In the Zone | V I i 4 | Deadlines - the crucial variable that can work for or against you
In the Zone | Focusing on the 4 Profit Pillars of Real Estate
Volume 1 Issue 4
1. What Successful REALTORS(R) Are Saying
2. Motivational Quote of the Month
3. Prospecting: What is the smallest action in an agent’s
business that will produce the greatest return?
4. Negotiating: Deadlines - the crucial variable that can work
for or against you
5. Listing: How to get any length listing agreement you
want...with one simple question
6. Selling: Recognizing the needs of your prospect and how to
turn those needs into dollars
Hey,
First, thank you for reading In The Zone. Your readership is
important to us. And because your time is precious I don’t want
to waste it or disappoint you.
So in this issue you will find a theme running throughout the
pillars: small hinges swing big doors.
It’s a theme of one: the one idea that will turn things in your
favor. It’s my personal belief that one idea can change your life.
And as a professional REALTOR(R) you do not need to spend your time
with complicated things...that's why I’ve devoted each pillar
this month to one simple but extremely profitable idea.
Enjoy this issue and here’s to your success,
Gary Elwood
Proquest Technologies
1-800-959-3959
Send prospecting, negotiating, listing or selling ideas,
strategies and tips to inthezone@proquest-tech.com.
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1. What Successful REALTORS(R) Are Saying
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“I have seen and heard most everything on the market but this
system has blown my wildest expectations away. I have been a six
figure earner since I got into the business four years ago.
“Since I started using the system seven weeks ago I have had my
biggest month ever. I have had 5 closing in two weeks. That ties
my best effort from the past but the commission dollars are double
that of the previous best.
“The reason is I'm capturing both ends of the transaction. What
would have normally been a $20,000 month has turned into a
$40,000 month. I can now see that a mid six figure income is now
available to me with no more effort than in the past.”
Jeffrey R. Petitt
Boyne Realty
Petoskey, MI
If you want to learn the secret behind Jeffery Petitt’s success,
then read our 24-page online report, “How to Close More
Transactions in a Month Than You Now Close All Year”:
http://www.yourcompetitiveadvantage.com/how_to_grow.htm
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2. Motivational Quote of the Month
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“Sometimes you just have to take the leap...and build your wings
on the way down.”
Kobi Yamada
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3. PROSPECTING: What is the smallest action in an agent’s
business that will produce the greatest return?
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A follow-up call.
But it’s not that easy. You need to plan when you will make
follow-up calls. Whether it’s follow up on call capture leads or
up desk calls, the timing is critical.
Research has proven that within 30 minutes from the original call,
a caller is the most interested they will ever be.
Mary Ann Falzone, call center consultant and President of Falzone
and Associates, says, “To succeed, the telephone element must be a
budgeted, integrated, well planned component of all marketing
efforts...If [follow-up calls] are added as a last minute
afterthought when you or somebody on your team realizes, ‘Hey,
don’t we need to take those calls?’ the effort usually falls
apart.”
So eat that frog: polish those scripts and make those follow-up
calls as quickly as possible.
Next Month: Nine Power-Packed Prospecting Pointers by Bill Brooks
CSP, CPAE, CMC, CPCM
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4. NEGOTIATING: Deadlines - the crucial variable that can work
for or against you.
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Believe it or not, all action in a negotiation happens at the
eleventh hour. Whether it's in a listing presentation or closing
negotiations, expect most significant concession behavior and any
settlement action to occur close to the deadline.
That being the case, if I know your deadline and you don’t know
mine, who has the advantage? Why I will, because as we near the
point that you perceive as the deadline, your stress level will
increase and you will make concessions. And as I watch you
squirm, I can hold off yielding anything to you.
Here are six tips to help you use deadlines during negotiations
in your favor:
1. Be patient. (True strength often calls for the ability to
sustain the tension without flight or fight.)
2. In an adversary negotiation your best strategy is not
to reveal your real deadline to the other side.
3. Never blindly follow a deadline but evaluate the benefits and
detriment that will ensue as you approach, or go beyond, the brink.
4. The “other side,” cool and calm as they may appear, always
have a deadline. Push them to the limit.
5. Early action in a negotiation should only be used when it is
to your advantage.
6. Very often as you approach the deadline a shift of power will
occur. People may not change but circumstances do.
As a general rule: be patient and wait for the favorable moment
to act.
Next Month: What world class negotiators know about closing the
sale...on their terms. (Critical stuff.)
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5. LISTING: How to get any length listing agreement you
want...with one simple question.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Quite often, sellers have an unrealistic and unfair expectation of
when their home should be sold. And if it’s short and you don’t
sell it within that time, you can bet they will find another
REALTOR(R) next time around. It may not be your fault but that’s
reality.
People have an emotional value placed on their home that has
little to do with reality. And your job, as an agent, is to
ground their decision in reality. How do you do that? Ask them
one simple question:
“Could I ask you to help me understand why you think your home
can sell within this time?”
What you’ve done by asking this question is simply called them on
their bluff.
Since they are not experts, and you are, they will probably come
back with, “Well, that was sort of a guess. We really don’t know
what were talking about, but you probably do. What do you think
is a realistic expectation?”
With your experience and knowledge about the market you can
explain to them the factors involved: it’s a buyer’s market,
slow economy, suggested home upgrades. Then deliver what you
consider to be a fair and realistic expectation. Doing that will
prove you to be the professional you say you are and allow you
enough time to sell their home.
Next Month: The Two Most Common Closing Myths...and how to avoid
getting burned by them.
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6. SELLING: Recognizing the needs of your prospect and how to
turn those needs into dollars.
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To provide solutions, sellers must first uncover a need. And the
best way to do this is by “escalating” the focus of your
questions. Here are the 4 stages of questions, each one narrowing
in on the precise need of the customer.
1. Status Questions: a question that will uncover the “status” or
level of opportunity with a prospect. These questions will
determine where a customer is on the buying level.
Example: “In what amount of time would you like to sell your
home?”
2. Issue Questions: the first stages of problem solving, a
question that will uncover opportunities that are in need of a
solution.
Example: “To what extent is selling your home within 60 days
important?”
3. Implication Questions: once a prospect acknowledges an issue
as being important, you must now probe further to understand why.
Example: “Mr. Smith, what would happen if your job transfer was
moved up a month?”
4. Solution Questions: a question that will secure the next step
in the closing process. These questions help prospects recognize
that positive emotions like satisfaction and relief are just
around the corner.
Example: “Mr. Smith, if I could show you how to solve each of
the issues we just discussed, would you be willing
to take the next step?”
Next month: How to sell your listings faster...at or above the
asking price
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Proquest Technologies, Inc.
inthezone@proquest-tech.com
1-800-959-3959
In the Zone: Focusing on the 4 Profit Pillars of Real Estate
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“In the Zone” is a Proquest Technologies publication.
(C)
Copyright 2005. Proquest Technologies.
