By Justin Thorn
If there are ten hungry Tigers going after the same Antelope, only one will get the prize, and the other nine will starve.  Real Estate Agents are a lot like those Tigers.  Not everyone can have every listing, so the trick becomes finding ways to boost your real estate business, and gain the edge over your competition.  This might be easier said than done.

Unlike Tigers, the vast majority of us don’t have sharp teeth, natural camouflage or the instinctual drive to stalk and kill… (which is undoubtedly a good thing).  However, we do have an extensive array of tools that we can use to gain that upper hand, and in turn, increase business.  One of those tools is Confidence.  Being sure of who you are, what you represent, and what you’re talking about is going to give potential clients an increased desire to take in what you have to say, and ultimately list their home with you.

I was inducted into the world of door-to-door salesmanship, for a small subsidiary of Comcast Xfinity by a close friend.  The first couple weeks, the only money I made, was when my friend would shell out commissions to keep me interested.  I was a TERRIBLE salesman. I had doors slammed in my face, I didn’t know what I was saying half the time, and if they said they would think about it, I would say ‘okay’ and leave.  It was only when we started having mandatory training meetings in our office, and making us act out what we were going to do, did I start to make sales on my own.  I gained the necessary confidence needed to be a salesman, because I already knew what I was going to do.  I didn’t have to worry about what I was going to say, because it came naturally.  I started to sell more and more, and I had less and less rejections.  People wanted to listen to me because I was confident.

Confidence is a product of Role-Play.  Role-play gives you a chance to practice everything that you would do or say to a potential client, without the harsh reality of knowing you’re bringin’ home the bacon.  In my opinion, role-play is one of the greatest ways to become proficient at something.  Role-play allows you two things:  Firstly, you have the opportunity to practice what you would do or say to a client, until you have honed your skills and are confident in what you’re all about.  Secondly, on the flip side, you have a wonderful opportunity to be the client.  This gives you an altered perspective on the process of buying or selling a home, and it may cause you to change the process in which you present yourself when prospecting real estate leads.

Role-play works best if you practice with another real estate agent who you feel comfortable to mess up and experiment with different prospecting techniques.  If you practice nervous, you will present nervously.  This could be a spouse, a friend, but ideally another real estate agent (two birds with one stone).  Practice scripts, your demeanor, how you treat your clients, and your overall ‘method’ of obtaining a listing.  Leave no stone unturned, you never know what aspect of your presentation will catch a ‘prospective’ client’s eye and make you more favorable as their ‘prospective’ Agent.

REDX would love to help you find a role-playing partner – check out the REDX Facebook page and write your request on our wall.

Justin Thorn is a music man. He plays more than 8 instruments including: the piano, banjo, accordion, guitar, cello, violin, and viola. He is passionate about sharing his love of music with other and teaches orchestra for 11 year olds.  The REDX family loves Justin for his contagious positive attitude. Our client’s love Justin because he is an awesome instructor and has a knack for teaching the REDX like no one else.

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Listen now to the April tele-seminar either on the REDX iTunes or on www.theredx.com in your browser.

REDX All Stars, Bill Gross and Mark Bartikoski, understand the challenges and the opportunity of selling real estate in today’s tough market.  In this tele-seminar they talked about different prospecting techniques such as door knocking, successful prospecting plans, how to prospect a FSBOs, why expireds grow your business and how you can leverage them. This tele-seminar had a lot of content and great questions from agents who participated on the call and asked their questions directly to Mark and Bill. (Oh, ya did we mention they discuss the scripts they use.)

Learn why Bill said “There is nothing that can’t wait till Noon”. And how many transactions Mark has received from social media.

Meet the REDX All Stars:

Mark Bartikoski [@coolshax] lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota and has used the REDX for almost 5 years. He loves prospecting expireds. His estimated ROI is about 1000% and at any given time 25% to 50% of his listing inventory is from expireds. He is on track to net $300K this year and says it is his relentless prospecting style that keeps him at the top in his area. When he’s not dominating in Minneapolis, he likes to spend time traveling, cycling, and fishing in Alaska. http://www.coolshax.com/http://www.facebook.com/mark.bartikoski

Bill Gross [@BillGrossC21] is an agent and manager at C21 and is a REDX client. He runs a Phone Blitz group in southern California every week where they hit the phones hard and make a ton of appointments. He is expertly versed in several prospecting techniques and is ready to share his best tips with you.

Bill actively works and coaches on expireds because he says that’s where the money is and those who work with him see it in the results they get. He says the ROI on working expireds is incalculable, at any given time he has five listing from expireds in his inventory. He graduated from the University of Southern California. He loves swimming and reading biographies and history. http://www.facebook.com/BillGrossC21

Join us for our next REDX Tele-Seminar on May 15th.

Spring Ahead of the Competition in April
REDX Tele-Seminar with REDX ALL Stars

REDX Tele-Seminar Tuesday, April 24, 2012
11:00 am PDT | Noon MDT| 1:00 pm CDT | 2:00 pm EDT

Join us for an amazing opportunity to learn what works, what doesn’t, and to ask questions from agents who prospect every day.

REDX All Stars, Bill Gross and Mark Bartikoski, understand the challenges and the opportunity of prospecting expireds, FSBOs, and pre-foreclosure leads. We will be asking them about their prospecting practices, their business strategies, and their plans for killing it this year. Be prepared to ask them questions during the tele-seminar on how you can grow your business, prospect better, and handle objections.

Register Now!

Meet the All Stars:

Mark Bartikoski lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota and has used the REDX for almost 5 years. He loves prospecting expireds. His estimated ROI is about 1000% and at any given time 25% to 50% of his listing inventory is from expireds. He is on track to net $300K this year and says it is his relentless prospecting style that keeps him at the top in his area. When he’s not dominating in Minneapolis, he likes to spend time traveling, cycling, and fishing in Alaska.

Bill Gross is an agent and manager at C21 and is a REDX client. He runs a Phone Blitz group in southern California every week where they hit the phones hard and make a ton of appointments. He is expertly versed in several prospecting techniques and is ready to share his best tips with you.

Bill actively works and coaches on expireds because he says that’s where the money is and those who work with him see it in the results they get. He says the ROI on working expireds is incalculable, at any given time he has five listing from expireds in his inventory. He graduated from the University of Southern California. He loves swimming and reading biographies and history.

A big CONGRATULATIONS to real estate agents Virginia Dean of  Visalia, CA and Adam Robinson of Sarasota, FL! Both Virginia and Adam won a ticket to an Agent Reboot event in a city of their choice from our REDX Facebook competition.

 Announcement post on Facebook. 

Real Estate Data X-Change, Inc. (REDX) is a real estate technology leader focused on improving the ways real estate professionals grow their business. REDX provides real estate solutions with lead generation, lead management, and lead research have made its Expired, FSBO, and Pre-Foreclosure products a trusted brand in in the industry by providing agents with the best real estate leads available.

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by Tyler Fenn

I’m a sales guy. I have been since I sold Boy Scout popcorn when I was eight. If your real estate career  has been anything like my own sales career has been over the last 20 years, you know the phrase “It’s either Feast or Famine”. Sales professionals, especially in the real estate agents, don’t receive an equal compensation for their time like other professionals; we’re paid on performance. Many of us tend to see massive fluctuations in our income throughout the year, with some months bringing in huge income, while some months bring in very little. While it’s easy to stay busy during the ‘ups’ of our years, most of us struggle to maintain that high-producing momentum during the down months when we aren’t seeing those massive checks as often, if at all. There are a few things, though, that I have worked for me when trying to avoid these slums throughout my year:

1.  Set Specific Goals

A sure-fire way to avoid the ‘downs’ in your business is to have specific benchmarks to strive for. I have a ‘Where I want to be in five years’ goal. Within it, I have set specific goals for my career. Then, I’ve worked backwards in smaller increments with the thought, “To reach my five-year goal, I need to accomplish (xyz) each year. In the first year I need to accomplish (abc).” …and on and on. I’ve done this all the way down to my daily plan (Side Note: my daily plan corresponds with my daily schedule discussed below. If yours doesn’t, one of them needs to be adjusted.) Finally, I’ve shared this with my source of accountability. For me, it’s my wife and my immediate supervisor. For you, it could be a coach or mentor, a colleague, or your spouse or significant other. Having specific goals and a solid source of accountability has helped my business to remain consistent throughout the year, and will remain this way for many years to come.

2.  Have a Daily Schedule

Many agents go into their office each morning with no specific plan for the day; unfortunately, they don’t realize how much of their valuable time is actually eaten up by participating in non-money-making activities. Having a set schedule that incorporates money-making activities on a daily basis provides consistency in income. I make sure to prospect at the same time each day, and set certain hours for appointments or other out-of-the-office activities. I also set certain hours for paperwork, following up with unfinished tasks, and other busy work. And I always include time to nourish the relationships with my past clientele; we all know how beneficial repeat-business can be. Once my schedule is created, I do everything I can to stick to it. Consistency in activity equals consistency in income.

3. Prospect, Prospect, Prospect

Perhaps the biggest reason for the ups and downs in sales is that once I tend to get busy with a full pipeline, I (unfortunately) begin to slack on continuously filling that pipeline with new business. Then, once business slows down, my efforts to fill the pipeline increase, although this takes considerable time. This creates a perpetual roller coaster of both production and income. The key to avoiding this is to making prospecting a top priority, every day. By making a daily effort to generate new business from new prospects, I see the results of my efforts are not only more consistent, but longer-lasting, too.

No sales person, and certainly no real estate professional, is immune to fluctuations in their production, but I have seen a much greater consistency in my business and income from following these patterns. I am confident that if you can implement these steps into your business, you will not only stabilize your production, but will increase it as well. Like it has for me, having more consistent production and income will create a happier, more successful you.

Tyler Fenn is the Inside Sales Manager at the REDX, and joined the REDX team more than  four years ago. He lives in Provo, Utah with his wife, Jenn, and his two boys, Connor and Caden.

Organize Your Lead Manager for Success

03.23.2012 Did You Know

By: Justin Thorn A lot of  Real Estate Agents are looking to maximize their use of the REDX Lead Manager, which, in turn, will add to their effectualness and can make their business more successful. But how do you do that? While there isn’t an, ‘outstandingly successful mode’ or a ‘click to maximize efficiency’ button [which [...]

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Today’s Tele-Seminar: Steve Harney from KCM Blog

01.31.2012 Real Estate Coaching

Special Event – Steve Harney from KCM Blog Tuesday Jan. 31st 11:00 am PST | Noon MST| 1:00 pm CST | 2:00 pm ESTRegister NowREDX Tele-Seminar Handout Jan 2012 Steve Harney KCM Steve’s 20 year history of success began as a top performing residential Realtor before he steadily built his own 500 agent real estate [...]

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5 Top Real Estate Stories in 2011

01.02.2012 REDX

by THE KCM CREW on JANUARY 2, 2012 In 2011, we experienced one of the most volatile housing markets in American real estate history. Things we never anticipated happened. Events we were sure would take place didn’t. Today, we want to review the five headlines we think had the biggest impact in 2011. 1.) Interest Rates remained at historic lows [...]

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Merry Christmas!

12.18.2011 REDX

This has been a red letter year for the REDX (no pun intended). We’ve hit so many new milestones of growth with the most notable being the amazing additions to our team, the release of the REDX Pre-foreclosure product, the High Octane upgrade (free to clients), and the 2011 Data Quality Study. As we reflect [...]

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3 Surefire Strategies to Multiply Your Short Sale Listings

12.13.2011 REDX

Guest post by Alex Charfen, CEO of the Charfen Institute and author of the Certified Distressed Property Expert® (CDPE) Designation Once shunned by the majority of real estate agents, short sale listings are quickly becoming the hottest ticket in town. With 1 in 10 homeowners not paying their mortgage—and Major Lenders predicting huge increases in [...]

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