ADvantage Solutions
Newsletter
October 1998

Published Monthly by Joeann Fossland, GRI, LTG

Coaching Mastermind Groups and Individuals For Sales Success

(520)744-8731 email: Joeann@joeann.com (800)597-4196 fax

Feel free to share "ADvantage Thinking"! Published monthly & Copyright 1998 by ADvantage Solutions Group. Copy & pass along in its entirety, please, or with permission, if partial. To subscribe, use the subscribe link in the menu at left or email or fax your contact information.
My goal is provide you with solutions and ideas to give you the advantage!

ADvantage Thinking
Advantage Solutions Newsletter

October 1998

This Month’s Contents

  1. ADvantage Thinking:  An Awesome 1999
  2. Power Tools:  Forget Me Nots!
  3. Resources for the ADvantage
  4. Trend Watch - Open House Tours

ADvantage Thinking:  An Awesome 1999

"If a man takes no thought about what is distant,
he will find sorrow near at hand."       
Confucius (B.C. 551-479)

Imagine it is December 31st, 1999 and you are sipping your champagne as the new millennium is born. As you look back on the last 15 months, you are grateful that they have been your best ever. Life is good! You experience a feeling of freedom  because of the reserve you have accumulated. You look forward to doing things for yourself and your family that had been beyond your reach. What are those things?  A long vacation? The college and/or retirement funds getting healthy deposits? A weekly massage?

Now, come back to today. Where will you need to take your business to have this vision become a reality? Now is the time to plan the coming year. Now is the timeto sow the seeds that will grow your dream. By having a clear picture of what this will look like, you will start in motion all sorts of resources to support your vision.

GET YOUR BEARINGS

Before starting out on a vacation, you probably pull out the map and decide which roads you will take. Knowing the point from which you are starting and the location of the destination is critical. Most people spend more time planningtheir vacations than they do planning their lives. So, as Microsoft says, "Where do you want to go?"

COACH'S ACTION TIP >

What is your starting point? Take a look at the first 9 months of this year. If you have your production computerized and can run a report: Bravo for you! If not, total your production dollar volume, your number  of units, and how each transaction was generated. Since this is just ¾ of the year,you will want to divide by 3 and multiply that result by 4 to give you an estimated full year projection.

 

WHAT WORKED THIS YEAR

As you planned that vacation, you probably had to make some choices about which roads to take. "Do you want the fastest and the shortest route?" is the question my tripsoftware asks me. It seems silly to answer, "No, give me the slow, hard route!" But we do always have choices, don’t we? And the road we want may not be the same another would choose. So, this question is how do you want to get there?

 

COACH'S ACTION TIP >

You gathered the data on where your business came from this year. Now is the time to do some real thinking and brainstorming.Did your business come from signs? From ads? From referrals? For each category that generated business, gather the data on what you spent marketing to this segment. You should see some interesting information about how effective your marketing and advertising dollars are being spent. In choosing where to allot them next year, the road to take might be the "quickest and easiest route": spending more where it is generating the most. Leverage the strengths you have. Maximize your reach where it is working. Rethink your overall strategy.

 

FOCUS ON THE DESTINATION

Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Keeping the map available so you can refer back to it as the journey progresses keeps you on track. If you have taken a wrong road, a course correction taken in time will save lots of out of the way driving.

COACH'S ACTION TIP >

Focus is perhaps the most important difference between the average performer and the highly successful. Spending time to work on your business now will make a significant difference in your focus and ability to create breakthrough results for 1999. Schedule either a full day or two half days in the next 30 days to work on your business plan for the coming year.

"I have no doubt whatsoever that most people live,
whether physically, intellectually or morally,
in a very restricted circle of their potential being...
we all have reservoirs of life to draw upon of which we do not dream."
- William James

POWER TOOL OF THE MONTH

Forget-Me-Nots!

The automated follow up system for the internet! It's the EASY way to stay in touch with those clients!

RE/MAX agent Judi Wolfson is making lots of money on the web and she wants to help you to do so too! Join her for a 30 minute workshop  to learn more about the new automated email follow up system, Forget Me Nots!:

Join us on a free, telephone seminar on October 21 at 11 a.m. Eastern time and hear all about it!

Register by emailing Joeann@joeann.com with your contact information.

 

Trend Watch -Open House Tours

Do you regularly hold open houses for the public on your listings? If you do it the traditional way, you probably often find yourself sitting alone for much of the time. RE/MAX agent Craig Proctor discovered a more time effective way to service his listings and create urgency with buyers: the open house tour. Top agents in many other parts of the country have tried this with great success as well. You choose 6-8 homes to be part of the tour and hold each open for just 15 minutes. A well-planned and organized tour should generate multiple showings in a short period of time and motivate buyers because of the competition!

Give it a try! It is a time-effective way to service listings and a low-pressure way to create urgency on the part of your buyers!

Resources for the ADvantage

SHAMELESS PLUG: I'm published!!!!!!!!!!!

1. This month’s RECOMMENDED BOOK: Chocolate For A Woman’s Heart.  A great collection of 77 stories of love, kindness & compassion to nourish your soul and sweeten your dreams  (includes one by yours truly!!!!!) Not just for women: John Gray says" Endearing and uplifting…a joy for both men & women."

SPECIAL OFFER: Order directly from me, and you’ll get a signed copy for only $10! Order by email with a credit card or mail your check to PO Box 133, Cortaro, AZ 85652 As always, recommended books can be found on my website at THE BOOKSTORE