TOP 5 IN REAL ESTATE NETWORK, Sept. 2010—
Jody Korman
RE/MAX Commonwealth
Years in real estate: 7
Region served: Greater Richmond, Virginia
Average sales price in your market: $225,000
Average listing time: 120-150 days
The one thing you can’t live without: Exercise. I work out every day from 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. That is my appointment for me. I take a functional fitness class two days per week and a running class three days per week.
I understand you are really bullish about Top 5. Please talk about how you use program. First off, it is true—I love Top 5. I have never met Allan Dalton, but I am really enjoying his tape series, Driving with Dalton. It’s a series of five different CDs and it provides a wealth of user-friendly information. I use his ideas and concepts to help run my business. It has been invaluable.
What do you believe are some of the greatest benefits of Top 5? When I first joined in March of this year, I immediately plugged 250 of my contacts—current and past clients—into my Top 5 account. Now, every two weeks, I send them an e-mail with Top 5 material. Things like, “What to ask your HVAC Technician”—all time-sensitive e-mails. The material is great and Top 5 is doing all of the research and writing for me. This way, I am keeping my name fresh in their minds. I am not a writer and I am not good at tooting my own horn; I dislike the phrase “multimillion-dollar producer” that many agents use. In my opinion, it sends a wrong message to the consumer. But with Top 5, it lets me do what I do best—sell real estate—and it takes care of blogging, writing and researching for me.
How are you building Top 5 branding into your marketing efforts? I am including Top 5 in mailers and on my e-mail signature, so when e-mailing a message, the recipient may click on “Top 5” to see what news is posted on my Top 5 in Real Estate page…but mainly it is on listing presentations where I talk about it…and that really helps me differentiate myself. People want to know what it means to be part of Top 5. It gives me the opportunity to explain how committed I am to the business and to my clients. It means being totally committed to helping clients and providing the utmost professional service.
The next thing I plan on doing is setting up accounts on Twitter and Facebook, utilizing the Top 5 In Real Estate materials. I believe that will really help me differentiate myself and help grow my business even more. I also plan on using the Top 5 materials to forward the Top 5 in Real Estate professional videos to my clients.
What is your philosophy for a successful life in real estate? Balance. If you don’t have it, you will run yourself ragged. As a Realtor, you always have to remember that your job is to be a problem solver. As long as you understand the important role you play and stay front of mind, you will succeed. Real estate is a stressful business. You have to have outside interests and allow yourself to take some time off—without a phone. My husband requires me to turn my phone off. I actually went to the Caymans scuba diving for eight days and did not take my phone with me and that’s ok. I pay Realtors to handle the business for me while I relax and truly enjoy the time off. It rejuvenates and energizes you.
