On To Fall

With the calendar turning the page to September, we also are preparing for fall. The summertime activities are winding down. In fact, this weekend signals the unofficial end of summer.

September is a transitional month. School is back in session. Football starts. Cooler weather is on its way.

Nevertheless, sales don't take a holiday, and now that we won't be so tempted to partake in summertime activities we actually should be more focused on selling.


For more information about my consulting, teaching, and coaching services visit my website at stevehoffacker.com. I also maintain a blog (Sales Quips) on the real estate network Active Rain, and you can begin participating in this great forum by visiting here. I also write and maintain blogs for Gold Coast SMC and Florida SMC. © 2010, Steve Hoffacker. All Rights Reserved.

So, Which One?

To make a sale, we eventually have to narrow the choices to just one so our customers can make a decision.

In my podcast message today, "So, Which One?" I provide some tips and ideas on how to arrive at this point.

We begin with one or more trial closes and then get to the final close as we eliminate from consideration those choices that are no longer viable in the customer's mind. We should a choice on just one out of two - never more.

By limiting the choices that customers have at any one time to two, we can let them select the better one, and if they are not ready to own that one, determine why, and then show them the closest thing to what they describe. Then choose the better one again (and again if necessary), until a sale is made - or we determine that it is unlikely to happen.

For more information about my consulting, teaching, and coaching services visit my website at stevehoffacker.com. I also maintain a blog (Sales Quips) on the real estate network Active Rain, and you can begin participating in this great forum by visiting here. I also write and maintain blogs for Gold Coast SMC and Florida SMC. © 2010, Steve Hoffacker. All Rights Reserved.

One Last Reminder

Yesterday, I called us to action with "The Big Push." Since I recorded a YouTube message on the same topic today, here is one last reminder to get it done while we still can.

Thanks.

For more information about my consulting, teaching, and coaching services visit my website at stevehoffacker.com. I also maintain a blog (Sales Quips) on the real estate network Active Rain, and you can begin participating in this great forum by visiting here. I also write and maintain blogs for Gold Coast SMC and Florida SMC. © 2010, Steve Hoffacker. All Rights Reserved.

The Big Push

Hasn't this been a fantastic "Summer Selling Season"? What began on July 5th has been 60-days of concentrated sales activity. By the time it's done next weekend, it will actually encompass 63-days.

Even an event such as this must end, and we are in the final days of it. We need to do all we can in the next few days to complete the "Summer Selling Season" in a strong wrap-up.

After the Labor Day weekend - the unofficial end of summer - more holidays and school activities are on the horizon for the balance of the year. We need to get it done now.

This is the time to pull out all the stops to complete sales, contacts, and appointments before there are competing interests for our customers.

In my podcast message today, "The Big Push," I encourage all of us to close the "Summer Selling Season " very strong.

For more information about my consulting, teaching, and coaching services visit my website at stevehoffacker.com. I also maintain a blog (Sales Quips) on the real estate network Active Rain, and you can begin participating in this great forum by visiting here. I also write and maintain blogs for Gold Coast SMC and Florida SMC. © 2010, Steve Hoffacker. All Rights Reserved.

There Is Nothing Like A Saturday

Saturdays are special days. I usually try to get up early and never go to be before midnight. Therefore, I get a lot out of each Saturday.

Unlike other days of the week, there are no imposing or pending deadlines. Even if it's a workday, it's different. The pace is more relaxed.

If we're showing property, our customers are more relaxed. They know that Saturdays are different as well.

Saturdays are for family, friends, cookouts, sports (playing and watching), chores, errands, maintenance items, working on the car or home, or similar activities.

Not everything we attempt on a Saturday has to get done. There's always Sunday, next week, and next Saturday.

Hope your Saturday was a great one.

For more information about my consulting, teaching, and coaching services visit my website at stevehoffacker.com. I also maintain a blog (Sales Quips) on the real estate network Active Rain, and you can begin participating in this great forum by visiting here. I also write and maintain blogs for Gold Coast SMC and Florida SMC. © 2010, Steve Hoffacker. All Rights Reserved.

Easing Off

Maintaining our effort and our output even when we have achieved various measures of success. is a real challenge. It is so easy to begin coasting and backing off when we hit our sales goal or make the money that we projected - when continuing the same type of effort will produce even greater results.

It just seems that we naturally want to take it a little easier when we hit our short term goals.

We no longer work as hard as we did to achieve the goal. We need to keep up the effort and continue to produce.

This happens in the sports world daily. Teams build a comfortable lead and then don't play as hard or they use reserve players.

In my podcast message today, "Easing Off," I caution all of us to maintain our momentum by keeping up our intensity level and our focus to keep performing at a high level.

For more information about my consulting, teaching, and coaching services visit my website at stevehoffacker.com. I also maintain a blog (Sales Quips) on the real estate network Active Rain, and you can begin participating in this great forum by visiting here. I also write and maintain blogs for Gold Coast SMC and Florida SMC. © 2010, Steve Hoffacker. All Rights Reserved.

Thursday's Thought - "Opportunity"

Thursday's Thought: Opportunity. Does every door provide equal access to an opportunity, or do we have to be careful which one we open? Things aren't always as they seem, and we need to evaluate every opportunity in terms of our long term strategies.

For more information about my consulting, teaching, and coaching services visit my website at stevehoffacker.com. I also maintain a blog (Sales Quips) on the real estate network Active Rain, and you can begin participating in this great forum by visiting here. I also write and maintain blogs for Gold Coast SMC and Florida SMC. © 2010, Steve Hoffacker. All Rights Reserved.

Slow Down

This post was more appropriate than I planned. I wrote it about my podcast message, "Slow Down," but the server on which I upload the podcasts was experiencing some technical difficulties - so I had to be patient.


Patience is the subject of the podcast.


We all need to exercise more patience. It is a trait that is very hard to to develop, but the more we work at it, the more peace we get. Instead of getting frustrated, angry, and irritated, we can relax with the understanding that some things just need to run their course. We can't hurry lines, traffic, return phone calls, or other events that are dependent upon someone else's participation.

We can't hurry servers, computer boot-ups, or browsers.


For more information about my consulting, teaching, and coaching services visit my website at stevehoffacker.com. I also maintain a blog (Sales Quips) on the real estate network Active Rain, and you can begin participating in this great forum by visiting here. I also write and maintain blogs for Gold Coast SMC and Florida SMC. © 2010, Steve Hoffacker. All Rights Reserved.

Don't You Just Love Stupidity?

In the business world, there are many things that are not as they should be.

Here's a couple of classic examples, and yes, I've ordered their "Stupid" signs for them.

Have you ever had an issue with AT&T internet service - with it going down? Well, when you call technical service and get put on hold for several minutes, their annoying recording keeps repeating, among other messages, that if you're having trouble with your internet service that you can go online and try to troubleshoot it rather than waiting to talk to a technician. Wow!

I have had issues with a couple of internet services that I subscribe to, and they don't publish their telephone numbers (I guess they would have more calls than they could manage). The only choice is to send them an email. They open a ticket, and you can view the progress of their response by logging into your account. Oh, the message? My login failed. That's OK. I can't login in so I sent an email reporting the issue and asking for help and your response is to login to read your response, good one.

For more information about my consulting, teaching, and coaching services visit my website at stevehoffacker.com. I also maintain a blog (Sales Quips) on the real estate network Active Rain, and you can begin participating in this great forum by visiting here. I also write and maintain blogs for Gold Coast SMC and Florida SMC. © 2010, Steve Hoffacker. All Rights Reserved.

Keeping Up

With all of the advances in technology, I wonder how the future might look as we go along. We certainly have seen many changes in recent years with things like the fax machine evolving into efaxes and emails and cassette tapes now going to CDs and DVDs.

There is a lot going on that we have to stay alert for.

Businesses need to change and adapt as well - as they use new technology or get bypassed by it.

The future will likely surprise us with new devices.

In today's podcast message, "Keeping Up," I remark about the way changes in technolgy are impacting our lives and causing us to adapt.

For more information about my consulting, teaching, and coaching services visit my website at stevehoffacker.com. I also maintain a blog (Sales Quips) on the real estate network Active Rain, and you can begin participating in this great forum by visiting here. I also write and maintain blogs for Gold Coast SMC and Florida SMC. © 2010, Steve Hoffacker. All Rights Reserved.