Part of a series on real estate persuasion training.
When it comes to being persuasive, one of the most important, effective and easy ways that you can make an impression on people is by simply remembering their name. That’s pretty cool, because you will more than likely meet thousands of people during your career as a real estate agent…and the last thing you want to do is forget someone’s name you just met.
So how do you keep from forgetting someone’s name? I mean…most of us forget people’s names within seconds of meeting them. We get distracted or preoccupied with what we want to say to them because we really want the conversation to go well…and then comes the time you have to part ways and you have done the most awful thing…you’ve forgotten their name!
Has that ever happened to you? It has me hundreds of times. I hate it so in order to help me and you remember people’s names I’ve developed this technique.
The essence of this technique to make a concerted effort to remember their name the FIRST time they say it. If you don’t get it right the first time around you may have to embarrass yourself to get it at the end of the conversation.
Of course you can always ask a friend what that person’s name you just met is…as long as they know it. If they don’t then try this…
- When the person says hi to you, repeat their name like this: “Oh, hi Allen.”
- Then start repeating it dozens of times in your head.
- Next, ask them about their name. “Allen. Is that spelled with one or two l’s?” This works especially great if their name is unusual, like Malchus. “Oh, hi Malchus. I’m not good with names. How do you spell that. Is it M-A-L-C-H-U-S?” The goal behind this is to get them to repeat their name a few times to help you cement it in your head.
- Now you can introduce your self. “Hi, Malchus, it’s nice to meet you. I’m Gary.”
- At this point you want to let them talk. Listen carefully to what they are saying…even ask some leading questions about their job or life. What you are trying to do is create some kind of association between them and their name. This is especially helpful if their name is common like “Bob” or “Susan.” Think of something like “Bob who went to Baylor.” Or Susan who went to “San Diego.”
- When it comes time to say good bye…because to be the life of the party you will eventually move on…this is where you close with, “Hey Susan, it was great meeting you. I need to go deliver this drink to my friend but I look forward to talking to you again.”
This will take some practice to make it natural and not feel so awkward, so be patience and keep trying!
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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7 Ways to Make People Feel Like the Center of the Universe
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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Want fresh, new ideas on making your phone ring with prospects? Then grab this free 7-part online video training series.
The Science of the Giving and Receiving Compliments
Filed Under Real Estate Training | Leave a Comment
Part of Real Estate Training Series on Persuasion
If you think about it, flattery is the grease that makes the social wheels glide. Now, I’m not talking about brown-nosing, but giving sincere compliments. Do that and you will generate such positive energy with other people that real estate deals will close like magic.
See, they make the relationship between two people a relationship built around trust and kindness. But like I said above, there is a way you have to do it. Plus, there is a way to receive them.
When to Give a Compliment
Might seem pretty obvious but you give a compliment when you notice an effort or situation that deserves a compliment, which makes them a way to show people that you are paying attention to them.
If you think about it, we need to cultivate this identification of good things happening around us.
Once you notice something that is worth a compliment, say it. Say it out loud…and make it clear to who you are complimenting and about what you are complimenting them about.
Whether your client or co-worker, people get a lot of value from a compliment. The value comes from them knowing that we are noticing them. And you can get a lot of mileage out of a compliment since people tend to feed off of compliments.
Personally, giving compliments will also help lift our mood as the positive energy returns to us from a person who is feeling good about themselves because you complimented them.
Insincere Flattery
These are powerful gifts that you give freely that tell a person he is special and you care about them. However, they only work if you are sincere about them. Nothing can put off a person more than a fake compliment. In fact, they’ll backfire if you do that.
All you have to do to use this social skill is be honest. Tell people what you think. If you see someone wearing a jacket you like…tell them. If you see someone driving a car you admire…tell them.
It’s really that simple. And the returns are huge.
They do a great job of elevating the atmosphere of good, positive energy. Compliments are also a great way to open up a conversation…and a spectacular way to end one.
How to Respond to a Compliment
There is also an appropriate way to respond to a compliment…which is to say “Thank you.” Instead, too many people tend to brush it off with a “Oh, that was nothing. Slapped that thing together in 5 minutes.”
Or, “Well, I feel about 15 pounds heavier today.”
There is only one good way to receive a compliment and that is to smile and say thank you. Don’t deflate the person giving the compliment…which can make things very awkward. No matter how difficult it is for you to receive a compliment, don’t deflate someone’s judgement by brushing it off.
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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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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Your first step in becoming more persuasive is to know what you want. Here are some past posts that can help you know how to know what you want.
How to Become a Leader: Tax Reform Advocate Norquist’s Advice
In a recent interview with U.S. News, tax reform advocate Grover Norquist shared three keys to becoming a leader in any high-pace environment: Work hard, do not whine and know where you are going.
Your Real Estate Career: How to Create a Happy Ending
The ending is everything.
That’s why Greek heroes like Odysseus–who were able to look beyond the present and plan several steps ahead–seemed to defy fate. In fact, men like Odysseus mimicked the Greek gods in their ability to tell the future.
The comparison, today, is still valid.
If you can think further ahead and patiently bring your plans to fruition, you’ll seem godlike. And naturally be more successful.
8 Solutions to Keep 2009 from Going Down in Flames
here’s a list of 8 solutions to your current economic, real estate woes. Hopefully these will keep you from pumping a ton of money into something that returns little to nothing. When you’re finished, let me know what you think.
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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Filed Under Persuasion, Real Estate Training | 1 Comment
Anybody who loves real estate probably loves it because they love the opportunity to use their personal influence to help people achieve their dreams, get things done and earn a great living.
In other words, they love persuasion, which boils down to these three keys: establish rapport, establish rapport and establish rapport.
You can’t really have an persuasive power over people unless you have their trust…and you can’t have their trust if you don’t take the time to build a relationship. A solid relationship is the groundwork for persuasion.
But how do you create that relationship…how do you build that rapport? In the coming up months I’m going to run a series on developing persuasive power. Today, to get you started, here are ten ideas you can actually start using this very day:
- Know what you want. You have to understand what makes you tick before you will ever be persuasive. You have to understand what you want out of life and who you are. What drives you? Is it power or money? Making people happy? Who are you? Powerful persuasion starts with soul searching questions.
- Make people fell like the center of the universe. Get your head out of your rear and out of your navel and start caring about people. Start treating them like royalty and you will begin to have incredible influence over their lives.
- Compliment people constantly. Sure, it’s flattery, but there is nothing like buttering people up…even if they know about it. People love to feel like the center of the universe, and they like to be told good things about themselves. That bolsters esteem for them. For you it’s like investing in that person that allows you to make withdrawals when the time comes.
- Remember people’s name. You can’t really start to make someone feel like the center of the universe if you don’t remember their name, can you? Look for tricks to do that.
- Give power to other people. This includes things like freedom and purpose. Give them room to make decisions and make them see the bigger purpose. Help them achieve their dreams and you are giving them power.
- Be positive. Even if a negative situation arises, you can control and influence people if you can find ways to remain solid and upbeat even in the midst of a storm. That kind of influence attracts people. You can also help avoid people making bad decisions by guiding them towards thinking about situations and questions when they are not so emotional…whether positively or negatively.
- Understand the person. Of course, if you don’t know anything about your prospect, you really don’t know what to give them to influence them. Take the time to get to know your prospect or client. Try to invest as much time into the relationship as you invest into getting the deal closed.
- Develop a sense of humor. Have you ever noticed that some of the most influential people are very funny? They like people and they like to make them laugh. Give it a whirl…learn a few jokes, learn how to tell a story and start making people laugh.
- Ask better questions. You can influence people by simply asking questions. Ask the right questions and you will be irresistible.
- Relax. Even the most influential people lose. When that happens to you, don’t take yourself so serious. Learn from your mistakes and move on.
Look for future posts on each numbered point in the coming months.
Your Turn
What tips can you share that have helped you to be more persuasive?
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.
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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How Deliberate Practice Helped the New York Giants Win the NFC Championship
Filed Under Real Estate Training | Leave a Comment
Last Sunday, the Giants win over San Francisco came down to a field goal in overtime…a field goal that occurred in wet sloppy conditions…the worst possible condition to kick a field goal.
But that’s exactly how the place holder and long snapper practised it. The New York Times article that describes how they did it is aptly named: Giants Field-Goal Unit, Needing Its Best, Prepared for the Worst.
The field-goal unit knew that the game could come down to a 3-point kick. They also knew that conditions in San Francisco would be wet and muddy. So all week Steve Weatherford, the Giant’s place holder, and Zac DeOssie, the Giant’s long snapper, simulated the worst possible conditions they could. They only practiced with balls kept in water buckets and even smeared the balls with mud.
Why is this important to real estate training? This is a perfect example of what Geoff Colvin calls deliberate practice, a topic I’ve written about in the past.
Preparing for the Worst in the Real Estate Market
For the most part, what you do in real estate doesn’t come down to a field goal on a muddy field in overtime to win a championship game. Forutnately, real estate in the U.S. is a little more forgiving. But this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t practice for the worst possible scenario.
Let’s work through three scenarios to show you what I mean.
Handling Objections
In a perfect world prospects, agents and clients would all do what we say and never throw up an obstacle. But that’s not the case, which is okay, because we all make objections from time to time. And if you think about it, an objection is a worst-case scenario.
Now, it’s not horrible, but it’s kind of like putting a ball in the bunker if you are golfing. You need to be good at getting the ball out even if sending it to the bunker doesn’t happen all the time. So, when it comes to objections, you practice overcoming them ruthlessly.
Closing the Deal
While closing a deal is not a worst-case scenario, I’ve been in the real estate business long enough to realize that most agents don’t know how to close the deal. They are really good at attracting a prospect, getting them interested in a home…but actually getting them to commit to buy it is a totally different story.
And if you can’t close the deal…you don’t get a commission. That’s not a good scenario at all. So, I would suggest you practice closing the deal, too.
Cold Calling
This is probably the least worst-case scenario, but ask a lot of real estate agents and they’ll tell you: they hate cold calling. In fact, they’ll avoid it like the plague. The only time they will even consider it is if they do not have any business coming in.
That’s a bad deal.
So you better learn to love it…and the best way to do that is simply to practice, practice and practice. And I don’t mean by that “pretending” like you are cold calling. What I mean by practice is you actually get on the phone and dial. And dial. And dial.
In no time you’ll love it.
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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Some of the most successful real estate agents I know have one thing in common–they love to learn. They have a drive to not only chase a high learning curve, but to lower it as soon as possible.
This is real estate training at it’s best.
Naturally, if you look at what these super-achiever agents get done, you have to scratch your head and wonder where they get all the time. But it’s not magic and it’s not really about how much time they have.
It’s really just some things they do to maximize their time that you can do, too.
Eliminate Distractions
The number one rule to lowering your real estate learning curve is to eliminate distractions. Put the iPhone away, shut down the laptop, turn off the social media and focus. It could be on a book you are reading or a seminar you are attending. You’re focus should be 100% on what you are doing. Resist the temptation to multi-task.
Block Time
One of the best methods to focusing is to have an unflinching dedication to doing just one thing until you are done. This means ignoring the phone, email inbox and your colleagues. Schedule an hour a day to learn something new about real estate or practice a certain skill, and do nothing else during that hour.
Get Feedback
You can’t really learn successfully unless you have some sort of feedback system in place. For a lot of high-achieving agents this means a coach or mentor.
If you can’t afford a coach or mentor at this point in your business, then find ways to evaluate what you are doing. Record sales calls or listing presentations. Go back through the tape and listen to what you said. Figure out what you did well and what you didn’t do so well. Then go back out and practice on those things that you didn’t do so well on.
Multiply Practice
If you look at the high-achieving real estate agents who’ve climbed the ladder of success faster than what you think is normal, what you will probably see if you explore their background is that they poured in a lot of time on perfecting their craft.
In other words, these agents understand that the more they perform a certain task–and in real estate their are just four areas you must master, negotiations, marketing, selling and listing–the better they got. That means they knew they needed to figure out ways to perform that task more.
Perhaps it was triple the number of phone calls they made in one day. It could’ve of been getting in front of anyone who will listen and going through their listing presentation as much as they could. Perhaps it was looking at every single encounter they had every day as a negotiation and applying the principles behind that discipline to that situation.
Stimulate the Unexpected
High-achieving agents also figure out how to plan for the unexpected and then prepare for that unexpected event.
This is similar to Tiger Woods dropping a bucket of balls into a sand pit and hitting that shot until he gets it right. In a single season he might be in that situation once or twice, but either way he’ll be prepared for it.
Conclusion
Mastering the real estate learning curve quickly is an art that anyone can learn. It takes discipline and self-motivation, but if you have just a little of those qualities you can easily start to work like a superstar agent well before your time.
Can you think of other techniques that can lower the real estate learning curve?
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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6 No-Fail Ways to Increase Your Annual Income
Filed Under real estate, Real Estate Marketing, Real Estate Training, Strategy, Time Management | 5 Comments
Would you like to make more money this year than you did last year…and continue that trend for the next ten years? Want to be the top sales professional in your field or find your way on to the Wall Street Journals list of top 400 agents in the nation someday?
You can—but it’s not easy. And it takes a lot more than sitting open houses on Saturday in spring with visions of sales awards dancing in your head.
How do I know? Some of our clients are truly accomplished real estate agents. I’ve seen what they’ve done to set themselves apart. In a few cases I’ve helped, but mostly I’ve marveled at their approach, energy, and most importantly persistence.
If you want to increase your annual income this year, then here are six principles you must embrace.
Understand Your Value Per Hour
Most of us will take any work that comes our way. That’s problematic. Working with just about anybody will drain you of time and energy and, most importantly, of money. So your first step towards earning more income this year is to figure out how much you are worth.
This is easy to figure out: just take your last commission and divide that by the amount of hours you worked. That figure is what you are worth per hour. More than likely it’s on the low side. Now, determine how much you want to make.
If you’re not tracking your time, you need to start doing that today. What separates the superstars from the average agent is a metric mindset. They measure everything. They keep track of the number of hours they work a day. Number of inbound leads they respond to. People they convert.
Tracking your time is just one part of understanding your value and will help you reach that preferred value per hour.
Understand Your Average Commission Check
Your next step toward increasing your annual income is to understand what your average commission check is. This is a simple task, too: Just add up all the commissions you’ve earned over the last fiscal year and then divide that by the number of commissions.
That average commission check will give you an idea of what each transaction is worth to you. But the value of this simple exercise is to see how working with just about anyone is hurting you. You’re not going to make more money each year if you don’t start controlling what you make by selecting who you want to work with and when.
Disqualify Rapidly
This will hurt because you’ll be turning down leads. But hopefully by now you realize that unloanable, unmotivated and high-maintenance people don’t make you money. (Here are four questions you can use to disqualify potentially problematic seller leads.)
In fact, the whole point behind this exercise is so that you can cherry pick your clients, choosing to work with those who agree with your business philosophy and can actually pay you for your time. Do not be afraid to stand by your VPH.
Prospect Daily
Disqualifying rapidly will not be so troublesome when you are prospecting daily. In fact, you can not really expect to gain real momentum unless you are. This means you need to be picking up the phone, responding to buyer ads and hanging out places where you have an opportunity to network.
Here’s a bit of a warning: Do not quit prospecting when you are busy. That is the last thing you want to do.
If you do, you’ll quickly find yourself out of leads and out of work and back to square one. That’s an emotional roller coaster ride you don’t want to get on.
Instead, spend time prospecting by phone, in person, on social media, at apartments or with investors. You can not create a steady stream of income that grows each year without a consistent stream of leads you can cherry pick.
Understand Your Most Profitable Activities–Eliminate the Rest
Delegation is the key to making more money. See, if you’re spending your time copying flyers or hanging signs, then you are not making your VPH. You are making much, much less. You are making minimum wage…and there are easier ways to do that.
What are your most profitable activities? More than likely it’s prospecting, marketing, negotiations, listing presentations and selling. It’s those activities that you actually make money, so you should focus on those and delegate everything else.
Create a Schedule
Finally, you need to prioritize your activities. Perhaps you are a morning person. Then reserve all your high profit activities during that time when you are sharpest. That means don’t schedule a negotiation call for 8 in the evening.
This also means you need to avoid overworking. Be fierce about controlling your time and protecting your life outside of your business. And if your life IS your business, then you need to step back and re-evaluate what you are tyring to accomplish, especially if you have a family.
Sacrificing time with family and friends to make a ten or twenty thousand more dollars a year is a worthless pursuit.
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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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.
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