Five Star Customer Experience
September 28, 2011 Leave a Comment
I love the simplicity of this short clip on the ‘New Consumer.’ Here’s to you delivering a FIVE STAR customer experience!!!
Are You Painting the Right Picture With Your First Impression?
March 5, 2011 Leave a Comment
We live in a world where people make snap judgments about you in the span of one minute or less. It may not be fair, but it’s the way things are. Get used to it.
In real estate sales, we are constantly being evaluated by potential buyers and sellers all the time. They look at how we dress; how we communicate; and how we carry ourselves.
Take a moment and give yourself a quick ‘first impression’ check-up and see if you pass the test.
1. Appearances Matter. Stop denying it! If you think that your clients aren’t concerned about the way you look, you’re in dreamworld. Twenty years ago, a suit and tie for a guy was a prerequisite for doing business. Over the years, that has changed. Business casual is the norm in many offices and most clients have no problem with that. However; business causal does not mean clients are OK with dressing down. What you wear to your kids soccer game is probably not appropriate attire for showing houses. A good rule of thumb is if you have to ask whether clothes are appropriate or not for a certain situation, they’re probably not. Trust your instincts. They’re usually right.
Is the Glass Half-Empty or Half-Full?
February 11, 2011 Leave a Comment
Many real estate agents over the past two years have found it very difficult to see the silver lining through all the dark clouds swirling around our industry. Some of those dark clouds have signaled a need for change in the way we do business – and we have changed. But many of those dark clouds were nothing more than mirages that caused some in our industry to go on a self-imposed sabbatical. They saw the glass as half-empty and chose to ignore the fifty percent that was full.
Hey! If you have a glass that is 50% full – work with it! Start trying to figure out how you can fill the balance of the glass. Here are some ways that real estate agents can focus on pouring more liquid into the cylinder over the next couple of months:
Four Strategies to Put You on the Right Path for 2011
January 12, 2011 Leave a Comment
Are you looking forward to 2011 with grand anticipation or tempered trepidation? Here are a couple of thoughts and ideas to get you started on the right foot and make sure that it is your best year ever!
You wouldn’t know it from all the pundits who bombard us daily with doom and gloom but lots of homes are trading hands in the real estate industry. When the numbers are tallied for 2010, approximately 4.7 million homes will have been SOLD in this country. If we look back at historical data from the National Association of REALTORS® prior to the bubble (i.e. 2003-2008), this number was considered about ‘normal’. To further illustrate my point, the stock market experienced year-over-year gains and the holiday shopping season produced a healthy increase of 15% from last year.
The bottom line – - – products and services of all kinds are moving!
In order to be a ‘mover and shaker’ in the upcoming year, a lot will hinge on your mindset and what you do NOW to prepare to be successful. Don’t be afraid to shed old sales methods and outdated marketing approaches in favor of new skills and tools. Here are some strategies to get your creative juices flowing:
The Difference Between Short Sales, Foreclosures and REO’s
September 8, 2010 2 Comments
Practitioners in the real estate industry sometimes throw around acronyms and terminology that we understand, but in many cases our clients do not.
Here is a prime example: short sales, foreclosures and REO’s (Real Estate Owned). I found this short video clip that does a great job in explaining the differences. The guy in the video is Spencer Rascoff, the COO of Zillow.
Prudential Homesale Website Recognized
August 5, 2010 Leave a Comment
Sometimes you live with something so long that you just take it for granted . . . that is until somebody else points out what you have is pretty special. Such is the case with our website, www.prudentialhomesale.com. Here’s a toast to all our IT people who work tirelessly to give us the best tools in the industry. Here – Here!
Lancaster, PA, July 30, 2010 –(PR.com)– Prudential Homesale Services Group, a local realty firm operating twenty offices throughout south central and southeastern Pennsylvania, was recently recognized as a finalist in The Central Pennsylvania Business Journal’s 2010 Best of the Web Awards.
The Best of the Web Awards are designed to recognize local companies and organizations that have excelled in building a strong, quality and productive Web presence. This was the second year for the awards and included additional categories like “Best Use of Social Media” and “Best Recurring eNews Product.”
An independent panel of judges reviewed all entries and scored them on their design creativity, usability, innovation and overall experience. Winners were announced at the Best of the Web Awards luncheon on Monday, July 26, 2010.
Prudential Homesale was the only real estate company to be honored as a finalist. Homesale’s website, www.PrudentialHomesale.com, is the only local broker website offering real estate listings for all of south central Pennsylvania. The site receives more visitors than any other local real estate broker website. Their unique map search technology offers easy search capabilities for users of all skill levels.
Representatives from Homesale who were present at the event were Sandra Troccoli, Director of I.T. & Web Services; Rod Messick, CFO; Christine Sneeringer, VP of Marketing & Advertising; and Laurie Czaplinski, Project & Training Director.
According to RealTrends, Prudential Homesale Services Group is the 16th most successful Realtor in the country in the combined delivery of home services: real estate sales, mortgage closings, title closings, and home warranty sales.
Considering Selling Your Home as a FSBO? Hmmm – - maybe not.
June 3, 2010 2 Comments
So you’re thinking about putting your home on the market and moving to that condo/farm/new build/quiet neighborhood/high-rise/bigger home/smaller home (select one). Even though prices on homes seem to be stagnant and you won’t be able to get as much for your home as you could just three years ago, the deals you can get as a buyer after you sell your home seem too good to pass up.
Your natural inclination is to save the commission and try to sell your home yourself which will leave extra cash to put toward your next home. Simple math says that if you don’t pay a REALTOR® a commission to sell your home, you’ll have more left over to buy your new home. You may want to reconsider your strategy.
In a recent article posted on FORBES.com, they make the case that going it alone has drawbacks that most potential ‘For Sale By Owners’ don’t even consider.
Here is the article posted in its entirety:
Five Reasons Why You Still Need a Real Estate Agent ¹
The proliferation of services that help homebuyers and sellers complete their own real estate transactions is relatively recent, and it may have you wondering whether using a real estate agent is becoming a relic of a bygone era. While doing the work yourself can save you the significant commission rates many real estate agents command, for many, flying solo may not be the way to go–and could end up being more costly than a realtor’s commission in the long run. Buying or selling a home is a major financial (and emotional) undertaking. Find out why you shouldn’t discard the notion of hiring an agent just yet.
1. Better Access/More Convenience
A real estate agent’s full-time job is to act as a liaison between buyers and sellers. This means that he or she will have easy access to all other properties listed by other agents. Both the buyer’s and seller’s agent work full time as real estate agents and they know what needs to be done to get a deal together. For example, if you are looking to buy a home, a real estate agent will track down homes that meet your criteria, get in touch with sellers’ agents and make appointments for you to view the homes. If you are buying on your own, you will have to play this telephone tag yourself. This may be especially difficult if you’re shopping for homes that are for sale by owner.
Similarly, if you are looking to sell your home yourself, you will have to solicit calls from interested parties, answer questions and make appointments. Keep in mind that potential buyers are likely to move on if you tend to be busy or don’t respond quickly enough. Alternatively, you may find yourself making an appointment and rushing home, only to find that no one shows up.
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