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239-344-7510

06.21.16

by Brad Larson

How Much Does Your Wasted Time Cost?–Florida Real Estate School

How Much Does Your Wasted Time Cost?

Let’s face it: you waste time. We all do it. You’ve set aside a morning or afternoon to get some real work done and before you know it you’re sitting on Netflix on a 6-episode binge of Gossip Girl. But what’s the true cost of wasted time when you’re a real estate agent (or any other self-employed person for that matter)? It’s important for you to ask yourself what your goals are related to time.

How many hours do you plan to devote to real estate?

How many hours do you want to spend NOT working?

Here’s a good way to judge the value of your time.

How much is your wasted time costing you?

After looking at this chart, how much does every hour wasted cost you? If you make $50,000 a year, for example, you just spent $150 watching those 6 episodes of Gossip Girl.

Be honest. How do you waste time? Consider how much time is spent in non-productive activities and consider replacing them with something productive instead.

Don’t be like this guy. Forget about the socks, just use your time wisely!

About Larson Educational Services:

Brad Larson

Larson Educational Services

1400 Colonial Blvd. Suite 44

Fort Myers, FL 33907

239-344-7510

06.07.16

by Brad Larson

Top 7 Time Management Tips–Florida Real Estate School LarsonEd

Top 7 Time Management Tips

In this age of constant distraction, it’s easier than ever to get off of task. Use these 7 simple time management tips to improve your focus.

Assign blocks of time and deadlines for each task.

Make a realistic estimate. Expect the inevitable interruptions. Consider importance versus urgency.

Set priorities

Some classify tasks as A, B or C priority. This helps clarify what is important and what is urgent.

Create a daily “To-Do” list

This is a simple but not necessarily easy task. It’s the most significant difference between people who are successful in their careers and those who are not.

Make sure your daily goals are realistic.

Schedule work days and days off

Consider the unusual aspects of a licensee’s schedule. What are the most active times? Make appropriate use of holidays as either break time or planning time.

Schedule face-to-face time with a client, someone in your target market, or someone in your sphere of influence

Along with the globalisation of online communication comes a lack of face-to-face interactions. You’ll set yourself apart from your competition if you make time to meet with people in person.

Schedule direct preparation time to:

Prepare a listing or buyer presentation, prepare a CMA, or prepare marketing materials.

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Schedule planning time to:

Develop, review and revise your marketing plan; perform market research and analysis; review your budget and financial status.
Use these simple time management tips to use your time more efficiently and improve your productivity.

About Larson Educational Services:

Brad Larson

Larson Educational Services

1400 Colonial Blvd. Suite 44

Fort Myers, FL 33907

239-344-7510

05.17.16

by Brad Larson

Top 10 Things Sellers Want From Agents After the Listing Part 2

Owners want to know what is happening with their listing. Therefore, sellers want their agent to creatively market the property, pay attention to detail, and provide excellent customer support as part of their services.

The reason most often cited by owners who were unhappy with the listing agent is not the failure of the agent to secure a buyer; it’s failure of the agent to communicate with them after the listing is signed.

Sellers want the property marketed on the Internet with a nice photo and up-to-date information.

If you’re not listing your client’s properties online then you’re living in the Stone Age. Make sure that you include the most flattering photo and information, just like you would for, say, an online dating profile.

Sellers want you to hold open houses.

Potential buyers are more likely to put an offer on your seller’s house if they can get a fully immersive experience with the property. Open houses allow buyers to envision themselves inside the home because, well, they are.

Sellers want you to be courteous, respect their property and respect their time.

Even if you think the seller is being needy, make sure that you make yourself available to them in a respectful way.

Sellers want you to use common sense when it comes to showings and appointments.

It’s good practice to keep a sign-in sheet when holding an open house. For one, you can use this information to build your email list. And secondly, this helps you keep track of what sorts of characters are milling about inside of your client’s home.

Watch out, Mr. Real Estate Agent! There’s a bad guy coming into the house!

Sellers want you to back up verbal information with written information.

Sure, the information you give your client may be just as good verbally as it is textually, but there’s something about information in writing that makes it seem much more reliable.

Keep in mind this top 10 list of seller desires so you don’t make the same mistake as many agents before you.

About Larson Educational Services:

Brad Larson

Larson Educational Services

1400 Colonial Blvd. Suite 44

Fort Myers, FL 33907

239-344-7510

05.03.16

by Brad Larson

Top 10 Things Sellers Want From Agents After Listing Part 1

Owners want to know what’s happening with their listing. Therefore, sellers want their agent to creatively market the property, pay attention to detail, and provide excellent customer support as part of their services.

Sellers want you to add value by providing much more than the sellers could do on their own.

If they could have found that extra value on their own then what do they need you for?

Sellers want you to look at the entire situation and give good advice.

It’s difficult for sellers to be objective about their own property. Emotional attachment, nostalgia, and good memories cloud their ability to accurately assess their home’s value. That’s why you need to be the voice of reason and wisdom for the seller.

Sellers want you to remember who the customer is and respond to their needs.

Always remember that your relationship with the seller is a mutually beneficial one, and you should remember your role as well as your client’s. This relationship will sometimes require you to swallow your pride.

Okay, you gotta have a cut-off point though.

Sellers want to be treated like partners—keep in touch and update them at least once a week.

There’s nothing more frustrating for a seller than to be left in the dark. Keep them in the loop even if there’s nothing to report. This lets your client know that you care about them and their needs.

Sellers want to see a nice brochure—accurate, detailed, and professional.

A nice brochure shows that you’ve done your homework on the property and that you’re prepared to present their listing to potential buyers in the most professional way possible.

Keep in mind this list of seller desires so you don’t make the same mistake as many agents before you. Check back next time for part 2.

About Larson Educational Services:

Brad Larson

Larson Educational Services

1400 Colonial Blvd. Suite 44

Fort Myers, FL 33907

239-344-7510

04.05.16

by Brad Larson

The Keys to Effective Online Marketing for Real Estate Agents

The Keys to Effective Online Marketing for Real Estate Agents

Online marketing is one the most cost-effective ways to market yourself and your listings. Your business is your database. The Internet is your resource with the most potential to contribute the greatest number of relationships to that database.

A key to Internet success is to drive business to your website and listings. This can be done through traditional advertising, search engine optimization (SEO) or natural placement on search engines, blogging, and social networking.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the visibility of a website or a web page in search engines through organic / algorithmic (unpaid) search results.

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The higher on the page and more frequently a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine.

It is easiest to obtain a top ranking for niche areas (“Heritage Palms Golf and Country Club Condos”).
More competitive areas (“Fort Myers Real Estate”) could take longer.

Give it time for your search results to improve.

Bottom line, you won’t see a large increase in traffic until you’re on the first page of search results and in the top of the rankings. Find a niche and develop a central theme or message that you communicate in all media and platforms. Goal: get known for ONE thing.

About Larson Educational Services:

Brad Larson

Larson Educational Services

1400 Colonial Blvd. Suite 44

Fort Myers, FL 33907

239-344-7510

03.22.16

by Brad Larson

10 Listening Techniques to Improve Your Negotiation Skills–Part 2

10 Simple Listening Techniques to Improve Your Negotiation Skills–Part 2

Check out part 1 here: Part 1.

We get it, you became a real estate agent because you love to talk. But here’s a nugget of harsh truth: sometimes you have to listen as well. In fact, your entire career depends on your listening skills. Otherwise, how will you understand your clients’ needs and make all those sales? (Hey, at the very least try to pretend to listen.) Here are Florida real estate school Larson Educational Services’ simple listening techniques for effective communication:

Fight distraction and bad listening conditions.

Have you ever been out with friends and everyone is sitting at the table, faces turned down, with the blue glow of their cell phone illuminating their dead countenance? Don’t be that person. Put your phone on silent and give other people your full attention.

Come on, man. Just talk to the people you’re with.

Show patience and don’t interrupt.

A pause doesn’t necessarily mean that the speaker is finished talking. Sometimes people are just looking for the right word or articulating their own thoughts to themselves before telling them to you. There are few things more frustrating in a conversation than feeling like you can’t pause for fear of being interrupted. Silence is one of your most underutilized conversational tools.

Listen between the lines.

If you take everything a person says at face value, then you’ll miss the majority of the information they make available to you. People often (unintentionally) hide their true thoughts or motives in the lines between their words.

Clarify what you are hearing.

Don’t be afraid to ask the other partner to put their thoughts into other words for your own understanding. While people often find it annoying when they’re interrupted by someone who only wants to talk about themselves, most people don’t mind being interrupted for a clarifying question; it shows that you care.

Watch for changing tone or volume of the speaker’s voice, facial expressions, gestures, and word emphasis.

These physical changes can signal emotional changes in the speaker’s mind. Pay attention to the conversation points at which these changes happen in order to better understand the speaker’s thought process, even if they are not explicitly telling you what they are thinking.

Picking up on subtle social cues can help improve all of your social interaction

Utilize these simple listening techniques to not only improve your negotiation skills, but also to provide better service to your clients. Check out part 1 here: Part 1.

About Larson Educational Services:

Brad Larson

Larson Educational Services

1400 Colonial Blvd. Suite 44

Fort Myers, FL 33907

239-344-7510

03.01.16

by Brad Larson

10 Simple Listening Techniques to Improve Your Negotiation Skills–Part 1

10 Simple Listening Techniques to Improve Your Negotiation Skills–Part 1

We get it, you became a real estate agent because you love to talk. But here’s a nugget of harsh truth: sometimes you have to listen as well. In fact, your entire career depends on your listening skills. Otherwise, how will you understand your clients’ needs and make all those sales? (Hey, at the very least try to pretend to listen.) Here are the first 5 of Florida real estate school Larson Educational Services’ 10 simple listening techniques for effective communication:

Prepare questions and remarks in advance to free your mind to listen.

Have you ever talked to someone who you know is just waiting for you to stop talking so they can say something? Don’t be one of those people. Channel your inner lawyer and prepare some conversation points before speaking with your client.

Exercise emotional control.

No, you’re not a robot. But you can keep negotiations civil and favorable to your interests if you keep your emotions in check.

You can exercise emotional control without becoming a robot.

Remain open and avoid jumping to conclusions; limit your own talking.

Limit your assumptions when you head into negotiations. When you let the other party do the talking they’ll usually give plenty of talking points, just make sure that you…

Take selective notes on the most important points.

No, taking notes during a conversation doesn’t necessarily make you look like a psychopath, just make sure your conversation partner knows what you’re doing.

Give the speaker your conscious attention with good eye contact.

Giving someone your undivided attention lets them know that they are important to you. And regarding the eye contact thing: again, don’t take it to psychopathic levels, just let your partner know that you care about what they’re saying.

Okay, you’re overdoing it.

Utilize these simple listening techniques to not only improve your negotiation skills, but also to provide better service to your clients. Check back next time for part 2.

About Larson Educational Services:

Brad Larson

Larson Educational Services

1400 Colonial Blvd. Suite 44

Fort Myers, FL 33907

239-344-7510

02.16.16

by Brad Larson

5 Little-Known Techniques for Effective Goal-Setting

Every top real estate agent (as well as top performers in any industry) must necessarily be goal-oriented. In fact, these high-achievers share some similarities in how they set their goals as well.

Here are a few important and similar qualities that exist in the goals of real estate’s top producers:

They know what they want and they simply go after it.
They set moderate, attainable goals and take only calculated risks.
They know how to manage time and arrange priorities.
They look for accurate, constructive feedback.
They incessantly seek knowledge.
They display more self-confidence than they actually possess.

The first step to effective goal setting is to know what you want to accomplish or attain. There are many different types of goals; they could pertain to your career, personal life, health or well-being, family, faith, or your financial situation. Begin by identifying your desired result, then work backwards to determine the steps to achieve that result.

In the process, make sure your goal is:

Attainable. Goals must be reachable to be believable.

Measurable. Goals must be specific and able to be measured in some way.

Relevant. Goals must have value to you in order to make the effort worthwhile.

In Writing. Goals must be reduced to writing for clarity and commitment

Time-bound. Goals must have a specific and committed time frame.

Make sure your goals are realistic

Once your goal is set, follow the PREAM method:

Post. Write it down.

Review. Check your plan and revise if necessary.

Evaluate. Determine if you are on the right track.

Adjust. Change your activities if necessary.

Monitor. Measure your progress.

Creating measurable objectives. Objectives are measurable milestones that lead toward achievement of a larger goal. They are identified when you create your plan to accomplish your goal.

About Larson Educational Services:

Brad Larson

Larson Educational Services

1400 Colonial Blvd. Suite 44

Fort Myers, FL 33907

239-344-7510

02.02.16

by Brad Larson

What Real Estate Agents Need to Know About Emerging Technology

What Real Estate Agents Need to Know About Emerging Technology

In this post, you’ll learn how to launch yourself into the NOW and FUTURE technology era. You’ll also learn how to interact more efficiently and communicate more effectively, which can help you provide better service to your customers and clients.

As always, buyers want to buy for the lowest price possible within their price range, and sellers want to sell for the most highest price possible, in the shortest possible time, with the least inconvenience.

But even though the consumers’ goals have remained the same for decades, they are no longer the consumers our real estate system was designed to serve. Today’s first-time buyers are DIGITAL NATIVES who represent the first generation to grow up with computer technology.

Who are the Digital Natives?

Computer games, email, the Internet, Facebook, smartphones and texting are integral parts of their lives.
They think and process information in a fundamentally different way than their predecessors
They are used to receiving information really fast
They like to parallel process and multi-task
They prefer their graphics before their text rather than the opposite
They function best when networked

Florida real estate school

Those who were not born as natives, but instead have adopted many or most aspects of the new technology, are DIGITAL IMMIGRANTS.

Who are the Digital Immigrants?

They may not appreciate the skills that the natives have acquired
They speak a different language (or the same language with a discernible accent)

Florida real estate school

Given these traits of Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants, real estate agents could be classified as DNA, DIA, or DOA:

DNA = Digital Native Agents

DIA = Digital Immigrant Agents

DOA = Digital Oblivious Agents

The DOA group were once the guardians and only source of information, but in today’s market information and property availability is much more accessible

So consumers are seeking more than simply information from agents: consumers expect real estate professionals to be technologically adept; they may not work with someone who is not.

About Larson Educational Services:

Brad Larson

Larson Educational Services

1400 Colonial Blvd. Suite 44

Fort Myers, FL 33907