“Are You a Realtor?… Gotta Have These 4 Ideas”

Here’s four “start today” techniques you can add to your home selling repertoire to help you focus on:

1. Creating Home Buyer Loyalty
2. The “Stretch Factor”
3. Digging Deeper with Home Sellers
4. Your Personal Goldmine

Technique #1. Why Should a Buyer Choose You?

Creating home buyer loyalty is becoming increasingly more difficult. The Internet has certainly impacted this issue. From a real estate Salesperson’s point of view, you can’t afford to spend time with a buyer unless they meet two basic criteria…

#1. You have proof that they have financial approval to make the purchase

#2. They sign a Buyers Agency Agreement with you. The first of these two is something you can look after right up front. The second should follow closely behind.

So why should they sign up with you?

The secret in obtaining their loyalty is to demonstrate to your home buyer that “I am different”. When you do so, they won’t have any hesitation to sign a BAA. Create a “marketing plan for home Buyers”.

Here’s three examples of ideas for your plan you can show them to help in deciding in your favour:

1. I will personally doorknock the neighborhood you are focusing on to identify any possible Sellers not on the market.
2. I will research all for sale by owners, expired listings and canceled listings for additional potential matches.
3. I will prospect 2 hours every day looking for new listings that are not yet listed.

Share these ideas with your potential client when you first get together. Let them know you are a proactive Salesperson, not just waiting for things to come your way. By doing so, you will help them understand how you go above and beyond traditional methods. That’s why they will want to commit to working with you. You offer more…”I am different”.

Conclusion

Here’s a good rule to follow… do not put them your car a second time without a signed Buyers Agency Agreement. The first time, okay – after that you need a commitment. Think of it this way… you wouldn’t put a for sale sign on somebody’s lawn without a signed listing agreement, would you? Use the same set of values when working with home buyers.  

When you explain all the extra work you do to help them get what they want then you have every right to ask for their commitment in return. The good news is, with your pro-active approach, you’ll get that commitment. NO Excuses

Technique #2. The “Stretch Factor”

Business wisdom dictates that you should constantly be reviewing and adjusting your plans for the next 12 months (Real Estate Sales and personal). As you do so, it’s a good idea to step back and re-evaluate your perception of your upper limits. What I mean by upper limits is…are you thinking BIG enough? Are you building in your “stretch factor”?

It has been proven over and over that we typically only reach 10% of our overall potential. There’s lots of room for “more”. There’s a great anonymous quote that says…“If you argue for your limitations…you get to keep them.”

Here’s a few examples where most real estate Salespeople are not thinking BIG enough:

1. Not maintaining tight control of your morning routine 

2. Letting others decide what you are not capable of achieving 

3. Allowing 1-2 setbacks spoil the rest of your day 

4. Comparing yourself to others instead of yourself  

5. Not using new scripts and dialogues because “I could never say that”

Are you guilty of any of the above limitations? Are you buying into the story that “You don’t understand Bruce… my situation is different”? There’s nothing wrong with your situation being different… the question is, How intentional are you about being more than you are today?

Push yourself…eliminate those limitations that are holding you back! Twelve months from now you will be very glad that you did.

As actress Dorothea Brand wrote in 1936… “Act as if it were impossible to fail”. Argue for your growth…not your limitations. Think Bigger. Always have that “stretch factor” as part of you and where you are going.

Start by picking just one thing that you can stretch beyond your current limitations… prospect more, or ask for more referrals, or close one more time then you are comfortable with. Take on a “zero limits” mentality!

Bonus Idea… here’s a great read to help you support all this (it’s only 36 pages long)…

“YOU2 – a High Velocity Formula for Multiplying Your Personal Effectiveness in Quantum Leaps” Price Pritchett

Technique #3. Digging Deeper with Home Sellers

Prequalifying your home sellers… make sure that your prequalification script isn’t just in your head, there’s a much more professional approach.

From now on, making it a standard exercise when you set a listing appointment to pull out a copy of your prequalification script and write down their answers as you go through the critical questions. That way you’ll have all the details in a file for future reference (very helpful when negotiating an offer).

In addition to the standard “are they motivated?” (Where? When? Why?) you need to ask them the following three critical questions: 

1. What price range do you feel your home belongs in?

Understand what they’re thinking before you go out. Typically their price will be high, now you’ll be prepared in advance. If they’re motivated, you should still go out – if not, you really should question if this is a good use of your time?

2. Are you interviewing any other agents? 

Why not ask that question up front? You don’t want to be blindsided when you get there. Also… it’s not like they haven’t thought of that option already (you’re not putting ideas in their head, trust me). If the answer is yes, find out when those listing appointments are set for and then decide whether you want to go in first or last. Caution: If you’re going in last, make sure they commit to “not signing any paperwork until you see me, I have some very effective marketing techniques that I know you’re going to want to see”. 

3. Mr./Mrs. Seller… just so I understand, If everything makes sense on Friday, are you prepared to go ahead and list your home with me?

This is not an overly aggressive question. You can ask it in a very conversational fashion. This question allows you to set your expectations realistically in advance. Find out what they’re thinking and you will end up doing a much more effective job for them. They deserve that and so do you.

Summary: the Prequalification Script for your listing appointments is quite possibly the most important of all the scripts you use. Don’t scrimp on these questions, you don’t necessarily need to get the perfect answers for each before you decide to go out. You do need to know where you stand before you get there. Think of it this way… in addition to preparing you in advance, it’s actually a “time management” question. NO Excuses.

Technique #4. Your Personal Goldmine

All real estate Salespeople know that their best source of business will typically be their past client and centre of influence database. What’s also typical is that most Salespeople don’t do a great job of staying in touch with this “personal Goldmine”.

Are you their “secret agent” or are you staying in touch on an ongoing basis? Let me be very specific with regards to the “staying in touch” requirement… you need to be contacting them personally every 90 days. 

 
Give them a call. Want to know what to say?

Here’s a simple 6 step agenda for your conversation:
 
1. Regain rapport – don’t take too long on this, it can get out of control. Remember, this is a business call – you must do your best to keep it that way.
 
2. Give them some added value details about the market . “As a home owner I thought you’d like to know that…”. 

This is definitely something that most of your competition will fail to do. Start by checking your MLS stats to come up with an interesting fact…Example: #of homes for sale versus this time last year, average # days on the market versus last year, pricing fluctuations, etc.
 
3. Ask if they have any questions about the market
 
4. Use this non-threatening question next… ”With the market being so active lately, at what point do you suppose you folks might be considering making a move?”
 
5. Ask for referrals – use a “who” question not a “yes/no” question 

“Before I hang up Mr./Mrs. Smith… one more question. As you know, I’m always looking for more people to help in real estate… so I was wondering… WHO do you know that needs my help to buy or sell a home this year?”
 
6. Say goodbye and mark them over 90 days for the next follow-up. Be sure to call back on time as planned. Use a good CRM system to support this activity. Don’t let anything slip between the cracks.

Lastly, if they’re not at home, just leave a message. Keep it simple and not too lengthy. Let them know you were thinking of them.

That’s it! Nothing more needed. These conversations should not take any more than 5 minutes (maximum 10). Be sure to have a simple added value fact ready to share (Step #2). This will position you as the expert to call next time they have a question.

Blog Conclusion:

This is just a sampling of easy-to-implement ideas that I have for you…there are lots more. Don’t try to master them all at once. Look at it as a never-ending process of exciting growth! If you want to accelerate the process, check out our Coaching options. Effective, down to earth methods and no long-term contract.

Quick Question…

Which of these 4 techniques could you take on right away? Any suggestions you might add? Leave a comment below – always glad to hear from you…Bruce Keith