"Hi, this is John and you've reached my voicemail. Your call is important to me and I return my calls between 1:00 and 2:00 and 5:00 and 6:00. Please leave a message and I'll call you back during those hours." The first time I heard this outgoing voicemail message I didn't realize it was a script
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03/31/2009
Awhile back, I wrote a blog called "Touching versus Impressing." The gist of the blog was that taking the time to "impress" one person may be far more effective than "touching" a hundred. I challenged agents to strive to "impress" at least one person a week. So, want an easy way to get your once-
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03/30/2009
The new agent asks: "Will it damage my credibility to have my broker involved in my first listing?" Yes, it might. Do it anyway. There are variations on this theme - such as when a new agent objects to sharing his first few commissions with a mentor, or an experienced agent refuses to get help on
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03/28/2009
BAH! Is anyone tired of of hearing this line? Lately it's all about Twittering, Facebooking, Linked-in-ing and whatever other latest technology I'm not familiar with. At a Terry Watson presentation at last year's Colorado Realtor Rally, he proclaimed that an agent's Number One marketing tool was.
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03/27/2009
You may not have noticed, but I've been away from the Rain for about two weeks (except for a few little housekeeping blogs). Blog burnout - it happens and it's usually good for the soul... What have I been doing? WRITING MY NEXT BOOK! Outta nowhere, I was in the mood to create the next masterpiec
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03/26/2009
Oops - kinda like a fax that gets stuck together, I'm combining my announcement of two upcoming teleseminar workshops... On Saturday, April 18th, Janie Coffey & I will host a follow-up teleseminar to March 7th's show about the Art of the Short Sale. This program will focus on the Short Sale from
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03/25/2009
Last Call for Green Beer with JA* !!!! As many of you know, I'll be speaking in Ocean County, NJ on St. Patrick's Day (details here). If you'll be in the area and would like to come to the show, shoot me an email (jennifer@sellwithsoul.com) and I'll tell you how to register (I think we're past t
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03/13/2009
QUESTION: "Should I try to enforce a "pre-qualified buyers only" requirement on my listings? If so, how?" JA's ANSWER: Every once in awhile I'll hear an agent say that he (or she) restricts showings on his listings only to buyers who are already pre-qualified for the purchase price. His rationale
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03/12/2009
I'm watching Jason Crouch's featured post today entitled: "How many other professionals work on contingency all the time?" The premise of the blog is to explore other compensation models that don't require us real estate-types to do so much work for free. Good stuff. However, what I don't see dis
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03/10/2009
We all talk about how tough a new agent's rookie year is, but once they've survived those 12 months, they're good to go. And in the old days, I would agree. I sold 25 houses in 1997, 35 in 1998 and close to 50 in 1999. So, by the end of my third year, I'd sold over 100 homes and most of my surviv
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03/10/2009