TOP 5 IN REAL ESTATE NETWORK, October, 2009—Janet Kleen
Keller Williams Realty/Temecula Valley
Years in real estate: 3
Region Served: Temecula Valley, California
How are you differentiating yourself in this market? At this time most of our sales here are short sales and I have been involved with over 50 of them in the last two years. Working in the various stages of negotiation, I have developed a system that gets results and I have been successful. I am also a 20-year resident of the area and have worked with many home buyers (before getting into real estate) as their interior designer. I have a degree in interior design. I am trying to help people who are losing their homes. I hope to help them repair their credit and get right back into the market before the prices go up. They are so relieved to get out of this big burden. What I do best is maintain a very close communication with my clients. I try to maintain daily communication with my clients—in whatever way they prefer be contacted. When they are going through the listing process, I am with them daily. Because of this most my business is referral based.
What are you doing differently when it comes to listing presentations? My presentations are very targeted. I bring a computer but I also print everything out and have it in a presentation folder so that if my computer crashes, I still have all of my material. When I first get to the house I talk to my sellers for quite a while and just try to get to know them…to learn what their expectations are. I like to have everything all prepared so that when I list the property, it is ready to go. In this market, once it is on the market, we will have as many as 20 offers immediately.
Why did you become a Member of Top 5? I joined Top 5 to improve and build my skills as an agent. It’s important to be connected with other top agents in the country. There are always new ideas and ways to improve and it’s exciting to talk to these very top agents to brainstorm and learn from them. I believe this is especially important in this difficult market.
How are you/will you utilize the Top 5 program to help build your business? I just recently attended RISMedia’s Top 5 in Real Estate Network® Leadership Conference and I really enjoyed Allan Dalton. I, too, like to think of it as “marketing rather than listing.” That’s how I talk. I consider myself a marketing consultant more than a listing agent. Allan provided scripts for us in his opening talks and they were so interesting and valuable. Going forward in this market, we have to differentiate ourselves from other agents and the Top 5 information will help me do this.
What is the key to a successful life in real estate? Be positive and enthusiastic and keep abreast of what’s happening in the market. Constantly improve as an agent and service your clients.
