NORTHERN CALIFORNIA 3-16-20

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA EDITION

3 Ways Joining A Professional Organization Can Make Your Business Better What the First Thing You Do After Work Says About You

CONNECT BEYOND

REAL ESTATE

to Attract Future Clients

COVER STORY

SAMANTHA TOV & JUDY CUONG

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NORTHERN CALIFORNIA EDITION

7 SAMANTHA TOV & JUDY CUONG

CONTENTS 4) BUSINESS GROWTH HACK: ABSORB YOUR CLIENTS’ STRESS!

16) 3 MENTAL TRICKS THAT WILL TAKE YOUR BUSINESS TO THE NEXT LEVEL

13) 3 WAYS JOINING A PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATION CAN MAKE YOUR BUSINESS BETTER

19) CONNECT BEYOND REAL ESTATE TO ATTRACT FUTURE CLIENTS 22) WHAT THE FIRST THING YOU DO AFTER WORK SAYS ABOUT YOU

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Business Growth Hack: Absorb Your Clients’ Stress!

Your business coach or a CRM software sales rep has probably described a number of products or services to help you grow your business. But sometimes the easiest way to increase the deals you’re closing is to simply be present for your clients. In doing so, you’ll find have the power to decrease the stress they feel. And when you decrease their stress, you increase your value to them, leading to new referrals and organic growth.

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You may be thinking, “I have enough stress; how can I find the emotional bandwidth for other people’s stress?” But consider this: As their day-to-day point of contact in this life decision, you are already a strong presence in your client’s lives. Why not allow yourself to be the only seemingly calm part of this process? By asking them what’s on their mind, by truly listening, by showing that you truly understand and even by rolling up

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your sleeves to relieve some of their grunt work, you’ll prove yourself invaluable.

Think of yourself as the equivalent of an anti-anxiety pill to your clients. All you have to do is form a few easy habits.

Laura and Raj, their agent and their loan officer soon came to learn that Laura’s 80-year-old mother may eventually move in with the family. This news not only helped the agent best meet Laura’s and Raj’s needs for a new home; it gave both the agent and the loan officer opportunities to go above and beyond for their clients. Their REALTOR® connected Laura with a senior services nonprofit near Laura’s mom’s current home that may be able to assist the family.

And their loan officer outlined various, detailed options to Laura and Raj make smart, long-term financial decisions.

Meanwhile, the agent and loan officer earned the trust of Laura and Raj, who felt less worried about the future.

Listen – really listen – with patience Behind every home purchase or sale is a person or a family with a uniquely complex set of needs, motivations, objectives and priorities. Asking the right questions and truly listening to the answers are the easiest ways to learn how to make clients’ lives easier. In doing so, you not only show that you’re interested in them as people, but you help yourself discover ways to surprise your clients with service.

Take “Laura and Raj,” for instance – a couple in their 30s who wanted a larger home because their family of five outgrew their first home. By patiently getting to know Top Agent Magazine

Empathize Don’t be afraid to describe your own personal experiences as a homebuyer or seller, explaining how you felt at the time; let your client know you “get” it. The agent who is willing to open up and let buyers and

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sellers know that they personally understand their needs and concerns will connect with clients quickly, break down barriers and help the process move smoothly.

Chayan Alavi, Broker/Owner of Alavi Agency in Long Beach, California, challenges himself and his team to ensure that every action of every day serves others. “If we can put ourselves in other people’s shoes with empathy, then we become stellar professionals and great human beings, too,” he says. “I like knowing that we remove the sales pitch from real estate and make it all about the customer.” Chayan and his team focus on customer advocacy and building trust. But they don’t take trust for granted.

Instead, they know trust must be earned and nurtured over time.

Roll up your sleeves “You can’t be afraid to do anything!” says Matthew Todd of d’aprile properties in the Chicago area. “People know there’s nothing I won’t do to get the job done.” He has 6

mowed clients’ lawns, walked dogs and personally cleaned someone’s 8,000-squarefoot, $2 million home for a showing one day after his seller left the house. Two days before another closing, Matthew’s client was unable to move large amounts of unneeded furniture out of the house he sold. No problem! Matthew joined or created five online garage sales; sold or gave away most of the client’s belongings and had the remainder hauled away before cleaning in time for the closing. “The first time I sit with a seller on listing presentation or the first day I take someone on a buyer’s tour, they know I’m ‘all-in.’”

Meanwhile, in the Cincinnati area, Aaron Denton of Summit Funding considers himself and his team members to be concierges for their borrowers. “We’re like personal assistants,” says Aaron. “People are happier when you remove the stress.” Included in their standard services are researching moving quotes; arranging and organizing movein day; scheduling utility transfers; assisting with children’s school registration paperwork; and even connecting buyers with local resources like daycares.

If “rolling up your sleeves” isn’t your strongest skill, then an easy alternative is to get to know professionals in your area who can do these tasks for you. In the end, remember that by listening with patience, empathizing, and being willing to go the extra mile, you have the power to remove the stress your clients would experience without your help.

When clients feel cared for, they remember the agents and partners who helped them.

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SAMANTHA TOV & JUDY CUONG Top Agent Magazine

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SAMANTHA TOV & JUDY CUONG Samantha and Judy created Portfolio Real Estate, where they currently lead a team of over 20 agents and staff, serving the Sacramento area.

For powerhouse duo Samantha Tov and Judy Cuong, working in real estate is a dream come true. As working mothers, Samantha and Judy joined forces 12 years ago to create a partnership that would allow them to balance their family commitments with their work, and have since built a reputation as one of the premier realtor teams in the Sacramento area.

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After leading teams at a big box brand brokerage for 10 years, Samantha and Judy left the company to create Portfolio Real Estate, where they currently lead a team of over 20 agents and staff. Their new business was made possible through their partnership with SIDE, a technology-driven white-label brokerage that partners with high producing agents to create their own Top Agent Magazine

boutique company. Although much of their work focuses on the Sacramento Metro area, they like to say that there is “no distance our agents won’t go.” This holds true metaphorically as well as geographically, and it is this dedication to world-class service that has helped build their stellar reputation in the community.

When you ask what helps them attract and retain the kind of high-quality agents their business is known for, Samantha Top Agent Magazine

will point to their proven track record.

“We actually haven’t had to recruit a single agent since we started Portfolio Real Estate. All of our agents came to us via referral or word-of-mouth,” Samantha explains. “People see us in the community and see how successful we are as working women, moms, and wives, and see that we can do it all. So we get a lot of agents who look up to us because they want to emulate what we have achieved.”

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“People see us in the community and see how successful we are as working women, moms, and wives, and see that we can do it all. So we get a lot of agents who look up to us because they want to emulate what we have achieved.”

Samantha also emphasizes her team’s familial ethos as a key driver of their success. “We care about our agents and treat them like family. Judy and I don’t just focus on helping our clients build a real estate portfolio, we also want to help our agents build one. We want each of our agents to own their own real estate as well 10Copyright Top Agent Magazine

as build up residual income by owning investment properties.”

Besides work, Samantha and Judy are also committed to supporting their communities. Judy’s children attend a Chinese school, and as a result she is one of the star volunteers with the local Chinese Top Agent Magazine

Association. Samantha on the other hand, has been a member of the Asian Real Estate Association of America (AREAA), Greater Sacramento, for 11 years, where she frequently volunteers and promotes their fundraising efforts.

Over the years, the AREAA has helped rehab 30 homes for low income families, and provided the resources for 130 low income parents to buy Christmas presents for their children.

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Samantha says that her passion for helping others can be traced back to her own family’s history. “Two social workers helped my family immigrate to America from Cambodia in 1979 when our lives were threatened by the Cambodian genocide. Two strangers helping people they didn’t know and had never met. I was struck by their kindness. It’s so rewarding for me to see how we can make difference in people’s lives by giving back.”

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In looking to the future, both Judy and Samantha want to continue growing their business while helping support their agents and other female realtors.

“It’s important to Judy and I that we continue to serve as role models for women

and entrepreneurs within the Asian and Pacific Islander community,” Samantha tells us. “We want to show people that you can do it, you can achieve anything you want if you set your mind to it and are willing to work hard.”

For more information about Samantha Tov & Judy Cuong, please visit PortfolioRE.com, call 916-947-4312 or email samantha@portfoliore.com www.

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3 Ways Joining a Professional Organization Can

Make Your Business Better Any real estate professional worth his or her salt knows that relationships are everything in this industry. Of course, it’s essential to cultivate connections with your in-office colleagues and your clientele—but there’s even more to be done when it comes to building meaningful professional relationships on a larger scale.

How can you make the most of your sphere of influence? The answer lies in professional organizations.

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These institutions vary in breadth and scope— from the local chamber of commerce and state-level organizations geared toward young professionals, to nationwide groups like the National Association of Realtors. No matter which avenue you pursue, these organizations and the professionals therein can add tremendous value to your business and professional repertoire. Not quite convinced? Consider a few of the benefits below to understand how just how influential a professional organization can be when doing business in the modern marketplace.

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1. Expand your skillset.

It’s hard to argue that continuing education and professional development aren’t worthwhile causes. One of the little-known values of joining a professional organization is that there are countless opportunities to boost your talent through free or subsidized skill-building events, workshops, and speaker series. Seminars, coaching events, opportunities to volunteer, and conferences are just a few more ways that professional organizations put you in the right position to learn from others, or advance your understanding of the industry. In real estate, staying ahead of the curve is crucial to the longevity of your business. By joining a professional organization, you’ll not only have the chance to learn from industry veterans, but to also take advantage of indispensable resources that set you apart from the real estate pack.

2. Simplify your networking experience The obvious benefit of joining a professional organization is the chance to meet and network with fellow agents and industry pros.

But, have you ever considered how commonly networking comes into play in the real world? On the local and state level, the real estate scene isn’t as big as one might imagine.

This means you’ll cross paths with all sorts of agents, lenders, home inspectors, title company representatives, contractors, developers, investors, and more. Positioning yourself within a professional organization not only fortifies your reputation to the outside world and to those in your industry, but it also makes it easier to strike up conversations or navigate deals. How so? A professional organization 14

creates a baseline of common knowledge and trust when doing business with those inside or aware of your organization. Likewise, when reaching out to an agent or lender who you’re not familiar with, you can mine your professional organization for related contacts that give you a sense of who you’re doing business with or how to make the transition progress smoothly.

3. Utilize a support system While advancing your career is a worthwhile motive when joining a real estate professional organization, also consider the mental benefits of fellowship with industry colleagues and local entrepreneurs. Rather than carting your anxieties home at the end of the day, you can lean on professionals moving through the same ranks. What’s more, you can turn to others in your industry for advice, commiseration with frustrations, or help sourcing a solution for a particular problem they may have experienced and overcome in the past. Even talking shop with likeminded pros can relieve stress and refresh your perspective—perks that are just as valuable as an updated contact sheet.

The old saying stands true: if you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to far, go together.

In that vein, professional organizations can make all the difference when it comes to a career that doesn’t burn out. Try connecting with a professional organization that you find inspiring—whether its mission is focused on volunteer work, industry developments, or peer mentorship. No matter which path you pursue, remember that no man is an island and the benefits of joining a professional organization can transform you and your enterprise for the better.

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3 Mental Tricks That Will Take Your Business to the Next Level It’s no secret that running a successful business requires careful planning and a tireless work ethic. Beyond those obvious ideals, it also takes the right mindset in order to capitalize on professional opportunity. In the world of real estate and mortgage lending, mental fortitude is a major component to reaching the next 16

level and achieving longevity in a sector that requires so much self-discipline. With that in mind, we’ve compiled a few key mental tricks you can employ to reinvigorate your working philosophy. Incorporate these techniques into your daily mindfulness routine and your business will surely benefit.

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Visualization helps you work efficiently and keep your cool.

This may sound like one of the oldest tricks in the book, but there’s a reason why Olympic athletes and those serving in first-responder positions use visualization as a time-honored mental technique. Not only does visualizing your daily tasks help you organize your mind, but it amps up your ability to focus on what’s important. Visualization also helps reduce stress in the moment, since you’ve already created a mental expectation of the task ahead. Whether you’re preparing for a negotiation or a pitch to new a client—visualization primes your brain and affords you an extra sense of control as you tackle your day.

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Distill concepts into their simplest terms for ultimate understanding.

As an agent or loan officer, you’re likely juggling numerous clients and commitments on any given day. That’s why it helps to distill your responsibilities in clear, definitive terms. Let’s say you have a meeting set with a client to outline a marketing approach for their property. You may understand the broad strokes, but beforehand, try verbalizing the exact takeaways you’d like to impart to your client.

This may seem obvious, but one of the best ways to clarify your communication and ensure your com-

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plete understanding of a subject is to explain it aloud in its simplest terms. This crystallizes your main point and can come in handy if you drift off-topic or need to double-down on your message.

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Accept that mistakes will be made.

While it’s natural to fear failure, sometimes the dread of making an error can overwhelm your ability to perform. As the saying goes: don’t let the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game.

If you accept in advance that set-backs will occur, challenges will come, and things won’t always go accordingly to plan—you’ll be less confounded when hurdles do arise. What matters is keeping an even keel as you sort through unexpected delays or mishaps. Accepting that mistakes will happen allows you to shift your focus towards a solution or contingency plan. In other words, don’t spend your energy trying to achieve perfection. Aim high and work hard, but be in touch with reality: upsets are bound to occur. Accept this and you’ll be ready when they do.

The path to lasting success is ongoing, and there are bound to be challenges along the way. It takes mental fortitude to make it to the top, so keep these tricks in mind as you continue to grow as a person and a professional. Seeing situations in a new light can make all the difference as you adapt, evolve, and take your business to the next level.

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CONNECT BEYOND

REAL ESTATE

to Attract Future Clients What kind of content are you sharing on your blog, website, and social media? Does most of it have something to do with buying or selling a home? While sharing the latest market information or tips on how to qualify for a mortgage, or when someone should buy or sell is important and demonstrates your value as a REALTOR®, it shouldn’t be the only subject you cover. If you only focus on real estate, you’ll be missing the chance to connect with future clients that might not be ready to move just yet. By sharing a lot Top Agent Magazine

of industry-heavy content, you are only going to appeal to those who are currently in the market rather than a broad base of potential clients.

To pull in those other future clients you want to provide fresh, interesting content that will appeal to those possible future clients that aren’t quite ready to move yet. However, you also want to still tie this content back into your business goals.

So, how do you share content that will speak to a wider audience, but also still be relevant to your business?

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Talk About Your Philanthropic Activities

The philanthropic work you do to support your community says a great deal about who you are as a person. Many people will be attracted to working with you because of the charitable works you are involved with. While you may be hesitant to share these efforts because you feel it may come across as bragging, you also need to remember that sharing information about the charitable organizations you support will actually help those organizations. Many of them have small marketing budgets, so any free exposure you can give them helps to promote their cause.

In fact, they want and need you to promote them.

And you can promote them without coming across as a braggart. Focus your content entirely on the organization. Talk about why you support them, how they help the community, and how others can also get involved. This turns what could have been bragging into something that benefits everyone. n

Your Local Community

We humans are connected to each other through our community – our local sports teams, parks, churches, schools, and much more. What better way is there to connect with people in your community than to talk about your community? Demonstrate that you are an expert on your community, and bring that community to your followers. Share information about a local event; perhaps even share the actual event through live-stream video. Interview city officials to get the low-down on the latest development project. Share information with your followers about things they didn’t know about their community. Consult with local historians or the historical society to share interesting information about your community that your followers will want to read. You could even turn it into a series of podcasts or videos. n

Use Your Creativity to Connect

Find creative ways to engage your followers on the topic of real estate. Try engaging your followers in an interactive project such as posting photos of interesting front doors. Doors are the entry point into our homes as well as our private lives. The way we adorn our front door can give someone a sense of our style and personality. Ask followers to submit photos and choose one to post each Friday. Make sure to watermark each photo with your logo at the bottom and include an inspirational quote that ties back to the importance of home. You could also ask your followers to provide a little story or caption to go along with the photo that tells something about them and their home. These kinds of projects are interesting and unique, and clearly connect back to your business. n

Share Your Hobbies

Are you an adrenalin junkie who has bungee jumped from some of the tallest bridges in the world? Are you a foodie that grows your own organic vegetables and fruit? Do you have a 20

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secret passion for photography? Everyone has hobbies that they enjoy outside of work. When you look past the surface people become quite interesting. People also happen to find interesting people interesting, and tend to remember people based on their distinctive traits. We humans love discovering a person’s behind the scenes story, the mind behind the face. While you don’t want to talk too much about yourself, sharing pieces of your personal life and things that interest you can be a great way to connect with followers. By sharing interesting facts about your life, you will find that many followers will feel a strong, personal connection to you based on your hobbies and personal interests. n

Divulge Interesting Experiences

This is somewhat similar to the idea of sharing your hobbies. Sharing some of your more interesting personal experiences such as a fateful conversation with a stranger or an exciting adventure you had while in another country can be a great way to connect with followers as long as it also relates to some kind of life or business lesson. Talk about experiences you’ve had with clients or purchasing your own home. Experiences that relate to your business are great ways to connect with future clients in a manner that goes beyond the world of business. n

What and Who Inspires You

No matter what you’ve chosen to spend your life doing, you didn’t get there alone. You may have had a mentor that made a special impact on your life or someone already in the business that you looked up to and who perhaps inspired you to get into real estate. You may have found inspiration through a love of architecture or design. People want to know why others do the things they do. Sharing who or what influences you in your personal and business life is a great way to connect with followers. Recognizing that you didn’t get to where you are now by yourself shows humility, and talking about those people that had an influence on you shows others that you stay connected to the world and people around you.

Connecting with potential clients is something that is essential to any REALTOR’S® business. If you’re doing the work to create interesting blog posts and make those connections, you want to make sure that you’re sharing the right kind of content to draw in those future clients. It takes a lot more than simply providing the latest market news. To get the most out of what you share, you need to provide a wide array of interesting content Top Agent Magazine

that will draw in a broad range of followers.

Providing the right kind of content can make all the difference when it comes to connecting with future clients and building the right kind of relationship with them right from the start. Connecting through your website or social media and sharing more than just real estate advice will help you build confidence and trust with future clients before you even meet them.

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What the First Thing You Do After Work Says About You We all have our routines. From that morning cup of coffee to a jog at the gym, it’s common to establish touchstones for our daily lives.

But have you ever considered what these habits tell us about ourselves? Our actions reveal much about our motivations and emotional life, so taking a second look at your first move at the end of the day can be telling.

With that in mind, see how you fare when it comes to post-workday habits...

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Break a Sweat After a long day of work, is your first instinct to strap on your sneakers and take off on a run? Do you stop off at the local yoga studio for an extended stretch? Maybe you head to the weight room to pump some iron. Whatever your exercise pick, if you’re inclined to sweat it out at the end of a long day, you’re likely a routine-oriented profes-

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sional who internalizes work-related stress. Of course, you’ve chosen a healthy release for all that pent-up tension, and you’ve discovered the power of endorphins. Once work hours are over, not everyone finds the motivation to stay active. This means you’re driven by routine, conscious of your emotional and physical health, and prefer to leave your cares at the gym, rather than bring them into your home oasis. However, it’s important to give your body a rest now and again, as recuperation time is not only beneficial for physical health, but can help prevent burnout for the long haul.

Flexibility is a skill, and one just as important to cultivate as rigid commitment. If you find yourself out of sorts if you miss just one day of working out, you might want to pay some attention to your routines and motivations, and rebalance your commitments and fitness routine accordingly.

Round-the-Clock Hustle If you’re the type to bring work home with you, you aren’t alone. While your motivation to work nonstop is admirable, it’s also important to make the mental transition from workplace to home, establishing the time to hustle and the time to relax. Just like those that hit the gym without fail after a long day, sometimes you’ll need to practice saying no. If your work life is indistinguishable from your personal life, it’ll be hard to catch a break and recharge.

This means burnout, frayed nerves, and missed details will soon be on the horizon. Of course, round-the-clock hustle is a strength, too. You’re passionate about your work, care deeply about doing things right, and failure is not an option.

Just make sure that you establish some foundational boundaries so that you maintain an Top Agent Magazine

appropriate, healthy balance between your time at work and your time at home with the loved ones and hobbies you cherish. If making way for downtime isn’t easy, try penciling it in the way you would a work engagement. Dinner with a friend, a date night with a significant other, or a solo movie fest can be readily added to your calendar, and thus built in to your regimented schedule.

Turn to Food If your first instinct after work is to eat, it can say a few different things about your routine.

Perhaps you’ve been so on-the-go all the day that you haven’t had time for lunch. In this case, you might need to regiment your schedule with more purpose aimed towards downtime and self-care; food is fuel, after all. If you head home and gorge after an average day, you may be turning to food as a way to relieve stress.

In this case, you may need to reassess some of your post-work habits and find a healthier balance and outlet for your tension. Taking a walk, grabbing fresh ingredients for dinner, hitting the gym, or decompressing by catching up with a friend or a good book—all are healthier, more balanced ways of executing the transition from the office to the home. Pay attention to your consumption post-work. Determine how hungry or satiated you really are before making a grab for the nearest sustenance.

People decompress in all different ways after getting home from the office, but always remember that routines are telling. Don’t take your daily actions and impulses for granted. Examine the root behind your well-worn practices, and you may detect nuances at play beneath the surface that can you help you recalibrate for the better.

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