When it comes to commercial real estate or retail real estate we tend to focus on the features of the property as part of the marketing process. We inspect the property, review the target market, and build on the features that we determine are important to the marketing process.

Whilst this process works quite successfully for listed properties, it also needs to work successfully for you personally. Consider these questions:

• Exactly what are the features of the service that you bring to your customers and prospects?
• Why are you any different than any other agent in the local area?

To be a top agent in this industry, you really do need to determine some solid points of difference and features that you bring to your clients and prospects.

There is no point in being the same as every other agent in the local area.

When you ask an average agent about their relevance to the client and the listing, and perhaps even seek some guidance on the points of difference in their service, they will usually give you one or more of the following comments:

• We have been in the area a long time
• We understand the market
• We are better than the other agents in the area
• We have done the deals
• We have a great team of professionals
• People trust us to do the job
• We know what we’re doing
• We have a significant amount of knowledge and experience

Whilst these statements may be relevant and correct, just about every competitor in your property market will say the same thing. Clients get bored in listening to generality and soft marketing pitches.

There are no real points of difference in any of the above comments for the client to choose you as the best agent or salesperson to help them as opposed to any of your competitors.

Real points of difference are driven from strategy and confidence. Both of those are personal traits that can be incorporated by you into every pitch and sales presentation. This is an individual thing and that is what makes a top agents stand well and truly above everyone else in the market.

You can pick a top agent in the presentation and connection that they make with the client; they connect with relevance.

Cut out the ‘Generality’

The client doesn’t want to hear generality; they need to be convinced that you truly understand the best way forward to produce the best results for them in the shortest possible time. Those facts will always be built around strategy and confidence.

To solve the client connection problem, try answering the following questions for the client in your sales pitch or presentation:

1. How can we approach the market uniquely to achieve a better rate of enquiry than that which applies to competing buildings currently?
2. What will be the target market and how will you attract the target market to the property?
3. What makes the listed property stand out as unique and special to the target market segment?
4. How would you inspect the property with qualified prospects so that they fully understand the features of the property?
5. Given the features of the property and the improvements as they currently exist, how will you encourage negotiation and the process of going to contract or lease?
6. What challenges can you help the client with now as part of consolidating the listing and marketing process?

These questions are far more relevant to the client in the listing process than the generic statements that we spoke of earlier. If you can address these five questions specifically in your listing and sales pitch, it is quite likely that your chances of attracting the listing will be significantly improved.

You are actually the product or service that needs to be sold first; when you do that well, the listing becomes easier.

They say practice makes perfect, and when it comes to commercial and retail real estate in today’s market, the statement remains very relative. Take the five factors above and refine them into a specific sales presentation process covering your property specialty and property service.

Lights, Camera, Customers!

In a still tough economy, many small businesses are giving video presentations to market themselves. Master presentation skills and you can attract new customers. Use your business video to educate, create awareness and advertise your services.

Particularly exciting are the many ways to use video. For instance, you can create a high-definition video with a digital camera and turn it into an affordable advertisement.

More and more small businesses are flocking to video for commercials, infomercials, documentaries and film series to attract new customers.

According to the Los Angeles Times, slick ad campaigns are now much more affordable to small firms. There are bargains available such as radically lower production costs and remarkable ad rates.

Yet, even with the most affordable production and bargain rates, as a small business owner, there is one very real hurdle to overcome.

Getting up in front of a video camera and telling your story!

So, I’ll leave it to you to find the best local production company in your area. Just be sure to take advantage of all the bargains out there.

While you’re getting your production crew in order, use these tips. These 3-quick and simple video tips will help you enhance presentation skills. Get confident and get ready for being on camera – the easy way.

Video Tip 1: Be Authentic
Your customers and prospects want to see you – up close and personal. They aren’t looking for another phony or slick ad. Instead, they want to see you talking like a real, down-to-earth person.

Hint: Talk to the camera as if you were talking to your best friend.

Video Tip 2: Say Less
Viewers want to hear a short, catchy message. They don’t want to know all the nitty-gritty details about your business. And they definitely don’t want to hear you drone on about your precise business plan or strategic timeline- that’s for your planning wall only.

When you’re making a video, continuously challenge yourself to say less. Strangely enough, this will help you sound much more believable. Less is not truly easy. It’s hard work and you may have to struggle to define your core message.

Don’t give up. A short, pithy message in fewer words is the way to go!

Video Tip 3: Give Specific Instructions
Video messages are short and punchy. Tell people watching what to do next – and be specific.

For instance:

• Download a special report
• Stop by for a limited offer
• Get a discount until Friday midnight
• Be the first 100 people and get ‘X’ for free

Short, understandable and specific next steps are best.

Come up with a specific action that anyone can understand.

Hint: If you are short on ideas, look at television ads and infomercials. While you don’t have to recreate the ads on late-night television, this will give you loads of ideas for specific instructions.

Put these three tips together and get comfortable presenting your business story on video. Then, go get the visibility your company deserves.

Now, what are you waiting for? There’s customers to attract and money to be made with your new business videos.

If you are serious about presenting effectively on video, get instant access to presentation skills training. Discover how to simplify your story, connect with your audience and inspire people to take action.

Even if you’ve never stood in front of a camera before, on-demand training is the fastest and most affordable option. Boost your presentation skills on camera and become a powerful presenter.

Just think: smart business owners are already promoting their solutions with powerful video presentations. Get comfortable with presenting on camera and make this your best summer ever!

Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other one thing. – ABRAHAM LINCOLN

…did you know that your past, present and future can and do without failure directly and indirectly affect your outlook and the outcome in your life?

THE PAST

Have you ever done something that was so inopportune you couldn’t forgive yourself? Have you ever made a mistake that you’re still blaming yourself for? Are you still torturing yourself with the thought that only if you could’ve done it differently, the outcome would be more appropriate?

Well… here’s good news! You don’t have to hold this burden in your heart for as long as you live. Release it. Set yourself free.

Unfortunately, if you hold on to bad memories, you’re depriving yourself of your own wellbeing and sound mental and emotional health. You’re making yourself a prisoner of the past. This will adversely affect your capacity to act in the present moment. You will not be able to think clearly and you will lose your focus if you are still lingering in the shadows of your darkened past.

No matter what you do, you cannot reverse or otherwise change history. So let bygones be bygones. There is no need to worry about something you have no control over?

Let go of the past, but let the LESSONS remain. Whatever lesson you’ve learned will be of utmost importance to the fulfillment of your goals and endeavors in the future. These lessons are your mentors that will inevitably teach you the hard way and more often than not the right way; but nevertheless, success comes to those who are willing to take the risk and pay the price for their actions.

And what about the successes you had in the past? How did you feel when you accomplished something truly exceptional? It felt great didn’t it?

Well then, use these past experiences in your present ventures to encourage you and to motivate you. These memorable experiences will bring a positive aura of enthusiasm and will remind you that you have the power to achieve anything with the right attitude and resolve.

Recall these affirmative memories in everything that you do and you will see amazing results in all your undertakings.

THE FUTURE

Now how can the future influence your success if it hasn’t occurred yet? The answer is simple.

Your burning passion to attain your ideal life in the future will become the motivating factor that will prod and push you to take the essential steps in the present moment.

Conceive your future in the most vivid and wide-ranging ways possible.

For instance, if you want to become wealthy, then take into consideration:

1) How much money you that you desire, when you intend to get acquire the money and your action plan to have that exact amount by your target date.

2) The vision of your and your lifestyle when you’ve attained the desired money; like the people you congregate with, the activities you engage in, the food you eat, the places you travel to, your home, the clothes you wear etc…you get the picture.

These are the guiding forces that will chart the precise path to your intended destination. If you envision yourself as having attained them and focus all your efforts regardless of the impending obstacles ahead, then your inner power will release the proper energy that will enable you to do nearly anything necessary for you to achieve that in which you are in hot pursuit of… Your desired end result!

THE PRESENT

The present moment is always the time to ACT. Ready or not, you must act now! Mistakes will be made, but ‘revisioning’ your plan will almost always act as the stepping stones to the attainment of success.

Lay procrastination aside. One delay or excuse will generate a chain reaction or postponements and alibis that may possibly never end.

On no account, should you ever allow fear to get in your way. Some people are struck by the threats of failures, setbacks, or criticisms. What they don’t realize is that the majority of successful people had to pass through “the eye of the needle” in order to get to where they were going.

Act and react intelligently. Use your past mistakes as a roadmap to avoid future gaffes. Let the vision of your ideal life in the future compel you to carry out your plans and catapult you to attain your deepest desires.