The question every client asks, implicitly or explicitly, is "Why should I hire you?"

This question stumps most real estate agents. I am not so sure the industry answers that question either. The industry teaches professionalism as a supporting tactic, not the central theme.

If you look across the...

I was speaking with an agent the other day (let’s say her name is Allie). She said she is committed to being a $30mm/year agent. But she is not. It’s just a good idea.

“No,” Allie said, “I really do want that, am capable of that, and it would make a difference.”

I said, “Well, that sounds to me li...

I have been saying this for over 20 years: Why is summer so hard?

Rather, why is summer so hard as a real estate agent? If I asked my wife if summer was hard, she would look at me funny. Her job as a physician is, quite frankly, not impacted by the seasons. In other words, every day feels the same,...

“You don’t improve your life by doing more. You improve your life by doing less of what doesn’t matter.” - Cory Allen

On one of our practice calls this week, one of the participants said, “What else should I be watching or doing?”

She was responding to another program she had signed up for free th...

The 13 Virtues are about being a professional worth hiring. They are also components of trustworthiness. Virtue #2 - Being Authentic - If you are not being authentic, your clients are almost certainly not going to trust you.

Why?

Because if you don’t know who you are, then they don’t know who you ...

Here’s a question to hurt your brain - and possibly your ego:

Why don’t I listen?

If you could not take that personally, then you could consider the following:

What would happen, or what would be available, if I did listen? What am I missing when I am not listening?

Of course, that leads...

I have several thoughts running through my head this week, given the three cities I was in, plus all the calls I had in between. As always, you - the agents on the court, doing the business - give me the material each week. 

The first set of observations from the week was the following: 

• How can...

In the 1950’s, Leon Festinger coined the term ‘cognitive dissonance’, which is the mental discomfort you feel when your beliefs, values, or actions conflict with each other. Human beings also don’t want to be wrong or look dumb. It helps explain why people sometimes defend choices they already know ...

I have a lot of opinions. 

In fact, the more opinions I have, the more worthless they are.

How could I know everything about everything? Of course, I cannot. I just keep thinking I can. 

Today, I want to take a deeper look at opinions. 

There are at least two kinds of opinions I want to explore....

Almost every agent has faced this situation: your seller client prices their home at whatever number they believe it's worth - regardless of the market data.

It goes the same way with buyers: “We believe the home is only worth $750,000, so we will start our offer at $695,000,” they say. Meanwhile, ...

Last week's email was written from the Starbucks by my house. I write there every other Saturday morning because our house cleaners come at 8 am.

Sometimes there is a homeless person hanging around out front, sometimes they are inside. Sometimes, there is a not-totally-homeless person on a chair cl...