OHIO 4-18-22

OHIO EDITION

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

6 THINGS YOU NEED TO DO TO BE A GREAT MENTOR

Top Agent Tips and Questions for

CHOOSING YOUR LISTING AGENT

FEATURED AGENT

PAMELA REEVES COVER STORY

ANDREA SNEED

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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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ANDREA SNEED

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ANDREA SNEED After just 21 months in the business, Andrea has completed more than 100 transactions worth a little more than $20 million in volume, earning her the Butler/Warren Counties Board of Realtors® Rookie of the Year Award.

During the 2021 holidays, while most people were prepping for big meals and guests or making travel plans, Andrea Sneed was busy with pen and paper. A fellow Realtor® who was also a mentor of hers with Bowling & Kugler Realty 8

in Hamilton, Ohio, had told her how he spent four hours on Thanksgiving morning personally reaching out to every single one of his past clients to wish them well. To say it made an impression on her would be an understatement.

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“That inspired me to up my game from just sending out texts to actually handwrite Christmas cards this past year to every one of my previous, current, and prospective clients. It’s the little things.

I mean, I have one client who is a big Ohio State (University) football fan, so I text him before every game and say, Go Bucks!’” Andrea said. “I think in real estate it’s about trying to be genuine.”

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So far, after just 21 months in the business, Andrea has proven to be quite genuine and likeable. She has completed more than 100 transactions during that time worth a little more than $20 million in volume, earning her the Butler/Warren Counties Board of Realtors® Rookie of the Year Award. It was all part of making a career switch. Andrea was a strength coach at a gym and had her own nutrition 9

consulting business as well, writing curriculum for large companies and offering one-on-one training with individuals. But she listed as a friend suggested she take a stab at working in the real estate office owned by the friend’s father.

“Her dad was looking for an assistant, but I didn’t think I would like to work in an office environment. But after two months I realized this was really a relationship and a people business. I went through my classes, got my license and ever since then I have absolutely loved this career,” said Andrea, a solo agent who works closely with a broker in her office covering the Hamilton, Dayton,

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and Cincinnati areas in Ohio.

To get to the heart of the real estate business, Andrea said she first had to make a commitment to herself that she would put herself out there. A self-described networker, she sent out texts and postcards to 100 family members and friends, asking them to in turn do the same. She offered free consultations. She answered every phone call. And now, just in the last four months or so, she has reaped the benefits of seeing a definite increase in referral business.

“I try to be outgoing, because I know if I can get a foot in the door, I think I have a

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chance of people wanting to work with me,” she said. “In real estate, whether selling or buying, I’ve seen the emotional side of things. You really want to establish trust with people. I’ve had people cry in front of me and I want to comfort them. I try to be that person.

Seeing people’s faces at closing is my favorite thing. It makes everything worth it.”

She is also unique in that her day starts every morning with a ritual.

She spends a copious amount of time studying and looking at new listings to examine and identify market trends and pricing strategies in her farm area.

That has helped her get buyers into Top Agent Magazine

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houses sooner than others in a competitive market.

When she’s not hiking, boating, or traveling, Andrea also makes a commitment of her time to the community, working with Butler County United Way. That includes everything from school donations to food to reading materials to clothing drives. She donates at least $100 from every closing to a local charity. Going forward, she is working with her bosses to open another office and set

up a mentoring program, as well as getting her license in the neighboring state of Kentucky. Most of all, she just wants to continue to be genuine.

“I know that this is typically one of the biggest purchases people can make. I’m not going to sugarcoat it and say it’s a breeze and the easiest thing ever because it’s not. I just hope that people feel 100 percent confident in me and trustworthy of me. Having that conversation does give them that confidence,” she said.

Andrea Sneed can be reached on her cellular phone at (513)-617-3257 or in the office at (513)-844-8405, extension 6.

Her email is andrea.bkrealty@gmail.com 12

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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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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

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Top Agent Tips and Questions for Choosing Your Listing Agent Now that you’ve decided to sell, it’s time to select the professional to help you market your property. Before meeting with agents, however, consider Top Agent Magazine’s tips for preparing yourself. Frist, ask yourself what kind of relationship you’d like to have with your listing agent. Are you seeking a casual, personable relationship and the latest marketing tools or are you interested in a more formal, traditional relationship and approach to marketing techniques? Next, populate your list of agents by attending open houses and asking for recommendations from recent buyers and sellers.

Finally, schedule your meetings at your home, where you’ll be able to gauge the chemistry between you and each agent.

During your meetings, expect any Top Agent to ask you several questions, but also consider discussing the following: 18

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Will you please describe your sales experience and local network?

Ask your Top Agent to describe recent listings and sales of homes comparable to your own. Ask about the sellers’ priorities, the original list price, market time and number of offers. Top Agents will also describe how well they are connected with other REALTORS® in the region as well as their contacts with relocation companies, local corporations and chambers of commerce.

Be sure to ask about each agent’s knowledge of how your market has changed over time and what has influenced change.

You’ll learn a lot by listening to agents’ opinions.

How will you market the property? Each

Top Agent has a unique set of online or local marketing tools at his or her disposal. Some use lead-generation applications and nearly ever luxury agent take advantage of video. Even video marketing tools vary from agent-to-agent, however.

You’ll get to decide if you prefer an agent with higher-end video production and 3D Matterport tours or an agent with more intimate techniques featuring walk-and-talk style video tours.

What factors influence your list-price recommendation? Before an-

swering this question, most Top Agents will have several questions for you, including whether you’re more focused on a faster sale or a higher list price.

They’ll also educate you on how best to balance both market time and list price relative to sales histories your area.

Now that you’ve seen the home, what repairs or improvements do you recommend before listing? You’ll learn a lot by listening to agents’

opinions on your home’s sale potential with or without some improvements.

Most Top Agents will also recommend a full professional inspection prior to listing to avoid surprises during buyer inspection.

How will you help with staging? Some Top Agents will pay for part or

all of the staging costs. At a minimum, however, a Top Agent will have a staging professional or two in their partner network. While they’re at it, they may provide referrals for carpet cleaning, painting, gardening and other minor finishing touches.

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What attributes of the property will you want to highlight? Each Top

Agent will have a somewhat different answer to this question, but that’s a good thing! Even if you have your own ideas about your home’s greatest attributes, you’ll glean insight into the current market by considering different agents’ opinions. In learning their views, you may even change your mind about your home’s most marketable features!

What is your approach to Open Houses? How many agent-only Open

Houses will your Top Agent want to host? How many truly Open Houses?

Some Top Agents may even reveal a “swankier” approach to the Open House – such as an evening cocktail party or by-invitation “open” hours to which buyers visit along with the agent representing them.

Who will be our primary point(s) of contact from your office? This

important question will help you understand the scope of your agent’s practice. You’ll get to see if your agent runs a robust team with many hands on deck or if he or she works by close, one-on-one contact with each client.

Either approach is wonderful; you get to decide what suits you.

Now, let’s list!

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PAMELA REEVES Pamela Reeves, a native Ohioan, recently decided (after some gentle prodding from a close friend) to make the most of her dedicated career as a legal assistant, and became a licensed REALTOR® in 2021: “I had been working with deeds, title searches, and helping people with real estate closings since 2002 – all I needed was a little help getting started.”

Pamela’s deep roots in Southeastern Ohio helped her business to quickly expand. In her first year as a REALTOR®, she was able to clear $2 million in volume, and complete nineteen transactions. She claims that her broadly cast net, both interpersonally and professionally, is a boon to her business, and traveling widely lets her enjoy divergent styles (of both houses and people): “I just like looking at … older houses, and the more unique styles that they use.

And working with lots of different people, and seeing their different styles. It’s just so intriguing.” For Pamela, it’s all about “getting different ideas on how things are done,” and that keeps her on the move and eager to learn.

While she’s taking in the sights and enjoying the diversity, Pamela is keen to keep the interests of her clients at the forefront of her brain. When asked what has made the first year of her real estate launch such a success, she says, “My willingness to help people. I put them first – to me it’s about helping my clients, first and foremost. Find their dream home and get them what they want.” While Pamela is able to prioritize the needs and desires of individual clients, she also works tirelessly to expand her network. She holds a position in her local community as a Chamber Ambassador, which helps her connect with local businesses, and markets her listings using Facebook. By occupying both physical and digital spaces, as well as keeping in touch with past clients via text messages and emails, Pamela is able to increase her word-of-mouth referrals, solidify her relationships, and create more opportunities to be of service.

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The future of the industry looks bright for Pamela, and she strives to make waves with her current brokerage, eXp Realty: “They have what’s called an Icon Agent, and I bet I’ll get there soon enough.” This coveted tier within her brokerage includes numerous opportunities for growth, including mentoring newer agents, and becoming an instructor for one of the courses at eXp University. It also gives successful agents a platform for sharing strategies and growth opportunities, helping them to create their own teams, and expand their businesses to dizzying heights.

While Pamela is ready to make the most of these future endeavors, it all boils down to a tried and true approach: “I like meeting new people, and helping people find their dream home.” When she’s not growing her enterprise, or traveling around her expansive territory, she takes every opportunity to travel to sporting events with her youngest daughter, and spend time with her husband and eldest daughter (who now has two children of her own) soaking in the Southeastern Ohio Valley sunshine.

To learn more about Pamela Reeves, visit pamelareeves.exprealty.com, email pamela.reeves@exprealty.com, or call 740-438-8876 www.

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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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