BRITISH COLUMBIA 6-20-22

BRITISH COLUMBIA EDITION

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THINGS YOU CAN DO TO ACHIEVE YOUR BIGGEST GOALS FEATURED AGENT

MELISSA GRANT

Connect Beyond Real Estate To Attract Future Clients

INCORPORATING CHARITABLE GIVING IN YOUR REAL ESTATE PRACTICE DEVELOPING YOUR PRICING PHILOSOPHY

COVER STORY

JADE TORNER

BRITISH COLUMBIA EDITION

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MELISSA

Melissa Grant ha interested in real up, even collectin chures on childh So, when she w university and g JADE TORNER MELISSA GRANT about pursuing a as a real estate ag like a natural ch CONTENTS completed her launched a solo b 4) CONNECT BEYOND 17) age of INCORPORATING 22. Although some people though REAL ESTATE TO ATTRACT CHARITABLE GIVINGproved IN YOUR too young, she quickly herself, w FUTURE CLIENTS REAL ESTATE PRACTICE of the Year at her brokerage for both total missions earned in herYOUR first year.

14) 5 THINGS YOU 20) DEVELOPING CAN DO TO ACHIEVE PRICING PHILOSOPHY YOUR BIGGEST GOALS A native of The Netherlands, Melissa fe the Sunshine Coast area of British Colum ing there in 2004. This 180 km peninsula o Phone 310-734-1440 | Fax 310-734-1440 lifestyle just a 40-minute ferry ride fro Vancouver. With no roads, the secluded a mag@topagentmagazine.com | www.topagentmagazine.com blewithout onlypriorbyconsent air oforthewater.

Nearly every prop No portion of this issue may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever publisher. Top Agent Magazine is published by Feature Publications GA, Inc. Although precautions are taken to ensure the accuracy of published materials, Top within 10 minutes Agent Magazine cannot be held responsible for opinions expressed or facts supplied by its authors. of the beach, there are To subscribe or change address, send inquiry to mag@topagentmagazine.com. snow sports and plentiful hiking trails. Th Published in the U.S. communities along the coast, including M of Gibsons, offer a small town feel with Top Agent Magazine tion of just under 30,000 for the entire are

JADE TORNER

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CONNECT BEYOND

REAL ESTATE

to Attract Future Clients What kind of content are you sharing on your blog, website, and social media? Does most of it have something to do with buying or selling a home? While sharing the latest market information or tips on how to qualify for a mortgage, or when someone should buy or sell is important and demonstrates your value as a REALTOR®, it shouldn’t be the only subject you cover. If you only focus on real estate, you’ll be missing the chance to connect with future clients that might not be ready to move just yet. By sharing a lot

of industry-heavy content, you are only going to appeal to those who are currently in the market rather than a broad base of potential clients.

To pull in those other future clients you want to provide fresh, interesting content that will appeal to those possible future clients that aren’t quite ready to move yet. However, you also want to still tie this content back into your business goals.

So, how do you share content that will speak to a wider audience, but also still be relevant to your business?

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Talk About Your Philanthropic Activities

The philanthropic work you do to support your community says a great deal about who you are as a person. Many people will be attracted to working with you because of the charitable works you are involved with. While you may be hesitant to share these efforts because you feel it may come across as bragging, you also need to remember that sharing information about the charitable organizations you support will actually help those organizations. Many of them have small marketing budgets, so any free exposure you can give them helps to promote their cause.

In fact, they want and need you to promote them.

And you can promote them without coming across as a braggart. Focus your content entirely on the organization. Talk about why you support them, how they help the community, and how others can also get involved. This turns what could have been bragging into something that benefits everyone. n

Your Local Community

We humans are connected to each other through our community – our local sports teams, parks, churches, schools, and much more. What better way is there to connect with people in your community than to talk about your community? Demonstrate that you are an expert on your community, and bring that community to your followers. Share information about a local event; perhaps even share the actual event through live-stream video. Interview city officials to get the low-down on the latest development project. Share information with your followers about things they didn’t know about their community. Consult with local historians or the historical society to share interesting information about your community that your followers will want to read. You could even turn it into a series of podcasts or videos. n

Use Your Creativity to Connect

Find creative ways to engage your followers on the topic of real estate. Try engaging your followers in an interactive project such as posting photos of interesting front doors. Doors are the entry point into our homes as well as our private lives. The way we adorn our front door can give someone a sense of our style and personality. Ask followers to submit photos and choose one to post each Friday. Make sure to watermark each photo with your logo at the bottom and include an inspirational quote that ties back to the importance of home. You could also ask your followers to provide a little story or caption to go along with the photo that tells something about them and their home. These kinds of projects are interesting and unique, and clearly connect back to your business. n

Share Your Hobbies

Are you an adrenalin junkie who has bungee jumped from some of the tallest bridges in the world? Are you a foodie that grows your own organic vegetables and fruit? Do you have a Top Agent Magazine

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secret passion for photography? Everyone has hobbies that they enjoy outside of work. When you look past the surface people become quite interesting. People also happen to find interesting people interesting, and tend to remember people based on their distinctive traits. We humans love discovering a person’s behind the scenes story, the mind behind the face. While you don’t want to talk too much about yourself, sharing pieces of your personal life and things that interest you can be a great way to connect with followers. By sharing interesting facts about your life, you will find that many followers will feel a strong, personal connection to you based on your hobbies and personal interests. n

Divulge Interesting Experiences

This is somewhat similar to the idea of sharing your hobbies. Sharing some of your more interesting personal experiences such as a fateful conversation with a stranger or an exciting adventure you had while in another country can be a great way to connect with followers as long as it also relates to some kind of life or business lesson. Talk about experiences you’ve had with clients or purchasing your own home. Experiences that relate to your business are great ways to connect with future clients in a manner that goes beyond the world of business. n

What and Who Inspires You

No matter what you’ve chosen to spend your life doing, you didn’t get there alone. You may have had a mentor that made a special impact on your life or someone already in the business that you looked up to and who perhaps inspired you to get into real estate. You may have found inspiration through a love of architecture or design. People want to know why others do the things they do. Sharing who or what influences you in your personal and business life is a great way to connect with followers. Recognizing that you didn’t get to where you are now by yourself shows humility, and talking about those people that had an influence on you shows others that you stay connected to the world and people around you.

Connecting with potential clients is something that is essential to any REALTOR’S® business. If you’re doing the work to create interesting blog posts and make those connections, you want to make sure that you’re sharing the right kind of content to draw in those future clients. It takes a lot more than simply providing the latest market news. To get the most out of what you share, you need to provide a wide array of interesting content

that will draw in a broad range of followers.

Providing the right kind of content can make all the difference when it comes to connecting with future clients and building the right kind of relationship with them right from the start. Connecting through your website or social media and sharing more than just real estate advice will help you build confidence and trust with future clients before you even meet them.

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JADE TORNER Top Agent Magazine

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In business since 2015, Top Agent Jade Torner heads the Jade Real Estate Group, serving Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, and Langley, with a special focus on Pitt Meadows.

Laser-focused proving world class service and building lasting relationships, Jade Torner makes the experience of buying or selling a special occasion. In business since 2015, Jade currently heads the Jade Real Estate Group, helping clients and their families achieve their unique real estate needs.

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Jade and her team serve Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, and Langley, with a special focus on Pitt Meadows, which she, her husband and 3 boys have called home the past 9 years. “This area is wonderful for families,” Jade says. “When we moved to Pitt Meadows, it was meant to be temporary, Top Agent Magazine

but we ended up falling in love with it! It’s a small community where everyone knows each other, and everybody is so proud to live here. Anyone who’s ever experienced Pitt Meadows Day can attest to that! The annual Pitt Meadows Day celebration brings out the masses starting with Top Agent Magazine

a Parade in the moring and ending with a spectacular firework display. Hundreds of families abound the streets enjoying the festivities! I have never seen anything else like it anywhere else! The area has much to offer, spectacular nature and world-renowned birdwatching sites. Osprey village, Copyright Top Agent Magazine9

“Although I have achieved Medallion Status making the top 10% of agents in the Real Estate board Greater Vancouver many times, our main goal is always to have our clients coming back and referring us.” located on the banks of the Fraser River, is a trendy collection of boutique shops combined with urban living is a common place for community events.”

An impressive 90% of Jade’s business comes from repeat and referral clients, a feat that speaks to the trust and confidence she inspires. Jade attributes her success to her ability listen to determine her clients’ unique needs. “As an introvert in a sea of extroverts,” Copyright Top Agent Magazine 10

Jade says. “My greatest skill is listening and my service is tailored to each individual.”

Having a staging certification herself, Jade can advise Sellers how to best showcase their homes for sale and can often be found helping clients stage their homes for listing photos. Known for the red-carpet closings she sets up for her buyers, complete with Hollywood red carpet, stanchions, and even a bow on the door. Long after the closing Top Agent Magazine

she sends each client a box of cookies on their birthday. “I don’t measure success by sales volume or awards, I measure it by how happy my clients are,” Jade explains.

“Although I have achieved Medallion Status making the top 10% of agents in the Real Estate board Greater Vancouver many times, our main goal is always to have our Top Agent Magazine

clients coming back and referring us,” Jade says. “The story they tell behind our back is also our best source of marketing.”

As for the what the future holds Jade plans to continue growing her team and carving out a niche market in Pitt Meadows while increasing her specialization in the Pre-sale Copyright Top Agent Magazine 11

This photo was taken on Vancouver island earlier this month, with my Business coach Ben Oosterveld, and Business From Within Mastermind group. A group Team Leaders and Realtors® from across Canada, Toronto to Vancouver, and everywhere in between. They are a large part of my referral network, and the reason I am able to very effectively help my clients relocate anywhere in Canada

market and Relocations. “I have an extensive network of referral partners across the country who share the same passion as I do for world class client experience.”

Jade’s favorite part of real estate is “the relationships I build with my clients and their families. Families don’t just buy

houses, they buy stability. Home is a place for their loved ones to be.” Jade and her team strive to keep the client central in everything they do. Ultimately, “It’s about connection,” Jade says. “It’s not about making sales, it’s about building trust and making relationships. That’s why our clients keep coming back.”

For more about Jade Torner, call 604 318-6250, email at jade@searchhomes.info, visit searchhomes.info, www.

on Facebook @jaderealestategroup; or Instagram #jaderealestategroup

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5 Things You Can Do To Achieve Your Biggest Goals If there’s one thing successful people can agree on, it’s that setting goals has been key to their success. Whether you’re creating a five year plan or just settling on what you want to achieve by the end of the day, setting goals gives you the focus and direction you need to complete even the biggest tasks.

But there is a method to setting them. It’s a process that takes careful thought and con14

sideration up front, which is then combined with the hard work necessary to implement your plan. Luckily there are proven methods to goal setting that you can start using immediately.

1. MAKE YOUR GOALS SPECIFIC

Yes, it’s fun to think in grand terms of where you want to end up in life and in your career, but it’s better to have a specific

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Your plan of action should include daily, weekly, monthly and yearly goals. goal like “Increase my sales by 25%”, than “Get rich.” When a goal is clear and specific, it allows you to figure out the exact steps you need to take to accomplish it. The more general it is, the more paralyzed you might be when it comes to figuring out what to do since, the choices may be overwhelming.

2. MAKE IT ATTAINABLE

Making attainable goals might seem boring, I mean afterall, you want to dream big! But you don’t want to suffer through the disappointment of not reaching your goal, something that may not even be possible at this stage in your life to begin with. One solution to that is creating goal levels. You can have the dream goal, but underneath that you have the realistic goals that are setting up a foundation for achieving the big one.

Things that are attainable still take work and effort to achieve. Those small victories will keep you motivated and encouraged to go for the bigger dreams. And don’t forget, those little goals may have been things you wouldn’t have gotten done if you didn’t set out to achieve them, so be proud!

3. PUT A PLAN OF ACTION IN WRITING

Your plan of action should include daily, weekly, monthly and yearly goals. There is something about seeing things in writing and crossing them off the list that is oddly satisfying.The daily goals are especially Top Agent Magazine

important in regards to building up those good habits. The first few weeks of your plan of action are critical when it comes to your long term success. Reaching a goal is something you are doing every day, all throughout the day, in numerous ways.

Achieving goals is all about creating good new habits.

4. MAKE IT MEASURABLE

This is key, since you definitely want to reward yourself for a job well done, and having a goal that is measurable in some way is a sure way to know. Maybe it’s to increase your lead generation or to cut expenses, whatever the case, have a measurable test you need to meet, as well as a time frame. Then calculate what you have to do to reach that goal. Not only should your goal be specific, but the plan and the measure of success should also be set in stone.

5. ADJUST AS YOU GO

You can have all the best laid plans, and you still might quickly realize that what you thought would help you reach your goal, might not be cutting it. Commitment to reaching your goals is good, but commitment to a plan you know isn’t going to work is not only a waste of time, but will be a devastating blow to your motivation.

Sticking to a plan everyday means adjusting it accordingly.

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MELISSA GRANT Melissa Grant had always been interested in real estate growing up, even collecting property brochures on childhood vacations.

So, when she was attending university and got suggestions about pursuing a future career as a real estate agent, it seemed like a natural choice. Melissa completed her license and launched a solo business at the age of 22. Although some people thought she might be too young, she quickly proved herself, winning Rookie of the Year at her brokerage for both total sales and commissions earned in her first year.

A native of The Netherlands, Melissa fell in love with the Sunshine Coast area of British Columbia after moving there in 2004. This 180 km peninsula offers a special lifestyle just a 40-minute ferry ride from the city of Vancouver. With no roads, the secluded area is accessible only by air or water. Nearly every property is located within 10 minutes of the beach, there are mountains for snow sports and plentiful hiking trails. The collection of communities along the coast, including Melissa’s home of Gibsons, offer a small town feel with a total population of just under 30,000 for the entire area. With plenty of Airbnb’s, shops and cafes, the area offers a balance of wild nature and sophisticated amenities including Melissa’s favorite Italian restaurant, Buono Osteria, located on the picturesque water’s edge. Her love and personal knowledge of this beautiful place make it a joy to showcase all that it has to offer potential homeowners.

Melissa enjoys working as a solo agent because she’s able to work directly with every client, they get Melissa every time they get in touch. She puts a lot of energy into her client relationships, keeping in touch and providing excellent service and availability to past clients, rather than only investing in new lead generation. Her 80% repeat and referral rate shows that this approach is working. Melissa provides her clients with regular monthly email updates on the local real estate market 16

and also includes features that highlight local businesses. She is happy to be a member of the close-knit community where she lives and works. Melissa is also a proud and active board member for the Elves Club, a charity that collects donations from local businesses and the public distributes gift cards to families in need during the holidays.

To market her listings, Melissa uses professional photography, Matterport virtual tours, floor plans, and drone footage to showcase larger acreage properties, beach proximity and the property’s surrounding area.

She relies heavily on social media marketing, her personal network within and outside of RE/MAX, and upgraded online listing pages on popular buyer search websites to make sure every listing stands out, but also continues to use print advertising which can appeal to clientele who rely on print heavy marketing when searching for homes.

When she’s not working, Melissa enjoys time outdoors with her rescue dog Teddie, visiting the beach, hiking local trail networks, and snowshoeing in the mountains.

She also loves to travel and spend time with friends and family. In the future, she hopes to continue growing her business while maintaining a reputation for excellent service, working a predominantly referral-based business, and incorporating her bilingual skills.

To learn more about Melissa, call 604-989-1300, email melissagrantrealestate@gmail.com or visit her website www.melissagrantrealestate.com Copyright Top Top Agent Agent Magazine Magazine

Incorporating Charitable Giving in Your Real Estate Practice

As real estate professionals, taking part in the community and serving others is central to a long-lasting practice. After all, agents are in the business of homeownership, building a financial future, and helping their clients begin new and fruitful chapters. With that in Top Agent Magazine

mind, how might an agent deliver that spirit of service in a broader sphere?

The truth is, charitable giving offers nothing but upsides. Contributing to a worthy cause is a noble and meaningful endeavor, but it

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Contributing to a worthy cause is a noble and meaningful endeavor, but it also presents positive byproducts for the giver: tax write-offs, name recognition in the community, and the ability to expand your network.

also presents positive byproducts for the giver: tax write-offs, name recognition in the community, and the ability to expand your network. If charitable giving is an idea you’ve toyed with, or a practice you’ve engaged in only now and again, here are a few ways to make it a foundational element of your business and a win-win for all.

Find causes that speak to you.

Donating funds or resources can feel anonymous if you’re divorced from the organization you’re working with. While national and international charitable organizations are certainly effective and worthwhile, you might consider partnering with local chapters of those organizations, or identifying hyper-local organizations that address need in your state, county, town, or even your own neighborhood. The first step to establishing a charitable relationship is to find a cause that you genuinely care about. For many, animal rescue is a tangible cause where resources and volunteership are always welcome. For others, children’s health and advocacy is a calling. Regardless 18

of your personal passion, participation can be big or small. From sponsoring a local youth sports league to partnering with an area animal shelter for their annual spay-athon event—there are all sorts of ways to make a difference.

Unite your team for the common good.

One way to make charitable giving a staple is to do it in arm and arm with others. Supporting a local cause is a great way to bring your team together in a unifying capacity. Hosting coat drives in winter, blanket drives for local animal shelters, or backpack drives for needy students at the start of the new school year— all are straightforward and highly useful, direct ways to give to your community as a team. It’s also important to set collective goals as a way of keeping people motivated and accountable over time. Offices are productive, but often hectic spaces.

Injecting a collective goal with a positive, tangible result can create an ambiance of goodwill and generosity—both of which are worthwhile attributes to cultivate as

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the leader of your team. Lastly, consider timely giving as a way of connecting your team to their community. Natural disasters, local fundraising drives, and improvement funds are all direct ways your team can contribute, while they themselves reap the benefit in the community.

Include clients in the process.

You’ve likely heard of charitable donations made in the name of your client as an alternative to the classic closing gift, but there are a few ways you might update this method of giving. For starters, consider including your clients in the selection process. Do they have a special cause that’s close to their hearts? Likewise, you might

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consider making regular, consistent giving a part of your routine post-closing. Instead of following up with your yearly poinsettia plant or pumpkin, you might find a cause in their neighborhood or township that you can support in their name. It’s wise to choose something apolitical, but a cause that’s hyperlocal to their area demonstrates unique thoughtfulness.

There are plenty of ways in which society as a whole can benefit from charitable causes that build goodwill in the world, support those less fortunate, and bolster a positive future. Incorporating charitable giving in your business model is a generous way to make this mentality a central tenet of your team and a defining characteristic for your clients to remember.

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Developing Your Pricing Philosophy

By Dirk Zeller

Ask a dozen agents to explain their home pricing philosophy, and you’ll

hear a dozen different approaches. And if the talk reveals frank responses, you’ll also learn that the most common pricing strategy is no strategy at all.

Here’s my advice: Break out of the ranks by establishing and following a specific strategy for arriving at the ideal selling price for each home.

Adopt the philosophy that, in real estate sales, price is king. Price trumps all other factors—including marketing approaches, home condition, market competitiveness, and sales approach. I believe that, in the end, marketing and condition of the property are controlled by the price.

The alternative, advocated by many agents, most sellers, and even some sales trainers, is to emphasize marketing over pricing. Rather than working to set the ideal price, they believe success will come from optimizing the home’s condition and presentation and then marketing it with skill and savvy.

I take the opposite belief, based on years of experience working with sellers who wanted unrealistic prices for their homes and who experienced firsttime sales failures as a result.

Over my sales career, I resurrected and re-listed more than 600 expired listings—nearly 75 a year. Among all those transactions, I never met an owner with an expired listing who thought that an unreasonable price had anything to do with the home’s failure to sell. They all blamed the previous Copyright Top Agent Magazine 20

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agent and that person’s approach to marketing. Each sought some magic marketing strategy to change the reality of the law of supply and demand.

There is a magic strategy: Price the home correctly.

Price is the only factor that can overcome sales obstacles, compensate for a home’s deficiencies, and motivate a purchaser even if the condition of the property and your marketing approach is less than perfect.

Getting the listing at any cost Does this scenario sound familiar? An agent (usually a newer agent) is short on business or maybe even desperate for the chance to stake a sign in someone’s yard. The agent wants a listing at any price – even if the chance Top Agent Magazine

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to seal a deal erodes the likelihood of selling the property. To gain a seller’s nod of approval, the agent makes a flatteringly high pricing recommendation, throwing out a number the client wants to hear and then hoping something good will result from the bad situation.

I can think of few examples, if any, where this philosophy works. Hope isn’t a successful pricing strategy. Worse, the please-the-client mindset is a hard one to abandon. Agents who achieve listings with unrealistic prices find it hard to later counsel their clients honestly.

If you take and price a good listing competitively, it will sell. You can’t keep a good price a secret!

The pitfalls of a “please the buyer” approach are many and significant. By overpricing, you can practically count on a reduction in your productivity, profitability, and salability, and here’s why: It’s impossible to keep your productivity high when your time is spent in conversations with an unsuccessful seller who lacks motivation to take corrective action. The seller’s negativity, concerns, and phone calls will only increase with each week or month the house remains on the market.

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As time goes on, you’ll devote more and more time unsuccessfully trying to create a sale not only for your seller but also for yourself. This will pull you away from activities that are more likely to deliver income. The ensuing frustration will de-motivate you and stunt your ability to secure better appointments that create other income opportunities.

An unsold, overpriced listing negatively impacts your profitability because it costs you time and money to service while it delivers no revenue to your business. And the situation only gets worse the longer the listing languishes on the market. You’ll end up deducting the expenses of this in-limbo listing from the proceeds generated by any revenue-producing deals you manage to close in the meantime, reducing your net profit and business success.

Unsold homes that linger on the market seriously diminish your salability, which is the term that describes your sales success track. Your salability is based on such key statistics as your average ratio of listing price compared to sale price and the average number of days your listings are on the market.

Obviously, these statistics, which prospects rely on when choosing one agent over another, can be crushed by a “get the listings at any cost” philosophy. They’re also harmed by the “start high and reduce later” tactic.

If you take and price a good listing competitively, it will sell. You can’t keep a good price a secret!

Dirk Zeller is an Agent, an Investor, and the President and CEO of Real Estate Champions. Copyright©, Dirk Zeller. All rights reserved.

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