Buying behavior today has been revolutionized by (1) apps & (2) the art of charm…
50 years ago, malls and supermarkets conquered suburbia in the West. Yet – the greatest shift in buying behavior occurred over the past 10 months. Transactions are completed online, while services/products are delivered and plopped onto doorsteps; all by a tap on a smartphone.
With this major shift in consumer behavior, an infrastructure boom in the works. The Covid-19 pandemic has affected remote working and e-commerce, and investors are prioritizing telecommunications, such as fiber networks and data centers.
If you have a hunch to expand your business presence virtually, you’re in the right track to success.
The newest buying & e-commerce trend: Looking at Chinese Consumers
It’s already happening. Chinese markets & consumerism are growing and dominating user behavior and trends. We’re already seeing US & other Western countries learning the tricks of the new trade, as trending in China.
Today, marketing for online buyers is done through apps and social media. Shopping apps & social media apps are much more integrated and act more as one entity. Companies are focusing their marketing through apps, such as TikTok (known as Douyin in China), using the art of the charm.“Lipsticked” faces continually churn out content to attract buyers and close more sales.
These trends may sound extreme, however most competitive businesses are adapting to this practice more than you think. From vlogs on YouTube to stories on Instagram, it’s time to boost content & join the media-makers to generate more traffic to your site.
Getting good ROI & online traffic, when nobody is going outside
In today’s uniquely stay-at-home world, the math is simple with an enormous ROI by employing virtual assistants who can effectively handle the many aspects of a tedious online business operation.
You can lower your costs, reduce overhead, and leverage remote work for your business. It starts with a MyOutDesk Virtual Assistant.
With over 13 years of leveraging the power of remote work, we’ve gained the knowledge to help your business scale, increase profits, and allow your team members more freedom to focus on growth, all while lowering operational costs.
Nowadays, interaction is key to marketing efforts. Enhance your interaction with a full-time virtual assistant with proven experience, at up to 70% less than a traditional employee.
Remote Work: How a productive marketing team in 2021 looks
Our client’s marketing team has been operating remotely for over 16 years — Travis has learned that productive teams have multiple ways to communicate, meet on a variety of touchpoints, and emphasize accountability.
When emails, calls, and texts can get buried — a project management tool can make it easier for remote teams in marketing agencies to follow tasks and find exactly where progress lies are and what still needs to be done.
Don’t box yourself! Outsourcing opens up your world to talent that’s more affordable and probably more fit with your needed skill sets, saving you tens of thousands from additional office space, and other significant expenses related to in-house hires.
“Outsourcing makes the hustle better — because you’re not burdened with many/growing expenses that you’ll need to figure out how to cover and hit profit”
Focus on your growth & scale your operations for 2021
ENVISIONING OF A NEW REALITY FOR YOUR BUSINESS
Simply put, MyOutDesk equips entrepreneurs & business owners with tools, strategies, and virtual employees – and when combined, businesses have a competitive edge and find growth while efficient systems and processes are put in place.
MyOutDesk proudly provides additional free business growth guides, books, and strategy calls.
See what we are about, and schedule a free consultation with us. We’ll take the time to learn more about your business and offer solutions to foster top talent and lower operational costs for your company.
Experience The Difference
MyOutDesk can save you up to 70% on employment cost
Claim a free business strategy consultation & ‘Grow Virtual’ Guide
Did You Know? MyOutDesk’s origin story is set during the last global financial crisis of 2008. Yes, that’s right — our business started by scaling businesses with virtual assistants during a recession! Pioneers of virtual assistant services, our first client in 2008 went from five to seventeen VAs with a completely revamped organizational model in short order, and he told MyOutDesk, “Our virtual professionals have shaved $250,000 off our monthly overhead.”
https://www.myoutdesk.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/ecommerce-of-2021.jpg456972Jeremyhttps://www.myoutdesk.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/myoutdesk-logo-400w.pngJeremy2021-01-06 16:50:372021-01-08 14:34:40Malls & mannequins are so last century
The 2020 election, along with the recent resurgence of COVID-19 across the U.S., have been the most important developments in the U.S. economy. With this, a handful of variables can show why home prices have been rising in every corner of the U.S.
According to a chief J.P. Morgan executive:
“While risks to our growth outlook now appear skewed to the downside for the near-term, we think the economy could be set up to grow rapidly at some point next year as vaccine related news has been generally favorable lately. While we have not changed our modal view that a vaccine will be rolled out to different parts of the population at varying times throughout much of 2021, we are growing more confident that this distribution will occur.”
– Mike Feroli, Chief U.S. Economist at J.P. Morgan
The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reports existing home sales surged in September 2020 to levels not seen in more than 14 years.
Prices for single-family homes across the U.S. increased 12% in the third quarter of 2020, the biggest yearly jump in seven years.
The cost of housing continues to rise, with 117 regions seeing double-digit gains.
Mortgage Rates and Credit Scores Tell the Story:
“Some of the volatility in financial markets has led to a preference for houses as a store of value, because what we’re seeing is that by type of unit, by geography – the common factor is mortgage rates” – Mike Feroli
According to J.P. Morgan, the outlook for U.S. Housing in 2021 is expected to reach multi-year highs as the current Federal policy looks set to remain accommodative to this market trend.
Growing Your Business With A Virtual Real Estate Transaction Coordinator
As a real estate professional, you’re already familiar with what a transaction coordinator does, and why it’s crucial to your real estate business. Staying on top of administrative TC functions – like overseeing the escrow process — is essential to your success.
You can be more effective in real estate if you’re not bogged down by paperwork, repetitive administrative tasks and troubleshooting bureaucratic red tape delays and issues. A virtualtransaction coordinator can take care of these tasks and ensure that sales paperwork and its administration run smoothly and your clients are receiving excellent customer support.
With a virtual transaction coordinator, you can become more efficient & effective in your role of selling homes – while your transaction coordinator handles all the repetitive tasks involved with closing a transaction – like gathering documents and signatures, calling clients, and stakeholders, completing paperwork, following up on contracts & requirements, and putting together a broker file for each completed transaction.
Sample tasks for your virtual transaction coordinator include:
Goal setting – review goals and schedules to provide progress updates and help you stay on task
Seller/Buyer prospecting and servicing – complete required paperwork, gather estimates, and help find/choose service providers
Escrow management – open escrow and coordinate the many necessary functions of this process through closing
Documentationmanagement – draft routine documents (i.e. Seller’s Disclosure Packet, addendums, waivers) and review forms for accuracy, signature verification, and missing information
Transaction and closing coordination – manage the cumbersome appraisal, title/escrow and mortgage loan processes
Client coordination and communication – operate as a point of contact for your clients to ensure their needs are met and they receive the attention they deserve throughout the buying/selling process
Scheduling coordination – oversee scheduling for clients, service providers, and lenders to help ensure essential tasks are being completed
Research – perform background and inquiry tasks, as needed
Tailored support – provide administrative support personalized to your specific requirements
Simply put, MyOutDesk equips entrepreneurs & business owners with tools, strategies, and virtual employees – and when combined, businesses have a competitive edge and find growth while efficient systems and processes are put in place.
MyOutDesk proudly provides additional free business growth guides, books, and strategy calls.
See what we are about, and schedule a free consultation with us. We’ll take the time to learn more about your business and offer solutions to foster top talent and lower operational costs for your company.
Experience The Difference
MyOutDesk can save you up to 70% on employment cost
Claim a free business strategy consultation & ‘Grow Virtual’ Guide
Did You Know? MyOutDesk’s origin story is set during the last global financial crisis of 2008. Yes, that’s right — our business started by scaling businesses with virtual assistants during a recession! Pioneers of virtual assistant services, our first client in 2008 went from five to seventeen VAs with a completely revamped organizational model in short order, and he told MyOutDesk, “Our virtual professionals have shaved $250,000 off our monthly overhead.”
https://www.myoutdesk.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/will-the-US-housing-market-boom-continue-in-2021.jpg456972Jeremyhttps://www.myoutdesk.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/myoutdesk-logo-400w.pngJeremy2021-01-06 15:49:212021-01-08 14:33:57US Housing Market still booming in 2021? Data points to ‘yes’
Tune in as we discuss leadership strategies for – crisis management, executing flexibility, accessing pivots & improving your cash position. Schedule a free Thrive Strategy Call today.
This special webinar includes 𝗙𝗥𝗘𝗘 limited-time access to:
1) Famous book “Scaling Up” + tools & worksheets
2) #1 bestselling business book “Scaling Your Business”
3) Business strategy consultants + thrive guides
Free Thrive Guide + Strategy Consultation
We’re joined by Bill Gallagher, CEO of Scaling Coach. Bill Gallagher is a business coach and master facilitator with over 30 years of entrepreneurial and executive experience. Bill has spent the last 15 years coaching and training others in leadership and performance and previously led 4 companies of his own and been a partner or executive in 2 others. Bill discovered the Rockefeller Habits and Scaling Up 20 years ago, has used them in his own companies.
Today, Bill coaches leaders and teams across more than 25 cities in 11 countries and the host of the Scaling Up Business Podcast. He is a passionate and playful presenter, and his clients, at all stages, share a hunger to grow successfully with an openness to new approaches and thinking.
It costs tens of thousands of dollars to attend one of Bill’s Scaling Up Institutes, and today you can access his timely knowledge here for free! If you need help or want to explore some ideas, book aSchedule a free Thrive Strategy Call today.
Free Thrive Guide + Strategy Consultation
Bill shares his strategies to lead in today’s uncertain times.
Lead Without a Plan — Although this sounds like terrible leadership, IF you relay that you’re FIGHTING through any crisis and problem, and when you work collectively with your team, you can figure out and make astounding pivots with your leadership.
Continue to hold the vision and communicate
Fight like hell
Ask your people for help
Radical Requests — Get access to improving the situation. Instead of feeling confined, ask what you really need! Don’t wipe yourself out, BUT work with a solution — For example, with clients & prospects, you can ask, “What do you need? What can I do for you instead?” It can help you turn situations around and come out with success and growth!
Name That Feeling — it takes courage to show emotions, and courage needs strength, to be a whole human! Nobody’s great—there are moments that you are, and moments that you’re not. Emotions make you human. There is power and courage in being a leader. Being human as a leader gives your people a truth, that you’re not faking it to make it. Self-awareness & mindfulness. Calling it out as a practice of acceptance—it becomes a powerful thing. Call it out and go with it!
Execute Flexibly — Working remotely to keep the business going. Technology can help you manage virtually. At the same time, don’t change or abandon your long-term vision and goals. Shift priorities, or even strategies! Metrics and dashboards? It might be missing since you moved virtually. Some tools and apps can help you out and keep it up. This helps people know if we’re collectively hitting metrics and KPIs. Keep the progress visibility out there!
Let People Get Off the Bus — People who continually resist might not be a good fit in your environment. There might be a better place for them to win. How do you get people in this space and get the right request out there? By leading up in the front and leading by example. Work with your team, and ask them what they can do. Keep nudging them up. Make a list of radical requests and have them do one while you are encouraging and helping. Fully appreciate and acknowledge the radical request from both perspectives.
Be a Trend-Spotter — Acknowledge the weaknesses and strengths in the world and yourself right now. What do they need? What can you do better? Pivot your business around what people need, and you might see opportunities. This might be the same business to different people, or a different business for the same people. Look for trends far outside the norm, and look broadly across the world. Bill shares his SWT tool—strengths, weaknesses, and trends. Start using this tool for in your industry, then for your region, and afterward go even broader!
Free Thrive Guide + Strategy Consultation
https://www.myoutdesk.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Bill-Gallagher-BLOG_NL_BANNER.jpg456972Jeremyhttps://www.myoutdesk.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/myoutdesk-logo-400w.pngJeremy2020-12-22 15:45:082020-12-23 15:35:45Leadership Strategies for Crisis Management with Scaling Coach Bill Gallagher
Since COVID, Jennifer’s business operations are now more efficient than ever — even with a downsized team. How? With Tello and a virtual assistant.
We grab a cup of virtual coffee with Jennifer Geddes as she talks about how she utilizes Trello and her MyOutDesk Virtual Assistant to gain leverage in her business. We ask Jennifer how she does it, and she takes us through her systems and processes she built with Trello to help create a system and process for her production and training.
Now, she has these systems in place, and she is ready to scale her business!
How a Virtual Assistant Manages My Trello
Combined with a virtual assistant, I use the free version of Trello, so it doesn’t even cost us anything!
We have a couple of boards. Having a free system is awesome because I feel like I had so many different systems, and they’re all thirty dollars. well, it all adds up with Trello, just jump in!
I have one virtual assistant from MyOutDesk, as well as a marketing person. Wanda, who is my virtual assistant, is doing all the administrative tasks. She does the transaction coordination.
Upgrading the operational system
I had a team a year ago, a team of six agents. A year and a half ago, I had eight agents. Now I have one, so I’m really just trying to trim the fat and focus on the revenue and generating streams. And the highest and best use.
What I found with the agents on the team was that they were not the best use, and it also led me to hire my virtual assistant and really just finding someone who was going to be more productive, efficient, and effective to increase the bottom line.
This year has given me a chance to step back and really focus on what we’re doing in improved systems and processes.
What’s the system and process to cross that million-dollar threshold?
What you’ve learned as you implemented this system and process for your business. Why did you decide on Trello? At what point did you decide you needed a system and a process to run the team?
So, Trello was recommended through real estate b-school, which is the company that I use for coaching.
I spoke with quite a few individuals there who were using it, and it seemed like it made the most sense, so I tried it out myself and, through kind of playing around with it, I decided that it was going to achieve the things that we wanted to.
I had actually started out using Wunderlist, which is just an elementary kind of to-do list, and had built out some of these kinds of checklists there, which was like my step one of kind of like first grade then I graduated to middle school and so forth. I then integrated Trello definitely takes time to set up, and it’s an ever-evolving process because to me, what’s significant is to have every single step in here so that somebody can pick this up brand new.
A Transaction coordination virtual assistant can pick this up, and they can run with it! I have every step, but we also have how-to sheets and videos linked in a separate google drive.
So, as they’re going through each task, the individual could say, “okay, it says do x y z I don’t know how to do x y z, but they can go back and reference the video or the how-to sheet on how to actually do that step.”
It’s about creating the process and then creating the training that goes along with it that doesn’t involve me doing that and explaining.
Because it’s so time-consuming to have to explain those things over and over again. So, I’m big on recording videos, sharing my screen, talking through it while I’m doing it one time, then I don’t want to do it again.
I love your mindset. Show us one of those examples? Can you share with us one of those examples in Trello? A task where you click on it, and then you pull up a video? How long is that video? What kind of detail did you share in that video?
We have our Trello how-to sheet. This is showing someone how to process a termination and then document names so for us. On Trello, we basically have every step on here like pre-offer, offer prep, under contract, after settlement. So now, if we go back to my Trello boards, and this is where I keep my template.
Under our templates, I have a pre-offer section, offer prep, under contract, and after settlement. So, the same as here, you could follow along and say, “okay. offer prep… where are the how-to sheets on offer prep?” If we go to the top here to ‘offer prep’ and ‘create a Trello card ‘… in KW Command, create a contact command through DocuSign. How to do that it’s through your CRM.
I’m just clarifying that those who aren’t KW people command are just a CRM like Salesforce or HubSpot or any other CRM.
You have to create what’s called “an opportunity” through KW Command so that KW knows what business we’re doing right now. These are pretty simple steps here. Most of them are self-explanatory. Command, save, mortgage pre-approval, CPE, ad, client, once buyer broker assigned CTE is what we use for financial and gold tracking. So once we have a buyer broker signed, we’re going to add that into CTE. If we go back here, I’ve got a “How to add to CTE,” so if the person doesn’t know how to do that, they open it up.
It’s simple. Follow the steps. You can figure out more complicated things. We have videos on these. this, the pre-offer, is really just setting the stage. Then you get to offer prep a little bit more complicated. Creating the documents, and setting them up in DocuSign, so that they’re ready for me to then review before we send them to the client. Once we go under contract, we broke things up into Day One, which needs to be done right away. And then we get down to Day Two, and then we’ve reached Day 10, Day 16. So there’s a timeline.
Oh my gosh, there are 500 tasks, but as you can see, I’m scrolling through. There are many things here, but it’s all simple tasks that the person can complete in KW Command.
KW wants to see stuff, so we have to submit these documents to them. Once we go under contract right check off above is meant for these labels that we use here. So when you see the labels on my big screen, you can see as we go through a transaction, you get less and less of the labels, so that’s really a way for us to track how many tasks are left. We have a KW command submission. Once that’s complete, that would be checked off here. So we check that off, and now that’s gone. So that’s what that’s talking about completing it up above. But it’s really again just every step that we go through in Trello, and add the due dates above.
We’ve got an area where all of our critical due dates, execution date, first deposit, reply to inspection, second deposit, title order, and mortgage settlement. So I don’t want my VA wasting time searching for this. It’s all right here. She sets it up one time, and she sets it up when she’s sending out the initial email to the seller’s side that’s telling them about the due dates.
Once tasks get input into the system, it gets set as reminders on her calendar and finished. We do a lot with email templates, so all email templates are sent out that the VA knows what to fill in. We’re also scheduling a lot of our templates now. So before it was okay, you need to go back into the file like every day. We’re scheduling out this buyer with five pending emails sent out three to four days before the deposit.
Essentially almost all of our emails are going out on day one, or at least they’re being set to be scheduled to go out day one.
How does the CRM, your email calendar, CTE commit to excellence? How do they all play with Trello in your world?
Wanda has this template saved in her Gmail. she pulls it up and schedules it to send when it’s due on the 10th. It takes about five minutes to input these into the calendar, and again it’s done on day one. The seller side knows the dates as well as when the mortgage commitment is due. This gets emailed to the lender a day before it’s due.
Now it’s on Wanda’s calendar the day it’s due, and then we actually have a reminder. So she’ll put the calendar reminder that the mortgage commitment is due on the 10th. there will be an email that gets sent to her on the 9th and an email that gets sent to her on the 7th, so all of our due dates, we have a one-day email reminder and a three-day email reminder; what I found is having a calendar alert those get missed you’re in the middle of a Zoom, and you click off of it, or whatever it is so I have the reminders in our google calendar set as actual email reminders, so that goes into her email box she doesn’t miss it she can see that it’s due and it stays there until it’s addressed.
I love it! How do you manage what’s done versus what’s not done? How do you manage multiple people with deadlines?
In Trello, there’s this chat feature here at the bottom. So we actually have a different template that is it’s on another board. It’ll take me too long to get over to it, but when another agent is involved, we have a pre-offer dash admin pre-offer dash agent, so it’s very clear who is responsible for what task so Wanda could see.
I found that when I had agents who weren’t following my pretty good process, not perfect, those were not the right people.
So I think that’s my simple answer, although it sounds pretty elementary. If you have a process that makes the agent’s lives easier and they’re not doing it, maybe we need to look at something else.
Another thing I did was if you, the agent, follow the process and do all the steps and don’t miss any of your due dates, and the virtual assistant will do more of the deal and do more tasks for you.
It’s like the more you follow your process, the more they do so. If you do x on time, the assistant will do y and z, you miss x, now you have to do y and z., so it was a favorable combination of positive-negative reinforcement to try to get the agents to do things.
I think it’s spending the time to do it the right way, and it’s having the right person too. So when Wanda started, we had probably 70 of it done. It would be, “okay, Wanda do these things all right? I’ll talk to you in two or three hours.” in two or three hours, we’d talk, and she’d say, “Jen, I don’t know how to do XYZ.”
“Did you look at the how-to sheet?”
“Yep, it’s blank.”
“Oh, okay, great, let’s walk through it together over zoom screen share.”
And she would create the manual, take notes on it, and then complete it. So I think now having it all complete, it would be seamless to bring someone else in.
People complain about the paperwork and transaction coordination. I mean, that is such a small portion of my business now, whereas, in the past, I’d say my admin spent probably 90% of the time on it.
Now with my virtual assistant, I’d say Wanda is spending 25% of her time on it in a perfect world with booming business. she’ll spend well under 50 percent of her time doing transaction coordination, which means I’ll run 25 million through the business with someone doing 15 hours a week of transaction coordination. Before, if I had someone spending 40 hours a week on this, and now they’re spending 15 hours a week. What can I have them do in that other time that’s 25 extra hours a week?
For me, I enjoy selling and growing and evolving; this is just kind of a side effect that needs to be done, and it needs to be done correctly, so I don’t want to spend time on it
I want it to be a system that just flows and is super easy to go through, making a lot of sense.
What’s it been like working with MyOutDesk?
MyOutDesk has been great. I have no complaints. Communication was excellent. I wanted to get started right away and was pretty demanding about that. And my request was met, which was great. I know you guys were in a significant backlog, but you could fit me in, which was really super important to me. I asked Wanda to find other resources within MyOutDesk periodically, and she does, but with her training and skillsets and all of that, I really have no complaints.
I have a client who just went under contract who complimented Wanda, “She’s been so great. How long has she worked with you?”
He’s been a long time client, and I ask for feedback.
“I’m so glad you found her. Is she in your office?” … and that’s what I was waiting for. I’m explain, “Our office is closed. She’s in the Philippines, actually.
“No kidding?”
So this is someone that’s been working with him. And he had no idea that she was in the Philippines, which to me is the goal.
My virtual assistant has been a lot more motivated and enthusiastic than anyone I’ve had in this role in a long time in person. She’s finding things to do when I get busy, and I’m not giving her something to do. I feel confident she’s working the whole time, which was not the case when someone was sitting in the office.
Growing Your Business With An Administrative Virtual Assistant
As a business person, you’re already familiar with what an administrative assistant can support do for you and why it’s crucial to your business. Staying on top of administrative functions is essential to your success.
You can be more effective if you’re not bogged down by paperwork, repetitive administrative tasks and troubleshooting bureaucratic red tape delays and issues. A administrative virtual assistant can take care of these tasks and ensure that sales paperwork and its administration run smoothly and your clients are receiving excellent customer support.
With a virtual coordinator, you can become more efficient & effective – while your coordinator handles all the repetitive tasks involved with your business – like gathering documents and signatures, calling clients, and stakeholders, completing paperwork, following up on contracts & requirements, and putting together a broker file for each completed transaction.
Having a virtual professional tackle operations and administrative outcomes for you can go far beyond what a traditional assistant does, like answering phones and keeping your calendar. There are many more ways a virtual professional can help you administratively. Here are some concrete examples of my favorite things administrative virtual professionals do for our clients.
Simply put, MyOutDesk equips entrepreneurs & business owners with tools, strategies, and virtual employees – and when combined, businesses have a competitive edge and find growth while efficient systems and processes are put in place.
MyOutDesk proudly provides additional free business growth guides, books, and strategy calls.
See what we are about, and schedule a free consultation with us. We’ll take the time to learn more about your business and offer solutions to foster top talent and lower operational costs for your company.
Experience The Difference
MyOutDesk can save you up to 70% on employment cost
Claim a free business strategy consultation & ‘Grow Virtual’ Guide
Did You Know? MyOutDesk’s origin story is set during the last global financial crisis of 2008. Yes, that’s right — our business started by scaling businesses with virtual assistants during a recession! Pioneers of virtual assistant services, our first client in 2008 went from five to seventeen VAs with a completely revamped organizational model in short order, and he told MyOutDesk, “Our virtual professionals have shaved $250,000 off our monthly overhead.”
https://www.myoutdesk.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Trello-Thumb-v3.png321845Jeremyhttps://www.myoutdesk.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/myoutdesk-logo-400w.pngJeremy2020-11-17 14:49:402020-12-03 09:25:59Trello & Virtual Assistants: The Best System for Efficient Admin Work!
Last month, I sat down with the brilliant, top real estate coach, Dr. Lee Davenport. Our interview led to an important discussion, regarding the great importance of ethical business among in the real estate industry.
Are you noticing the same patterns as I have?
Agents and brokers — how often do you reflect on how your business is performing in ethical conduct?
For decades, I’ve had the power of granting home ownership in my hands. And, like many of you, I held all the power to approve or deny homeownership to my clients, but also gave my all to finding solutions when there were roadblocks. To this day, I find great pride in helping all families fulfill their dream of homeownership.
Yet, I noticed a huge problem in our industry from very early on in my career. When I was around 24, a Hispanic family contacted me to compare quotes on mortgage rates. A different lender in town quoted them half a percent higher than my offer with exactly the same terms. Over time, I noticed the same pattern.
It appeared to me how some lenders consistently jack up their rates to families of color. I found that the same lenders were repeatedly the culprit. I thought, “What is happening to our communities, our friends, and our neighbors if there’s a significant amount of lenders who are practicing the same, unethical tactic?”
Paying more for homeownership, based on race
Being a mortgage professional, I saw first-hand how predatory lenders are using the color of my clients’ skin against them as the deciding factor in having them pay more.
The discovery of discriminatory lending rates left a sour note for me. Sure, it’s within our legal right as mortgage lenders to set our own rates. However, a handful of lenders are offering unfair rates, often racially-motivated (… and that is illegal, yet very difficult to prove that it’s happening.)
Yet, there are no concrete methods for identifying which businesses engage in these discriminatory practices. So when you pull together the data of all the loans out there and put race on top of it, you can see how communities of color are systemically paying more — a great challenge for achieving the dream of homeownership. Where is the equality in that, America?
Researchers found that, among nearly 7 million 30-year mortgages, black and Latino applicants were charged higher interest, an average of nearly 0.08%, and heavier refinance fees when compared with white borrowers — according to a recent report by UC Berkeley.
Re-imagining ethical real estate lending
While discriminatory lending is illegal, it’s very difficult to immediately prove that certain racial groups are being offered higher interest rates as there is no proper oversight.
In re-imagining a more ethical industry, I’m envisioning a three-prong solution.
First, we need more education about discriminatory lending practices at the licensee level (at the mortgage loan level.) Education is the key to bringing broader awareness and creating a paradigm shift.
Second, for the sake of fairness, we need more robust oversight of discriminatory practices. People conducting themselves within a myriad of immoral and unfair behaviors actually need to be held accountable. It’s a matter of directly addressing these lenders in order to change them. In clearly documented protocol of law and order, there needs to be an authoritative entity protecting the rights of lenders and homeowners, all while immediately addressing behaviors, such as discriminatory lending, as a criminal offense.
Third, we need dual education — meaning the industry should enforce a rule where those who profit from mortgage lending are those who are responsible for funding education programs for the community. It’s a virtuous feat for the profiters of mortgage lending to broadly spread the know-how on the fair and just path to homeownership, while reporting on the state of responsible lending.
We can learn from what Wells Fargo is going through right now. Known for a number of controversies, the multinational company charged higher costs to black and Hispanic borrowers. More recently, impossible sales goals coerced employees to fraudulently open more than 1.5 million bank accounts and apply for over 565,000 credit cards in customers’ names between 2011 and 2015.
As a result from lack of oversight and unfair dealings, the company had to name its third CEO within three years and watched their stock price of $50 per share drop down to $20.
This is an important argument for all in our industry to lead fair and ethical business practices. It affects your bottom line. Imagine that you are a shareholder in Wells Fargo, like Warren Buffett, and you see your share value get cut by 40%, all stemming from unethical and unfair housing market practices.
Be ethical in business: Everything you do affects your bottom line
We have to learn and share from experiences of unjust practices so that all colleagues understand and stop behaviors that are innately wrong.
Simply put, we cannot ignore the fact that there are plenty of predatory practices in place today which are taking advantage of people. From predatory lending problems to discriminatory behaviors, it’s a fact that professionals in the real estate industry play a direct and explicit role in contributing to segregated neighborhoods. It’s up to us to enact a standard of ethics and confront these issues together.
It’s your civic duty
Professionals in the real estate industry share an entrepreneurial mindset that makes them great leaders — and as entrepreneurs, it’s your civic duty to provide value to our communities. The real value that you provide, in turn, becomes profit for your business. One misstep can mean exploitation and capitalizing from unjust practices. When there is a case to make a business deal, all considerations must be approached holistically. There needs to be clear-cut ground rules.
Problematic practices are structural issues. It requires responsibility and integrity when individuals have enough power and autonomy that could bring about discriminatory sales practices. For example, a mortgage person can set non-uniform rates and exploit certain people and communities in order to make an unfair profit. By doing so, they are breaking principles of ethics.
Unethical business is an important challenge that all leaders and professionals must confront. Continue educating yourself and your teammates on conducting business on moral and ethical values. It requires board-level accountability where CEOs take the responsibility to lead, educate, and address any issues that may arise.
This is a call to be explicit about and reflect on which business practices are structurally and ethically wrong. Let’s prevent unfair dealings from happening.
Founded during the last major recession, MyOutDesk is helping agents and brokers in today’s economy with monthly CEO mastermind calls, stringent talent recruitment, timely strategy guides, and professional development webinars.
Since 2008, MyOutDesk is the largest, industry-leading provider of virtual assistant services — not only for thousands of agents and brokers, but also, national franchises like Keller Williams, RE/MAX, eXp Realty, Sotheby’s International Realty, and more. MyOutDesk brings 13 years of expertise with more than 6,000 clients and 600-plus verified five-star reviews.
https://www.myoutdesk.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Going-PRO-in-Real-Estate.jpg456972Daniel Ramseyhttps://www.myoutdesk.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/myoutdesk-logo-400w.pngDaniel Ramsey2020-10-26 17:26:192020-10-27 10:10:39Real Estate Professionals, Where does your ethical & moral compass lead you?
There is no doubt that the presence of AI in today’s businesses has helped companies operate smoothly when teams cannot afford more customer service employees. For some, businesses are finding that their retention rates are dipping while using AI customer service software.
So what is the perfect balance in incorporating AI, yet still fostering genuine client relationships?
Despite tremendous success in AI software like Siri & Google Assistants by the big-5 tech companies, most AI solutions out there made by tech start-ups lack the programmatic ability to respond in a genuinely human way to queries.
An “unsupervised” AI bot has led businesses to receive sudden surges in negative feedback, bad reviews, and increased churn. Every customer in the world, including myself, will always choose “talk to a person” or “connect to a representative” as the first choice over a call.
When small teams don’t have the time, there’s an additional solution to continue improving their AI customer service – with human touch. When a customer service representative administers AI tools at full-time capacity, that is how the best synergy happens and all customer expectations can truly meet satisfaction.
Enhancing the Digital Learning Curve
With dozens of AI bots on the market, it’s easy to fall into the trap of trying to automate your customer interactions. Your customer begins their interaction thinking they’re chatting with a person, and when they realize it’s a bot, their level of satisfaction drops precipitously.
It’s natural to look for automated solutions first. After all, IT solutions are often more cost-effective than hiring team members.
Many aren’t yet aware that competitive businesses are assigninga full-time virtual assistant to pair with their digital customer service technologies. Virtual assistants are providing the human-touch needed for up to less than 70% the cost of a traditional full-time employee – often in the same tier of low overhead costs as some popular digital software subscriptions.
Increasing Retention Rates + KPIs, with “hybrid” virtual solutions
Businesses find that they can finally deliver the genuine customer satisfaction that all buyers expect – when the power of virtual AI meets the power of human virtual assistance – fortunately at a lower amount of overhead costs than a full-time physical employee (allowing the best profit margins).
An experienced, qualified Virtual Assistant provider is capable of supplementing the rest of client service needs. They can handle customer onboarding and training processes, along with Tier-1 support and Help Desk tasks.
A virtual assistant is fully in charge of administering customer service technologies (open, manage, and close tickets) – delivering that genuine customer satisfaction that all buyers demand.
As Shep Hyken mentioned during our special webinar, “If your employees and customers are nervous, uncertain and even scared, you owe it to them to communicate at a much higher frequency and much more empathetic than you ever have before.” Communication is key, and this is why AI tools need to couple with fast human response, which can all be afforded by a virtual assistant.
There’s nothing more important to a growing business than your customer experience
In today’s service economy, excellent service is the deciding factor for most businesses. If teams do not focus on creating a good experience across each and every interaction, you will lead to negative feedback, bad reviews, and increased churn.
Despite the hype, commercial AI is still maturing. While it can be useful for basic key-phrase recognition and providing canned responses to common questions, ultimately it’s confined to the limitations of a predefined workflow. AI cannot yet think outside the box and adapt to situations that require a degree of empathy and comprehension—and it often falls apart when asked even simple questions outside of what it is programmed to recognize.
Relying on AI as a front-line customer interaction tool alone can be dangerous. So rather than attempting to replace human assistance with AI solutions, it’s better to combine them for optimal customer service. The modern workplace is increasingly collaborative, and human assistants remain intrinsically more capable to foster relationships than AI alone.
There’s a place for automation, and there’s also a place for real, human staffing – and VA providers such as MyOutDesk virtual assistants are the top-tier solution for your high-tech help desk & customer service roles for a fraction of what business would pay locally.
Experience The Difference
MyOutDesk can save you up to 70% on employment cost
Claim a free business strategy consultation & ‘Grow Virtual’ Guide
https://www.myoutdesk.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/When-you-need-to-scale-up-customer-service.jpg456972Daniel Ramseyhttps://www.myoutdesk.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/myoutdesk-logo-400w.pngDaniel Ramsey2020-08-20 15:08:322020-08-28 15:49:54When you need to scale up customer service... but your AI just doesn’t quite cut it yet
Are you happy? Think about it for a moment: are you really, truly happy in your career? Studies have shown that the human mind finds fulfillment & happiness in doing tasks that are useful, so it’s likely that you get an emotional reward from your work – otherwise you would have changed careers long ago.
Still, before that first cup of coffee, do you come in filled with excitement about the day ahead, or do you have trepidation about a pile of unsolved problems that you have to tackle while simultaneously pushing your business forward?
Maybe the problem isn’t you or your job – it’s that you’ve missed a critical off-ramp to the world of hustle. You’re still stuck in the fast lane pushing as hard & fast as you can, despite the fact that the more successful you become the harder you have to push just to keep pace with all of the demands.
When you’ve got a tiny business, you can wear all the hats, do all the jobs, and keep all the profits. Even on a small scale, it’s a lot of work, but at least you can keep up with things. Then, as your business starts to grow, the demands increase. More customers, more prospects, more demands on your time – more hustle.
As a business owner, you’re like a frog in the pot of water – it’s easy to miss the slowly increasing heat as it comes to boil, until you’ve reached a point where you’re waking up early & staying up late just to stay on top of things. You never would have taken a job working for somebody else doing this kind of work, but for some reason you torture yourself with it because it gives you freedom.
Freedom? We need to redefine the term, because you’re definitely not free and able to determine your own course in life if you spend all day, every day running just to keep up. Perhaps we could say that “creating your own trap is better than being bait in somebody else’s” – but that’s still a dark, pessimistic view of things, and it doesn’t have to be that way.
As your business grows, you need to add team members to handle the busy-work that you no longer have time for. Your job is to be a leader, provide vision & inspiration, and handle key tasks that nobody else can manage – and maybe even sip the occasional Pina Colada on the beach of a tropical resort along the way.
The way that you get from here to there is by hiring staff to handle the hustle for you – which is exactly what MyOutDesk does for thousands of clients across the United States. We provide higher-quality staffing with prices 70% less than you’d pay for in-house staff, with the flexibility you need to handle any type of assistance required. Schedule your ‘Grow Virtual’ Business Strategy Session today to find out more!
MyOutDesk can save you up to 70% on employment cost Claim a free strategy consultation & downloads
https://www.myoutdesk.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/hustle-972x456-1.jpg457972Daniel Ramseyhttps://www.myoutdesk.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/myoutdesk-logo-400w.pngDaniel Ramsey2020-08-03 10:13:562020-08-10 13:51:52When Sometimes Hustle Just Isn't Enough
Leadership is challenging, and when you add a virtual workplace into the equation, the level of complexity and complications go even higher. The qualities of a good leader are thrown more sharply into focus when you need to successfully manage a team that is entirely remote. There’s no such thing as “management by walking around,” or any of those leadership styles that benefit from being in an office.
While fundamentally, leadership stays generally the same, the unique aspects of being a leader in a virtual environment can be tricky. You’ve got to consider the logistical issues of scheduling across time zones, communicating virtually and overall, how you’re going to foster teamwork remotely.
Get the support you need to be an excellent leader to your virtual team. Schedule a consultation with us today to find out more!
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Foster Connections
It is crucial for you to create unity within your team and ensure that you are working towards the same goals. A study from Harvard University revealed that leaders need to develop a common identity and understanding for their virtual teams, as without it, virtual team members are especially prone to “us versus them” thinking and the perils of incomplete information. You can’t have soloists or teams developing within your team, everyone has to be enrolled towards a single purpose, despite the fact that they are working on different things. Create opportunities for you and your team to connect via weekly meetings and even online calls that are not solely about work. Create a team culture that everyone will feel comfortable and happy to be in.
Foster Communication
According to the aforementioned study at Harvard regarding digital work environments:
“Digital dependence often impedes information exchange, however. In face-to-face teams, participants can rely on nonverbal and contextual cues to provide insight into what’s going on. When we walk into an in-person meeting, for example, we can immediately sense the individual and collective moods of the people in the room—information that we use (consciously or not) to tailor subsequent interactions. Having to rely on digital communication erodes the transmission of this crucial type of intelligence.”
Communication is so important when you have a virtual team. Finding ways to ensure that there are many channels and platforms to communicate is imperative to your success. Always be clear about expectations and be open to any incoming information. Make yourself available to your team and let them know that sending over an instant message or a call is more than ok.
Manage your processes and information
Creating processes is very important, so is documentation. Make sure that both your processes and documentation are always up to date and organized. Over time, you will find that your processes need tweaks so analyze them and discuss frequently with your team to get them just right. Also, be sure that you religiously document and organize all your data etc. Hand in hand with your processes, this will be the foundations of your business and you must be the one to spearhead this.
The qualities you need in order to be an effective leader for a virtual team does not stray too far from what is needed of a leader in any other situation. Patience, openness, responsiveness and flexibility will always give you good results, all you have to do is pair those qualities with the strategies mentioned above and you will hit it out of the park for sure.
It can be a real challenge to perform at an optimum level in our increasingly distracted world. If you’re a person who really wants to be the best version of yourself, this podcast is for you.
Mark Struczewski is a productivity expert and online trainer that helps people be productive in a distracted world. He is also the host of The Mark Struczewski Podcast.
THE MARK STRUCZEWSKI PODCAST
Scaling Your Business and Growing Profitability – Daniel Ramsey
MyOutDesk can save you up to 70% on employment cost Claim a free strategy consultation & downloads
In this episode, Daniel and Mark discuss the 3 stages of entrepreneurial growth, leveraging, 96% versus 4% versus 0.04%, the downfall of tribal knowledge, and control freaks.
Daniel Ramsey is the founder and CEO of MyOutDesk, the highest-rated virtual assistant company in the marketplace with over 500 verified 5-star reviews, and over 13 years of experience, serving more than 6,000 clients across industries. Back in 2008, he was inspired by his own time-management struggles to find a better way to help agents leverage their time & energy, and created MyOutDesk to provide a trusted, reliable solution to the office administration, marketing & prospecting tasks that every agent has – but most lack the time to focus on. In 13 years with MyOutDesk, Daniel has helped thousands of clients scale their businesses and grow profitability.
https://www.myoutdesk.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/mark-struczewski-podcast.jpg456972Jeremyhttps://www.myoutdesk.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/myoutdesk-logo-400w.pngJeremy2020-08-03 09:44:372020-08-14 07:51:17No More Distractions: Scaling Your Business & Growing Profitability
Are your hot leads suddenly not responding anymore? When you seem to be hitting it off, this is probably why, all of a sudden, you’re getting ghosted.
Earlier today, a sales guy shared with me this extremely common incident:
“I had a great call, but now they’ve ghosted me. I don’t know what happened. We had some great conversations, and it felt good. I liked them, and they seemed to like me … BUT I can’t get them back on the phone!”
MyOutDesk can save you up to 70% on employment cost Claim a free strategy consultation & downloads
Building Rapport Requires COMPETENCY & SINCERITY
Here’s the thing.Foundational in the sales process, building rapport is akin to building trust. You can build rapport either by showing your competency or your sincerity.
Showing your competency means that “I know what I’m doing, and I can help you.”
Showing your sincerity means that “I actually care about you and your success.”
These are the two ways to establish trust and ultimately grow your rapport.
Building rapport is only the first step. Your rapport alone is NOT going to get leads to call you back.
Salespeople getting ‘ghosted’ are missing: CREATING VALUE
Building trust and rapport is only going to get leads to have the conversation with you & listen to what you have to say – but they aren’t going to call you back unless you create value.
How do I get them to actually be in a client relationship with me?
Adding value is the quality that all salespeople struggle with. It takes intention to uniquely engage each lead. The questions you should be asking yourself with every call are:
How can I add value to somebody’s life?
What expertise and qualities can I contribute to somebody’s business? to my clients?
In every industry, whether your role is an insurance broker, a real estate agent, a mortgage person, a construction person, you must answer you are continually adding value in every interaction … and that’s how you get them to call you back.
It’s time to maximize your productivity: Leverage virtual assistants!
If you’re struggling to get people to call you back, you need to implore your customers and ask for feedback. The best sales professionals will ask the:
How’s your progress going today?
Do you feel like I’m helping you?
Do you feel like I’m adding value to your business?
If they respond along the lines of …
“I want you in my world moving forward … Would you support me?”
“This has really changed my thinking”
“I appreciate the great ideas you’ve taught me”
… That’s when you know that you’ve added value.
Salespeople have to overcome this hurdle and break down the difference between building rapport and adding value. Once you distinguish yourself with these concepts you’ll get your customers to call you back.
Maximize Value & A New Reality for Your Business
Simply put, MyOutDesk equips entrepreneurs with tools, strategies, and virtual employees – and when combined, businesses have a competitive edge and find growth while efficient systems and processes are put in place.
MyOutDesk proudly provides additional free business growth guides, books, and strategy calls.
See what we are about, andschedule a free consultation with us. We’ll take the time to learn more about your business and offer solutions to foster top talent and lower operational costs for your company.
Did You Know? MyOutDesk’s origin story is set during the last global financial crisis of 2008. Yes, that’s right — our business started by scaling businesses with virtual assistants during a recession! Our first client in 2008 went from five to seventeen VPs with a completely revamped organizational model in short order, and he told MyOutDesk, “Our virtual professionals have shaved $250,000 off our monthly overhead.”
https://www.myoutdesk.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Building-rapport-while-adding-value.jpg456972Daniel Ramseyhttps://www.myoutdesk.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/myoutdesk-logo-400w.pngDaniel Ramsey2020-07-24 16:37:102020-08-11 02:11:09Getting GHOSTED by clients because of this one thing...
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MyOutDesk, LLC • 3001 E St. • Sacramento, CA 95816 • Phone: (800) 583-9950
