Real Estate News

The Blame Game

In preparation for her interview on Pittard TV on 19 January, I read Susan Scott’s book Fierce Leadership. I read her other book Fierce Conversations many years ago. Both are excellent books.

To clear up any misunderstanding Susan uses the word “fierce” to indicate conversations that we must have – those conversations that if left unsaid can lead to a deterioration in relationships and a loss of morale and productivity. Fierce in Susan’s context does NOT mean aggressive behaviour.

Accountability is a topic I covered in my post in December 2016. Susan’s thoughts on accountability are worth adding to my post. Continue reading The Blame Game

The Seeds We Sow

“You reap what you sow. If you go through life sowing seeds of inconsistency, shortcuts, compromises, and minimum effort, then you shouldn’t be surprised when you reap a banquet of mediocrity. You are responsible for your decisions, actions, and results; therefore, if you do not like what you are reaping, quit blaming the world, and start sowing something else.”

It’s Not Rocket Science: 4 Simple Strategies for Mastering the Art of Execution
by Dave Anderson

Responsibility is the cornerstone of great leadership. When we take responsibility for our present circumstances, we hand ourselves the control to change those circumstances. We begin to sow the seeds of success. Continue reading The Seeds We Sow

Price Stock to Sell

It doesn’t matter how good your real estate marketing may be, if the property is overpriced it will not sell. So much real estate agency profit is lost through advertising properties that have little hope of selling. In this short real estate sales training session, real estate trainer, Gary Pittard, reminds us that price is a major component of marketing.

A Review Is In Order

As we approach the halfway mark of the sales calendar year, now is time to review your progress towards your goals. A good performance review will highlight any areas where your sales performance has been deficient and encourage you to take corrective action NOW. In this short real estate sales session with Gary Pittard you will discover practical tips on how to increase your listings and sales.

An Eye For Profit

“If you keep on doin’ what you’re doing, you’ll keep on getting what ya got.”

From a Sonia Lee song

Many real estate business owners struggle to make a profit from their sales departments.

Although the market is often blamed, my experience is that a leader who does not make profit in a ‘tough’ market fails to make a profit when the market improves. I believe that such leaders do not have an ‘eye’ for profit. Continue reading An Eye For Profit

The Open Door Policy

Are you the kind of leader whose door is always open to team members? In this short real estate leadership session, real estate management expert, Gary Pittard, describes why an open door policy might not be such a good idea. If your door is always open, you could be setting yourself up to micromanage, and to become a ‘substitute brain’ for your team. You might also be setting yourself up to be the fall guy when things go wrong.

Keep Going!

Persistence is one of my favourite attributes.

Set goals, plan, study, apply what you learn, and persist at the right actions. Do this, and success for you is inevitable.

My late friend, Bede Donovan, used to say, “Don’t quit before the miracle happens“. I heard him give this advice often to people who were discouraged with some endeavour or another. Continue reading Keep Going!

Professional Salespeople Are Leaders

In real estate sales there are ‘Closers’ and ‘Order Takers’. In this short sales session real estate trainer, Gary Pittard, explains the difference between Order Takers and winners. Professional Salespeople Are Leaders: winners first decide what is right for their clients and then they lead those clients to that understanding. Winners find out what is right for their clients and ask the clients to do it.

Get to the Point

Think about all of the meetings you have ever attended during your business life. Were most a waste of time, if not downright tedious?

Without doubt, you have attended many meetings where you felt like homicide if they didn’t end soon. Perhaps you are gentler than me, but I know I have. These bad meetings should make us resolve to never run a meeting that deteriorates into time-wasting.

Leaders should resolve to run dynamic meetings that lead to results. Continue reading Get to the Point

Six Must Do Survival Activities

A real estate business should never be about merely surviving, but every leader needs tools to help them through tough times, and to prevent tough times from occurring where possible. In this short real estate leadership session, Gary Pittard will provide you with Six Must Do Survival Activities, activities that are sure to keep you ahead in the real estate business.

Destination First, Itinerary Second

Think about the last time you planned a journey. Perhaps you are planning one now. Question: What is the first choice you make? Answer: You decide WHERE you want to go. You decide upon the destination.

Never would you plan a trip beginning with the itinerary – flights, hotels, transfers, tours. The destination is the first decision.

Planning a successful career is similar to planning a holiday: the destination comes first. Continue reading Destination First, Itinerary Second

Excuses Do Not Make Sales

The number one thing failing salespeople blame is the market. Great salespeople know how to survive and thrive in any market. Winners don’t look outside themselves to apportion blame. In this short real estate sales session, industry trainer, Gary Pittard, talks about eliminating excuses and holding ourselves accountable. Excuses do not make sales. They never have and never will.

Reinvention – The Spice of Life

Companies go stale. Keep doing the same thing for long enough and eventually the company loses its edge. A complete reinvention can do wonders for team enthusiasm, market awareness, and public perception. Reinvention IS the spice of life. Well, corporate life at least.

Branding

How long has your company had its current logo? It might be time for an image update. I don’t mean change your name, although it might need to be brought into the 21st century. For example, in September 2014 Pittard Training Group changed to Pittard. Having ‘group’ in a company name was fine in the nineties, but these days it’s just that – nineties. So out it went. Continue reading Reinvention – The Spice of Life

Reinvention – The Spice of Life

Could it be time to refresh your company’s image in the marketplace? Every company needs a good reinvention occasionally. In this short leadership session real estate trainer, Gary Pittard, explains the most important areas to consider when giving your company a good shake up. Reinvention is the spice of life, well, corporate life at least.

Choose Wisely

Life offers us many choices. We should choose wisely.

We can choose to be happy or sad. Spend too long being sad and it becomes a habit, and you can become a toxic person.

I know people who can’t wait to get upset about something – outraged even. They seldom ever say anything positive about anybody. Their arrogance is amazing: everybody but them is stupid.

And they’re always making themselves out to be victims. Everybody, it seems, is out to get them. No doubt you know the type. Personally, I get them out of my life as quickly as possible. Continue reading Choose Wisely

Finding Customers

The first activity winning real estate salespeople should focus on each day is lead generation. Finding Customers is a short real estate sales session presented by industry trainer, Gary Pittard, who explains the importance of moving prospecting higher up on your to do list.

Make Training Pay

Whether you use external training, use video or audio programs, or whether you or one of the team presents a training session, you must make your training pay.

By pay I mean that it should lead to results – listings and sales made because your team attended training. Leadership is the necessary ingredient to ensure a return on the training investment.

A dangerous pursuit

For many years I have witnessed leaders and salespeople saying, “We need something new”. This is a dangerous pursuit. My experience with such people is that they have never effectively used the ideas they have, and will not do anything more if they were ever given anything new. Continue reading Make Training Pay

You Don’t Have To Shout

A short real estate leadership session from industry trainer, Gary Pittard, explaining how shouting should be a leader’s last tool of choice. Bullies do not build great teams. Gary offers leadership tools that work. Intimidation is not one of them.

Coasters

People work in different ways and at different paces. It pays to know your personal work patterns.

Rare is the person who can work steadily for every working hour of every working day. Energy levels ebb and flow and work concentration ebbs and flows with it.

Many people are ‘Sprinters’ – they do focused work for finite periods and then coast for a while. If this is your work pattern, don’t beat yourself up, understand it and work with it. The trick is to ensure that your ‘on’ periods of focused work last long enough for you to get results. If they do not, you need more work spurts! Continue reading Coasters

Are You Under Pressure

Not all pressure is bad pressure. There is negative pressure, which should be avoided. But there is also positive pressure – the pressure we put on ourselves. In this short sales session, presented by real estate sales and leadership trainer, Gary Pittard, you will see that the pressure you put on yourself – pressure to attain specific high standards – can greatly reduce the occurrence of negative pressure. If you want to hurdle any business obstacle that comes your way, this short sales session is for you.