Notes from my BOLD Journal

"If I don't take action toward my goals someone else will."

Make the contact list before I make my calls.

"Everyday we need to get in the right mindset by saying affirmations AROUND our goals"
ie. by making 20 calls today my children will be able to attend any college they want.

"Stop losing sleep over people who are not losing sleep." [love this one]

FSBO = Fastest Source of Business Opportunity

You can't help people until they recognize they have a problem.

Involve the people in my life to my success.

Special Letter from my Leader

Yesterday I received a very nice letter from my OP, Shaun Rawls, in regards to the Best Places to Work award that we received on Friday morning. The Rawls Group consist of 7 offices in Atlanta. The offices are each lead by some of the best Team Leaders in the country. I am so blessed to work with John Thompson, John Fountain, Deborah Blue, Cynthia Lippert, Steve Kout, Brad Feiman, and Brenda Richterkissing. A year ago, these team leaders of the Rawls Group met for lunch in Austin, Texas. We decided that we were going to band together and work as a team to dominate the Atlanta Real Estate Market. Since that time we have been sharing ideas, role playing, holding each other accountable, and just having fun!

Our desire to work as a team has infiltrated the Associate Leadership Councils and the associates of each of the offices. We frequently hear of agents volunteering to share their talents with other offices. It's a beautiful thing.

Here is Shaun's nice letter.

Superstar Leaders…

I really appreciate the emails you all sent yesterday. The recognition that we have received as a group truly feels like something that should be savored and appropriately digested. I’m not sure that I really felt the magnitude of what we were being recognized for until I saw the list of names of companies that I would never have thought that we could compete with on any level professionally. Wow. I am truly full of pride, satisfaction, joy and gratitude.

The beauty of it is that this is, perhaps, the ultimate recognition of being a true team. I don’t always think of what we do or how we operate as particularly special. However, I think because what we do and how we think about and approach things…it sheds light on how EASY it is for others not to do the right things. I also think that the power of the award comes from the Large Company category in that we are 7 completely different offices that, on a fundamental level, operate with collective focus and have a synergistic effect on our most valuable assets – our agents.

When you zoom out mentally and look at the momentum we have a group right now, the next six months could be really interesting. Between this Best Places recognition and BOLD, we should have a superbly growth oriented and productive future – more than any other company out there.

I’ve said numerous times this year that the most successful people in life are the most cooperative, team players. I guess that’s the same for companies, too. I think yesterday each one of us as the Leaders of The Rawls Group were recognized for being the most cooperative leaders in the real estate industry. I know it’s not always easy move 7 offices as a synergistic group, but I think yesterday proves that there are some advantages never foreseen or expected that can result out of good old-fashioned and consistent team play.

Thank you so much for what you do every day, the big stuff and the little stuff, that makes your office one of the Best Places to work on the planet. And a special thanks to Jeri, whose love for, commitment to and focus on our team’s brand recognition is ultimately why we have so much to celebrate. She’s definitely our secret weapon!

I hope you are enjoying your weekend. The Rawls Family celebrated with dinner at The Waffle House and made our way to Lake Hartwell last night. Life is good in The Rawls Group.

Love you all.

Shaun

#2 Feels Really Good

Although the flood has “dampened” the week, I participated in an event this morning that took all the clouds away. This morning, the Atlanta Business Chronicle recognized the Rawls Group as the Runner Up for the Best Places To Work in Atlanta.


Having come from a corporate background, after joining Keller Williams in 2004, I quickly realized that I was working for a company that was very different from traditional companies. I was surrounded by associates that really cared about each other. Time and time again, I have been humbled by the level of professionalism, caring, and integrity of the people I work with.

For instance, I am currently participating in the BOLD coaching program. During the first session with Michael Bastian, Michael asked us to write down what a life worth living looks like? This was a powerful question. Michael then dug deeper by asking “why is that important to you?” Michael's probing questions helped me to realize what truly matters to me and as a result I got a little teary-eyed. Later that evening I received an email from another team leader who was sitting in the room. He said “Connie, people that cry concern me. Why were you crying this morning? Everything okay?” That little gesture of concern was so heartfelt and honest. It exemplifies how Keller Williams’ agents really do care about helping others.


I have always struggled with how to tell others how incredible it is to work in the Rawls Group (http://www.rawlsgroup.org/) at Keller Williams Realty. Culture is a “feeling”. It is hard to describe a feeling.


Today, at the Georgia Aquarium, surrounded by some of the best companies in Atlanta, that “feeling” was validated. There is no other award that we could have received that would have meant more to me as a leader in the company.


If you would like to know more about why Keller Williams Atlanta Perimeter is the Best Place to Work in Atlanta, please give me a call for a confidential appointment. It truly is a great place to work (and we have a lot of fun, too)!!!

Focused Action Goal Setting

I have found that our positive attitudes combined with focused action on our goals have been the greatest factors in my success this past year.

Here are some thoughts to share on motivation & goal setting I wanted to pass on...

Step 1: Decide exactly what you want. This immediately moves you into a separate category of people because most people have no idea of what they really want. Clarity is the most important single quality of goal-setting and perhaps the most important single quality of success. Decide exactly what you want in each area of your life. Instead of fuzzy goals like more money, better health and happiness, be specific about exactly how much more money you want to earn in a specific period of time and combine that with exactly what level of health and fitness you desire.

Most people are unconsciously preoccupied with the fear of failure. It is the greatest single obstacle to success in adult life. And the fear of failure can work on you unconsciously by blocking you from setting clear specific goals. Why? Well, if you don't set clear, specific goals, then you can't fail to achieve them. So your subconscious mind is actually protecting you by helping you to avoid failure.

You must resist and overcome this tendency by having the courage to be bold and specific about exactly what you want. This is step number one.

There has never been a better time in all of human history to be alive than today. There are more opportunities for you to accomplish more things, in more different fields, engaging in more different activities, than have ever existed before.

Resolve today to make the coming year the very best year of your life. Resolve today to draw a line under your past and to focus very clearly on your future. Resolve today that you are going to set goals, make plans, take actions and achieve more in the coming year than perhaps you have ever accomplished in any one single year before.

I am teaching a variety of classes this month to help you achieve the focus you need to succeed. I will be teaching a “Balance Workshop” on October 2nd based on Gary Keller’s Quantum Leap class, Managing your Time To Achieve More on October 16th, and a Business Planning Workshop on October 30th. Now is the time to get clear on your goals for 2010. What you do now will determine what your January will be. Don’t delay in planning for your success.

Understanding the Three Markets in the Real Estate World Today

September 2009 Article – Jeri Moran

Understanding the THREE markets in the real estate world today

As we enter the last quarter of the year, it is more important than ever to stay focused and help buyers understand the urgency the three markets out there today. With less than 100 days left for first time homebuyers to benefit from the $8,000 tax credit, there is no time to waste educating our clients after the fact. A thorough buyer consultation is critical and handling all possible objections prior to them coming up will make the difference.

There is no surprise that countless numbers of classes have come out on creating buyer urgency, scripts to talk to buyers all addressing the fact that when inventory increases, we are showing more and more homes and buyers are reluctant to make a decision. With the local and national media creating a doomsday perception of the market, buyers are over confident and want “a deal.” However, because there are three markets, many are loosing out on the “best” homes that sell the fastest, because they are the “best” homes.

The following is a dialogue that I encourage you to have with your perspective buyers prior to going out to see homes.

“Mr. and Mrs. Buyer, I am so excited to work with you to find the home you are going to buy. Before we go out and look at homes, I’d like to spend a few minutes and share with you the different segments of our current market. Would that be ok? The average number of homes a buyers looks at in today’s market is eight. We’ve found that if you look at too many homes, you’ll start combining the kitchen in one, the backyard of another and create a home that doesn’t exist. What you’ll find out there is three markets, the foreclosure market, the short sale/distressed market and the residential re-sale market (which is broken in to two sub markets). In the foreclosure market, banks have created what is called a sellers market. What that means is they put properties on the market at a price that is under market value to create multiple offers and garner over list price. (At this time show some examples). The second market is short sales. Are you familiar with what this is? (Explain if they say no). When purchasing one of these homes, we must be prepared to wait 3, 6 and even up to a year before being able to close on the home. Finally, there is the resale market. In this market there are two categories. There are the homes that are selling in under 30 days and getting approximately 96% of their asking price and then there are the homes that have chased the market and sell in over 120 days for sometimes as little as 73% of their original asking price. It is my job, together with you, to determine with type of home we are looking at. If we find the under 30 day home, will you be prepared?”

Keep your clients focused and move them towards what they really want…to BUY a home!

Happy hunting!