For a majority of agents and companies, the first two months of 2019 have been very slow. There are a hundred good reasons why, but none of them are valid because there are also tons of agents who’ve had their best start in history during that same time. So we’ve got to get back on track to working hard again.
When I started doing seminars, which now has been almost 44 years, I used to start every seminar by putting up three letters on the whiteboard: P, P and C.
The first P, of course, stands for Prospect, finding people who have an interest in doing business with you for buying and selling real estate … a vital part of any sales position is talking to people. Our industry is not a big fan of prospecting for some reason. I wonder at times how we expect to do contracts, get listings and make sales if we’re not having conversations with people.
The second P is the word Presentation. How well do you present yourself? How professional are you … the words you use, the expressions you have, your ability to respond to bring people to a point of contract signed, your ability to ask questions, how good a performer are you.
Then the third, C, of course is the word Close. Getting a signature, getting your contract signed, you know taking some positive action toward an end result.
So like the audience I presented this choice to, I invite you to pick one of the three as the most important step in the Real Estate process. The truth is, it’s not complicated. When I presented the seminars, usually about 80 percent of the audience chose Prospect. A majority of those people who didn’t pick prospecting chose the Close, about 15 percent. Only about 5% chose Presentation.
The Prospecting Disconnect
We all agreed you have to Prospect if you’re going to do a deal. But why did these folks choose prospecting? “Well, without a prospect,” they replied, “we can’t present, we can’t close … If we don’t prospect, we have nobody to talk to. If we don’t prospect, we don’t have any leads.”
Then I asked the attendees, “Is a past client a Prospect? Yes or no?” They’d say “yes” … and I followed up with, “What about For Sale By Owner prospects, yes or no?” … and they’d say “yes” again. But when asking if they stopped by all For Sale By Owners listings or called them, they’d answer, “no.” That confused me. If a For Sale By Owner is a prospect and a past client who has the desire or interest again is also a prospect, but you’re not calling them, what’s the point of having these names, phone numbers and leads to follow up with? The crowd always responded with a kind of blank look.
Closings: The Bottom Line
Then I’d move on to those who picked Close as the most important step, about 15 percent of the audience. I’d ask them why they chose it. And it was always the drivers. They’d say, “You’ve got to hammer ‘em down, you’ve got to get that pen into their hand, they’ve got to be signing a contract. It’s the finalization. It’s the whole deal right there when they sign that contract.”
Do You Avoid Making Presentations?
Then finally I asked how many picked Presentation? Only four or five people. Oftentimes they chose this one because they didn’t vote for the first two. But let’s take a closer look … If a For Sale By Owner expired listing or a past client are prospects, and you’re not going to call them and talk to them … You have nobody to present to. That seems pretty obvious. But then I’d ask the audience why they’d drive by a For Sale By Owner and not stop. I’d get responses like, “I’m too busy,” “I have someplace else to go,” “I’m going to call them later.” We hear those standard answers a thousand times. I’d tell the crowd, “Isn’t the truth the reason you don’t contact a lot of the good leads you have is because you’re uncomfortable in making a presentation to them?” You could see on their faces that look of, well, maybe that’s the case.
Presentation Drives Prospecting, Closing
The reason many of us don’t prospect is because we don’t know how to present. And if you do call a prospect and you get a short presentation set up for 7 o’clock tomorrow, now the pressure is on you to perform. You’ve got to get to work and know what to say to get them to sign a contract. The truth is, presenting is more important than prospecting.
For those folks who chose the close, I asked them if they agreed with this … “If you make a weak presentation: ‘Hi, it’s so nice to be here tonight. I just love your home. It’s so pretty. Oh, wow and you have kids and I have kids. Oh, you have a puppy and I love puppies.’ … That’s a weak presentation. Have you ever noticed when you make a weak presentation it’s hard to get a contract signed? In fact, when you think about it, the quality of the close depends upon the strength of the presentation.”
I’d circle the P for presentation … because if I don’t know what to say when talking to a buyer or seller, it’s very hard to get out and prospect because it’s frustrating … generating leads, whether you’re buying them off the Internet, coming off a sign call, a walk-in from an open house, or through other types of prospecting. You have a lead and if you don’t know what to say, you won’t talk to them. So why would you prospect … and if you’re going to make a presentation, and the presentation is weak and you’re fumbling and mumbling and stumbling at what you have to say, and you can’t respond to the questions they bring up, and you can’t answer the objections they have … isn’t it very difficult to get a contract signed? Of course it is.
Presentation Boosts Skills, Confidence
So the truth is everything about the sales process revolves about our ability to master the presentation. So why do we have you role-play in practice, have accountability partners, and why — when going to seminars — do we always talk about the presentation, why do we have a four-day productivity school where you’re practicing for four days out loud with somebody else? Your presentation skills build your confidence to do the job!
A Positive Attitude Strengthens Your Presentations
As we look back at January and February, with too many people in real estate not having the kind of success they envisioned, we must ask ourselves if we’ve worked on strengthening our performance, strengthening our presentation. Know your facts, be truthful, have your scripts, have the questions. Even if you have to walk in and read the script by saying, “I’ve written down these really important questions to ask you tonight, may I ask them now?” … And they agree, and you read the questions off the script, which then helps them make a decision and gets you to the obvious point … it gets your contract signed! So as you’ve heard me say for years, so much of our ability to present is the attitude we have toward selling, the attitude we have toward being a salesperson, the attitude we have toward strong skills, the attitude we have toward elevating ourselves above the competition. And that attitude is what strengthens the presentation.
If I say to you, “Who is the best listing agent in your office, and you don’t yell, “I am!” you’re making a mistake. And if you point and say, “Well, it’s actually that person over there,” then why wouldn’t the seller not list with them over you. It all goes back to the attitude you have.
I had a person walk up to me at our production retreat in January and say, “Okay, now you’ve been doing this a long time … You’ve seen all the speakers … Who do you think is the best trainer in real estate?” I said, “I am.” And he looked at me and said, “That’s awfully cocky.” I responded, “Well, would you come to my event for three days if I said somebody else was that much better than I was?” Do you really believe sellers are going to choose you if somebody else is better than you … if you don’t believe in yourself?
Project and I-Can-Do-It-Best Attitude with a Professional Approach
That’s the attitude you have to have, and how do you learn to believe in yourself? Practice, rehearse, and practice, rehearse, and practice and rehearse. Practice and rehearse the good scripts and dialogues from the Mike Ferry Organization. Practicing poorly only solidifies poor practice habits and brings you poor results. So attitude is the critical part and, of course, the approach, which you’ve heard me talk about for years. That’s not just your physical presence, the smile on your face, it’s also your energy, your enthusiasm, the firmness of your handshake or whether your shoes are even shined. It’s all part of the approach.
Let me share something that happened late last summer. One of our good clients sent me an email. In it he wrote: “Mike, I had prequalified a seller, sent out the prelisting package as you suggested. I followed up with a phone call to make sure they read it. I showed up at 7 o’clock, knocked on the door. Lady answers and says, ‘Come on in we’re ready to sign the contract.’ I hadn’t said a word yet. I hadn’t even made the presentation. But the couple said, ‘We’re ready to sign the contract.’ I was fine with that, and they signed it. I had to ask them, ‘Why would you ask me to sign the contract without the presentation?’ They said it was because the other agent knocked who on the door had on shorts, tennis shoes, a golf shirt.’ … They told me they thought he was a gardener. ‘We took one look and we closed the door. You showed up, you’re dressed as a pro, you got the deal.’”
Elevate Your Expectations
Folks attitude and approach, and then let’s add a third word, expectations … Walking in KNOWING you can do the job, knowing you have the expectation they’re going to accept what you have to say, and that expectation builds in the presentation of what you’re trying to offer them. Think about Prospect, Presentation and Close. Think about Attitude to Approach and Expectations. Think about winning 70 to 75% of the time, which you can do! And let’s think about making March a great month because of you and your skills.
Talk to you next week. Make it a great week!
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Mike Ferry is the global leader in Real Estate Coaching and Training. Watch Mike each week as he discusses a variety of topics to help Real Estate Agents and Brokers. Grow your real estate business by improving your mindset, developing your skills and creating a plan of action to increase your production!
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