A Powerful International Tip to Build Your Business
Did you know that agents who work with domestic clients only close an average of 33 percent of their transactions?
In contrast, transactions conducted with clients from outside the U.S. on average close 50 percent of their transactions. The even better news is that they earn 50 percent more than agents who work with only domestic U.S. clients.
Part of this reason is the stringent requirements to obtain a loan in the U.S. if you’re not born here or have a green card. Consequently, most international buyers end up paying all cash.
If you’re ready to increase your income, expanding your business to include more international buyers and sellers is a smart move.
Make Your Sellers Feel Extra Special
Purchasing a home is usually the biggest purchase that most people make. At this time in particular, most people want to feel special. To achieve this goal, distinguish yourself from all competitors by providing a higher level of service than your competitors provide. 
For example, when you prepare for an open house, bring fresh flowers, bake fresh chocolate chip cookies, and have fresh lemonade. Create both a print and a digital brochure. You can also use one of the new apps such as Spac.io on your iPad to gather valid names from your open house visitors.
Your goal is to provide the personal connection and service that your competitors do not provide. The more special your clients feel, the more likely they are to do business with you.
Customize Your Marketing to Fit Your Clients’ Lifestyles
In today’s hypercompetitive market, target marketing is more important than ever. The goal is to make your print and web marketing efforts fit the lifestyle of the specific niche you are serving. 
For example, if you’re marketing to first time buyers, you don’t want your luxury real estate clients visiting a site that is all about entry-level properties. Your luxury clients will search elsewhere.
The best way to determine which niches make the most sense for you is to look at your production. Identify the top two niches that produced the most income for you. Make expanding these niches a priority and be sure that your marketing materials match the niche you want to serve.
The 3-3 Method for Conquering Your To-Do List
Do you ever work from a To-Do List? It’s a great idea, but what generally happens is that most people end up beating themselves up about all the things they didn’t get accomplished on their to-do list rather than acknowledging what they did accomplish.
The 80-20 rule says that 80 percent of the benefit in our businesses comes from the top 20 percent of our activities. Rather than tracking what you didn’t do, keep a list of all the things you did do. To illustrate this point, if you had ten
items on your to-do list, you could beat yourself for not accomplishing four of the items.
A better approach is to ask yourself, “Did I accomplish the top 20 percent of the items on my list?” Acknowledge yourself for what you did accomplish rather than beating yourself up for what you didn’t do.
An excellent way to accomplish more and make more time in your schedule is to identify the three most important activities you need to accomplish today to stay on track for achieving your business goals and the three personal activities you need to engage in to have a great personal life. When you have accomplished these, anything else on your list is part of the 80 percent that only contributes a small fraction to your success in both business and your personal life.
Try this 3-3 approach out for a month and watch what happens with your business. Chances are you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
Think Like a Millionaire
The next time you’re thinking about staying late at the office rather than spending time with your family or doing something you love, you might want to rethink your decision. One of the most seductive traps in the real estate industry is
the belief that giving up weekends, time with family, and other non-business activities is key to being successful.
Thomas Stanley’s book, The Millionaire Mind, puts this myth to rest. After an extensive study of many millionaires, Stanley has discovered how rather ordinary individuals achieve incredible financial success.
His findings emphasize that what makes these individuals different is the four following characteristics:
- Tremendous focus.
- Their commitment to giving back to others.
- An emphasis that is “family first.”
- Extraordinary passion for what they do.
Notice, it’s not about working harder and giving up your evenings and weekends for your clients.