Texas 4-23-17

TEXAS EDITION

Are Your PRESENTATION SKILLS COSTING YOU MONEY? BE THEIR REALTOR® FOR LIFE: How to Build a Relationship with Your Clients that will Last a Lifetime

COVER STORY

VICTORIA PRINTZ

I'll take 2 Pounds of Confidence and 3 POUNDS OF SELF-ESTEEM! Don't Forget YOUR CLOTHES

TEXAS EDITION

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VICTORIA PRINTZ

CONTENTS 4) BE THEIR REALTOR® FOR LIFE: HOW TO BUILD A RELATIONSHIP WITH YOUR CLIENTS THAT WILL LAST A LIFETIME 13) ARE YOUR PRESENTATION SKILLS COSTING YOU MONEY?

18) I'LL TAKE 2 POUNDS OF CONFIDENCE AND 3 POUNDS OF SELF-ESTEEM! 22) DON'T FORGET YOUR CLOTHES

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Be Their REALTOR for Life: ®

How to Build a Relationship with Your Clients That Will Last a Lifetime In the world of real estate, an agent’s relationship with their clients can make or break their career. This industry revolves around working well with people, and being able to develop a strong relationship with your clients is the foundation that you business is based upon.

Just like with a house, if that foundation is weak, the rest of the structure is also going to be unsteady and fragile. The mark of a good REALTOR® is their ability to build up a good referral network and following of loyal clients. This isn’t something that just happens by accident. Building healthy, strong relationships with your clients takes work and knowing how to gain another person’s trust, respect, and friendship. Here are some ways to make sure you are building the right kind of relationship with your clients.

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1. Use Your Friendliness and Optimism to Win Them Over: No one wants a pushy, overly confident salesperson for a REALTOR®. Clients are much more inclined to put their trust in the hands of someone who is friendly when it comes to one of the biggest financial transactions of their lives. A pleasant, outgoing disposition will win you more clients as well as friends. You want to establish rapport in the first few minutes of first meeting prospective clients. Rather than starting with business right off the bat, begin your meeting with some small talk such as similar interests, hobbies, and family life. This will immediately help to put your clients at ease, and show that you are not simply trying to “sell” them something.

People also respond well to optimism. During what can be a very stressful time, clients need someone to help them stay positive when a situation looks difficult and challenging. Optimism also tends to radiate charisma, and people want to be around and do business with charismatic people. You want to learn how to understand, motivate, and inspire people.

2. Be an Inquisitive Learner and an Empathetic Listener:

On the other side of this coin is knowing how to listen empathetically. Empathy involves actually putting yourself or your mind in their shoes so you can genuinely understand their concerns, needs, and opinions. That understanding and empathy is then reflected in your conversation with that client. Your clients want to know that you care about their situation, and that they’re not just another sale for you to make. People are much more willing to put their trust in you when they can sense that you are actually making an effort to feel what they feel in order to understand their situation.

Showing your interest through questions, and then thoughtfully listening goes a long way towards gaining trust. Showing empathy and acknowledging the feelings and emotions involved in your clients situation helps build a relationship founded on genuine care and trust.

3. Watch for Nonverbal Clues:

Don’t be afraid to show your curiosity and ask your clients a lot of questions. Some of these questions may even be difficult and uncomfortable. You want to discover and learn as much as you can about your client. Don’t make the mistake of jumping straight into the role of the know-it-all. Every different client has unique needs, so you want to learn as much as you can about their specific situation before trying to propose a solution. You want to uncover their primary motive for buying or selling, and flush Top Agent Magazine

out any potential concerns they might have.

After you’ve gained as much information as possible, you can then gauge their interest in your possible solutions by asking “what if” questions. Being inquisitive also demonstrates to your clients that you are genuinely interested and invested in their situation.

Most communication happens nonverbally, so knowing how to interpret your client’s body language can be incredibly helpful. Here are a few things to pay special attention to: Eye contact: Be careful with the level of eye contact you use with clients when first meeting.

Too much and too little eye contact can send the wrong impression. You want to try and maintain eye contact around 70 percent of the time. That is the amount that most people are comfortable with. Pay attention to your client’s level of eye

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contact to determine how comfortable they are.

When someone avoids eye contact that could mean they are not engaged in the conversation.

A good way to quickly build a feeling of rapport when first meeting clients is to make eye contact when you first meet them and then start nodding yes to what they’re saying. If the client reciprocates the eye contact and nodding, you’ve established a connection.

4. Prove your honesty and credibility:

Choose the right handshake for each client: One handshake does not fit all people, and that first handshake can be crucial to making a good first impression. The way to do a good handshake for each client is to try and mirror the other person’s handshake in strength, keep your shoulders aligned as you are preferably standing when you shake hands. While you shake your client’s hand make sure you make eye contact and give them a sincere smile.

Showing a little weakness can actually be to your advantage in this situation, and will actually make others more inclined view you as honest. You don’t want to come across as too good to be true. When revealing this weakness, however, the key to coming out on top is turning what sounds like a weakness into a strength. For example, your service may be more expensive, but that’s because you offer more personalized and extra services than your competitors.

Honesty and integrity are the two traits that 98 percent of buyers and sellers report are qualities they consider “very important”. The thing is you can say you have these traits all you want on your website, bio, etc., but trust has to be earned, and the only way to do this is to prove your credibility.

Here are a few tips for how to sound more credible:

When you talk to your clients avoid using filler words such as “um” and “uh”, which can decrease your credibility. You also want to watch the tone of your voice. People tend to translate a deeper tone as sounding more credible.

You want to develop a relationship to last a lifetime when interacting with your clients. There are many things you can do to accomplish this, and using these tips can take you from getting just a few referrals and repeat customers to gaining a loyal client following. Taking the little extra time to make sure you are projecting the right attitude and making sure that you are doing things to gain your client’s trust can make a world of difference for your business.

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VICTORIA PRINTZ Top Agent Magazine

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VICTORIA PRINTZ If anyone knows real estate in Midland, Texas, it’s Victoria Printz. “I knew I would get into real estate at some point, but I wanted to do other things first,” says Victoria, who grew up in Midland, “being late for cheerleading practice because there was always one more house for my mom to show.” After all those years being shuttled from property to property, at age 18 she left Midland thinking she’d never return. But home called her back.

pany. “I’d had some exciting adventures, but I was ready to settle down,” Victoria says of her 1995 return to Midland. Today she is at the helm of an all-women, 16-member team covering real estate sales and property management in and around Midland. “We’re a boutique real estate company as opposed to a large franchise.” Their focus on Midland reflects their values. “We believe in doing one thing and doing it right.”

She earned her college degree and spent 16 years doing everything from serving as president of a title company in Austin to traveling the globe while working for a cruise ship com-

Each member of The Victoria Printz Team brings special expertise. The group includes buyers’ specialists, four property management experts, and a robust, in-house marketing

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department. “Out of approximately 511 agents currently in Midland, to my knowledge only a handful have someone doing their marketing, but we have a team of three – a media marketing director, a marketing director who manages all the photos from the houses, and a special events marketing coordinator,” says Victoria.

Her sellers, therefore, benefit from wide but targeted exposure across various outlets.

agents still represented both buyers and sellers in a given transaction. But Victoria sought clearer lines. “I knew I might spend an hour in the house and be able to bring them an offer the next day representing a buyer, but I didn’t ever want the confusion over who was representing whom.” This ideology led to starting her own firm, where she focuses on listings and her agents primarily represent buyers.

Among the team’s agents, Victoria takes the lead with listings while others support the high need for resourceful buyers’ agents in this fast-moving seller’s market. When Victoria first returned to Midland in 1995, many

“The key to my success is that sellers want three things from me – feedback, feedback, feedback,” says Victoria. “And buyers want three things from buyer’s agents – time, time and time.” Clients get the full package with

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The Victoria Printz Team. Victoria spends much of her time updating sellers on market conditions, reactions from showings, the success of marketing campaigns and metrics around pricing and competition. Her marketing department puts listings on more than 200 sites with high-quality photography and virtual tours, plus special open house events that not only to spread the word about listings but bring hundreds of Mindlanders together in a lively, social setting. “I also have a staging company we work with on occasion,” she adds, noting that the current low inventory in Midland lends itself to fast sales at list price when her team tailors marketing to the perfect buyers.

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As she appears to quickstep through her fast moving real estate business, Victoria still gives back to the community, earning awards from organizations like the Girl Scouts, who recently honored her as a Woman of Distinction for her leadership, community involvement and service. Meanwhile, she actually does do the quickstep, the tango and more. “Last year, I was nominated for a local Dancing with the Stars fundraising competition and, after two months of ballroom dance lessons, I won!” She soon opened a ballroom dance studio across the parking lot from her office, which she occasionally lends out to support local community events.

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Looking ahead, Victoria plans to expand her strong presence with the relocation market.

“So many large oil companies are located in Midland and we work hard on behalf of the international relocation companies,” she says.

Local market expertise, savvy negotiation skills, plus a love of working with people – not to mention ballroom dancing – helps Victoria make Midland real estate appear to be a smooth waltz.

To learn more about Victoria Printz, visit victoriaprintz.com, email victoria@victoriaprintz.com or call 432.683.1000 www.

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Are Your Presentation Skills Costing You Money?

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ometimes we’re so focused on technology and education that we forget this is a “people business”. And, a great deal of the money you make comes from your ‘point of contact’ skills. What do I mean by that? Lead generating dialogues and presentation dialogues. Yet, how much do we work on those verbal skills?

Unfortunately, communication sales skills have gotten short shrift in the last decade. Why? I think it’s because many of us are so challenged by technological changes. But, slow down. Think about how you actually make money. It’s at point of contact.

Getting better at point of contact skills translates into more money in less time.

We’re All Presenters Everyone in the real estate business presents: Agents present, when they are doing listing or buyer presentations. Managers present when they are recruiting, or doing their office meetings. Mortgage and title Top Agent Magazine

By Carla Cross

When you’re doing a listing presentation, what do you want to happen? You want them to sign the listing agreement when you’re done. reps present when they are in front of a group of agents in an office, talking about their services. So, doesn’t it make sense to become ‘killer’ at those presentations? You’ll double your money and halve your time.

Bug Off: I Do Okay Just Like I Am Yeah. I know. As a musician, I’ve worked with literally hundreds of people who thought they ‘played good enough.’

Some people just get to a certain performance level and leave it there. Have you ever thought that, often, our presentation strategies (or lack of) work in spite of us, not because of us?

As a musician, I know the thrill of performing at high levels. So, open your mind and consider

stepping up to a higher presentation level. Not only will you have personal satisfaction, you’ll make more money!

Now, let’s tackle one set of presentation skills: Organizing that presentation effectively.

Having heard listing presentations that wander all around the world, I know the importance of effective presentation organization.

Three Steps to Organize Your Presentation to Knock Their Socks Off Most of the time, we just get in front of people and say whatever we think of first. That leads to some big presentation mistakes, and costs us ‘sales.’ Instead of stumbling through a presentation, why not organize it to 13 Copyright Top Agent Magazine

grab their attention, persuade them to your way of thinking, and motivate them to action?

You can. In my new resource, Knock Their Socks Off: Tips to Make Your Best Presentation Ever, I show a simple three-step format to create your persuasive presentation. No matter why you’re in front of people, we need to be persuasive Think about it. When you’re doing a listing presentation, what do you want to happen? You want them to sign the listing agreement when you’re done.

So, it’s extremely important that you organize your listing presentation using a persuasive format, not just an information-heavy dialogue flow.

Grab Their Attention in the Opening Have you thought about your opening? Or, are you nervously standing at the sellers’ door, worried about what you’re going to say? Are you hiding in your office because you dread doing that sales meeting? When we haven’t organized our presentation, we come up with some really boring, off-putting openings, like: I won’t take much of your time, but...

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We have a lot to cover today We won’t get through the outline I know you don’t want to listen, but...

I’m not really prepared

You just open your presentation book, point to the pretty pages, and say, “here’s a keybox” (I’m not kidding. I’ve seen it….)

Great openings, yes? Yet, we’ve heard them dozens of times. You don’t have to settle for whatever Top Agent Magazine

If you’re doing a presentation to sellers, one of the major objectives of your presentation is to persuade them to your listing price point of view. comes ‘naturally.’ Instead, make your openings: Provocative Interesting Different Engaging I just attended a ‘Train the Trainer’ session (yes, I still learn great stuff every day!), where the trainer said it was important to engage the audience in a meaningful way in the first two minutes of your presentation. I think that’s a great rule to follow today, because people’s attention spans are the length of a gnat’s eyebrow. So, the next time you attend a presentation, see how much time elapses before the speaker/presenter/trainer gets the audience into meaningful action.

I don’t mean to ask a rhetorical question, either!

A Middle That Educates Your ‘Audience’ to Your Point of View In the middle of your presTop Agent Magazine

entation, add those stories, statistics, and visuals that support your point of view. By the way, as you create that presentation, jot down your point of view. If you’re doing a presentation to sellers, one of the major objectives of your presentation is to persuade them to your listing price point of view.

Retention is Key

Why Use Visuals?

Three days later:

There are two reasons to use visuals in your presentation:

We retain 10% of the information when we hear it

We believe what we see

We retain 65% of the information when we hear and see it

We retain the information much longer As you organize your presentation, ask yourself:

Have you ever met with sellers or buyers, given them lots of information—and then had them question you about it a few days later—as if they never heard you—or heard you backwards? That’s because people don’t hear and retain very well.

Look at the statistics:

So, use visuals to prove your points, not to merely show pretty pictures of houses.

The Ending: What are the main, and fre- Back to the Beginning quently, unspoken objections my ‘audience’ will have? How do I educate them to show them the reasoning behind my point of view?

Have you thought about your wrap-up? Or, like many presenters, does your ending sound like this?

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Well, that’s all. What do you think?

pop tunes are constructed with this format:

We’re out of time. Thank you.

I hope you’ll list with me

theme—variation—theme

I don’t have time to close.

I couldn’t get to much of the material, but you can read it In fact, even the most professional presenters frequently have trouble with their endings.

One of the main reasons is that they run out of time. Another is that they haven’t thought the ending through.

How to Do a Stunning Ending Crafting an effecting ending is the second most important part of your presentation. (The first is the opening). To craft a great ending, Go back to your beginning opening theme Summarize the benefits of going ahead with you/take action Motivate your ‘audience’ to take action

A Great Presentation is Crafted Like a Pop Song As a musician, I know that all 16 Copyright Top Agent Magazine

This is known in the music business as the ABA format.

Think of your favorite pop tune: Hum the beginning.

Think of the end. They’re alike, right? It’s the middle— known as the ‘bridge’—that is the humdinger. It wanders all around. Your persuasive presentation should be crafted like that pop tune: A. A compelling start (think Billy Joel, Neil Diamond, etc.)

B. An interesting, developed middle, with stories, statistics A. Back to that theme, with a motivating ending Now, you’re all set to craft a great listing or buyer presentation, great recruiting meeting or sales meeting, or awesome product/service presentation to any audience.

Carla Cross, CRB, MA, President of Carla Cross & Co., is an international speaker, coach, and resource provider specializing in real estate management. A former master level CRB instructor, and National REALTOR® Educator winner, Carla was recently named one of the 50 most influential women in real estate. For a free document on standards to establish, email Carla at Carla@carlacross. com and ask for standards document.

Carla has written six internationally published books, and provides coaching programs for management, including her affordable inoffice coaching programs Up and Running in 30 Days and On Track to Success in 30 Days for Experienced Agents, which provide standards, focus, and accountability.

Reach Carla at 425-392-6914 or www.carla cross.com.

P. S. Practice!

Many more tips on presentations and presentation skills are in my new resource, Knock Their Socks Off: Tips to Make your Best Presentation Ever.

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I’ll Take 2 Pounds of Confidence and 3 Pounds of Self-Esteem!

By Barry Eisen

At least a few times per month I get emails and/or calls asking me to help develop confidence and a positive self-esteem. When you’re hot you’re hot and when you’re not, you’re not. Life has its ups and downs and occasionally everyone feels like they’ve run out of gas and nothing they seem to do works. When you’re in a slump the world can look overwhelming and against you. The more you think about you’re victimhood, the more out of control you feel.What you focus upon becomes larger. Confidence, positive self-esteem...these are just words and something experienced many moons ago. Talk it out with your spouse? Sure. See a therapist? Maybe. Get a coach? Good idea. Call a hypnotist...that’s where I come in, but maybe not in an obvious way.

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Hypnosis can be of help in so many areas such as controlling weight, memory improvement, reading faster, stopping smoking, becoming a great public speaker, prospecting and growing a business, eliminating fears, becoming a better golfer/tennis player/baseball player etc., sleeping and energy, controlling pain control in dentistry and child birthing, improving wellness, passing tests and so much more. This is not an over statement. Hypnosis is a performance enhancer because it taps into the best parts of who we are to make the changes necessary to make the changes to evolve ourselves.

But “programming” ones mind for confidence and positive self-esteem is not something I’ve seen done effectively. The subconscious says, “What does that mean?” “Give me a picture, what do you want?” Read any neuroscience to know (or simply use common sense) that the subconscious needs specific direction (words, pictures and supportive feelings) for these clear messages to be acted upon. A general business plan is usually a recipe for disaster. A poor teaching plan will confuse students. Mixed general messages given to a 3 year old will produce erratic behavior. A loose navigation plan will have ships traveling in circles. Just like many people.

Instead of working on confidence and positive self-esteem, does it make sense to instead, work on a solid business target of success and develop a business plan that will get you there? If you’re planning for the future, is it not a better idea to set an end result and develop strategies that will make it happen? If you’re looking for better health, doesn’t it make sense to set a target for excellence and back it up with a realistic exercise and eating approach that will insure success?

The confidence and self-esteem will come along automatically. Create the goal, take action, do the work, be consistent. Your business will never grow more than you do. Your health will never get better without you stretching out beyond who you now are. Your relationships will never be more secure and supportive than you are of yourself. Your confidence and self-esteem will never grow without a reason.

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Before you therapy or drug yourself into confidence and self-esteem, at least try (Oh! I hate that word) the 10 organic following ideas for 2-3 weeks.

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Set goals that stretch you out and force you to grow. You can’t be depressed when you’re learning something. Learning takes you out of your egocentric predicament.

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Create timelines/target dates for goal accomplishments. This establishes a sense of urgency. It puts a little “gitty up” in your step and mind.

List your actions of the day on your To-Do list and prioritize all items.

Doing the A’s and crossing each off as done, will put a smile on your face and a jolt of small energy in your life. (Accomplishment feels good.

Could you use some “feel good”/self-esteem?) You’ll start looking forward 20

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to these little positive jolts and do what is necessary to have them. If I was talking cocaine...that would be a bad thing, but since I’m talking non drug human motivation...that would be a good thing.

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If you’re just feeling flat for no obvious reason, take on an interest/ hobby/project that’s been on your mind in the past. Learning stimulates blood flow to different parts of the brain and increases endorphin flow.

(E.g. Calligraphy, sailing, martial arts, reading sci-fi, etc.)

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Follow through like your hair’s on fire. Show yourself what you CAN DO! Create some appropriate reward for the accomplishment.

Balance your life with goals in physical, financial, emotional, educational, family, social and spiritual areas. Sometimes more is better.

Purposely smile more, laugh easier, hold eye contact a little more (obviously, not in a creepy way) and present a stronger posture.

Learn to relax to slow down, put things in perspective, ask yourself how you feel and how you’re doing 2 or 3 times during your day. Don’t let the day rule you. Be present. Pay attention.

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Act “AS IF” you were already doing things with confidence, making decisions with authority and living the life you want to live. You become what you think about.

Barry Eisen teaches personal development seminars and coaches Southern California top producing REALTORS®. “Your business will never grow more than you do” is the theme; self hypnosis and behavior modification are the tools for playing a bigger game. barryeisen.com, barryeisen@LA.twcbc.com 818-769-4300

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Don’t Forget Your Clothes We’re sure your goals are lofty, and to hit them, your marketing needs to be on point. But is your brand and position defined? If not, it’s like leaving the house each day without clothing.

And while some would argue that this would certainly gain attention, we don’t believe it’s the kind of attention you had in mind when you set out to become #1 in your market.

A common misconception is that if you are recognized, you are well branded. Almost a year ago we had a conversation with a Realtor about personal branding. She said, “I feel like I’m already well branded in my market. When I walk into a restaurant, they know that I’m Susan, the Realtor.” We replied, “That’s a great start, Susan. But what happens when other Realtors are in the restaurant, too? What sets you apart from them?” At that point, the light bulb came 22

on and she realized that she wasn’t truly positioned or branded. She was seen as just another Realtor. We explained to her, “Great branding isn’t about being known for your profession.

It’s about being known for being DIFFERENT in your profession.”

Another misconception is that you should begin marketing before your brand is defined.

For instance, we’ve spoken with numerous Realtors who say they plan to finish their website, conduct a photo shoot, create their collateral materials or even launch a social media marketing campaign, then they will think about branding and positioning. But how do you know what types of photos to take? What will you put on your website to differentiate yourself from others? What will your business cards, brochures and even your social media

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platforms say that will encourage prospects to connect with you first? And finally, why on earth would you waste all the time and money on these very important marketing elements before you establish your brand?

In order to develop an iron clad position and brand, here are some questions you should be asking yourself BEFORE you begin ANY kind of marketing.

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What is my ultimate goal?

Take a strong look at what you want in terms of both professional and personal achievement. What makes you most fulfilled? Where would you like to be financially? Define your path of intended growth.

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Who is my ideal customer?

Trust us when we say that you don’t want just any customer. You want a customer who appreciates your expertise and dedication, will take repeat advantage of your services and will recommend you enthusiastically to others. Define this person in detail so you have a clear understanding of who you’ll be marketing to and what your message should be.

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What is my point of differentiation?

This is the most critical question of all. It’s not about what makes you ‘better’. It’s what makes you different. Better is subjective. Different is inarguable.

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What am I willing to be known for that is authentic to me and significant to my ideal customer?

Find a position that you’re willing to put forth every day. We call this ‘breathing your brand’.

It must also be a position that is meaningful to your ideal customer. We’re trying to create an image that makes your ideal customer immediately connect with you and feel as though they simply shouldn’t be working with anyone else.

A well-defined brand will help you stand out among your competitors. It will serve as a magnet for your ideal customer. And if promoted consistently and passionately—and lived authentically—it will make you instantly recognizable among your community in an unforgettable way. And finally, a solid brand can give you the confidence you’ve likely never experienced at the same level. There’s such power in walking out the door every morning knowing who you are, what makes you unique, who you will be helping today and exactly how you’ll be helping them. And when all of your marketing materials are consistently branded with the same image and messaging, there is undeniable pride as well.

So before you dive into more marketing, don’t go out the door without your branding clothes. You wouldn’t want to portray the wrong perception, now, would you?

Tonya Eberhart is the Branding Agent to Business Stars and founder of BrandFace®, LLC Michael Carr is America’s Top Selling Real Estate Auctioneer & BrandFace® partner.

Together, they focus on personal branding and marketing designed to help real estate professionals become the face of their business & a star in their market. BrandFace® for Real Estate Professionals is a book, professional speaking series and an exclusive workshop for agents, and is currently active in 18 U.S. states, Canada and New Zealand. For more information, visit www.BrandFaceRealEstate.com.

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