Following the recent elections, many people at Women’s Council of REALTORS® and other organized real estate groups are assuming leadership roles for the first time, and many others are striving to build their leadership skills. Everyone’s leadership journey is unique and personal.
2022 Real Estate Outlook
Throughout 2021, buyers and sellers have been in emotional overdrive as they navigate multiple offer situations time and again and they’ve often bought in a panic. We’ve seen offers over asking price and anxious buyers waiving appraisals and home inspections hoping to position their offer better in the eyes of the seller. They’ve offered on condos or townhouses when what they really wanted was a single-family home, just so they could own something.
If You Build People, Profits Will Follow
Our industry is polarized by fear: fear of competitors, fear of disruptors, fear of the unknown. Real estate has always been cyclical and there has always been competition.
No One Ever Listened Their Way Out of a Sale
In real estate, our livelihood depends on how well we talk to people, but more than that, it depends on how well we listen. Journalist Celeste Headlee, said, “There is no reason to learn how to show you’re paying attention, if you are in fact paying attention.” Being present, and really listening without interrupting, asking thoughtful, open-ended questions really helps you to understand the person in front of you.
The Customer Buys You First
We in the real estate industry deal with a mountain of technology and an avalanche of information. We shovel through big data in the hope of wowing our potential customers, but I believe the thing that really matters is not our ability to package up this data and present it in bite-sized pieces but rather our ability to relate to people.
How Do You Measure Success?
In real estate, rarely are rankings of people or companies uniform across the board. What algorithms are used? How much do advertising dollars influence the findings?
Company Values Matter
Once when I was admitted to the hospital, a janitor asked if he could come into my room. We started talking and I asked what he did. He replied, “I keep this hospital safe so people don’t get infections so they can feel secure that they are going to leave here healthy.”
CEO to CEO
Let’s talk CEO to CEO. As the owner of your own real estate company, you’re a CEO and it’s up to you to pay attention and execute from every angle in order to build a bulletproof business. Following are my Top 10 Tips to help you succeed.
When Scripts are Not Enough
Salespeople – especially new ones – like scripts. They believe that having the “right” words to say will improve their chances of success.
Heart and Soul
I am an information junkie and one of the many newsletters I receive is from The Motley Fool, which is all about investing. I was interested to learn about their Ownership Portfolio which focuses on the stocks of companies where the founder is still in control. The return on this portfolio has been a whopping 650%.