This Issue: Property Selling Secrets of the Masters

This season on The Apprentice, two of the candidates - Tim and Nicole - had what I guess you would call “an office romance.” The romance ended up hurting Tim because he couldn’t figure out if his loyalties were to Nicole or to his team. Plus he couldn’t really concentrate on what he was doing.

That’s the risk you take when you mix business with pleasure. It certainly makes the workplace more interesting for you, but rarely does it make you a better employee.

A recent survey found that at least 60 percent of workers have had an office romance. That’s a lot of flirting and who-knows-what going on at work instead of actual working. I don’t even want to know how much of it has gone on here in the Trump Organization!

If you’re having an office romance, my advice is to be even sharper and better than you normally are at your job. Like Tim’s teammates did with him, your coworkers will just be looking for your romance to hurt your performance.

Then you might hear, “You’re fired!” Is a little office romance worth that? In most cases, I certainly don’t think so.

What is the best way to sell a property today? Keep it simple. The more unsettled the market becomes, the more important it is to stick to the basics.

• Identify your ideal customers. Are they young couples just starting out, baby boomers nearing retirement age, or something else? Identify your target group, then add or accentuate features that will appeal specifically to them. It could be attractive financing for first-time buyers, a shuttle bus to the train station for young professional commuters or a daycare center for young families. Don’t try to be everything to everyone. Instead, be the right thing for the right buyers.
•  Make your property the best of its kind. This is one of the core reasons for Donald J. Trump’s success. Any property you want to sell must have obvious advantages over similar properties. The benefit could be a health club, a brand-new renovation - anything that sets your property apart from others that your target customers might also be considering.
• Connect directly with your targeted buyers. Low-tech approaches often work best. I recently spoke with one developer who literally knocked on every door in the neighborhood where he had a property to sell, telling everyone that he had a house that was about to go on the market. He had three offers in the next two days, because people were looking for homes in the neighborhood for their relatives to buy.
•  Write the most appealing newspapers ads that you can. Trump University Professor Dr. Gary Eldred recently offered you some great advice on this topic, right here in this blog. To read the specifics, click here.

So know your customers, give them a property they will want - then make sure they know it is available. That’s about as simple as it gets. But when you come right down to it, why overcomplicate things? A sale is nothing more than making the connection between the right product and the right buyer.

Editor's note: Trump University's Real Estate Investor Training Program teaches it all - from the most basic real estate skills to the most cutting-edge strategies. Click here now to become part of this life-transforming course.

Back in the early 1990s, Donald J. Trump stirred up a big controversy in Phoenix, Arizona. He wanted to build a luxury high-rise residential building on Camelback Road between 24^th and 32^nd Streets - one of the most sought-after locations in Phoenix.

The problem was, Donald wanted to put up the tallest building in the city, and there were height restrictions. A controversy about the building raged for several years. Then in 1995, residents of the area voted that he would not be allowed to build his building.

To the astonishment of many people, Donald simply pulled out and did not pursue the matter further.

Some months later while we were working on our book, Why We Want You to Be Rich, our conversation turned to what had happened in Phoenix. And interesting to note, Donald was not disappointed in the outcome.

“If I can’t build the tallest and best building, I don’t want to build,” he said. Plus at the time he was working on something even bigger and better, a spectacular new building in Dubai. “Why should I be upset with Phoenix when I am working on this?” he said.

Donald could have battled on in Phoenix, won permission to build something smaller, and still made a lot of money from the project. But instead, he preferred to pursue larger dreams.

That underlying philosophy that Donald applied in Phoenix - to pursue the biggest dream you can and not compromise - is also the thesis of our book:

You succeed in life by pursuing big wins, not by avoiding small losses.

How can you apply that philosophy to your life? After all, you probably aren't concerned with building the tallest building in the citiy where you live. But remember, it is never too early to pursue the biggest dreams you can and to express high standards.

Even small properties can express lofty visions. And that is the way to success.

Editor’s note: To learn even more about building your real estate empire, enroll in The Real Estate Investor Training Program from Trump University. Classes are now forming.

This past Sunday was Earth Day. All the major media covered some aspect of the day.  Here in NY the Mayor outlined a major 127 point plan to help the environment.  Big business and government are talking about the environment. That got me thinking about all the potential being green/ECO-friendly/conservationist offers to business owners, aspiring entrepreneurs, people buying business, selling products/services and real estate investors. Will a solar power upgrade add value over time? Will eco friendly construction make a difference in your project? Where will these products come from? Who is developing the next solution to our energy problem? 

The answer could be you.   

There is a huge potential to make money while still doing good things for our environment. We have a number of students who are in or have completed our Entrepreneurship Mastery Program with business ideas related to the environment.  They are thinking big and taking some calculated risks. Some have big ideas that may change the way we heat our homes or fill our cars with gas and some have small ideas but with no less significant impacts in our daily lives. The point here is that your business can be a better, more profitable company by being green. If you run, own, or are starting a green business, please share your success stories, ideas, links to your sites and products by adding a comment so we can showcase successful green business ideas to the Trump University community.