Monday Morning Wake Up Call:

Your Motivation, Inspiration, & Direction for the Week Ahead

No Problem…  “Problems are not stop signs, they are guidelines.” That’s a powerful quote from Robert Schuller and I think it’s an important one to internalize, especially in today’s world. It’s so easy to get caught up in the worry, the problem-thinking, and the search for absolute answers. But here’s the thing – life is always going to throw us curve-balls. Problems are just opportunities in disguise. More often than not, when you take what is stressing you and flip it around, upside down, and look at it from all directions, you will see that solutions are right in front of you. The thing about worry is that it STOPS us from being creative enough to see things as they really are. Next time something’s troubling you, turn it over and look at it from a different perspective, or as a trusted friend to look at it from their experience. Many times you’ll see the solution become clear when you do. If you need help solving any problems in regards to your real estate career – such as negotiating, improving your list to close ratio, handling objections – or making more money – call me. I can help. Have a fantastic week! Something to Think About Most people don’t even set goals. So if you set a goal, you are already ahead of the competition. Everyone gets off track sometimes. The important thing is to recognize when you are off track and do what’s required to get back on. Weekly Challenge Practice makes perfect. As an agent, you’ll no doubt be confronted with objections on a regular basis. Handling those objections for some agents is a problem. But for the ones who know all the common objections they will face and practice, drill, and rehearse how to handle them, with dialogues and visuals will win when they are face-to-face. Take some time every month to work on these skills. Words of Wisdom We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them. - Albert Einstein If you have a positive attitude and constantly strive to give your best effort, eventually you will overcome your immediate problems and find you are ready for greater challenges. - Pat Riley Be grateful for what you have and stop complaining - it bores everybody else, does you no good, and doesn't solve any problems. - Zig Ziglar Expect problems and eat them for breakfast. - Alfred A. Montapert Laughter heals all wounds, and that's one thing that everybody shares. No matter what you're going through, it makes you forget about your problems. I think the world should keep laughing. - Kevin Hart

MONDAY MORNING WAKE UP CALL

Your Motivation, Inspiration, & Direction for the Week Ahead

Are You ON Track or Off? Good morning! I hope you had a great weekend. Are you still on track for reaching your 2015 goal? We are nearing the end of the first quarter, so you should be at 25% of your 2015 goal. If you’re not, it’s a great time to review your goal and be sure it’s a SMART goal. SMART goal setting can be applied to everything from personal development to business strategy, and it’s a great way to give your goals clarity. SMART is an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-Bound. One of the most common things agents say is: “I want to make more money.” You will have more success if you are specific. Here are some questions to consider when creating your goal: What: What do you want to accomplish?  Why: Why do you want to accomplish this goal?  Who: Who will be involved? Where: Where is this happening? Which (or how): What are the requirements/constraints to achieve this goal? Specific. The more specific you can be, the more likely you are to achieve you goal. So instead of “I want to make more money,” the goal could be, “I want to develop a unique marketing strategy that will position me as the agent of choice.“ Measurable. Your goal should have milestones so that you know you are on your way to achieving it. It can be the end results or milestones that allow you to measure your progress. Let’s add this to our goal: “I want to develop a unique marketing strategy that will position me as the agent of choice, creating 50 more opportunities for listings and 50 more sales.” Attainable. How realistic is it for you to have 50 additional listings and 50 additional sales? If your plan is not in place yet, that goal might not be all that attainable. So instead of 50 listings and sales opportunities, perhaps you want to revise your numbers to 25 additional listing opportunities and 25 more sales. It’s still measurable, but more realistic for your current situation. Relevant. A relevant goal matters to you and your business. If it’s relevant, then achieving the goal of increasing your business will help move all of your other endeavors in the right direction. Let’s add more detail: “I want to develop a unique marketing strategy that will position me as the agent of choice, creating 25 more opportunities for listings and 25 more sales through my sphere and past clients.” Time-Bound. The final piece of the SMART goal-setting puzzle is attaching a timeline to your goals. If you have a specific date in mind, you will be more likely to work hard to achieve your goal by that date; without it, you run the risk of goals getting pushed aside. Let’s add a timeframe: “I want to develop a unique marketing strategy that will position me as the agent of choice, creating 25 more opportunities for listings and 25 more sales through my sphere and past clients in 2015. My marketing will begin April 1, 2015, and will continue weekly throughout 2015.” The goal of “earning more money” is now a SMART goal – and you can bet it’s now one that will be achieved. Something to Think About Most people don’t even set goals. So if you set a goal, you are already ahead of the competition. Everyone gets off track sometimes. The important thing is to recognize when you are off track and do what’s required to get back on. Weekly Challenge If you are not on track for reaching your goals, create some action steps to get back on. If you are on track, go out and celebrate. You deserve it! Words of Wisdom “I have never failed. I’ve just had educational experiences that didn’t go my way.” – Joe Theismann “If you are going through hell, keep going!” – Winston Churchill “I have not failed, I have just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” – Thomas Edison “What you get by achieving your goals is not as important as what you become by achieving your goals.” – Henry David Thoreau “If you’re bored with life, you don’t get up every morning with a burning desire to do things, you don’t have enough goals.” – Lou Holtz

Monday Morning Wake Up Call!

Your Motivation, Inspiration, & Direction for the Week Ahead It’s Not Just the Luck of the Irish! You’ve heard people say, “They must have the luck of the Irish!” But the truth is, there’s nothing lucky about success. Success is earned, planned and achieved. Successful businesspeople share many common characteristics. Here are 5 of them: 1. Do what you enjoy. What you get out of your business in the form of personal satisfaction, financial gain, stability and enjoyment is the sum of what you put into your business. So if you don’t enjoy what you’re doing, in all likelihood, it’s safe to assume that will be reflected in the success (or lack of success) in your business. In fact, if you don’t enjoy what you’re doing, chances are you won’t succeed. 2. Believe in yourself and your services. You cannot expect to be effective and successful in business unless you truly believe in your business and in the goods and services that you sell. Do you believe that you are the best agent with the best services to offer? What sets you apart from other agents? Successful agents KNOW they are the best and offer the best services. 3. Ask for the sale. Marketing, advertising or promotional activities are completely worthless – regardless of how clever, expensive or perfectly targeted they are – unless one simple thing is accomplished: You ask for the sale. This is not to say that being a great salesperson, marketing specialist or hard worker isn’t a tremendous asset to your business; however, all of these skills will be for naught if you don’t actively ask people to buy what you’re selling. 4. It’s all about the customer. The success of your business is not about the services you sell, the prices you charge or how to beat the competition. Your business is all about your customers. After all, your customers are the people who will ultimately decide if your business goes boom or bust. Everything you do in business – your presentation, your services, your availability, your advertising and promotional campaigns and your website ¬– must be customer focused. 5. Become a shameless self-promoter (without becoming obnoxious). One of the greatest myths about success is that your business, personal abilities and services will eventually be discovered, and masses of people will beat a path to your door asking you to list their homes or to buy a home through you. But how can this happen if no one knows who you are, what you sell and why they should be buying from you? Self-promotion is one of the most beneficial – yet most underutilized – marketing tools that the majority of agents have at their immediate disposal. There are many other traits of top salespeople, but these 5 are a good start to begin reflecting on. How do you stack up? Something to Think About I understand that being a shameless self-promoter can be tough. It feels like bragging but, as they say in the south, “It’s a sorry dog that won’t wag its own tail!” They won’t know you’re out there ready to help unless you tell them that you are! Weekly Challenge There are several ways to “wag your own tail” without bragging. Let others brag for you. Ask all of your clients to write a testimonial about you and your service. Put it in a pre-listing notebook, and drop it off at your clients’ home before the listing appointment. Or send them a file via email. Ask the potential sellers to review how you work, what sets you apart from others, and what others say about your work as an agent. Words of Wisdom “Work as though you would live forever, and live as though you would die today. Go another mile!” – Og Mandino “When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” – Wayne Dyer “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.” – Victor E. Frankl “Everything you buy, think, say and do is a statement of what you believe you are worth.” – Alan Cohen “Most people are about as happy as they make up their mind to be. If they don’t decide to be happy, we can’t keep them happy, no matter what we do.” – Abraham Lincoln

Meet Melissa Scriba

Meet Melissa Scriba

Growing up in West Monroe and now living in North Syracuse Melissa has developed an expertise in these areas few can match. Her local knowledge is a valuable asset her clients tap into whether they are buying or selling a home. Melissa has also built a reputation for delivering a concierge level of service to her clients, she doesn’t rest until all the questions are answered, all the details are addressed and everyone is comfortable with their decision. She uses her listening skills to learn what’s most important to her clients and then works hard to deliver results. If a move is in your future contact Melissa Scriba at 380-6600 or mscriba@johnarquette.com

Market Updates 3.2.15