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.

TALLAHASSEE, FL (April 11, 2012) – One of the most anticipated seasons of ABC’s hit series, The Bachelorette, begins airing Monday, May 14. For the first time, the series was filmed outside the Los Angeles market. This season was filmed on the east coast near Bachelorette Emily Maynard’s home in Charlotte, NC. The show selected a luxury home in the area that contains all the touches and amenities associated with luxury living.

Viewers can now get a sneak peek both inside and outside the home from Homes & Land. While the home will be featured in the April Homes & Land of Union and Anson Counties Magazine, more extensive views are available online at www.FaceBook.com/HomesAndLand.

The 12,000 sq.ft. home is listed for sale by Mirium Peters of the real estate company of Peters and Associates. This downright dreamy estate is located in the Evermay gated community and sits on over five acres. With 5 bedrooms, 7 full bathrooms and 3 half baths, the 25 bachelors have plenty of room. This home was built in 2006 and has a Mecklenburg County tax value of approximately $5 million.

The European style house has a stucco and stone exterior with a four car garage, elevator and ballroom. The outdoor kitchen, pool and estate grounds provide plenty of room for the guys to relax between dates with Ms. Maynard.

Filming for the show wrapped up this week, so whether you want a sneak peek or may be interested in buying this $5.9 million estate you can take a behind the scenes tour at www.FaceBook.com/HomesAndLand.

About Homes & Land
For over 39 years, Homes & Land is the leader in providing quality real estate information to its readers through 40 million locally distributed magazines and its real estate website. Learn more at www.HomesandLand.com.

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

Clay Lehman is the grand prize winner of a free iPad in Homes & Land’s national QR Code contest. A real estate agent with Keller Williams of Kerrville (TX), Clay was one of thousands of entries from real estate agents and consumers nationwide.

The contest was designed to encourage QR code usage – inviting consumers and agents to scan the code printed in the magazine and fill out the entry form with their smartphone.

“QR Codes are the latest innovation in real estate marketing,” said Clay. “And Homes & Land makes it easy to include a QR Code in your print ad. In fact, I advertise with Homes & Land because of their state-of-the-art technologies to promote listings.”

Congratulations Clay!

Pictured left to right is Lisa Rodgriguez, agent; Martha Strickland, office secretary; Clay Lehman, agent (seated); Jason Patrick, agent; Dawn Lee Graves, publisher, Homes & Land of the Texas Hill Country and Arthur Mandry, agent.

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

A few weeks ago I had dinner with a friend who is struggling with new responsibilities at work. She’s the type of person who likes to finish her to-do list and gets stressed when things are left undone. I shared some of our time management tips with her and thought I’d re-share them with you too. Just in case you’re feeling overwhelmed:

• Modify your “To-Do” List
List the 6 most important things for next 2 days and assign an estimated time value to each. The total time should be no more than 6 hours. This leaves you plenty of time for each day’s surprises. Also, try to complete the most important thing by 11 am – that way you have more time and energy to focus on the unexpected when it does occur.

• Set specific times to answer email (and texts)
Set specific times to answer email, like early morning, at noon, and at the end of the day. If you’re constantly responding to email, then you are not managing your time, the people sending you email are. My friend said she needs to check her email frequently to handle emergencies throughout the day, but she could compromise and only respond at specific times, which will minimize the interruptions. Find a balance that works for you.

• Stop – If an activity does not yield business, why do it? Stop and do something else. The best business consultant ever, Peter Drucker, said we could stop 50% of what we do with no detrimental effect to our bottom line.

“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.

We also give you a choice as to where and how to display your listings within your Facebook account. You can post listings individually on your Profile page, or include all your inventory on a dedicated “My Listings” tab on your Business Page.

Now you have a third option. From the same “Social Syndication” section of the Homes & Land Control Panel, advertisers can choose to post select listings on their Business Page wall. This way your new listings are shared with everyone who “likes” your page – instantly.

Here’s How

(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.]