INDIANA 6-28-21

INDIANA EDITION

How To Build A Team That Will Win Big No Matter Its Size

EMOTIONAL FLUENCY : HOW TO COMMUNICATE WITH CLIENTS WHEN TENSIONS ARE HIGH

COVER STORY

NICK SPEGAL

6 THINGS YOU NEED TO DO TO BE A GREAT MENTOR FEATURED AGENT

VICTORIA JOHNS

INDIANA EDITION

Josh Steele is proud to congratulate

NICK SPEGALVICTORIA JOHNS

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A long-time resident of Southe After struggling with buying her first home, Victoria Johns realized how 7 17 Indiana, Victoria uses her experti and familiarity with the area to clo important real estate service is to peotransactions efficiently and give h ple trying to buy or sell a home for clients the soundest advice that s the first time, and she figured a career can offer. She’s spent a large porti in real estate might be a good fit for of her career learning and researchi her. She got her Realtor’s license, and the market and it’s in her free tim over her seven years in the business, and now, as an incredibly experienc she has shown continued improvement and knowledgeable agent, she is a c and no signs of slowing down! With ent’s best bet when trying to buy a background in marketing, Victoria sell a local home. has a knack for presentation and organization, and she also draws upon her NICK SPEGAL VICTORIA JOHNS Along with customer service, Victo own life experiences to provide persets a high bar for her marketing a sonal, empathetic service to each of on being featured for the State of Indiana advertising. She uses profession the clients she works with. She gets in Top Agent Magazine! impressive results year after year as a solo agent, and photography and videography to bring out t her expertise and stalwart work ethic have carried her potential of each of her homes, and markets h to the highest tier of elite agents in Southern Indiana. listings extensively on multiple websites and soc media. She works in building and development Victoria prioritizes the comfort and well-being of well as residential properties, and uses the dive her clients above all else, and has built her business sity in her work experience to make sure that eve 4) 6 Josh THINGS NEED 18) EMOTIONAL FLUENCY: Steele | YOU Mortgage Originator | NMLS# 728736 model with that Loan in mind.

She works entirely alone, property she works on sells for top dollar. Victo TO DO TOjsteele@1hallmark.com BEnoAassistants GREAT TOclosed COMMUNICATE | 317.669.0355 $14 million in total volume last year, a with or team members, so HOW that each of hopes to that number even further in the yea her clients deals exclusively with her at every turn, MENTOR hallmarkhomemortgage.com/josh-steele WITH CLIENTSpush WHEN and she can consistently offer her successful brand of to come.

9000 Keystone Crossing, Suite 1050, Indianapolis, IN 46240 TENSIONS ARE HIGH personalized service. “I’m big on customer service, 14) HOW TO and I BUILD pride myself on delivering the best quality to In her free time, Victoria is a homebody who enjo A TEAM THAT WILL learning as much as she can about real estate, a clients.

I trust 2570 Boyce Plaza my Rd, Pittsburgh PA 15241myself to treat them appropriately, 22) 5 THINGS YOU CAN and MATTER I find that it’s smoothest if I handle it on my spending time with her husband and dog. She is ve WIN BIG NO YOUR involved community, and puts a lot of her excess tim clients TO call ACHIEVE ITS SIZE own,” Victoria says confidently. “When DO and energy into donating and helping the Anim me, they’re going to get an answer directly from me, BIGGEST GOALS regardless of the time of day.” Victoria’s hands-on Society and various animal shelters. Victoria hop approach has paid dividends in expanding her sphere to continue building her business and providing to – she gets more than half of her business through notch service to real estate clients all over Southe Indiana well into the future! referrals from clients.

Phone 310-734-1440 | Faxsatisfied 310-734-1440

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mag@topagentmagazine.com | www.topagentmagazine.com Contact Victoria by phone at (502) 810-7464 or by email at vjohnsrealtor@gmail.com.

No portion of this issue may reproduced in any manner whatsoever without prior consent of the publisher. Top Agent realestateagents.com/agents/profile/victoria-johns-1 for more details.

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6 Things You Need to Do to Be a Great Mentor

Everyone reaches the point in their career where they feel they have gained enough experience and wisdom about business and what it takes to succeed, to actually help someone else achieve the same. Although you may have trained or given advice over the years, taking on the official status as a mentor to someone is a whole new ball game.

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Although mentorship is an unpaid endeavor, you’ll be surprised to find out how much you’ll gain from the experience. You’ll also grow as a business person through the process of teaching someone else. It’s also an endeavor that many will pay forward one day, creating a business atmosphere that is based more on mutual success than competition, which is better for everyone.

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If you were mentored, you may already have an idea of what it entails, and what you liked or didn’t like in your mentor/mentee relationship. Although it is a personal relationship that will need an individual approach, there are certain things that are key when it comes to being a great mentor: 1. Be a good listener

est about your own failures. It can be a huge relief to find out someone they look up to has gone through similar experiences and still managed to come out on top. As we all know, oftentimes the greatest lessons come from failures, which can be times when our character is truly tested. Building trust through mutual respect and honesty will make every aspect of your mentorship more effective.

You’re basically a sounding board who needs to hear your mentee’s ideas, plans and goals in order to advise them. Strong, constant and clear communication is key to any successful mentoring relationship.

Sometimes just letting them talk things out with you, will lead to them to discovering the solution they were looking for.

2. Set expectations and goals at the start When listening to your mentee in your first meeting about the potential relationship, it’s important to establish the parameters of what that relationship will be: What can you give them? What do they need or expect from you? Once the terms are agreed upon, you may want to set specific goals you’ll be working on together so that there’s a defined plan of action, timeline and result you can both expect.

3. Be honest This is important when it comes to offering them constructive criticism or tough love, but more importantly, you need to be honTop Agent Magazine

4. Get them to think, don’t make decisions for them Sometimes being a mentor is being a bit like a psychologist. By asking certain ques-

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tions you can lead your mentee to their own conclusions about their business dilemmas and strategies to reach their goals. Being a mentor is all about guidance. Build confidence by drawing out the best in your mentee rather than just presenting them with solutions.

5. Look at the situation objectively One of the key strengths you offer your mentee is a complete emotional detachment to their business. You have no sentimental attachment to doing things a certain way or working with an incompetent vendor because you ‘go way back’. Your only motive is what’s best for your mentee and their business. Although emotions cans still get in the way sometimes, having a detached perspective on hand to guide you is invaluable.

6. Don’t just offer constructive criticism, be supportive Yes, being a mentor is sometimes advising your mentee that he’s doing something ineffectively, but your main purpose is to alway approach everything like cheerleader.

You need to let them know that through it 6

all, you are a reliable support to them and have a complete belief in their abilities.

Make sure to always praise their accomplishments.

Remember: your job as a mentor is more about guidance than constant feedback.

Your goal is to help someone become the best they can be, not someone who just does everything the way you do it. You’re helping them build confidence in their own intuition, which will hopefully lead to a lifetime of success, and one day, they too might be a valuable resource to another mentee down the road.

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NICK SPEGAL Top Agent Magazine

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NICK SPEGAL Relationships are central to Top Agent Nick Spegal’s work, and he’s not shy about always remaining authentic with his buyers and sellers.

Nick Spegal is a Realtor® who sees himself as a resource for his clients and prides himself on his integrity and work ethic. Even though he’s still relatively new to the business, he’s already been inducted into the 2020 RE/MAX Hall 8

of Fame and averages an impressive 40 to 50 transactions per year.

When working with Nick, clients can count on an agent who is committed to doing the right thing and making Top Agent Magazine

sure their needs are being met every step of the way. “I live by a few basic principles. I talk people out of buying houses more than buying them. I don’t try to make a quick sell, because I don’t view the relationship with my clients Top Agent Magazine

as temporary. I look at it as a long-term commitment, and I work to build the relationship so that if they ever need to buy or sell again, they will come back to me,” he says, and adds, “I also try to be a resource for them. Not just during 9

the buying or selling process, but any time after that. If they need any help with their home they know they can call me.”

Relationships are central to Nick’s work, and he’s not shy about always remaining authentic with his buyers and sellers. “I’m a pretty straightforward and blunt person, and I don’t sugarcoat things. But I think that’s partly

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Outside of work Nick is deeply involved with his community. He helps at the local soup kitchen and recently volunteered to clean up the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

why I am able to build a quick rapport with my clients and why they trust me.

They know I don’t say things just to make them happy,” he explains.

Educating his clients about real estate and finances is important to Nick, who wants them to reach their ideal outcome at the end of each transaction. “I enjoy helping people first and foremost. Something I focus on when working with clients is to talk to them about not being ‘house poor’. That happens when you purchase a property that’s a money pit, or where you are Top Agent Magazine

so overextended on your finances that you can’t go out to dinner when you would like because you have to pay your mortgage,” he says.

Outside of work Nick is deeply involved with his community. He helps at the local soup kitchen and recently volunteered to clean up the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. He’s also involved with his church. When he’s not busy giving back to his community, he enjoys spending time with his 20-year-old son, golfing, and going to sporting events and concerts.

Going forward Nick is looking to expand his business and continue providing his clients with quality 11

customer service. “I’ve been a top producer in this area for several years now and I’m looking to grow in other areas soon. Since my volume has been increasing, I am also looking into

adding a virtual assistant to help make the transaction process smooth and seamless for my clients, and make sure that they receive the best possible care when working with me.”

To learn more about Nick Spegal, email npspegal@remax.net or call (317) 498–0986.

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Josh Steele is proud to congratulate

NICK SPEGAL

on being featured for the State of Indiana in Top Agent Magazine!

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Josh Steele | Mortgage Loan Originator | NMLS# 728736 jsteele@1hallmark.com | 317.669.0355 hallmarkhomemortgage.com/josh-steele

www.

9000 Keystone Crossing, Suite 1050, Indianapolis, IN 46240

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2570 Boyce Plaza Rd, Pittsburgh PA 15241

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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.

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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.

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VICTORIA JOHNS After struggling with buying her first home, Victoria Johns realized how important real estate service is to people trying to buy or sell a home for the first time, and she figured a career in real estate might be a good fit for her. She got her Realtor’s license, and over her seven years in the business, she has shown continued improvement and no signs of slowing down! With a background in marketing, Victoria has a knack for presentation and organization, and she also draws upon her own life experiences to provide personal, empathetic service to each of the clients she works with. She gets impressive results year after year as a solo agent, and her expertise and stalwart work ethic have carried her to the highest tier of elite agents in Southern Indiana.

Victoria prioritizes the comfort and well-being of her clients above all else, and has built her business model with that in mind. She works entirely alone, with no assistants or team members, so that each of her clients deals exclusively with her at every turn, and she can consistently offer her successful brand of personalized service. “I’m big on customer service, and I pride myself on delivering the best quality to my clients. I trust myself to treat them appropriately, and I find that it’s smoothest if I handle it on my own,” Victoria says confidently. “When clients call me, they’re going to get an answer directly from me, regardless of the time of day.” Victoria’s hands-on approach has paid dividends in expanding her sphere – she gets more than half of her business through referrals from satisfied clients.

A long-time resident of Southern Indiana, Victoria uses her expertise and familiarity with the area to close transactions efficiently and give her clients the soundest advice that she can offer. She’s spent a large portion of her career learning and researching the market and it’s in her free time, and now, as an incredibly experienced and knowledgeable agent, she is a client’s best bet when trying to buy or sell a local home.

Along with customer service, Victoria sets a high bar for her marketing and advertising. She uses professional photography and videography to bring out the potential of each of her homes, and markets her listings extensively on multiple websites and social media. She works in building and development as well as residential properties, and uses the diversity in her work experience to make sure that every property she works on sells for top dollar. Victoria closed $14 million in total volume last year, and hopes to push that number even further in the years to come.

In her free time, Victoria is a homebody who enjoys learning as much as she can about real estate, and spending time with her husband and dog. She is very involved community, and puts a lot of her excess time and energy into donating and helping the Animal Society and various animal shelters. Victoria hopes to continue building her business and providing topnotch service to real estate clients all over Southern Indiana well into the future!

Contact Victoria by phone at (502) 810-7464 or by email at vjohnsrealtor@gmail.com.

You can also visit realestateagents.com/agents/profile/victoria-johns-1 for more details. www.

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Emotional Fluency:

How to Communicate with Clients When Tensions are High Managing emotions, expectations, and personalities are central to a successful real estate career. After all, this is a business based on relationships and interpersonal communication. Likewise, real estate is built on one of life’s central milestones—homeownership. This means that stress, disappointment, excitement, and competition are inherently 18

involved in the process. As an agent, you take on the real estate world every day, but most of your clients aren’t well-versed in the norms of the industry and are likely riding an emotional roller coaster throughout.

Acknowledging this, how do you steer the ship when emotions and tensions are running high?

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For starters, it’s not always intuitive. Just like you add tools to your arsenal when it comes to marketing, social media, or lead generation, you also have to add emotional tools to your repertoire. Here are a few ways to diffuse tense situations and keep clients on an even keel—even during the ups and downs of the transactional process.

Create realistic expectations from the outset and reinforce them as you go As a seasoned agent, some aspects of the industry may seem run of the mill to you, but may come as a shock to your clients. That’s

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why communicating expectations from the beginning can help create reasonable touchpoints in the minds of your clients. In addition to talking through the steps of the transactional process with your clients, consider writing out a checklist or compiling a buyer’s guide that can serve as a resource for them throughout. Think of it like a security blanket, but one that’s built by facts, figures, and anecdotal experience. If you paint a clear picture of what to expect, clients are less likely to be taken by the surprise and react impulsively as a result. What’s more, reinforce next steps, expectations, and possible outcomes as you go. If your client is left to wonder or guess at what’s ahead or

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what will happen, they will either envision the worst-case scenario and panic, or they’ll misjudge the next step and be disappointed or left anxious as a result. Minimize surprises by communicating regularly, clearly, and with all options on the table.

When unveiling a problem, come to clients with potential solutions in hand Any agent worth his or her salt knows that bumps in the road are likely to occur along the way. You can’t promise a transaction free of stress or unforeseen issues, but you can minimize the ensuing stress by preparing you client in advance for any potential problems, and by addressing any problems

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clearly and with solutions already in hand.

Clients are likely to become agitated if a problem arises and they can’t understand why or what it means. That’s why slowing it down, talking it through, and offering potential avenues for recourse can quell fears and remind clients why they chose you to facilitate the transactional process. This means you’ll have to vigilant, proactive, and on the ball. Of course, it’s much easier to be an agent when everything is going great and flowing naturally. It’s when things take an unexpected or negative turn that true talent is really tested. Accordingly, show your clients that you are confident and in control by remaining adaptable, communicative, and clear in your problem-solving approach.

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Never underestimate the power of listening As an agent, you are probably well-versed in putting out fires and sourcing solutions. Sometimes, however, clients are really looking to you as a confidante and a listening ear. You’d be surprised how much nervousness you can resolve by simply offering a listening ear and offering reassurance. Sometimes it’s not about providing a band-aid or a practical solution; oftentimes, it’s all about listening. Clients need to feel like they’re being heard, even if you’ve heard it all before. By listening to their fears, acknowledging their perspective, and reiterating their goals—you display your empathy and understanding, which is often just what a client Top Agent Magazine

needs to feel better. In other words, you don’t have to break out the graphs and data each time a client airs his or her insecurity. First, slow down, listen, and interact on a personal level. You may stop an emotional upheaval in its tracks simply by putting your listening cap on.

Not all clients are alike. Some will require a little more hand-holding than others, but it’s your job to put yourself in their perspective, recognize the milestone at hand, and managing the personalities you’re working with. The next time you feel frustrated by a client’s unpredictable emotional energy, keep these insights in mind as you diffuse the situation, steer them to a place of comfort, and fortify your interpersonal skillset in the process.

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5 Things You Can Do To Achieve Your Biggest Goals If there’s one thing successful people can agree on, it’s that setting goals has been key to their success. Whether you’re creating a five year plan or just settling on what you want to achieve by the end of the day, setting goals gives you the focus and direction you need to complete even the biggest tasks.

But there is a method to setting them. It’s a process that takes careful thought and con22

sideration up front, which is then combined with the hard work necessary to implement your plan. Luckily there are proven methods to goal setting that you can start using immediately.

1. MAKE YOUR GOALS SPECIFIC

Yes, it’s fun to think in grand terms of where you want to end up in life and in your career, but it’s better to have a specific

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Your plan of action should include daily, weekly, monthly and yearly goals. goal like “Increase my sales by 25%”, than “Get rich.” When a goal is clear and specific, it allows you to figure out the exact steps you need to take to accomplish it. The more general it is, the more paralyzed you might be when it comes to figuring out what to do since, the choices may be overwhelming.

2. MAKE IT ATTAINABLE

Making attainable goals might seem boring, I mean afterall, you want to dream big! But you don’t want to suffer through the disappointment of not reaching your goal, something that may not even be possible at this stage in your life to begin with. One solution to that is creating goal levels. You can have the dream goal, but underneath that you have the realistic goals that are setting up a foundation for achieving the big one.

Things that are attainable still take work and effort to achieve. Those small victories will keep you motivated and encouraged to go for the bigger dreams. And don’t forget, those little goals may have been things you wouldn’t have gotten done if you didn’t set out to achieve them, so be proud!

3. PUT A PLAN OF ACTION IN WRITING

Your plan of action should include daily, weekly, monthly and yearly goals. There is something about seeing things in writing and crossing them off the list that is oddly satisfying.The daily goals are especially Top Agent Magazine

important in regards to building up those good habits. The first few weeks of your plan of action are critical when it comes to your long term success. Reaching a goal is something you are doing every day, all throughout the day, in numerous ways.

Achieving goals is all about creating good new habits.

4. MAKE IT MEASURABLE

This is key, since you definitely want to reward yourself for a job well done, and having a goal that is measurable in some way is a sure way to know. Maybe it’s to increase your lead generation or to cut expenses, whatever the case, have a measurable test you need to meet, as well as a time frame. Then calculate what you have to do to reach that goal. Not only should your goal be specific, but the plan and the measure of success should also be set in stone.

5. ADJUST AS YOU GO

You can have all the best laid plans, and you still might quickly realize that what you thought would help you reach your goal, might not be cutting it. Commitment to reaching your goals is good, but commitment to a plan you know isn’t going to work is not only a waste of time, but will be a devastating blow to your motivation.

Sticking to a plan everyday means adjusting it accordingly.

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