It’s pretty common in real estate…sales people are moving down the sales presentation beautifully, hitting all of their points, handling objections, making clients and prospects feel like their are the center of the universe.
And when they come to the close…they get stuck in the mud.
It’s like all of their real estate training goes out the window!
What gives?
Well, to be honest, this situation is most often seen at small businesses versus large brokerage houses. Why is that? Well, the large houses usually invest in significant amounts of real estate training, especially when it comes to closing a sale.
The smaller brokers tend to have the perception that agents should already know how to do this. Have you ever experienced this?
Let me show you how to revamp your sales strategy so you can boost your closing rates. Here’s my advice:
Sales Tactic #1: Boost your confidence
Really good sales people not only know how to talk to complete strangers, compliment people, show off their wonderful personality and demonstrate great skills in presenting…but often they struggle in the area of asking for the sale.
Sometimes this comes from a lack of trust in the company or the product. Other times it’s rooted in a fear of personal rejection.
To overcome this you need to start learning more about your customers and what you are selling…and then practice these skills. In addition, approach your broker and ask if he or she will invest in sales training. Tell them it will be a good return on investment.
Sales Tactic #2 – Induce scarcity into your presentations
Scarcity is a great tool to use to get people to close sales themselves. If you can put into the mind of a client that you only have one of something…one ranch in this neighbourhood with four bedrooms and three baths…they will feel a need to hurry and place an offer on it.
If you don’t use the word “only” and make it seem like the supply is abundant, then your client will feel in no hurry to place an offer. That’s why you have to make things seem like a one-of-a-kind offer.
Some people feel like the word “only” is one of the most powerful words in a sales person’s vocabulary. If you are really creative you can make every home you represent a one-of-a-kind place.
There is “only” one condo on this block that has two bathrooms and is near the subway. Or, there is “only” one villa this a block away from the beach that has a garage.
See how that works?
Sales Tactic #3 – Never wait for “yes”
When you are a real estate agent, you need to be impatient. What I mean by that is you can’t wait for a prospect to tell you that they want to buy or sell. You have to assume that they want to buy or sell.
You say, “Okay, any more questions before I sit down to write up the contract?”
When they say “no,” that is your cue to start filling out the contract. As you can see, the word “no” actually becomes a positive.
Leave a comment if this post was helpful or if you have anything you’d like to add. And if you like what you read, subscribe to the Real Estate Marketing Blog.
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Eliminate This Behavior and Become More Effective
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How to Make Any House Irresistible
Want fresh, new ideas on making your phone ring with prospects? Then grab this free 7-part online video training series.
7 Ways to Make People Feel Like the Center of the Universe [Real Estate Persuasion Training-Part 2]
Filed Under Persuasion, Real Estate Sales Tips, Real Estate Training | 1 Comment
Part of a series on real estate persuasion training.
Real estate agents invest in people, not houses. As a real estate agent, you need relationships to succeed.
But that means you need relationships with not just clients, but those in your office or across town. Heck, even across the nation. And the best way to build those relationships is to make them feel special.
Make them feel like they are the center of the world.
How should you do that? Here are seven ways that Brian Tracy outlines in his wonderful little book “No Excuses!: The Power of Self-Discipline.”
- Accept people the way they are. Most people will be rude or mean, critics and judges…so you can offer people unconditional love for who they are. You can take the time to bolster their self-esteem and build up their self-image. This will give you an advantage among your competition, and persuade people to listen to you and even follow your lead.
- Show your appreciation for others. People love it when you recognize what they’ve done because it makes them feel good about themselves. And do you know what’s cool? You don’t have to buy them expensive gifts. All you have to do is say Thank you. Thanks them for everything. Ideas, opinions, time, suggestions, leads and business.
- Be agreeable. Ever work with someone who is high-maintenance, never happy and negative? It’s a real drain, isn’t it? Well, when you are positive and agreeable, people will love to work with you and for you. Real estate agents who are combative and pessimistic will have a hard time ever signing any contracts. Sure, they might bully a person or two into it, but in the long run they’ll lose.
- Show your admiration. People love to show off their possessions and achievements, but they love it even more when you go out of the way to notice it and then compliment them on it. It’s like they are getting the recognition they feel they deserve, which in turn makes them trust you even more.
- Pay attention to others. There are lots of ways to give attention to people, but one of the most powerful ways is to simply listen to what someone is saying, ask questions and then understand their point before you speak. You will appear like a very intelligent and interesting person before you even say a word.
- Avoid the 3 Cs. Just like in every other area of life, condemning, criticizing and complaining will destroy people, lower their self esteem, turn them against you and ultimately lead to your failure. And please, don’t criticize someone who is absent from the room, because all that says to the person you are talking to is that you are not to be trusted.
- Use these 3 Cs instead. People will feel loved when you are considerate, concerned and courteous…and when people feel loved, they will respect and value you. So get in a habit of thinking about other people, understanding and connecting with their emotions and say things that are important to them.
Look back in your past…you’ll notice that price was almost never an issue when you were dealing with someone you trusted, respected and liked. However, price became a real issue when you were dealing with people you felt were deceptive, unkind and rude. In fact, you probably didn’t even do business with them.
If being a leader in real estate is important to you, then you need to make your prospects and clients feel like they are the center of the universe. Use those seven tips to make people feel great about themselves and you won’t have any problem generating a following.
Leave a comment if this post was helpful or if you have anything you’d like to add. And if you like what you read, subscribe to the Real Estate Marketing Blog.
Want fresh, new ideas on making your phone ring with prospects? Then grab this free 7-part online video training series.
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Want the Sale? Then You Have to View Objections This Way
Filed Under Real Estate Negotiation, Real Estate Sales Tips | 1 Comment
When it comes to closing sales, most real estate trainers will simply hand you a list of counters to the most popular objections. Or they may give you a framework that categorizes each objection in order to deal with the endless variations that objections can come in.
For example, they may categorize each objection as “objections on price” or “objections on lack of interest.”
The first approach is problematic in that, as I mentioned, you cannot possibly cover every objection. You will ultimately run into an objection that isn’t on your list, even though they are the most common, and you’ll be stumped.
The second approach seeks to fix that by widening the net. It’s designed to teach you to recognize objections on principle. But you still have to be somewhat fast on your feet to be able to respond if you aren’t familiar with high you are supposed to respond. The framework trainer will probably give you some counter-objection scripts to deal with each category of objection.
While these aren’t the only approaches in the real estate training world, they are the most common when it comes to real estate sales…and they are really incomplete unless you change your entire mindset about objections.
A bad real estate trainer will treat objections from prospects like they are walls that need to be brought down. Agents who practice this approach usually adopt an aggressive, even combative mindset…that’s because baked into this model is a view that real estate is about transactions and not relationships.
A good real estate trainer, on the other hand, will treat them as opportunities. He’ll see them as an interested prospect who wants to do a deal but has some concern he wants to take care of first.
Here’s how Charles Green describes objections:
An objection means the buyer cares enough about you and the sale to want to explore it with you. They’re telling you about a concern they have, in the hopes you’ll help them resolve it. Your enemy is not the customer; your enemy is disengagement. And an objection demonstrates that the customer is very much engaged.
When you get an objection, recognize it as an opportunity. If you and your customer can resolve it, great, you’ll get a sale. And if you can’t resolves it, well it’s almost certainly because it’s just not the right thing for your customer just now.
Amazingly, you get even more credit if you back out gracefully when your offer isn’t right. Your customer will be surprised, and appreciative. And you’ll increase the odds of getting the next sale, and the one after that.
Anyway, people vastly prefer to buy what they need from people they trust. So help them resolve their objections and be secure in knowing you’ve improved the long-term relationship–and your long-term sales.
Did you catch that in the first paragraph? Objections aren’t your enemy. Disengagement is. In other words, objections are signals that you have an interested prospect or client. That means you have an opportunity in front of you.
So next time you find yourself talking to a prospect, you can easily measure the level of engagement by the number–if any at all–of objections they raise. And, in the end, if you don’t have an answer for an objection, take the high road: admit you don’t know but promise to return with an answer. Then be faithful to that promise.
Leave a comment if this post was helpful or if you have anything you’d like to add. And if you like what you read, subscribe to the Real Estate Marketing Blog.
Want fresh, new ideas on making your phone ring with prospects? Then grab this free 7-part online video training series.
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10 Must-Read Posts on Great Real Estate Sales Ideas
How Social Scientists Taught You to Close More Deals
10 Must-Read Posts on Great Real Estate Sales Ideas
Filed Under Real Estate Sales Tips | Leave a Comment
Happy New Year! Believe it or not, but 2012 is here. It’s a new year, a new day and a new month. Are you prepared to take 2012 by storm? I hope so.
And to help you prepare for success, I’m going to start a 4-part series on 10 must read posts from the 4 critical areas of real estate: sales, prospecting, listing and negotiating.
Today I’ll start with sales and deliver the rest in the following week.
When you get this post in your inbox or rss reader, pop it open, grab a cup of coffee and devote about a half hour to reading all the articles inside. That’s about how long it will take you to read all ten.
Make sure to take notes on action items…and then make plans to hold your feet to the fire because goals are nothing but dreams if you don’t try to achieve them.
Anyway, take care and have a great day, month and year!
10 Must-Read Posts on Great Real Estate Sales Ideas
Are You Using These 4 “Second Glass” Tactics to Make More Money?
Most real estate agents tend to think about making money in the business as simply closing more transaction. They think about it in a very linear fashion, where you find a home owner who wants to sell, you convince them to let you list the home and then you advertise the home in the hopes that it will sell. That’s the way an average listing agent thinks. Here’s how an above average agent does it. Read more.
How to Be a Killer Salesperson the Lazy Way
If you’re like me and don’t want to work really hard at something you don’t particularly enjoy…and sales is something you don’t particularly enjoy…then this post is for you. However, don’t get me wrong here: I’m not giving you an excuse not to work hard. What I’m actually going to do is show you an approach to selling that will allow you to train better and actually enjoy it. Read more.
How Social Scientists Taught Y0u to Close More Deals
People. You just never know what they’ll do next. But if you really believe real estate is a people business, then any effort you make to better understand yourself and how others tick will make your business flow and your bank account grow. Fortunately, a couple of social scientists have developed tools that can help you shed light on the mystery of human behavior and get a better handle on personalities…yours and others’. Read more.
When You Should Depend on a Team–and When You Shouldn’t
So, you’ve been thinking about starting a team, have you? In spite of a dismal economy, your market seems to be rockin’…you’re doing pretty well…and, well, you want to grow. The natural thing to do is build a team, right? Maybe. Here’s why. Read more.
Quick Tip: 5 Reasons Why Sellers Should Work with You on Both Sides of the Deal
Did you know that one of the simplest strategies to closing more transactions is simply helping your seller’s buy their new home? If sellers ARE staying in the area, ask if you can help find their next house. It benefits both you and the seller. Here are five reasons why. Read more.
How to Make Any House Irresistable
When Longinotti-Buitoni took over Ferrari North America as CEO in the late 90s, the U.S. and Canada were in a recession. He couldn’t imagine people would spend their money on such an expensive, impractical car. Since then, Longinotti-Buitoni has changed his mind. Read more.
Eliminate This Behavior and Become More Effective in Sales
Has this happened to you recently: you tend to become desperate in tight times by trying to aggressively pin down real estate buyers? But did you know that removing pressure from the sales process will actually cause you to win more listings and prospects and sell more homes? That’s right. A sales approach where you create pressure-free conversations with buyers is more effective. Read more.
Five Words That Will Injure Any Sales Call
The key to being successful is sweating the small stuff. That comes down to the very words that you use. That’s why I’ll always encourage you to paint persuasive word pictures for your clients. But don’t stop there. Avoid those words that raise flags for buyers and sellers. Words that paint ugly, bad pictures–albeit, stereotypes–of salespeople. Read more.
Real Estate Agents: You Don’t Work for Walmart
The numbers game will wear you out. It will leave you dissatisfied, frustrated, and rejected. The whole idea of the numbers game is that if you spend enough time dialing, churning through prospects, you’re bound to make the occasional sale. Burn and churn, baby. Problem is, when you do make a sale, you believe even more that the number of prospects you burned through was the secret to success. Read more.
Why It’s Okay to Lie to Salespeople
The reason most prospects lie to you is that they have multiple layers of sales resistance. 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. Here’s what you have to do about it. Read more.
Leave a comment if this post was helpful or if you have anything you’d like to add. And if you like what you read, subscribe to the Real Estate Marketing Blog.
Want fresh, new ideas on making your phone ring with prospects? Then grab this free 7-part online video training series.
How to Be a Killer Salesperson the Lazy Way
Filed Under Real Estate Sales Tips, Real Estate Training | 2 Comments
If you’re like me and don’t want to work really hard at something you don’t particularly enjoy…and sales is something you don’t particularly enjoy…then this post is for you.
However, don’t get me wrong here: I’m not giving you an excuse not to work hard. What I’m actually going to do is show you an approach to selling that will allow you to train better and actually enjoy it.
See, the main reason most people don’t like to sell is they feel uncomfortable “pressuring” people. And most people don’t like salespeople, whether they are selling used cars or real estate, because they can be “pushy.”
Well, with the following approach I’m about to share with you, you will never pressure another person again. In fact, people will enjoy talking to you and you’ll enjoy engaging them and you’ll walk away with more clients, homes and money.
It will be a game you can master with appropriate amounts of training, and it will be a game you’ll come to love. Sound hard to believe? Well, once you see how it works, you won’t think so any more.
See, the bottom line is this: you have to take the responsibility of driving the “sales” off of you and put it on the other person. You do this by asking questions. But not just any questions. These questions have to be engineered to do several things: spark curiosity, build credibility, build relationships, uncover needs and create commitments.
Let’s get started.
What makes asking questions so important
The best conversationalists are those who ask questions. Legend has it that Dale Carnegie spent the evening talking to a young, famous woman who at the end of the night told the hostess of the party, who was equally famous, that Carnegie was the best conversationalists she’d ever met.
Funny thing is, Carnegie admits in his book How to Win Friends and Influence People, that she dominated the conversation. He simply asked questions about her life the whole night.
Part of the magic of asking questions is that the focus is off of you and on them…and people love to talk about themselves. But it’s never enough just to get them talking. You don’t want to get stuck with someone who blabbers for hours on end. Asking questions will allow you to control the conversation. Of course, you have to be bold enough to interrupt occasionally.
Ask questions that spark curiosity
When it comes to getting somebody interested in what you have to say…namely, buying and selling real estate through you…you have to make it look like it was their idea to talk about the topic in the first place. So you have to get them curious.
How do you do that? Talk about something interesting. How do you know what’s interesting to that person? Ask them. “So, what it is it you like to do? Got any hobbies? What’s your idea of a perfect vacation?”
Let’s say you learn they like to run on trails. Then you could say this: “Ever been out to Simi Valley? They’ve got this really great trail system in the hills that runs for miles behind all of the subdivisions. I have two houses out there for sale that back up to the trails.”
Naturally all you are doing at this point is introducing them to the fact that you are a real estate agent. If you’re lucky, they’ll say, “So, you are a real estate agent, eh?” Be prepared, however, for them not to bite. You’ve got to take it to the next level.
Ask questions that build credibility
Your next step is to demonstrate that you know what you are talking about, and the way to do that is to ask questions that show you understand your business or their needs. For example, you could ask prospects:
- Do you know that there is not a light rail stop near that area?
- Are you aware of the maintenance and ongoing cost of owning a pool? Costs like chemicals and winterizing it? [The more specific you can be, the better.]
- Did you know those homes are built over a mine shaft?
By asking questions that demonstrate you understand your market, buyer’s needs, etc., you are slowly persuading people you talk to that you are a knowledgable, trustworthy guy or gal.
But not all questions need to be about real estate to build credibility and likeability. If you land on a topic that you both love, drill down into that topic. It could be on sail boats, fiction books or cage fighting. Ask them questions about that topic and they’ll begin to like you.
Ask questions that build relationships
Your next step is to get a little personal. You must be further along in the discussion, possibly two or more contacts before you ask questions that build relationships, but in reality, it’s really more about common sense. I’m not sure I’d do it, for example, on inbound lead calls from a classified ad, but if you feel like the first time you talk to someone you could ask these questions, go for it. Sizing up the person you are talking to is critical to successful question asking.
So what exactly are relationship-building questions? These can be questions about family or work or just about anything personal. However, the way it works in the real estate world is these questions are more about “feelings.” For example, “How do you feel about this?” “Are you as concerned about this as I am?” “Do you really want to wait that long for an offer?”
In a subtle way these questions are establishing you as someone who cares about their friend, prospect or client. It also helps to ask these questions when you are not certain about a particular decision to make.
Ask questions to uncover needs
One of the best uses of questions is to uncover needs. These are probing questions. Questions like this:
- What’s more important to you…being close to your family or your job?
- Can you afford to drop your price ten percent if the need arises?
- How many children in your family? Your wife home schools? Does she need dedicated space to do that?
If you have a hard time coming up with questions on the fly, then try using the 5 Ws method: Who, What, When, Where, Why. For example, “Why would you and your family decide to live there if you work an hour away?” “When did you install the sump pump?” “Who is responsible for designing the house?”
Ask questions that secure a commitment
Finally, all your nice work with questions should lead to a commitment of some kind. It doesn’t have to be a monumental commitment. It could be a small gesture like, “Would you like a business card?” Or “Do you mind if I look that information up for you and call you on Monday?”
The beauty of getting a commitment this way is that you are lowering your chances of getting rejected. Small commitments allow you to take baby steps through the sales process. You will have to be patient, so start the training now. You won’t regret it.
Your Turn
Do you use questions like the above approach? What other methods do you use when it comes to asking questions? Please share.
Did you find this article useful? If so, leave a comment. And if you like what you read, subscribe to the Real Estate Marketing Blog.
And if you want fresh, new ideas on making your phone ring with prospects, then grab this free 7-part online video training series.
Related Articles
Are You Using These 4 “Second Glass” Tactics to Make More Money?
How Social Scientists Taught You to Close More Deals
Are You Using These 4 “Second Glass” Tactics to Make More Money?
Filed Under Real Estate Sales Tips | Leave a Comment
Most real estate agents tend to think about making money in the business as simply closing more transaction. They think about it in a very linear fashion, where you find a home owner who wants to sell, you convince them to let you list the home and then you advertise the home in the hopes that it will sell.
That’s the way an average listing agent thinks.
The average buyer agent thinks about it in terms of finding people who are looking to buy a home, convince them to let you help them do that, find a home and close the transaction.
The average agent then starts searching for the next deal. And that can lead to some serious issues, like burnout and lack of profitability. It doesn’t have to be that hard because if you just looked at those people you just serviced, you will see lots of potential to grow your business in multiple ways.
The Upsell
In Mark Joyner’s great little book The Great Formula he talks about four “second glass tactics.” Second glass refers to things you can do to sell current clients, which ultimately increases your bottom line.
In a business like software, for example, an upsell might be an offer to upgrade to a premium version of your program. If it’s a small physical product you could offer a larger product.
How would the second glass tactic of the upsell work in real estate? You do have to get a little creative, but here are some ideas.
If you are a buyer’s agent don’t forget that buyer might have a home to sell. More than likely if they are looking for an agent they either don’t have a home or they have a home but haven’t found an agent yet. Make sure you ask!
Another way you could keep revenue coming in is to use a discount model. For a particular price you offer to do a particular part of the job. Prospects like the idea of a lower price and it usually draws in more people who are price sensitive. Once you start working with them and they get comfortable working with you, that’s your opportunity to start asking them if you can do other things for them. If they trust you, they might say yes.
Please don’t abuse this approach. Don’t promise an upsell and deliver substandard work. If you do that you will lose that client quickly. They’ll be glad to get rid of you because they feel like you cheated them and then will spread the news that you scammed them. Don’t do that!
The Cross-Sell
The cross-sell in real estate is a lot like the upsell where you can offer additional services for a fee. Very effective way to build a profitable business, especially in a lousy market. Cross sells differ because the price is not going up for the prospect but going down. In other words, they may be paying you a thousand or two to help them sell or find a house, but you can offer another service that’s for much less.
A cross sell is not an upgrade, but just an accessory. Think about it when you buy a car and the dealership suggests you get a brand-name sound system with the car. That’s an upsell. If you have some ideas on how you cross sell in real estate, please share in the comments below. I love to hear from you!
The Follow Up
This is a very important second glass tactic for real estate agents because it’s tapping into an audience that most agents neglect but it is often very lucrative. I’m talking about past clients.
Why don’t agents follow up with their past clients? It is hard work, staying on top of your contacts and past clients while working long days doing the four productive activities of real estate agents. Trust me, I understand.
But if you use an automated referral system to work those past clients you can nurture them and stay in contact with them as they settle in their new home and talk to their friends and family about how great you are.
If you are giving them a monthly newsletter that makes them feel like you are talking to them, you’ll never lose their attention, and when it comes time to buy or sell again, who will they call? You!
Or they are more likely to recommend you to a friend or family member. Most people ask for recommendations when it comes to mechanics, lawyers, doctors and real estate agents. An introduction is your best part to get that lead.
I also recommend that you actually follow up a week or two after you close with your client. Just ask them how everything went and how it’s going. If you have a customer service survey, send that to them, too. Make sure you give them enough time to get settled, though.
The Continuity
What you are trying to do with the follow up tactic is get people to think about you like they think about a magazine or web hosting subscription. Good subscription programs keep you looped in, reminding you to re-subscribe, making offers that seem irresistible. Continuity is a built-in, guaranteed repeat sales.
The cycle is a lot longer for agents, about seven years, but that’s why your follow up program must be a well-oiled, automatic machine. Even sending a simple email is powerful way to stay in contact.
A true continuity program offers monthly payments to clients. That’s a little hard to do in real estate, but I’m sure there are lots of good ideas out there. If you can think of a way to add automatic multiple streams of income to your business, then you can weather economic famines better than if you didn’t have that additional income.
What Do You Think?
Working hard at real estate isn’t enough. You have to work smart, too. That means thinking creatively about ways to keep business and money coming in. Can you think of some second glass tactics that real estate agents can use?
How Social Scientists Taught You to Close More Deals
Filed Under Real Estate Sales Tips | 2 Comments
People. You just never know what they’ll do next.
But if you really believe real estate is a people business, then any effort you make to better understand yourself and how others tick will make your business flow and your bank account grow.
Fortunately, a couple of social scientists have developed tools that can help you shed light on the mystery of human behavior and get a better handle on personalities…yours and others’.
For example, Wilson Learning’s “Social Styles” puts personalities into four quadrants designed to help you work with individuals in different situations.
The Enneagram Personality Insight for Business sends you on a journey of personal and organizational discovery so you can mesh easier with others.
And the Fundamental Interpersonal Relations Orientation Behavior program uncovers how your needs affect your behavior towards others.
All have received rave reviews.
But the one I’ve found to be particularly useful in real estate is the DISC profiling system (Dominance, Influence, Steadiness and Compliance).
D relates to control, power and assertiveness.
I looks at how a person approaches social situations.
S is the factor of patience, persistence and thoughtfulness.
C describes a person’s approach to structure and organization.
DISC can help you identify your behavioral profile, appreciate different profiles and capitalize on your own behavioral strengths.
It can also help you anticipate and minimize potential conflicts, hire the right people and manage people in sales environments…all essential tasks in real estate.
Bob Corcoran introduced DISC to one of his clients, Valerie Hunter-Kelly, a Realtor in Clarksville, TN, when she and Bob met about three years ago. She says it has helped her better understand how to relate to co-workers and clients on their level.
“Before, I just communicated based on my personality style, but now I understand others’ personalities so I don’t get as frustrated with them as much because I understand it’s not personal it’s just the way they communicate.”
Hunter-Kelly says she now identifies every client’s personality type based on her understanding of the DISC and then shares that information with the staff member who’s charged with helping the client get to closing.
“I always ask my buyers’ agent what the client’s personality profile is because I know it helps close deals,” she says.
She says now when a problem arises, it’s typically because the agent doesn’t know the client’s personality style.
“As soon as I meet anyone, I automatically identify their personality type so I’ll know how to relate to them,” she says. “It’s just a natural part of what I do now.”
Yes, understanding people, listening to their needs and wants and responding appropriately all take a lot of work and attention. But because this is a people business, it’s simply a must.
And the better at it you become, the better living you’ll make as an agent or broker. I promise.
So tell me, have you filled out any of these personality profile tests? What did you think?
*Bob Corcoran is a nationally recognized speaker who is the founder of Corcoran Consulting, an international consulting & coaching company that specializes in performance coaching, and the implementation of sound business systems.
And if you like what you read, subscribe to the real estate marketing blog by email or news feed.
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Filed Under Real Estate Sales Tips | Leave a Comment
If you understand people then you understand real estate.
Because if it’s been said once, it’s been said a million times: real estate is a people business. And oh how much easier work and life would be if we just understood people.
Yes, humans are terribly complex, often unpredictable and sometimes just plain difficult. There’s the client who insists on knowing everything (and I mean everything) you do as you go about selling his house. Enough to drive some Realtors absolutely bonkers.
Then there’s your buyer’s agent who doesn’t tell you anything unless you pry it out of her with a crowbar.
People. You just never know.
I really believe real estate is a people business, then any effort you make at better understanding yourself and how others tick will make your business flow and your bank account grow.
And fortunately social scientists have developed tools that can help you shed light on the mystery of human behavior and get a better handle on personalities—yours and others.
Next post we will explore some of these great tools.
And if you like what you read, subscribe to the real estate marketing blog by email or news feed.
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When You Should Depend on a Team–and When You Shouldn’t
Filed Under Real Estate Sales Tips | 2 Comments
So, you’ve been thinking about starting a team, have you?
In spite of a dismal economy, your market seems to be rockin’…you’re doing pretty well…and, well, you want to grow.
The natural thing to do is build a team, right? Yes.
A team will help you work more efficiently. It will help you grow…
But before you go a step further, though, you need to examine your reasons for wanting to build a team. Let me show you what I mean with a little story from Realty Times columnist David Flethcer:
“I love teams, but only if I am making a contribution. The most exciting team I have been on was as a member of a 23-man crew on a B-36 bomber in the United States Air Force. I was the tail gunner. Not because I said so, but because I was trained to be one. I made a contribution to the team.
“Watching a squadron of B-36 Bombers flying in formation on a beautiful day at 42,000 feet in peacetime is heady stuff for a 19-year-old. It’s great to be on a team at times like that.
“Then one day our crew was sent to “survival” school in Reno, Nevada, where we were taught and practiced survival skills in case we were shot down behind enemy lines.
“That’s when I learned that there will be times in life when the team cannot help me. Only my skills can. When I was alone in the mountains for five days with three days supply of food it was up to me to set the traps, catch the fish, read my compass, and operate my radio.
“My team couldn’t help me. Only my skills could.”
The same is true for your sales skills…
Only your skills can seamlessly draw 12 hours of hostile talks into an objective, feel-good contract for both parties.
Only your skills can save your commission from dying on the vine in the face of a relentless barrage of arguments from a feisty seller.
Only your skills can nail 25 good leads in one night of networking. Or a day of cold calling.
Only your skills can steal the best property out from under your competitors nose with an irresistible listing presentation.
That means you need to develop your skills. You need to make a list of the three sales skills you want to develop–say negotiating, cold calling and networking–and then practice them until you master them.
Because the truth of the matter is…if you are looking to build a team so you can hand off the negotiating to someone else…or the listing presentation…or the finer points of client relationships…then you need to re-examine your motives.
You don’t want to get stuck in a situation where you fail because you depend upon someone else to handle those circumstances.
You want to be prepared to not only survive…but thrive. And thrive well. See you soon.
And if you like what you read, subscribe to the real estate marketing blog by email or news feed.
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Filed Under Real Estate Sales Tips | 1 Comment
Did you know that one of the simplest strategies to closing more transactions is simply helping your seller’s buy their new home?
If sellers ARE staying in the area, ask if you can help find their next house. It benefits both you and the seller.
Here are five reasons why:
1. They don’t have to interview more real estate salespeople.
2. You already understand their needs, know their decorating style, have an inside look on how they live.
3. If they trust your market knowledge enough to sell their home, they should trust you to find them a new house.
4. You can help coordinate both sides of the deal so they don’t find themselves homeless for a few days between closings.
5. You can make negotiations go more smoothly and quickly. You have dates on both closings and don’t have to wait for return calls from fellow practitioners.
And if you like what you read, subscribe to the real estate marketing blog by email or news feed.
Related Articles
Eliminate This Behavior and Become More Effective
Four Questions to Rapidly Disqualify Unreasonable Sellers
7 Ways to Cut Loose from Old Sales Thinking