In the Zone | V II i 2 | Confessions of a Master Listing Agent
In the Zone | Focusing on the 4 Profit Pillars of Real Estate
Volume II Issue 2
1. What Successful REALTORS(R) Are Saying
2. Motivational Quote of the Month
3. Prospecting: How to turn Internet leads into transactions
4. Negotiating: Dan Kennedy's biggest secret to
exceptional results in selling
5. Listing: Confessions of a master listing agent
6. Selling: 19.5 early signals that a prospect is ready to
buy
Hey,
I spent too many years of my adult life dead broke. And it
was a mystery to me. I had my dog-eared copy of "Think and
Grow Rich," had a gym bag full of motivational tapes, went
to seminars and recited my positive affirmations every
morning while rowing.
I tried every darned thing that surfaced and I had some
pretty sharp skills too. But I was still walking around with a
big grin on my face and nothing but hungry moths in my
wallet.
Finally, I discovered the missing link and it had nothing
to do with lurching after every new idea. In fact, it was all
about developing the fundamentals of selling success and
mastering them while I waited for my "golden opportunity."
I truly believe if I had not been prepared with the
fundamentals I learned (like the ones I will share with you
later in this issue), skills that have made it ridiculously
easy to be successful, when my opportunity arrived, I would
have ignorantly squandered my "big chance."
What are some of those fundamentals?...that's what this issue
is all about.
Take for example the negotiating pillar this month: this one
alone helped me to go from closing 1 out of 10 sales to
9 out of 10. It's such a powerful psychological strategy people
respond to it with little to no regard for common sense...it's
almost spooky.
And there are three more potent strategies like this...
designed for one thing only: rocketing your business into
the financial heavens.
Listen, I can't promise you that success will instantly be
yours if you try any of these strategies. But I can guarantee
if you master them you will find your business always growing,
always predictable and always profitable.
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 can't tell you how excited I am with my ProQuest system.
"I'm a new agent - became active about 10 weeks ago. My
biggest fear entering the industry was how would I get leads
- I hate cold calls, it's like setting myself up for
rejection!
"The ProQuest system was promoted to me by two very
successful real estate consultants within my firm. After
some hesitation, mostly from having to make the financial
investment; I took a step out on faith and decided to base
my success on the success of others.
"ProQuest was there for me every step of the way. They
helped me create a monthly budget based on my current
business and guided me through all the set up, scripts,
signage recommendation and ad layouts.
"...I spent Saturday morning posting my 1-800 Recorded Info
signs on my current listings (only 4 of them). My phone
began to ring almost immediately with notifications of
inquiries.
"By Monday evening, the end of the long weekend I had three
qualified families that I am actively assisting in a home
search (a combined budget of $775,000.00 to shop for) and
have another in the follow through process."
Warmest regards,
Karen Mongrello
Jonesboro, Georgia
If you want to learn the secret behind Karen's success, then
read our 21-page online report "How to Close More
Transactions in a Month Than You Now Close All Year":
http://www.realestategrowth.com/testimonials.asp
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2. Motivational Quote of the Month
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"A wise man makes more opportunities than he finds."
Francis Bacon, English Philosopher and Education Reformer
1561-1626
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3. PROSPECTING: How to turn Internet leads into
transactions
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we all agree: converting your internet leads into cold, hard
cash is the most important ingredient for your real estate
success. For a website to be productive then, it must do more
than just list homes...it must generate, capture and convert
hot leads. Here are some practical suggestions to convert
internet leads into sales.
First, acknowledge and recognize that not every lead is a
good lead. This is a basic rule of prospecting...but people
still ignore it. So how do we identify hot internet leads?
Easy.
The profile of a hot prospect is predictable: short
timeframe, has a strong interest, they need to make a decision
and get settled now. Most importantly, hot prospects call and
let you know they are serious.
But how do they know to call you?
Put full contact information on your website: office
address, email and phone numbers. Since the nature of the
internet lies in anonymity, we must learn to coax and entice
them to contact you with a need of more information. A
toll-free number is a very smart thing to have on your
website. This way you make it unbelievably easy to
contact you.
Offer some free information (CMA, first time homebuyer's
booklet) so they can call you and order 24 hours day. This
is were a hotline works best. Have them leave contact
information on a message line. And the beautiful thing is
those who call and leave a message have identified themselves
as hot prospects.
You may even tempt viewers to call for free offers or to
be placed on your free real estate e-news list.
And you want to call these people back, because it is
personal one-to-one dialogue that will actually build the
relationship and end in a transaction.
Now it's not wise to email or call every lead that visits your
website. Traditional follow-up here is not proactive...but
nonetheless it is important to cultivate and work all leads.
Instead, allow visitors to sign up for a monthly e-newsletter.
This will free up your follow-up time and allow you to
concentrate on quality leads. However, in your automated
follow up you must try to coax them into identifying
themselves by asking questions and offering assistance.
Testimonials from satisfied customers are also powerful
selling tools that can be used to convert online leads into
transactions. They establish your credibility by proving
you've already delivered what you promised to other customers.
So devote an entire web page to testimonials. And make sure
you draw a lot of attention to it. I'm confident this idea
alone will create more hot prospects calling or emailing you.
Imagine using all of them...
Next Month: Champagne results on a beer budget: prospecting
tips from an old pro.
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4. NEGOTIATING: World-class agents' biggest secret to
exceptional results in selling
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According to most veteran, world-class real estate agents,
the less accessible something is, the greater value people
place on it...and the more people want it.
Here's an example.
When someone calls Tammy A., a real estate agent in Illinois,
the receptionist transfers the call to one of Tammy's three
assistants. The assistant then asks the caller a dozen
questions, completes a form and sets an appointment.
Next, a videotape documenting Tammy's unusual success is
sent to the home. In a couple of days one of the assistants
will call to make sure everyone involved with the home buying
process haswatched the videotape. In rare cases that they
haven't, the assistant will postpone or cancel the appointment.
At appointment time, the assistant arrives before Tammy with
a small gift, either flowers or cookies. She then apologizes
that Tammy will be twenty minutes late because of a closing.
Meantime the assistant provides information about local
market prices, average length of time on market and how this
information is used by Tammy to calculate the best, but most
reasonable, listing price.
About fifteen minutes later Tammy calls from her cell phone
to announce her arrival. Once she arrives, apologizes and
says "Hello" her assistant briefs her on what's happened so
far.
Tammy then asks if it is okay for her assistant to go
through the home to take pictures for potential use in
advertising. (This, in case you didn't notice, is a trial
close. Why would they let her go ahead with shooting
pictures if they weren't going to list the house with
Tammy?)
Last year, Tammy listed 92% of the homes she made listing
presentations with immediately. Of the other 8%, half came
to her later.
When the client objects about price, commission or her
ability to give their home enough attention with how busy
she is, she replies:
"Well, different approaches are right for different people.
You may be more comfortable with a more conventional agent,
somebody who will sit here day after day on open houses, be
around the office whenever you call, and not be so selective
about taking clients." Then she pulls out her address book
and recommends a couple of "those kinds" of agents. The
client invariably back pedals.
Clients feel good about being privileged, being special,
being in an elite group. And they get that feeling when
working with someone who's exclusive, rare or limited.
And if they get that feeling by doing business with you,
then you are providing significant value...and you'll form the
desirable habit of choosing who YOU would like to work with.
Next Month: The Bad Deal: nine questions you must answer to
discover where things went wrong and how to get them right
the next time.
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5. LISTING: Confessions of a master listing agent: learn how
he listed over 92 homes without ever leaving his office.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Matt Jones, an C21 agent in Fayetteville, NC, is coming up
on his second year in the business. He's done quite well, a
little bit better than most agents in his market. In fact,
Matt has about three times as many listings than any
other agent in his market.
While the second best agent in his market averages about
twenty listings, Matt averages over sixty. But that's not
the amazing thing...
After twenty months in the business, Matt has listed 113
homes. Out of those 113, he's only went out to twenty. That
means the other ninety he's listed over the phone.
Read his incredible story here and discover how he's managed
to list over 90 homes without ever stepping foot outside.
(Common sales wisdom turned on it's head.)
http://www.realestategrowth.com/mattjones
Next Month: Why it's so important to understand a seller's
motivation to sell their home (there are unseen boundaries
you must not violate if you want the listing).
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6. SELLING: 19.5 early signals that a prospect is ready to
buy
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Any question asked by the prospect must be considered a
buying signal and recognizing them is critical to your success.
You will go past the sale if you fail to recognize them. And
many do. Here is a list of questions that should raise the
"They're ready to buy" flag everytime.
1. Questions about availability or time.
"How long do you think it will take to sell?"
2. Questions about delivery.
"Could you sell the home in 90 days?"
3. Specific questions about mortgage rates and affordability.
"Is there any threat the rates will go up?"
4. Any questions or statements about money.
"How much money would I have to put down?"
5. Positive questions about your business.
"How long have you been selling homes?"
6. Wanting something repeated.
"Explain to me again how the balcony was built."
7. Statements about problems with previous clients.
"Did you ever work with anyone else in our situation?"
8. Questions about features and options.
"Does the fireplace mirror stay?"
9. Questions about quality.
"Is this floor oak or just stained wood?"
10. Questions about guarantee or warranty.
"Is there a home or appliance warranty available?"
11. Questions about qualifications.
12. Specific positive questions about the company.
13. Specific service questions.
"Now will you help us decide on a title company?"
14. Specific statements about ownership of your product
or service.
"Will we get to use your home status web page?"
15. Questions to confirm unstated decision or seeking
support.
"Is this the best way for me to go?"
16. Wanting to see a demo again.
"How does that text notification thingy work again?"
17. Asking about other satisfied customers.
18. Asking for a reference.
19. Buying noises.
"I didn't know that"..."Oh, really?"..."That's
interesting"
19.5 Your ability to convert the signal into a sale...
Every one of these signals can be turned into a
closing question that will lead to a faster sale -
if you do it right.
How? Good question! I'll tell you in the next issue...
Next month: How to use the prospect's questions to confirm
and close the sale.
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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.
