Listen, Listen, Listen

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By Chuck Green

RISMEDIA, Nov. 22, 2008-In markets that have been hit hard by real estate declines, such as in many areas of Florida, hearing daily gloom and doom over the mainstream media can’t be helping matters. For Rei Mesa it’s all about researching the facts and looking at the positives. “There are opportunities with every environment, situation or issue,” he says. Read how he’s leading his company through these tough economic times.

Rei Mesa
President & COO
Prudential Florida Realty
Sunrise, Florida

Years in real estate: 28
Number of offices: 46
Number of agents: 1,800
Region served: Southeast, Southwest and Central Florida

Best tip for getting the right listing price: Strong, accurate, detailed comparable market analysis is the key to getting the right listing price in order to help make sellers aware of what the competition is-especially in today’s environment. I also feel strongly that along with a strong listing price, financing incentives are paramount.

Best tip for dealing with difficult customers: Listen, listen and listen. You have to be a great listener in order to work with difficult customers. I think we need to take more of a consulting and less of a salesmanship approach when dealing with customers in general, but specifically with the difficult ones.

Best tip for running a successful meeting: Put together an agenda and stick to it. And make sure those who will be making presentations during a meeting receive an agenda beforehand. Then stick to your agenda and stay on topic and on schedule.

How do you deal with the negative effects of the media?
First, listen to the information coming from the media from a neutral, non-emotional point of view, digest it, then do your own research to see if what they’re saying is at all factual. Then, obviously, when we’re talking to our sales, leadership and support teams, we position the facts and look for the positives. I think there are opportunities with every environment, situation or issue. As leaders, it’s our job to look at those opportunities and come back and say, “Yes, those are the facts, but these are the opportunities that we should look at and focus on.”

Best idea for time management?
Take care of all the difficult issues first and stick to a schedule. If you schedule a meeting for an hour, at the 59-minute point, you know that meeting has to stop in another minute.

What strategies do your agents utilize to stand out to clients and achieve customer loyalty?
I think, more than ever, branding is important to today’s customers. I feel that, as an organization, we have strong brands that we leverage, position or proposition as an integral part of our business. We also focus on exceeding our customers’ expectations. Always do what you say you’re going to do, and always do the right thing.

What’s most effective in terms of training?
First and foremost, in today’s environment, I think the most effective strategy for training is to make sure the students are ready for it. Once you have that buy-in, whether it’s face to face, webinars or conference calls-which are all good-the first element is for students or an audience to say training is valuable and that they need it.

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