FLORIDA 8-1-22

FLORIDA EDITION

HOW TO THROW A CLIENT APPRECIATION EVENT NO ONE

4

REASONS WHY MULTITASKING CAN ACTUALLY DERAIL YOUR DAY

Keeping In Touch–

HOW TO STAY IN YOUR CLIENT'S LIVES FOR THE LONG HAUL COVER STORY

WILL FORGET FEATURED AGENT

BRITTANY CHEEK

HOW TO BUILD A TEAM THAT WILL WIN BIG

NO MATTER ITS SIZE

MARY HAYWARD

FLORIDA EDITION

BRITTANY CHEEK

Cheek is a REALTOR® and Keepin 20 m who bootstrapped her way 7to is a p a Top Agent. Eight years ago, realtors easy for her starting out as an manage nt agent while caring for her son, contact maturely. In the time since, she Brittany thriving solo agency by making July, fo MARY HAYWARD BRITTANY CHEEK connections with her customers. of July ntly get told that they appreciate same n ty, my commitment, my drive,” heavily CONTENTS says. “It's really important that beyond 4) HOW TO BUILD A 18) 4 REASONS TEAM THAT WILL WINthey're is comfortable with who profess WHY MULTITASKING NO MATTER ITS SIZE CAN ACTUALLY or and BIG realize it is a relationship. the hom DERAIL YOUR DAY KEEPING IN TOUCH– st about14) selling them something. she alw HOW TO STAY IN 22) HOW TO THROW A finding the right fit for their of the h YOUR CLIENT'S LIVES CLIENT APPRECIATION EVENT THEbusiness.”

LONG HAUL NO ONE WILL FORGET also forFOR their (is) tha

ding her Phone own310-734-1440 fit within| Fax the industry, Brittany Brittany is grateful 310-734-1440 | www.topagentmagazine.com every mag@topagentmagazine.com transaction a learning experience, years, she would portion of this issue may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever without prior consent of the publisher. Top Agent Magazine years sheNois published spent onPublications a team haveprecautions boosted herthe accuracy volume double, as

by Feature GA, Inc. Although are taken to ensure of published materials, Top Agent Magazine cannot be held responsible for opinions expressed or facts supplied by its authors. subscribe or change send inquiry to mag@topagentmagazine.com. g skillsToPublished and heraddress, confidence.

Navigating put her goal of $20 m in the U.S. ts with clients has added to her market From there, Brittan e in that area. It all adds up to a rewarding focused team. e for customers and a fulfilling career for 2

Top Agent Magazine

mailto:mag@topagentmagazine.com

Top Agent Magazine

3

How to Build a Team That Will Win Big No Matter its Size In the real estate world building a team is a goal almost every agent strives towards achieving. Doing business with a team as opposed to solo has numerous advantages. With more agents handling clients as well as other employees specialized in areas such as marketing and administrative support there to assist you; you can greatly increase your business and sales.

4

So, when creating a team, logic would tell us that the bigger it is, the better, right? Wrong. When it comes to real estate teams, size doesn’t matter so much as the players you bring onto that team to work with you. A team doesn’t have to be big to win big, and here are the secrets to building a team that wins big no matter its size.

Top Agent Magazine

Top Agent Magazine

Hire the Right Team Members

Put Your Team Members in the Right Positions to Win

You’ve probably heard the saying, “you’re only as strong as you’re weakest link.” That idea holds true for any kind of team, including those in real estate. If you have weak members on your team, then it’s not possible to have a strong team. Drawing strong team members to your business is essential.

Finding strong team members is just one part of the equation. As the leader of your team, you now have to assess each member’s strengths and weaknesses and position them appropriately. You want the best player for each role playing that part and catering to their strengths. Choose your team member’s roles wisely, and place each individual in the position where their strengths can shine and they can best contribute to a win for the entire team. Every role is important to the team working smoothly and winning as a whole, so it is important to place each team member in the role most suited to his or her skills.

To better understand what kind of person would make a strong addition to your team, you need to ask yourself what skills and characteristics you want your team members to possess. The strongest members are often ones that share their leader’s values. When you share values with your teammates, you are all running along the same course towards the same goal as one. Your definition of a victory in this case is also your teammates’ definition of it. This helps strengthen even the smallest of numbers because you are all working together toward a common goal.

Another characteristic too look out for in potential team members is a positive attitude. You can teach someone the skills needed in real estate, but you can’t teach someone how to have a positive attitude.

Positive members tend to achieve more due to their optimistic nature, but more importantly, they spread that positive attitude to the rest of the team, which improves every members’ performance.

Top Agent Magazine

Communicating Your Vision to Your Team

Your team members are the key ingredients to ultimate victory, but what recipe do you follow now to lead them to victory? That is what communication is for a winning team; the recipe you will use to

Top Agent Magazine

5

help best utilize each team member and instruct them on how they need to work together to fulfill the recipe that will lead them to be a winning team. Your team members need to know the plan and you must give them the tools to successfully execute it.

It is up to the leader of a team to help your players see your vision and help them understand what a victory looks like. The goal may seem simple and obvious to you, but you must communicate it over and over again to your team members, so they understand it as well as you do. With different personalities coming together to form a unit, you are going to be dealing with numerous challenges such as competing agendas. You will find this on any team. You must keep the goal and at the forefront of your player’s minds in order to encourage them to put aside their own personal desires in order to come together as one cohesive, single-minded unit and push towards the team’s goal.

6

Give Your Team Members the Tools to Help Them Perform at Their Best The final thing all great leaders do is equip their team members with the proper tools and training needed for them to succeed. You have to show them how they can each come together with their different strengths to work as a team towards one unified goal. This involves more than simple skills training, but also endurance, so they can last as a team and win even those matches that seem unending and impossible.

Think of all the challenges that they could possibly face ahead, and clear their path to victory by giving them the necessary training and tools they will need to get past any obstacle. As the leader, you must be prepared to continually communicate the team’s goal and your vision. Use that vision to motivate your team members throughout the journey towards victory.

Top Agent Magazine

Top Agent Magazine

MARY HAYWARD

Top Agent Magazine

7

With eXp Realty, Top Agent Mary Hayward serves residential and commercial clients in Pinellas, Hillsborough, Pasco, Hernando, and Citrus counties—she is a relocation specialist, serving many clients who are moving from out of state.

Mary Hayward’s interest in real estate was first kindled early on working with her grandmother, a Marine and professor who did real estate part-time. Mary earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a concentration in Supply Chain Management and went on to become a C-Level Executive in Human Resources-Organizational Law before deciding to pursue her own career in real estate. When Mary moved to Florida to raise her grandson, 8Copyright Top Agent Magazine

she decided that a return to real estate would be the perfect solution for her. “Real estate was the most flexible career for me, allowing me to care for my grandson and still get to work with the public,” Mary says. The rest is history, and for the past 8 years Mary has been helping her clients achieve their real estate goals.

With eXp Realty, Mary serves residential and commercial clients in Pinellas, Hillsborough, Top Agent Magazine

Pasco, Hernando, and Citrus counties. She is a relocation specialist, serving many clients who are moving from out of state, and is certified as a National Association of Expert Advisors – Home Selling Expert Advisor and Home Buying Expert Advisor. An impressive 80% of Top Agent Magazine

Mary’s business comes from repeat and referral clients, a sure sign of the confidence and trust Mary inspires. “I work with my clients from the very beginning to the end,” she explains.

“I don’t use transaction coordinators or showing assistants; I provide 100% of the service Copyright Top Agent Magazine9

Mary is certified as a National Association of Expert Advisors – Home Selling Expert Advisor and Home Buying Expert Advisor—an impressive 80% of Mary’s business comes from repeat and referral clients. myself so they’re not passed on to anyone else.

If a client has a question, they know they can call, text or email me and I will respond. I also work later hours to serve my clients on the west coast.” In short, Mary says, “I’m always available!” Mary’s mission statement includes: Providing superior counsel to her buyers and sellers through leadership, experience, and knowledge. Engaging in honest, loyal, and ethical business practices. Maintaining an ongoing commitment to serve her community by contributing her time and charitable events. Committing to passionately exceeding customers’ expectations. Providing innovative strategies for both sellers and buyers. Providing Copyright Top Agent Magazine 10

unparalleled professionalism and exceptional service, and becoming recognized as the leader in real estate solutions for buyers and sellers, and creating noteworthy, tangible, and measurable improvements to the community.

The relationship Mary forms with her clients continues long after the closing, and she stays in touch via cards, gifts, and email updates to stay top of mind with them. She is also an e-notary, and all of her clients receive free notary services for life. When it comes to marketing, Mary uses a comprehensive approach that includes both new and old-school methods to ensure optimum exposure. She promotes her Top Agent Magazine

listings on social media via ads on Facebook, Instagram, Waze, and Homesnap while also sending out postcards to the surrounding area.

Community involvement is important to Mary, and she belongs to her local Chamber of Commerce. Wanting to make a positive change Top Agent Magazine

close to home, she has started a community program in her neighborhood to ensure safety and encourage the younger generation to reach out and help elderly residents. Mary’s grandfather, grandmother, father, and brother have all served in the military, so helping veterans is a cause near and dear to her. She specializes in Copyright Top Agent Magazine 11

VA loans and works closely with military clients and their families relocating with special incentives. Mary donates to Wounded Warriors with each referral she gets, as well as donating 3% of each closing to The International Fellowship of Christians & Jews. When she is not working or giving back, Mary enjoys spending time with her family and friends.

Looking toward the future, Mary says, “I am in the process of building a team covering the entire West coast expanding to the East coast.” Above all, Mary looks forward to continuing to serve her clients and her community. For her, it all comes back to the people. “I love my clients and all the people I work with. I get to meet the most amazing, remarkable people every day. I love my job!”

To find out more about Mary Hayward, call 727-255-4499, email mary.hayward@exprealty.com, or visit maryhayward.exprealty.com www.

Copyright Top Agent Magazine 12

Top Agent Magazine

mailto:mag@topagentmagazine.com http://www.topagentmagazine.com

Top Agent Magazine

13

g n i p e Ke h c u in To

HOW TO STAY IN YOUR CLIENTS LIVES FOR THE LONG HAUL

One sign of a great real estate agent is there long list of loyal client following. Part of achieving a great referral base is being a great realtor during the transaction. But, that’s only half of the work. To truly be your client’s realtor for life and keep them coming back to you as well as referring others to you, you have to stay in their lives past the transaction. Keeping in touch with your past clients can be one of the most important parts of your business, and one that many realtors tend to push to the wayside.

Do you stay in your client’s lives, or do you disappear? People refer people that they feel they know well and that they trust, people they consider friends. However, earning and keeping your client’s trust involves maintaining a delicate balance with how much you contact them. Experts recommend reaching out to your clients at least quarterly. But, it’s not just about how often you stay in touch. You also need to be mindful about how you are reaching out to them. Here are some tips on how to keep in touch with your clients for the long haul: 14

Top Agent Magazine Top Agent Magazine

INDIVIDUAL PERSONAL CONTACT One of the best ways to keep in touch with your clients is to simply give them a call every once in a while. Follow up and see how your clients are doing. Offer them assistance if they need it. Personalized contact helps to ensure that you remain as important to your clients long after the sale as you were during the transaction. Giving your clients a call on special occasions such as birthdays or holidays also makes for a great personal touch.

Of course, nothing beats face-to-face contact. Stopping by to say hello can be a great way to keep in contact. An even better way to catch up and maintain that friendship is to set up a lunch or coffee date with past clients. Giving individual clients your undivided attention goes a long way towards maintaining that bond you formed during the transaction and earning your client’s loyalty and trust. Interactions like this make a lasting impression on your clients.

Of course, many busy REALTORS® may not have time to follow up with every client oneon-one. A great way to still give personal attention to your clients without meeting each and every one for lunch is to throw a client appreciation party. This allows you to get in some face-to-face time with each client and make sure they all get your undivided attention and quality time to catch up with you, even if it’s only for a short time.

Now, if you have a lot of past clients, this can be difficult to manage during one party. One way to get around the numbers problem is to organize smaller events based on client’s interests. Instead of throwing one giant party, host a pool party for the families with kids or a wine and cheese get together for single clients. Hosting special events like these ones goes a long way towards keeping your contact with past clients more personalized and setting you apart from those businesses that simply send them a calendar once a year.

PROVIDE CLIENTS WITH USEFUL NEWS PROVIDE CLIENTS WITH USEFUL NEWS One way that many REALTORS® keep in touch with their clients is by sending them newsletters. This form of contact can be a double-edged sword. You want to make sure you provide them with useful information that reminds them of your value as a real estate professional.

Otherwise your communication will amount to nothing more than spam, and clients will think of you less as a trusted friend and more as a nuisance salesperson.

Clients react much more positively to communication containing information that is pertinent to their lives. Update your clients on what is going on in their local community and Top Agent Magazine

15 Top Agent Magazine

housing market. Demonstrate your knowledge about the community and the things that are important to your clients. Include information about local cultural events, community news, housing statistics, information on the mortgage market, home maintenance advice, home design tips, and anything else that your clients will find personally useful. Your clients will always be interested in value.

SEND CLIENTS MEMORABLE AND PERSONAL CARDS Sending your clients cards related to important events in their lives and letting them know that you remember those events and care will go a long way towards building and maintaining a close personal relationship with them. You want to make sure your cards stand out, though. Sending popular holiday cards can be a mistake, as they will most likely get lost amongst all of your clients other holiday cards and will be quickly forgotten. Instead send something more personal such as: HOME ANNIVERSARY CARDS: Send cards to each client on the anniversary of the closing of their home.

CONGRATULATORY CARDS: Remember important events such as wedding anniversaries, graduations, new babies, etc.

SPECIAL BIRTHDAY CARDS: Instead of just sending your typical birthday card, add something special to yours that will stand out. Include a $1 scratch off ticket or a $5 gift certificate to Starbucks. Make sure to include a handwritten personal note.

GIVE CLIENTS AN UNUSUAL GIFT Make sure the gifts you send your past clients stand out. Send your past clients an odd gift at the beginning of the year or on a holiday. Think outside the box and send things like funny magnets, customized mugs, a personalized piece of wall décor, and other fun and unusual items. A great way to make your gift stand out even more is to include a funny note with it that will catch their attention as well as make them think of you. For example, one cute idea is to send clients a bag of popcorn with the note, “Real estate is popping, give me a call.” You could send a bag of goldfish with a note attached that says, “I’m fishing for your referrals.” Get creative and have a little fun with it, your clients will notice and remember you for it.

16

Top Agent Magazine Top Agent Magazine

TAKE ADVANTAGE OF SOCIAL NETWORKS

Social networking sites make staying in contact with past clients in a more informal and friendly basis much easier. Connect with your past clients on Facebook. This will help you stay up to date on the important things happening in your pact clients’ lives. In return, it provides you a great platform for keeping those past clients up to date with what is going on in your business as well as keep in contact in a more informal manner. Use Facebook to remind past clients to check their basement after a heavy rain or that they can contact you for help during tax time.

You can even organize your contacts on Facebook into customized lists such as “past clients,” “industry contacts,” etc. This will help you better manage your Facebook contacts.

This will also allow you to view specific news feeds based on these lists and send messages to a particular list of contacts. Don’t forget about the many other social networking sites such as Twitter or LinkedIn either. Utilize this technology to drive personal contact with your clients.

STAY ORGANIZED No matter how you choose to keep in contact with past clients, make sure to be consistent.

Consistency will help you stay organized and diligent about reaching out to your past clients regularly. A tool used by many real estate professionals to stay organized is a customer relationship management solution. Whether you use one that is online or a computer software program, this will help you stay organized when managing your contacts and allow you to set notifications to alert you when you need to contact certain clients, send out gifts, plan a client appreciation event, and many other things throughout the year.

Staying organized and consistent in your contact with past clients will help you continue to build and manage your referral base, as well as open the door to repeat and referral business.

Top Agent Magazine

17 Top Agent Magazine

4 Reasons Why Multitasking Can Actually Derail Your Day Common wisdom dictates that a master multitasker is likely to garner the most success. After all, doesn’t juggling multiple projects at once mean you’ll work faster than if you took each one as it came? While multitasking is often cited as a desirable skill—and surely serves its purpose now and again—studies show that a mere 2% of individuals can actually multitask effectively. Meanwhile, the remaining 98% might be doing more harm than good by trying 18

to tackle too much at once. Take a look below at some little-known facts about the risky side of waging a routine built on multitasking.

1. Multitasking decreases productivity While multitasking gives us the illusion of completing two tasks at once, it actually means

Top Agent Magazine

Top Agent Magazine

our focus and productivity is split. In other words, switching back and forth between two activities doesn’t mean they’ll each be completed sooner; it means that you’re getting half-as-much complete as you would if you focused on a singular task. Multitasking fatigues your brain, elicits stress, and make you less efficient in retaining new information.

2. Multitasking is actually addictive While watching TV or taking a walk, have you ever noticed the impulse to check your smartphone or scroll through your social media feed? Even though we think about multitasking as a workplace skill, it’s also an addictive form of mental stimulation. By satiating our need for distraction with constant check-ins online, we become accustomed to frequent breaks in our focus, training us to crave updates, messages, and push notifications—we even hit refresh when we’ve checked in five minutes prior! This negative habit-building makes it difficult to complete sustained bouts of concentration.

3. Multitasking has negative physical side effects Studies show that those who juggle multiple focus-intensive activities actually show spikes in cortisol, a stress hormone. Likewise, frequent multitaskers display symptoms of sleep deprivation: fatigue, disorientation, and lack of focus. Studies in Europe have recently Top Agent Magazine

discovered that those who consistently multitask may actually show decreases in empathy and emotional control. What’s more, a constant sense of anticipation—readying to switch from one task to another, or persistently checking for e-mail updates—can potentially cause a decrease in overall IQ.

4. Multitasking breeds mistakes When our attention is split between tasks, it’s difficult to perceive and retain detail-oriented information. Because of this, mistakes—typos, clerical errors, mislabeled documents, and the like—occur with greater frequency. We’re in such a hurry to complete a portion of a task and switch to the next project that we lose sight of prompts, deadlines, and tying up loose ends. This means multitaskers are far more likely to overlook a glaring error than an individual who is devoting 100% of their attention to the task at hand.

Now that we understand some of the dangers of multitasking, what can we do about it? While our tech-driven day-to-day might make focusing on a singular task a difficult endeavor, it’s the surest way to produce efficient, error-free work—while cutting down on stress, fatigue, and miscommunication.

Try approaching your tasks for the day with a clear-cut schedule, moving one task at a time down your to-do list. This approach can eliminate some of the inefficiency inherent in multitasking and make for your most productive work routine yet.

Top Agent Magazine

19

BRITTANY CHEEK Brittany Cheek is a REALTOR® and single mom who bootstrapped her way to becoming a Top Agent. Eight years ago, it was not easy for her starting out as an independent agent while caring for her son, born prematurely. In the time since, she has built a thriving solo agency by making authentic connections with her customers.

“I constantly get told that they appreciate my honesty, my commitment, my drive,” Brittany says. “It's really important that someone is comfortable with who they're working for and realize it is a relationship.

It's not just about selling them something.

It's about finding the right fit for their family or also for their business.”

While finding her own fit within the industry, Brittany has made every transaction a learning experience, The two years she spent on a team have boosted her networking skills and her confidence. Navigating investments with clients has added to her market knowledge in that area. It all adds up to a rewarding experience for customers and a fulfilling career for Brittany. “I love meeting new people. I love that every day is different. I love helping someone find their home,” she says. “Having the ability to help someone find their dream home is amazing.” Being able to set her own schedule has allowed Brittany to volunteer for school activities and take field trips with her son.

Tampa Bay, with nearly 250 days of sunshine each year, invites newcomers from less temperate regions.

In fact, sunny days first lured Brittany to the area.

Top-rated beaches and competitive professional sports teams the Buccaneers and the Lightning enhance an area that is welcoming to new residents. On a more personal side, Brittany and her son enjoy grabbing a slice at Fireside Pizza Cafe or sipping drinks at nearby East Main Street Coffee & Sandwich Shop, which her father happens to own. You can also catch Brittany at a local beach or on a cruise when she is away from work.

20

Keeping in touch with past clients is a priority for Brittany. Like other realtors, she uses customer relationship management software to keep track of contacts. The connections don’t stop there.

Brittany sends out themed gifts each month.

July, for example, will feature a Fourth of July cookie. She reaches out to the same network to promote listings, posting heavily on Instagram to increase exposure beyond MLS. Brittany works with professional photographers to help convey the homey feel of her properties, which she always stages. “The first impression of the home, when you walk into a home, (is) that it needs to feel like a home.”

Brittany is grateful for her success so far. In the coming years, she would like to continue seeing her sales volume double, as it has in recent years. That would put her goal of $20 million in annual sales within reach.

From there, Brittany sees building a small, customerfocused team.

To learn more about Brittany Cheek, please call 727.420.6972 visit brittanysellsfloridahomes.com or email brittanysellsfloridahomes@gmail.com www.

Copyright Top Top Agent Agent Magazine Magazine

Laughs!

Graham Harrop Graham Harrop Cartoons Cartoons

Putting the power of humour to work for you!

Putting the power of humour to work for you! grahamharrop.com

grahamharrop.com Top Agent Magazine

21

How to Throw a Client Appreciation Event No One Will Forget Clients are the foundation of any flourishing enterprise, and this is particularly true in real estate—an industry where relationships are central. Demonstrating your gratitude to former and current clientele is a winning way to cultivate your network, while upping your potential referrals and creating face-to-face time with the individuals that make your business tick. Keep in mind a few of the tips below as you stage a client event that will positively impact your brand, while conveying your appreciation to those who have driven your business all year.

22

Supersize Your Guest List Inviting former clients to your client appreciation bash is only the first step in crafting your guest list. To really expand your sphere of influence, invite neighbors, local business owners and staff, old friends, family, associates, fellow alumni from your alma mater, and the like. Think of your client appreciation event as a celebration of business bringing people together. Expand your guest list and you’ll create a coveted, in-person opportunity to forge relationships and broaden your reach.

Top Agent Magazine

Top Agent Magazine

An appreciation event may be geared toward your clients, but if done correctly it can also provide a fun-filled venue for your employees to enjoy a morale boost.

Consider A Sponsor Client appreciation events shouldn’t skimp on the details, but you don’t want to break the bank, either. To defray the cost of a client appreciation event, consider enlisting local businesses as co-sponsors. Not only does this approach ease the price tag of throwing a party, but it also creates an easy partnership between you and other entrepreneurs—widening your database and making for a memorable and generous event.

ship, or the Super Bowl is coming up quick, tailoring client appreciation events to already-established happenings can create an organic tie-in and boost your attendance numbers in the process. Throw a gingerbread house decorating party during the holiday season, or throw a barbeque during the Fourth of July. Capitalizing on a naturally occurring theme creates the opportunity for comradery between you and your guests.

Apply A Personal Touch

Don’t Forget To Reward Your Employees An appreciation event may be geared toward your clients, but if done correctly it can also provide a fun-filled venue for your employees to enjoy a morale boost, as well.

By encouraging your employees to cut loose at this celebratory event—instead of having them run interference all night—your team will feel appreciated and validated, too.

Theme Your Event Whether the area’s high school sports team has made it to the state championTop Agent Magazine

Invitations may seem like a small detail, but they shouldn’t be one-size-fits-all. Consider handwriting some of your invitations for the clients you remember well, or for business associates who you regularly partner with. Personalizing invitations to key players is the surest way to a confirmed RSVP. Cultivating your network of professional connections is an essential part of driving business, and client appreciation events not only create memories between you and your clientele, but also inspire your to step back, reflect, and give thanks to those who keep your business booming.

Top Agent Magazine

23

mailto:mag@topagentmagazine.com

24

Top Agent Magazine