Agentjason 2.0

Solve your own computer problem in 3 steps

The internal webcam on my MacBook stopped working today.  Crap!  That was my first thought.  Then I did a series of things that came very naturally (I don't have any computer or programming degrees) and when I was done, and it worked, I had another thought.  This stuff does not come naturally to everyone.  I can't even count the number of times I've been working with an agent long-distance and ended up playing tech support just to get their computer working so we could do our thing.  Nor can I count the number of times Jon has said to me, "Honey, come fix my computer please!".  So I thought I'd list out the steps I took because it's the same pattern I follow before considering taking my computer to the Apple Genius Bar when anything goes wrong.  Most of the time, I'm running smoothly again in just a few clicks.  NOTE:  I'm a Mac guy but these steps would be similar for PC and the more you do this the more you will learn.

1. Google search the problem.  In this case I typed "macbook webcam not working".
2. Click around on the results.   Pay attention to forums where people discuss the issue and official support sites.  I found a forum where the discussion led me to an article on Apple's support site.
3. Adjust and repeat until you find your answer.  This time I got the answer I needed the very first time but you should be willing to run into a few dead ends and try again with an adjusted Google search to find other options until your issue is fixed -  or until you pull your last hair out!

That's it!  Three easy steps plus a little patience and you can probably fix most computer issues yourself.  Webcam problems or not, if you work on Mac and want to try what I did to reset some memory and maybe enjoy a speed increase, follow the simple step on this support page.  After doing this particular operation on the MacBook, my Safari browser is blazing fast and my webcam works again, so a bunch of stuff must have been cleared up!  Yay!

How to get more online referrals

I looked back and so far this year I'm averaging 5 referral requests per month.  By referral request I mean one of my graduates or industry contacts asking me "Who do you know in (fill in the city) that is a Wickman grad I can trust to send a referral to?"  When I was an active Realtor, I'd ask that question all the time but in the last five years the way I'd find that person has changed dramatically.

Go back five years and ask me for a referral to an agent in Las Vegas and I'd most likely connect you with a Realtor named Debbie.  I met her once at a convention and every month since that I'd received her monthly newsletter which was basically just a local market update.  She occupied that spot in my mind, the spot of "agent in Vegas" and so she got the referrals.  I'm sure each month she sent out thousands of those newsletters in her local market and probably up to a thousand across the country to other Realtors.  And when I say every month, I mean every month - without exception.  Getting her newsletter so consistently basically forced me to get my own referral marketing out the door with matching regularity.  

If you've been doing something like this, keep it up for sure.  But if you can't afford to start a large mailing campaign right now, don't sweat it.  I don't think you really have too these days to get the same result.  Ask me now for an agent referral and I'm first going to try to find my own graduate and if I don't have any, I'll see if others in my company do.  But what if you were to ask me for a referral to an agent in Texas or Oklahoma?  That's no small request given the hundreds upon hundreds of Realtors I've personally trained just in those two states.  In fact, even if I've done just one class in a city, that's still a lot of great people from which to choose.  How in the world can I pick when I so deeply care about every single one of those grads?!  A couple of weeks ago the "how" became very clear to me because I actually did have to pick someone.

How often do you study real estate?

On the plane today I saw a woman studying math.  I recognized it as calculus that I studied a ton in high school and college but I don't really understand it anymore.  Not much need for calculus in the life of a busy salesperson!  That got me thinking about my current round of students.  We are close to graduation, and as usual, I'm starting to worry that the course manual will go on a book shelf and promptly begin to collect dust.  And sitting there I thought back to all the times I studied salesmanship when I was an active Realtor.  Granted most of the stuff I studied was Floyd's material (but not exclusively): while driving I'd always listen to cassette tapes (yes I said tapes!), I'd review notes in my manuals before appointments, I'd read Floyd's books, and I'd even role play with fellow grads. 

I wonder if my students really see their profession - salesmanship - as I do?  Acting or singing is a craft that has to be studied and worked on and so is salesmanship.  I probably study sales now more than ever and for sure don't want my knowledge on the topic to go the way of calculus.  How do you study?  

The Power of Negative Thinking

In my inbox today was an email from Oprah's team that said "The Power of Negative Thinking".  Huh?  Isn't she Ms. Positive-Self Empowerment-Motivation?  I had to click.  What I found was a message that Floyd Wickman has reminded me of many many times.  Oprah's newsletter referenced a 2001 book called "The Positive Power of Negative Thinking" which is a study of highly successful people and how they enter a situation having detailed all the possible negative outcomes they can think of and having thought through all of the ways they could handle a problem should it occur.  The book calls it defensive pessimism.  Floyd would say, "Keep your energies high and your expectations low."

Before you pick up the phone and prospect FSBOs and/or Expireds, before you go on the listing appointment, meet with the buyer, go to the inspection, the closing, etc - do you set aside time for defensive pessimism?  In the classroom I teach Realtors how to get busy, and then I teach a whole host of Floyd's systems to stay in control when they actually do get busy.  But the tendency for a busy Realtor these days is to rush from appointment to appointment, task to task in an attempt to produce ever more.

Many times each week, I'll speak to a graduate of mine who has a question about a situation they are about to face in the field and what we talk about are the possible negative outcomes and what systems or tools they should be prepared to use.  I'm alway happy to take a call and practice defensive pessimism with you, but what would happen if you just got into the habbit of doing it yourself?  What if you flipped back through that Floyd Wickman manual to see what tools you may not be using?  Just sayin....   ;-)

Advice from Bill Marriott

Months ago I pulled this out of Fortune magazine while on a plane and just rediscovered it.  It's a short blip titled: The Best Advice I Ever Got, by Bill Marriott, Chairman & CEO, Marriott Hotels.

It was December 1954, and my parents were entertaining Mamie and Ike Eisenhower at our Virginia farm.  We had a friend there who was an avid hunter, and he put some pheasants in the field for Ike to shoot.  When Eisenhower arrived they said, "Mr. President, would you like to go out and shoot or stay in by the fire?"  He turned to me, a 22-year-old home from the Navy, and said, "What do you think we should do, Bill?  I though, here's a world leader who brought the Allies to victory because he probably asked that question many times of the people he was dealing with.  And I realized that he was successful because he knew the right questions to ask and he made people feel they were participating.  So during my career I've always tried to get people to tell me what they thought.  In the end, we didn't go hunting.  I said we should stay inside, and Eisenhower was delighted.  I think he'd spent enough cold nights in his life.  --As told to Fortune Magazine

Most of us won't be having conversations with presidents, but I thought this was a great little reminder for your conversations with buyers and sellers.  Remember sessioin 3?  If they aren't answering your questions and participating, you aren't selling.

You can't talk back to your mom: so talk back to me!

Blogs give you a voice, but they are also can be a large part of your social networking experience if you know what you're doing.  A site like Facebook is great for social networking because people interact so much - posting on walls, sending SuperPokes, instant messaging, stalking people by looking through all of their pictures (oops, was that out loud?!).  ActiveRain, a blogging platform created for Realtors, started with a brilliant points feature that rewarded you every time you wrote a post or, and here's the genius part, left a comment on another person's blog.  To expand my point, Jeffrey Knott, my recent grad from Phoenix joined ActiveRain last week and almost immediately got a referral from another agent a few states over.  This didn't happen because of ActiveRain per-se but becuase of all the activity (social networking) they encouraged.  Realtors got addicted to earning points and moving up in their metro area rankings.

Now you can extend what ActiveRain created across multiple blogging platforms.  TypePad's new and free service called TypePad Connect allows you to create a profile, complete with profile pic and links back to your blog, Facebook page, Twitter account, LinkedIn profile, etc., so that whenever you leave a comment on a blog, other readers can find and interact with you.  It works whether the author of the blog uses Blogger, TypePad, WordPress, all the majors.

Here's my challenge to you:  Turn your time reading blogs into background lead generation by signing up for TypePad Connect.  Read a post and feel inspired or have your own thought?  Don't just move on, use your TypePad Connect account to leave your thoughts behind.  For example:  What do you think about this post?  Talk back to me!  Leave a comment and who knows - this blog has over 1000 readers a day - maybe your referral is just a few hours away like Jeff!

Crackberry...not just a cute reference to a mobile device

Have you ever known a gambling addict?  An alcoholic?  A sex addict?  What about an email addict?  Turns out, there's not much difference.  Unfortunately there's a lot of shame around the first three and sheer ignorance of the fourth!

On my career path as a Realtor and now a speaker, I've watched since the early 90s, as those in our industry have let technology slowly drive them crazy.  We do more, we do it faster and for many the price seems to be a total loss of control of a days work.  Isn't that opposite of how it's supposed to work?  Isn't technology supposed to help us do more in less time so that we can earn more and have a measure of control over it all?

To be sure, this is one of the biggest challenges my students face.  In the classroom we talk a lot about Floyd Wickman's SmartWeek and one of the components is the idea of "call back time" - setting aside time to process messages and return calls in batches.  In theory this will allow you to give your complete attention to the task at hand instead of being constantly interrupted all day.  Why is that so easily said, but not so easily done?  Here's a quote from an article you must read:  "Both slot machines and email follow something called a 'variable interval reinforcement schedule' which has been established as the way to train in the strongest habits,".  Turns out almost all of us are addicts!

The article also notes that it takes 64 seconds on average to recover your train of throught from an email interruption.  Whoever came up with the term Crackberry was right-on...even if they didn't know it at the time!

FSBO Alert - Tulsa, OK

Driving back to the airport after session 4 today I spotted this FSBO. Poor guy, try not to make fun of his "location, location, location".

In case you can't read the text on the photo of the flyer:
$167,500
6507 E. 74th Street. Tulsa 74133
Scotty Baxter
580-263-9665
baxterslb@sbcglobal.net

Go see if you want it!

Austin FSBO lead + Graduate Challenge

4115 Rosedale : $579,000 512-692-9201 Okay graduates, here's your challenge: list the FSBO on my dog walk path. It's a little cottage on corner lot right next to Ramsey Park and I'd rather see your sign! If one of you list it I'll send you a really cool training product from Floyd! Get busy...I'm watching! ** Apologies to my students outside Austin. :(. I'll think of something for you eventually.

Review your marketing: Is it as effective as it can be?

In the Floyd Wickman Program during session 6 we cover "Tips on Effective Marketing".  Recently Mike Pallin, our president went into the studio and recorded an extension of this message with Beth of KBS Marketing.  Since the overwhelming majority of my readers are past-grads, I though you'd enjoy the podcast.

Just click here to listen.