We wish you health, comfort, and prosperity this holiday season.

Season’s Greetings.

The Corcoran Consulting & Coaching Team
“Our Systems Are Your Solution”

Persist, and small actions lead to big results. Persist, and you make time work in your favor.

If you give up after the first or second attempt, your level of success will be mediocre at best. When you persist for as long as it takes, you’re able to create magnificent, outstanding achievements.

Persistence is not a complicated or inaccessible strategy. All you have to do is choose to keep going.

After a successful day, instead of resting on your accomplishments, keep going. After a disappointing day, instead of wallowing in self pity, keep going.

Persist, and the small steps forward add together to create great advances. Persist, and even the setbacks will eventually work in your favor.

Set your sights on a worthy, meaningful goal, and persist. With persistence, you can take yourself anywhere you choose.

— Ralph Marston

Don’t see it as a problem. See it as a chance to improve.

You can always learn from where you are, whether it is where you want to be or not. You can always learn from what you attempt, whether it brings the results you intended or not.

Don’t spend a lot of time regretting your mistakes. Instead, transform those mistakes into improvements.

Little by little, day by day, you can constantly make improvements in your life. Very quickly, those improvements add up to create great new value in your world.

When things are going well, be thankful, and harness the energy of your gratitude to make improvements. When times are tough, use the energy of your frustration as a catalyst for making positive improvements.

Gratefully accept what is, and then look for ways to improve it. Keep reaching higher, and you’ll continue moving higher.

— Ralph Marston

By Bob Corcoran

As we stand at the doorway of another new year, I’m wondering what new technology might pop up. Over the last few years we’ve seen a flood of new communication tools, toys and timesavers: I-phones, I-pads, texts, e-mails, Tweets, Facebook, the list is as long as the lines at any Apple store when it introduces a new product.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not against any of these items. They all have a place in our personal and business lives. And yes, many can save us a lot of time and make our lives much easier. But I just want to make sure we don’t lose touch with, well, the human touch.
Call me old-fashioned, but to me, one of the most important tools for Realtors is – and always will be – the phone. Not the kind that you can take pictures with, surf the internet on or download apps for, but the regular old phone where you actually talk with a live human being. You know, a conversation. You say something then they say something.
There’s something uniquely special about a phone conversation. There’s an immediacy there you don’t get in e-mails. You can hear how the person emphasizes certain words and phrases. You actually get a real feel for the other person’s mood, how they feel, what they want and need. And it’s fast. You can get things done on the phone really quickly most times — especially with clients. With e-mails, I sometimes see threads that last for days and weeks and they’re as convoluted as any puzzle you can dream up.
I realize some of your clients might favor e-mails or texts over actual conversations, and I’m not suggesting you ignore or overrule their preferences. Go with what they like. But starting new relationships with potential clients or in the early phases of relationships with clients or others, I think the phone is your best bet because it helps build a good foundation for future work together.
Here are a few phone tips you might find useful:
Be persistent – Do you know what percentage of sales are made on the first contact? Just two percent. What about the second contact? Only three percent. A meager five percent of sales are made on the third contact. By the fourth contact, the number only rises to ten percent. It’s only between the fifth and twelfth contact that 80 percent of sales are made. Stay at it. Persist without exception.
Schedule a minimum of one hour a day on the phone – I suggest this because if you actually schedule time for the phone – put it on your calendar – you’ll be more likely to do it. I know many Realtors who say they use the phone, but when I press them about when they make their calls, they almost always hesitate. Set a time and stick to it.
Call on the right days and at the right times – We charted over 280,000 phone calls and found the best day of the week people are most receptive to calls about real estate. E-mail me at Article@CorcoranCoaching.com and I’ll send the report for free – it’ll give you the best times of day to call along with a lot of other eye-opening data about when and how to use the phone.

Let me hear from you. Have you lost touch with the phone? Are there times in your daily work life that a simple phone call could help you connect better with others, especially clients? Do you set aside time regularly to make phone calls to either prospective, past or current clients? If not, why not? Please send any comments or questions you have to Article@CorcoranCoaching.com or http://www.facebook.com/CorcoranCoaching.

Bob Corcoran is a nationally recognized speaker and author who is founder and president of Corcoran Consulting Inc. (CorcoranCoaching.com, 800-957-8353), an international consulting and coaching company that specializes in performance coaching and the implementation of sound business systems into the residential or commercial broker or agent’s existing practice.
We look forward to hearing from you. Sign up TODAY for your complimentary business consultation. http://www.CorcoranCoaching.com/bpw.php.

See the goal clearly and you make it less distant. See the goal passionately and you make it more real.

See the goal in rich detail and you’ll figure out how you can get there. See the goal from the perspective of your life and your purpose, and you’ll understand why you must get there.

Simply visualizing the goal will not make it happen. Yet it will indeed make you make it happen.

Every moment you live, you have an influence on life. A clearly defined goal will focus all those momentary influences into meaningful achievement.

See the goal, and see what you must do. See the goal, not only with your eyes but with all you are, and you’ll understand why it matters.

See the goal, and as soon as you do, you begin to live it. See the goal, and make it real.

— Ralph Marston

How Rainmakers Can (and Must) Keep An Eye on Their Bottom Line

“If you don’t watch your money, someone else will.”
Anonymous

The bottom line is - to stay in the real estate industry today, you have to operate like a business. To operate like a business, you must know your finances. A new breed of agent is entering the industry, one who knows business. In some markets, this new agent is slowly siphoning off business from the agents who are like the frog in a pot of water, a frog that doesn’t know it’s getting hotter and hotter - until it’s too late.

For additional information and guidance on this topic we have posted an article on our website entitled “Teamonomics” for you to review.

Commitment for the Week:

Show us your commitment by commenting with your thoughts, plan and deadline below!

Make A Commitment: I will check my P&L at least once a month!
Deadline: _________

Bob Corcoran

The reward is rewarding because you have earned it. It is the work that goes into the planting and cultivation that makes the harvest worth celebrating.

Your effort is what makes your opportunities come to life. Fulfillment has meaning precisely because of the work it demands.

Practice and commitment are what make your skills and abilities yours to use. Discipline and focused effort are what make the achievements worth achieving.

No effort, no job, no task is beneath you. For with each effort comes a new opportunity to enrich your life and your world.

Sure, the task may be difficult. Instead of worrying or complaining about how difficult it is, think about the value it enables you to create.

Embrace the challenge, jump into the effort, and work your way through the difficulties. There is great value in the doing, and now is your opportunity to bring that value to life.

— Ralph Marston

Don’t be ashamed to be amazed. Life is wondrous and amazing, so let yourself experience that amazement to its fullest extent.

Even the most ordinary aspects of your life are really quite amazing. Think about the amazing things that have become commonplace and familiar, and be amazed again.

Though you’ve explored and fulfilled many great possibilities, there are even more possibilities to bring to life. Consider the best of them, and feel your sense of amazement grow.

The fact that you can feel anything at all is itself the height of amazement. Let that amazement lift your spirit and open your senses to the ever-expanding possibilities.

Even when it seems that you’ve seen it all, you’ve really only seen a small fraction. Live with amazement, and you’ll experience much, much more.

Be amazed, and be a conduit for life’s most positive, creative energy. Be amazed, and be richly and delightfully alive.

— Ralph Marston

Look, really look, at how beautiful this day is. Let go of the worries and anxieties and judgments, and see the beauty.

Step back from the confusion, and see the beauty. Rise above the petty conflicts, and see the enduring beauty.

See the beauty, and you feel life’s raw, authentic substance. See the beauty, and you will also see the most valuable, positive possibilities.

Where there is life and awareness, there is beauty. Where there is love, the beauty is overwhelming.

See the beauty, and be inspired. See the beauty, and be filled with positive energy.

There is great and meaningful beauty where you are. See the beauty, and let it lead you to life’s best possibilities.

— Ralph Marston

Read more: http://greatday.com/motivate/111205.html#ixzz1fnOROOZi

Everyone knows commissions are negotiable, up as well as down. So, why is it that every time the discussion comes up with a seller or buyer, they want to know how much we will cut ours? Despite that, there are agents today who are getting above-average commissions. Others are maintaining their “preferred” commission. While still other agents are beat up on a daily basis. What is the difference among the three scenarios? A combination of skill, market knowledge and a willingness to negotiate makes the difference. Before we tackle the how, we believe we must look at the reasons behind the prevalence of commission cutting. With the growth of the Internet and the dawn of online, do-it-yourself realty, sellers and buyers feel they must bring up the question about reducing commissions. It is a matter of principle to both sellers and buyers. If they feel they can get you to work for less money, and often they can, why should they not ask? Too often, we are thought of as being just like other competing companies. They have looked at one, and they think they have looked at them all. Most sellers and buyers think it is only your commission that distinguishes you from another agent.

Nothing is farther from the truth. To warrant the commission we deserve, we need to create credibility to support what we are asking for. Often, the battle is lost even before it gets under way. The seller or buyer asks for a cut, and the agent agrees…simple as that. When agents are asked why they do not give their all to overcome the objection, they have said if they do not take it at a cut, someone else will. Or, they needed the listing or sale, or their broker said to take it no matter what, and on and on.

Other reasons why sellers and buyers ask are they need every penny they can get (protecting their net), the other agent said they would take it for less or they feel the commission is the most important thing to them. They are bargain basement shopping. This is the type of seller you may want to decide not to do business with. Smart agents know when to walk away from a seller or buyer. Remember, if it is not salable, it is a liability, not a listing.

For additional information and guidance on this topic we have posted an article on our website entitled “Overcoming Commission-Cutting Requests” for you to review.

Commitment for the Week:

Show us your commitment by commenting with your thoughts, plan and deadline below!

Make A Commitment: I will role play for 30 minutes each day!
Deadline: _________

Bob Corcoran