The impact of climate change is becoming increasingly evident through natural disasters worldwide. In my market alone, 2,700 homes were lost to wildfires, including three duplexes that I owned. Recent events like the devastating fire in Maui have left hundreds homeless.

How does this relate to real estate? Well, it's directly tied. Amid this destruction, we, as REALTORS, have an opportunity to step in and provide assistance. While it won't be an immediate transaction, it can help us build lasting relationships founded on genuine value.

So what's my suggestion?

Reach out promptly to your entire sphere of influence. Capitalize on the awareness generated by these incidents. Say, "Given the current wave of natural disasters, many clients have requested a quick update on their home value to ensure their insurance coverage is adequate. I've already prepared this report for you, and it took just a few minutes. If you're...

Hey everyone, have you ever found yourself in a lull, wondering how to make the most of your downtime? Well, I've got three impactful activities to supercharge your business during those quieter moments.

Let's delve into them:

Step #1 - Cleaning and categorizing your database.

It might not sound glamorous, but trust me, this is the foundation for success. Your database is like a garden, and nurturing it ensures fruitful outcomes. Get in there, organize it, weed out the unnecessary.

Begin by categorizing contacts into groups:

The A group: those who refer you business, your champions.

Then the B group: They've transacted with you but haven't referred yet.

Acquaintances form the C group: They know and like you, but haven't done business or referred.

Lastly, the D group: Reconnect with them or let them go. Don't keep dead weight.

Maintaining momentum, let's talk about building your database. The game has changed with...

Guys, 60,000 agents have already left the industry, and another two to 300,000 are projected to follow.

But here's why it's good news for us as REALTORS:

Each departing agent likely had one or more transactions last year. As they leave, those opportunities come back into play, and we have the chance to handle them as real estate professionals. So we can expect to get busier with each agent's exit.

However, there's an even bigger opportunity that most agents are overlooking:

Every agent who leaves the industry leaves behind a sphere of influence, a network of family and friends who may have some influence that we can tap into.

Here's what you can do:

Reach out to these exiting agents and express your condolences about their departure. Then ask them a quick question: Would they be interested in monetizing their hard work by earning referral fees? Since their license is still active, they can leave it hanging and...

If we look at the engine of your business, it's your sphere of influence.

Statistically, for every 10 people in your sphere, you'll average one closed sale.

But that's only if you stay in touch with them 20 to 50 times a year and have a good relationship with them. So let's go back to January 1st. Do you know how many people were in your sphere at that time?

If you don't, you don't have control of your business.

Now, fast forward to today. Have you grown your sphere of influence in the past six months? If not, your business may not be growing and could even be shrinking due to market challenges.

We can't escape market conditions by focusing on other things and neglecting our sphere. The key to changing your business's trajectory is to quickly increase your sphere of influence. You may be wondering how to do that. Well, here's a magic number to keep in mind:

The average American has 27 conversations a day. As REALTORS, we should...

Why aren't you getting more referrals?

The problem is you're not asking for referrals. You think you are, but you're not.

Let me give you a natural and fun way to ask for referrals that people love:

Think of your sphere of influence as your personal sales army. Imagine you recruited a hundred or more salespeople to work for your team. If you gave them an assignment, do you think they would bring you sales?

Of course they would. The reason they're not doing it now is because you're not giving them guidance as the sales manager.

So here's an example of what you can do: Send a mass text, email, personal calls, or even a video text to your sales army, saying:

“Hey guys, I'm really short on inventory right now. If you see a house with a preferred sale sign or a vacant house, could you quickly take a picture and send it to me? It could give me an edge in getting that listing. Thank you!”

Another idea is to...

How can every business owner that you know model McDonald's for building wealth? Well, you might not know this, or maybe you do, but McDonald's makes a lot of money selling hamburgers, but they make more money owning real estate.

Did you know that of the 36,000 McDonald's locations around the world, they own 70% of those locations and the franchisees are paying them rent?

See, they figured out a long time ago that the money is in real estate.

So when you're talking to your business owners that are in your database, friends of yours, family members, people that are your in sphere of influence that own a business, ask them this key question:

"Hey, have you ever thought about buying a piece of real estate and putting your business in that? Or maybe buying the building that you're in? Because one of the best wealth building strategies for retirement eventually for your exit strategy is to sell your business and then rent the building...

Here's a quick question:

Have you offered your concierge services to all of your clients?

First of all, what's your concierge services? That means that you are the point of contact for anything that has anything remotely to do with real estate, for all of your sphere of influence. And your farmer areas. And your social audiences. So in all those categories, I want those people to think of you when they need a plumber, an electrician, a carpet layer, etc. They're thinking about you before they think about anyone else because you're the main point of contact.

Now, how do you insert value so that they actually make that call instead of just Googling it? Well, here is the way you insert value:

First of all, you gotta talk about it and you should say something like this, "Hey, you may not be aware of this, but I want to act as your real estate concierge for anything that you have related to your house. Whether it's landscaping, a new...

Five things to do in the first quarter of the new year:

1. Refresh your brand

Refreshing your brand means getting new photos taken. Why? Because you are first and foremost your brand. So you need to get a new, fresh photo. You should do this every year, maybe twice a year. But that new photo is not just a straight headshot, it's multiple photos in different settings. Why? Because your photo is the most used branding element in your marketing arsenal.

But what happens when you don't do this? What happens is people then meet you and there's an immediate brand disconnect. There's an immediate feeling, at least at a subconscious level, that they've been deceived. If they can't trust you with your branding, what else can't they trust you with?

It's more important than you think it is. So get that brand updated and refreshed.

Also, look at your bio. So once you get this new photo, you're gonna update your bio for the new year. And...

There's one thing we've all done as human beings, living in the United States of America. I guarantee every adult has thought about this at some point:

They've thought owning a rental would be super cool.

Even if they're not homeowners yet, they've thought it would be nice to be on the other side of the equation — and not be paying rent, but also receiving rent.

So this makes for a great conversation. And there's something interesting that's happening in the world today, which we don't talk enough about in the real estate world, which is this:

A lot of millennials and the next generation of buyers coming in are being taught and embracing this concept that they don't want to own their own home.

They wanna continue renting their own home because they want a mobile lifestyle. And they wanna be able to move from New York to Miami to LA. They wanna surf around and have that mobile lifestyle, but they wanna own a couple rentals.

So...

I'm gonna give you some numbers that are just reality in our business that you should know. And these numbers are going to drive your success throughout your career — whether you like it or not.

Are you ready for these numbers? Here they are:

They may be slightly different for every person, but in general, across the country, here's what the numbers look like in our industry:

* For every 30 conversations you have, you'll average one closed transaction.

And I want you to remember this:

Almost every single transaction you will ever have in your career will be the result of a conversation you've had in the last two weeks. You want more closings? You're gonna have to have more conversations.

Here's another one:

* For every 10 sphere members you have in your database today, you should average one closing — assuming that you've made 20 to 50 contacts with them in the past year.

20 to 50 contacts will get you a 10 to 1 closing...