Realty World Northern California & Nevada

What’s the #1 thing a real estate professional should do with a consumer lead?

RESPOND!

Today’s real estate professionals need to be aware of some pretty important facts:

1. Almost three-quarters of all homebuyers (including Internet consumers) consider a real estate agent’s response time an extremely “critical” factor in determining which agent they will choose to work with.
2. The agent first to respond is the winner: 47% of Internet buyers and 43% of non-Internet consumers choose the agent who is quickest to respond to their inquiry.

Don’t go unnoticed as a sales professional and don’t let your prospective leads go unacknowledged. Get back to them immediately! It’s imperative for you to know that by responding timely to a phone call or email from a prospective lead interested in seeing a home on a particular day, or ready to buy in a specific area, etc., will get you connected. It’s a domino-effect… once the connection is made and YOU’VE been the agent on top of this client’s inquiries/calls/emails since Day One, what do you think will happen when that client is ready to make a deal? YOU will be the person they choose to do business with!

In my travels each day there is an area of great wonder in my life. It generally happens out on a country road somewhere between I-5 in Stockton California and the City of Tracy. Once on this country road it takes me a little bit to pull back from my traveling at 70 mph down to 55 mph, that within it self brings up another area of wonder, although not as much as the two yellow lines in the middle of the road.

My question is “What Stops Me” from crossing over these two yellow lines when I come upon a slower traveler? I marvel at myself, that I will not cross over the double lines! Here I am out in the middle of basically nowhere, and I let these two yellow lines control me. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I am very tempted at times to cross over the lines and get on my way at a higher speed. Believe me there are many that cross over to get on with their lives, many not evening slowing to question whether they should or not even on blind curves.

It is the fear of being caught for breaking the law or is it respect of the laws that govern our lives?

I believe there are many ‘laws’ in life that need to be respected. Many of these laws are not written laws that you will be punished for if you break them, but laws that can and will make life and living a lot easier and less frustrating.

Goals, respect for others, business plans, being true to your word, are just a few of the hundreds of unwritten laws in life that should be followed. In many lives, these are not ‘double yellow’ lines, however are very much a part of a persons life or business that when implemented, makes life more organized and less stressful.

Once again, ‘What Stops You’ or me, from crossing over the double yellow lines? That small bit of conscience that stops you, should be very much a part of your life in setting goals, working from a business plan or family plan, respecting others, and in being true to your word and deeds.

Everything changes in life… it’s called “evolution.” As we grow and evolve, everything continues on this path of change: our appearance, our social skills and behaviors, our environment, our beliefs and opinions about things, our dress size or weight, our sense of humor (or lack, thereof)… the list goes on and on. We can accept change or rebel against it.

The Good

Change is constant… sometimes we don’t even notice change until it’s already happened! Some people seek change and welcome its challenges. Change promotes growth, and growth should be intentional in our lives. Growth encourages ambition and a yearning for better things; growth also inspires self-improvement.

And think about it — by nature, when we think of self-improvement, we consider changes to be that which we make better to enhance our personal lives. Not true. Positive changes consist of those negative habits that we strive to turn into good ones, regardless if they pertain to our personal or professional lives.

The Bad

I read a quote somewhere that read: “Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine!” It made me laugh, but it’s true! When you put that dollar in for a seventy-five cent item, you may not get that quarter back that you are owed. Change involves risk — stepping from the known into the unknown, and sometimes this is extremely difficult for people to do. Most people tend to resist change even though we know it is good for us.

The Ugly

Unfortunately, the most difficult part about “change” is one’s acceptance of it and adaptation to it. The hardest part of change is making sense of what difference has occurred, then moving forward to figure out how to adjust your paradigm and behavior in order to deal with it. Your level of adapting to change will increase leaps and bounds if you don’t perceive change to be this huge challenge.