Proquest Technologies | V II i 8 | The Follow-Up Secret
In the Zone | Focusing on the 4 Profit Pillars of Real Estate
Volume II Issue 8
1. What Successful REALTORS(R) Are Saying
2. Motivational Quote of the Month
3. Prospecting: The Follow-Up Secret
4. Negotiating: The Most Powerful Negotiating Pressure Point
5. Listing: The Key to a Landslide of Listings in Your First Year
of Real Estate
6. Selling: The Only Closing Question You Will Ever Need to Ask to
Land the Listing, Sale or Appointment
Hey,
In writing the articles this month, two have stuck in my mind ever
since I first wrote them twenty or so odd days ago. The articles
are "The Follow-up Secret" and "The Key to a Landslide of Listings
in Your First Year in Real Estate."
The reason I think they have made a lasting impact on my mind is
that they both deal with two down-and-dirty, hands-on activities
of real estate. The success behind these ideas hinges on an agent
fulfilling these activities, which can be daunting at first.
Our personal histories are probably full of situations where we
were at first intimidated by something. But once we mastered it,
we hardly even think twice about doing it now.
And deciding to master these things is what separates successful
people from the unsuccessful. I've said it before and I'll say it
again: successful people do those things that most people don't
want to do. Success is what is at stake.
Why were we able to overcome that fear in the first place? Why
didn't it hold us back like it did thousands of other people?
The best way I can explain it is by quoting a t-shirt I saw once.
It read: Obstacles are what you see when you take your eyes off
the goal.
Successful people have an unapologetic focus on the future, a focus
so strong it overshadows anything else--including obstacles.
Enjoy 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.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1. What Successful REALTORS(r) Are Saying
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Gary,
"I have wanted to take this opportunity to write an
email several months ago, but I got really busy with being busy.
"I look forward to your newsletter each month and as a mentor at
Troop Real Estate for new agents I use this information for each
of my assigned realtors. It is invaluable!!!! I still give this
information to my past mentored agents."
Dave Marshall
Troop Real Estate
Simi Valley, CA
If are ready to take the leap to the next level in your career,
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
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2. Motivational Quote of the Month
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door."
Milton Berle
American Comedian
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
3. PROSPECTING: The Follow-Up Secret
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Let me ask you a question.
If you haven't done your follow-up calls within twenty-four hours,
who do you think will?
If you don't already know, let me give you a hint: your competition.
Our unique marketing methods and response hotline offer you hundreds
of leads a month--but this doesn't mean anything if you don't
follow up.
As competition gets more fierce, speed becomes a lethal weapon.
How fast you respond to sales leads will be the measure of your
success.
Heidi Hines of RE/Max Metro Realty says her best response is
within thirty minutes of an inbound lead. Anything longer than that
she sees a corresponding drop in her listings and sales.
The lesson here: if you are not following up on the lead while
it is ripe, your competition is. And more than likely they're
getting the listing or sale too.
If you're getting ten, twenty or thirty leads a week, here are
some ideas on how to convert them into listings or sales.
And if you want to see dynamite success from any lead program,
whether it's our response hotline, postcard mailings or whatever,
you must make follow up an essential element of your plan. Not only
will pre-planning increase your results, but your confidence will
will rise with your improved results.
1. Do you have a game plan that was finished before you started
your follow-up calls?
2. Do you have an opening script that introduces, soothes and
hooks? (See http://www.realestategrowth.com/cs/script.asp?ch=3)
3. Do you have a list of comparables to offer if the home the
prospect called about doesn't fit their needs?
4. Do you have a system in place (assistant or time you devote to
making follow-up calls) to follow up quickly?
Remember: your entire objective is to get to the next step in your
selling cycle.
Most of the time it's an appointment. But whatever it is, focus on
completing that step only. Salespeople tend to overshoot the
situation and push too hard or too quickly. This makes the
prospect nervous and defensive.
Most importantly, monitor and measure your results. Figure out a
statistic you are happy with (i.e. for every 15 follow-up calls
set 1 appointment). This will be your goal to strive for.
When the prospect is looking to list or sell a home, it's a race to
the sale. The first one to make contact and get started today will
win the race.
Launch out the gate and get started today!
Next Month: Failure Is a Choice Made by the Undisciplined
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
4. NEGOTIATING: The Most Powerful Negotiating Pressure Point
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sam owned a couple of properties in Monterrey, CA--about seventy-
five miles south from where he lived--that he wanted to sell.
Unfamiliar with the area, he took the recommendation of a friend
and contacted an aggressive, business-savvy real estate agent named
Paul.
"Hi Paul. I have some properties near your office and I'd like for
you to list them for me."
"Great Sam. I might be able to represent you. Can you come to my
office either this Friday or Saturday?"
Sam, who was a seasoned business owner, was impressed: obviously
Paul understood that you should always try to negotiate in your
own territory. More importantly, Paul was prepared to walk away
from the listing--a gambit that worked beautifully.
Four days later Sam arrived at Paul's office. In the days before the
meeting Paul had examined the properties and prepared the numbers
on what he thought the pieces of land were worth.
Sam was miffed that they were a lot lower than he expected, so he
spoke up. "There's no way I could let the land go for those numbers...
Are you sure you looked at the right properties?"
"I was out there Tuesday and then I sent a friend out there
yesterday. We both agree those numbers are fair for this market."
Sam was bewildered. "Wait a minute. I don't understand. I thought
prices were increasing faster than that. I can't let that land go
for that price."
What Paul did next shocked Sam.
He stood up, walked around his desk and held out his hand. "Well,
that's too bad. I was really hoping we could do business together."
Sam was now in the position of having to negotiate with Paul to
get him to accept the listing.
The moral: communicate to the other side that you're prepared to
walk away. Learning to do that puts enormous power into your
hands--enough to get want you want on your terms.
Next Month: The Three Crucial Variables to Negotiations
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
5. LISTING: The Key to a Landslide of Listings in Your First Year
in Real Estate
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rookies have it tough.
Prospects demand experience. But the only way they can get
experience is through...well...experience. It's the modern business world
catch 22 for the little people.
Here's how to overcome that hurdle.
It's a simple but clever secret every desperate rookie--and
seasoned veteran alike--should listen to.
Rookie agents in the know are going from zero to ten listings
in their first three months--simply by communicating one thing...
Apparent success.
How are they doing it? Easy. Keep reading.
Every rookie agent should walk up to everyone in her office and say,
"Would you mind if I advertise your listings for you?"
Every agent will say, "Why not? Free advertising."
Then, take out a full page ad in your local homes magazine or
newspaper and advertise the eight or ten or twelve borrowed
listings. Because of your apparent large volume of listings
prospects will typically see you as very successful. And the beauty
is in their mind they will equate that success with the likely
success you'll have of selling their home.
People like to work with sure winners, established players. An
apparent presentation of success will give people the confidence
they need to choose you to sell their home. And most people
typically want to follow the crowd.
Plus, if you use our recorded information hotline with this homes
magazine strategy you'll generate more leads than you can handle.
And if you do a little digging when you have these leads on the
phone, you'll discover approximately 1 out of 5 leads will also
have a home to sell. This is probably one of the fastest ways I
know of building a rock-solid listing inventory. And easy too.
Which should make every rookie sigh with relief.
Next Month: Tap into the Seven Qualities of the Best Listing Agents
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
6. SELLING: The Only Closing Question You Will Ever Need to Ask to
Land the Listing, Sale or Appointment
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Some people say this question is old hat. I guess it is. But I
haven't found anything better.
I can demonstrate to you why this single question works so well by
borrowing examples from the dining and airline industries.
Go into any restaurant and a waiter will put a menu before you.
From all the different choices, you choose.
Go online to make airline reservations and look at the flights that
are available. From that menu, you choose.
If it's not obvious, the formula at work here is the principle of
options: given a choice, people will usually decide from the choices
put in front of them. Put in another way, given a yes-or-yes
choice, people will likely choose something rather than say "No."
Here's how it works in real estate.
To begin with, throughout the sales process, you should be asking
a series of trial closing questions to test the waters.
If you aren't lucky enough to have the prospect say, "Okay, how
do we get started?" the final closing question should be a natural
extension of the momentum of the sales process. (If your closing
question is abrupt or you start to get nervous about asking for the
close, then something went wrong earlier in the process.)
The idea is to take the tension out of the sales process so the
prospect asks you for the sale. If you must ask a closing question
ask the simple yes-or-yes question:
"Would you prefer our full marketing package or fee-for-service?
Contingency or non-contingency? 60, 90 or 120 days?
Assuming everything else in the closing process has gone well, a
two-option, yes-or-yes question is a comfortable, confident way to
close the sales process.
Next month: Don't Settle for No
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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.
