It Is All About the Experience

What’s the difference between a client and a raving fan? The experience you provide them.

Why is the experience we provide our clients so important? Let me share a quick story. 

Three years ago, I had a really fun experience: I bought my first Tesla. Why was it fun? Well, for one thing, it’s a car that drives itself! Also, though, the experience itself was fun. I could design it myself, and they gave me a lot of fun swag. 

Three years later, it was time to buy a new car. After you’ve driven a Tesla, nothing else really compares, so I went ahead and bought another Tesla. I’m excited about my new car, but there were a lot of business lessons to be learned in terms of the differences between three years ago and the present day. 

What were the differences? First of all, they’d taken away a lot of the customization options they offered three years ago. I could still make the car blue (the color of my dreams), but other choices were already made for me this time around, which I was fine with—it is what it is. Another difference is they no longer gave away any swag—no shirts, hats, or any of that.

They might use your service anyway, but if you go the extra mile for them, they’ll be raving fans for you.

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What I noticed the most, though, is that their employees weren’t nearly as excited or passionate because of all the changes going on. My new Tesla is still a great car and I still love it, but this experience got me thinking: How do I create amazing experiences for our clients? How can I take it to the next level?

Whether you’re a business owner or you’re serving great clients, I want you to ask yourself what you can do to create more raving fans. What can you do to create that world-class experience that they want? They might use your service anyway, but if you go the extra mile for them, they’ll be raving fans for you. 

I’m committed to my clients, my team, and my company, and I aim to create more opportunities and more raving fans. I’d love to hear your thoughts on how you can do the same and share my ideas with you, so don’t hesitate to give me a call if you’d like to talk more about this topic.  

As always, if you have any other questions, feel free to reach out to me as well. I look forward to hearing from you. 

The Importance of Embracing Change

Today I’m excited to share some lessons I learned from a book by John Gordon. They’re about embracing change in your life and your career.

"The Shark and the Goldfish" is a fantastic book written by John Gordon, one of my favorite authors. An interesting concept with many great lessons to learn, one thing this book talked a lot about is the concept of change. 

Change is something we’re all going to have to experience. Even though our first reaction might be to panic, I can tell you that all of the best things in my life came when I was forced to make a change.

Gordon’s first piece of advice was to embrace the change. Don’t run from it or get annoyed by it. When you create a void or when something goes away, better things can come to you.

The next lesson I took away from the book was to ride that change. You can either be a victor or a victim. Both of these people get knocked down. The hero is the one who gets knocked down and comes back stronger.

Don’t run from change or get annoyed by it. Embrace it.

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The final lesson I got from this book is to stay positive. This is really hard to do when change comes along, but here’s what I always keep in mind: You win first in your mind and then in the marketplace. 

If you are ready to make a change in your career, we are here to help you embrace it. Give us a call or send us an email today. We would love to hear from you.

Find Your Future Career in Treu Group Real Estate

We’d like to an extend a new career opportunity to you.

One of my favorite words is opportunity, and I’m excited about the one we’re presenting to you today. If you want the chance to help more clients, offer great service, and make more money, we’d like to extend our opportunity to you.

A sad part of the real estate profession is that over 80% of new agents don’t make it past their first year. Even worse, many agents are struggling financially. People think the solution to these problems is having more leads, but leads are not the issue. Many agents get adequate leads from their companies and still can’t make it work.

Thankfully, we can help you achieve what you desire. 

No, we’re not for everyone; we’re an opportunity for those who want to work hard, deliver great care to their clients, fit with our culture, and of course, have the ability to sell something. If this sounds like you, let’s sit down and talk. 

Even if you aren’t an agent, we have wonderful administrative and support opportunities for non-sales people. We also have marketing, closing, and assistant positions. So even if you’re just looking to grow your skills or learn new ones, we want to provide you with the opportunity for a long-term career of growth and experience. 

Here’s what we’re looking for:

• Marketing Director
• Closing Team Members
• New and Experienced Agents

We want to provide you with the opportunity for a long-term career of growth and experience.

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We invite you to take our video online interview—we just want to get to know you a little bit more. From here, we’ll be able to explore what opportunities we can provide for you. 

If you have any questions or would like more information, feel free to contact us. We look forward to hearing from you.

Click here to apply.

Is It Time to Shake Up Your Career and Life?

Complacency is no way to go through life or to build a business. Here is what you need to do to combat it. 

Today we are going to talk about the biggest danger to your career whether you are in sales, real estate, or you're a business owner: complacency.

One of the biggest roadblocks for business owners and salespeople alike is complacency, or the contentment with what you have. We are not talking about never being satisfied, we are talking about doing the same thing day after day and expecting things to change.

If you are feeling complacent and have been noticing that your life is the same right now as it was one year ago, I have some advice. Pick one area of your life where you would like to improve. Maybe it is your physical health, relationships, or career. Then set a goal that is going to cause you to grow, stretch, change, and do something new or different. 

Let me know what you are going to do to get out of complacency.

For example, let’s say you have never been able to run before and you want to be able to do that. Sign up for a 5k race, then start training for it. This will cause you to get out of complacency in this one area, which will impact all the areas of your life.

I would love to hear what you are going to do to get out of complacency. What is that one thing you are going to try to do? Share with us below and let us know.

If you have any questions for me in the meantime, I am always here to answer your phone call or email. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

What’s the Key to a Successful Real Estate Career?

Most people who get into real estate fail within the first couple of years, but I’d love to share with you the reality of what it takes to be successful and have a long-term real estate career. 

Did you know that 80% to 82% of all businesses fail within the first couple of years? That’s a lot, right? Only 3% of all businesses last more than five years. Having been in a real estate career since 1989, those numbers amaze me. 

How does real estate compare to other businesses, though? As a matter of fact, real estate agents have a bigger challenge—our failure rates is 87%. Why? 

First of all, I think people get into real estate because they assume that because they love homes, they must be a great agent. Real estate is not just about loving homes, though. We’re not buying them—we’re selling them. 

The first reason I think most real estate agents fail is they don’t realize that being a real estate agent is a sales job. You need to have great skills, be willing to get on the phone, meet with people, and build relationships. 

The second reason is most of them get into real estate because they want freedom. They already have a job, but they don’t want the same constraints as that previous job. What you realize if you have a successful business is schedules and processes equal freedom—not the other way around. If you talk to a lot of people in real estate, they’ll tell you they never have a day off or take a vacation, or if they take one, they’re on the phone the whole time. To me, that’s not freedom. A schedule is freedom. 

The third and final reason most agents fail is they don’t have a system or a process. 

If you’re thinking about getting into real estate and you’re excited about it, I’d love to share with you the reality of what it takes to be successful and have a long-term career. Real estate is a great career. Like I said, I’ve been doing it since 1989, and I love it every day. However, it’s not about houses—it’s about people. 

If you’d like to explore real estate or just discuss business practices, I’d love to chat with you. Just give me a call and let’s make this year the best ever. 

Why Is Exceeding Expectations Important?

Exceeding expectations is important. Here’s why.  

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There are times when a person or business does something really nice for you and it’s expected, like a birthday or anniversary present. However, “just because” presents are even better. When you aren’t expecting it, a present can mean so much more because it was a surprise.

We’ve recently been at this beautiful resort in Thailand and have been experiencing wonderful opportunities to have our expectations exceeded. For example, I had a great massage today that included this really beautiful hair braid. It wasn’t much of a big deal, but it was an unexpected, happy surprise. When I got up with the braid and a flower in my hair, I felt even better and more relaxed than I already did.  

Whether you’re a business owner or not, make it a point to surprise somebody soon. Surprise multiple people if you feel like it. I hope something happy and unexpected happens to you in return. If you have any questions for me about exceeding expectations or about anything else, give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you.

How to Go From Working in Your Business to Working on Your Business

How can you go from working in your business to working on your business? 
Kadi Cole is here to explain.

We’re continuing our conversation today with Kadi Cole, the author of “Sticky Note Leadership,” about leadership. While you’re in the trenches in your business, it can be tough to find the time to properly lead your people and your business. We talked with Kadi a little bit about how you can remedy this.

According to Kadi, you either work in the business or on the business. Leadership is definitely an “on the business” topic. If you’re used to being the one who works in the business, working on the business is a completely different realm. There is much more focus on leadership. Those tasks that you are used to doing on your own will need to be delegated. Leadership is a very different skill set but an important one if you want to maximize the potential of your business. 

The transition is a process. If you’re completely in the business and want to get to working on the business instead, you’ll need to start building a team. When you’re working on your own, it’s hard to spend more than 10% to 20% of your time on the business. As your company grows or you grow in leadership, those percentages should flop. A CEO should be spending 80% to 90% of their time on the business and only 10% to 20% of their time in the business.

Kadi says that the best leaders have a really unique ability to keep an eye on the organization and the vision of what’s ahead. Great leaders spend a lot of time projecting what is to come and less time focusing on past mistakes. The real key is the development of your people. It’s those people who represent the company every day. It’s important to invest in them early because they are the ones that will truly help move your business forward.

These are some really great tips from Kadi. If you haven’t picked up a copy of her book yet, do it. It will change the way you lead your business. 

If you have any questions in the meantime, don’t hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. I would love to hear from you.

The Key to Having Breakthroughs in Your Business

Goal setting and achieving is essential to creating the life you want to live. Here are some goal-setting tips that I use regularly.

Big goals in your business should equally excite and scare you. Often, your subconscious is nervous to try something new once you set those big goals. This prevents you from making breakthroughs. There are a few different things that I do to get into that growth mindset each day.

One of them is writing my goals down and reading them aloud each day. Once you repeat these goals to yourself enough times, you’re going to want to take action. Dreaming is not enough; you actually have to take action towards your goals. The action can be directly related to your goals, like calling past clients, or something that will inspire you or help you focus on your health. Anything that creates positive energy, really.

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If your goals don’t scare you, they aren’t big enough.

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You’re going to hit a slump at some point, but what are you going to do then, give up? Here are a few things you can do to rekindle that fire:

• Put on some music that inspires you to get out of your own head and into action.
• Pick up the phone and call someone who is supportive of your goals.
• Tell every positive person in your life about your goals.
• Read great books and listen to great material to motivate yourself.

If your goal doesn’t scare you, it’s not big enough. Think about your goal and then take some action toward it. Let’s see what you can create.

If you have any questions for me in the meantime, give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you.

The Key to Mastery

What skills do you want to master in 2017? Experts say that it takes 10,000 hours to master a skill, but I have a few tips to help you master anything you want faster.

Today I want to share some thoughts on mastery. Let’s say I wanted to take up golf. Experts say that it will take 10,000 hours to master that skill. For the typical person, that adds up to 10 years. Who has the patience for that? I’ll give you a few tips to help you master anything you want faster. The biggest challenge most people face is trying to master too much at one time. Pick out one thing that you want to accomplish this year and focus on that. The mastery process can take you ten years or you can put in twice as much work to cut that down to five years. If you practice the skill four times as much, you will see mastery very quickly. 

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Decide what you want to master and put together a plan.

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First, decide what you want to master. Then, put a plan together to practice that task often. Then, you will improve, enjoy the process, and see the results quicker. Let’s say that you are in sales. You can work for 10,000 hours or 10 years to get really great at your craft. If you need to learn what to say to the consumer to get better results, you can practice that presentation once a day or you can practice it 20 times a day. If you practice 20 times a day, you will get so much better so much quicker. Make sure that you remove the temptation to take on a lot of tasks at once. Instead, simply take on the one that is most important at that time. Once you’ve mastered that task, you can move on to the next one and build a series of skills that you’ve mastered over time. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me. Now, let’s make 2017 the best year yet!

Apps to Increase Your Productivity

Looking to improve your real estate career? We're here to help you make a smart decision when it comes to growing your business, improving your bottom line, and choosing a place to work in real estate sales. If you'd like to learn more about working with The Treu Group, contact us at (561) 352-3056 or lisa@treugroup.com

The concept behind these great mobile apps is either to help you solve a problem or to make you more productive. Today I wanted to talk about my favorite agent productivity apps and demonstrate ways to use mobile technology to its full advantage in your career.

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Word Swag is great for
jazzing up your photos.

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1. Dashlane.  It really helped me solve password dilemmas. It securely stores all your usernames and passwords. It also allows you to share them while automatically updates any changes to anyone who has access to it.

2. Word Swag is great app for jazzing up your photos and making them a bit more interesting by adding or turning text into photo designs.

3. Slack. Communication with your team is critical, especially if you’re on the go. With Slack, you can communicate information quickly to the right people, and customize your communication in many different ways. As a it is a real-time messaging app, it also helps stop those annoying back and forth emails.

4. IF. This is a great automation app. As the mobile, on the go, complement of IFTTT, you can create “recipes” to assist you whether you want to schedule a drip campaign to go out at an specific moment, or you want to use it to showcase your Instagram account or maybe just sending weather reports; there are infinite productivity boosting features that can be created on this app.

5. Fiverr. Let’s say you need some design work done or a creative email written. You can accomplish either of those plus a whole lot more on Fiverr. There are a lot of talented individuals on this site that would love to do special projects for you.

These are just a few of my favorite agent productivity apps. If you have questions about any of them, or anything else at all, don’t hesitate to give me a call or send me an email. I look forward to hearing from you soon!

Why Should You Start Planning for the New Year Now?

Looking to improve your real estate career? We're here to help you make a smart decision when it comes to growing your business, improving your bottom line, and choosing a place to work in real estate sales. If you'd like to learn more about working with The Treu Group, contact us at (561) 352-3056 or lisa@treugroup.com
Hey there, let me be the first to say “Happy New Year” to you. No, I haven’t lost my mind. The activities you are doing today will determine your success on January 1. Today I want to help you think through what you’re going to do in October, November, and December so that you have a great 2016. 

The first thing you should do is go to your calendar and mark down all the days you have commitments during the holiday season. Hopefully, you have about 20 days a month or so that you will really be able to be focused, present, and action-oriented.

Then, we want you to come up with an overall plan. Who are you going to contact and what are you going to do to achieve your goals?

Finally, you’ve got to come up with a good business plan. Determine your goals for 2016 now, because it’s time to create the plan of action to get you the results you desire.

We are doing all of this right now at the Treu Group, and we hope you follow our lead so you have all the success you deserve throughout 2016.

If you have any questions for us, or need some help getting started on a business plan, give us a call or send us an email. We would love to hear from you!

Business Tips from Shark Tank's Mr. Wonderful

Looking to improve your real estate career? We're here to help you make a smart decision when it comes to growing your business, improving your bottom line, and choosing a place to work in real estate sales. If you'd like to learn more about working with The Treu Group, contact us at (561) 352-3056 or lisa@treugroup.com

Hey everyone, thanks for joining us once again. I actually just returned from visiting with Kevin O'Leary, better known as Mr. Wonderful on ABC's Shark Tank. He gave me some great tips for me and other business owners and entrepreneurs out there. I want to share a few of my favorites with you today.

The first tip I want to share with you is to never pass the buck. If you make a mistake, own up to it. You're human, we all are, and we all make mistakes. When you own them and fix them, that's how you learn.
Another tip he offered was that service always trumps price. How many times have you gone to a place like Nordstroms and paid more than you would at another place because of the service you receive.

Mr. Wonderful said that it's very important to be accessible. If you are in sales, you already know this. You must answer your phone when someone calls, otherwise you might miss out on a sale. 

Here are a few of the tips I received from Mr. Wonderful:

• Great Businesses

• Prepare to make life-balance sacrifices.
• Have knowledge about everything that they are selling.
• Put customers and shareholders first.
• Love what they sell.  Have a passion for their product or service.
• Use technology to make themselves more efficient.
• Understand that business is global.

• Great Leaders

• Understand who is in charge of what area of the business.
• Delegate, delegate, delegate.  Don't take it back, don't second-guess your team.
• Don't procrastinate when you need to make the hard decisions. 
• Life is not fair, especially in business.
• Business is war.  There are winners and losers.

If you have any questions for myself or my team, feel free to give us a call or send us an email. We can't wait to hear from you!

How Bad Do You Want It?

Looking to improve your real estate career? We're here to help you make a smart decision when it comes to growing your business, improving your bottom line, and choosing a place to work in real estate sales. If you'd like to learn more about working with The Treu Group, contact us at (561) 352-3056 or lisa@treugroup.com.
Now that it's 2015, I want to do something special over the next few months. I am going to share with you some tips that I wish I would have known when I was a brand new agent or business owner. The first thing I want to share with you is a question: How bad do you want it?

What is "IT"? Your goals and dreams, your ambitions. Do you have goals and dreams that inspire your passion and pull you out of bed every morning? If not, you may need to take a look at your goals and find out what it is you truly want. 

If you are struggling with doing work on the days you don't want to, you may not be in alignment with what you are trying to work towards. If you have any questions, or would like some advice on the topic, I am just a call or email away. You could even post your thoughts below if you feel so inclined.

What Can You Do to Earn More Money Without Working Harder?

Looking to improve your real estate career? We're here to help you make a smart decision when it comes to growing your business, improving your bottom line, and choosing a place to work in real estate sales. If you'd like to learn more about working with The Treu Group, contact us at (561) 352-3056 or lisa@treugroup.com.

Regardless of the industry, mastering the art of lead conversion is crucial to a successful business. We came across a recent study and pulled some tips from it so you can work smarter, not harder, and convert more leads.

• Call your lead immediately: By calling web-generated leads in 5 minutes instead of waiting 30 minutes, you increase your chance of converting that prospect by 21 times! If you call in 5 instead of 10 minutes? You're 4 times more likely to have success. It's simple - if you have a lead, call them soon!
• Know when to call: Not all days are equal when it comes to lead conversion. The study found that Thursdays are best time to qualify a lead. If you don't call your lead within 5 minutes, the best time to reach them is on Thursday from 4 pm-6 pm. Calling during this time increases you chance of success by 114%!
• Communicate: The number one complaint clients make is that agents don't communicate enough with them. You need to consider your client's needs and address them accordingly. Know their preferred method of communication - whether it's text, email, phone or in person.

For more detail on this great study, you can read the study here. 

Try using these tips and see if they work for you! As always, we're available to answer any of your real estate questions. Give us call or shoot us an email - we'd love to hear from you!

Know How to Adapt to Your Clients and Grow Your Business!

Looking to improve your real estate career? We're here to help you make a smart decision when it comes to growing your business, improving your bottom line, and choosing a place to work in real estate sales. If you'd like to learn more about working with The Treu Group, contact me at (561) 352-3056 or lisa@treugroup.com. 

Today’s topic is one of my absolute favorites; you may or may not have heard about the DISC assessment. If you’re listening or reading this, you should take it! This will give you the opportunity to find out what you love to do and what energizes you. This is not about skill or performing a task; it’s about knowing whether you will love, thrive and do something at a high energy for a long period of time. How can you use the DISC assessment in your professional and personal life?

The DISC assessment is compiled of four personality traits with the first being “D.” This stands for dominance. A dominant person has an “I can do it” attitude, they say it like it is and are very blunt. However, they get things done!

The second letter in the DISC assessment is “I,” which stands for influence. This is the type of person that gets people to buy into a vision, follow them and is most likely the life of the party (or the party may not even start until they arrive). They are really a great person to have in your professional and personal life.

The third letter, “S,” is something we all need in our life. The “steadiness” personality type is our supporters and the people working behind the scenes. These people make sure that you get through things together but need to come from a place of understanding.

Our final letter in the DISC assessment, “C,” stands for compliance and tend to be more analytical. The compliant personality trait ensures that tasks are properly taken care of, they are thorough and accurate.

We need all four of these groups in our life and we all have these forces, but it is a matter of to what degree. What controls our actions, attitudes and beliefs? Does it really matter what you are? Honestly, no; the goal is to understand the assessment and learning how to adapt accordingly to friends, family and clients. If you are working with a client who is a “C,” you would need to be more prepared than normal and the same goes for a client who is a “D;” get to the point! 

Knowing your clients and picking up on who they are upon first meeting is essential. How do you this? Well, your “D” and “I” clients are going to be fast moving, typically won’t need to think things over and will have most likely have made a decision before your conversation is over. Don’t apply this to your “S” and “C” clients! They require more time and if you push them too hard, they will retreat. Allow them to absorb the information and even supply them with information ahead of time. Your “I” and “S” clients are all about relationships and care about who’s involved! “D” and “C” clients want everything done and done quickly!

If you haven’t taken this assessment, take it immediately! Play the game and get to know somebody. You want to create the most comfortable environment for your client which in turn will generate more business! If you need help, I’m just a phone call away. Thanks and have a great day!

Leads, Listings and Leverage: Know Where Your Business Comes From!

Looking to improve your real estate career? We're here to help you make a smart decision when it comes to growing your business, improving your bottom line, and choosing a place to work in real estate sales. If you'd like to learn more about working with The Treu Group, contact me at (561) 352-3056 or lisa@treugroup.com.

Leads, Listings and Leverage: Know Where Your Business Comes From!

Today I wanted to talk to you about leads, listings and leverage. As you are probably familiar with, I am going to apply the triangle exercise to leads, listings and leverage. In order to have a successful business, you need to have leads. Listings (or whatever your business may be) and leverage follow after. The problem is that we all want to have leverage, but that would create a very unstable business.

Our starting point has to be leads. Every year, I analyze the sources of my business so I know where to invest my money and my time. To increase your business in 2014, the first thing I want you to do is analyze your 2013 business. Did they come from the internet, were they a “sign” call or did they come from past clients and friends? The bottom line is knowing where your deals and income were generated from. Once that is established, you will know where to allocate your time, energy and marketing dollars.

Take a look at your business, create a plan and generate a lot of leads! If you have any questions, give us a call at (561) 352-3056. We are happy to help!