In today’s tough market, it’s not enough to know the ins and outs of short sales and how to help buyers get qualified.  Your competition already knows all that.

To grow your business, you’ve got to win new listings.  And that takes being able to convey your value proposition with confidence and clarity.

How do you accomplish this?

Not just by running down a list of your skills or recounting how many homes you’ve helped to sell.  Too often, this approach can sound like bragging — and nobody likes a braggart.

You do it by making a human connection while making your point.  You do it by telling a story.

Not just any old story, either.  It’s got to be the right story at the right time — a story that tells who you are, what you stand for, and what sets you apart from the competition.

To unearth that kind of story, start by examining your values.

Have you ever considered your core values in life, those principles that you hold to be important?  If you do, you might come up with traits like honesty, integrity, or fairness.

You could also focus on those values you feel are pertinent to your job performance — values like persistence or attention to detail.  Either way, it could take a little navel-gazing to come up with a list.  Here are three methods to help you zero in on values:

• The Buddy Ad: Pretend you’re writing a classified ad to find a best friend.  Write down all the qualities you’d want that person to have.  Chances are, if these qualities are important in a best friend, they matter to you in nearly all your relationships.  In other words, they’re core values.

• Three Words About Me: If you had to describe yourself in three adjectives, what would they be?  Calm, confident, and fabulous?  Assertive, detail-oriented, and brainy?  Once you’ve got your three words, take some time examining your life.  Come up with a story that demonstrates each adjective — like the time you were selling encyclopedias to put yourself through college, and you wouldn’t call it a day until you sold your first set.  That shows persistence.

• The Late, Great You: Pretend you’ve passed away.  Now sit down and write yourself a glowing, but true, obituary, paying more attention to your character than the details of your life.  Were you generous?  Were you loyal?  Great.  Now recall some true stories about times you demonstrated those qualities.

It’s one thing to claim you’re truthful; it’s another to be truthful when it’s difficult, when you’re tempted to tell a lie.  That’s where the rubber meets the road –— where your actions tell that you stand by your principles.

And that’s what impresses a prospect.

To come up with this kind of story, recall a time when you made a hard choice, when it wasn’t easy to stick with your core value, but you did it anyway.

At one of my workshops, a real estate agent told the following anecdote: One morning, he had just enough time to make it to his company meeting, but his young son was fussy, having trouble adjusting to his new classroom.  What to do?  The agent chose to take the time to get his boy settled in at school before proceeding, late, to his business meeting.

You can talk about putting family first all you want, but if you’d like to make a real impact, try telling a story of how you put family first when it was hard.

How are you different from your co-workers and competitors?  Are you super-knowledgeable about the law?  Are you well connected, or a finance whiz?  Maybe your set of values is what distinguishes you from the competition?

Think long and hard about what makes you different.  This is the heart of your value proposition.  This is what sets you apart.

If you can, boil it down to a key phrase like, “I’m an excellent listener who always puts the client’s needs first.”  Then look for a story that illustrates how well you listen.

Why a story?  Well, anyone can say, “I’m a good listener.”  It may be true, but how does the other person know that when they first meet you?

It’s more effective to tell a story that demonstrates your listening and client commitment in action — like the time you were able to help a finicky buyer find a home, after he’d already gone through five brokers who wouldn’t listen to his needs.

That’s almost like a testimonial, but it’s casual and anecdotal — and therefore more effective.

Having trouble coming up with that value proposition?  Sometimes, it’s as simple as your passion for your work.  Got a fire in your gut?  That may be what sets you apart and makes potential clients choose you.

My website copywriter, Patrice, had been going to a financial advisor for months and was getting ready to change advisors.  (The woman had terrible “people skills.”)  Just before Patrice lowered the boom, she happened to ask the woman, “Why are you doing this work in the first place?”

The woman told Patrice that she’d been raised by a single mother, living hand-to-mouth.  When she grew up, the woman swore that if she could prevent other women from having to go through what she did, she would do whatever it took.  And so she became a financial advisor specializing in women.

Did Patrice stay with the advisor?  Absolutely.  And that’s the power of using the right story at the right time to express your value proposition.

In the end, if you want your presentation to stick, wrap it in a story.  When your potential client takes in that story, they take you to heart and trust you.  And when you get their trust, you get their business.

Real estate is a field of activity which many people decide to invest in, because if you know what to do and how to play your cards right, you could really make a lot of money and recover your investment in no time.

Investing in attractive beach properties can help you make an even greater profit, because everyone loves the beach and most people search for great beach residencies where they could enjoy their lives while standing on a beautiful beach, listening to the relaxing and soothing sound of the sea waves.

Having a place where you know you can go to any time you need to relax and unwind is a very nice thought, so by investing in real estate in places that are near the beach could be the greatest idea you’ve ever had.

California and Hawaii are two of the states where real estate investors have made big bucks by investing in beach properties, because their beaches are fabulous and people were willing (and still are) to pay top dollar for a real estate as near to the beach as possible, and dream of sitting on their lanais listening to the ocean waves crashing onto the beach.

California is also a very popular place for Hollywood productions, for this very reason: because Hollywood producers want to get the sweetest human dream closer to their viewers. California luxury residences and beach houses feature in many top movie productions, because Hollywood knows how to emphasize the American dream best and to make people watch their productions with interest.

That is why investing in beach real estate could be a really good idea for you. Every real estate investor knows that in order to succeed in the business, you need to consider the location thoroughly, because location is everything. And what better location could there be for someone looking for a home?

If you want to make an even greater investment, you could consider rental. If you purchase beach houses or apartment buildings near the beach, you could give them to rent and make a huge and constant profit for many years to come.

After all, not everyone can afford a house near the beach, but everyone wants to go on holiday, so this is a safe income that you can be sure of. However, you need to be careful at one aspect: the ravaging storms that sometimes occur in the beach areas.

Hawaii residents know very well that hurricanes coming from the ocean can come with devastating fury and demolish entire structures, leaving behind them a devastating view. Flooding is another possible problem a real estate investor has to consider, but if you know where to invest you can avoid all that hassle.

When it comes to buying a vacation home, most of the home buyers check out with the hottest tourist destinations of the world. But not all the tourist hot spots are fit for real estate investment. But Caribbean surely does not fall in that category—a Caribbean real estate investment is as good as a Caribbean holiday. However, for the best value for your investment, you should prefer Costa Rica over her neighbors. The country is fast developing and its real estate, especially the tourism related real estate is swelling. That Costa Rica is a retirement heaven for the baby boomers is not altogether a marketing hype—the country’s real estate, especially the Costa Rica condos truly help your investment grow bigger than what they could do back home.True those Costa Rica condos are cheaper than the comparable properties in Florida, California or New work. It is true that prices are skyrocketing due to the excessive demands. It is also true that a little moving around is sure to help you locate your dream Costa Rica real estate. But at the same time the reality is: it requires a good deal of investigation on your part to make a success of your condo purchase in Costa Rica. There are certain areas that require extra screening on your part prior to purchase and here is your checklist.1. Roping on to the right agentIt sounds cynical, but let’s start with this: never trust the smart real estate agents. Recommendations give a good head start in this direction. A reliable real estate agent will give you the right information about the value of the property, while the scrupulous one will tend to push overpriced properties.2. Go through the land recordsWhen you are exploring the market for Costa Rica condos, make sure the project does not fall within the boundaries of restricted zones or is a part of national park. Take extra caution in this respect, especially when you are mulling over the projects near the province of Dominical. 3. Consider the practical aspectsA property in remote, isolated place sounds too romantic, but it can be an unpractical decision of the worst kind. So far as the under construction Costa Rica condos are concerned, make sure that the developer has got the provisions for all basic amenities as electricity and water supply, before you make the down payment. It might create an added expenditure for you if you do not verify this point at the very beginning.4. NeighborhoodNeighborhood should be your prime concern when you are buying property in a foreign land. The local Costa Ricans are a friendly, welcoming lot. Still make sure to invest in Costa Rica condos that house large expatriate community on whom you can lean back at the times of needs. For the same reason, avoid the local neighborhoods, where the normal way of life may not be exactly up to your expectations or your tolerance level. For that matter, also check the crime rate in the area. As an example, there are pockets in the big Costa Rica cities like San Jose, where it will be extremely difficult for foreigners to live.  5. Make sure of the qualityWhen you are buying Costa Rica condos, hire an engineer to check out the constructional aspects of the building for you. Also take notice of such aspects as sewage system, plumbing, wiring and roof for leaks.Buying properties in foreign land comes with its pitfalls. But a good deal of research and a good broker can help you avoid them and make your overseas investment a success.