In This Issue...
Words of a Champion
Dirk Zeller
CEO
There is one large intangible in life toward success, and that intangible must be present for success to be reached. You can have the skills, discipline, and even receive good training, but if you are lacking this intangible, you won’t achieve success. That intangible is desire.
You must have the desire to be a Champion Performer. You have to want success so badly you are willing to pay the price. One of the biggest barriers for most people is, that the desire is not great enough, so the vision of success is not realized.
Each fall millions of boys gather to play peewee football, each with grand dreams of being the next Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, or Deion Sanders. They work, learn, practice, play, and yet, at the end of peewee football, only 10% of those kids will go on to play high school football. Then, of that 10% that play high school football, only 5% of those will go on to play college football. Finally, of that 5% that are left, only 2% will go on and play professional football. The intangible that separates that 2% from the rest is desire. Many of those professional football players had the desire to invest the extra hours needed to prepare them to compete on the professional level. They had the desire to be in the 2% in life. Do you have the desire to be in the 2% in your profession?
In life, as in football, only 2% of the people will eventually achieve their ultimate goals in life. Achievement of an ultimate goal can happen for anyone, but only 2% decide and inject desire into the equation to claim victory. Are you ready to join the 2%? There is always room for more!
To Your Achievement of GREATER success,
Dirk Zeller, CEO
RealEstateChampions.com
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Greatest Salesperson
The Greatest Salesman in the World, Og Mandino wrote that classic some thirty years ago, and it still sells over one million copies annually. After reading a tribute to Og, I started to think about what characteristics make a great salesperson. Og had many brilliant thoughts regarding sales and life. He said in his book, “Live each day as though it were my last.” He also said, “Be persistent until you succeed.” Then, after spending time with a few of my nieces and nephews, I realized that we were all at one time the greatest salesperson in the world. We often embody Og’s above philosophies. At the age of three, we all had sales skills that were world class. Our own parents were afraid to take us to the toy store for fear that we would sell them something. We all possessed three important skills to make the sale: persistence, creativity, and the ability to ask one question after another. I think most of us lose our “sales skills” in our junior high and high school years. These are the years when we are really concerned about what others think and how they feel about us. These are the self-conscious years of life when we are really trying to avoid any kind of rejection in our lives. But we could all improve our sales performance if we could turn back the clock and reclaim these three skills.
As small children, we all had the ability to ask a continuous stream of questions. Our questions were rapid-fire, coming one on top of another at a dizzying pace. I think we were trying to confuse the prospect. But we were also able to ask very simple, direct questions without worrying about rejection. If I had a dollar for every time my niece asked me “Why?” in a three-hour period, I would be able to retire. “Why?” seems to be a favorite question of the under-five set. We should all be so bold. “Why do you feel your home is worth $15,000 more than other recent sales?” “Why are you offering $20,000 less than the true market value?” “Why, Mr. Co-op Agent, did you write the offer this way?” These are all “why” questions that any three-year-old would use in our business. The “why” questions help you ferret out the reasons behind the decisions. It is easier to show the client, prospect, or other Agent an alternate approach if you know the reason behind the approach that has been taken. Focus on finding the why.
The childhood ability to ask questions was coupled with great creativity when it came to getting what we wanted. We would ask the same question from different angles. We would try the same question on different people; involve our siblings, aunts, or uncles; and work to recruit allies to our cause. We would seek to get one of our parents to commit, and then use that commitment to bring the other parent to the desired decision. When one approach didn’t work, we would try another. With an object in view, our creativity knew no limits. As adults, we learn from experience that some sales approaches work better for us than others. But we can get stuck in the method that usually works best and be unable to make the sale in a situation that is an exception to the rules we have learned. On a listing appointment, there is often one person that is easier to get an agreement with than the other. Find that person, and use them as an ally. Get an agreement with that person first. They will actually help you sell the other party. Remember, they have more experience getting an agreement with the reluctant person than you do. In most cases, they have been doing it for years. Childlike creativity can allow you to make opportunities out of what would otherwise be dead ends.
When creativity didn’t work, we pulled out the big gun -- persistence. We were singularly focused on the result. We would spend hours, days, weeks, even months asking for the order in the face of great opposition and even the possibility of punishment. We were in a battle of wills, and we were going to win; we had no intention of taking “no” for an answer. We were determined to get the desired “yes,” even if it meant wearing down the opposition over an extended period of time. Not every prospect becomes a client on the first encounter. But, too often, we are afraid to try more than once, even though no prospect has the power to send you to your room. The worst thing that can happen is another “no,” and with a child’s focus and persistence, you may turn that “no” into a “yes”.
Long ago, we all had these three techniques, and we used them skillfully. We lost them later in life, but they don’t have to be lost forever. Take a cue from your children or nieces and nephews. Use their skills of questioning, creativity, and persistence to your advantage. Then you will truly become, as Og Mandino wrote, the greatest salesperson in the world.
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Time Management
We, as REALTORS®, have the ultimate responsibility to control our time. We are the owners of our time, and it is our responsibility alone to control it. It rests on no one else. Being strong in our time management skills can mean the difference between success and failure in real estate sales. Unfortunately, we have three strikes against us before we even start.
Strike one: The general public has little or no respect for us. They do not understand what we really do. Most people think that, if they call or page us, we should return their call within minutes and drop everything to show them a home or meet with them. They think we should show them our listing at any time of the day or night, even if they have no intentions of buying it, it is out of their price range, they have not met with a lender yet, or they have already selected another Agent who will be representing them in their purchase.
If the prospect on the other end of the phone has no respect for your time, that prospect will not have respect for the other parts of your service either. He will not have respect for you as a person. If a prospect has little respect for you, his attitude will not change when he becomes a client.
You must earn a level of respect for your time on the first call, whether you call the prospect or the prospect calls you. You must set the tone that my time is valuable, and, if I am going to give you, the prospect, some of my time, I expect to be paid. I am making an investment of my time with that prospect to turn him into a client.
How many times have you called an attorney to ask a few quick questions and were billed for 15 to 30 minutes of time? You will receive a statement almost every time. Attorneys rarely choose not start the meter when they pick up the phone. Of course they start it because the caller is buying their knowledge and their time. Why should we as Agents be different? That is truly what we are selling.
I know I provide as much value as an attorney, do you? What do you make per hour? Do you know that number? If you do not, you should. Focus on doing the activities that pay you what you are worth per hour. There are only a few activities that we do that allow us to be highly paid.
Strike two: We help perpetuate the problem by not controlling our clients. There are too many Agents who are available 24 hours a day, seven days per week. There is no other profession whose individual members are on-call 24 hours a day, seven days per week. Yet we seem proud that we are there for our clients at all times. Our clients do not work a schedule like that in their jobs, why should we? Take back your family time. Inform your clients of your days and evenings off and stick to your schedule. Do you really want to do business with someone who does not want you to have days off or family time? It is solely up to you to set a clear standard.
Strike three: We are independent contractors. We get to do what we want when we want. I have observed some of the work habits of my colleagues. It is not a mystery to me why many of my colleagues do not make any money. It seems to be the grand mystery to them for some reason, but not to me. If many Agents in the business left real estate sales for another sales job, they would not last a week. If you want to be successful, you must treat yourself and your career with respect. Show up at the office at the same time every day. Complete your workday at the end of the day. Do not regularly take a two-hour lunch break. Treat this career like a real job or a real career. Your clients are counting on you to do so. If you have that philosophy, you cannot help being successful. I have never seen an Agent who came in early and put in a full day’s work who was not successful. Remember that no one is going to help you develop the time management disciplines you need but yourself. Your broker or manager will not be able to magically give you that ability.
Do not start behind in the count. Take back control from your clients on the first encounter. If you are looking for more specific help, give us a call. We have products and services that will help you take control of your business and your life. Make the step of control today!
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Understanding the Process
Being a salesperson is one of the greatest professions on earth. As real estate salespeople, we are helping people achieve the great “American Dream”. We get into trouble when we don’t understand the process of the sale. Most real estate salespeople have never studied sales. They have learned a few scripts and dialogues, but they don’t clearly understand the buying process. They have never become students of selling.
To be a Champion salesperson you have to understand and study sales. The first step is to understand the sales process. The truth in sales is that people make decisions based on emotion. How they feel emotionally about something governs their decision-making process. We don’t do things based on logic, reason, and intelligence. We will use those tools to justify our decision. Reality is we all act emotionally, and our behavior is shaped by our emotions. Because we are human, we are in a constant state of trying to satisfy our emotional needs and emotional wants.
How do we talk to our clients’ or prospects’ emotions? We need to first put ourselves in their situation. We need to clearly understand their needs, wants, and desires. We need to have true empathy for the prospect or client. To really be effective, we need to imagine what the prospects feel like. By clearly knowing their feelings, we can gently and patiently help them see our point of view.
For example, you are working with sellers who want to overprice their home. They believe they need to get above fair market value. The most effective way to turn them to reality is to empathize with their problem, to acknowledge that you understand their feelings. Once you do that, then you can gently show them why their desires will not happen. You have to meet those overpriced sellers where they are and work them towards your position.
If you draw a line in the sand and you are worlds apart, all you are doing is yelling at them across a canyon. You have to cross the canyon to their side. You need to lead them back across the canyon. People can often be like cows. You can push, poke, and prod them, and they won’t budge.
Your reason for your way has to be a benefit to them. Once they see how they can benefit, they will follow your thinking. The key is to talk to people in terms of needs and emotional benefits to them. Once you have established the benefits, you can persuade people to do anything.
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