via www.texaplex.com

Pink Grammy Performance 2010! - Watch more Videos at Vodpod.

Click here for HD version.

via www.austinrisingrealestate.com

After months of development and market research, Austin Rising Real Estate is proud to announce the launch of its website, iPhone app and Facebook page

• Design.  These days a website is, as Bryan explains in his front page video, you're lobby so the look is critical.  It's not always easy to explain why, but when it comes to websites, you just know when one is designed well  
• Two basic lead generators are right up front:  Search and Market Snapshot
• The intro video does a good job of explaining how to use the site
• The blog is upfront so that Bryan can talk to his audience
• The forum is there too so his community can interact with each other
• Choice!  You can just use the search feature, read the blog if you want, or you could participate in the forum.  You could interact using Facebook (and are specifically asked to) or just follow on Twitter.  And if you're really a fan, you can tell people about it on Yelp.
• The blog has a short video interview with a local restaurant owner so Bryan is going beyond listings and creating great original content for his visitors.

Alright, yesterday I recorded a humorous take on the word salesman and started calling myself a salesfriend like Phil on Modern Family.  Today I had a great conversation about the word salesman with a broker friend and ask a more serious question in the recording.  Hit the play button above then leave your comments!

If you're one of Floyd's graduates, you know that he teaches a process to follow that is designed to match the psychology of the seller as you move through the appointment.  On its own it is very powerful and when you add visuals, it becomes even more effective.  The visuals however, are where nearly everyone trip up and that's my focus for this post.  The other day I told someone to think of their visuals as backup singers or dancers.  They are there to enhance you, but they can't do the show on their own.  For my students, I offer to look over their listing presentations and give them my honest feedback;  my #1 most frequent comment being: Use better pictures and dramatically fewer words.  What I'm trying to get the student to do is stop reading from a piece of paper or laptop screen and just make your point to the seller.  As a general rule, a seller can not read a screen and listen to you at the same time.  And occasionally I'll reference Steve Jobs as the master at creating presentation visuals and although he's not a hall-of-fame speaker like Floyd, the man can create some eye-catching images.

Business Week published a slide show that takes some points from a new book about what we can learn from Mr. Jobs.  If I've ever said to you, "Take all those words out of your visuals", maybe the article/slide show will help.  Note:  In the picture below, it's no coincidence he is standing in that exact spot.  See the text behind him?  Even though you're just at the kitchen table, have you put this much thought into your performance?  

Anyway, this is a topic I must write about more this year.  What are your thoughts?  Do you have areas you struggle with when it comes to the Listing Presentation?  Thought on how the points in the Business Week slide show translate into your own work?  Leave some comments and I'll get to work addressing them.

Salesman, salesfriend, consultant, whatever.  Call it what you want, just remember, we're all in sales so you are in fact a "salesperson".  Embrace it; be proud of it; and work to get better at your craft.  Now go close out the week strong graduates - and for the record, you can call me your salesfriend!  (PS.  If you're not watching Modern Family, you're totally missing out!)

When I first began my real estate career no one had phones in their cars, in fact, it was a big deal when the majority of my office got beepers!  Then, when we did get phones we used them sparingly and of course today we're at the other end of the curve.  Oprah wants to end all phone usage in automobiles and I think she's really picked a tough fight.  I've written before about how we are literally addicted to technology and that's the one part Oprah is missing.  She's taken a selling tactic similar to the defensive driving course I just took online that persuades against drunk driving - the horror stories, the interview with the mom who's daughter was killed, the crash scene pictures.  I certainly agree that using today's smartphones can be every bit as dangerous as drunk driving - it's the addiction to technology part that I think far outpaces alcohol addiction.  To be sure, I use my iPhone all day, everyday.  I have a glass of red wine every few days...maybe.  After the episode, I caught myself checking in on Facebook as I was driving, so I signed Oprah's pledge and committed to only use the phone for old skool voice calls and map features.  

So what do you think, can you do without your phone in the car?  It is possible to sell without a cell?  I've done it.  If you don't believe it's possible, just go ask someone who's been in the business since the very early 90s or before and they'll tell you.  Do you think our profession with an army of driving salespeople is positioned to join Oprah's campaign?  Would it be a good PR move for the industry?  Will NAR jump on the trend or will we just wait as states pass laws against it?

via www.psfk.com

Working at this cafe in Japan must be a blast every day.  It has one rule:  You get what the person in front of you ordered and the next person gets what you order, no exceptions.  Use the link just below the pic to read the story.  I would have to go at least once to experience it - would you go?  After reading the story I started thinking about real estate.  Every year that I've read NAR's survey of home buyers and sellers, they've reported the vast majority of sellers hire their agent either based on a referral or they rehire the agent they used before.  Yet in the daily world of an agent who's building a strong listing inventory, competition for the listing is common.  So think of this for a minute:  What if you got the commission that the agent who presented before you proposed?  In other words, the seller hears from all agents, then whomever they pic, the fee they charge is the same fee proposed by the agent that presented before them.  Would that affect what you charge or how you perform on the listing appointment?

Even better, what if your broker paid you the commission that closed immediately before yours?  Sometimes you'd get a really large commission, sometimes small, but mostly around the office average.  How would that affect teamwork?  Your standards?  Company production?  Awareness of how your actions effect the associate down the hall?  Just a fun little thought I was playing with this morning.  What's your reaction to/take on it?

Special thanks to Seth for sparking the thought! 

via live.gdgt.com

My briefcase just got a lot lighter when I travel! The new iPad plugs into a projector and has all the presentation software I need and it will be great for my Realtor students as well!  Imagine walking into a listing presentation and using this instead of a laptop.  I can still remember walking into a CompUSA one evening to purchase my first laptop computer.  It was a dull grey, very heavy Toshiba with a tiny low resolution screen and it took forever to boot up.  Yet, I was totally stoked to plop that down on the table during my next listing presentation.  I'm sure I'll be doing tons of presentations on the new iPad.  What about you?  Will you be getting one?  In any case, just remember, you are the presentation.  Not the screen - pretty as it may be!  For a quick lesson on designing masterful presentation visuals, click the link above to see screen shots from Steve Job's presentation.

Update: Apple's official iPad demo video.