Not enough hours in the day....

I'm finding that 100 Days may not be realistic to have a sit down, face to face conversation with 100 potential clients. It seems to take days to get in front of one person. A tough lesson to learn but in this great age of technology that shouldn't be an issue. To the Flip Camera! I about to video my message and send it to my 100 so they can watch at their convenience and just let me know what they think. I am entirely married to the idea of having that sit down conversation with all 100 clients but it's just not looking possible to do in 100 days. Maybe that would be a different story if I didn't have to actually work my real estate job every day with clients who are currently in the process but fortunately that's not the case. The 100 is for future business but I can't let that get ahead of my current business. I mean, I gotta still be in business for the 100 to live up to their promise!

100 Agents?

I traveled to see my good friend Jessica at her local watering hole yesterday after work. We've been friends for a long time and I thought she was a perfect match for The 100. So as I was telling her my philosophy and plan of action she told me how much she enjoyed the agent that helped her find her first place in Charlotte. Whoops! Note to self: Remember to ask if the potential client has an agent already. I have done this in the past but blanked this time. Not only is this ethical but it can save me mental time in figuring out if this client is going to work. 100 Clients in 100 Days is no easy task. So lesson learned. I learned another lesson too. Even though she had an agent she was happy with, she really enjoyed what I had to say. As did her two friends sitting at the bar with us. I've got to remember that a big component to The 100 is changing the expectation of the general public and how they view Realtors and their value. This means that The Conversation is good for anyone and everyone to hear. I also realized something else. Jessica's agent may be like me!? Is it time to start making a list of agents that I could potentially partner with? Maybe so. Maybe so.

The Mayor just called......

Well, the major called me in the middle of a showing late yesterday afternoon. I told my client it was the mayor calling and he waved me off saying I better pick that one up. A little background on the mayor and myself. We have known each other for a long time and have a good relationship both personally and professionally. In fact his wife was a middle school teacher of mine. So he already knows my involvement and commitment to the community. He was calling to tel me that a position had opened up on the County Board of Adjustment. To be truthful, this is the first time I had heard of this committee so I listened to him briefly explain it to me. It sounded interesting so I gave him my gratitude and he told me he would have the committee chair call me in the morning to discuss the process. This is the first time I have been directly asked to participate in government affairs concerning real estate. Why now? On Day 23 of 100 Clients in 100 Days. Is it because the mayor is on Facebook and he is seeing me working away? Is he being influenced by the positive energy of a successful marketing philosophy? Could I have captured his curiosity about a Real Estate Social Network Experiment taking place in his backyard. Whatever the reason, the mayor called me directly to help assist in the direction of real estate for our fair city. That speaks volumes.

Everybody is Working for the Weekend

In the real estate industry weekends are used a lot to show properties and have open houses. Obviously these are usually the only days that a lot of clients have off of work to look for their future home. And any decent Realtor will help his clients out all day on a weekend if need be. However, weekends are coveted by most. This is when we play and blow off steam from the work week. This is when we can get together with friends and family and enjoy life. So do Realtors deserve weekends too? I'd like to think so. Obviously if this is the only time my clients have to look then I'm most definitely going to help them look. And my phone is always on to answer questions no matter what is going on during the weekends. But my banker isn't around or my insurance agent. Even my local Chick-Fil-A is closed on Sundays. So I know to handle my funds and my insurance before Friday at 5pm rolls around (and to grab that chicken sandwich on Saturday or I have to wait Monday). I would like to see real estate professionals get treated the same way. If questions can wait until Monday I think it should be common courtesy to wait until Monday. Or at least not expect a return call about the issue until 9am on Monday. Or maybe the fact that we are accessible when other professions are not is part of what makes real estate a personal business relationship and not simply a business relationship. Does the general public know deep down that having their Realtor answer the phone on Saturday morning is going over and beyond the call of duty. Or is it expected and when we don't answer the phone it's considering an insult and a reason to move on to the next agent? Since this is a blog entry I would love to hear some feedback on this thought as I'm not 100% sure about where I stand on this. I would like for the norm to be that you can get personal service from any industry 24/7 but is that realistic?

Shadow Inventory

As previously explained this is very much an experiment. And with all great experiments there are knowns and unknowns. My first unknown found me the other day. I was explaining the 100 Clients in 100 Days philosophy to a friend of mine. He was really excited about the idea and we ended up talking for about 2 hours. There was no doubt he wanted to be a part. So when I asked hi if I could promote our relationship on Facebook he answered back, "I don't think that would be smart of me." I was confused at first because my thinking all along had been, if you are down with this philosophy then why hide it? This experiment is more then helping out clients, it's about helping out Realtors and the real estate industry by spreading the word of how the real estate business is suppose to be performed and what should be expected by clients and Realtors both. And what kind of social network or open book of clients is made up of anonymous members? My friend's reasoning was pretty simple and straight forward. He is in an industry where he has multiple Realtors and real estate related professionals as clients. So for him it was a possible risk to his business to promote our business. Fair enough. So enter my new silent partners or as I call them, my Shadow Inventory!
Shadow Inventory is a term used for foreclosed and bank owned properties that they haven't yet processed or released to the general public for sale. This inventory is held back to help out the banks numbers each quarter. So similar to banks, these secret clients are here to help in this mini real estate revolution but you don't know when and don't know who they are.
Now the question is, do I count them in the 100? As I mentioned previously I feel that to put anonymous clients on the group would hurt the program overall. So I've decided to exclude them from the public but keep them in the 100 privately. So that means at the end of 100 days I will more then likely have 120 clients! Wow, this jog just turned into a run! They don't call them experiments for nothing.

100 Clients in 100 Days! That's Impossible!

That was the first thought I had. And the first comment to come out of my friends mouths when I told them my idea. But was it? The tell you in real estate that you need to contact your sphere of influence and let them know you are in the business. And that you can't sit around and wait for business to come to you. I'd say probably 10% of new agents do this. The other 90% conveniently forget. I will be honest. I did that kind of. I got into real estate in May of 2005. The market was booming then, the last real year that it was before the economy headed south. Everyone was just trucking along getting sale after sale and the thought of spending money on postcards and spending your valuable time on the phone just to let your friends know what you were doing now seemed like a waste of time. After all, you could be answering the phone for the latest lead or planning your next marketing effort for your listings. But alas, the basics always catch up to you. So here I am 5 years later. Struggling for business and watching people that I never reached out to using other real estate agents because I never had that initial real estate conversation with them. But it's not just my fault. In times like this it is obvious that the real estate model is broken. I was lucky in a sense that I wasn't in real estate for all of those glorious wealthy years. I'm not jaded. I've never become use to the big house and the boat payment. For the most part I still live like I did right out of college. So for me to step back and see things for what they are is a little bit easier then the experienced agents. These agents did it the same way for so long that now they are still trying to do the same things to make the business they are used to having. It's not working.