Last week Homes & Land had our Annual Business Conference where we were fortunate enough to have New York Times Best Selling Author Stefan Swanepoel as our keynote speaker.

Stefan presented findings from his latest book “Surviving Your Serengeti: 7 Skills to Master Business & Life,” where he uses animals from the plains of Africa as metaphors for personality traits and survival skills we use every day.

Is your greatest strength creativity under pressure?

Adaptable people-skills?

Or fluid communication abilities?

A couple years ago Stefan noticed how different animals used similar traits to survive in their environment too.

All of us have a “primary animal” – or set of skills we rely on in our personal and business lives.

Mine is the Communicating Elephant. I’m a good listener and good communicator and I do rely heavily on my communication abilities as a writer, marketer, and friend.

At the conference, Stefan told this incredible story about the elephants he witnessed in Africa. They have several different sounds they make with their trunks to communicate with the herd, their children, and interestingly – in mourning when a pack member has died.

The elephants stomp on the ground, which can be heard for 10 miles or more, calling the rest of the pack to join them in a somber “song” marking the passing of one of the herd.

When you know your animal – and the animal for those closest to you – it can help you understand yourself and how you interact with others.

More importantly, it can help you better understand your bosses, co-workers, clients, friends & family members by knowing what their strengths are and how they relate to the world.

Stefan worked with psychologists to develop an online quiz to determine your primary animal. Take it here.

The story Stefan unfolds in his book is an incredible journey into the Serengeti in Africa, and into your own psyche. It’s definitely worth reading! Pick up a copy here.

And tell us what animal you are.

With all of the hype around digital marketing, it can sometimes feel like you are behind the times as a professional if you use print marketing, but it still has distinct benefits digital marketing simply cannot deliver.

1. Use Your Home-Field Advantage – With the current trend of increased support of local businesses, this is your time to really network within your community. A great way to do that is through print marketing.

2. Give Your Customers a Little Extra Attention – Send your customers, whether longtime or new, a little something in the mail now and again. Let them know that you appreciate their business and remind them of upcoming sales, discounts, and specials.

3. Introduce an Entirely New Target Market to Your Company – There’s no debate that there is a different set of people who only stay abreast of things through digital and online means and those who prefer the “old-fashioned” way—physical books, newspapers, magazines—to using modern technology. So, instead of choosing one method over another, why not use both?

It’s time to redefine the benefits and usefulness of print media. It may not be hot, new thing in modern marketing, but it has stayed around so long for a reason.

Original Article

Sales expert Jeffrey Gitomer recently posted an article on a dozen things to have, do and be to make the right sale.

“Sometimes sales go wrong,” writes Gitomer. “And when they do, salespeople blame someone or something.

‘He wouldn’t return my call,’
‘he took the lowest bid,’
‘he bought from the competition,’
‘he said my price was too high’…

Well, you can PREVENT sales from going wrong.”
Here’s How

When you are being compared to your competition, do your customers see any compelling difference? In today’s environment, they must! If they don’t, your business is already in trouble.

Here are three simple but compelling qualities that will make your business stand out from the competition:

1. Make a great first impression - not only in person, but with your website and marketing too

2. Respond quickly – how quickly you answer the phone and return calls and emails helps you build trust with your clients and prospects

3. Go the extra mile – give/do the unexpected, and always over-deliver

It’s not always easy to stand out – but it is usually simple.

Ray’s Blog

“Objections are a good sign and you should actually look forward to them,” says Boe. “After all, if your prospect was not interested in your product or service, they wouldn’t be asking questions.”

Here’s how to close the sale.

(What you’re hoping for) – (What you get)

This might be the simplest possible explanation of customer satisfaction.

Dissatisfaction occurs when salespeople and marketers tend to try to amplify the first part (what you’re promised) while neglecting the second.

The ability to delight and surprise is at the core of every beloved brand (product, politician, teenager…). Overhype and shady promises will undercut that before it even has a chance to get started. Yes, of course you have to make promises to earn attention and trial. The mistake is when you put more effort into the promises and less into what you deliver. Promise a lot but deliver even more.

[One really important amplification: Research shows us that what people remember is far more important than what they experience. What's remembered:

--the peak of the experience (bad or good) and,

--the last part of the experience.

The easiest way to amplify customer satisfaction, then, is to underpromise, then increase the positive peak and make sure it happens near the end of the experience you provide. Easy to say, but rarely done.]

Credit reporting companies are starting to include payment histories in credit scores – which may help first-time homebuyers who have not established credit through traditional sources. It may also help consumers who have lost homes to foreclosure rebuild their credit.

These days, everyone can use a little help boosting their credit score so
share this article with your clients and prospects.

As far as real estate statistics go, one of the most useful and interesting is the housing affordability index. What good are sales numbers and prices if not put into context? The affordability index provides that context, telling us the percentage of homes in a given location that a family earning an average income can afford – by traditional standards.

The Housing Opportunity Index released earlier this month by the National Association of Home Builders and Wells Fargo shows that housing affordability was near its highest level in 20 years in the third quarter. A near-record 72.9% of all new and existing homes sold during this time were affordable to families earning the national median income of $64,200.

What’s fueling this feel-good statistic are major price drops in markets across the country and record low interest rates: two factors that obviously bode well for home buyers (especially first-time home buyers who aren’t depending on the same market conditions to sell a house). Interest rates on a 30-year fixed mortgage are still hovering around 4.2%, which means borrowing is cheap by historic standards. And while prices have stabilized in some markets, they’re still much lower on average nationwide than they were five years ago.

Buyers still rely on the expertise and experience of real estate professionals to find the right home, negotiate price and assist with the transaction process. Sellers are using agents more too. The Profile found that FSBOs accounted for only 10% of sales – and only 6% when you factor in sales between friends/family.

Graph from AGBeat.com

The Wall Street Journal reports that Internet home value services like on Zillow and Trulia can be 20% to 50% higher or lower than eventual sales prices. And since these online services have gained in popularity, consumers have used the estimates as factual basis for accepting offers, refinancing and remodeling decisions. Which hasn’t always worked in their favor.

The sites make estimates based on algorithms and collected data, but as WSJ contributor Alyssa Abkowitz reports, that doesn’t ensure accuracy:

“Appraisers and real-estate consultants say the online models can veer off target with alarming frequency. Most data for the models come from two sources: records from tax assessors and listing data for recent sales. Collection is a challenge, however, because not every county tracks properties the same way—some calculate home size by number of bedrooms, others by overall square footage. And automated models aren’t designed to account for the unique construction details that often make or break a deal, or for intangible factors like a neighborhood’s gentrification.”

Read the full article here.

HomesAndLand.com also has a home valuation tool, which advises consumers that it is not an actual appraisal and states: “Determining the most accurate home prices is best left up to a real estate professional.”