In This Issue...

• Words From the President
• Making Time for the Things that Impact Your Success - Win the Game!
• Creating a Dynamic Listing Presentation - Get the Listing Every Time!

Words From the President

Thanks for joining me today on your journey toward success as a Real Estate Agent.

What do Listing Presentations have to do with Life Success?

Well...the answers are...Everything and Nothing.

How can it be both?

I'm glad that you asked that question...

The two areas that we'll focus our time on today are in Time Management & Listing Presentations. Two completely seperate areas of life as a Successful Real Estate Agent. Both of them are very impotant and could make or break your career.

What you'll discover, much like I did today, while you read these articles is that there are several very distinct & seperate Universal Success Principles that are interwoven in the content of the articles - kind of like gems of Success Wisdom hidden right in front of your eyes. You'll even discover my life success slogan.

For example, in the Listing Presentation article, you'll notice words & statements like: Control, Clearly Defined Purpose, Focused & Centered, Be Persistent...Never Give Up, Stay Directed, Changing Your Behavior, Defining The Problem...Designing A Solution...And Manageing Your Time Accordingly, and many others.

These statements are true, and success seems to gravitate toward the person using them whether they are applied to life in general or if they are applied to an aspect of a person's life like: Listing Presentations.

As we enter this time of year when you reflect back on the year gone by and look forward to the year ahead, ask yourself not only what you have been & will be doing but also how you've been & will be doing it.

Remember the old adage...If you want different results, you've got to have different actions.

Today I suggest that those different actions also incorporate some of these "Universal Success Principles".

To your achievement of success in life,

Dirk Zeller
CEO
Real Estate Champions, Inc

Making Time for the Things that Impact Your Success - Win the Game!

If controlling time and gaining discipline to invest hours in better, higher-value activities were easy, everyone would be making BIG money in real estate sales. Facts prove otherwise. On average, newer agents make less than $25,000 a year. Almost certainly, the low-income statistics correlate with poor time-allocation choices. 

To allocate larger amounts of time to success-generating actions, follow what I call the four Ds:

• Decide that your time management skills, habits, and activities are going to change.

This is a challenging first step for most people. That’s because changing behavior isn’t easy, and time usage is a behavior. To avoid change, people search around for solutions that will allow them to keep doing what they’ve always done. In doing so, they waste yet more time by vacillating between the change they know they must face and the hope that they won’t have to face it.

I believe that the biggest waste of time occurs from the moment you know you need to do something and when you actually set out to do it. That’s why it’s so important to make an immediate commitment to change your time management patterns and habits. Make the decision to change today!

• Define what needs to change. This step involves two phases. First you have to determine the specific activities that are causing you to waste time or sacrifice productivity. Then you have to figure out how you can remedy the situation.

For example, do you need to get to your office earlier each day? Does that mean you need to go to sleep earlier each night? Do you need more prospecting time or more time for lead follow-up? Does that mean that you need to turn off your cell phone to minimize distractions when you’re trying to undertake these activities?

What is barring your success?

I worked with a client a few years ago who had difficulty getting into the office early enough to begin his day. We tracked it back to the fact that he was going to bed too late to be able to reach his office consistently by 8 a.m. when he needed his day to start.

We further determined that he needed a certain amount of time in the evening to have dinner as a family, play with his children, put them to bed, and then have time with his wife before their bedtime. He needed to be home from work by a certain hour for all of this to happen efficiently and consistently for him.

Once he made the necessary changes, by coming in earlier and leaving the office on time, his income shot up dramatically. The quality of life with his children and wife skyrocketed as well – all the result of defining the problem, designing a solution, and managing time accordingly.

• Design a time management plan. Get proactive rather than reactive. Typical day planners, Day-Timers, Franklin planners, and Palm or Blackberry devices are reactionary time management tools. They allow you to schedule time for client needs, appointments, and limited activities, but they don’t help you take control of time for your own priorities and purposes. You need to do that part on your own.

To master your time, you need to adopt a time-blocking system that dedicates predetermined periods of time to your most valuable activities.  The key point is that you can’t leave your days vulnerable to the time needs of others. You must block out periods of time for your own priority activities. Otherwise, you’ll risk giving your days away to the appointment or time requests of clients and colleagues, leaving yourself no time for your own needs. No wonder so many agents feel burned out and as if are being pulled like taffy by others.

• Just Do it!  Growing up in Portland, Oregon and graduating from Beaverton High School, I lived my early life down the street from a famous company’s world headquarters and within constant earshot of the marketing slogan “Just Do It!”.  Nike urged the world to take action now. I interpret their three words as a life success slogan.

Don’t wait to analyze every aspect of every problem, to design the absolutely perfect solution, and then and only then to take action. Waiting promises only unrealized income, unfulfilled potential, and limited wealth. Instead, decide what to change, define how to change, design a time management plan that allows for change, and then just do it.

For more information on how you can use the same time-blocking system my clients use to grow their businesses, check out my book "Success as a Real Estate Agent for Dummies^®" here...

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Creating a Dynamic Listing Presentation - Get the Listing Every Time!

The listing presentation is one of the most misunderstood areas of real estate sales.  There are as many theories about this presentation as there are licensed Agents in North America.  Although the listing presentation has changed and has been altered dramatically in the last five to ten years, an efficient and professional presentation will enable the Agent to control his clients properly.  What are the elements of an efficient, professional listing presentation?

First, it is necessary to clearly define a purpose for the listing presentation.  Now, I know that you are thinking, “Of course, the purpose is to take the listing.”  You would be partially correct.  Certainly the objective is to get the contract signed.  The true purpose, though, is to identify the clients’ problem in an efficient manner and convey to the clients that you are the person who will provide them the best opportunity to solve their problem.  These are really the objectives of a professional’s listing presentation.

The first part, identifying the problem, has two issues that must be resolved.  The first issue is identifying the actual problem itself.  The actual problem has a baseline that stems from price.  “Price will fix everything else in the equation.”  The price is like the known variable in an algebra equation.  You need to search for the other potential issues, or potential problems, but they all flow through the known issue, which is invariably price.  By lowering the price, you can sell a property in poor condition, poor location, busy street, functionally obsolete, a “buyer's market,” or poor marketing.  The list of fixable problems is never ending.  Price has a direct correlation to all of these issues.  These issues or problems may, or may not, be interconnected with each other, but price is the only guaranteed connection to all these issues or problems.  Your presentation should be focused and centered on price, so that you will have an opportunity to get a sale, rather than just a listing.  Both you and your client want the sale.  Neither of you just wants the property listed.

The second key issue, during the identifying the problem stage, is to get your client to agree on the problem.  This one certainly is the harder of the two issues.  You must be in agreement with your client about what the problem is before you can proceed forward.  Since the problem is most often price, you must have a mutual agreement on price.  The stronger you are regarding the price, the better chance you have of a sale.  Many Agents will delay the hard reality hoping it will go away.  Deal with it up front rather than thirty days down the road.  You must have the integrity to tell the client the truth.  “It won’t sell for what you want.  You need to lower the price.”  Do not hedge or mince words.  Tell the client straight up that it will not sell.  Get an agreement with the client on price before you move on.  There is no point in continuing if you and the client do not agree on price.  You will just be wasting your time.  I urge you to have the conviction in your skills, as an Agent, to truthfully interpret the market, even though most Agents will not.  Be honest.  Most Agents want the listing and are unwilling to risk losing the listing even though they know the property will not sell for the client’s desired price.

Once you have resolved the pricing issue you are in the home stretch.  Your job now is to convey that you are the REALTOR® for the job.  Brevity is crucial to success in this arena.  Most people do not want to listen to someone talk about how great they are at selling homes.  Ask them specific questions to see what kind of services they are looking for from their REALTOR®.  Find out the type of REALTOR® they are looking for to sell their home.  Most people will just say, “We want someone who can sell our home.”  This is the perfect opportunity to demonstrate your confidence and conviction that you are the REALTOR® for the job.  Look them straight in the eyes and tell them your track record of success and ask them if they are looking for an Agent of your caliber.  If you do not have a track record, sell your company’s record.  You may even need to sell a little of both.  Finally ask the clients to sign the paperwork.

This section of your presentation should last less than ten minutes, unless they ask a lot of questions.  All during this presentation, pepper them with trial closure.  For instance, “Do you want a lock box or by appointment only?  Are there times that would be inconvenient to show the home?”  If you have a concern about the condition of the property, ask the clients if they could fix these items.  There are a million trial closes; use a few to test the water.  Most people will answer them and proceed forward.

When you have set up a few trial closes and you have already agreed on the price, you have arrived.  You have arrived at the moment of truth, simply ask for the order.  It does not have to be elaborate, just ask.  Here are a few examples:  “I think I have all the information I need; I just need your o.k. in the box” or, “Do you believe I can sell your home?”  When they say yes, ask them to sign.  If they say no, ask them to tell you why and listen to their answer.  Once you have heard their answer, handle their concern, and ask them for the order again.  Do not give up after the first setback.  The average sale is made after the fifth or sixth customer refusal.  Be persistent; do not give up.  If you firmly believe that you are the Agent for the job, that belief will come through.  People want to select winners to sell their homes.

Many Agents do not understand the concept of brevity.  They have a two hour listing presentation.  What in the world are they doing for two hours?  The seller wants to know each Agents version of the problem, wants to know how that Agent can solve the problem, and which one is the best Agent for the job.  The rest of the presentation the seller really does not care about.  If you want to be the chosen Agent, focus on the problem and the solution.  Spending endless amounts of time on other stuff will just weaken your presentation.

Lastly, once the contract is signed, spend a few minutes debriefing the seller.  If you have staff, introduce them to the seller.  If you have a routine of communication or system you use that may be unique, fill them in.  A few minutes of explanation will save you the frustrated seller phone call in thirty days.  Let them know you care, appreciate the opportunity, and move on to the next appointment.

A truly dynamic presentation is short and to the point.  It also stays on focus for the entire time of the presentation.  Do not break your momentum by going too long or not staying focused during the presentation . . . stay directed and focused and solve their problem.

For step-by-step, hold-you-by-the-hand-and-give-you-all-the-answers training on "How to Create & Deliver a Dynamic Listing Presentation" click here...

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• Prospecting?

• Lead Generation?

• Listing Presentations?

• Scripts & Dialogues?

• Objection Handling?

• Converting?