You need to start embracing the power of mobile advertising. Smartphone and tablet use are on the rise, and mobile is proving to be the best way to reach customers and get them to take action. Plus, since most consumers are using smartphone and tablets, they’re able to gain more information while on the go, perhaps while they are standing in front of your listing. Look at these statistics and see if Mobile Marketing is something you can ignore.

1. Adults spend more time accessing media through a mobile device than they do with magazines and newspapers combined.
2. The average response time to an email is 90 minutes. The average response time to a text message is 90 seconds.
3. 1 out of every 6 smartphone users will scan a barcode to learn more information..61% of smartphone users use their smartphone to make local searches.
4. By 2015, more people will access the Internet through a smartphone or tablet than a PC.
5. In 2011, the use of mobile devices to read emails increased by 34% while the use of desktop PCs to read emails went down by 11%.
6. In 2011, 7.8 trillion text messages were sent.
7. 8.91% of smartphone owners have their phone within 3 feet at all times.
8. The average person will wait 26 hours before reporting a lost wallet. The average person will wait 68 minutes before reporting a lost phone.
9. 62% of smartphone owners will use a search engine at least once every day.
10. 59% of consumers have been influenced by a mobile advertisement.

As Verl Workman is fond of saying marketing today is a beauty contest and a price war and you have to win both- Here is a great tool to help you win the beauty contest -Google Business Photos. 

This is essentially the same as Street View technology used in streets around the world - for your listing.  You can create a high-quality, interactive, 360-degree experience for your listing inside or out. For a quick example clickhere.

Users can now simply drag and drop an orange Pegman on the Map, on a business with available interior photos.  Businesses participating in the program are indicated by small orange circles on the map.

Doing so allows users to see a 360° panoramic view inside the listing.  It’s like a virtual walk through that can bring your listing to life on line. This could be either the interior of the property or a walk around the exterior. The process is simple. You can join the program by hiring a Trusted Photographer to shoot the interior of your listing. They are located around the country and you can search Google’s database of Trusted Photographers, orsubmit a requestif none are available in your area.

Using this tool your clients can walk around, explore, and interact with your listing like never before. Not only does this tool allow you to show people more of your property on line it allows more people to find your property on line.  These images appear on Google searches, Google Maps, and Google+ Local, and you can easily embed Street View on your own website, social media pages, and more!

For more information try http://maps.google.com/help/maps/businessphotos/index.html

Recently I was promoted to branch broker of our second-largest office. Sounds good on the surface, but dig a little deeper and it has actually been a challenging opportunity. I am filling the shoes of a longtime broker beloved by his agents who has chosen to retire.

People’s responses to change are varied, but tend to lean towards the apprehensive and fearful side of the spectrum. I’ve had to find myself reassuring agents that their world is not crumbling around them and that all will be well as I help them build and grow their business.

During this exciting and interesting week I had the opportunity to spend several hours with an agent I have been trying to recruit. Her story reminded me of the principle of abundance and the power behind it.

abundant blueberries image via shutterstock

This agent got her license four years ago. Yeah, right as the market was heading south, she jumped into real estate with both feet. She actually feels that she was lucky to get in when she did. As agents around her were complaining about the market, she didn’t know any better and just went to work.

She found an interesting niche in the market by partnering with the local high school’s sports programs. Armed with her love of photography, she started attending games and taking high-quality photos of the kids as they competed. She would then post these to her website and make them available free of charge to the kids and their parents to use. In addition, she supported the sports programs, sponsored the snack shack, and even created special books for the seniors containing their highlights. Both the kids and their parents love her; in fact, many of the kids call her mom!

I told this agent that instead of us competing against her in this space of high school sports, we wanted to partner with her and help her grow this to the next level. She looked me square in the eye and said, “Chris, the pie is big enough for all of us.”

pie image by Karynsig

There is a very powerful lesson in that statement. Not that I was trying to intimidate her with the thought of us competing against her, but she knew, without a doubt, that there was plenty of opportunity out there and that the pie was big enough for both of us. Immediately, I knew I needed to have this agent in my office, simply for her attitude of abundance.

My experience with this agent and the agents struggling with change reminded me of three important lessons:

1. You have to give before you get. You wouldn’t go to your bank to withdraw money you hadn’t already deposited, would you? So many agents think the business owes them something, when they haven’t made the necessary deposits. This agent made tremendous deposits in her community, and they’ve paid handsomely. She closed 33 transactions last year — just from the high school group!

2. “Be a baker, not an eater.” This quote is from Guy Kawasaki and takes the pie concept to a new level. A baker knows he can make more pies … an eater thinks there is only one pie. There’s freedom in believing that you can bake more pies. You increase your choices and opportunities with this outlook.

3. “In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” Albert Einstein knew a little something about facing challenges and finding solutions. The agent I am hoping to recruit is actually trying to create difficulty and change to find opportunity. She just let go of her assistant and team and is looking to make a change, all for the purpose of resetting and finding new opportunities.

Going through a change myself, I found the lessons she reminded me of to be both timely and helpful. I hope it struck a chord with you as well. Now get busy baking!

Growing up, I wanted more than anything to be a fighter jet pilot in the U.S. Air Force. Sadly that dream didn’t come true; apparently, I didn’t eat enough carrots growing up. I put my heart and soul into this dream and learned many lessons as I interacted with the Air Force via its ROTC program. One lesson that really stuck with me is the principle of “Complacency kills.”

That statement couldn’t be truer for all of the branches of the military. One lapse of judgment or awareness, whether in battle or even training, could have disastrous effects, the least of which could result in death.

Hence the phrase, “Complacency kills.”

Fortunately, in real estate, complacency doesn’t kill, but it certainly could cost you — or even more important, your client — thousands of dollars.

Recently one of my agents approached me with a question about the due diligence deadline on a contract where he represented the seller. As I examined the contract, I became acutely aware that the buyer’s agent had used an older version of our state-approved real estate purchase contract. This older version provided deadline extensions based upon notice to the seller of concerns and response from the seller to the buyer. This provided up to 10 additional days past the due diligence deadline, which might have effected the disposition of the earnest money. Thankfully, even with the additional extensions, the buyer had gone past the new deadline and our client would have collected the earnest money.

This could have turned out very differently though. My agent, unfortunately, had been complacent, and assumed that the contract was the current version of our state’s contract. It’s easy to look at these standard forms and assume they are the current version. If we are just glancing at what’s been written in blank fields and assuming that the rest is standard approved language, we are practicing a dangerous form of complacency that could cost our clients money, us money, and potentially even put our license at risk.

A professional thoroughly reviews a contract with his client. Had my agent thoroughly reviewed this contract with his client, he would have discovered that this was the old version of the contract. Instead, by not doing this, he and his client were obligated to the terms they signed on that outdated version.

It’s easy to assume that if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck it must be a duck. But making assumptions has no place when it comes to real estate contracts. Don’t let complacency “kill” your real estate career.

Imagine for a moment that you had $41 million to invest in your real estate business. Now imagine that another agent had $139 million available to compete against you in procuring closed transactions. With more than a 3-to-1 disadvantage, would you be able to generate as many sales or would your competition crush you with more available capital?

In 2002, this was the exact dilemma that faced Billy Beane as general manager of the Oakland A’s. With the aforementioned payroll of $41M, Billy’s A’s ranked 27th out of Major League Baseball’s 30 teams. Not only did he face a “budget deficit” when it came to competing against the New York Yankees’ $139M payroll (highest of the 30 MLB teams), but he had just lost star players Jason Giambi and Johnny Damon the year before.

At first glance, the challenge seems almost insurmountable, a modern-day “David and Goliath” tale. Surprisingly, Billy and his A’s did the unthinkable and won 103 games that year, the EXACT same number as the Yankees. Billy’s cost per win was a mere $397,000 compared with New York’s $1.34 million. The infographic below illustrates how Billy’s A’s consistently lead Major League Baseball in the last decade for the lowest average cost per win.

The “secret” Billy found was in focusing their resources, their strategy and their efforts on what really won games. To win games you need to score runs, and to score runs you need base runners. They focused on identifying players that got on base. They didn’t focus on the glitz and glamour of stealing bases. In fact, they found that stealing bases and bunting actually hurt scoring averages. Their in-depth study of baseball statistics is known as Sabermetrics, and was the subject of Michael Lewis’ 2003 book, “Moneyball,” which was a Hollywood hit last year starring Brad Pitt.

I had the chance to listen to Billy Beane speak recently and I would posit that the principles behind “Moneyball” apply not just to baseball but to other sports and industries as well, especially real estate. Let’s take some lessons from Billy Beane and apply them to our industry.

1. Know the statistics. Billy knew all of the stats for his players and team. Recently in a sales meeting I was shocked to find that many agents didn’t know the current market stats. Most surprising was they didn’t know how quickly our inventory was dropping, and in fact they actually thought inventory levels were rising, when they were actually down 14 percent.

2. Understand the statistics. Knowing the stats is just half the battle; the other half is understanding them. Billy understood that stealing bases didn’t improve his chances to score runs. Taking this back to real estate, what does the affordability index really mean, and why should it be important to a potential buyer? What is the impact to potential sellers as the months of inventory index continues to drop? Consumers don’t just want the numbers; they want to know what they mean to them.

3. Think outside the box. Based on the statistical analyses that he created, Billy believed that he could get a much better bang for his buck by drafting college players (which traditionally were viewed as less desirable than “superstar” prospects drafted straight out of high school and were therefore much less costly) if he could identify those college players with the right metrics that fit his theory.

More specifically, he looked for players with a high on-base percentage, which is a metric that virtually no one else was focused on at the time. And that’s exactly what he did. His 2002 draft, in particular, has been widely hailed as genius because he was able to sign a number of players who ended up proving his “Moneyball” theories to be dead accurate.

The point: Don’t waste your time or money on products and services that don’t have a positive return on investment.

4. The lesson. Billy simply could not afford to spend at a level that the Yankees did, so he chose to look at the game of baseball from an entirely different perspective. What are you doing now that is “traditional” but not very effective from an ROI perspective? Running ads in the paper? Spending a lot of money on homes magazines that don’t produce real results? The real estate industry is in flux and changing rapidly. Like Billy, step back and look for unique opportunities. Knowing and understanding the stats will help you find those opportunities — trust me!

You know that one of the highest complements you can receive is a referral from a former client who sees not only the great job but the value of your experience and expertise. Here are five tips to help you harness the power of social referrals; so that you can tap into a new, high-value marketing channel.

1. Make it easy - for clients to share your services with their friends. Include relevant sharing options (email, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc.).

2. Promote across channels - Leverage your social media networks,  —Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, etc.—to request referrals and encourage a high participation rate.

3. Increase participation with incentives - Give your referral network a compelling reason to share with their friends. This could be gift cards or charitable donations.

4. Make it personal - Providing a simple, personalized experience for referred friends ensures the highest level of trust and engagement. Ensure that your messages and landing pages are personalized, concise and have a clear call to action.

5. Use a Press Release - and send a Thank you note. Attached is the text of a Thank you note that you can cut and paste and send to former clients, reminding them of the great service that they received from you. Feel free to customize this letter- it can be used with or without a press release.

Social media gives you an enormous opportunity to foster your former clients to create an incredibly powerful marketing channel for referrals. Make sure you have all the success tools you need to make the most of this powerful marketing tool!

About a week ago, I had a young couple looking to buy their very first home come interview me. I was quite impressed they were actually doing an in-depth interview to find the right agent to represent them in such an important transaction. It was a welcome surprise, and brought back memories of my experience with a consumer focus group that NAR had me observe. Those buyers had realized they hadn’t interviewed potential representation and had simply gone with the first agent they met.

I was really impressed with the preparation that this couple had put in to asking the right questions. We spent almost an hour together and I enjoyed every minute of it. One of their questions was of particular interest to me. They asked me if I was willing to give up some of my commission if they found the home they wanted to buy on their own and I just handled negotiations and contracts. I explained to them that I was not willing to do that. I told them that where I earn every penny of my commission is in the negotiations, the contracts and in protecting them throughout the process.

I continued by explaining that very rarely do I even get involved in the home searching process, that buyers know what they want better than I do and that using the various online tools allow the consumer to do that quickly and easily. I also made the point that someone who didn’t feel their services were worth every penny and would give up some of their commission for the most important aspects of the transaction, probably wouldn’t be the best negotiator on their behalf.

Fast forward a week… I just got off the phone doing a follow up call with these potential clients. He hesitantly informed me that they had decided to go with someone else. I told them that’s okay and that the most important thing is that they found the right agent for them who would represent them they way they wanted to be represented. At that point he admitted that he had made a grave mistake and had not taken my advice. He told me that they had selected the agent willing to discount their commission and that already, within just one week, they were seeing what a mistake they had made. He confided that he wish he had gone with me and been more concerned with quality over savings.

While I am happy that he complimented me, and even said he planned to refer me to friends and family, I am so sad that once again a consumer has to learn the hard way. There is a difference between cost and value. Clearly this buyer is learning that while they saved on cost now, they lost out on long-term value, which may in the end cost them even more.

My reason for sharing this story is that I hope it helps you stand strong next time someone questions your value. Don’t ever discount your value!

There’s an interesting story from the Middle East I want to share with you. A dying man leaves his 17 camels to his three sons. To the first son he leaves half, to the second son he leaves a third, and to the third son he leaves a ninth. Well as the three sons do the math they find that none of their portions divide very well into 17 camels. Arguments ensue and before blood is shed they decide to consult a wise old woman who tells them she’s not sure if she can solve their problem, but instead she offers them her one camel, thus giving the three sons 18 camels. This gives the first son 9 camels, the second son gets 6 camels, and the third son gets 2 camels. Well… 9+6+2 = 17 camels, so the three sons return the 18th camel to the wise old lady!

In real estate, life, and in leadership positions I often find myself searching for that 18th camel. It’s interesting how we as humans tend to focus our time, energy and thoughts on the problem versus the solution. Getting to yes shouldn’t be as hard as we tend to make it on ourselves.

I used to work at The Little Nell hotel at the base of Aspen Mountain in Colorado. This amazing resort hotel is owned by the Aspen Skiing Company and is rated a 5 star/5 diamond property. Guests pay top dollar for just a standard (insert luxurious) room. With that, they expect amazing service (insert treatment). One of the challenges posed to us as employees was to never, ever tell a guest ‘NO’. This gave us the unique opportunity of always finding ways to say yes, or offering different options/solutions that kept us away from the dreaded ‘NO’. Unfortunately, that experience was many moons ago and I have sadly fallen away from the practice of always finding the yes or solution and avoiding the ‘NO’.

Much of the difficulty in getting to yes is our mindset. Lewis Pugh, who swam at the North Pole and also at the base of Mt. Everest (check out his TEDtalk), shares three interesting thoughts on the subject of mindset. First, there is nothing more powerful than the made up mind. Second, just because something worked in the past doesn’t mean it will work in the future. And finally, what type of mindset do I need to have to complete a task? Remember the three brothers and the camels – their mindset was focused on the fact that 17 camels can’t be dived by 2, 3, or 9… thankfully the wise old woman gave them an 18th camel, which she knew she’d get back!

This real estate market is ripe with opportunities disguised as problems. I would suggest that the most successful REALTORS® will be those that can find those elusive 18th camels!

I just got back from some meetings in Orlando, Florida. There are many beautiful golf courses in the area, and I had the opportunity to drive by Disney’s Lake Buena Vista Golf Course and see this phenomenal golf hole.

Surrounded by water and sandwiched between two sand traps, this hole could easily be summed up as “challenging”! But is it really? Interestingly enough, the green is no different in size than a standard hole without the water and the sand traps. In other words, it’s not any more difficult to get the ball on this green than on any other green at your local golf course.

Why then, when we look at this hole, do we automatically add the words challenging or difficult to its description? It lies with where our focus is centered. If we are focused on the goal or objective (aka the pin and hole), and not on the visual distractions (aka the sand traps and water waiting to gobble up your golf ball), it’s much easier to get the ball on this green. Golf course designers like to add these obstacles because they understand that the principle of target fixation will distract the golfer and increase the difficulty of the hole.

How often do we allow external challenges, like the water and sand traps, to cloud our vision and block our approach to our goals and objectives? By simply changing our target fixation and focusing on the desired results we can in effect block out the external challenges and chart a course leading us to success. It’s interesting to note the agents who are finding tremendous success in this market. They’ve been laser focused on finding opportunities and closing transactions despite the difficulties and challenges surrounding them.