8 Fundamentals Of Selling Real Estate

Welcome and good morning to Mike Ferry TV the week of January 3rd, Tuesday 2023. It’s upon us. I hope we’re all ready to go to work and have a great 2023. What I’d like to do on the first week of this New Year, I’m going to look at some of the fundamentals that I believe are critically important for whether it be a brand new licensee, an experienced veteran, Superstar producer, team leader, etc. Brokers and Managers. Some of the fundamentals of selling Real Estate and enhancing not only your productivity, but your income as your career moves forward. So these I wrote down one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight what I call fundamentals. If we buy into them, if we accept them, if we learn them, if we use them, there’s no question that we can have a much better year than we may have thought we could have. So as I said, these are very fundamental. I’ve been talking about these types of things. Now, this is my 48th year. It shows in the color of the hair and the wrinkles on my face. I’ve been doing it a long time and the experience is coming out in these fundamentals to you. 

So here’s number one. Remember the selling anything. And it doesn’t matter whether you’re selling clickers for a TV or pens or paper or podiums or cameras or Real Estate. Selling is always a numbers game. It requires talking to people. And I’ve never understood why our wonderful, crazy business, called Real Estate, has never been able to demand, expect, teach and have us all talking to people all the time. I was lucky, the Broker, that I worked for Pat McVey, and I’ve shared this with some of you in the past day one in Real Estate way back in the early 1970s. He said, “Do you want to succeed?” I said, “Yes, sir.” “Then I want you to talk to 100 people a day, five days a week, and do that for your first three months.” I didn’t know the difference. I said, “Patrick, does everybody do that?” He said, “Yes!” He lied to me. I was the only person in the office to talk to people all day long, every day. And the truth is, I talk to people all day long, every day for my first three months. And as a result, I had record-setting production to start. Now you’re going to say, “Well, that was 1970 and this is 2023.” Talking to people is a numbers game that never changes. And it doesn’t matter if you’re working for Xerox or IBM or selling Real Estate in your community. If I get into the habit of playing the game called “Numbers”, I’m going to find people to want to buy and sell. 

The second fundamental is what I refer to as the letter P, as in Peter, the letter P as in Paul, and the letter C as in Charles, the PPC concept. Understanding that if I prospect if I learn to present in a forceful manner and I’m willing to ask people to sign a contract, I can get transactions done on a regular basis. Prospect, present and close are the basics of selling. And once again, whether I’m selling a TV clicker or this podium, if I am willing to talk to people, make a meaningful presentation that assists them in doing what they’re trying to accomplish better and then ask them to sign a contract, I’m going to win the game. 

The third of these basics is probably the most difficult for Real Estate because it’s simply rarely, if ever, taught. Selling is asking questions. It’s not about talking. Selling is asking questions. Learning how to ask questions, which is a method of guiding people through the process of what you’re presenting. It’s a method of helping people make decisions a little bit quicker, and it’s a method of engaging the people. The prospects you’re talking to and getting responses to see if what you’re presenting takes them to where they want to go. Selling is asking questions. The sooner we learn to ask questions, the faster the production grows and the better the results are going to be. 

The fourth of these fundamentals is the hardest, probably of all the ones I’ve been teaching for years. Selling is using canned, scripted presentations because they are the name of the game. There’s no ifs, ands or buts that can presentations or in essence, knowing what to say. Think about it this way If a man puts on a tie, it’s a canned presentation. You tie it in a knot, you want it to look the same way each time. A man or woman is trying to cook a meal, they follow a canned, scripted presentation. It’s called a recipe. A lady or a man is putting on something on their face, whether it be cream or makeup. It’s a scripted canned presentation. We drive our car. It’s a canned presentation. The pilot flies the plane. It’s a canned presentation. The doctor does surgery. It’s a canned presentation. Listing property and showing property. We should be able to say the same thing and get the same type of response on a regular basis if we know what to say. And as long as we know what to say, we have the confidence to say it. 

Letter E or number five, we have to remember that objections never change. They’re always the same. Think about going on a Listing Presentation. I want to think it over. I have a friend in the business. I want you to cut your commission. These are not new. These have been around for 30, 50, 75 years. Really since dirt was the only option before homes, people have always given objections. And the reason they give objections is because they’re not comfortable with what we’re saying in the presentation, or they’re just trying to stall us a little bit to keep us from closing too quickly. Look at the common objections you’re getting. Write an answer to each of those objections, practice a response and then when the objection comes up, you’re going to be so comfortable responding in a positive manner, which will help your closing percentage dramatically. 

And of course, then I wrote down the next fundamental. The three most important words in selling Real Estate: Rejection … We get that in this business. Acceptance … We don’t get it often enough. And then of course, the word, Embarrassment. And of course, rejection is when they tell us, “No.” And of course, we can get around being told “no”, if we change the types of questions that we ask. So if I say to a potential listing, “Do you want to sell your home?” they can, of course, say “No.” But if I say to them, “When do you plan on moving?” I’ve removed the option of the rejection and the “No.” The challenge, of course, is what if they say, “Yes”? “When do you plan on moving?” “I’d like to do it soon. Can you help me get my home sold?” “Yes.” So rejection and acceptance. But then, of course, embarrassment is when you make a mistake, which everybody does. If you forget what to say, which we’ve all had happen, or even forget the name of the person you’re talking to, which does happen also. Rejection, acceptance and embarrassment. 

And then I wrote down the next fundamental, listings are not only the name of the game, which is a slogan that has been around forever, but they are how we stay in the game of selling Real Estate. At some point we have to understand, and this is probably one of the most important points I’ve been teaching for years. That listings make you the employer in the community. Whereas working with buyers, you become the employee because you’re reliant upon the people that have inventory, which are the employers or the Listing Agents. When I listed property, the Board of Realtors goes to work for me. If I’m working with a buyer, whoever has the listings, I’m working for them. 

And then the last point that I wrote down as one of the fundamentals, as we start the New Year, I wrote down coaching is not only necessary, but if in most cases it’s an essential process to long-term success in the Real Estate business. Our company was the first Coaching company in October 1988. We are the most established and we’re the one company, if you’re thinking about coaching, that is always going to work on the fundamental sales skills to build your career. We hope, Sabrina and I, that you had a safe and wonderful holiday season, whatever you celebrated. And we hope that you’re ready and prepared for a big new year. That your business plan is complete and you’re ready to go. And we hope that the ideas from today can help you do it. Thanks for being with us. Let’s have a great year together.