Hi everyone, I hope you’ve had a great April Fool’s Day and enjoyed an amazing first quarter.

I always enjoy a laugh and the (often) lame attempts to try to catch my family & friends out on April Fool’s Day… but at the same time I also found that during my real estate career there was a certain serious side to the April 1st milestone because it marks the beginning of the 2nd quarter (end of the first quarter).

…and in the early days of my career (prior to running real estate offices), I always remember and respected that whenever my old boss used to pay-out our quarterly commissions he would often say that “Money is No Joking Matter!”

He always made sure that we all took it very seriously when reflecting on what we’d achieved during the previous quarter & when re-focussing our attention onto setting our targets to make the next quarter even better…

…and…hopefully, I’ve caught you right at the moment where you’re celebrating some great results for your first quarter of 2012!

How did you go?

Are you on track or off track to achieve what you want this year?

If you’re on track… Congratulations! Keep up the great work!

If you’re off-track then the Good News is that there is still time to achieve your overall income goal for 2012 (regardless of the market and how far behind target you may currently be)…Seriously it is possible!!!

You see, during this past quarter, I’ve travelled throughout Australia catching up with some of the industry’s top agents, many of whom are celebrating some of the best results of their careers.

Mat Steinwede was one of the agents I caught up with and during an interview I did with Mat, we talked about how agents like himself, Aaron Shiner and other 7 Figure Agents used to take about 5 years to become a Household name in their marketplace, yet in today’s economy agents can now use the ‘7 Cutting-Edge Social Media Accelerators for Real Estate Agents’ and achieve the status of becoming ‘The Indisputable Trusted Advisor in Your Marketplace’ in one-tenth of the time… That’s right… 1/10^th of the time! NO JOKE!!!

By harnessing the NEW POWER of Social Media and using the Internet more effectively you can gain an “Incomparable-High Profile”in your marketplace in our current economy.

To discover more about how this is possible, visit…

http://www.XFactorAgents.com/NEW-POWER

If you seriously want to MAKE 2012 YOUR BEST YEAR EVER then what you learn and implement in this next quarter (2^nd quarter) can really set you up for an amazing Spring selling season PLUS build momentum towards the run into Christmas 2012…yes Christmas!!! (Yikes! It comes around so fast each year).

Plus, when you consider that most of your customers are now doing so much research online and that a lot of the agent selection process takes place over the web, many agents would literally cry if they knew exactly how much business they are currently missing out on via the digital first impression they are currently making.

In today’s economy, the internet should be working for you, not against you! This web and Social Media thing may sound hard or a bit too technical but in fact it’s  really simple once you know how!

…and once you get the power of the internet and the NEW POWER of Social Media working for you as an agent then your positioning, profile and results will literally take off, especially once you implement the ‘7 Cutting-Edge Social Media Accelerators for Real Estate Agents’.

To find out what these Accelerators are, see…

http://www.XFactorAgents.com/NEW-POWER

I wish you every success in Quarter 2 and throughout the rest of the year…

Here’s to your accelerated success during 2012.

Warm regards

Greg Vincent - The Social Media Guy for Real Estate Profesionals

www.GregVincent.com.au/socialmedia

PS:  The insights and strategy that I’m sharing with agents about this ‘New-Power’ is only being made available to a limited number of agents at a time via the Social Media for Real Estate Round Table sessions that I’m conducting throughout Australia and NZ (Max. 15 attendees) and it’s definitely something that the ‘Early Bird Agents’ benefit from.

So, if you’re serious about achieving your 2012 goals then you simply do not want to miss…

http://www.XFactorAgents.com/NEW-POWER

I just read this brilliant quote from Theodore Roosevelt and had to share some thoughts around bouncing back from criticism…

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.” ~ Theodore Roosevelt

No matter what you are doing, there is always going to be good or bad criticism along the way. That’s life!

Whilst you can take things personally and dwell on the critics, the truly successful people take it only as feedback and realise that so long as they stay the course, focus on the end game and work closely with the people who they can really help, then everything will turn out for the best.

Whilst it can certainly feel like a punch to the heart when someone criticises you, the important thing is to lift your head, keep your eyes focussed on your goal and bounce back fast.

Imagine if a long distance runner ran along the road always staring at their feet all the time then they would never reach their destination.  (In the end, they’d probably just end up falling over from dizziness!)

3 key questions to ask about any criticism is…

1.  “Who are they and what have they done?”

2.  “Is this an opportunity to improve your service?”

3,   “What are your customers expectations, and what would it take to exceed them and create Raving Fans?

It doesn’t take a lot to turn an upset customer into a raving fan if you approach it the right way and act swiftly.

But also understand that you simply can’t make everyone happy. It’s just not possible.

“I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.”  ~ Bill Cosby

Certainly take their criticism on board as feedback, but don’t take it to heart.,, and definitely don’t let people rent your head-space for free.

Dust yourself off, take action and do something that helps you move towards your goal as quickly as you can.

PS: Not sure how true this is but, someone told me the other day, when Tiger Woods was the #1 golfer in the world, he would only allow himself 7 seconds after he struck the ball to think about the shot that he had just played. After the 7 seconds had passed he then focussed all of his attention on the next shot.

WOW! Now that’s what I call moving-on fast!!!

Earlier today I read this message from Chris Smith about Facebook’s plans to roll out one-to-one email capability for Facebook Fan Pages.

“Just Announced via Mari Smith: Facebook will begin to allow one to one messages to be sent from a Facebook Business Page to anyone who Likes the page. So for example, if you have 1,000 fans you could technically now email them via Facebook. This is monumental in my opinion as most people did not Like Pages knowing they would get messages from them, even one to one messages. Will this cause a mass unliking of Pages that suck? You betcha! Could even cause anyone on the fence to completely leave Facebook all together. I know their are Pages I liked years ago that if I now started getting emails from them I would be very upset. How do you all feel about this it literally just broke?”

So what this means is that you can now connect with your Fans via email, which is great news for Facebook Page Admins who are also good at marketing because it provides another way to connect with your fans.

But, it’s also a Kamakazi (Crash & Burn) Marketing Tool for some admins who will think it’s a great idea to start spamming fans with poorly thought out email notifications.

Used the right way this is great news, but placed into the wrong hands or misused it could dissolve your fan base very quickly.

TIP:  Think! How would you feel about receiving emails from your Fan Pages and when would you feel that an email is appropriate?

Like I said this is great news but be warned…there is a right way and a wrong way to approach this latest Facebook update.

I’d love to hear your thoughts about this?

It’s a quick, easy to read parable about how people react to change, and now the main message within the book has been made available to view via this animated ‘Who Moved My Cheese - Short Film’

Who Moved My Cheese - Short Film

object width=”495 height=”300″ classid=”clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000″ codebase=”http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0″>

Staying ahead of the curve of change taking place within our real estate industry is going to become more and more important for agents to remain both relevant and successful throughout 2012 and beyond.

I hope you enjoy this short film.

Here’s to your accelerated success.

Warm regards

Greg Vincent

The Social Media Guy for Real Estate Professionals

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Congratulations to both Rockend and Sold Magazine for putting together this interview.

Are you working towards being ahead of the curve?

Where do you see Property Management in the next 5 - 10 years?

Before the big-fella comes down the chimney with a bag full of goodies, I just wanted to pass on my Warmest Wishes to you all for the Festive Season and sign-off for the year by sharing some Christmas Cheer and thank a number of people…

2011 …where did you go?

Wow! As they say ‘Time Flies When You’re Having Fun’, well I’m not sure if you’ve found the same but for me 2011 has just disappeared.

I have met with thousands of agents throughout the year…some experiencing huge success and others finding it a bit of a struggle?

No matter what you’re experience has been this year, you’ll find that in life and in your real estate career you can learn just as much from your successes as you can from your failures.

Your success in 2012 will mostly be determined by the strategic decisions you make and your level of self-belief.

TIP: Don’t let your self-belief hold you back and remember ‘Don’t get bitten by the same dog twice’.

BIG THANK YOU EVERYONE!

I absolutely love what I do and feel very blessed to have been able to connect with and help so many agents, agencies, corporates, coaches and trainers by sharing online tips throughout this year whether it be via Social Media, from stage or personally. It’s my passion.

I’ve especially enjoyed speaking at numerous events right across the country this year. I’ve also really enjoyed conducting Personalised Marketing Consultations for agents over the internet without having to leave my office (love doing these), PLUS as much as I love speaking at events, you may have noticed that this year I’ve also fallen in love with conducting webinars. eg. the X Factor Agent Online Dominator webinars and ‘Appy Hour’ webinars PLUS the ‘How To Make It To The Top In Real Estate’ webinar series (so far featuring legends of the industry:- Mat Steinwede, Aaron Shiner & Tom Panos with many more industry greats joining in 2012).

There’s been a number of highlights this year

It’s been absolutely amazing to a part of the team who launched the RE BarCamp concept into Australia.

The REBarCamp movement is something that I am extremely proud to be associated with. It’s the best learning environment for agents that I have ever experienced in my 20+ years in real estate. The team of people behind it are also some of the most amazing people I’ve ever met. I’m looking forward to being a part of more REBarCamps in 2012 and into the future.

I’d like to personally thank Michael Sheargold, Robert Bevan, Dane Atherton, Tom Panos, REINSW, PPM Group, McGrath, LJ Hooker Group, R & W, Glenn Twiddle, Laing + Simmons for inviting me to educate your agents about Social Media for Real Estate at numerous events and training sessions throughout 2011.

Also thanks to Samantha McLean from Sold Magazine for the 2 Cover Stories in your magazine this year and Tina Liptai from REINSW Journal. Special thanks to Chris Gray for inviting me to appear on Sky News Business a couple of times now and to my great friend Kevin Turner from REUNCUT. (always a great pleasure to share tips via your real estate radio show buddy)

Thank you to all the agents who are using our HomeWebsites.com.au product and my web development team who work tirelessly behind the scenes.

Thanks to all of the members of X Factor Agents. I really enjoy sharing whatever I possibly can to help you get the competitive edge and accelerate your success.

Also, I couldn’t possibly finish this year without personally thanking a number of people specifically like:-
Terri Cooper, Michael Sheargold, Shane McLucas, Julie Davis, Shivaya Reo, Paul Tonich, Braden Walters, Joanna Martin, Tracey Avery, Stephanie Mason, Judith Villa, Ryan O’Grady, Adam Campbell, Lee Hopkins, Hugh Bateman, Glenn Twiddle, Marty Duncan, Katie Wood-Canty, Scott Wulff, Shaune Clarke, Darren M. Giles, Clarinda Tivoli, Stephen Lord, John McGrath, Peter Ricci, Nathan Sahyoun, Charles Leahey, John Cunningham, Stephen Brehaut, Glenn Batten, Steve Day, Chris Sahyoun, Darryn McRae, Steve Koerber, Hugh Bateman, Matt Lahood, Dane Atherton, Geoff White, Vasili Hadzellis, Joanna Martin, Chris Gilmour, Jeroen Van de Peppel, Zac McHardy, Robert Simeon, Robert Bevan, Jason Rose, David Willis, Leanne Pilkington, Tony Santolin, Aaron Shiner, Mat Steinwede, The Band from REBarCamp who helped kick-off the first event back in May (Peter Brewer, Lara Scott, Peter Fletcher, Ben Stockdale, Tatiana Mijalica, Jeff Turner, Mike Mueller, Andy Kauffman, Brad Coy), Tom Panos and Kevin Turner. ( I’m sure I’ve forgotten someone, my sincere apologies if I have, it’s been a huge year)

Plus an EXTRA BIG THANKS to all my amazing Facebook Fans, Friends and Twitter Followers, PLUS fantastic data-base of clients. It has been so much fun connecting with you all throughout the year.

It’s sooo personally rewarding to see so many agents joining in, taking action and embracing innovative strategies.

And last but by no means least, I want to ‘Especially Thank’ my amazing family for all their love and support throughout this year and previous years. You guys rock, you are my rock and you are the reason why I do so much of what I do. I love you all sooo much. xxx

My Number 1 Highlight for 2011…

Plus, finally there’s one thing I wanted to mention that happened this year which was a massive moment that came and went very quickly but definitely can’t go by without a mention.

On October 13^th, my great friend Tom Panos, who had been battling Cancer for 5 years, finally received the news that he was ‘Cancer free. Scans clear. Thank you God! Woohooo!’.

What a massive moment for Tom and his family. Congratulations Tom. I wish you a long and healthy life with your wonderful family. You have the most incredible outlook on life and have been an amazing inspiration to me and a lot of others within the real estate industry throughout the year. Thank you and all the very best my friend.

Enjoy your Christmas everyone.  Stay safe and see you all again in 2012.

PS: I’ve put together a Christmas message for a bit of fun over here…

Buckle-Up for 2012!

Here’s to your success

Warm regards

Greg Vincent

The Online Guy for Real Estate Professionals

PPS:  If you think the internet and Social Media moved quickly this year, you won’t believe where it will be at this same time next year.

As usual, I’ll be on the look out for the best tools and strategies to share with you so that you can stay ahead of the game and leave daylight between you and your competitors..

I have some BIG NEWS that I will be sharing early in 2012 which is something that will have a major impact on the Australian real estate industry. I can’t reveal any details but it will definitely have an impact.

See you all then.  Cheers

Yesterday afternoon I had a quick phone catch up with The Sales Machine, Aaron Shiner now that he’s back from his seminars in Aus and NZ plus his webinar with me a few weeks back for ‘How To Make It To The Top In RealEstate’…   ( http://www.xfactoragents.com/webinars/aaron-shiner )

…and just in passing Aaron mentioned to me that he’s had a MASSIVE RESPONSE from his agents to something he has shared with them and so I asked if he’d mind if I shared it with you all because I thought you might want to take a look at it too?

Seriously, you really should ‘Check This Out’…

http://www.XFactorAgents.com/boomagent

This has to be one of the best value real estate training packs that I’ve ever seen!!! (Like I said, it must be Christmas…)

I’m just pleased that I got to speak with Aaron about it before the offer finishes tomorrow so that at least you can have the opportunity to check it out too.

I don’t think this needs much more said about it, other than to say…

Do yourself and your real estate career a MASSIVELY-HUGE favour and check this out right now before it’s removed from the web…

http://www.XFactorAgents.com/boomagent

Here’s to your success.

Warm regards

Greg Vincent

The Online Guy for Real Estate Professionals

www.XFactorAgents.com

We are having our end of year Xmas Party with lots of our friends from Boot Camp tonight.

Lee Hopkins (ex-first grade rugby league player) and the team at NuStart Health and Fitness  sent us all this inspirational message today and I thought I just had to share it with you.

“Well what a great year we have had at NUSTART HEALTH AND FITNESS. It is all finalised with our annual christmas party tonight at the Richmond club.

All of us here at Nustart would like to thank all our fantastic clients who have taken part in either PT or Bootcamp in 2012 your continued support is always appreciated. We have had some fantastic highs this year with many of our clients testing themselves in challenges, fun runs, triathlons and everything in between.

We hope that from your health and fitness experiences with us this year that you have not only improved your own health and fitness but at some point have improved the lifestyle of someone else or someone else has helped you improve your life.

I know Nustarts satisfaction is seeing our clients smile and enjoying themselves, at times training is hard and some sessions are mentally hard to get through but the self satisfaction of just finishing and doing your best is all Nustart will every ask of anyone. 

Sir Winston Churchill wrote “Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, so far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb”. 

To those we will not see until next year please be safe over the holiday period have a great and healthy christmas and new year.

Take care

The Team at Nustart Health and Fitness”

Today is the first time I’ve ever read that quote by Sir Winston Churchill but it really resonated for me when I read it.

I believe that ‘Life is a journey and living in the moment is very important’.

Plus, earlier today I tweeted out this insight that I had whilst going for my morning run…

 “Rationalisation of failure is just a way of accumulating excuses & putting them all into one big file which only serves to hold you back.”

…and it made me think about how far I’ve grown throughout this year both mentally and physically by taking responsibility for my own life and the consequences of my decisions.

You can decide to train both physically and mentally, but consistency and sticking at it is the key.

When it’s raining like it was this morning you can easily decide not to train and pull the dooner cover back over… Life is about making constant choices.

Sometimes you want to say yes to being able to help everyone else but often we neglect ourselves. It’s important to be a bit selfish about looking after yourself (book in daily ‘you’ time) and then you can be afford to be selfless for the rest of the day.

Throughout the year I’ve thoroughly enjoyed training closely with another ex-first grade rugby league player, Craig Izzard and our whole family (my wife Annette, daughters Natasha & Katelin and I) train together.

I’ve been able to push through some personal (physical and mental) barriers simply by training amongst such a fantastic group of fun-loving and inspiring people.

Your environment and who you hang around makes such a big impression on who you are and whether you live a life by design or whether you live it based on excuses.  Your environment is your decision. You can either make choices or you can make excuses.

If you need some inspiration to get fit join a Boot Camp. I must say it’s one of the best things I’ve ever done in my life.

Looking forward to the Xmas Party tonight team.

PS: BIG THANKS to other Boot Camp trainer Marty Duncan.

Here’s to your success.

Warm regards

Greg Vincent

The Online Guy for Real Estate Professionals

Who else would like to spend 45 mins with one of the most inspirational trainers in the business?

Well here’s your golden opportunity to do just that… 

When:  Wednesday, December 7th, 2011

Time: 11 - 11.45 am Sydney Time 

Get Off To A Flying Start in 2012…

“Tom Panos is the leading authority on Vendor Paid Marketing in Australia. By implementing his simple & smart strategies you’ll get more advertising dollars & better results” – John McGrath CEO – McGrath Estate Agents

Over recent times Tom Panos has been ranked the no. 1 speaker at conferences across Australia. By incorporating his own experience as a real estate agency owner at age 22 and over 15 years in corporate executive roles in the real estate industry and in media, Tom speaks from a position of authority about Vendor Paid Marketing and fully understands the Critical Behaviours of 7 Figure Agents.

Tom also lectures across Australia on House Price Maximisation strategies and is one of few experts in this field that is able to use evidence base data to support his views on this area.

For his ‘First Time Ever’, Tom Panos, the Real Estate Advertising Director for News Ltd and Top Real Estate Trainer joins Greg Vincent, The Online Guy for Real Estate Professionals on this ‘exclusive’ FREE ‘Live’ Webinar to share some of the Best Scripts & Dialogues that Top Performers are using in Today’s Market and shed some light on the whole Print Media v’s Online Debate.

Tom Panos has coached & trained over 8,000 real estate agents across Australia & Asia and as the founder of the Real Estate Gym PLUS author of a number of products like ‘Power’ and ‘Winners in Business’, it’s no wonder the best real estate agents in the country rate him as the stand out trainer.

Tom uses simple methodologies to provide agents with a real estate ‘tool-kit’ to succeed. They are tested tools & techniques that Australia’s top 1% of real estate agents are using.

IMPORTANT: If you are serious about achieving your goals in real estate and want to make 2012 your best year ever, then this Real Estate Industry, History Making, ‘Live’ FREE Online Training Event is something you simply DO NOT WANT TO MISS!

Hurry! Be Super Quick and Register Now because Spots are Strictly Limited.

To Register or Learn More…

Click Here Now

I look forward to catching up with you on this ‘exclusive’ Live FREE Webinar with one of real estate’s greatest motivators and educators, Tom Panos.

Here’s to your success.

Warm regards

Greg Vincent

XFactorAgents.com 

This is without doubt, The Best Video I’ve Seen This Year…

It’s arguably the best 9 mins, 56 secs of footage about life and putting things into perspective.

There have been many people who have written books, essays and made movies, documentaries trying to capture the essence of life. In this short video, Louie Schwartzberg, has done a brilliant job of doing just that.

As Jeff said when he shared the video, “Gratitude >> This is MORE than worth the 10 minutes it will take to watch. Don’t give up before the 4 minute mark. You won’t give up after it. Thanks Amy Chorew for sharing it.”

Enjoy! I hope it’s just the reminder you need to make today a great day.

Here’s to your success

Warm regards

Greg Vincent

The Online Guy for Real Estate Professionals

PS: I find nature can give us some empowering messages PLUS music can be such a great inspirer too.

If you want an extra boost of inspiration make sure to check out my ‘new’ favourite song here…