Like any skill or craft I’ve always found it helpful to remind myself and practice the basics. Juggling 1000 things at once I’ve found myself cutting corners, especially in my sales and marketing process… months go by and I wonder why business isn’t as good as it used to be last year???

“Oh, well it’s because of the economy…” <– it’s only an excuse!

Corner cutting starts with simply not “smiling” when on the phone or in person, then it moves into skipping the simple sales or presentation steps when previewing properties or during listing presentations. Cutting corners is cutting your commissions.

Luckily, you remind yourself, like I do, from time to time and practice the basics. For me, it starts with the simple “toastmaster” pitch process.

1. Tell them what you’re going to tell them
2. Tell them
3. Tell them what you’ve already told them

It’s a simple foundation template to any type of sales, presentation, or negotiation that can be adapted to any type of situation. Where I find it super helpful is when I take buyers out to preview properties.

1. I tell them how many homes well see today, where they are located, how much time it will take, and what my professional opinion is out of the bunch.
2. I stick to my agenda and do as I said, adapting along the way if necessary.
3. I wrap up over coffee, tea, or dinner; reviewing how many homes we saw, what homes they liked, and close with my professional opinion.

I find this process highly useful and valuable to my clients. It helps calm the nerves, gives them something to look forward to, and establishes confidence in me knowing I’m on top of the ball. Moreover, it’s highly impressive to buyers and allows me “not” to sign agent buyer agreements (which, I’ve found to be very bad for building quality referral generating relationships).

From time to time I like to remind myself and practice the basics.  It the easiest and cheapest way to jump start my business.

What do you do to “jump start” your business? I’d love to hear about it!