FREE STAR POWER® Buyers Specialization University Preview webinar on Thursday, September 4th at 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM EDT - Register for FREE Realtor® Education

Are you a Buyer Representative or an agent wanting to grow your business working with more Buyers? Read what your fellow agents say:
 
"Every buyer’s agent should attend this early on in their career." - Barb Reberg, Source One Real Estate, Crown Point, IN 
 
"As of now, this is the most valuable thing I have done for my career." - Mike Ferleger, Century 21 Advantage Gold, Elkins Park, PA
 
"It should be a mandatory course for anyone whose role is buyer specialist." - Jennifer Lazzaro, Keller Williams Realty, Crown Point, IN
 
Those are just a few of the hundreds of glowing reviews we receive every year about the STAR POWER® Buyer Specialization University. In fact, we know it is the single most valuable educational experience available for agents working with Buyers. Period. Guaranteed.
 
Now, in response to this challenging market, we’ve made the STAR POWER® Buyer Specialization University more intensive–and more affordable. Get the same up-to-the-minute cutting-edge insights, ideas, and instruction from the Best-of-the-Best active Stars, now in a condensed two-day format at the "must do" price of only $995. If you’re still not convinced that the STAR POWER® Buyer Specialization University is for you, or if you just have some questions you’d like to have answered before you make the commitment, then join us for a FREE STAR POWER® Buyers Specialization University Preview webinar on Thursday, September 4th at 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM EDT. Our webinars can only accept a limited amount of participants, so sign up NOW for this FREE webinar if you are:

• A real estate professional looking to master advanced skills to work more effectively with buyers
• Interested in going beyond the contractual elements, into the heart of selling and closing buyers
• A rainmaker growing a team of specialists
• A Buyer Agent looking for advanced, results-oriented training

Hear from the actual top producing Realtor Star instructors, preview course materials, and get your questions answered about this life-changing opportunity. The webinar is free, and besides just learning about the STAR POWER Buyer Specialization University, just by participating in the webinar you’ll probably gain some ideas and insights that will lead to attracting more buyers!  After all, that’s what STAR POWER is: Successful Agents Sharing Successful Strategies.

With real estate blogs, there’s a lot of emphasis on generating topic and key phrase search engine findability; however, equally if not more powerful is the long term value proposition of direct subscription. With a blog, rather then email where you push, subscription is voluntary making it the novel offer these days. So, rather than wait for future customers to volunteer, consider inviting their subscription to your real estate blog!

How do they subscribe you ask? Well first, email registration is an obvious way- if your blog doesn’t offer this ask your provider to add it immediately! And then there’s RSS, which is an acronym for really simple syndication. The way RSS is used, via newsreader accounts like MyYahoo or MyMSN which pull content from sites and blogs, is folks make subscribe- connections to anything from the New York Times to your Real Estate Blog. From a MyYahoo account, the connection is made very simply by clicking those little orange RSS buttons you see on sites everywhere. It gets pretty obvious from there, but once the connection is made those soon to be ‘ready to buy buyers’ and ‘ready to sell sellers’ will be getting your blog posts… direct!

The next step is to leverage your database. Again, the difference is giving consumers the control to decide what marketing they’d appreciate getting versus email, which mostly offers them no choice. Not saying you shouldn’t use email for this, but what you might consider is sending a note to your database inviting their subscription, as follows:

Dear Client,

I would love to share our new blog site springlakeareablog.com, where we’ll be posting useful information to the Internet. It will offer a wide variety of information about Spring Lake NJ, including surrounding areas such as Seagirt, Manasquan and Brielle.

In this new blog, you can read and interact with us adding comments or questions. You can also subscribe directly via email or RSS, which you’ll find on the home page. Our first post will focus specifically on local pricing in the current marketplace.

We hope you, friends and family will join us by subscribing to our weekly journey and please don’t hesitate to participate or email me directly with questions.

Thanks

Jane Doe
Real Estate Agent

What could be more consumer friendly and is there a more inexpensive way to stay on the radar screens of future real estate buyers and sellers? Direct subscription can happen without people ever having to search; however, no matter how direct subscription is an important and cost effective sales channel! By all means, invite direct subscription to your Real Estate Blog!!

This post is presented by Chris Frerecks, Kinetic Knowledge/ Real Estate Blog Sites and is meant to provide useful real estate oriented education for the benefit of the Star Power audience. Kinetic Knowledge LLC and Real Estate Blogsites provide real estate professionals, including the STAR POWER organization, with leading blog solutions, blog writing content, blogging education and service. Chris is easily reached via email at chris@kineticknowledge.com.

Are you aware of STAR POWER® Club? It’s a proven real estate tool, dedicated to dramatically increasing a real estate agent’s business by getting you deep into the operations of North America’s top REALTORS®

Features of this great tool include:

Monthly REALTOR® Educational Interviews: Each month clients’ receive an audio interview conducted by Howard Brinton and featuring one or more of detailing secrets behind the agent’s success.

Monthly REALTOR® Educational Newsletter: Each month, new and innovative marketing ideas direct from North America’s top REALTORS®.

Online REALTOR® Educational Community: Members Only section offers over six years of past interviews, business samples, and newsletter articles that you can download instantly, over 80 chat transcripts on a variety of real estate-related topics, color business samples, advice on forms, technology and systems

And the STARS, North America’s top REALTORS® themselves: the STAR POWER® Club was born out of a need among real estate agents to have access to great Realtor Education, ideas, systems, and strategies in the industry and to also share proven results.

Interested in dramatically increasing your real estate business, join STAR POWER® Club now

Join STAR POWER® Tuesday, Sept. 9th, from 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM EDT FREE for top Real Estate Education on the 4 Secrets for *Generating Higher Quality & Convertible Leads in Today’s Market.*

The webinar will detail the 4 secret weapons top unit and volume producers in today’s market use to attract qualified buyers and sellers. Most radio, television, Internet, and pay-per-lead campaigns fail, but this webinar demonstrates how top producers turn these resources into profit centers. 

Top Producing Real Estate Stars featured include:

* Jana Caudill (#1 in units closed and #3 in GCI for Keller Williams 2006, Top 300 nationwide 7 years running)
* Jay Kinder (over 1000 transactions 2006-7 & top 5 worldwide for Coldwell Banker)
* Matt Wagner of Radio and Television Experts (consultant for six agents in the top 5 worldwide for RE/MAX, Coldwell Banker and Keller Williams)

Real Estate Education from the STAR POWER® Chat Archives: Top Producing Realtor® and STAR Brad Korn Independence, Missouri chats on ‘Scripts for Success’

Linda DeVlieg: Brad, I liked your idea about paying a bonus to a lead coordinator; Where did you find this person? What industry?

Brad Korn: She was an agent in our office that was about to get out. She was in customer service for many years. We had to work with her on scripts specific to real estate, but it went very well.

Linda DeVlieg: Did you pay her a base salary on top of the bonus, or just relied on bonuses?

Korn: We gave her 2 options: First, the buyer’s agents all agreed it would be worthwhile to pay $250 out of their side of commission if it meant having them hand over qualified buyers. Our offer to her because she needed income was the full $250 once her leads closed or, because she came from salary, we paid her base of 1k per month plus $150 bonus. The team kept $100, and the goal was to get her to 10 deals per month to pay for her base. That wouldn’t cost us anything.

Justin Kiliszek: Have you ever considered virtual assistants for any of the listing/closing transaction end?

Korn: Yes, we had them at one point. We don’t have any right now only because I have not really written and defined the job description I want that would allow me to analyze better.

Linda DeVlieg: So, share a good script for prequalifying someone as a buyer call. I mean qualified in the ‘are you going to buy a house’ question

Korn: Our script is this: when they call in, we grab our color-coded form. The first question…how did you hear about us? 2nd is, what actually got you to call us today? Then, we would get their info. Third, we would lead into what they were calling about, ask if that is what they are looking for. Then, we would say…."you know, we can send you EVERY property for FREE." We explain that newspaper ads are 3-4 days out of date, homes in magazines are 3 weeks out of date. “We can send you FOR FREE a list of every home you are looking for….THE DAY that home hits the market. You will literally get the list of homes the DAY they hit the market. You will NEVER miss another good deal…or your dream home.Best of all….its FREE.”

Korn: We really don’t worry about qualifying them more than that unless they are ready to go. Take it one step at a time. Just start with getting 5 new people in your system every day. After you do that regularly, just get into the habit of writing 5 notes right after the call.

Martha Hale: …constantly updating it, but then the plans that are already in place are out of date.

Korn: As for action plans, I have set up a picture slide show that walks through… step by step…. It is a pictorial of how to set up an action plan in TP. Visit www.kornteam.com/starpower. There is a slide show that says something about setting up action plans…

Martha Hale: What would you say are the top plans to start with? You mentioned 8×8.

Korn: Yes. Let me explain the proper way to use the 8×8.Many times people think they need to put their whole database on it at once. I don’t think that will work. That is just an overblown monthly mailer. What I classify for 8×8, is that I have to have a conversation, a two-way conversation with someone - don’t care if it’s by phone, email, or in person. Once I meet someone, I write them a handwritten note, just following up on our conversation. I do not put my card in the note. It is just a note to tell them how appreciative and nice it was to talk to them. I don’t have to put the card in….because they are going to hear from me 8 more times in the next 8 weeks….

Martha Hale: So you don’t just do a series of 8 post cards to send out?

Korn: No. I mix up the media. You can do postcards - don’t get me wrong - but if you look at the Millionaire Real Estate Agent on pages 134-148… Just read that section several times. At least 6 times… It says there are 2 phone calls in that 8 weeks. The mail alone will work, but not be most effective. If you follow the book (and I can personally attest to the results), for every 12 people you get on this plan…you will get 2 pieces of business.

Justin Kiliszek: How long have you put that into your system? The Millionaire Real Estate Agent?

Korn: I have been doing it for 4 years now. It generates 2 listings EVERY week and I don’t even have to pick up the phone. What is really great, is from Jan06 to end of March, our listing inventory had  dwindled, our market was going flat. And instead of whine and cry, I figured we could pull out if we just ramped up the listings. My goal was to get us from 23 listings (lowest in 8 years) to 50 listings (which I had never had before), not at one time, anyway. So, with my 8×8 running and 2 listings coming in automatically, all I had to do was get 3 per week. I just blocked my call time - 2 hours every day - and didn’t stop each week until I got my 3rd listing.

Korn: Someone tell us what your biggest AHA was from the CD.

Linda DeVlieg: Paying the bonus.

Korn: It is even better when your team pays for it.

Linda DeVlieg: Ah ha!

Korn: It took a few meetings for me to (not just sell it) but have it be their idea and have them see the benefit. I said to them, would you pay $250 to make $1250? They didn’t reach the right answer right away, but after thinking about that comment…it made sense.

Eddie: I liked the script on touching on the buyer’s price 3 times before submitting.

Korn: Ooohhh yeah. That buyer script has gotten us many accepted contracts. Also, don’t discount the "magic letter." Put in writing with EVERY offer what you would say if you were sitting in front of the seller. SELL that offer! Tell your buyers that if anyone can get them the house for those terms…it will be YOU.

Justin: Does your assistant write the letter? or buyer’s agent?

Korn: The buyer’s agents write the magic letters. We point out all the good things about their offer. Also, if the offer is low, we have them tell us how they are justifying the price.

STAR POWER: Well, it’s time to get back to work and sell some homes! Thank you all for being here, and a big thanks to Brad for hosting! You can find Brad through his Independence, Missouri Real Estate Website and to benefit from the top real estate education provider in North America consider STAR POWER® Club.

Related Posts:

• Real Estate Education from the STAR POWER® Chat Archives: Cathy Russell on ‘Subdivisions and Working with a Builder’
• Time & Efficiency with Real Estate Star Bryan Bomba Hinsdale IL [JAN ‘08 Chat Highlights]

Real Estate Blogs You’re probably aware that Real Estate Blogs are just websites; however, they’re different in that they allow a layperson or a non website expert to publish content to the web *at will*. It’s a big deal for a real estate business for several reasons. Particularly because

1. search engines desperately want to be the conduit to all the best answers possible, so logically they are attracted to active sites that offer more and more timely content;
2. sites that enable a layperson to publish are often, logically, more active;
3. the cost of publishing knowledge and information to the web has become negligible;
4. the means to distribute knowledge and information [search] for those who want & need it has been established;
5. search engines always connect qualified searching consumers with good answers/ information;
6. you have the ability to demonstrate knowledge & enthusiasm to many new leads that you would have otherwise never been able to reach;
7. those qualified, researching consumers can develop a feel for you and your service ;
8. and those same consumers can subscribe to you, enabling a direct, ongoing & voluntary connection.

WordPress Blogs Let’s take a look at WordPress Blogs and some of things it might help to know about them and open source software. There are lots of good blog solutions out there, but WordPress is considered by many to be the most universally used solution… so let’s take a closer look. With WordPress Business Blogs you have options, including:

1. You can create a free blog, which would be hosted as a sub domain of WordPress [i.e. janedoe.wordpress.com]. Free Business blogs have both up and down sides, depending on your business requirements. Do you need service or education?
2. You can download WordPress software onto a server and then host it via a domain you own. This a great strategy, but it requires some know how. Even if you pay for hosting, you’ll still need to develop some installation and ongoing management skill. Do you need service or education? 
3. You can hire an independent programmer/ designer at an hourly rate to set it all up. This is a great strategy offering a wide choice for options and design. Be sure to review the hourly rates, experience and then the total cost of service. Don’t discount ongoing service or education! 
4. Hire a comprehensive Business Blogging service for a fixed price. This should include hands’ on service, an ongoing educational curriculum and then blog technology management. For instance, managing software updates, reviewing and then adding features that are sustainable, secure and also safe from flaws and/ or a lack of upkeep. It’s a race and requires balance because search engines are changing and then one thing can slightly undermine the next. What’s more, what is most important [security, architecture, design, features, etc.] depends on with whom you’re speaking. Google certainly does not disclose how they evaluate your page[s] rank.

WordPress Blogs and the WordPress Open Source Community There are really two official versions of WordPress software [WP and WPMU] and then a variety of variants. WordPress software is managed by a brilliant development team and it is supported by an international ‘open source community’ of independent programmers & designers. Development manages software updates and the ‘open source community’ builds feature add ons, such as design themes and features that can be plugged in.

What’s incredibly powerful about open source software is it *leverages the power of many to develop, to evolve and to improve software.* In the case of WordPress, software source code is made available by the development team permitting collaborative use, change, improvement and modified redistribution. Many believe it’s the future of software development because of how it can enable rapid fixes, improvements and fine tuning. Now, by no means should this suggest proprietary software isn’t valuable. While proprietary may be slower to improve and less transparent, it may offer some advantages versus open source. For instance, the more people contributing to software code, the more difficult it may be to manage quality. Like any business, including with good management, things go wrong. You should know that the ‘open source community’ is voluntary participation. However and versus proprietary software, studies have shown that open-source software has a higher and quicker flaw discovery turn around. After all, even Microsoft and Google have had their issues.

Going forward: Software updates are the core WordPress development team’s domain! WordPress software is the their day job and, very much like with proprietary, they have all the incentive in the world to innovate and to improve. They earn a living doing it! The core team also discloses what is coming down the pike to the ‘open source community’, encouraging it to offer input and to update their features and themes. With the ‘open source community’, centered around talented independent programmers & designers, the work is partly for the love of WordPress and partly because it can serve as marketing recognition for their unique programming and/ or design skills. In other words, their incentive to innovate and to keep up is pay that comes from jobs that are a result of their great work.

Business Blogging Service and Management It’s important to understand that there is no formal open source theme or plugin evaluation process. There can be sloppy, insecure or obsolete code coming out of the ‘open source community’, but it is NOT the rule and most certainly the exception. Consider this recent business blogging case scenario: "I’m not familiar with what the protocol is for these matters but…many WP users have installed themes by XYZ. She has stopped updating her themes and her former website is down. I have tried contacting her w/o success. I was wondering whether protocol permits a theme developer adopting her themes and updating them (making them widget-ready for example) for the thousands of WP users who have wonderful themes like A, B & C. Many of us hope these themes won’t be abandoned." It is possible that open source programmers/ designers may not keep up with core software updates, but as in most cases there is a self policing and the issues was solved. With the frequent code updates, themes, plugins and a random hack there’s a lot to keep up with so consider good help. Keep in mind, problems occur with proprietary software too… so it’s mportant to have some knowledge of your choices and to feel confidant with your blogging software :-)

This post is presented by Chris Frerecks, Kinetic Knowledge/ Real Estate Blog Sites and is meant to provide useful real estate oriented education for the benefit of the Star Power audience. Kinetic Knowledge LLC and Real Estate Blogsites provide real estate professionals, including the STAR POWER organization, with leading blog solutions, blog writing content, blogging education and service. Chris is easily reached via email at chris@kineticknowledge.com.

Real Estate Education [STAR POWER® Chat Archives]: Top Producing Realtor® and STAR Cathy Russell West Lafayette, Indiana on ‘Subdivisions and Working with a Builder’

STAR POWER®: "Cathy, How do I locate smaller custom home builders in my area that may be interested in my services?"

Cathy Russell: "I like to attend and be an active member of the Builders Association and use that as a means of networking there. Also, I suggest visiting lumberyards and asking the managers who are good custom builders that come into their store. Take an interest in what they do."

STAR POWER®: "What requirements are builders looking for in an agent who is representing them?"

Cathy Russell: "Builders are looking for the agent to have basic construction knowledge. I believe CRS 201 is a quality building course and is really good. Then basically enthusiasm and attentiveness. They also like good marketing pieces that promote them as a builder and they want to see your referrals. If you have lots of land listed make up a book with all of your plats, C & R’s, etc. Give all builders a copy of the book. This way they can stay up to date with your listed properties and have all of the information available to them when they need it. This will make you look organized and prepared."

STAR POWER®: "How can I find out how builders are rated?"

Cathy Russell: "To find how builders are rated ask around town, other developers, surveyors, agents, etc. Also ask the builder for referrals of people they have built for and call them. Ask them how the builder was on callbacks, how they were on overruns when building - do they charge for changes? How about offering a 2/10 home warranty on their properties?"

STAR POWER®: "What are some marketing tips you can give me on directing traffic to my model homes?"

Cathy Russell: "These may sound basic but put lots of signage around the neighborhood. Be at the model when you say you will be there (the hours open). You can still be very productive while sitting at a model home that is not busy by prospecting and follow up. Also to promote the model by making flyers and sending them to move up neighborhoods (target marketing) or groups of people based on their salary or profession. Then call them and personally invite them to the model. I also ask them to bring
a friend. This works out great for referrals. Be proactive :)"

STAR POWER®: "How do you get a builder to turn over his guest list? What do you tell him his benefits are?"

Cathy Russell: "Thanks for the question Elaine - Turning over the guest list is a great tool. I stay in total control of the model, greet clients at the front door, I also ask them to sign the guest list in the kitchen and when I get to the kitchen I hand them the pen, seldom do I not get signatures. I make a copy for the builder and I keep the original for myself to follow up on. Be sure to negotiate in writing your commission rate with the builder up front - even if you are friends. Too many times will you negotiate the offer to purchase and the builder will then negotiate your commission."

Terry Lindstrom: "In your marketing, do you focus on the builder and his building abilities, or do you focus on the sub-division in you ads and encourage buyers to come view your wonderful builders?"

Cathy Russell: "Terry - In my marketing I focus on the subdivision. This is what will draw clients to the model. They know what area they want to live in and some may be familiar with the builder’s reputation but most will not. Focus on the subdivision and the house."

The Logosz Team: "Hi Cathy. We have two spec homes that the builder has reduced the price by
$10,000 each. What do you suggest to move these in the next 30 days? We know he missed the
market on design and amenities."

Cathy Russell: "To promote these homes for the next 30 days especially at this time of the year have these homes open every Sunday. Send emails to all area Realtors letting them know this home will be open."

Matt Yeager: "Cathy, what type of builder promos are the best you’ve found that work (Free
appliances, pay points, etc.)?"

Cathy Russell: "100% financing or no closing costs, which you may be able to roll into the financing."

Nancy Williams: "Cathy, do you ever represent competing builders in the same subdivision?"

Cathy Russell: "Competing builders in the same subdivision - This does happen often with me. If I do, I treat them both as sellers of mine in the same subdivision. You can’t promote one over the other - promote them equally - hold them both open at the same hours, days. Have both homes in the same ads."

Michael Kipnis: "Cathy, when you are talking commission what is your usual set up with them? I mean who pays for ads, promotions etc? In our area builders are trying to negotiate your fees and asking us to pay for the ads."

Cathy Russell: "Michael - Regarding commission rates, again I try to treat the builders the same as a regular listing. Pay for all of the advertising just as you normally would on any listing. Your doing the same amount of advertising for them as you would anyone - maybe a little more but they will bring you repeat listings and business. I may give the builder a percent discount due to this fact as well."

Nancy Williams: "Cathy, what price level do you mostly work in and are the homes more
"production" homes or more custom?"

Cathy Russell: "Nancy - price range of homes - I would say the production homes are typically lower end price ranges anywhere from $110-$140. The custom homes built are usually higher from $150-$400. I know it’s a large range but it is true for our area. I work more with production homes though."

The Logosz Team: "Cathy, How many builders do you represent at one time?"

Cathy Russell: "I typically don’t work with more than 2-3 builders at a time."

Chuck O’Malley: "Cathy, have you ever had any clients feel this was a conflict?"

Cathy Russell: "Yes, I have had this happen. Again, treat them both the same, promote their houses the same and try to explain to them when you have their home advertised. Also show these homes to your own clients as much as possible. This is a huge issue here. They want to see you being proactive in selling their house to your clients."

Matt Yeager: "Cathy, how many spec homes are your builders building at a time, or
have on the market at a time?"

Cathy Russell: "The builders I work with typically build approximately 20houses per year "production homes" and the custom builders build approximately 3-4 homes per year."

STAR POWER®: It’s time to get back to work and sell some houses. Thanks to everyone who participated and a special thanks to Cathy for hosting. Cathy can be found via her Lafayette IN Real Estate Blog and her Lafayette IN Real Estate Website .

Related Posts: Time & Efficiency with Real Estate Star Bryan Bomba Hinsdale IL [JAN ‘08 Chat Highlights]

Do you wish to increase your Real Estate business while also improving your lifestyle?

If so, STAR POWER Systems is a time-proven idea sharing network offering the pinnacle in leading-edge Real Estate selling methods & techniques from some 300 of the top producing Realtors® in America. With STAR POWER Systems you can immerse yourself in Real Estate Education with the leaders. These are people who average over 200 transactions per year.

In the spirit of sharing, this STAR POWER Systems network of Stars selflessly share their success strategies with other success-minded agents. Strategies & methods from which success-minded agents like yourself can execute in your marketplace.

So, if you aspire to be a top producing Realtor®, registering for Star Power’s 2009 annual conference is the place to start. Register now!

Did you miss the STAR POWER® Real Estate Conference this year? If so, you are *NOT* out of luck!

By investing in "Best of Orlando" [dial 800-635-6750 or click to order ‘Best of Orlando’ right now] you can listen in on all the cutting edge real estate education action, including complete audio coverage from all six General Sessions and the 20 Breakout Sessions listed below:

General Sessions

Lead Cultivation and Conversion: Mastering the Initial Response and Follow Up to Get the Appointment

From the instant a call or Web inquiry comes in, there are scripts and systems that can ensure every lead is properly followed up on to get the appointment. Follow along as the Stars steer us through the path a lead takes from first contact to conversion. Web leads, sign calls, referrals, and more will be covered in this not-to-be-missed session.

Getting Sellers to Sell and Buyers to Buy—The Fine Art of Negotiation

Watch as the masters at negotiating take each step of the process—from pricing the property correctly to the closing table—and show you the methods and scripts they use to achieve win-win transactions for their clients every time. Negotiations will be approached from both sides of the process so that whether you work only with buyers or exclusively with sellers, this session will have valuable techniques you can take away and use successfully immediately.

Clients for Life—Generating Referrals and Repeat Business

Your long-term business depends on two areas: prospecting for new business and this invaluable session. Garner the tips, techniques, and systems these Stars use to develop relationships with their sphere and past clients that have generated a reliable stream of business… again and again.

Keynote Speaker:

Chris Helder is one of the most in demand speakers in Australia. His messages can be life changing in both the personal and business spheres; and while Chris is often called upon to keynote sales conferences, his message is much broader.

Breakout Sessions

Advanced DISC Personality Applications, Increase your awareness of the varying personality types and put that advanced knowledge to use in everything from your dialogues with clients to office logistics, meeting techniques, advertising campaigns, and your presentations. Moderator: Debbie Yost Panel: Koreen Firnstahl, Ray McCarthy, Debbie Morris, Toril Schoepfer

Becoming a Champion in a Challenging Market, Find out what it takes to get to the top in any market conditions. The Stars will bring their success tips to you and give them to you in ways that are immediately actionable for fast results. Moderator: Buddy West Panel: Tom Randall, Russell Shaw, Orly Steinberg, Sherry Wilson

Building Your Brand to Bullet-Proof Your Business, Developing your presence in the marketplace takes time and money. The Stars will help you fine-tune the process and potentially save thousands of dollars in up-front costs and also help you improve the long-range impact of your branding. Moderator: Sandra Nickel Panel: Bryan Bomba, Joseph Brazen, Ron Cadieux, Leslie Edwards, Kathy Schmidt

Chris Bird’s 2008 Financial Planning Update, Get the latest strategies and recommendations from the nation’s foremost authority of financial strategies for real estate professionals, a former IRS agent and current CFP. Presenter: Chris Bird

Chris Bird’s 2008 Tax Advantage Update, The tax laws are constantly changing. Tap into this national expert and former IRS agent’s savvy understanding of all the latest changes. Presenter: Chris Bird

Client Care Systems, How you service your clients is more important than any other details throughout the process—today more than ever. You’ll hear how to implement the systems the Stars use to provide exceptional quality client care before, during, and after the transaction. Moderator: Martha Hendrick Panel: Noel Bittinger, Craig Lerch Jr., Bob O’Toole, Janet Parsons, Tami Spaulding

Creating Champions in a Challenging Market, Building a team is just the beginning. Helping those agents become champions in the market is yet another level of leadership. The Stars who themselves are champions in their markets share the success tips they’ve used to stay tops and lead their teams to the top as well. Moderator: Buddy West Panel: John Bendall, Marta DuPree, Greg Gorman, Nancy Jenkins

Expired Campaigns That Work!, If the market in your area has softened, as many have, you’re likely noticing an increase in the number of Expired listings. The Stars share tried-and-true systems and campaigns they’re currently using to gain the trust and confidence of Expired Listing sellers. Moderator: Ron Kubek Panel: Don DeHanas, Jeff Firnstahl, Hannah Searcy, Fraida Varah

Introduction to DISC Personality Types, Understanding who you are, how to read others, and what to do with the information for the benefit of all parties is the foundation of Personality Profiles. The Stars will bring a fun and information-filled approach to DISC that will be memorable and useful to your business. Moderator: Demetria Chadbourne Panel: Lila Feingold, Terri McNaughton, Wendy Shaw, Diane Stow, Nikki Ubaldini

Lead Generation for New Business, The Stars share a variety of prospecting approaches, along with the marketing pieces and systems to support them, to help you start generating more leads—and more importantly—more sales in your growing business. Moderator: Bruce Mulhearn Panel: Kristan Cole, Brett Ellis, Terry McDaniel, Terry Moerler, Paul Wheeler

Lead, Motivate, Manage, and Coach Your Team, Going from salesperson to rainmaker or team manager is not an easy or natural progression for many agents. These Stars have not only made the successful transition, but they’ll also share with you the specific tools and strategies they use successfully with their teams so that you can too. Moderator: Sande Ellis Panel: Gail Bass, Denny Bishop, David Crockett, Diane Honeycutt, Jeff Searcy

Life Balance Through Time Management, In order to have the quality of life you want along with the success you desire in business, it’s critical to develop your time management skills. The Stars share what’s working to keep their businesses going strong while maintaining a high quality of life in and out of the office.
Moderator: Beth Mason Panel: Dee Allegue, Judie Crockett, David Eiglarsh, Brad Korb

Marketing: Low- and No-Cost, Keeping top of mind with your market is an important now as ever. Learn from the Stars what marketing campaigns, postcards, and unique strategies are working for them NOW and how they do all that marketing to their communities and Spheres on a shoestring budget. Moderator: Pat Wattam Panel: Barbara Brady, Mary Charters, Heidi Hines, Tony Garufi, Beth McKinney

Negotiating Dialogues for Success, The Negotiating General Session on Thursday morning will cover many of the crucial points of negotiating. This session will then delve even deeper into how to bring buyers and sellers together for a win-win transaction, eliminating stress and saving time for all parties involved—especially you. Moderator: Ron Kubek Panel: Ann Bishop, Alexis Bolin, Melinda Estridge, John Jones, Les Walden

New or Solo Agents: Going from Zero to 50 Units, Whether you are new to the business or an agent working without a team looking to increase your transactions, this session will give you invaluable tips and techniques to get you there. Moderator: Joe Yost Panel: Todd Buckley, Cathie Harney, Kellee Heldoorn, Brenda Rawls, Wayne Turner

Right Size Your Team for a Changing Market, Leadership is about getting back to the basics where the rainmaker creates the attitude – coming in first and leaving last, not asking someone to do something you aren’t willing to do. Learn how to cut overhead and keep more of what you make and get answers to the questions: What do I need to do in today’s market that I didn’t need to do before? How do I give myself permission to get back into the business? Moderator: Brad Cole Panel: Linda Domis, Rachel DeHanas, Nate Martinez, Julia Shildkret, John Smith

Technology: Dollar-Productive Tools to Use in a Challenging Market, To be productive with the latest technology, you don’t need to be a techie. You certainly don’t have the time to understand how things work, you just need to know what tools are available to accomplish your tasks and then how to use them. The Stars will tell you specifically what they’re using effectively—from cameras and communication devises to laptops and scanners. And they’ll let you know about the latest software that will make your business run more smoothly and efficiently.Moderator: Rob Levy Panel: James Nellis, Sam Miller, Alan Shafran

Tracking Systems, It’s important to know which of your investments are working and which aren’t, and then how to make adjustments based on tracking information when you get it. The Stars explain how to gather the statistics you need to make informed decisions about where to spend your dollars for the best return. Moderator: Richard Bass Panel: Martin Bouma, Joe Charters, Karen Jolley, Scott Shine

Virtual Assistants, Whether you’re not ready to go down the path of hiring full-time team members or you already have a team and need more help, virtual outsourcing and assistants may be just what the doctor ordered. Learn a host of applications for virtual help in your business from the Stars and some Virtual Assistants as well. Moderator: Gayle Henderson Panel: Patrick Lilly, Marsha Sell, VA Kim Hughes, VA Marybeth Denmeade, VA Tricia Andreassen, VA Steve Kantor

Web-Site Effectiveness, With over 80% of consumers going to the Internet first to start their home search, isn’t it about time you made your Web site more effective? Gain invaluable insights on what the Stars are doing to attract consumers through the Internet. Moderator: Galand Haas Panel: Tom Cain, Stephanie Evelo, Marilyn Kohn, Lee Bittinger.

To order "Best of Orlando" right now dial STAR POWER® Systems at 800-635-6750 OR coming soon it will be available in STAR POWER® Systems comprehensive Real Estate Education store.

The 19th annual Star Power Conference ends this afternoon with a thousand plus real estate agents gaining so much from their 3+ days spent here in Orlando, Florida.

I’d rate this conference an H. That’s right, not an A, but an H.

First, H is for Howard.  Howard Brinton and his Star Power Stars have once again imparted real estate education and experience from 7:30 am past the official end at 5 or 6 pm well into the wee hours of the night at various places around the hotel and Orlando.

Most, though H is for the core of the conference, which was

Head

Heart

Hugs

Head is rather obvious, because we leave with heads overflowing with ideas and goals shared by Howard, the Stars and fellow attendees.

Heart is what underlies the conference and the stars. Some worked on building another Home for Habitat. Some overcame serious health challenges as well as business challenges. Everyone cheered the others on, celebrated their successes, and encouraged their journey to improve. Throughout the days attendees contributed to various charities.

Hugs highlighted the first day and the last, when colleagues and good friends welcomed each other, encouraged each other, and bid farewell.  As friends spotted one another throughout the conference days there were shouts and hugs. This is truly a caring group.

The next Annual Star Power Conference, the 20th, will be held next July in Denver. It appeared that hundred of real estate agents here have already registered for next year.  H - Hurry to sign up while there is still space - and join the fun, friends and education of the next H conference!