Apple Valley Ohio Lake Community by Sam Miller

Every month I listen to the Howard Brinton Star of the Month interviews and if you have never experienced this type of learning it's one of the best ways to learn and stay motivated.  I was in a mastermind session about a month ago with some other top selling agents across the country and we were discussing what enabled  each of us to grow our business to the next level.  We learned something really big from our discussion and the most important common thread we shared was that we all had picked great mentors early in our careers.  A mentor is someone you not only look up to and respect but in many cases it is someone who can hold you accountable to your committment and your goals. 

Early in my career in the early 1990's my mentor was Ralph Roberts of Warren Michigan because he was one of the very first agents to sell 300 to 400 homes a year.  Ralph opened my eyes to what was possible and he took an interest in my success and gave me the confidence to try new things and he knew they worked because he was actively using the same techniques every day in his market.  Ralph taught me how to grow and how to think really big.  In 1995 I got involved with Dr. Fred Grosse who is very well known for his keen understanding of the topic of dollar productive behavior.  Dr. Grosse was able to show me that you don't need mega sized teams to do big business you simply need to focus on productive activities that generate results and delegate non results oriented tasks.  Both these mentors are still active today and have remained friends of mine...and I credit them with a huge degree of my continued success.     

If you love the real estate business and feel like you are stuck at the same production level...a mentor may be the hot ticket for you.

Let's make a list of the best marketing pieces we have ever used that generated business for us. 

My best marketing piece has been a full color magazine I had printed that featured my listings along with tips to prepare your home for sale.  The magazine was a 32 page piece that I distrubuted through our local newspaper.  The magazine had shelf life even when the listings were sold and people kept it because of the "Preparing Your Home To Sell" feature.  That single piece got me 8 new sales within a month of it being printed and I had many happy clients.  A side benefit is that it also got me a handful of expired listings within a 3 months of it being printed.  The cost was about $4,000 to print and another $450 for distribution but it certainly paid for itself over and over. 

Not one of my best pieces but a really creative one was switching away from a sale pending sign and having "RESERVED" signs made.  No one in my market had ever used a reserved sign and it created twice the phone calls with people asking what does reserved mean.  This was a huge opportunity because most people calling us were buyers so we converted a ton of call ins into home owners.  This is an inexpensive system that will make ring.

Please post any idea that has helped you get business and let's see how many ideas we can get.

I just returned from the CRS Sell-a-bration conference which was held in Las Vegas, Nevada at the MGM Grand.  This was one of the most powerful events I have ever attended during my 20 years in the real estate industry.  Something that really impressed me was the quality of real estate agents who attended because it was as high as I have ever seen at a similar sized event.  The National Association of Realtors should be very proud of how well the council organized and operated this event.  If I sound impressed with the CRS Sell-a-bration this year it is because it was truly an amazing event. 

This year I was asked to be a guest speaker by Howard Brinton of Star Power Systems which was quite an honor.  I always enjoy sharing tips and techniques with top agents across the country and this year was no exception.  I shared some new ways agents can leverage technology that will enable top agents to better help home buyers and home sellers.  Another topic I am very passionate about is developing new ways agents can streamline the real estate process to make both buying and selling much easier.  I got a chance to work with 2 long time real estate friends of mine Steve Westmark of Wayzata, Minnesota and Cathy Russell of Layfayette, Indiana along with a new friend Judy Markowitz of Flushing, New York.  Working with these 3 agents was amazing because we are all selling real estate in different markets in America but we all have similar challenges.  Even though I was a guest speaker at this event I feel like I got as much if not more out of it and I came home with 11 pages of notes.  My biggest challenge will be putting my 11 pages of notes into action during the first 3 months of 2007.

For those of you who are not familiar with CRS and their annual conferences I picked this up off the CRS website and thought it is a very accurate representation of what the CRS Sell-a-bration is all about: 

"This CRS Sell-a-bration® was the 19th annual conference and it was attended by more than 1,000 top producing real estate agents from around the world.  For the past 19 years Sell-a-bration® has provided a forum for top agents and brokers in residential real estate to interact with and learn from one another. Sell-a-bration® features unparalleled education sessions, top keynote speakers, and social and networking opportunities, which provide attendees with ideas and techniques that will have an immediate impact on their businesses."

Sam Miller