Coach Patti's Blog

Do you remember the old TV show, "Mission Impossible"? I know there have been a couple of movies, but I'm talking about the original version. A team of professionals took on a seemingly-impossible mission that helped save the free world. Each person had a specialty, and each was trained to complete a specific part of the mission while coordinating with the others. The solutions they came up with were creative, unexpected, and successful. They did not accept anyone else's belief that the mission was impossible; they knew it was possible. They knew they could do it, and they did.

Some days you might feel that selling real estate in your market, or growing your business when the economy is down, are impossible missions. They are not! And other real estate professionals are proving it every day. Improving your production is part attitude and part action, but you need both parts.

As Winston Churchill said, "Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference." To increase production, remember that you are the only one to decide if a real estate market is good or bad. Your customers, the economy, and other agents do not make this decision for you. It really doesn't matter what cycle the real estate economy is in, because 15 or 20 good listing appointments a month will cure all of your production problems.

Every week, answer these three questions:

1. Should I be giving some of my listings back?
2. What emotional price am I paying for some of the listings that I have?
3. What will it cost to keep a listing for 6 months that will not sell?

Tracking your attitude and actions can help increase your production. Try these:

• Track the number of hours you prospect daily for 90 days.
• Track whom you call or get face to face with.
• Check your energy and intensity hourly while you are prospecting.
• At the end of each day carefully answer the following three questions:
  

• What did I do right today?
• Where did I get off the track?
• What do I need to focus on tomorrow?

Among those who are playing The Real Estate Game this time, we're finding that the energy level is high and getting higher with each session. How can that be with so much bad news about the economy? Because they know that they are on a Mission…POSSIBLE!

Patti Kouri, Accelerated Performance Coaching
Helping You Through Self-Made Limitations! 

Will you Take My Challenge and increase your income?
Play The Real Estate Game®

Remember the pictures you've seen from the gold rush days? People sat by the side of a creek with a flat pan, dug a shovel's worth of gravel from the streambed, and swirled it around in the pan. Then they patiently poked through the grit looking for a glint of precious gold. Hour after hour, day after day, they repeated the process over and over, as they panned for gold.

It's the same when you are prospecting, except that your "gold" is an appointment. When you set an appointment to meet with a prospective buyer or seller, it's like finding a gold nugget. And just like panning for gold, success in this kind of prospecting takes patience and perseverance. Just because you don’t see immediate results doesn’t mean the prospecting is not working or that you are not making progress. It is a numbers game.  

Suppose you've been panning (prospecting) for a while and not finding any gold – what's the problem? There are several reasons people fail at prospecting, including:

• They don’t start with discovery questions
• They fail to build rapport
• They fail to create momentum
• The lose control by talking too much
• They start with their own agenda rather than focusing on the potential client
• They start with a negative attitude
• They let everything disturb them

One of the key points of The Real Estate Game is the importance of starting off with the most effective – the "right" – approach. To win at prospecting, you need to:

• Visualize a positive outcome before starting
• Start with a series of great open-ended questions that will lead to an appointment
• Build rapport by matching and mirroring
• Look for the "Yes," not the "No"
• Reward yourself when you're done.

Like anything else, you won't get anywhere until you start. Don't let outside events or conditions take over. Remember, "If you keep waiting for just the right time you may never begin. Begin NOW! Begin where you are with what you are."

How much gold will you find today?

Patti Kouri, Accelerated Performance Coaching
Helping You Through Self-Made Limitations! 

Will you Take My Challenge and increase your income?
Play The Real Estate Game®

That's what I say to myself and others – it's just a game. These days there are two games in my life, and I'm learning from – and with – both of them.

It started with 2009. First, I reminded myself that 2008 is over, done, gone, move on, don't drag it into the new year. We have a fresh opportunity with 2009 to make of it what we want. I keep remembering Henry Ford's famous quote:  "If you think you can do a thing, or think you can't do a thing, you're right."

So when I pick up a golf club, check my grip, and swing, I remind myself it's just a game, and that I can do it. But I'm a bit competitive (isn't everyone in real estate?), so I want to do well, to master this game. It's not about winning a round. What I want is to get better. I haven't even played enough to have a handicap! So that's my goal – to get my golf game to where I have a handicap and work to keep improving with every round. I want to have fun, of course, but there's a goal and I'm shooting for it just like learning to thread between bunkers to get on the green. Lessons help, coaching helps, and practice helps a lot.

Business has bunkers, and sometimes we feel like the path ahead is like this photo - traps everywhere and no clear shot at the pin. But just like in golf, it helps to take lessons, get some coaching, and practice, and then practice some more. Turn it into The Real Estate Game®, have some friendly competition with other real estate pros who also want to improve their game, and discover that play can lead to profit. Have you noticed that you learn best, and accomplish more, when you're having fun? So the second goal I have for 2009 is to make The Real Estate Game® even more fun to play and even better at helping people increase their income.

2009 is only a few days old, but I'm moving toward both my goals, and having fun with every step. Because if "think I can do this thing," I can. What a great feeling!

Patti Kouri, Accelerated Performance Coaching
Helping You Through Self-Made Limitations! 

Will you Take My Challenge and increase your income?
Play The Real Estate Game®