Real Estate Tips

5 Questions you must ask your realtor before you list your house for sale. by Vince Ohare

5 Questions you must ask your realtor before you list your house for sale.

Your house is a major part of your life and when it comes time to sell it you need to get the best possible price. Here are some things to ask your prospective realtor before you list your house for sale.

1 How many homes have you listed and how many homes have you sold in the last 6 months? You are looking for a realtor that has experience with homes that are just like yours and from the same neighborhood. They can tell prospects about the schools, churchs etc.

2 Could you send me some info about yourself? You always need to do some research on someone that is listing your house. If they dont have promotional materials odds are they are not professional. If they avoid your request they will probably take a back seat when someone is looking to buy your home.

3 What is the average time when it comes to listing and actually selling a house? If they are moving houses too quickly they might not be getting the best prices that they can.

4 How long have you been in business? You always want someone with experience that is a no brainer.

5 Do you have assisants in case I need to get in touch with someone? Every real estate agent has assisants if they are serious about their work.

This is just a list to go by before you sell your house. Your main goal is to get the best possible price. If you want ask around your neighborhood or go to the local community meetings and ask around. Odds are someone in the room has bought a house in the neighborhood.

For more tips like this visit A1-Moving-Supplies.com

About the Author

Vince Ohare is a free-lance writer that has been published on many internet topics. This article can be republished as long as the links stay intact.

7 Selling Mistakes You Don’t Want To Make! by Madan “Raja” Ahluwalia

7 Selling Mistakes You Don’t Want To Make!

Mistake #1 — Pricing Your Property Too High

Every seller obviously wants to get the most money for his or her product. Ironically, the best way to do this is NOT to list your product at an excessively high price! A high listing price will cause some prospective buyers to lose interest before even seeing your property. Also, it may lead other buyers to expect more than what you have to offer. As a result, overpriced properties tend to take an unusually long time to sell, and they end up being sold at a lower price.

Mistake #2 — Mistaking Re-finance Appraisals for the Market Value

Unfortunately, a re-finance appraisal may have been stated at an untruthfully high price. Often, lenders estimate the value of your property to be higher than it actually is in order to encourage re-financing. The market value of your home could actually be lower. Your best bet is to ask your REALTOR® for the most recent information regarding property sales in your community. This will give you an up-to-date and factually accurate estimate of your property value.

Mistake #3 — Forgetting to “Showcase Your Home”

In spite of how frequently this mistake is addressed and how simple it is to avoid, its prevalence is still widespread. When attempting to sell your home to prospective buyers, do not forget to make your home look as pleasant as possible. Make necessary repairs. Clean. Make sure everything functions and looks presentable. A poorly kept home in need of repairs will surely lower the selling price of your property and will even turn away some buyers.

Mistake #4 — Trying to “Hard Sell” While Showing

Buying a house is always an emotional and difficult decision. As a result, you should try to allow prospective buyers to comfortably examine your property. Don’t try haggling or forcefully selling. Instead, be friendly and hospitable. A good idea would be to point out any subtle amenities and be receptive to questions.

Mistake #5 — Trying to Sell to “Looky-Loos”

A prospective buyer who shows interest because of a “for sale” sign he saw may not really be interested in your property. Often buyers who do not come through a REALTOR® are a good 6-9 months away from buying, and they are more interested in seeing what is out there than in actually making a purchase. They may still have to sell their house, or may not be able to afford a house yet. They may still even be unsure as to whether or not they want to relocate.

Your REALTOR® should be able to distinguish realistic potential buyers from mere lookers. REALTOR®s should usually find out a prospective buyer’s savings, credit rating, and purchasing power in general. If your REALTOR® fails to find out this pertinent information, you should do some investigating and questioning on your own. This will help you avoid wasting valuable time marketing towards the wrong people. If you have to do this work yourself, consider finding a new REALTOR®.

Mistake #6 — Not Knowing Your Rights & Responsibilities

It is extremely important that you are well-informed of the details in your real estate contract. Real estate contracts are legally binding documents, and they can often be complex and confusing. Not being aware of the terms in your contract could cost you thousands for repairs and inspections. Know what you are responsible for before signing the contract. Can the property be sold “as is”? How will deed restrictions and local zoning laws affect your transaction? Not knowing the answers to these kinds of questions could end up costing you a considerable amount of money.

Mistake #7 — Limiting the Marketing and Advertising of the Property

Your REALTOR® should employ a wide variety of marketing techniques. Your REALTOR® should also be committed to selling your property; he or she should be available for every phone call from a prospective buyer. Most calls are received, and open houses are scheduled, during business hours, so make sure that your REALTOR® is working on selling your home during these hours. Chances are that you have a job, too, so you may not be able to get in touch with many potential buyers.

(c) Copyright 2005 Madan Ahluwalia. All rights reserved.

Madan “Raja” Ahluwalia is an Attorney at Law and Realtor. Raja offer his real estate clients a counseling-based approach to home buying, where the client’s long-term goals are the most important consideration and outweigh the benefits of any single sale. Raja possesses a thorough understanding of the real estate market and trends, based on years of involvement in real estate. He provides expert insights and helps clients understand timing, pricing and financing issues. Contact Raja at raja@kw.com or 650.430.4023.

USED THIS BIO

Madan “Raja” Ahluwalia is an Attorney at Law & Realtor. Raja offers his clients a counseling-based approach to home buying, where the client’s long-term goals are the most important consideration. He possesses a thorough understanding of the market and trends, based on years of involvement in real estate. He provides expert insights and helps clients understand timing, pricing and financing issues. Contact Raja at raja@kw.com or 650.430.4023.

Unleash the Power of Post Cards by Judith A. Wentzel

Direct mail marketing is essential for a business to survive.

Choosing the correct materials can make the difference between success and failure of your marketing campaign.

Postcards are visually appealing and one of the most affordable means to market your products and services.

What makes an image smarter marketing post card different from all the other direct mail pieces and postcards that flood our mailboxes each week?

They are high quality, powerful marketing tools that peak curiosity and evoke a response from the prospect.

What Is Image Marketing?

Image marketing isn’t new. It’s been around for decades.

Many of the top corporations around the world use image marketing every day.

RE/MAX uses “Nobody Sells Real Estate Like RE/MAX”.

The RE/MAX balloon magically enables the realtor to personally deliver the good news regardless of where the client may be.

This is a wonderful example of image marketing. These ads make evoke a feeling of trust. The message; RE/MAX goes all out to deliver top quality service to it’s clients.

Nike’s “Just Do It” brought them millions in revenue.

Remember Allstate’s slogan “You’re In Good Hands With Allstate”…

These are not mere words. They are powerful, image marketing tools that evoke an emotion. Using postcards to deliver your message is one of the most affordable ways in which you can use image marketing.

Realtors have been marketing with postcards for years. They use them because they get results.

What are Image Smarter Post Cards?

Image smarter postcards are high gloss, laminated, full color
postcards, printed on high quality card stock which relay a message that stirs and emotion or causes a response in the recipient.

They deliver your message in a crisp, vibrant manner making it more appealing to the prospect.

An image smarter post card will:

>Grab the recipient’s attention.
>Present a powerful message.
>Evoke a response
>Create recognition.
>Establish a relationship.
>Increase sales.
>Increase referrals.

The biggest asset of an image smarter postcard - your message is instantaneous!

No need for the recipient to have to open an envelope.

Your message is right there in front of her nose.

Both sides of the postcard contain a call to action and both sides are readily available.

Image Is Important.

First impressions mean everything in the business world. Add to this the importance of standing out from your competition and you see the need to use image marketing.

Incorporating image smarter marketing materials into your marketing campaign is more affordable than you may think and will reap you many rewards.

These powerful marketing materials relay will reflect a more dynamic, successful company image in the eyes of your prospects.

Don’t settle for what I call “Cookie Cutter” marketing.

Many business owners fall prey to this form of advertising.

Simply put, they use the same types of ads and materials they see their competition using. Wrong, wrong, wrong!

Wake up and smell the coffee!

You need to stand out from your competition and be recognized for the products and services you offer.

You need to use marketing materials that are appealing and evoke an emotion in your prospects. You want your postcards to peak their curiosity.

Simply put, you need to send image smarter marketing materials that are designed to GRAB your prospects attention.

Affordable and practical, these easily customized marketing wonders are one of the most reliable means by which you can skyrocket your business through increased sales and referrals.

The proof is in the pudding. Try it yourself by including image smarter post cards in your marketing campaign today and start working smarter, not harder.

Once you do, you will never use any other type of marketing again.

Image marketing – it works!

About the Author

Judith A. Wentzel - Image smarter marketing specialist providing image smarter web site design, marketing & business services. Assisting realtors & small business owners with their business and marketing needs since 1993.
ImageSmarterMarketing.com
Site-Build-Them-Ecommerce-Smart.com
ImageSmarterWebSiteDesign.com

Learn Instantly How To Use The Power of Persuasion To Get What You Want
Copyright © 2005 Keith Wellman
eMarketing Code
http://www.emarketingcode.com/thank-you.html

>From the time since man first started interacting with people
the power of persuasion has helped him get what he wanted.
Persuasion is used by every political leader, CEO, president,
and anyone who might possess power and wealth. Did they use
persuasion techniques to gain that power and wealth? You bet
they did!

Bill Gates is considered by many to be on of the richest and
powerful man in the world today. How did he get there? Bill
Gates was able to use his natural ability to persuade to get
people to build some of the most complex software known in the
world today. The result? Huge respect, wealth, and power in
a very short amount of time.

There are many famous marketers today that use persuasion
techniques in their everyday marketing campaigns. People like
Jay Abraham, Terry Dean, Mark Joyner, Ken Evoy, Armond Morin,
Mike Filsaime, and many many others use persuasion techniques
to make themselves thousands of dollars every month. Some of
them may not even realize they are doing it.

Recently a new book has been published that could very well be
your ticket to these very powerful persuasion techniques. The
book written by Keith Wellman titled “The Persuasion Code”
teaches exactly how to use, implement, and learn these secret
techniques. Up until recently these secret techniques were
known only by the rich and famous and the rare few that have
the natural ability to persuade.

Until next time,
eMarketingCode

———————————————————————
A free copy of Keith Wellman’s four week
beginners course to persuasion is available at
http://www.emarketingcode.com/thank-you.html
along with a few other extras that he has made
available to you.

Mentors are Human Beings too…

In the past months the reality captured in the title of this article hit me
with the magnitude of lightning in a heavy storm. The person in whose
footsteps I had followed for the past seven years had been changing like a
leaf on a tree: something must have happened in his life, which caused him
to wander from what everybody had considered to be his purpose. His career,
which he had valued and esteemed so highly in the past years, suddenly didn’
t seem to matter anymore; his connections, to whom he had been true and
meticulously correct for the longest time, swiftly became neglected topics
in his email inbox, on his voicemail, and on his calendar; and the
strictness with which he would always attend important meetings and network
sessions had totally vanished.

What could have caused this perfect role model to change so radically? All I
can do is guess at this point. Numerous scenario’s crossed my minds in the
many hours that I evaluated his changed behavior: was it his recent exposure
to new, fascinating environments that had altered his perceptions on what
would really matter to him from now on? Was it something in his private life
that had changed? An affair, maybe? Or was it a slowly emerged awareness
that his current work environment was an ungrateful one, and that he should
move on to something better and more rewarding? Was he already on to
something more rewarding? Was he still looking? And if he was still looking,
was it wise to neglect everything and everybody that could make or break
him? There were signs and reasons for all of the above options, and yet,
there was nothing substantial to prove anything.

So there they were: Questions, questions, questions. Unanswered queries that
could only drive a person insane if one allowed that. I decided that I
wouldn’t. After all, it was his life, this person who was once my mentor,
and whom I had much to thank to with regards to my emotional and mental
growth in the past years. Yet, along with the decision of not dwelling on
the issue too much, I also concluded some other things. Here are the lessons
that I learned from this epiphany:

· Mentors are human beings too. Like everything else, they serve a
purpose in our life for a certain amount of time, after which it is crucial
to move on. Nothing remains the same. Everything changes: work environments,
family ties, circles of friends, knowledge, and so, too, mentors.

· Mentors come and go. Once the old mentor has moved on, it is time
to find another one. And sometimes we may even reach the stage where we can
be our own mentor. However, the old mentor should not be forgotten, but
appropriately valued as an important contributor to our growth during a
certain phase of our journey.

· The change we detect within a mentor does not mean that this person
is any less than he or she was before. Just different. We forget too often
that mentors, too, go through the motions, and that they too need mentors to
move them from one level to another.

· Mentees can become mentors, not only to upcoming individuals, but
to previous mentors as well, that is, if some of the areas in which they
have developed become important to the previous mentor. The beauty of being
human is that we have continuous and variable learning relationships with
one another. And while the flow may have initially moved from mentor to
mentee, it may very well change at a certain point, whereby the mentee takes
on the mentor role.

· Having a mentor is certainly not a sign of weakness, but rather a
token of awareness that we are all interdependent, and that life is a
process of continuous learning. Mentors should, more than anyone else, be
aware of that.

I thought it would be good to share my experiences and insights with you,
the reader, as it may very well be that you will encounter this problem in
your life as well someday. Seeing someone precious falling from a pedestal
is a heartbreaking experience. Yet, you should be aware that no one placed
this person on that pedestal but you. This person may not even have been
aware of the role he or she was fulfilling in your life, and may not be
aware either that he or she is going astray in your eyes. It is just your
perception. And if your role model goes astray, you are the one to deal with
it in the emotionally least harmful way as you can. For remember (I know I
will from now on): Mentors are human beings too…

About the author:

Joan Marques emigrated from Suriname, South America, to California, U.S., in
1998. She holds a doctorate in Organizational Leadership, a Master’s in
Business Administration, and is currently a university instructor in
Business and Management in Burbank, California. Look for her books “Empower
the Leader in You” and “The Global Village” in bookstores online or on her
website: http://www.joanmarques.com

Dr. Joan Marques

http://www.joanmarques.com

It is better to live in serene poverty than in hectic affluence. Everything
has a price. The price for nurturing your soul is turning away from
excessive stress, destruction of self-respect, and the constant strive in
lifestyle with the Joneses. But it’s worth it.

How to get a Good (or even a GREAT) Attitude to Life

by Craig Lock

Do you sometimes feel discouraged? We all do from time to time,
especially when “life throws us a curved ball”. We can’t stop negative
thoughts from entering our heads, the “top 2 inches” ;
but we can stop them NESTING there.

Firstly, realistically analyse your strengths and weaknesses. As
a matter of interest, people generally list more weaknesses
than strengths, especially women (lovely people!). Too often
people discount their accomplishments and focus on what they
haven’t been able to do.

Making money in itself is not success, but rather a by-product
of success. Most successful people use the technique of
visualisation to foresee ideal outcomes. If you can foresee
getting your desires in the mind, then you can get there in the
body…. at least I think so!

“As a man thinketh so is he.” (the Bible) Haven’t I got that one
in already?

Success or failure in the journey of life is not a matter of luck.
The key ingredient is a winning attitude, together with
PERSEVERANCE and a dash of common sense.

Your attitude determines your destiny.

Remember to stick at a task when things don’t go right. “When
the going gets tough, the tough get going”, as my dear father
used to tell me often. Did it work though with me? All
successful people have true grit and stickability, as well as
natural ability. The winner is often the person who gets up one
more time than they are knocked down. You will hit attitudes in
others who say ‘you can’t do it’. You have a choice then:
a) To remain convinced that you can do it…
or
b) Stay with their attitude and quit yours.

All the world’s greats would never have been great, if they had
listened to the opinion of even their closest friends. Caruso,
the world’s greatest tenor, was told his voice sounded like a
tin can. Thomas Edison, the inventor of motion pictures, was
advised that no-one would pay to listen to sound coming from a
screen. Edison told Henry Ford to give up making cars and work
for him instead and make millions. Marie Curie was told to
forget about radium. Laurence Olivier was told by friends to give
up acting. Benjamin Franklin was told to stop fiddling with
lightning. People told Johnny Weismuller (Tarzan) that no-one
would ever beat his fifty swimming records. His 1936 world
record was the qualifying time for the 1972 Olympics! Attitudes
of the time said his records could never be beaten. Now 12 year
old girls regularly beat his times!

Christopher Columbus took 14 years to raise funding for his
ships and crew before setting out on his explorations. The
science and culture of the day had said that the world was flat.
However, Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain had faith in
Columbus. With that faith and money behind him, Columbus took
just six months to discover the New World.

In the same way, a “flat-world mind-set” can limit our thinking
and lead to mediocrity. In the same way that you can train fleas
to jump a certain height in a bowl, when you take away the bowl,
they still do not jump higher than the learned height.

Our mind can tie us down and limit us, so that mediocrity
becomes our destiny. Negative attitudes get cemented in
concrete.

WITH THE RIGHT ATTITUDE YOU CAN BE GREATER THAN
ANYTHING THAT HAS EVER HAPPENED TO YOU:

ATTITUDE BEATS FACTS EVERY TIME.

DARE TO BE DIFFERENT

* * *

Someone said, “Failure is the line of least persistence.” My
dear mother, Hazel called it “stick-to-it-iv-ness.” It generally
boils down to a healthy combination of faith and hard work, and
it usually means success.

“The only place where success comes before work (hard) is in the
dictionary.”

A short exercise:

Talk to your best friend or partner * (I hate that common New
Zealand expression - cheapens the institution of marriage and
denotes immoral living - Yes, sir “Mr goody goody two shoes” and
“get with the times, mate”) about: * I far prefer the term
’spouse’, which could be an abbreviation for “spastic mouse”.
Enough about my personal opinions…

1. The picture you hold of yourself (i.e.. how you see
yourself): Is it positive or negative, are you an introvert,
extrovert, popular?

2. How you see other people seeing you - their perception
of you, or looking glass). Which brings to mind the following
wise words (not mine)…

“I am not what I think I am.”
“I am not what you think I am.”
“I am what I think you think I am.”

Get it! Are you feeling discouraged? Perhaps you just need to
give it one more try.

IF YOU REALLY BELIEVE IN YOUR QUEST, THEN STICK TO IT… and
this is why I’m sending out this article right now!

According to William S. Banowsky, the story of one of America’s
greatest leaders is actually a story of repeated failures and
dogged persistence:

In 1831 he failed in business.

In 1832 he was defeated for the state legislature.

In 1833 he failed again in business.

In 1834 he was elected to the state legislature.

In 1835 his sweetheart died.

In 1836 he had a nervous breakdown.

In 1838 he was defeated for Speaker.

In 1840 he was defeated for Elector.

In 1843 he was defeated for Congress.

In 1846 he was elected for one term to Congress.

In 1848 he was defeated again for Congress.

In 1855 he was defeated for the Senate.

In 1856 he was defeated for Vice President.

In 1858 he was defeated again for the Senate.

In 1860 he, finally, was elected President of the United States.
And these are just a few of the rough spots in the life of great
former United States President, Abraham Lincoln.

Abraham Lincoln grew up in a very difficult environment. He had
less than one year of formal schooling. He experienced defeat
and failure year after year, but is one of the great-est success
stories of all time. In spite of everything, he had the right
attitude to achieve success.

I HOPE THAT YOU DO TOO.

Craig Lock (”Infopreneur”)
http://www.craiglock.com
http://www.craiglockbooks.com

P.S: YOUR ATTITUDE WILL DETERMINE YOUR ALTITUDE IN LIFE.

This is one of my favourites from my “spiritual mentor”, Rev
Robert Schuller from the Chrystal Cathedral, in Garden Grove in
California…

“When faced with a mountain, I will not quit! I will keep on
striving until I climb over, find a pass through, tunnel
underneath - or simply stay and turn the mountain into a gold
mine, with God’s help! ”

- Rev R.H. Schuller

As the saying goes,

“When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on.
Success comes to those who ride out the highs and lows and stick
with their dreams, never giving up.”

“Dear God help me become all the person, my dear pet thinks I
am.”

Have FUN travelling down the amazing journey, that is life.
Today is a gift and life a mystery, so make the most of your
individual journey.

Authors Note:
Craig Lock has written extensively in the field of self help.
This extract is from his first published book HANDBOOK
TO SURVIVE - a collection of writings on various subjects
to help every man or woman survive in a rapidly changing,
uncertain world. To order HANDBOOK or Craig’s other
books click on http://www.craiglock.com/books.html and
http://www.bridgeniche.com

P.S: Don’t worry about the world ending today… it’s already
tomorrow in “little” scenic and tranquil New Zealand

THIS ARTICLE MAY BE FREELY PUBLISHED

Joint Ventures Revealed
Copyright 2005 Martin Boyd
http://www.theworkathomesuccessbusiness.com/direct-marketing.htm

A joint venture is when two or more businesses join together to
work on a project for a set period of time. Doing joint ventures
with other businesses can increase your chances of beating
your competition, increase your sales and increase your profits
quickly. Plus:

-you can save money when businesses share operating costs

-you can get referrals from other businesses

-you can save valuable time when businesses share the workload

-you can offer your customers new products and services

-you can gain new business associates

-you can save money by sharing advertising and marketing costs

-you can get free advice and important information from other
businesses

You can find businesses to joint venture with online or
offline. I try to find businesses that have the same target
audience, but are not direct competition with my business.
Here are a few ways to find joint ventures online:

-subscribe and participate in e-mail discussion groups, online
forums and newsgroups that deal with your target audience

-subscribe to e-zines that deal with your targeted audience

-note on your Web site or e-zine that you are interested in
doing joint ventures

-search in your favorite web directories and search engines to
find businesses to joint venture with online

Once you find a business simply e-mail them your proposal.
Tell the business owner the benefits of the joint venture.
Explain to him or her why it would be a win/win situation for
both of your businesses. Give them a lot of compliments about
their business, Web site, products and services. Using all three
methods above will greater your chance of constructing a
profitable joint venture. Good Luck!

==============================================================
Martin Boyd publishes a weekly newsletter dedicated to
guiding home business owners to maximise there internet
marketing efforts. Drop by and pick up your free newsletter
http://www.theworkathomesuccessbusiness.com/direct-marketing.htm

MAKING MORE WITH EXISTING CLIENTS
by Charlie Cook
www.marketingforsuccess.com

Have you ever put on a jacket you haven’t worn in a while
and found a twenty-dollar bill in one of the pockets? You’d
forgotten all about it, so discovering it is like getting a
gift. If you’ve been in business for a year or longer, you
may have gifts in forgotten pockets — sources of additional
revenue waiting to be discovered and tapped.

There are four ways to increase your net profits: reduce
costs, increase prices, attract more clients or sell more
to existing clients. When you consider that it costs you at
least 60% and as much as 600% more to sell to a new client
than to an existing one, it’s clear that your best
prospects are existing clients.

Are you selling as many of your services or products as you
could to your existing client base? Could you increase your
revenue by doing a better job of marketing to your existing
clients?

You’ve established your credibility and the value of at
least one of your services with existing clients. They made
a commitment to work with you at least once. How can you
leverage this trust and client satisfaction into additional
sales?

Tony called me from Washington D.C. with just this
problem.
He is an image consultant to politicians and corporate
executives and struggling to increase his revenue. His new
clients are happy with his services, but the engagements
rarely extend beyond the initial contracted project. He is
having a tough time getting repeat business. Tony knows his
existing and past clients represent additional revenue but
he doesn’t know how to mine it.

Once you have a client, what’s the best way to sell them
more of your products or services?

The biggest mistake that most small business owners make is
to think that after they’ve competed the initial s.ale,
their marketing job is completed. The opposite is true.
Once you’ve made your first s.ale to a client and secured a
commitment from them with a payment, you should begin your
marketing effort to get them to buy again.

Of course, you don’t want to constantly be “selling” to
clients. That would get tedious for you and your customers
and they’d be unlikely to want to maintain the
relationship. Instead, continue to educate them about
their areas of need and how you help clients. Use your
products and services to provide value and to educate
clients so they can discover what they need and want, even
if they’ve n.ever thought about it before.

For example, I’ve been working with a sports trainer to
complete my recovery from shoulder surgery. In our first
session he showed me which muscles needed to be
reprogrammed with exercise to return to normal functioning.
The obvious conclusion of his explanation was that I needed
to work with him again to achieve my goals. Just by sharing
a little knowledge he successfully extended the project.

This approach isn’t clever or devious; it is based on the
notion that an informed buyer — an educated consumer — is
your best client. Here’s how it works in practice:

1. Help Prospects Become Clients by Focusing on their
Problems
People buy solutions to problems or needs that they know
exist. Get your prospects’ attention by focusing your
marketing message on the problem(s) you solve in order to
get them to visit your web site or contact you. Then use
your conversation or your marketing copy to help prospects
further define their problems or concerns. Do this well and
they’ll clearly see the need for your products and
services.

2. Continue to Educate Prospects and Clients
Clients buy from you when they know how you can help them.
That’s why they initially contracted with you or bought
your products and services. Once you’ve signed on a new
client, don’t assume that they understand the range of
services or products you market. They may not even fully
understand what they’ve bought. Use each contact to
continue to educate your clients and help them understand
the issues, problems and solutions relative to your area of
expertise.

For example if you’re a financial advisor and you’ve been
hired to help a client with their investments, you might
ask them a q.uestion about their estate planning, tax
situation, insur.ance policies or retirement plan and
provide them with an idea they can use. Each time you do
this your client will learn how limited their own knowledge
is and understand more about why they need your assistance
in additional areas.

Instead of selling clients on additional services, educate
them. You’ll create a perception of need and increase
s.ales.

3. Transform Client Satisfaction into Additional Sales
Do you have clients and customers that appreciate your
products and services? Don’t wait until your contract is
complete to tap the goodwill you’ve generated by helping
them. Regularly ask them q.uestions designed to get
responses like, “I couldn’t have done it without you”,
“Worth every penny”, etc. Just after your clients have
provided positive feedback is the perfect time to ask them
a couple of q.uestions to identify needs and to mention the
solutions you provide.

Once you’ve gone to all the effort to attract a new client
don’t walk away from the rest of their needs just because
they haven’t identified or clarified them yet. Educate your
prospects and clients at every step of the way about the
problems you solve and they’ll understand why they need
more of your products and services. You’ll discover pockets
of opportunity to help your clients and increase your
revenue.
-
2005 © In Mind Communications, LLC. All rights reserved.
-
The author, Charlie Cook, helps service professionals,
small business owners and marketing professionals attract
more clients and be more successful. Sign up to receive the
F.ree Marketing Plan eBook, ‘7 Steps to get more clients
and grow your business’ at
http://www.marketingforsuccess.com

For additional details on republishing visit

http://www.marketingforsuccess.com/marketing-ideas/republishing.html

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http://www.marketingforsuccess.com/images/headws-ns.jpg

________________________________________________________________

10 Terrific Ways To Energize Your Sales
by Ken Hill

1. Ask your customers to fill out a brief survey.

You’ll be able to gain valuable information from your
customers that will help you to make your site more
productive.

2. Offer a bonus.

Provide a bonus that will appeal to your target audience and
that they’ll view as very valuable.

For example, you could offer free software, an ebook that
can’t be found anywhere else, or a transcript of one of your
web casts.

3. Publish an ezine.

You’ll be able to capture more sales from your visitors who
may have never returned to your site if you didn’t reach
them in their in boxes.

4. Offer a free trial of your software product.

The more your visitors use your free trial, and see how
great your product is, the more they’ll desire it, and
you’ll be able to add to your bottom line.

5. Provide testimonials.

Your testimonials will increase your credibility by sharing
how your product has exceeded your customer’s expectations.

6. Offer an affiliate program.

View your affiliate program as a partnership between you and
your affiliates, and provide them with lots of promotional
items.

Also follow up with them with your own tips and advice to
ensure that they’ll be able get started on the right track.

7. Write articles.

You’ll increase your traffic, your name recognition, and
also your search engine rankings as webmasters pick up your
articles for content on their sites.

8. Offer a money back guarantee.

Take the pressure off of your visitors by providing them
with a strong guarantee.

9. Create free ebooks.

Pack your ebooks full of valuable information that your
visitors can use to increase their sales.

You’ll be able to separate yourself from the crowd and
increase your prospective customer’s trust in you.

You’ll also be able to get more webmasters to promote your
business when you let them rebrand your ebooks with their
affiliate links.

Tip: You can easily make your PDF ebooks “viral” with
Michael Wagner’s Viral PDF.

Learn more about his unique product at:
http://www.scstats.com/r.cfm?i=5730

10. Lavish your customers with special customer only sales
and discounts.

Your customers are the life of your business, treat them
right, and you’ll be able to increase your repeat sales and
take customers away from your competition.

About The Author:

Ken runs the Net Pro Marketer Article Directory. Topics
include business, marketing and ezine publishing. Browse
through the articles or submit your own at
http://www.netpromarketer.com

Reinventing Real Estate by Charles Warnock

Reinventing real estate, Part 1:

How online and empowered consumers
are taking charge and paying less.

For decades, the real estate world turned in a predictable manner. The roles of buyers, sellers and real estate professionals were fairly well defined and transactions followed a predictable path of yard signs, newspaper ads, open houses and miles of paperwork.

Recently, online and empowered consumers have changed the game. Real estate professionals now face issues similar to the ones that have transformed the retail, personal finance and travel planning industries. As technology advances and new business models evolve, the real estate industry has begun to transform itself from providing traditional, carefully controlled “agent-centric” transactions to new “consumer-centric” practices. The following is a look at some of the recent industry trends and how buyers, sellers and investors can expect to benefit. The “Five Ds” that are driving change in real estate are:

1. Disruption – Over the past 10 years, the Internet has matured into a powerful platform for delivering real estate information, forever changing the interaction between buyers, sellers and real estate professionals.

2. Displacement – The popularity and acceptance of self-service and consumer-direct business models is being felt by real estate professionals, who are striving to develop attractive new offerings for Web-savvy consumers.

3. Demanding consumers – You now have more real estate knowledge, tools and resources at your fingertips than ever before. More savvy consumers tend to be more independent and demanding.

4. Downward pressure - Traditional real estate commissions of 5-6 percent of a property’s sales price are facing downward pressure.

5. Developing alternatives – The real estate industry is transforming itself to provide targeted services and exciting new options that add value for consumers.
Disruption

“We are going to see our industry go through dramatic transformation via the Internet and consolidation of agents and companies.” – eRealty Times Columnist Dirk Zeller

Some industry observers have adopted Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen’s term “disruptive technology” to explain recent developments in real estate. Though it’s easy to point to the World Wide Web and advancing technology as the main changes in real estate, that’s only part of what’s shaking things up. Essentially, the real cause of disruption is not just technology, but technology-enabled real estate consumers.

Web-enabled consumers

According to the National Association of Realtors (NAR), more than 72 percent of homebuyers now begin their home search online. The popularity of online real estate ads surpassed newspaper property listings back in 2001, and the gap is widening. Less than one percent of buyers first learned about the home they purchased on the Internet in 1995, while in 2004, that number passed 20 percent.

According to a California Association of Realtors (CAR) survey, 97 percent of respondents said the Web helped them understand the buying process better and 100 percent said using the Web helped them understand home values better. Web-enabled homebuyers like you are taking a more active role in researching homes and neighborhoods. You also now spend less time with real estate professionals once you have completed your research. Internet homebuyers also used the Web effectively to filter out properties that did not interest them, visiting 6.1 homes on average versus 15.4 for traditional buyers.

Today, you can view photos and detailed information for hundreds of properties in the time it used to take to visit a single one. And the Web provides much more opportunity than simply moving print listings online. The growing availability of residential high-speed Internet connections has boosted the popularity of virtual tours and interactive maps, providing consumers with powerful and flexible visual search tools.

In addition to making home searches easier, automated valuation model (AVM) software is making a big impact in how properties are evaluated. AVMs, which generate valuation estimates by analyzing and comparing property information data, are becoming increasingly sophisticated and accurate. While not considered a substitute for human appraisals, AVMs are gaining popularity because they are inexpensive, easy to use and produce valuation estimates in minutes. Now AVMs, used extensively in electronic mortgage approval processing during the recent refinancing boom, are becoming available on real-estate Websites aimed at consumers. This is a significant development for independent sellers, who often find it challenging to price their properties correctly when selling on their own.

The MLS goes public

“In real estate, MLS data sits at the apex of the change, specifically the MLS information that is pushed to the Internet every minute of the day.” – Bradley Inman, Publisher of Inman News

Once an exclusive tool for real estate professionals, the multiple listing service (MLS) has in recent years become a very public platform for real estate listings. The MLS is the nation’s most comprehensive database of properties for sale – four out of five homes sold in the United States are listed on the MLS.
MLS properties are available to agents and brokers worldwide, and are now accessible via consumer Web sites such as Realtor.com, WSJ.com, Excite, Netscape, AOL and MSN. MLS listings also appear on local, regional and national brokerage Websites through Internet Data Exchange (IDX) agreements that allow participating Realtors to share listings and display them to consumers. Even though only licensed realtors can list property on the MLS, the system has begun to figure prominently for the $110 billion independent seller (for-sale-by-owner or FSBO) market. About 13 percent of real estate sales are now FSBO, conducted without a broker’s assistance.

Type “flat fee MLS” into any major search engine, and you’ll see dozens of real estate professionals willing to list your property in the MLS for a fee. If you are willing to pay a commission of 2-3 percent, you can attract the attention of thousands of agents who will show your property to prospective buyers. You can then reduce the cost of the sale to about half a traditional 5-6 percent sales commission, plus the cost of the MLS listing. If you find an independent buyer working without an agent, you could make a sale with no commission at all and pay only an MLS listing flat fee.
Displacement

Currently, about 2.4 million real estate licensees operate nationally, according to the Association of Real Estate License Law officials. The NAR has more than one million members, up from about 760,000 members five years ago. Many real estate professionals and industry observers expect a significant decline in this number because some tasks traditionally performed by agents and brokers can now be done more quickly and easily by Web-enabled consumers.

“Historically the fundamental driver of the real estate industry was the control of information. The real estate agent and the real estate office were the only sources of comprehensive information on which properties were for sale and those who might be interested in buying them. With this control revenues were practically guaranteed.

Moreover, because this exclusive control was akin to a monopoly by virtue of the multiple listing service (MLS) any firm of any size could serve the customer equally well. As a result, the number of real estate companies grew without regard to market efficiencies.

Simply put, the traditional model is too inflexible. Consumers are seriously questioning the value of a real estate agent. They frequently feel that many of the traditional tasks undertaken by the agents are now either no longer required or can be done by the consumer themselves.”

– Swanepoel & Tuccillo, Real Estate Confronts Profitability

The quotes above, from a popular report on emerging real estate business models and dwindling profit margins, highlight a number of issues traditional real estate professionals are now facing. And if the real estate industry has grown historically without regard to market efficiencies, the issue has only been compounded since 2001, as new agents signed on in droves, lured by low interest rates and skyrocketing home prices in many areas. It’s likely that the number of traditional real estate agents will decline, while new types of real estate jobs will be created to deliver value to Web-savvy customers.

End part 1

About the Author

Charles Warnock is Marketing Communications Manager at South-Florida based Homekeys. He writes often on the topics of real estate, finance, interactive marketing and business development. He can be reached cwarnock@homekeys.net, or visit www.homekeys.net for more information.