CHICAGO EDITION
TIPS ON BEING A GOOD TEAM LEADER BODY LANGUAGE: HOW TO READ YOUR PROSPECT LIKE A BOOK!
HOW TO RECOGNIZE TRUE LUXURY PROPERTIES DEVELOPING YOUR PRICING PHILOSOPHY COVER STORY
BROOKE VANDERBOK
CHICAGO EDITION
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BROOKE VANDERBOK
CONTENTS 4) HOW TO RECOGNIZE TRUE LUXURY PROPERTIES
18) BODY LANGUAGE: HOW TO READ YOUR PROSPECT LIKE A BOOK!
13) DEVELOPING YOUR PRICING PHILOSOPHY
22) TIPS ON BEING A GOOD TEAM LEADER
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How to Recognize True Luxury Properties What to Consider Other Than Location When luxury home buyers are looking for a new abode, they are often advised to pay most of their attention to location, location, location. And it’s true that good locations often have better properties, but if you’re only looking at location then you might be forgetting what it is in a luxury property that makes it luxury. You could view a property in a great location, and because you completely ignored any of the other factors that make a property high end, you might find that once you move in, you aren’t as pleased with the actual house itself as you thought you would be. Here are the other things you should look out for when purchasing a luxury home: • Architectural Uniqueness: The simple fact is that good
architecture retains its value. Do your homework on architects and find the ones that have a good track record of designing beautiful, but practical homes. Don’t simply pay attention to how the building looks today. Consider how it will look in a few decades. Keep an eye out for the “bones” of the building, and decide whether they will stand the test of time or not. Things such as a solid foundation, high-grade materials, unusual details, and artistic components are good aspects to consider. Will the structure hold up well or will it degrade and crumble without constant upkeep? That funky molding may look artistic today, but in ten years will it be considered artistic or just plain weird?
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• Practical Layout: Make sure you have enough room to live
in comfort. As a buyer of luxury property, you probably have quite a busy social schedule. You want to make sure that the layout will lend itself to helping you maintain clear separation between your social areas and private ones. You don’t want guests having to go back into your bedroom to use the bathroom. Look out for places with stairwells, awkward columns, long hallways, and other wastes of space.
• Unobstructed Views and Light: You want to live in
a home that gives you lots of natural light, such as one that is open to the outdoors. That natural light will improve your mood, as well as the resale value. The openness of a space filled with natural light will make you feel more comfortable and happy in your new home. What about the view? Do you see a Do you park, a bridge, a river, or a skyline? Is the see a park, fantastic view out your window protected? a bridge, You’ll need to understand the surrounding air a river, or a rights and zoning allowances of neighboring buildings to understand the possible risks. skyline?
• Windows: Windows are the primary source of losing heat and
cooling. Make sure they are double-paned with good insulation that will protect your home against weather and noise. Unless the windows are already like this, it is unlikely that the condo or co-op board will allow you to install your own.
• Ceiling Height: Consider the cubic footage of the property.
You want to look for high ceilings that increase the openness of a room. Of course, you don’t want to go too high. Above 14 feet will get you diminished marginal returns.
• Storage: If you’re a woman, you will understand this one. We need
lots of closets and additional storage room to fit all of our clothes, shoes, jackets, hats, purses, etc. However, lucky for you, your potential home’s existing closet square footage will not limit you from putting in more storage space. Custom closet companies can create any kind of storage
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space you desire. You will have to, however, make sure that your new home does have an area that you can turn into this storage space. • In-Unit Laundry: In-unit laundry has become necessary for
any luxury home or apartment. Do you really want to have to trek down flights of stairs to use the basement laundry? If you still consider it wasted space, you can convert it into more closet space.
• The Gym: Having a fitness area nearby is an amenity that is especially
important, particularly in winter when you don’t feel like walking to the gym a few blocks down. One thing to consider is the Do you really want of the gym in relation to have to trek down size to the size of the building in flights of stairs? light of common area fees. • Move-In Ready: I’d advise against buying time-consuming and
frustrating fixer-uppers no matter how much you want to add custom kitchens, finishes, fixtures, and other characteristics. Choose a property that already has all of these amenities taken care of. These properties have already had the same designers you would hire fashion the house at a fraction of the cost you would pay to have them do it after you move in. In this light, it is worthwhile to pay a little extra for the move-in ready home.
• Reputation: Pay attention to the reputation of the building. A
property that has a good reputation tends to retain its value. You can easily find this out online on posts, and established locals are likely to have an opinion.
If you want to buy luxury property that is really worth it’s price, then I would suggest adding these points to your list of things your new home must have. If you want to get a high quality home that is a true luxury, you’ll want to watch out for these aspects as well as the location. Some properties might claim to be luxury based on their location, but when compared against this list, they don’t make the cut. So, don’t be fooled by imposters, and make sure you find a true high-end property. 6
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BROOKE VANDERBOK 7
BROOKE VANDERBOK Brooke Vanderbok got her start in the industry working for a real estate attorney. “I was in my final year of college at DePaul when I started working for her. Initially it was part time but I loved it so much that when time allowed it turned into full time position. The attorney I worked for really encouraged me to get my license and in 2006 I took that leap of faith and it’s been a rewarding decision every day since.” Brooke’s background in real estate law has actually proven to be a 8Copyright Top Agent Magazine
huge advantage for her clients. Not only did she learn the importance of being more of an advocate and advisor than a salesperson, her expertise in contract terms and negotiations is something that gives her clients a distinct advantage. Shortly after getting into selling real estate, Brooke joined forces with another top producing agent and licensed attorney, Robin Miner. With both of their legal backgrounds Top Agent Magazine
and mutual mindset of being an advisor and advocate for clients, they knew immediately the stars had aligned and this partnership formed. A decade later, they are one of the area’s most in-demand teams in the market, specializing in Chicago’s North side. “This isn’t a hobby for us. We run it like a business. We provide top notch service and are available 24/7. While any successful partnership takes support staff, we never want our clients to feel like they’re being cast off to an assistant. They always get one of us. Honesty and sensitivity to a client’s situation in this business is so important. Being able to tell a client what needs to be done to their home Top Agent Magazine
before listing is not always easy but we have a bullseye for what needs to be done to achieve their goals. In this competitive market that has undeniable value.” With this level of commitment to providing unmatched levels of service, it’s no surprise that the team has a 95 % repeat and referral business rate. The relationships they have built extend into the real estate world as well. They are part of a network of top-producing agents in Chicago, just another way they can offer additional exposure to all of their listings. Brooke grew up in the suburbs of Chicago and has been a long time resident of the Logan Copyright Top Agent Magazine9
Square neighborhood. An active member of her community, Brooke is always out and about, meeting with clients in order to maintain the relationships she has built over the years. Brooke and Robin feel that it is also important to provide value add items to their clients (past, present & future), teaming up with vendors to offer clients discounts for home related services and/or improvements. “We always want to keep it professional but think it’s important to add a personal touch occasionally too.” Brooke and Robin would like to continue fine-tuning their business in order to offer Copyright Top Agent Magazine Copyright 10
their clients the best service possible. “We’re constantly evaluating and assessing what we’re doing right and how we can improve. We never want to just rest on our laurels; the market and industry are constantly changing and we always want to stay ahead of the curve. Our goal is to watch our clients cross the finish line with a smile on their face. Even the smoothest real estate transaction can be stressful. We take pride in managing that with poise and professionalism. We not only want to help clients reach their goals, but also want them to feel good about the entire process and return to us in the future for their real estate needs.” Top Agent Magazine
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To learn more about BROOKE VANDERBOK call 773.991.4895 email Brookev@atproperties.com, or visit BrookeVanderbok.com www.
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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 Agent Magazine Top Agent Top Magazine
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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 14
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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© 2014, Dirk Zeller. All rights reserved.
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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. 16
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Body Language: How to Read Your Prospect Like a Book!
By John Boe Are you aware that your body language gestures reveal your deepest feelings and hidden thoughts to total strangers? The very first sale you must make with each new prospect is to “sell yourself”. If your prospect doesn’t like or trust you, he or she will never even remotely consider buying your product or service. Understanding body language gestures will help you build trust and rapport quickly with your prospects and customers... face-to-face or over the phone. 18
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Body language is a mixture of movement, posture, and tone of voice. Top sales reps and the most successful managers recognize the importance of nonverbal “buy signals” in the selling process and have learned to “listen with their eyes”. They understand the power of body language and know how to use their gestures and voice tone to establish trust and build rapport quickly. Body language research shows that nonverbal communication has a much greater impact and reliability than the spoken word. Therefore, if your prospect’s words are not congruent with his or her body language gestures, you would be wise to rely on the body language as a more accurate reflection of true feelings. The good news about body language is that you were born knowing the information. This explains why people from different cultures can communicate effectively without having to speak a single word. In the animal kingdom, every cat, dog, bear, horse, etc. on the planet will use the same body language gestures to communicate with each other. For example, when an animal is angry, they will pin their ears back flat against their head. Even though people understand body language instinctively, the meaning of “finger gestures” may change from one culture to another. Finger gestures, such as the V for victory sign or the okay gesture are “learned gestures” created by the culture and the meaning often varies from country to country. For example, on January 23, 1968, the USS Pueblo, a Navy intelligence ship, was engaged in a routine surveillance mission off the North Korean coast when it was intercepted by North Korean patrol boats. The 83-man crew were captured and imprisoned in Pyongyang, where they were interrogated and beaten. In an attempt to gain propaganda value from the crew, the North Koreans conducted a news conference. When photographed during the press conference, some of the ship’s crew expressed their disdain for their captors by sticking out their middle finger. While this finger gesture was noticed by the North Koreans they didn’t understand the disrespectful meaning that the gesture implied. After the photos were released worldwide and the meaning Top Agent Magazine
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of the finger gesture was revealed, the North Koreans were politically embarrassed and severely beat the crew. During your sales presentation, it’s critically important to get started on the right foot. Research shows that we decide in the first few moments whether we like someone or not. Yes, we also judge a book by its cover too. There’s absolutely no substitute for a positive first impression. Create a favorable first impression and build rapport quickly by using open body language. In addition to smiling and making good eye contact, you should show the palms of your hands, keep your arms unfolded, and your legs uncrossed. Body language is
a mixture of movement, posture, and tone of voice.
You can build trust and rapport by deliberately, but subtly, “matching and mirroring” your prospect’s body language in the first few minutes of the appointment. For example, if you notice that your prospect starts off the appointment by crossing his or her legs and sitting back in the chair, you should match them by crossing your legs and sitting back in your chair as well. After you believe you have developed trust and rapport, you can verify it by seeing if your prospect will begin matching your gestures. Try leading your prospect into a more open and receptive body language posture by uncrossing your legs and leaning towards the table. If you notice your prospect subconsciously begins matching your body language gestures, congratulations, this indicates that you have laid the foundation of trust and rapport. Conversely, if you notice that your prospect is mismatching your body language gestures, you know trust and rapport has not been established and you need to continue the “matching and mirroring” process. Be mindful to evaluate the flow of “gesture clusters” rather than isolated gestures taken out of context. Listed below are some important body language gestures that you need to become familiar with. There are two basic categories of body postures; Open/Closed and Forward/Back. In an open and receptive body posture, arms are unfolded, legs uncrossed, and palms are exposed. In a closed body posture, arms are folded, legs are crossed and the entire body is usually turned away. 20
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Body Movement Gestures • Leaning back and closed = Lack of interest • Leaning back and open = Contemplation and cautious interest • Leaning forward and closed = Potential aggressive behavior • Leaning forward and open = Interest and agreement Head Movement Gestures • Head neutral = Neutral and open attitude • Tilted back = Superior attitude “looking down your nose” • Tilted down = Negative and judgmental attitude • Tilted to one side = Interest Facial Gestures • Eye rub = Deceit, “see no evil” • Looking over top of glasses = Scrutiny • Nose rub = Dislike of the subject • Hand or fingers blocking mouth = Deceit, “speak no evil” • Chin stroking = Making a decision • Thumb under chin with index finger pointing vertically along the cheek = Critical judgment Are you missing your prospect’s buy signals? As a professional salesperson you must continuously monitor your prospect’s body language and adjust your presentation accordingly. By understanding your prospect’s body language gestures you will minimize perceived sales pressure and know when it’s appropriate to close the sale! “As the tongue speaketh to the ear, so the gesture speaketh to the eye.” – King James the First (1605) Copyright ©, 2016 John Boe. All rights reserved.
John Boe presents a wide variety of motivational and sales-oriented keynotes and seminar programs for sales meetings and conventions. John is a nationally recognized sales trainer and business motivational speaker with an impeccable track record in the meeting industry. To have John speak at your next event, visit www.johnboe.com or call 937-299-9001. Free Newsletter available on website. Top Agent Magazine
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Tips on Being a Good Team Leader Your business is booming, so much in fact, that you’ve finally made the decision to start a team. You’ve made sure it’s financially feasible, and you’ve found the right people, but there is still one other component of a successful team. And that’s an effective leader. It’s your job to not only generate business, but to motivate your team, which in turn increase productivity. Here are a few simple tips on being a good team leader. 1. Evaluate each team member, making sure to utilize their strengths Hiring the right people is one of the first steps in creating a successful team, but once you have those people it’s really 22
important to figure out where they best fit into the operation. Having every team member be an ‘expert’ in their part of the process leads to seamless transactions and a business that runs like a well-oiled machine. Top Agent Magazine
Of course it’s also important to create a supportive atmosphere that allows team members to stretch beyond their comfort zones, under your guidance. It’s to the whole team’s advantage when people take initiatives to up their game by taking additional training or mastering a new and innovative technology that can improve productivity. The key is to constantly evaluate not only your systems but the people running them. It’s your job as a leader to encourage that personal growth while making sure to always protect against any major misfires. Which leads us to… 2. Always reevaluate what is and isn’t working It’s a good idea to have a weekly meeting where the whole team can convene and go over any snags they may have hit in the systems that you developed when starting your team. Your team is in the trenches with you and since everyone probably focuses on a different aspect of the transaction, it’s important to make sure things are working on every level. Make sure copious notes are taken during these meetings so you have a track record of what was suggested, as well as a history of things that may have been tried and the results. Another good thing to focus on in these meetings is goal setting. Set weekly and monthly goals, and use the meetings to discuss what’s being done or needs to be done to meet them. When goals are met, it’s a great bonding experience for everyone. When they aren’t, it’s a moment to learn how you can do better in the future. Top Agent Magazine
Don’t forget to always take in what you can do to be a better team leader as well. 3. Stay connected and in communication These are your team members! There’s more to that than just a label. Be connected to them on a daily basis. Clear, open and honest communication is important on a busy team and that’s much easier if you actually like and trust your co-workers. Sure you want to succeed for yourself, but knowing that other people you respect are counting on you, is an additional motivating factor, that is certain to lead to everyone going above and beyond creating a wildly successful business. 4. Be inspiring and supportive If you’re enthusiastic about what you’re doing, it really will be infectious. Encourage innovation and creativity. Yes, systems and consistency are great but don’t let your team get in a rut either. Support their individual careers, always encourage them to go for more, let them rely on you for mentorship. If they sense that you want each member to succeed as much as you have, you won’t find more loyal employees. And perhaps most importantly focus on what’s being done right. Don’t be the boss that just points out things they don’t like. Let them know when they’ve done an amazing job and be specific about what it is. Make them feel valued and they will become a valuable asset to you and your business. 23
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