December: Risk Management
Help your agents ensure personal safety, protect their professional reputations, and safeguard their clients’ investments.
- Meeting Planning Resources
- Learning Sprints
- Guest Speaker Suggestions
- Spark Your Business Marketing Ideas
- For ready-to-use video meetings, click here.
Meeting Resources
- December Task Calendar
- December Sales Meeting Agenda (Management)
- Agent Agenda Template
Learning Sprints
Our Learning Sprint videos (15 minutes or less) are hyper-focused on the skills agents need to succeed in real estate. Present a new lesson each week, or pick and choose the most relevant topic for your team.
Recent industry lawsuits are likely to cause significant changes to agent compensation, especially for the buyer’s agent. An effective buyer presentation that communicates value, showcases skills, builds trust, and discusses compensation is more important than ever. During this learning sprint, agents learn essential buyer presentation elements and receive practical advice for getting started. Note: This learning sprint has a run time of 15 minutes.
Real estate is a high-risk industry due to the large amounts of money involved in many transactions. This learning sprint encourages agents to assess their business risks regarding document management, passwords, email security, client communication, and electronic device disposal.
Risk Assessment Handout
Learn open house safety best practices for agents and sellers.
Open House Safety Handout
Explore agent safety best practices and tips for various situations, such as meeting new clients, showing homes or vacant land, and working late. Also, examine ways to protect clients’ safety and security.
Office Safety Culture Handout
Monthly Goal Setting
Setting goals regularly is linked to improved performance and success. Each month we guide agents through a quick exercise that helps them set and achieve a personal and professional goal.
Guest Speakers
Guest speakers share their industry expertise, present new perspectives, and provide useful connections. In addition, a new voice offering instruction adds value to your meetings.
Self-Defense Instructor
- Tips for protecting yourself when showing homes to new clients.
- Demonstration of beneficial self-defense moves.
Law Enforcement Officer
- What an agent should do when they find themselves in an uncomfortable situation.
- Information law enforcement finds most helpful should an agent need to report a robbery, assault, or other crime.
- Agent safety recommendations for hosting open houses.
IT Security Professional
- Tips for protecting your email from being hacked.
- Actions to take if you believe your email has been hacked.
E&O Insurance Representative
- Overview of E&O insurance and how it protects real estate professionals from liability for errors, omissions, or negligence in their services.
- Assessment of agent business practices to identify potential risk areas, such as contract drafting, disclosure requirements, and transaction management.
CPA
- Tips for real estate agent bookkeeping and maintaining accurate financial records.
- Explain self-employment tax obligations and strategies for managing tax liabilities.
Civil Engineer
- Due diligence to mitigate risk when working with a buyer (residential or commercial) making an offer on vacant land.
- Using a civil engineer to evaluate a home and how this can help a buyer identify potential risks.
- Common environmental risks in our market.
Certified Home Inspector
- Risk-reducing benefits of hiring a home inspector when purchasing or selling a home.
- Recommended tests a buyer has done during their inspection period.
- Home inspections when a buyer is purchasing a property “as-is.”
Spark Your Business
End your meeting on a positive note! The Spark Your Business marketing suggestions ensure the last thing agents remember from your meeting is that you gave them a simple tool to improve their business immediately.
National Cocoa Day, December 13, 2023 (Pop By)
Warm winter wishes! Create gift bags containing a mug, hot cocoa mix, and marshmallows. Add a couple of your business cards and a clever tag to the outside.
Sample tag available from Front Porch Portraits. Use code SPARK20 for a 20% discount on other products.
National Cookie Exchange Day, December 22, 2023 (Pop By)
No matter how the cookie crumbles, you are the best part of my business. Surprise your SOI with a small gift bag containing homemade or specialty cookies. Add a couple of your business cards and attach a clever tag.
Sample tag available from Front Porch Portraits. Use code SPARK20 for a 20% discount on other products.
Act of Kindness (Community Outreach)
During the holiday season, recharge your inner self by performing an Act of Kindness.
- Consider donating to a local food bank, pet shelter, or local nonprofit.
- Look for ways to help others. Do you have an elderly neighbor who could use their groceries picked up?
- Pay it forward by paying for the person behind you in the drive-through at the coffee shop.
- Even something as simple as a Post-It note with an encouraging word on someone’s windshield or door will make a difference!
2023 Closing Statements (Past client letter or email)
Show your 2023 clients that they are clients for life by helping them prepare for tax time.
- Mail or email a copy of their closing statement in early January.
- Include a personalized letter.
Example Letter: Dear <Client>, I hope this letter finds you well and settling into your new home. As we bid farewell to the old year and welcome the new one, I wanted to take a moment to wish you a very Happy New Year! I am thrilled I was able to assist you with finding your perfect place, and I hope that 2024 brings you all the happiness, health, and prosperity you deserve in this beautiful new space. For your convenience in filing your 2023 income taxes, I’m enclosing a copy of your closing statement. If you need anything else, please let me know. It was a joy working with you! Warm regards, <Agent>
A Look Ahead
January: Attracting New Business
In January, we help agents identify innovative strategies for attracting new clients. Learning sprint highlights include leveraging a real estate niche, using effective call scripts, and tried-and-true prospecting techniques.
Ignite your sales meetings.
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