Chris' Blog

Last week I traveled to Costa Rica with my brother.  He won a sales trip with his company and asked me to go with him.  Awesome experience but now I'm back in action.  A few things to write about today... During my trip I was impressed by the American real estate franchises in Costa Rica.  All of...

Transparency is critical today in our relationships.  Broker-Agent, Agent-Consumer, Broker-Consumer and Broker-Franchisor.  Here is why... Women make 89% of the purchasing decisions in real estate and comprise the majority of our agent populations.  Women are also excellent BS detectors and trans...

I speak with agents regularly and during recruiting meetings, have an opportunity to learn lots about agent perceptions.  In real estate, so many of us talk to ourselves in our marketing.  I'm going to not mention brand names, however, you know who they are if you step away, put your consumer hat...

1.  Network - tap into your sphere of influence.  Facebook, Linked-In, Active Rain, and other social networking outlets are easy to use, free and will likely help you find the best candidate.  I interviewed a woman from a competing brokerage last month who I met on Active Rain.  Personally, I dis...

When a new or trasferring agent come onboard with your firm, the first week is crucial.  It is during the first days with your firm that a manager/owner has the opportunity to indoctrinate agents into company systems.  It is also the time agents will form lasting opinions and habits (good and bad...

I and our internal team often invent and use so many words and phrases that I thought I'd create a "Svectionary" blog.  Here goes... Scientist (noun) - One who can and does consistently share useful and intelligent knowledge with the Active Rain community.  One who can open the eyes of the indust...

                                                     If you read my "Meme," you know I used to deliver the daily newspaper for several years from 1985-1989.  The subscription rate among the 150 homes I was responsible for was almost 100%.  Everyone got the newspaper and while I'd love to take cre...

1. Who is your favorite musical artist? Kid Rock.  I saw him a few weeks ago and it was the best performance I'd ever seen.   He mixes music genres like no other and plays country, rap, every instrument on stage and even will scratch - old school style.  2. Who is your favorite artist? My kids.  ...

                                                           I'm not talking 007 style, but I can't imagine NOT having a Google alert set on yourself today.  I have one and it is awesome to learn every time my name is mentioned.  Google always catches it.  Even with my seemingly obscure last name y...

This weekend is our HUGE, EVERYTHING MUST GO, neighborhood garage sale.  Making me think of the picture above and the entrepreurs in our company.  And, yes, my little people (ages 3 and 6) are planning to have a lemonade stand on the street, and, despite their ages already have it all figured ou...