In the Zone | V III i 9 | 7 Tips to Kick-Start Your Listing Inventory Months
In the Zone
Volume III Issue 9
- What Successful REALTORS(R) Are Saying
- Motivational Quote of the Month
- Prospecting: How to Write Text Messages That Get Business
- Negotiating: DiscoverHow to Avoid the Bullheaded Mistake That Every Deep-Pocketed Utility Company Makes When Negotiating
- Listing: 7 Tiny Tips to Kick-Start Your Listing Inventory
- Selling: How to Cleverly Convince Your clients to Buy Anything
Now Without Looking Like a Thug
Hey,
Outside Caen in the Normandy countryside of France is a little cemetery. Atop one of the graves is a cross etched with these words:
"Leadership is wisdom and courage and a great carelessness of self."
Riveting words. All are important but one is infinitely more important to this issue of In The Zone: courage.
Throughout your career, you will have countless opportunities to do the right thing. It takes courage to ask for the close, to follow up on leads, to persuade your clients to make an offer on a home--now.
Courage is an essential character trait of a successful career. In fact, it's critical to your very survival.
In our Selling article this month we've provided you with a 3-step formula for guiding your clients down the right path; but this strategy is based upon backbone and courage--your courage.
The applied wisdom of hundreds of top producers in 7 tiny tips designed to kick-start your listing inventory is worthless without the courage to apply them.
Discover a way to communicate with your clients repeatedly without picking up the phone or sitting at a computer in our Prospecting article.
And finally, by following this simple Negotiating rule you can avoid massacring talks with clients after investing days of time.
Leadership is one of the most basic and fundamental skills in life. It begins with selflessness, wisdom and courage. When you mix these three ingredients together, your career will rocket to the stars in a blaze.
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.
Find past issues of ITZ here.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1. What Successful REALTORS(r) Are Saying
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Wow! Has my business taken off with Proquest Technologies! I have been able to follow up with prospects immediately and get all of the info I need to make listings sell faster or get new clients. I'm SWAMPED!
Rob Krieger
Hatfield, PA
If you want to learn more about how Robert Krieger shifted his new career into overdrive rapidly, then read our 23-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
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"You may get skinned knees and elbows, but it's worth it if you score a spectacular goal."
Mia Hamm
U. S. Woman's Soccer Player
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
3. PROSPECTING: How to Write Text Messages That Get Business (This tactic has only 3 elements--but miss one, and it will fail.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Simple. Concrete. Urgent. SCU. This is the easy formula you can use when sending text messages to prospects who are 3 months or more from buying a home. If used properly, you could quickly unearth a hotbed of transactions.
Type, "Forgive me, but if you are interested in moving, there is a well priced home in Wildwood, off 109. Rare find."
Or, "I'm stepping out on a limb here, but an exclusive home on E Adams Avenue in Kirkwood is on the market. Call me if you want to see it."
Text messages fly under the radar, are non-intrusive and, more importantly, eliminate call reluctance.
Next Month: Vacation Makeover: Create a Tidy-Income Stream...even While the Ocean Waves Lap Your Ankles and Your Children Build Castles in the Sand
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
4. NEGOTIATING: How to Avoid the Bullheaded Mistake That Every
Deep-Pocketed Utility Company Makes When Negotiating
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Utility wishes to purchase a transformer from a Manufacturer. Everything is negotiated, including the price and delivery dates. The last thing to be negotiated is the indemnification clause.
The Manufacturer insists that its legal department will not approve the indemnification clause as it is written. The Utility says it cannot purchase the equipment without the indemnification.
The deal falls apart.
What happened?
Instead of discussing the indemnification upfront, the two parties waited until the end, after enormous effort had been put into the deal.
The same is true when buying or selling a home.
I remember hearing about a deal that fell apart because the buyer and seller couldn't agree on the repairs to be done on the home. Enormous effort had gone into negotiating the price, the furniture inclusion and closing dates. Inspection recommendations where ignored until the very end, when both sides were too exhausted to compromise or budge. The contract was thrown out the window.
Don't let this happen to you. Pinpoint the hot issues and resolve them before you do anything else.
Next Month: How a Devil-May-Care Attitude Might Help You Negotiate Successfully. (If the North Vietnamese did it, so can you.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
5. LISTING: 7 Tiny Tips to Kick-Start Your Listing Inventory
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
- When prospecting, go beyond the competition. Check the phone book, use 411, the reverse directory, tax records, internet sites. Take the extra step other agents are usually too lazy to take.
- Approve clients cheaply: cold calling wastes time and wrenches the gut; call capture leads are cheap and easy. See the "How to Attract a Flood of Buyers" article to learn more about the more potent way to generate lots of hot leads, inexpensively.
- Cold calling v. call capture. Pick the approach that you enjoy the most. Hating what you are doing will kill desire to generate leads.
- Delegate. Lenders typically don't mind calling FSBOs.
- Release the chronically unhappy, impossible-to-please prospects. You can't make clients of everyone. Disqualify rapidly and politely and move on to the next prospect.
- Qualify your prospects. They must be profitable, easy-to-reach and inexpensive to capture.
- Create a repeatable system for generating, qualifying and closing listing leads. Hand this system off when you are tired or busy. Think outside of the box for inexpensive help--could you squeeze a few hours of help from a spouse or close friend every week?
Read the Bruce Hardie story for an example.
Next Month: 3 Very Nice Ways to Counter Sellers Objections
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
6. SELLING: How to Cleverly Convince Your clients to Buy Anything Now Without Looking Like a Thug
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Super-selling stars know how to find their prospects pain, amplify it...and then offer the made-in-heaven solution.
They use questions to find and amplify their pain, questions that identify, develop and impact.
- Identifying questions are open-ended and help you find and prioritize pain points:
"What keeps you up at night?"
"What are your most common complaints about living in your current home?"
- Developing questions deepen and broaden your understanding of the issue:
"Dan, who else is affected?"
"How often does this happen?"
"What do you do when this happens?"
- Impacting questions drive your message home, pointing out the consequences of inaction:
"If you keep this up, what will be the result?"
"What will happen if this issue isn't addressed?"
For example:
Agent: "Dan, what's your most common complaints about living here?"
Client: "The drive to work. It's way too long."
Agent: "Dan, does this affect your family, too?"
Client: "Absolutely. The drive alone eats up two-and-a-half hours of my day! My children have already eaten and are asleep when I get home. I eat dinner by myself a lot."
Agent: "What's going to happen if we don't do something about this?"
Client: "I'm going to go broke from gas prices and miss about half of my children's lives growing up. I hate that thought."
Agent: "Well, Dan, even though it only has a two-car garage, this home on Black Forest does fit many of your requests, and it will satisfy your most painful situation: missing out on your children's youth."
Next Month: The Pirate Objection: If You Don't Defend Against It, You Will Wake Up the Next Morning...and Your Prospects Will Be Gone
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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.
