In the Zone | V II i 6 | One Powerful Way to Get Listing Appts Over the Phone
In the Zone | Focusing on the 4 Profit Pillars of Real Estate
Volume II Issue 6
1. What Successful REALTORS(R) Are Saying
2. Motivational Quote of the Month
3. Prospecting: One Powerful Way to Set Listing Appointments Over
the Phone
4. Negotiating: The Single Best Piece of Negotiating Advice You'll
Ever Receive
5. Listing: How to List Expireds with a Very Simple Opening Line
6. Selling: Five Simple Listening Skills That Will Immediately
Turn the Tide in Your Favor in Any Selling Situation.
Hey,
Welcome to the June 2004 installment of In The Zone, the
newsletter devoted to helping agents focus on the 4 profit
pillars of real estate.
This month you'll discover a truly unique way to generate
listing appointments that has turned common prospecting wisdom on
its head: this approach will have sellers calling you!
Plus, not only will I share with you the first cardinal rule
of negotiating, but you'll also discover a very simple opening line
with expireds that is a sure-fire way to get what you want
every time.
Finally, you'll explore five listening tricks that will positively
turn any listing presentation, meeting or conversation into a
powerful and profitable situation in which you are in control--even
if you have reached a point of deadlock.
This issue promises some of the most tried and true strategies,
tips and ideas that will help you focus on the 4 most profitable
activities in real estate. And once you put these puppies to
practice, it's only a matter of time before they catapult your
business into the stratosphere.
Sound like a dream? Absolutely not. Read on.
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.
***Correction: In last month's Listing article, "The Five
Sure-Fire Steps to Scheduling Appointments Over the Phone," we
failed to give credit to Darryl Davis, author of "How to Become
a Power Agent in Real Estate," for his ideas we used in this
article.
Darryl Davis can be reached at 800.395.3905. You can purchase his
book at http://www.darryldavis.com.
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1. What Successful REALTORS(r) Are Saying
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"My wife [Machell] has used the print strategies in the book
and has gotten three buyer leads and low listing leads! Not bad
in her first 6 weeks of real estate sales. We are now going to
fully employ the "800" number as part of the overall strategy."
Charles T. Shear
Simplicity Mortgage
Pueblo West, CO
If you want to learn the secret behind Machell'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/how_to_grow.asp
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2. Motivational Quote of the Month
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"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the
things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do...Sail
away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails.
Explore. Dream. Discover."
Mark Twain
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3. PROSPECTING: One Powerful Way to Set Listing Appointments Over
the Phone
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There are a lot of homeowners who would like to know how much
their home is worth, but they don't want to sit through a
presentation to find out. If you offer an over-the-phone home
evaluation, not only do they get to avoid a presentation,
but...you get more prospects calling you.
To promote this approach, send out a postcard or print an ad for
a free over-the-phone home evaluation.
Here's a sample ad:
http://www.realestategrowth.com/cmapostcard.asp
When a prospect calls you, ask them the typical questions about
their house: Square footage? Number of rooms? Garage? You get the
picture.
Once you've collected all the information you need, tell them you
need to do the analysis and will call them back. When you call
them back, say:
"The best I can tell you without actually seeing your home is
that the highest sale in your area over the past 12 months was
$xxx,xxx and the lowest was $xxx,xxx.
"Your house may or may not fall inside that price range, depending
on a multitude of factors, but it's up to you to estimate where
your house fits in. The purpose of this evaluation is to give you
a broad ballpark idea of the value of your home. A proper CMA
would value your home on it's own merit. I happen to have some
time avaialble tomorrow between..."
One word of caution: before using this approach, check with your
local board of realtors on the legality of this approach. Some
states prohibit agents from quoting a price range for a house
without first seeing it. If that's the case, when someone calls
for a CMA say:
"Our local board of REALTORS(R) won't allow us to give you a price
without seeing the house first..."
Then just send them four recent comps with some very basic
information. Add the comment that the comps should give the sellers
a general idea of the value of their home. Then say, "In order to
give you a more accurate and detailed picture of your home's value
I would really need to see your home."
Next Month: Tips to Eliminate Rejection and Reduce Call Reluctance
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4. NEGOTIATING: The Single Best Piece of Negotiating Advice You'll
Ever Receive
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Do you know what the first cardinal rule of negotiating is?
If you said, "Ask the other side for more than you expect," then
you are correct.
Someone in our office learned this cardinal rule first hand when
they bought their first home two years ago.
Demian, one of our marketing associate reps, told his agent that
he thought the $90,000 asking price was a fair price for the home.
The agent, someone he knew pretty well, looked away and didn't
say anything.
"Is there something wrong?" Demian asked.
"Do you want my recommendation?" she said.
"Sure."
"It's worth $90,000, but not more. Let's give you some negotiating
room."
"Negotiating room?"
"Yeah, let's make sure we arrive at $90,000 and not begin there."
Indeed, Demian lowered his offer by $3,000 and made an additional
11 more requests. He was certain all but a few of the requests
would be refused. That wasn't the case at all.
The seller only challenged two requests, which Demian conceded,
and then he and his agent bracketed two times, arriving at
$89,000. He got a lot more out of the offer than he thought
possible...and the seller even felt as if he had won.
Here are the principles behind this strategy:
1. Begin with your MPP--maximum plausible position. This is the
most you can ask for and still have the other side see some
plausibility in your position. If you imply some flexibility
in your MPP, even an outrageous one will seem workable.
2. Next, the less you know about the other party, the higher your
initial position should be. Here's why:
3. The other side may be more flexible than you think. And,
if this is a new relationship, you'll appear more cooperative
if you make larger concessions.
Here are five reasons why you should ask for more than you expect
to get:
1. You might just get it. This is usually the only argument the
optimist needs to ask for more than he expects.
2. It gives you some negotiating room. Remember, when buying you
can always go up in price, but you can never go down. The
opposite is true if you are selling something: you can always
go down in price, but you can never go up.
3. It raises the preceived value of what you're offering.
4. It prevents the negotiation from deadlocking. In the example
above, if he would have settled on the $90,000 and made three
non-negotiable requests, he would have delivered an
ultimatum...and because pride and egos are involved, ultimatums
rarely succeed in accomplishing what you hope.
5. It creates a climate in which the other side feels they won.
The MPP for the seller above may have been $89,000--which seems
plausible since he agreed to it. In that case, he feels like
he accomplished what he wanted to do, while the buyer got a
better deal than he thought he would.
Next Month: The Three Greatest Ways to Overcome Objections
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5. LISTING: How to List Expireds with a Very Simple Opening Line
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Admit it: engaging expireds can be hard.
But the payoff can be rewarding...if you are willing to approach
them the right way.
Many listings, as you know, are passed around from office to
office until, after a year or more, the sellers agree to lower
the price.
Although an expired may have a jaded view of realtors after their
attempts to sell their home have failed, success goes to the
agents who use their time effectively to approach these people
with respect. Here's a general opening line that agent and trainer
Danielle Kennedy uses for expireds.
"Hi, this is John Doe from Doe Realty. Listen, I was updating our
office's "homes for sale" records and was wondering if your
property is still available?"
Now look carefully how she worded that. She didn't say, "Is your
house still for sale?"
Your goal is to help them see it as an opportunity.
When they do say "yes," you've created an opening for making an
appointment with them. The best way to lead into this Kennedy says
is to say, "Can I do an open house?"
Don't ignore expireds because you are intimidated by the tough,
cynical image agents give them. They are yet another pool of
prospects which you can constantly dip into--like FSBO's, renters
and move-ups--and success goes to the agent who constantly finds
new people to work with.
Next Month: How to Win Against Agents Who Cut Their Fees
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
6. SELLING: Five Simple Listening Skills That Will Immediately
Turn the Tide in Your Favor in Any Selling Situation
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dr. Stephen Covey said, "Seek first to understand, then to be
understood."
This simple habit can make an amazing difference in any
relationship, whether it's with your spouse or children, clients
or coworkers.
Here are five techniques to help you to "seek first to
understand":
1. Clear your mind of distractions before any meeting or phone
call. Top telemarketing trainers tell people handling incoming
calls to set aside their paperwork on the first ring, close
their eyes and take a deep breath on the second ring, then
smile and answer on the third.
2. Determine in advance why the person you are going to be
listening to is important to you. You have to sell
yourself on the relevance in order to focus your attention.
3. Listen for information and insight you can use to engineer
cooperation with the other person. Pay particular attention
to the small details in stories. They often hold the key to
unlocking that person's motivation.
4. Be an active listener. Nod. Give feedback. Ask questions to
encourage the person to continue. Ask questions to demonstrate
your interest. Mirror the other person's body language.
5. Jot down notes as you listen. It not only helps you capture
key information, but it also illustrates your interest in
what the other person is saying...which can be a powerful
motivation for the other person to trust you.
The purpose of these five steps is to understand how the other
person sees an issue and to build an open relationship with them,
where communication can flow and you both really understand what
each other is saying. You can then use this information to create
true win-win situations!
Next month: More Sales Are Made with This One Truth Than the Best
Salesmanship Secrets
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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.
