Inman Connect – 4 Steps To Maximize Your Investment

There seems to be today an endless array of conference opportunities for agents, team leaders, and broker-owners. Inman Connect, both New York and Las Vegas are two worth considering. This year’s New York event did not disappoint with something for everyone to learn or network.

Katie Lance from Katie Lance Consulting delivered a powerful update on social media, Facebook Live and Video. In her talk, Katie pointed out that Facebook Live is more effective when promoted ahead of time and when you engage the audience with polls or surveys. For short-form videos, Katie recommends obviously to be quick, to the point, have a hook and use appropriate hashtags and captions.

For agents, one of the favorite sessions was the session on “How To Win Listings In A Competitive And Challenging Market.” For company leaders, the CEO connect session was powerful, and team leaders participated in sessions on growth. Of special note, Ryan Serhant spoke to every person who wants to be a real estate agent regardless of race, gender, handicap, military status, or personality style. Rayna said, “even if you have no personality, you can sell real estate to anyone, anywhere, anytime.” Virtual replays are available to purchase on the Inman website.

A hot topic at the bar and after parties was the possible acquisition of REALTOR.com from MOVE by CoStar.

So regardless of what conference you attend, you might want to consider my 4 Step Post-Conference Guide. Professional conferences are an unparalleled opportunity to build your network, get new ideas, deepen connections, get out of your routine, and shake things up.

Yet so many of us fail to act… why?

Because you probably went home with loads of information to digest and a feeling of being overwhelmed. So, plan a post-conference action plan that empowers you. The key to a successful post-conference routine is taking ACTION.

Here are 4 steps to maximize your conference investment:

1. Network post the event– Don’t forget those connections you made. Close the loop, follow up, and build relationships for referrals, accountability, and more.
2. Leverage your social channels– How can you communicate your time investment to show potential customers your commitment to excellence and serving them at the highest levels? Make your public posts about serving your customers and potential customers better.
3. Organize your notes into a checklistfor the items you are committed to act on and share them with an accountability partner, mentor or coach. Do you have a checklist? A checklist not only helps you get more done, but your brain loves them. According to research summarized by best-selling author Maria Konnikova, here are some of the reasons why:
   1. Your mind seeks organization. Lists tap into our preferred way of receiving and organizing information at a subconscious level; from an information-processing standpoint, they often hit our attentional sweet spot.
   2. When we process information, we do so spatially. For instance, it’s hard to memorize through brute force the groceries we need to buy. It’s easier to remember everything if we write it down in bulleted or numbered points.
   3. Your mind wants to categorize. We can’t process information quickly when it’s clustered and undifferentiated (like in standard paragraphs). A list feels more intuitive.
   4. Your mind wants to know how long this will take. The more we know about something—including precisely how much time it will consume—the greater the chance we will commit to it.
   5. List completion is self-reinforcing. We recall with pleasure that we were able to check something off the list. This makes us want to go back to the list for another dopamine hit.
   6. Do your brain a favor and break down what you learned and your action steps into a series of checklists.
4. Take action NOW! –don’t wait! Nothing good happens when you wait.

So, there you have it, 4 steps to win the post-conference game.