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Your Competition is Everybody

By Mike Bidwell | July 5th, 2011 0 Comments

The problem is that often we fall into the trap of comparing our performance to other estate agencies who offer a similar range of services in a similar locality.

We are forgetting an important point and that is that our customers are comparing us with the courier who delivers on time, the hotel that makes sure there are fresh flowers in your bedroom or the coffee shop which always remembers your favorite drink.

There is a danger in getting caught up in the “we’re better than everyone else at doing what we do” when the reality is that your customer doesn’t necessarily see it that way. I’m not saying that your market share graphs key performance indicators are worthless, however, when you think in terms of the bigger picture of your brand, you are being compared with everybody that your customer does business with.

If we are as keen to succeed at the highest possible level as we say that we want to be then we have to be as dependable as the light switch on the wall, as friendly and efficient as the waitress in the best restaurant you know and our overall service as good as everyone out there – in short, the best customer experience that our customer ever had.

REMEMBER: Today’s customer is more knowledgeable than ever and, very importantly, better connected so it’s never been easier to communicate those experiences – good or bad!

Thought For The Day

By Mike Bidwell | June 30th, 2011 0 Comments

A rudderless ship and a purposeless person are eventually stranded on desert sand.

The goals you set for yourself — like the rudder of a ship — will guide you toward your destination, and without them, like a ship without a rudder, you’ll find it impossible to stay the course. Make goal-setting a habit in your life. If you sometimes have trouble staying focused, set small, attainable goals and stick with the job until it’s done. Examples might include finding a faster, more efficient way to do a routine job. Or taking the most difficult jobs first when you have the most energy and your concentration is at its highest level. Save the easiest jobs for last. A few small successes will inevitably lead to bigger achievements.

OPP Asia – Exhibiting Intelligence

By Teressa Francis | June 24th, 2011 0 Comments

In 2009, Intero International Franchise Services, LLC. embarked on expanding the Intero® brand throughout Asia and the Pacific Rim. Today, Intero has solidified its presence in the Asia Pacific region providing investors with the knowledge and access to international real estate markets. With these new ventures, Intero has created relationships with many successful magazines in the Asia Pacific region such as Overseas Property Professionals (OPP). These relationships allow us to republish respective articles/blogs and share other resources.

The Overseas Property Professional (OPP) magazine is the only monthly print publication dedicated to companies and individuals working in the overseas property industry, and addresses issues that are most important to international agents or developers.

The below article is republished with permission from Geoff Hadwick, Editor of Overseas Property Professionals Asia. Read the entire June issue here.

OPP Asia – Exhibiting Intelligence

Events are a tried and trusted route to finding new buyers in any market, and the overseas property industry is no exception. A wide variety of real estate and associated events are springing up across Asia. What is the best way to approach events and how should you tell the market what you have to offer? OPP talks to the experts to get a list of valuable do’s and don’ts. Find out how to show yourself in the best possible light.

For wealthy Asian investors “property remains their favourite way to spend money,” says Gu Shiqi, general manager of the Shanghai YUBO International Exhibition Company, which organises an annual China International Luxury Property Show.

“China has definitely become an international residential real estate market of great significance,” he adds, “as demand climbs rapidly in line with the ever-increasing wealth of the Chinese people.”

And the overseas property markets know it. They are welcoming this flood of money with open arms. Japan, for instance, recently eased its visa application process for Chinese mainlanders, and property agents all along the western seaboard of North America are recruiting Chinese-speaking sales staff to help convert sales.

“It has become a popular option among affluent Chinese to buy properties abroad when they seek safer and better-yielding assets,” said Stephanie Zhang, project director with Shanghai Kuntai, which has organised property shows in Shanghai since 2009.

“More and more Chinese people seem to think about owning an overseas property in places like Japan, often purely for holiday use,” she says.

“China is a very, very hot market right now,” agrees George Betz, director of Worldwide Shows and Events, which is a partner in organising an overseas property show at the Beijing World Trade Centre in April 2011. “It is a country full of dollar millionaires and billionaires. They want to find a safe haven for their money and there is a fantastic opportunity right now to help these high net-worth individuals buy property abroad.”

Betz finds that Chinese investors prefer known cities like London, New York, Vancouver, Sydney or Paris “where they know what they are getting, where they might want to settle one day, where they might want to start a business, or where they might decide to send their children to be educated.”

“And with ever-rising incomes, more Chinese people are starting to focus on their quality of life,” said Bunny Wang, director of International Properties at Colliers International, a major real estate services provider. “It’s natural for them to look at purchasing houses abroad, often in less congested areas, to cater for their holiday and even retirement plans. And the return ratio on overseas property can be as good as about 5% to 6% a year.”

International property exhibition expert Xavier Wiggins, a partner in the Fortune Real Estate Group, could not agree more.

“Now is absolutely the right time to start focusing on the overseas property markets if you are an agency based in Asia,” he told OPP.

“In many ways, we are right at the start of what is going to be a massive market for the Asian overseas property sector. And at the beginning of every market, people will turn to the obvious places and buy where they feel their money will be safe. In the UK, for instance, when people started to invest in homes abroad, they went first to those countries they knew and understood best, like Spain and France. It is just the same in China.”

And, as with any new boom market, there will be an explosion in the number of events. Overseas property professionals need to be careful not to waste time and money.

World cities like London and New York will sell, and resort opportunities in countries like Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia are going to be successful too.

It seems inevitable that the market will expand very quickly to markets like Brazil and Egypt and into other parts of the UK, outside London.

“And the key to selling these new opportunities is to have a sensible and credible rationale, and to work hard at meeting potential investors,” adds Betz.

For Wiggins there are many ways to exhibit:

• One-company seminars where you have a captive, invited audience;

• Multi-exhibitors shows, the traditional route;

• Single-company exhibitions and road-shows;

• Golf shows;

• Boat shows;

• Lifestyle events.

“Don’t try to be too clever,” says Wiggins. “Go wherever you think that the target buyer might be. Be smart. Do your own thing. Make sure you know what you are selling and why and make the benefits as simple and as clear as possible.”

He recommends thinking laterally too. Why not consider showing your wares in a shopping centre or any other suitable meeting point.

“And don’t just think customers,” he adds.

“Think about developing new trade partnerships, about influencing the press, about the business-to-consumer (B2C) market as well as the business-to-business (B2B) angle.” You will achieve more if you try on as many different fronts as possible he argues.

And before you book anything, seek advice. A good checklist before booking your presence at any event should include:

• Talk to previous exhibitors who have attended the event in question in the past;

• Negotiate on price and the fringe benefits you will get as an exhibitor … most organisers are amenable to this approach;

• Pick the right position on the floor-plan;

• Get involved in the seminar programme (if there is one) and volunteer speakers;

• Check how long the event has been in existence;

• Find out how it will be marketed;

• Does the organiser plan to do anything new on the marketing, or to try some new approach?

• Be a promotional partner … get involved in marketing the event to your own database … and seek some form of reward or incentive from the organisers for doing so;

• Are the visitor numbers audited independently?

• Who verifies and profiles the audience?

• Try to have a front-facing stand;

• Make your stand open and accessible … don’t put people off or make them feel daunted about approaching you at the event … don’t have closed doors or closed off sections on the stand … draw people in and be welcoming;

• Don’t let people just take brochures off your stand … make sure that they have to talk to your staff and leave behind their contact details;

• Have lots of things to do on the stand … create talking points … start a dialogue;

• Look popular with seats and sofas for people to site and chat with you;

• Create a little bit of theatre and look like you are enjoying being there;

• Consider an informal uniform for your staff … don’t just wear boring business suits;

• Don’t over-promise and under-deliver … tell stand visitors when and how you will get back to them – and stick to the promise.

Effective Coaching…in four easy steps

By Mike Bidwell | June 20th, 2011 0 Comments

Step 1: Preparation

Whether your coaching is done on the spot or at scheduled times you should first understand the situation and the person as well as the person’s strengths and weaknesses. This is best achieved through positive and direct observation. Look for the impact that this behavior is having on other team members and their ability to achieve their personal goals.

Step 2: Discussion

As you prepare, be clear about the purpose of the discussion, the important issues and the consequences of not addressing those issues. When you’re properly prepared, you’re empowered to develop improvement strategies, overcome performance problems and to enhance existing skill sets.

Step 3: Active Coaching

Start coaching as soon as you have understood your candidate and have an effective personal coaching plan in place. A good coach will offer ideas and advice and explain these in such a way that the recipient listens intently, feels motivated and appreciated and then compelled to act.

Step 4: Follow-up

Ongoing behavior, activity and results MUST be monitored if the candidate is to stay on an improvement trajectory. This requires knowing what’s going well AND what’s not going well. Follow-up on a regular basis is a great opportunity to praise progress and to maintain coaching where it is needed. If an agreed action plan needs modifying, then a follow-up meeting is the place to do it.

And remember:

Sometimes the coach needs coaching – don’t be afraid to seek personal guidance and direction from elsewhere because when you take on the coaching role you are taking on a task of great responsibility…to yourself and your candidate. Coaching is an interactive process at all times as you seek to solve performance problems and develop capability, after all, this is what makes it so worthwhile.

Where are the Chinese buying right now?

By Teressa Francis | June 17th, 2011 1 Comment

The Overseas Property Professional (OPP) magazine is the only monthly print publication dedicated to companies and individuals working in the overseas property industry, so addresses the issues that are most important to international agents or developers.

The below article is republished with permission from Geoff Hadwick, Editor of Overseas Property Professionals Asia. Read more in the full version of the June issue.

Where are the Chinese buying right now?

America’s National Association of Realtors recently reported that investors from China are the most likely overseas buyers for US homes valued at $1 million and more.

For instance, Joyce Rey, executive director of US agents Coldwell Banker Previews International, says US upmarket homes are “growing in prominence as the destination of choice” for Chinese real estate investment, following close on the heels of other popular markets such as Singapore, London and Vancouver.

“Low interest rates and good price values after the financial crisis are offering Chinese investors with an attractive return,” Rey says.

Colliers International is seeing the same phenomenon in Canada’s Vancouver-West and Richmond region.

“Due to China’s continuous tightening real estate policies, we are expecting many more mainland investors to buy properties overseas in the future,” says Colliers.

The growth potential for property prices in Vancouver is expected to hit 20% to 40% in the following 10 to 30 years.

Similarly, figures from Savills show that buyers from Southeast Asia – mainly the Chinese mainland and Hong Kong – now account for 35% of all new development sales in London, making Chinese people the most active overseas buyers in the UK’s capital city.

According to Randall Hall, CEO of Savills China, the “recent tightening of (government) policy towards Chinese domestic property investments has led to an increased appetite for overseas real estate purchases.

And the strengthening of the yuan against major currencies in the past two years has also meant Chinese buyers could acquire foreign real estate assets at a bargain.”

Australia is popular too with Chinese overseas property buyers splashing out approximately Aus $71.5 million during the 2009/10 financial year, a rise of 72% on the previous 12 months of Chinese inward investment.

According to Colliers International “Chinese buyers spent Aus $30.8 million across 61 transactions in Brisbane last year, followed closely by Aus $29.3 million across 63 transactions on the Gold Coast. Colliers International Gold Coast research manager Lynda Campbell, who has been monitoring the transactions annually since 1990/91, says this is ‘”the largest spend recorded by China over the 20 years Colliers had been researching.”

Brinton Keath, Colliers International Gold Coast director of project marketing, also believes that Asian-based buyers are attracted by the affordability of tertiary education on offer.” Parents are buying apartments that their student children can live in whilst studying at an Australian University.

And, closer to home, Chinese buyers in the Singapore property market have grown significantly in number from last year, according to agents DTZ. “In the second half of last year, mainland Chinese buyers represented a record-breaking 20% of non-Singaporean buyers in the market,” says DTZ. This puts them on par with the Indonesians as the second largest group of non-Singaporean buyers in the city after the Malaysians, who top the polls with 21%.

Hope is not a strategy…

By Mike Bidwell | June 14th, 2011 1 Comment

The title of Rick Page’s bestselling book has been a mantra of mine for quite a while now. Although it’s an excellent read, the book actually focuses on his six ways to win a complex sale. My own interpretation is somewhat more profound.

I spend a great deal of my time talking with estate agents – some might think that’s not a particularly exciting occupation but the fact is that I find it absolutely fascinating. Sometimes frustrating but always interesting.

Most of the time, agents have a pretty rounded view on life in general and what’s going on in the wider economy but when you get onto the subject of the property market both in terms of what it’s doing (or not doing) right now and where it’s headed, the viewpoints become altogether more diverse.

The last week has been a case in point. I have driven over 1500 miles seen a variety of single and multiple office businesses and two industry leaders who represent approximately 1000 estate agency offices between them.

Why did my ‘hope’ mantra come to mind?

Well, I spoke to one agent over the phone at the start of the week who really annoyed me. “Mike, it can’t continue like this, the market simply has to get better.” We’re doing everything we can; all of the things that helped us get through the last recession. We’ll be alright in the end and I predict that everything will pick up again soon and next year will be the real start of the recovery” or words to that effect.

As I said, spending time chatting with estate agents can be frustrating!

After that low point, the week got progressively better:

On Wednesday, I met two absolutely superb agents, both much younger than me but each spoke with total pride, passion, enthusiasm and considerable knowledge as they shared their own exciting plans for the future… with an end game in mind.

There was not an ounce of ‘BS’ in anything that they said. They didn’t try and pretend that the market isn’t challenging but they spoke with calm assurance and confidence on how they were going to manage it. How they were identifying outstanding people to come and work with them and how they intended to help develop these people into top producers.

I’m coming up to my thirtieth year in our wonderful profession and I could have listened to these guys for hours. Hope…they filled me with it!

The two industry leaders that I spent some time with are amongst the most highly regarded and respected that I have the pleasure to know. We shared our views on the market and I could sense that they were experiencing much the same diversity of views as myself.

They each work with agents who are not just surviving but are thriving in the current environment. They both deliver considerable value to their networks but also endure mild exasperation when their agents fail to embrace those opportunities preferring instead to do the same old things, and then moaning that life is so tough and that nobody is trying to help them.

To polish the week off perfectly, I spent a day with a man who is on a mission! Someone with energy and vision and the capacity to think outside the box. I was totally enthralled by his strategy that was based upon collaboration, leverage of services and a win-win outcome. I have no doubt that this is a strategy that will become a reality.

And finally…. what about a thought for those who have the hope but not the strategy? Well, if they really are stuck in the past then how about a quotation that dates back about fifty years:

Neither a wise man nor a brave man lies down on the tracks of history to wait for the train of the future to run over him. ~Dwight D. Eisenhower

If

By Mike Bidwell | June 6th, 2011 0 Comments

IF you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream – and not make dreams your master;
If you can think – and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ‘em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
‘ Or walk with Kings – nor lose the common touch,
if neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And – which is more – you’ll be a Man, my son!

- Rudyard Kipling

Thoughts on Leadership: ‘The Sheen Factor’

By Gino Blefari | June 2nd, 2011 0 Comments

Last week, our Intero leader in Fremont, Rishi Bakshi, forwarded me a powerful video that shares an important leadership lesson from motivational speaker Craig Valentine. In it he talks about using “The Sheen Factor” to keep your personnel feeling fired up, appreciated and involved.

Valentine is the President of The Communication Factory, an award-winning company that helps organizations embrace change. As a motivational speaker, he has spoken in the United States, Taiwan, Canada, Jamaica, Qatar, England, Bahamas, Hong Kong, China, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Australia, giving as many as 160 presentations per year. He is the 1999 World Champion of Public Speaking for Toastmasters International, winning out of more than 25,000 contestants in 14 countries.

In the video I saw, Valentine discusses the most important principles for building relationships and influence, which he learned back in 1993 while sharing a golf cart with actor Martin Sheen.

Valentine worked as a production assistant on a movie called “Major League II.” There he met Martin Sheen and immediately went into fan mode. But even though he was an ordinary production assistant, Martin Sheen treated him like he was a champion and made him feel important. Eight years later, Valentine and Sheen crossed paths again when the speaking champion had the honor of introducing Sheen at an event in Baltimore. Unfortunately, this time Martin Sheen was not as inviting.

When Valentine met his idol for the second time, he was a world champion public speaker, but Sheen treated him like a lowly production assistant. That’s why today Valentine talks to people about having what he calls “The Sheen Factor.” To him, The Sheen Factor can be summed up in the following sentence:

“When you make people feel visible, you’ll always be valuable.”

Too many people try to make themselves feel valuable but the key is to make others feel visible. Don’t look through them, look at them. Here are four ideas to make people feel visible and practice the Sheen Factor:

Listen much more than you talk.
Strive to be interested rather than interesting.
Understand that the most important person in the world is whoever you’re talking to at that moment.
Let people tell their stories.

Craig doesn’t walk around trying to show people he is the champion. Instead, he reminds people that they are the champions. “When it comes to leadership,” he says, “don’t go around trying to show your own importance; walk around reminding people of theirs.”

In the words of Craig Valentine, “If you want to be absolutely invaluable to your group or to any group you’re with, then you face reality, you relinquish what’s in the way; you rely on the people, not by showing your own importance but by carrying the ‘Sheen Factor’ and reminding them of theirs.”

Click on the video below to watch more on Craig Valentine and “The Sheen Factor.”

Thought For The Day

By Mike Bidwell | June 1st, 2011 0 Comments

Before trying to master others, be sure you are the master of yourself.

When you develop a Positive Mental Attitude, you immediately set yourself apart from the crowd. You become a leader because positive thinking leads to positive action, while negative thinking leads to apathy and inaction. When you take the initiative in any situation, others will follow simply because they like to associate with people who know where they are going. In order to lead, however, you must first be willing to discipline yourself. The first rule of leadership is never to ask others to do what you are unwilling to do yourself. You can lead only by example. Being a leader requires you to work harder and longer than the others and proving you are the master of your own destiny.

Wednesday Wellness: Team Work

By Tammy Parkinson | June 1st, 2011 0 Comments

I just finished a book by an unknown author I bought in a rush at Borders in their “Going out of Business” sale. It was an impulsive buy because it was only $4 and I thought, “Hmmm, can’t go wrong with this one!” You know those sales…you just have to have it!

It ended up being one of the best books I have read in a while! The theme wrapped around basketball (a sport I knew little about until recently), but more importantly, it was about teamwork and the power of believing in each other.

Team, however, can be more than a basketball team; it is family, friends, coworkers, business transactions, workout groups, and virtually anything involving at least two people. Team is about supporting each other through all obstacles and becoming vulnerable enough to depend on someone else. Team is about a relationship where someone else can believe in your word and your actions even when they feel like they themselves are drowning.

In the coaching work I do as well as the athletics and supports systems I am lucky enough to be involved with and observe, I see the greatest strengths lie in those who work together and count on each other. It only works though when you do what you say when you say you are going to do it and you earn the trust of your team mate(s).

When I see weight loss clients struggle, those who they trust help them because of their belief in each other ~ the same with a client reaching a fitness or lifestyle goal. In this life, we rarely achieve success (whatever that means to you) alone, it’s through the support of those who realize your goal and are there to help move you along the way.

As many of you know, I am a cyclist and lately we’ve encountered some heavy winds on many of our rides. When we have this kind of wind, it’s beneficial if we “draft” off of the rider in front of our bike’s wheel. To do this, you need to ride about a foot or so (if not closer) to that rider. Let me tell you, learning this is a bit scary, but it is all about trusting your team mate in front of you and their team mate in front of them. Together however, if everyone communicates, we expend quite a bit less energy. The front of the pack leader gets quite a workout however, let me tell you!

When you look at birds in the sky, they form a “V” to create a similar dynamic of force and energy expenditure. If you are able to watch the birds for a while; they will rotate their leader so none of the birds get too tired. Again…teamwork!

Look at your team(s), your support group(s) and get in touch with the power that is within your reach when you are in the game!

Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category

Your Competition is Everybody

Thought For The Day

OPP Asia – Exhibiting Intelligence

Effective Coaching…in four easy steps

Where are the Chinese buying right now?

Hope is not a strategy…

If

Thoughts on Leadership: ‘The Sheen Factor’

Thought For The Day

Wednesday Wellness: Team Work

Gino on success

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