Blog.AAROnline.com » Joeann Fossland

It’s Not What You Make, It’s What You Keep!

Joeann Fossland — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 17:09:21 +0000

Posts by "Joeann Fossland" http://www.joeann.com

Joeann is known for her enthusiasm and boundless energy. As an international coach and speaker, she ignites enthusiasm and passion in the people she touches so that they can live a life they love. "Life is Too Short To Perfect Your Weaknesses" is a driving philosophy she shares, hoping her clients will take the easy route to leverage their unique strengths into a flow of effortless success. Learn more at www.joeann.com.

Image courtesy of Flickr user RLHyde

In today’s economy, looking for ways to maximize your income is smart. There was a big a-ha! for participants in my Business Planning Teleseminar this year when I said, “One of the most important actions you can take is looking for where you can save money since you get to keep every dollar you save, whereas each dollar you add to your gross will be diminished by expenses and taxes.” In other words, saving $1 gives you $1, and making another $1 probably only gives you 50 cents!

Here are some actions you can take to save in 2011:

Re-negotiate with your vendors and service providers. Call EVERYONE–the phone company, your insurance agent, your website provider–and ask for a better deal.
Look at last year’s expenses to determine where your business came from. Drop or modify expenses that aren’t bringing in business, unless they provide superb branding.
Assess everything that you are being charged for automatically every month. I was paying $15 a month for Netflix, and after I cancelled, they offered me the same deal for $8. And then I discovered I could get movies for free with my Wii. Are you paying for a service you aren’t using or that you could get at less expense?
Are you maximizing your expenses? Do you log your mileage? Keep good receipts for entertainment? Snacks & tunes for your office?
Sign up for Groupon or Restuarant.com to save money on your meals out and other services. Restaurant.com runs specials frequently when you can buy a $20 certificate for $2. These also make great gifts for clients.

Spend time on your budgets, and you’ll put money in your pocket! I’d love to hear what you are doing to save money and thrive in 2011!

Why Should a Seller Choose YOU?

Joeann Fossland — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 22:48:58 +0000

Posts by "Joeann Fossland" http://www.joeann.com

Do you have an answer to this question that you can succinctly summarize? Are there at least five differentiators that would bring value to a client? Do you have choices for the seller of levels of service and different fees depending on the services rendered?

Today’s markets are competitive, and the agent who can answer these questions is likely to thrive in the coming years, instead of just get by. If you have not re-strategized your services and the tools you use with sellers in the past year or two, chances are you are not getting as many of the listings as you should. If your close percentage is over 90% and you have all the saleable listings you want…this article is not meant for you. If that’s not the case, read on!

I moderated a wonderful panel in March at AAR’s Winter Conference in which I asked three top agents what they did to secure listings. If you haven’t read the article in July’s Arizona REALTOR® Magazine, it captures 16 Tips for a Killer Listing Presentation! Each of the agents on the panel had slightly different approaches, but all could clearly define technology tools and pricing approaches that gave them the edge. It is not just about getting listings, but having those listings be saleable! Honing the presentation skills to create confidence and using absorption rate pricing gave these agents an edge. Pre-listing packages were also a differentiator that saved the agent time in the process and impressed the sellers.

Could your skills use some fine tuning? A yearly review when you do your business plan is a good time to regularly take stock of what is working and what isn’t. If you don’t track your numbers, it’s much harder to know. A smart agent will know what marketing is working (only 2% of buyers find their homes through print advertising according to NAR’s2009 Home Buyer and Seller Profile) and shift their efforts to the areas where they can leverage the results and get the most bang for their time and money. Social media, blogging and websites are critically important these days since 90% of the public is starting their research online and 70% of those folks don’t have loyalty to a real estate agent!

Then, once you have a prospect:

How well is your current approach working?
What is the percentage of listings taken vs. listing appointments attended?
What is your percentage of listings sold to listings taken?
At what percentage of list price are your listings selling?

It’s a great time to do this re-evaluation and raise the bar in what you offer. Set aside some time this month to hone these skills and be ready as the markets continue to stabilize and recover. If you really want an advantage, I will be teaching the Seller Representative Specialist (SRS) designation class on July 15 and 16 for AAR and am looking forward to spending two whole days helping agents redefine and refine their service to sellers so that their businesses create lots of raving fans! We will be going through the whole process from prospecting to closing and looking at each step in light of today’s consumers and the current market.

It’s a perfect place to be for two hot July days to create hot business for the future!

Why I Love Foursquare

Joeann Fossland — Thu, 06 May 2010 15:30:41 +0000

Posts by "Joeann Fossland" http://www.joeann.com

Photo courtesy of Flickr user cambodia4kidsorg

At the recent Phoenix RE BarCamp, I did a breakout session on Foursquare, and a few people just couldn’t wrap their thoughts around it. But then there were others that I could literally watch the lightbulb go on behind their eyes.

Social media platforms may have you scratching your head wondering if they are a waste of time or a cool new way to generate business. FourSquare is one of the newest ways to enagage and connect that has caught on. It currently has over 1 million people checking in!

So…what the heck is it?

Foursquare is an application to download to your smartphone that enables you to:

Check in when you go someplace.
Have your check-in posted as you have set it: to your friends, your Twitter account and/or your Facebook account. (You’ve probably seen the postings on your Facebook page of the little map and comments.)
Add a comment (shout) about where you are.
Give good (or bad) feedback about the place where you are. (“Enjoying a great steak and yummy Flemings potatoes at Flemings!”)
Be competitive. You can get points, become the mayor of a location and earn badges.

You may think, “Why do I care?”

So here is my thinking on some ways this site could help you as a REALTOR®:

Connect with the businesses (I call them “social partners”) with which you have clients in common.
Show the business owners what it is all about. (You become their educator helping them get more business.)
Become the mayor of your company and set up specials for people!
When you become the mayor or a frequent visitor somewhere, you establish yourself as someone who engages in the community and shares about it.
Set up “meet-ups” like “tweetups” taking the online offline.

The Law of Reciprocity is what this is all about. (And having fun!)

Here are two other explanations why you might consider Foursquare:

Jay Baer’s Blog: Ignore Foursquare at Your Peril!

Janie Coffey: Be a Local Hero (Arizona REALTOR® Magazine)
Includes suggestion for checking in to your listings and adding tips to them on Foursquare.

Chuck Reynolds Explains Local Marketing

Have the lightbulbs started flashing yet?

Cool Tool for Outlook Users: Xobni

Joeann Fossland — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 17:08:07 +0000

Posts by "Joeann Fossland" http://www.joeann.com

Image courtesy of Xobni.com

A wonderful add-in that makes searching your inbox and finding information about your contacts fast and easy if you use Outlook is a little program called Xobni. You can download it for free at www.xobni.com.

After installation, you’ll see a handy sidebar that automatically shows up when you open Outlook. The sidebar gives you quick access to everything that pertains to each of your contacts. You get a history of your correspondence and a quick way to grab attachments that you’ve sent to or received from that person–as well as all their contact information, including social network information. Normally the sidebar is closed and takes almost no space, but when you expand it, you have all the info at your fingertips.

Give it a try–and let us know what you think of it in the comments!

What to Do with All the Good Ideas!

Joeann Fossland — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 13:00:14 +0000

Posts by "Joeann Fossland" http://www.joeann.com

I love going to conferences and classes and listening to the wisdom and ideas of movers and shakers! Sometimes it seems I have so many good ideas, I don’t know where to start in implementing them. When I speak or teach classes, I hand out a sheet called “Ah-has to Action” to help people capture the actionable items they could take from the presentation. Here is my advice to make it work instead of making it more overload. I call it Joeann’s Rule of 3:

Review your notes or list and pick the top three items that, if implemented, would give you the biggest return on money or time invested.
Put a “by when” date on those three and put them into your calendar.
Determine if any of the things on the list can be done by someone else (your virtual assistant, techie, husband!).

Once those three are implemented, go back and pick the next three. By prioritizing and reviewing, say weekly, you will be taking small, consistent steps to raise the bar in how you are doing business. It fits well with the KISS (Keep It Simple, Sweetheart!) principle that reduces stress and increases productivity! It is also very wise to choose the items that you are most passionate about since the things we do with enthusiasm have a way of making a positive impact.

For everyone who is at this year’s AAR Winter Conference, you can get an “Ah-ha to Action” sheet from me–or just start your own list to work from of all the good ideas you get here. I am moderating two panels: “Killer Listing Presentations” and “Road Warrior: Run Your Business as a Mobile Office.” The panelists are going to share LOTS of GREAT ideas! We’re looking forward to giving you the information you need for success. Then, it is up to YOU!