In the Zone | vV i3 | Six Immutable Laws of Win-Win Negotiations
In the Zone
Volume V Issue 3
- What Successful REALTORS® Are Saying
- Motivational Quote of the Month
- Prospecting: Persuasive Strategies for Nurturing Move-Up Buyers or Renters
- Negotiating: The Six Immutable Laws of Win-Win Negotiations
- Listing: Why Expired Listings?
- Selling: Five Rapid-Fire Tips on How to Change Your Sales Script into a Conversation
Dear Friend and REALTOR®,
Did you know that by simply nurturing the leads that may be further out in the sales cycle, you can easily double the number of transactions you close every year. But there's a catch. Learn more in this month's Prospecting article.
A very rich man once said that getting wealthy wasn't complex. There were just a handful of basics he had to master. The same is true with most disciplines, including negotiations. Master these six laws of Negotiations and you'll stand to get win-win agreements nearly all the time.
Expired listings have been called the "most economical listing out there." And for good reasons. After you read this month's Listing article you'll find Expireds to be very tempting.
Finally, take these five sales call tips from guru Ari Galper and use them this VERY afternoon to open more doors, generate more interest and wow more clients. All in this month's Selling article.
Enjoy!
Best wishes for your success,
Gary Elwood
Proquest Technologies
1-800-959-3959
P. S. Be sure to check out our Listing, Buyer, Marketing and Advertising Reports for new
articles published weekly. We've published three recently on our Listing pages. Read them today for
easy money-making advice on foreclosures.
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® Are Saying
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"I received a call at 4:30 on a Saturday afternoon. The man said he was sorry to call in the middle of the afternoon but he had called my 800 number and listened to a perfect description of his dream home and could I show him the home early Sunday. I did and I wrote a contract for $248,000, which was accepted. I had both ends of this sale in just one week of the listing."
Cory Meza | Gorham | New Hampshire
If you don't already know, see how Provantage can become a key,
indispensable ingredient to your success--like it is for Cory Meza. 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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"When you cannot make up your mind which of two evenly balanced courses of action you should take - choose the bolder."Ezra Pound
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3. PROSPECTING: Persuasive Strategies for Nurturing Move-Up Buyers or Renters
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Transactions, not leads, are the true currency of real estate.
That’s why it’s so important to make following up on your leads a priority. If you don’t nurture and close those leads, even a 1,000 leads a month won’t save you from burnout or the pain that comes with a small bank balance.
Understandably, following up on even 100 leads in a month is a lot of work. That’s why if you do generate a lot of leads then you should probably cherry pick only the financially qualified and highly-motivated. It is a very sound strategy.
But let me throw something at you…
By simply nurturing the leads that may be further out in the sales cycle, you can easily double the number of transactions you close every year.
But there’s a catch.
How much time are you willing to invest to close twice as many deals a year as you do now?
Five, ten or maybe even fifteen more hours of your time a week?
If you said more than ten hours of your time is the maximum you are willing to sacrifice, then you’ll be please to know that the following strategy will take you less than an hour a month to implement.
Once a month take the leads that you didn’t follow up on—the ones that you have a name and address for—and split them into two categories based on their address: renters and homeowners.
Now, for the addresses that are obviously apartments send them a letter like this for renters.
In the first letter you are simply making contact with the renter. You’re introducing yourself, sending them the MLS sheet on the home they called about and MLS sheets on 3 more comparable properties. You go so far as applauding them for making a decision to get out of the rent trap. You close with an invitation to meet face-to-face or simply call.
After thirty days, if you haven’t heard from them, send a second letter.
In this letter include three new MLS sheets for homes like the home they originally called you about. In addition, give another very strong incentive to get out of the rent trap. This time you have a piece of proof—a Harvard University study done that demonstrates that homeowners’ assets and wealth grow over 70 times faster than renters. (Although Senior homeowners were the topic of the study, the information is relevant to renters of all ages. Very powerful stuff.)
http://www.jchs.harvard.edu/publications/finance/w05-8.pdf
Send the final letter if you haven’t heard from anyone in over 60 days from the original call. This third letter really puts a push on the renter to get out of the rent trap by tugging on that emotional heartstring of pride and fear. It also offers an opportunity to sit down with you and discuss issues like down payments, financing and renting versus homeownership.
Next month we'll discuss the homeowner letters.
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4. NEGOTIATING: The Six Immutable Laws of Win-Win Negotiations
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1. Start with a fair price and a fair offer. There's no question that significantly overpricing your home will turn off potential buyers. Likewise, making an offer that's far lower than the asking price is practically guaranteed to alienate the sellers. It might seem obvious but asking and offering prices should be based on recent sales prices of comparable homes.
2. Respect the other side's priorities. Knowing what's most important to the person on the other side of the negotiating table can help you avoid pushing too hard on hot or sensitive issues. For example, a seller who won't budge on the sales price, might be willing to pay more of the transaction costs or make more repairs to the home, while a buyer with an urgent move-in date might be willing to pay a higher portion of the transaction costs or forgo some major repairs.
3. Be prepared to compromise. "Win-win" doesn't mean both the buyer and the seller will get everything they want. It means both sides will win some and give some. Rather than approaching negotiations from an adversarial winner-take-all perspective, focus on your top priorities and don't let your emotions overrule your better judgment.
4. Meet in the middle. Can't decide who will pay the recording fee? Can't agree on a close-of-escrow date? Arguing over cosmetic repairs? Splitting the difference is a time-honored and often successful negotiation strategy. Pay half the fee. Count off half the days. Fix half the blemishes.
5. Leave it aside. Politicians and corporate executives are famous for their "for future discussion" agreements. If you have a major sticking point that's not material to the overall contract (e.g., the purchase of furniture or fixtures), finish the main agreement, then resolve the other difficulties in a side agreement or amendment. This technique allows both sides to recognize and solidify basic areas of agreement, then move ahead toward a fair compromise on other terms and conditions. Summarizing the points of agreement in writing is another helpful strategy.
6. Ask for advice. Successful REALTORS® tend to be experienced negotiators. They've seen what works and what doesn't in countless real estate transactions, and they've established a track-record of bringing buyers and sellers together. Consult a trainer about negotiating strategies, win-win compromises and creative alternatives.
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5. LISTING: Why Expired Listings?
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Expired Listings represent a highly visible, readily available source of leads. You don’t have to beat the bushes, spend your advertising dollars or cold call to find them. There is no prospecting required. Simply run a MLS hot sheet every morning and, voila! - instant leads.
The MLS report will also provide you with everything you need to know to best determine how to work the listing. With a few simply keystrokes, you can obtain the home seller's name, address, phone, type of home, current asking price and any price reductions that have taken place. Everything you need to effectively work the listing is right there, readily available.
Plus, this home seller is already sold on the concept of using professional services to effect the sale of their property. This means you don’t have to overcome the commission hurdle or justify your fee. That's already been done. Your only job, then, is to convince this seller to re-list their property and to re-list it with you. This generally makes the Expired Listing an easier listing to secure.
While the Expired Listing is relatively easy to secure, that is not to say you don’t have your work cut out for you. You do. The key to your success lies in being able to understand and empathize with the emotional state of the prospect. More on that next month.
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6. SELLING: Five Rapid-Fire Tips on How to Change Your Sales Script into a Conversation
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Here are some key take-aways from Ari Galper that can help you get on the right track:
1. Change your mindset from trying to “close” the appointment to “opening” the conversation.
2. Throw out your linear, step-by-step sales script and create a natural opening phrase that doesn’t put pressure on the other person.
3. At the end of your initial call, don’t try to “close” for the appointment. Instead, ask, “Where should we go from here?”
4. Learn to think of yourself as a problem-solver rather than as someone who’s simply selling something.
5. Focus on creating a two-way dialogue rather than just making your pitch.
Want to learn more? Get FREE Access to 10 Audio Mini-Lessons (sent via e-mail) from the Teleseminar that put the old 'sales gurus' back into sales pre-school.
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 2007, Proquest Technologies.
