Many people
in real estate sales think being called a salesperson is like being called
an axe murderer. Being a salesperson is an honorable profession. It is
a highly skilled and professional avocation. A professional salesperson
is a critical cog in any company’s success. Just ask IBM a few years
ago when they were heavy on engineers and light on sales professionals.
Because of the lack of sales IBM stock went on a free fall till they
got the sales increased.
Many REALTORS® misinterpret
what a salesperson’s function is for the client. My first thought
is to remember that selling or being a salesperson is legal.
As REALTORS® we are not selling crack on the street corner.
We are helping to provide one of man’s basic needs and desires…home
ownership. Selling is also the highest paid profession in the
world. There are more millionaires in sales than in any other
profession. We should be excited that we have selected a profession
that provides an unlimited income while still providing a valuable
service.
The art of being highly
successful in sales can be summed up in 5 words: Believing
something and convincing others. That’s it! That’s what makes
a salesperson successful. You must have unshakeable belief
in what you are selling.
Unshakeable belief
in homeownership for your clients.
Unshakeable belief in your strategic partners in your mortgage originator,
attorney, title or escrow company.
Unshakeable belief in the company you work for and your broker.
If any of these begins
to waiver or if you are lacking in any of these areas, you
will find resistance from your clients and prospects. The ultimate
edge over your competition is the firm belief that you are
the best Agent they can hire to get the job done. When you
possess that belief down to your soul…you will be unstoppable.
The first step to
being a ‘top gun’ Agent is self-mastery. You have to master
yourself before your can lead others. People will be hesitant
to follow you if you are not in control. The largest part of
self-mastery is time mastery- being able to get paid well for
the time you invest in others and yourself. Time mastery is
learning to increase your hourly wage by narrowing your focus
to only the activities that pay extremely well. There are only
about a half a dozen activities that will pay you extremely
well in real estate. They are prospecting, lead follow up,
listing appointments, showing property and writing and negotiating
contracts. These are what we call high payoff activities.
How much time is spent daily on the above high payoff activities? After coaching
100’s of successful Agents we have discovered generally it is less than 2 hours
a day. These are the activities that can pay you $200, $300, $400 per hour.
Why not master yourself and your time so you can do more high pay off activities
during the day. Without time mastery you will never earn the income you desire.
The second step is that you study and know human nature. You have to genuinely
like people and desire to serve. Understanding and studying people is a lost
art in sales. By studying their motivation and behavior styles, you will be
able to give them the guidance they need to move forward to make the correct
decision. The Agent who doesn’t encourage the client to move forward when the
right house comes up does his/her client a disservice. In most cases the client
doesn’t get the house, then compares every house to the phantom house they
didn’t get because they moved too slowly. This situation is magnified when
we are in a competitive selling market as many markets currently are in North
America where we are seeing multiple offers on properties. In these types of
markets Agents often have to earn their commission over and over again. You
won’t be able to help your clients move forward to the right decisions if you
don’t have sales skills. Professional sales people handle the objections that
their clients raise efficiently and effectively. After the objections are settled,
ask for the opportunity to serve the clients.
The third step is
to have the mental strength to persevere. Professional sales
people need to be able to take the punch and keep coming. Too
often we look for the easy road. The truth is the easy road
never leads to success. If that were the case, the road to
success would be well traveled and well worn, but road to success
is hardly traveled. The true road to success is a toll road.
The toll is persistence and patience. Most are not willing
to pay the toll. They would rather buy the ‘rejection-free’, ‘prospect-free’ system
from some guy who has never been in the trenches, but claims
to have it all figured out. Success is never easy, but it is
worth the price.
Achieving success
is not a 100-yard dash. It’s a marathon race. To win the race
you need legs, but the most important thing to winning the
marathon race is not legs or lung capacity; it’s heart. You
have to have heart to be a success.
Successful people
know the importance of perseverance and salesmanship. Thomas
Buxton said, “With ordinary talent and extraordinary perseverance,
all things are attainable.” Thomas Edison said, “Genius is
1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.” Edison was asked what
the secret of success was and he replied, “Don’t look at your
watch.” What he was saying was keep going. Don’t quit and become
impatient and stop moving forward…keep going. Edison would
often get so absorbed into his experiments that he would forget
to eat or sleep. How could he not succeed with that level of
commitment? The key to greatness is believing something and
convincing others. I watched how successful these 5 words were
first hand.
My father was a great salesperson in what many
people believe is a non-sales profession. He was a dentist
for over 30 years. He applied the rules I shared with you extremely
well. He believed in doing the job right the first time with
excellence. This belief often caused him to ‘sell’ people on
putting gold crowns instead of just putting in an amalgam filling
in the heavily decayed tooth. There was a substantial cost
difference, but he believed the job should be done right, and
he was the man for the job. A gold crown was 8 to 10 times
the cost of a filling. This difference raised his hourly rate
and provided the highest level of long term quality care for
his patient. He believed in something and convinced others…being
a salesperson is honorable, whether you are in real estate,
life insurance or even dentistry. Earl Nightingale said, “We
are all successful in life based on our ability to sell.” I
believe and am convinced that is true.
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