Staying Connected

Over the next few days, I will be attending the Banff Western Connection Conference. This is one of the largest real estate conferences in North America. This is my fifth BWC conference, a conference which takes place every two years. Every other year, there is the Jasper Leadership Conference. Great conferences, priceless information, and wonderful connections are made. I do enjoy attending conferences, especially when I know I am gaining valuable information to help my everyday work,and to better serve my clients. I was also a director with the Alberta Real Estate Association, was President in 2011, and I currently serve as a committee member on the Calgary Real Estate Board with the Political Action Committee, and the Town and Country Committee. The thing is that the more I learn, the more I realize how much I do not know! Thus, I like to stay involved at some level of organized real estate. So when do I have time to serve my clients, to get my work done, to make a living? Am I doing my clients a disservice by not staying in the office everyday? It did for a while, but now, after learning from many mistakes, I have gained some very valuable experience. First of all, I have a great team behind me, to take care of my clients while I am away. Also, I am a mobile agent. I have a smart phone, tablet computer, iPad, along with many, many programs and applications which help me take my office in the road. When people call me, I could be at my office, on the road (yes, I have a hands free device), checking out properties, or someplace else. wherever I am, I still have telephone access. If I am not answering the phone, I could be with clients, on an airplane, or doing something that just does not make it possible for me to answer immediately. However, I do have voicemail, and I do my best to answer my messages ASAP. Along with email, virtual faxes keep me connected to serve my clients and other real estate agents. For example, I have been here in Banff for two days, and during that time, I have set up three showings, priced a commercial lot for my local town, am in the process of setting up a property inspection, and have a foreclosure property to do a market analysis on when I get back home. I also have three meetings booked for Monday and Tuesday next week. At the same time, I am gaining valuable information, and networking with real estate agents across Canada and the United States, which, in turn, helps make me a better agent to better serve my clients. And in the end, the goal is to be of more value to customers and clients. REALTOR Lyle at 12:57 PM