SHOCK!

I was in complete shock. The numbers were so startling that I had to repeat them out loud and read it again to make sure my eyes weren’t playing a trick on me. They weren’t. There in plain type was the statistics in the report:

“The average American viewer watched 151 hours of television per month in the fourth quarter of 2008 — the most ever…”

151 HOURS!

151 hours! A month. I don’t think I watch that many hours of television in a year. In fact, I know that I don’t. My wife and I watch so little television that back in December we gave away our living room television and bought a 65 gallon fishtank. We were sick and tired of the television being the focal point of the living room, especially since it sits idle. The fishtank is prettier, it brings life into the room, and guess what… the fish never report bad news (well, unless one croaks).

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Walk in to any office in America — walk in to your real estate office. You’ll hear conversations about the latest t.v. show, discussions about last night’s game, and complaints over how high the cable bills been getting. We’ve become a nation of t.v. junkies. (Disclaimer: I’ll admit that I do watch Lost, but only because I can’t give it up now, Dancing with the Stars — cut me some slack, my wife’s a ballroom dance instructor, and an occasional episode of The Family Guy)

Sitting on the couch, clicker in hand, is not going to improve your life and it certainly is not going to improve your real estate business. I hear so many agents these days complain about the market, the economy, the lack of sales, the listings that won’t sell, the buyers who won’t buy — yet these same agents can tell you everything about the most recent episode of Grey’s Anatomy.

T.V. reports bad news. That’s their job. The doom & gloom of the real estate and mortgage markets is always a hot topic for television. Keep watching and you’ll get depressed. Really depressed. There’s nothing on t.v. that will help you in your real estate business (maybe with the exception of a few bits on HGTV).

TURN IT OFF

Turn off the t.v. Try it for a couple of days. Extend that to a week. After a month, you’ll never know it was gone. Trust me, no client is going to turn you down as their agent because you don’t watch their favorite t.v. show.

REPLACE T.V. TIME WITH PRODUCTIVE TIME

Here’s a few things that you can do to replace that time spent staring at the screen to increase your sales:

• Read a book. Better yet, read a book about real estate. Read a book about sales. When’s the last time you read a book about negotiating, Mr. or Mrs. Crack Real Estate Negotiator? One of my favorite sales gurus, Jeffrey Gitomer says that if you read about something for 30 minutes a day, in a couple of years, you’ll truly be an expert. Become an expert and sell a home.
• Write a blog post. Read a blog post. There’s a lot to learn out there in the blogosphere whether it’s here on Agent Genius or elsewhere. Learn the latest about SEO. Bring in buyer traffic to your blog. Sell them a home.
• Spend some time with your family. Rediscover the art of conversation. If your family or friends are up to it, maybe you can role play a listing appointment and hone your objection fighting skills. Maybe your friend or family member is in the real estate market and you didn’t even know it. Sell them a home.
• Call a friend or past client you haven’t spoken to in a while. Chit chat. Ask them who’s the next person they know who needs to buy or sell a home. Follow up and sell a home.
• Go preview some homes. Get to know some more neighborhoods. Meet the neighbors. Sell their homes.
• Join a club. Meet some like-minded, fun-loving friends. Sell them a home.

Before you know it, you’ll be so busy that you don’t have time for t.v. Don’t worry, you can always Tivo your favorite show and watch it after your next settlement.

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