Thank You's!

Thanks to all the real estate professionals who made our course in Kansas City on June 9th such a success! Thanks too to John Mayfield, my favorite "team teacher!" Lastly, a huge thankyou to Terry Murphy, Director of Education for the Missouri Association of REALTORS and a special thank you to Rob Curtis and First American Title for co-sponsoring our course!

Keys to Communicating with Your Associates & Staff: Verbal Communications

In many ways, verbal communications must be more exact then written communications because when a member of your sales team or staff receives any type of written message, they have the opportunity to read and re-read it until they’re clear about the meaning. Statements, except recorded messages, are heard once and probably often misheard! When you speak with a colleague, there are two parts to reliable communication, your speaking and their hearing. Speaking alone isn’t communication, it’s merely noise. Hearing alone isn’t communication without listening, observing, and understanding.

How often have you made a quick statement in passing which you believe communicated something important to a salesperson or staff person, only to discover later that the hearer totally misunderstood the message? When you have something important to say, be sure that the following elements occur:

• Focus on the listener. Make eye contact with the person to whom you’re speaking, being sure that they are listening and are undistracted by other voices, sounds, and activities.
• Speak clearly, making your point succinctly but effectively.
• Ask a question to determine that they not only hear but understand your statement
• If the information is critical and you are concerned about their feelings on the topic, ask how they feel about it.
• Close with confirmation if a follow-up activity is required.

When you are the receiver of an important statement, question, or comment, consider the following:

• Focus on the speaker! Make eye contact and illustrate an open, receiving body language.
• Listen for more than the statement, hearing emotion, and seeing their physical message as well as the spoken word.
• Restate the speaker’s statement, question, or comment in your own words to be sure that you understand.
• If unsure, ask if you’ve got their point and ask what they would like for you to do in response.
• Remember that not every statement, question, or comment from an agent or staffer demands action on your part!

 
In “Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus,” author John Gray, PhD., tells us that each gender speaks and processes information differently.

“…the two biggest mistakes we make in relating to the opposite sex: men mistakenly offer solutions and invalidate feelings while women offer unsolicited advice and direction…While Martians [men] tend to pull away and silently think about what’s bothering them, Venusians [women] feel an instinctive need to talk about what’s bothering them [Source: New York Times bestseller, Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus by John Gray, PhD., Harper Collins Publishers].”

Wanting to grow your business in this atmosphere of turmoil and challenges?  One of the best techniques available to all of us in the world of sales, management, or business ownership is to either join or form a Mastermind Group!

If you haven't recently re-read Napoleon Hill's classic Think and Grow Rich, you might want to do so, get the book on CD or on your iPod or phone.  If you don't want to make time for those ideas, simply go to the Napoleon Hill Foundation website and read the "scrolls" taken from Hill's book.  You can find the "Success Scrolls" at http://www.naphill.org/points/scrolls/ 

My favorite tool for stepping up and out in a tough market is the Mastermind Group based on the concept of synergism or 1 + 1 = 3.  It provides the "third mind" to even two motivated, passionate business professionals who share ideas.  The new ideas, new twists on classic systems and programs, activate you and help you take a "step up" to high performance, more productivity, and the resulting increase in your profitability.

Get your mastermind group going and have a outstanding 2009!

Corky Hyatt
www.CorkyHyatt.com
Questions? Post them here or email me at Corky@CorkyHyatt.com!

Well, Real Estate Brokers, we know that our first "job" is recruiting and re-recruiting (retention)!  However, just like our sales associates, "prospecting" often falls behind our other tasks of training, managing for profitability, and administration.

How can we use "social networking" to keep in touch with and assist both our own associates and our potential associates.

Here are several suggestions for employing social networking in these important tasks.  Remember, too, that what you do for one group (potential associates), do also for your current team of agents! How many times have we heard agents say "My Broker forgets to dance with those of use who brought him!"

• Set aside a specific time period at least once a week for your social networking contacts – remember these are ongoing conversations not one-time efforts!
• Check out your own associates as well as your “target list” on Facebook, LinkedIn, Plaxo, Twitter… Keep track of who’s there so that you know whom you can contact and with whom you can carry on conversation
•  Post positive, recognition comments on their site like  “congratulations” and “thanks for showing/selling our listing.”
• Watch for opportunities to share positive feedback!
•  Find out about social networking successes and recognize your own associates when they make connections with prospects, clients, and referral prospects using social networking -- use this recognitioin to encourage those who haven’t worked it yet.
• Blog what you’re looking for in new, “toddler,” and experienced recruits such as values, vision, technology experience, presentation skills, follow-through, and more.
• Remember to post, blog, and communicate to their generation, personality style, and interests! It's essential that we all remember that ONE SIZE STILL DOESN’T FIT ALL!  We have to consider our associates' and our recruits' generation, personality style and interests in choosing how and when we communicate with them as well as how we recognize them and their efforts and successes.
  
  Please share your ideas and suggestions and let's keep our ideas growing!
  

They say that recognizing a problem is the best start to solving it.  So, here I am, a real estate trainer, coach, and author, who writes daily -- creating courses, writing emails, coaching, and more.  Yet, I've let my blogging fall through the cracks and it's time to fix that. 

Anyone else had the same problem!  If you have good suggestions for me, please let me know. I'm open to suggestions as to how to keep all these priorities going. 

I'm a planner, follow my priorities, work smart, long, and hard but can't get it all done.  Ideas?  Help?  I'll be sincerely grateful!

Corky Hyatt, CRB, CRS, GRI
www.CorkyHyatt.com

2009's Real Estate Cyber Conventon is the best yet!  Spending time in the "convention" with new video courses, enhanced graphics, an experience much like the live real estate conventions all made the '09 offering a huge improvement over previous year's events.

Top national speakers including Matthew Ferrara, Bill Barrett, Dan Richard, Randy Eager, and so many more offered current, timely, and creative "sessions" plus the opportunity to pause and restart as needed.  Whether you attend in your office, your home office, or in your PJ's, it's worth your time! It's an amazing experience to attend a training event with excellent instructors in the comfort of our own office or home.

Thanks Real Estate Cyber Society for the best "convention" yet.  We're really looking forward to your 2010 convention!

Corky Hyatt, CRB, CRS, GRI, Corky Hyatt Seminars
www.CorkyHyatt.com

What a great day we shared this week!  From the sales meeting with the Coldwell Banker Griffith and Blair team in Topeka, Kansas, to individual training, their excellent Chili Lunch with all their agents, and some one-on-one coaching, I thoroughy enjoyed the day!  Thank you John Green, John Ringgold, and all the CBGB REALTORS!
We talked about how to deal with both the opportunities and the challenges of our current real estate market.  REALTORS asked about how to better utilize email, text messaging, their smart phones, and web sites to keep in touch with their "Raving Fans," past clients and customers as well as their current sellers and buyers.  
I reminded them  to set themselves apart in everything they do!

• Get their priorities straight, beginning daily with what needs to be done for their upcoming closings, then for their current clients, and then for new customers! 
• Generate leads daily -- it's Job # 1 for all producers. 
• Do more with less! Don't spend money when you can do it better for less or free!  "Face-to-Face" contacts cost nothing but are priceless!
• Utillize the excellent tools available through their firm and their Coldwell Banker network!
• Expand consumer's options by knowing more about financing, foreclosures, short sales, REO's, tax benefits and programs, and their market than anyone else!

We discussed using the best tools available from smartphones to laptop and tablet computers, digial still & video camers, GPS's, presentation tools like animated PowerPoint presentations.  We discussed the hot topic, social networking, as a tool not a time-eater!  Use the best social networking tools to facilitate conversations, provide information, and make referrals easier to place than ever before.
Thanks, Coldwell Banker Griffith and Blair for an excellent day! 

Corky Hyatt, CRB, CRS, GRI, Corky Hyatt Seminars
www.CorkyHyatt.com

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