It’s Time to Ditch “Hunt ‘em, Tell ‘em, and Sell ‘em”
Are you still prospecting using the old 20th Century approach called, “Hunt ’em, tell ’em and sell ’em?” One of the most important shifts you can make to succeed in today’s tough market is to shift to what is known as “give to get” marketing. This means that you provide value before you ask for business. 
Let’s face it—clients do not want to be hunted down. Today, you must earn the right to do business with them by providing value first. Give-to get-marketing is about providing service, building relationships, and creating trust.
Whether it’s coaching a soccer team, doing charitable fund raising, or working at a food bank, it’s smart to give back to your community. Best of all, you may be surprised by how giving elsewhere in your life translates to more closed deals for your real estate business.
Do You Share These Two Traits of Mega-Producers?
Steve Kantor’s classic book, Billion Dollar Agent: Lessons Learned, was based on over 100 interviews with agents who have earned a billion dollars or more during their real estate careers. While there’s a wealth of information about the path to mega-real estate success, here are two of the most important takeaways. 
First, almost every single billion dollar agent profiled wishes that he or she had hired an assistant much earlier in their career. The reason is that doing minimum wage activities such as picking up cleaning, filling brochure boxes, or going to the post office prevents them from being in front of buyers and sellers, which is usually worth several hundred dollars per hour.
A second important characteristic is that approximately two-thirds of the billion-dollar agents Kantor interviewed were actively involved in charitable activities that give back to their community.
If you’re wanting to increase your income, implement these two tips: hire someone to handle those minimum wage activities for you and look for ways to contribute to your community.
A Simple Recipe for Happiness
Would you like to be happier? Most people are keenly aware of what makes them unhappy, but what about what makes them happy?
Everyone knows stress can trigger a wide variety of issues including heart disease and even cancer. On the other hand, friendship and happiness appear to have a protective effect.
The research shows that having strong relationships with family and friends is crucial. The wider and deeper your relationships are with those around you the better. In fact, having strong, satisfying friendships can ward off germs and illness.
What may really surprise you is that friendship has a much greater influence on happiness than virtually anything else including income.
If you’re spending too much time working and too little time with your family and friends, now is the time to make the shift. Not only will you be happier, you’ll be less likely to be sick this fall and winter.
A Simple Strategy for Coping with Burnout
If you are feeling burnt out or are coping with grief, psychologists recommend making a list of activities that you can check off. Burnout often results from being overwhelmed with too much work. The most noticeable symptom is constant fatigue. 
To break this pattern, shift from tracking how often you get a commission pay day to focusing on the top three things you must do each day to achieve your goals.
Furthermore, keep track of what you accomplish rather than what you did NOT accomplish. Focusing on what you need to do each day to complete the next leg of your journey can reduce burnout while creating profound differences in your level of success.
Create an Ideal Profile for Your Listings
When you take a listing, have you ever thought of putting together a profile of who your “ideal buyer” might be for a property? The law of attraction says, “Have clarity about what you want to attract.” Thus, when you take a listing and you’re putting together your marketing, ask yourself, who would be the perfect buyer for this property?
For example, if you have a first time buyer property, the ideal buyer is probably renting a nice apartment in the same area. On the other hand, if you have a five bedroom house in an area with great schools, look for buyers living in a large home, possibly in a neighboring area where the schools aren’t as good. Once you have identified the right target market for your listing, make sure your marketing materials focus on the lifestyle of the potential buyers you are attempting to reach.