In the Zone | vIV i10 | Why Prospects Avoid You

In the Zone

Volume IV Issue 10

  1. What Successful REALTORS(R) Are Saying
  2. Motivational Quote of the Month
  3. Prospecting: Why Most of Your Leads Are Dead Before You Even Call Them
  4. Negotiating: Withdraw-Offer Head Fake
  5. Listing: Jim Crawford's Four Laws to a Beautiful Property for Sale
  6. Selling: Why Prospects Avoid You

Hey,

Success in life depends on timing. And yes, success in real estate depends on timing, too.

Granted, it’s not a life or death situation, say like it is in the emergency room. But if you plan to make a good living in real estate, a key component in the lifeblood of your business must be speed and timing. That's why we've devoted this month's Prospecting article to showing you four options that will make speed and timing work for you.

Then there's the basketball analogy: how to "head fake" your counterparts to regain control of a negotiating situation. In this month's Negotiating article.

In this month's Listing article, Jim Crawford shares his four laws to revamping trashy homes. These are must-dos if you want a home to sell quickly.

And finally, in the Selling article, learn the hard truth of why certain selling situations seem to unravel from the word, "Hello." It's a kernel of truth that's been ignored for a very long time.

Hey, whether you’re a rookie who focuses on buyers or a real estate pro who's loaded with listings, you’ll find lots
of valuable insights and ideas for consistently growing your business in this session. Take the time to read through it. Then call us and let us know if you have any questions. We're here if you need us.

Enjoy!

And here's to your success,

Gary Elwood
Proquest Technologies
1-800-959-3959

Any questions about anything you've read about in this newsletter?
Just call 1-800-959-3959 and ask to speak to Brad or Ann.

Find past issues of ITZ here.

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1. What Successful REALTORS(r) Are Saying

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"Absolutely fabulous system, I can't say enough about Proquest, I couldn't live without it!"

Ron Gent Broughton at Century Prestige Properties

If you don't already know, see how Provantage could become a key, indispensable ingredient to your success--like it did for Ron Gent. Click the link below for more information:

http://www.realestategrowth.com/how_to_grow.asp

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2. Motivational Quote of the Month

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You don't drown by falling in water; you only drown if you stay there.

Zig Ziglar

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3. PROSPECTING: Why Most of Your Leads Are Dead Before You Even Call Them

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Life depends on speed. And yes, real estate depends on speed, too. Granted, it’s not a life or death situation, but if you plan to make a good living in real estate, a key component in the lifeblood of your business must be speed.

And where speed is most essential in real estate is in the time it takes to follow up with leads.

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) has found that 74 percent of homeowners use the first agent they talk to. But here’s an even juicier NAR statistic: if you call a lead within 15 minutes of them calling you, you have an 85 percent chance of actually connecting with that lead.

So the question is, how do you add speed to your follow up? Here are four options:

• First, make speed, and specifically the 15-minute rule, a priority.

• Second, use email auto responders. Just make sure the auto response message is written in a way that comes across as human and not robot-like.

• Third, integrate interactive voice response systems into your advertising, like what can be found in call capture hotlines. Plug a call capture hotline on sign riders, in homes magazine ads, on flyers, etc.

• Fourth, use your phone. Nothing beats a human response and a human voice. Remember, ear-to-ear leads to face-to-face. And to stand out from the competition, answer your phone on the weekends...most agents don’t

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4. NEGOTIATING: Withdraw-Offer Head Fake

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In basketball, when you want to give your opponent the feeling that you are moving in one direction but planning on going in another direction, you give them a head fake--by leaning your head in one direction your opponent commits to that direction and leaves the other lane wide open for you.

Sometimes, although you may not want to go to the extreme of walking away from a deal, you do want to give your counterpart a withdraw-offer head fake. In essence, the feeling that you are not really committed to the deal.

This apparent withdrawal should be used when you want to give the appearance that you do not care about the deal when in reality you are simply trying to retain control of the situation.

Imagine you are negotiating to buy a beautiful home for roughly $300,000. You've gone through several days of negotiating on many deal points. Your client loves the house but the seller’s last concession was still $4,000 above what your client wanted to pay. So you call the seller's broker--with your client's permission--and say that your client is going to have to withdraw from buying the house because he could not make the numbers work to his satisfaction. You, however, are confident that neither the seller nor the broker would let a $300,000 deal go over a difference of $4,000.

And in fact, that may be the direction it goes. There's no guarantee. The worse that can happen is they say, "Sorry to hear that. Can't go any lower," at which point, because your client is willing to pay the difference, you can return, "Let me talk to my client first and make sure he understands what it means to walk away from this deal."

Since your client, let's just say, is willing to pay the $4,000 if he had to, this was a case of Apparent Withdrawal rather than a Withdrawn Offer.

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5. LISTING: Jim Crawford's Four Laws to a Beautiful Property for Sale

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According to real estate coach Jim Crawford, there are four must-dos if you want to present a beautiful home for sale. Miss any of these, and you could be thwarting sales. These laws help sell homes quickly.

One: Clean and Immaculate Homes Sell. Cleanliness helps homes sell more quickly—and at a higher price.

Two: Smelly Homes are Offensive. Vacant homes should be aired out frequently. Odors should never be masked with heavy scented perfumes, etc.

Three: Neutralize Those Colors. Neutral colors appeal to more people, so they have a greater chance of selling. Darker colors tend to be more spatial and confining.

Four: Maintain the Exterior. Nothing is worse than driving into a great neighborhood that the buyer really likes and pulling up to the house—overgrown lawn and all. Homes offered for sale where the lawn is not trimmed appear as "foreclosure bait!" The buyer will say, "Next!"

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6. SELLING: Why Prospects Avoid You

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It sounds simple, but the reason most prospects avoid you is that they have multiple layers of sales resistance. Inwardly, the “prospect” you’re dealing with simply wants to be treated like a person. And all too often the “sales dialogs” or “scripts” you’re using are structured with the sales process in mind first—and not the person on the other end.

Think about it from your own experiences. How many times have you been approached and you knew the top priority of the salesperson was to advance the sales process? They cared more about the agenda they were pursuing than they did about you.

Well the person you’re attempting to serve is no different. People have become extremely sensitive to the slightest hint of anything to do with the “sales process.”

Yes. I’m an advocate of becoming highly skilled with questions so you can diagnose your client’s needs. BUT…you’ve got to be very careful. You have to be very delicate and super-sensitive to the person you’re talking to…and their needs.

And the best thing I’ve found to help remove “sales resistance” is to completely let go of your “sales agenda.” I mean throw it out the window! Focus totally and completely on their needs—not your goals.

The real goal should be to get to a genuine, authentic dialog with that person. By getting to what sales trainer Ari Galper refers to as “the real truth” you’re positioning yourself to be a true problem solver. But until you get to “the real truth” you’re actually stuck in somewhat of a guessing game.

See oddly enough, over time, it has become completely socially acceptable to lie to “salespeople.” It’s completely acceptable to look a salesperson straight in the eye and tell a bold-faced lie! Why? Because the overriding opinion about “salespeople” is they’re only interested in “getting the sale.”

The worst part is all the sales models, all the sales training, all the traditional tools have been teaching us to “advance the sales process.” Well guess what? People have figured the process out. They can smell it from a mile away. And if they catch even the slightest hint…I mean the tiny tiniest hint that you’re attempting to “advance the sale” you’ve lost the game!

Once they sense that you’re in any way attempting to advance your agenda…you’ll never get to the “real truth.” And unconsciously they will feel completely justified in lying to you. That’s why Ari calls it “The Game.” It’s like a cat and mouse game…unless you can get to a real, authentic dialog – the “real truth.”

So my friend it’s time to change that game completely—to “Unlock the Game.” It’s time to focus on getting to real, authentic dialog with people. Notice I didn’t say "with prospects".

And the best way to do that is to completely throw out your sales agenda. Focus on diffusing pressure. This is a gentle process where you carefully use language that demonstrates you’re only interested in serving them. And get to the “real truth.”

This process of getting to the “real truth” is a fascinating study and one that will change your entire sales mindset. It’s so natural, easy and frankly liberating to view the entire sales model differently.

Traditionally the sale model has always been about advancing the sale. Well, the people in your market place are fed up with the “traditional sales model.” People are tired of being manipulated. Think about your own experiences. Doesn’t this really ring true for you, too?

That’s why I’d like to encourage you to consider a “new model” for the sales process. It’s one that my new friend Ari Galper refers to as “Unlocking the Game.”

Ari Galper, founder of Unlock the Game, makes cold calling painless and simple. You can even learn his free cold calling secrets by receiving your 10 free audio mini-lessons.

Just visit http://www.UnlockTheGame.com.

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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

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"In the Zone" is a Proquest Technologies publication.
(C) Copyright 2005, Proquest Technologies.