Industry Visionary Interview

Kristina's knowledge and expertise in Design, Product Development, Customer Service, and Internet marketing has been instrumental in the rapid and steady growth of ADVANCED ACCESS since its inception.

ADVANCED ACCESS recently announced that it has finalized an agreement with the Howard Brinton’s STAR POWER® Systems, as a Star-Recommended Supplier of Website and Internet services to its STAR POWER® Club members. 

The partnership agreement designates ADVANCED ACCESS as a Star-Recommended Supplier to approximately 2,350 STAR POWER® Club members. 

Kristina can be reached at Kristina@AdvancedAccess.com

I recently read an article by Tracy Swartz, Baltimore Sun, titled "Homes for Graduates".   Did you know a senior about to graduate from York College is buying his first home with the help of York College's grant to "soon to be alumni" of $6000 plus $4000 grant from a city housing program. The article went on to mention the efforts of  the Congressional Black Causus Foundation to target seniors for its Student Homeownership Opportunity Program.

Research your city's housing programs and local college grants. When your kids come home for summer break with their roommates, stop doing their laundry and start showing them houses. Lowest interest rates in 40 years are causing more buyers to consider building home equity earlier in life.   

Want to recruit 100 or more agents in a year? Now you can with a little help...

Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman offers insight in First, Break All The Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently.

“People don’t change that much. Don’t waste time trying to put in what was left out. Try to draw out what was left in. That is hard enough.”

Jon Cheplak, Recruiting Maverick, says that the bottom line in today’s real estate brokerage industry is that if you have an environment that inspires agents to create a sustainable real estate career they will never leave you.  In addition you will be identified as the most attractive company to work for.  This means that you will create card carrying members of your fan club for life.  As an industry executive for years, Jon Cheplak knows the challenges of profitability, recruiting, retention and overall growth that managers can encounter in the responsibilities of their daily job.  Jon realized that these problems weren’t due to a lack of desire to succeed, managers were simply put into a position with the responsibility of leadership and profitability without proper training.

In Jon’s powerful program you will learn how to:

·        Coach top producers to join your company.

·        Teach your agents to recruit for you.

·        Hire 100 agents into your branch in 1 year.

·        Implement a model that allows you to do your number 1 job, recruit and retain.

In addition, you will be able to:

·        Execute group recruiting interviews and hires.

·        Make agents call you to join your office.

·        Do a knock your socks off interview.

·        Handle Objections.

If you are ...

Stagnant or losing ground?

Too busy fixing deals with no time to recruit?

Losing agents to the competition?

Hitting a wall in your recruiting?

Call (800-704-FROG) or email me about Jon's availability to work with your brokerage. Why wait? Your competition isn't. 

Art Sobczak shares pointers on how to avoid self-sabatoge.  

1. Pointing Out Negatives
They Probably Wouldn't Notice
I was talking to guy about some training for his small business and mentioned I visited his website. He immediately apologized for some things (which he perceived as negatives) on the site I hadn't even noticed. After he mentioned them, I guess I did recall them, but really didn't feel they were negatives at the time.

Some people obsess about things that no one other than them would ever see. But, when they're highlighted for us, then we tend to see them. For example, red cars in the parking lot outside your building. There. Now I bet that you'll look
for them.

2. It's All in the Positioning
I remember years ago when my wife made the comment, "I'll let the kids know that they have to stay at Grandma's house tonight since we're going out." Of course she didn't intend that to sound negative, but sometimes we say things that can be interpreted differently than we intend (to say the least!). Leaving nothing to chance, I told her that I would tell them. So, I put a different spin on it:

"Kids! Guess what? You GET to go spend the
night at Grandma's!"

"Yay!", they screamed.

3. Giving TMI (Too Much Info)
I've heard many-a-sales rep talk too much about facts irrelevant to what the prospect/customer cared about. The danger here is creating objections.

A sales rep handled an incoming call where the buyer asked for information on a new calculator model he was looking carry in his catalog since he had heard
good things about it. Understand now, that the inquirer was interested in placing a large order right then and there for an initial shipment. Things were progressing smoothly until the rep added, "Now of course, these don't come with the AC adapter."

The prospect immediately changed his tone and said, "Hmmm, I didn't really expect them to, but now I'll have to think about this a bit." Lost sale.

Others
Here are a few others:

Instead of,
"I'm just calling today ...", try,

"I'm CALLING today ...".

Instead of,
"So you probably don't want to buy?", try,

"Shall we move forward with the delivery?"


Instead of,
"I imagine you're not looking for another vendor?", try,

"What plans do you have for a backup vendor in case you need something and your present source doesn't have what you need, when you need it?"


Instead of,
"Well, it is expensive, the price is ...", try,

"You're getting (benefit) and (benefit) and it's only..."


Instead of,
"I'll have to check on that for you.", try,

"I'll be happy to research that for you."

Read 40+ articles written by Art on FrogPond.com

Pre-Convention Information & Registration
Third Annual National Real Estate
On-Line Convention & Expo

This exciting convention is presented by The Real Estate CyberSpace Society and Sponsored by a multitude of Real Estate Associations, the Press, Speakers & Authors plus Service Providers. Because of their generous support attendance is FREE to Real Estate Professionals. Register now for early bird free attendance and prizes.

The Frog recently attended the awards ceremony for Coldwell Banker United, REALTORS®  where they presented a check to the American Cancer Association for $150,000. Congratulations Coldwell Banker United REALTORS®  for giving back to your community.

"You Can Make A Difference" by Sheila Murray Bethel

I've been studying successful, happy fulfilled people for twenty five years. One of my most interesting discoveries is that a common thread runs through their lives. And, you can have it too. The key to success in your business and in your personal life involves one crucial thing. All the hours you work, all the studying you do, and all the goals you set are a waste unless you do this one special additional thing: Step outside your daily problems and stretch out your hand to help someone less fortunate.

There are all kinds of poverty: financial, educational, spiritual, and physical. When you help another human being to rise from that poverty, to have a life that is just a little bit better, you make an enormous difference! If you help just one person to increased their pride and dignity--what a wonderful world it can be, and you will have made a difference!"

Frog Pond would like your help in recognizing REALTORS® in your local association or brokerage for their incredible service to their community. Please email us your press releases, stories and photos.

RE: Think!

Here are four questions every leader should constantly be asking themselves if they want their business to grow:

1. Strategic Leadership: How are you building member/agent loyalty?

2. Brand Building: How are you positioning and maintaining your brand?

3. Customer Experience: How are you delivering the best possible member/agent, Buyer/Seller experience?

4. Innovation: How are you reinventing your business strategy to create a better, more profitable future for your company, brokers and agents?

FrogPond Publisher is the quick, easy, and reliable answer!

FrogPond Publisher is guaranteed to reinvigorate your communications and marketing efforts while challenging you to raise the bar for your customers: your members, brokers, agents, staff and vendors.

Call (800-704-FROG) or email me to set up a Webex Demo today!

• You’ll discover new ways to build relationships.
• You’ll learn how to create a successful communication plan that responds to member and staff needs.
• You’ll use an intranet more effectively to increase workplace loyalty.
• You’ll maximize your budget by reducing the cost, complexity and delays of providing the latest, up to the minute information to members, agents, staff and vendors.
• You’ll manage the customer experience by turning satisfied, knowledgeable customers into advocates.
• You’ll experience increased retention and referral rates.
• You’ll develop loyal customers who are the principal drivers to purchase your products and services and refer new business.
• You’ll poll customers for critical feedback to drive improvements of your products and services.
• You’ll post and share best practices for sales and marketing via accessible knowledge management.

And, much, much more…photo galleries, graphics, FAQs, daily national real estate news, video, and audio comin' soon. 

Call (800-704-FROG) or email me to set up a WebEx Demo today!

David Bach is a contributor to CNN American Mornings every Wednesday. This week he did a segment on last minute tax mistakes.

Here are some of the David’s top ones to know about before you rush off to the post office. Many of these mistakes and advice are straight from the IRS.

·  Make sure the IRS can read your name! The IRS says that many people do such a poor job of writing their names and social security numbers on their tax returns that they can’t read it. They suggest using the peel-off label that they supply you, even if the address is wrong (just make the corrections to the label).

·  No label? Again, make sure they can read your handwriting, and make sure you supply your social security number.

·  Get the filing correct. Many people seem to check off more than one box (single, filing jointly, etc). You only get one choice.

·  Don’t forget the Child Tax Credit. The IRS may have sent you a tax refund last year as an advance payment for the new Child Tax Credit. Be sure to include this (subtract it) when you do your returns. Any questions on this, check IRS publication #972.

·  Attach all W-2, 1099-R and other tax withheld to the front of the return. Make sure your numbers match the returns. The most common reason people get audited is that their math is incorrect or the returns don’t match their filed income. If you earned for example $38,825 from a job and you put on your return you earned $38,285, that’s an easy mistake that can cause an audit. So check the returns three times!

·  Sign and date your return. Obvious stuff, but people apparently forget this on a regular basis. And make sure if you have a spouse that they sign the return too.

·  Your check gets made to the United States Treasury NOT, the IRS. Also the IRS suggests that you write the following on your check: your social security number, tax year of filing, type of form filed, and home phone number.

·  When you mail your return, make sure you mail it from a US Post Office. Mail it certified for proof and also get a signature required form added it to it so you have proof someone received it.

·  Make a copy of your return. When you get the certified proof of signature back from the IRS showing that they received your return, staple it to your copy and file it. This has saved my butt before!

·  Didn’t get your taxes done on time? File an extension. You can file the extension by calling toll free 1-888-796-1074 or by filing an extension form.

·  Get help from the IRS. You are not in this alone. The IRS website at www.irs.gov is a truly amazing resource. Most of what I just shared came straight from them. Also they’ve got help line phone numbers on this website. You can call 1-800-829-1040 for assistance.

·  Don’t pay by credit card. While you can pay your taxes by credit card, if at all possible don’t do this. The cost to pay by credit card is 2.49% in processing fees, not to mention the cost of holding the debt on your credit card.

The Live Rich with David Bach Radio Show airs every Saturday 1pm to 4pm Eastern Standard Time. The number is TOLL FREE 866.552.3687. Call in with your questions.

Bach is regularly featured in the print and electronic media, including ABC's "The View," NBC's "Weekend Today Show," CBS's "The Early Show," and Fox News Channel's "The O'Reilly Factor." He has been profiled in Business Week, USA Today, People, the Financial Times and the Washington Post, among other respected publications.

Bach is distinctive among financial planning experts in that he has found the way to take a mundane and often-intimidating topic and made it simple, fun and empowering. His website is www.finishrich.com.

The Institute for Luxury Home Marketing has teamed up with artist Judy Byron to provide Institute members with the opportunity to order works of art in the form of pen and ink architectural illustrations of a client’s home.

Each hand-drawn architectural rendering is created in black ink from photographs of the home. The illustrations can be matted and framed for closing gifts, and then printed on note cards for homeowners to use as change-of-address cards or announcements. Agents who wish to use the rendering in the promotion of a property may arrange to do so through the artist.

The Institute for Luxury Home Marketing
1409 South Lamar Suite 355
Telephone: 214-485-3000

McDonald's is lovin' Wi-Fi

McDonald's plans to deliver wireless Internet access service, in addition to burgers and fries, to 3,000 stores by Labor Day, and eventually in 13,000 outlets. Chicago, New York and Seattle markets are at the top of the list for installation of high-speed access for laptops.

Source: CBS.MW

NOTE: What this means for REALTORS®? While cunsumers are eating burgers and keeping an eye on the kids indoor play area they'll have the other eye busy searching your listings and setting up appointments online.

AOL changes soon to benefit REALTORS®

Stephen Canale shares important information about AOL changes.

"It's not too often that you'll hear about such far reaching changes to AOL's service that benefit the business user in a big way, but this one definitely counts as huge!

AOL is currently in Beta testing for the near-future support of access to AOL email through the IMAP standard.

Without getting bogged down in the details of IMAP at this point, let's just cut straight to the bottom line:

In the next month or so AOL users will be able to access their email through any software that supports IMAP which includes both Eudora and Outlook (and many others).

While you'll obviously still be able to use AOL's interface for email access, you won't be "required" to.

For the typical broker or agent that means that you will be able to download email from your personal, brokerage & AOL account all from one software program. In terms of retrieval, storage and organization this will no doubt make a very big difference for AOL's business customers. More to follow in the near future.

Naturally, if you're an AOL customer they'll notify you after the Beta testing is complete, so keep this on your radar."

Stephen M. Canale
Speaker, Trainer, Author
Find "Canale Calc - Financial Software for the Palm"
& "Canale's Tips & Tricks" at: http://www.canale.com

According to a recent survey conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, the percentage of seniors who go online jumped by 47 percent between 2000 and 2004 – 22 percent of Americans age 65 or older reported having Internet access, up from 15 percent four years ago. By contrast, 58 percent of Americans aged 50-64, 75 percent of 30-49 year-olds, and 77 percent of 18-29 year-olds currently go online. The survey also showed that the gender ratio among online seniors is now the same as the general Internet population – 50 percent men and 50 percent women – compared with about 60 percent men and about 40 percent women in 2000 In February 2004.

Online seniors are as likely as younger users to go online daily, to use e-mail or to conduct searches. Growing numbers of online seniors have conducted product research, shopped or done their banking.

Among seniors who are not online, many live lives far removed from the Internet, know few people who use email or surf the Web and cannot imagine why they would spend money and time learning how to use a computer. But the survey found that there is a burgeoning group of Americans slightly younger than retirees who are vastly more attached to the online world and will soon change the online senior stereotype. While 62 percent of Americans aged 50-58 and 46 percent of Americans aged 59-68 have Internet access, just 17 percent of Americans age 69 and older have access. In fact, older Baby Boomer Internet users (between 50-58 years old) are more like Generation X Internet users (between 28 and 39 years old) than like their older, “mature” generational neighbors (those between 59 and 68 years old).

For more information, including the complete report, visit the Pew Internet & American Life Project website (http://www.pewinternet.org/reports/reports.asp?Report=117&Section=ReportLevel1&Field=Level1ID&ID=491).

Source: Senior Housing E-Review

Frank Bucaro offers these suggestionsn in building ethics culture in your organization.

1. Ethical values are always explicit.
2. Ethical value statements must be well thought out and limited in number.
3. A clear explanation as to WHY these are ethical values for the organization.
4. All employees from the lowest to the CEO must be formally and regularly reminded about ethical values.
5. Ethical values are an integral part of screening, hiring, and training.
6. Leaders must set the highest example of ethical behavior
7. There must be unwavering equality in enforcing ethical rules and moral standards.
8. There must always be a clearly understood enforcement mechanism.
9. Leaders must design the organization so that the benefit of organizational membership far outweighs the cost of violating its rules.
10. The survival of the organization and the good of the community must take precedence over organizational fairness and second chances.

Email me for information about Frank Bucaro's Keynote presentations on Ethics.

Here is a MUST READ recommendation from Frank

THE BENEDICTINE RULE OF LEADERSHIP: Classic Management Secrets You Can Use Today, by Craig S. Galbraith and Oliver Galbraith


The premise of this book is that the Benedictine Order has been around for over 1500 years. What was Benedict's formula for leadership succession???

This book covers that and more!

For example: Benedict saw the difference between training and formation.

Training is technique and formation is strategic. So do you want your people trained in ethics or formed to be more ethical???

Training focuses on HOW things happen. Formation focuses on WHY things happen.

The whole book has wonderful applications, analogies and practical ways to implement these insights.

Don't Routinely Begin with an Unrelated Joke or Anecdote. 
 
Few humorous openings work because the humor rarely has anything to do with the topic and merely leaves the audience hanging. It is like having someone rush up to you in the grocery store with a broad smile and arms extended and then slink away without a word when she realizes she has mistaken you for someone else. Even a funny story that relates to your subject usually works better later in the presentation. At the beginning, the audience is still deciding how to react to you as a person.

Source: Dianna Booher, excerpted from Speak with Confidence

Dianna's Upcoming Public Workshops:

Effective Writing Workshop Schedule

April 26-27, 2004  Chicago 
May 3-4, 2004  Washington, DC 
June 15-16, 2004  Houston 
July 12-13, 2004  Dallas/Fort Worth 
August 16-17, 2004  Atlanta 

Presentations That Work® Schedule

April 28-29, 2004  Chicago 
May 5-6, 2004  Washington, DC 
June 17-18, 2004  Houston 
July 14-15, 2004  Dallas/Fort Worth 
August 18-19, 2004  Atlanta 

Take time out for a little fun this weekend! You deserve it!

Please think of Frog Pond Speakers Bureau when planning your next meeting or convention. We can help you make an informed decision.

Download the FREE pdfs created for Meeting Planners located at the top of Home Page on FrogPond, your free source for speaker information and free reprintable articles.

Hugs, The Frog

Susie Hale, President
Frog Pond
FrogPond Publisher
800.704.FROG (3764)
susie@frogpond.com