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Ron White is one of my favorite comedians. He is irreverent with a very quick wit. So, naturally, when I saw the title to a post on Active Rain called “You Can’t Fix Stupid” by Ron Barnes, I just had to stop by.
I don’t want to spoil his thunder, so I can only say that if you want a laugh, take a minute to read it yourself. If stupidity were illegal, we’d have one less agent right now!!
If you’re not a member of Active Rain, you may not be able to access the post(s) mentioned above. So sign up for Active Rain now. If you’re not a member of Active Rain, you should be anyway.
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Personal safety is an issue for everyone, but it is even more critical for real estate professionals. You end up putting yourself in more situations that could have a bad outcome than the average person.
I know what it’s like to have that sinking feeling that you might end up a statistic. For example, in another life, I was in a very small office on an almost deserted floor in a downtown building of a big city, with a coworker. We were waiting for a potential client to arrive when there was a knock at the door.
It was a “gentleman” selling something. My coworker very politely listened to part of the man’s speech, then told him that we weren’t good candidates for [whatever he was selling] and that we needed to get back to work.
I’ll never forget the feeling that came over me when the gentleman stuck his foot in the closing door and announced with a glare: “I’m not finished yet!”
I found myself looking around for a weapon because there was no way out. The gentleman was standing in the only exit. Was my briefcase heavy enough to knock someone out if I swung it with all my might? Would one blow buy us enough time so both of us could get out of the room?
I was lucky that all the gentleman asked for was our attention while he finished his speech, then walked away down the hall. But, I knew it could have been a lot worse.
So, I can imagine how you feel when you’re walking into a stranger’s home for a listing presentation, or holding an open house and something about the situation makes the hair stand up on the back of your neck.
RISMedia just published a company profile for a firm called MyForce. I haven’t used the service and I’m not endorsing it. But, the company describes its service this way:
“MyForce is a personal security service you put on your smart phone and your family’s. If you sense danger, you can send an alert with a touch of a button. We listen to what’s happening, track your position and send help—allowing emergency responders to find you and your loved ones faster and with more precision.”
So, with the touch of a button, you are connected to a real person who works in a monitoring center. This is a big advantage over calling friends or coworkers. What would a friend do in a tense situation? They’d probably want to stay on the phone with you for support, but they really need to call for assistance.
And, they’d have to know where you were to send help, but you’re not sitting neatly in an office, you could be anywhere.
RISMedia is also offering a discount on the MyForce service. Visit the RISMedia page on the MyForcde website. Then if you decide to try the service, use the promo code: RIS.
The last suggestion to improve personal safety that I thought was fairly clever was where offices had a code word for trouble. If an agent got in a touchy situation, they’d call the office under some pretext and use the code word.
That’s great if it’s all you’ve got. For me, if there was something lots better, I’d sure look into it.
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This guest post was written by Jess Wagner of Military Homes,
where you can list or search military home listings.
All too often real estate professionals think of self-promotion as the seedy underbelly of industry blogging.
That misconception alone can steer people away from investing time and resources into a blog that provides quality content and an opportunity for customer interaction and connection. The reality is that self-promotion is a crucial step to sustained success.
And it doesn’t have to be a four-letter word.
Instead of fake smiles and overbearing arrogance, there are simple ways to promote your blog and your knowledge without coming across as a self-important egomaniac.
Most people don’t like talking about themselves — and they’re usually even more apprehensive when it comes to discussing what they do well. Granted, there’s a slightly different mindset when your livelihood depends on selling yourself.
But understated, effective self-promotion still requires an appropriate balance. Tilt too much toward arrogance and you’ll turn people away. Refrain from showcasing your strengths and achievements and risk missing a chance to underscore your credibility to prospective customers.
There’s also an ultimate recognition that you’re only as good as your last post, your last referral or your last closing.
Here are five methods for self-promoting
and boosting your credibility without selling your soul.
Read More→
The Secret to Writing Great Headlines
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If you are reading this post because of the headline, then you know the secret is working! When you write a blog post, you want something to attract attention so that people will actually read it. When you’re writing a landing page on your website, you want the same thing. So, you wanna know the secret?
It’s really pretty simple – you just need to know where to look!
If you’re not familiar with a website called Copyblogger, you’re missing out on a wealth of information. And, for writing headlines, you’ll find some very helpful information that has been written in simple English. The authors also include examples, which I find to be extremely helpful when you’re learning a new concept.
So, to find the secret to writing great headlines, visit this page at Copyblogger. You’ll find a list of 11 articles, all of which are great resources. Some of these will help you to understand why you need great headlines. But, if you look at numbers 7, 8, 9 and 10, you’ll find many ways to write effective headlines along with examples of how to make them work for you.
Enjoy!
Point2 Agent IDX is Here!
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The Point2 Agent IDX is now available – sooner than I thought it would be!
Here is an excerpt from an email I received today:
Agents
Point2 IDX: $29.99 per month.
Point2 IDX + MapTracks: $59.98 per month.
Brokers
Point2 IDX: $59.99 per month.
Point2 IDX + MapTracks: $109.98 per month.
It gets even better! Right now as a special introductory offer, Point2 is waiving the setup fee. That’s right, a $0 set up fee (regularly $199 – $499 USD) for Point2 IDX.
This offer won’t last forever – only till July 31st, 2010.
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That pricing is, as promised, very attractive.
If you want to know whether the Point2 IDX covers your MLS, check out the home page at Wolfnet’s website, MLSFinder.com. There is a list down the left column of that page that lists all the MLS organizations that are included.
If you’ve never had a 3rd party IDX MLS search, you should know that there are rules and paperwork involved in obtaining any vendor’s search. What a surprise!
Some MLS organizations restrict access to an IDX search to brokers only. Other organizations allow either an agent or a broker to display an IDX search on their websites.
All MLS organizations require paperwork to be completed so that they can keep track of who and where their MLS feeds are being displayed, even if that display is coming from a third-party vendor like Point2.
If we can assist you in taking advantage of the new Point2 Agent IDX, call 888-716-2418 or send an email.
