Words of a Champion

Dirk Zeller
CEO

I wanted to take a moment to refresh on some points from a book I read that had a profound impact in my thinking.  The book is, Success is a Journey by Brian Tracy.  Brian has been a major influence in my life over the past 15 years.  The book is about a journey that Brian and a few friends took in his 20’s from Vancouver BC to Africa.  The trip was full of challenges and changes, and they were under-capitalized.  Very much like most of us in real estate.

Let me share with you some key concepts and how to apply them in real estate:

1.) The most important component of success in anything is the decision and then to act on it now.  We often have a tendency to decide and commit almost as an afterthought.  We have not crystallized what we want and decided to get it.  We must have a definite purpose in life.  We have to totally and 100% commit to the cause.  Then we need to launch our actions to reach the desired results.  The most important step is the first one.  If we do not take the first one, the rest will not follow.  If we refuse to pick up the phone merely staring at the receiver, the ensuing listings and sales are lost.  For Brian in his book, the crucial step to Africa was the first one out of Vancouver Canada, away from his family and support center.  The ability to move forward to the goal or vision we have set with no guarantee of ultimate success will always separate the winners from the losers.

2.) Never consider the possibility of failure.  We often self sabotage our ability to achieve our goals because of our focus on failure.  You only fail when you quit, when you hang it up, or pack it in.  You may need to do a mid-course correction, which is not failure.  The person who refuses to quit when the going gets tough always wins.  Your character is determined by your ability to push on even when others would pack it in.  Your ultimate belief in yourself and your ability comes out of persistence.  Persistence is an inside job.  What happens to you on the inside is far more important than the outside forces on you.  Paul Harvey once said, “You know you are on the road to success, because it is uphill all the way.”

Take that first step today and everyday.  Persist through the challenges. The road to success gets easier the farther down you get.  Start your journey today.

To Your Achievement of Greater Success in 2009,

Dirk Zeller, CEO
RealEstateChampions.com

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Effective Listing Presentations

The listing presentation is your moment to show a prospective client all that you’re worth.  With the value of your services and the relationship you hope to have with a client on the line, it’s hard to believe that the less said, the better.  But it’s true -- the longer a listing presentation takes, the worse it gets.  The client’s mind begins to wander, and the Agent begins to promise more in marketing and advertising to keep the client’s attention and procure the listing.  The commission rate will have a tendency to decrease and the listing price to increase.  This will lead to longer marketing, less profit, or eventually an expired listing.  Truly, the longer your presentation goes, the weaker it becomes; a short, focused presentation is the one that will speak volumes for you. 

I realize that many speakers and trainers have been teaching Agents for years how to do a two-hour listing presentation.  But think about it: in today’s busy society, does anyone really want to listen to an Agent talk about himself and his company for two hours?  In the seller’s position, after an hour or so, wouldn’t you find yourself thinking about what you would rather be doing with your family?  Once the owners begin to think about things other than listing their home with you, it becomes very difficult to get them refocused on signing a contract or agreement.  Remember that the length of your listing presentation is critical to your success.

One key to making the most effective presentation in the shortest amount of time is to ask questions.  To be an effective Agent, you need to find out the desires and expectations of the prospect.  The only way to do this is by asking questions, and one of the biggest mistakes I see Agents making is not asking enough of them.  The person asking the questions is the one who controls the conversation.  Develop a series of questions for your listing presentations; this will help you stay focused.  By asking each client similar questions, you will learn to evaluate each client’s motivation, compatibility, and expectations.  Working with a standard set of questions will also help you remember to ask all of the necessary questions.  By developing a series of questions, you will be able to standardize your presentation and control the time that your presentation takes.  Without a standardized presentation based on a set series of questions, you will have a tendency to take listings for too high a price, too short a term, or with people whose expectations are not compatible with what your skills and experience can offer them.

As you gather information from the sellers and present yourself to them, keep in mind that presentations should be directed, first and foremost, to price rather than to secondary issues such as marketing or advertising. Price is king in real estate; it is the dominant reason a home sells or fails to sell.  Our presentations need to accurately reflect this reality.  Rather than focusing on marketing, focus on the issues that will really affect the sale of the home.  I advocate rolling up your sleeves and getting down to the business of price, sooner rather than later.  If you and the seller cannot agree on price, then nothing else you might say is going to make this relationship work; you should politely excuse yourself and move on to the next prospect.

Above all, you need to show the clients the benefit of working with you.  This is, after all, what the clients will be paying you for.  You need to show them how your skills, experience, and strategy will benefit them.  They need to know and understand the benefits of your approach to selling their home.  Determine a few of the advantages you offer, and share them with the listing prospect.

If you create a step-by-step presentation that is well prepared, concise, focused on price, and clear about what your business offers to the client, you will see the time you spend on each presentation reduced.  You will also see an improvement in the number of listing presentations that lead to signed contracts, and your clients will thank you for demonstrating respect for their time.  You may even have a few minutes left over to spend laughing with your new clients at their stories of “the REALTOR® who was here for two hours doing a listing presentation”.

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Focus

There is one large barrier real estate Agents need to master to create dominance in their marketplace.  That one barrier is focus. 

Focus always comes before success…even in the dictionary.  For one to achieve success in business, or in life, they must have intensity of focus.

Here is a key question we ask all our clients.  What is the one thing that, if done with excellence, would make the biggest impact in your business?  Now read that question again.  Think about it…what is the one thing?  Let me share a quote from Peter Drucker, the great leadership and business thinker.  “Effective leaders delegate a good many things; they have to, or they would drown in trivia.  They do not delegate the one thing that only they can do with excellence, the one thing that will make a difference, the one that will get the standards, the one thing they want to be remembered for. They do it.”  I know Mr. Drucker is right.  Too often, we are trying to do too much all at once.  Success is not built on being a jack-of-all-trades.  Success is built on the mastery of one thing.  Once mastery has occurred, we move on and create mastery in another area.  Mastery is contained in the simple, not the complex.  Mastery is created through knowing and applying the fundamentals. Most successful people do the little things with excellence.  In real estate sales, it is your ability to master the fundamentals of selling that will make all the difference.  What one fundamental is really holding you back?  I believe the fundamentals are scripts and dialogues, time management, team building, data basing, technology, systems, marketing, and life planning.

We cannot create mastery by working on eight things at once.  We have to work methodically, with focus, on the one thing that has the highest priority and then delegate the other priority items to others.  The jack-of-all-trades is master of none.  Select the area that is most integral to your success and start today.  Work toward mastery.

Look back at where you generated the most transactions.  Are you getting the most that you can from this area of success?  What can you do to increase and intensify the results?   What is the step-by-step process to drive this area of your business deeper?

Your ability to generate the income and lifestyle you desire is going to be contained in the first 90 days.  Creating momentum early in the year is paramount.  Focus on the one thing and do it with intensity the next 90 days.  You will be astounded by your progress.

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The Three Cs of a Buyer

When working with a buyer prospect, they must posses what I call the three Cs of a buyer:

1. Commitment
2. Compromise
3. Competitiveness

A Champion Agent expects commitment from the client.  Most trainers will tell Agents to ask buyers, “Are you working with another Agent?”  That really isn’t the right question or wording.  The word working has too broad a definition.  Working could mean they met an Agent at an open house; they are receiving property matches from them; there is an Agent who farms their neighborhood.  The word working doesn’t mean they will buy and sell with that Agent. 

The proper question is, “Are you committed to another Agent?”  The prospects will either know exactly what you mean, or they will ask you for your definition of committed.   Either way, you gain clarity and avoid wasting your time with a prospect that could be disloyal in the end.  A clear recipe for disaster is investing your resources in a prospect that has a low or limited return.  Not only are the odds long for a commission with this type of prospect, but also you will often beat yourself up later over not recognizing a poor prospect sooner because you didn’t convert them.  This can affect your attitude, which will lower your confidence and production.  Gaining commitment at a high level from a prospect is the only way a Champion Agent invests their time.

A Champion Agent only works with clients who are willing to compromise.  If a prospect has the objective of achieving an “I win; you lose” type of transaction, your job will be far more difficult as their Agent.  If they are unwilling to compromise in what they want in a home, you both will be looking a long time for the “perfect” home.

A Champion Agent counsels their clients that there are no perfect homes; that most people end up with about 80% of what is on their wish list in terms of amenities; that he or she is working to find the best possible home, based on their needs, wants, and desires, given the current market conditions and market competition.

A Champion Agent makes sure the prospect is willing to be competitive.  Many buyers are hoping to be the exception rather than the rule.  They want to be the one buyer to buy that home at 80% of the asking price, when the market average is 95%.  They are unwilling to offer full price to anyone, even when there is a lack of inventory of homes, a large volume of buyers wanting homes, or market conditions dictate otherwise.  A prospect or client who is unwilling to be competitive or take competitive action when the circumstances dictate will increase your time invested, increase frustration, lower client satisfaction, and lower the probability of your compensation.

Establishing early in the prospect cycle whether the prospect has the three Cs enables you to make better decisions regarding with whom you invest your resources.  It also allows you to avoid the traps of the typical Agent’s service approach that borders on desperation.

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