be if you could really focus on the task at hand! 

David M. Hassler

Director of Coaching