Related to the last installment about previewing homes before taking out your buyer, today's Confident Rookie Secret is to ALWAYS drive your route before meeting with a buyer. It's mortifying to get lost with a buyer in the car and even worse if 
they're following behind you. Unless you're showing in a neighborhood you know intimately, always, always, always drive the route ahead of time, even if that's at 6am before you meet your buyer at 9am.
Driving Your Route is not the same as Previewing. When you preview, you're ruling out properties - you might start with a list of 12 or 15 homes and narrow it down to the best seven or so. Therefore, your previewing route will not be the same as your showing route. Make sense?
A GPS is not the answer. You need to be able to get from house to house smoothly and effortlessly, as if you know every thoroughfare and side street in town... without that nice Garmin lady interrupting your conversation every 30 seconds. Of course, a printout of Mapquest directions is even worse! Being able to talk with your buyers as you navigate from house to house will do wonders for your air of professionalism. And of course, becoming increasingly frazzled as you make u-turns and wrong turns will have the opposite effect!
Sometimes you don't have much time between making the appointment and the appointment itself, so you might be tempted to rationalize that you simply don't have the opportunity to Drive Your Route. But I promise you - you'll wish you'd made the time. I've gotten up at 4am and hit the streets at 5am to ensure I didn't make a fool of myself (and I've been doing this almost 13 years!). The good news is that there's much less traffic at 5am!
Remember, the goal of these Confident Rookie Secrets is to give the rookie real estate agent the tools to look and feel confident and knowledgeable in situations he or she may not have been in before. We can't prepare you for every single contingency, but the more you are prepared for the aspects you can control, the less stress you'll put on your antiperspirant!
Next time: Secret Five - Cheerfully Waste Your Time
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Guest Author Jennifer Allan-Hagedorn has authored five books and multiple courses designed to teach agents her Sell with Soul philosophy that centers on four interrelated principles: Respect, Competence, Confidence and Enthusiasm. The latest release of her book is available in the VanEd bookstore. You can also visit her online at www.sellwithsoul.com or attend one of her free teleseminars on a variety of topics of interest to the real estate community.
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