As I am writing this I am listening to the rain falling heavily on my skylights, the morning sky is still dark.  I have walked away from the television covering the devastation from Hurricane Katrina.  It is hard to imagine what people are encountering as they try to recover from this natural disaster.  You may be asking how this ties into Real Estate.  Well, I will tell you clearly how it does…

Just last week I brought up a topic to my networking group, the topic

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Have you all seen the commercials for Staples where they say “don’t you wish you had an ‘easy’ button?  Well, in fact, some genius has made that happen and they sell them in all of the Staples stores for $4.99!

I have to tell you, this has become my favorite new toy – I use it in most of my coaching sessions and   in our Real Estate office.  When you push the big red button, a booming voice says “That was easy”!!! 

So, how often do you wish that you h

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Yes of course it is, you say. But let’s look a little closer, looking at integrity from a different perspective. I want to address the idea of keeping impeccable agreements in both our business and in our personal lives. When you make an agreement with someone, be it client or friend you set a wheel in motion that needs to occur for you to experience completion. If that agreement is not kept or changed with that i

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This is such a great topic to really stimulate some introspection!  So, be warned, if you are not interested in looking deeper into yourself, you may want to stop reading here… and, if you have continued to read, you may want to get pen and paper and do this as you read.

A good percentage of most of mankind is not living to their fullest potential.  We tend to live in the “should” world more often than not.  Living in the world of “shoulds” keeps us feeling lifeless, li

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One of the first things I have my new clients do is create a mission statement designed to help clarify their intentions in their business. A nice byproduct of this exercise is that they will pull out a phrase that they can use in their marketing pieces which truly reflects their individuality.

So without further hesitation- grab a pen and let’s begin! Set aside 30-60 minutes when you can devote your full attention to this exercise. Turn on some relaxing music, get comfortable and hav

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This article began as preparation for a presentation I am set to give at a local bookstore. I was asked to talk about how clutter affects our lives and some solutions on how to eliminate it, hopefully forever. What came up next really caught me by surprise. Our house, which we have lived in now for about 2 ½ years is neat and tidy. Oh, don’t get me wrong, there are events that create major messes, but 99percent of

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As we work with our clients, it is very easy to become routine in the service that we provide. This applies to most all of us because if we look at our jobs closely; the majority of people are in a position to provide service in one form or another. As consumers, we all want to receive the best possible service available, so it only stands to reason that we must develop the same attitude when providing services to our own clients.

How typical is it to enter into a business relationsh

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I find it so interesting that when I am training, often times I hear things come out of their mouths that sound like one of those true “sales pitches”.   As if almost by default, these sales sounding phrases come flying out.  You know what I am talking about, the ones that agents have been taught will “overcome” a certain objection or “convince” the client to buy or list.  When they speak, it sounds like a perfectly OK thing to say.
When I ask them to put their consumer

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Oh my, Marilou is giving us a recipe for some yummy sounding French toast!  Well, I could, but I am not (unless you really want the recipe, in which case you can call me).  What I am doing, however is giving you another type of recipe – a recipe for your success. 

One of the main tools that I have developed is what I call my Quadrant.  It is a simple tool really and I have recently discovered, a very powerful one.  I have my agents and my clients use the quadrant to develop their lin

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Building quality business relationships is one of the cornerstones of business.  How we relate to our clients and to others will impact us not just in the present but also in our future business.

I think that we can all agree that having good communication skills is one of the key qualities towards building the type of relationships we are looking for.  What are the key components of good communication and quality relationships?

1. Be fully present when you are h
   
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In the midst of all the ideas received from the various trainers out there, how many of these are you implementing? How often do you really find yourself focusing on the client and their needs? How much of your creativity are you putting into your business? Do you feel a sense of fulfillment or a sense of relief when a transaction closes?

Answering these questions may give you a barometer of how you are being the best “you” in your business. We often find ourselves in a groove that ke

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The events of September 11 are still with us as if it were yesterday. Visions of towers, planes, fire- are all embedded in our memories. How do we then find the strength to move past such an event, to go back to the lives that we knew prior to this destruction?

As Thanksgiving is upon us, maybe it is time to look at what truly matters to us, not from just our individual perspectives but as citizens of America and as inhabitants of this planet. What responsibilities do we have in these

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