Friday Post May 26, 2017

It’s Friday, let’s sweep! | wisdom from the trenches + dine well – do good + computation of time + “you’re okay” inspiration

Six,

This week as I sweep I can’t help but share several digestible bites I took away from Premier Breakfast. No doubt I’ve attending my share of these breakfasts and for some reason this past Wednesday morning inspired me more than others. Ok, actually I know exactly why – it was the format. The format focused on peer to peer interaction and sharing and we heard from a lot of voices. The breakfast became a melting pot for “ideas worth sharing.” Sound like a familiar theme this year? I can’t help myself…

Let’s sweep and start with a bit of “wisdom” from trenches shared by your peers this week…and a special thanks to Wendy Paisley for facilitating such a fantastic conversation.

  • On articulating your value. “Think of a movie and the credits at the end of a movie. Bring the credits to the forefront of your client experience. Make sure they know all and who will be involved.” It is no doubt a large list of people + services in partnership with you and the client to get er’ done! Fee becomes a non-issue (or less than) done well.
  • Prior to an appointment, ask your customer “what is it that you most hope to learn at our first meeting?” What a great question! This will give you insight into who you are meeting with and where their head is at so far. Socratic method.
  • “Make it a conversation vs. a presentation.” If your entire toolbox is with you, you will be ready for any direction the conversation will go.
  • “Your customer should be talking as much if not more as you are.” Ask lots of questions and listen. Again, Socratic method.
  • On competing against big teams. Know who you are in partnership with. Be able to articulate your partnership with Windermere – “My team is all of you” – as referenced to everyone in the room at the Premier Breakfast. Powerful.
  • Assure your customer that “they are in partnership with you” throughout this process.
  • “Make the home the star. Not you.”
  • On how to get to the next level in your business. Practice this. “No.” Meaning, say “no” to more things both professionally and personally so that you have the bandwidth to focus on the business you desire to attract. Note: you must first have clarity in what that looks like.
  • Use analytics. Know them. Show them. We are local, we are global.

PS. A public service announcement from me – reminder – show up to these sorts of peer to peer networking events. You never know what you might digest that will help you win more business. It can happen every time you get great people in the room together. It happened Wednesday for me.

Dine Well + Do Good

This week we are officially ready to prime the pump for our six office Dine Well – Do Good campaign that will run through June. Marketing deliverables are ready for you to hit the “easy” button – June “flow” created for you. Your Foundation reps + broker care teams at your office received these late yesterday afternoon. Items include – small JPG + large JPG + FB image. Think postcards, think mailchimp campaigns, think social media.

Next week the participating restaurants will receive their posters, table tents and mini-flyers for the menus for Monday nights in June!

A reminder in what we are up to – from last week’s FWL…

Each Monday night in June our six offices have something cooking, literally – cooking up server tips that is! Your WRE Foundation reps + Tune Up team have been busy putting together a “Dine Well + Do Good” campaign. Our six offices, over a dozen local restaurants geographically surrounding each branch and the WRE Foundation are teaming up to raise money for local food banks in the greater Seattle area via Food Lifeline. How are we going to do this? Our WRE Foundation dollars are going to match server tips every Monday night in June. We will tally at the end of June and send those funds to Food Lifeline. This campaign costs the restaurants absolutely nothing outside of exposure and most likely happy servers being the focus on tips each Monday night!

Memorial Day + Computation of Time

When computing time for the purchase and sale agreement,  a reminder to regard Monday, May 29th as a legal holiday. Memorial Day is a legal holiday under Washington law. Our offices will be Closed this Monday for the Memorial Day holiday.

Ok, as I circle back to the “wisdom” from the trenches shared at Premier Breakfast this week I would be remiss to not include a soundbite from a conversation I had with Edward Krigsman. As I thanked him for his “movie credits” analogy in articulating your value I shared with him how much I enjoyed the format of the meeting – the peer to peer stuff. In response, EK said “Agreed. That plays to our competitor advantage which remains our people.”

I’ll end on that goodness as we approach this holiday weekend. As we anticipate the days ahead of us, I ran across this short passage in a magazine – I took a quick snapshot to share with you…

…Shortly I’ll pack up the car and get to the beach for fun, sun, a pause with my family…and “go outside to the beach and dig for clams.” Wishing each of you a wonderfully long weekend ahead in getting outside, grabbing a good book, digging for clams or whatever the “pause” may be for you that makes everything okay. Find it. Get after it! Soak it up. Real estate will still be here when we return.

Shout if you need anything, here to help – the ultimate goal.

Laura Smith, General Manager | Windermere Real Estate Co.

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