Good morning. It’s Mike Ferry. Welcome back to Mike Ferry TV. It is the week of December 16th. Christmas is right around the corner … we want to help you make your Christmas a great Christmas … and that can happen by being better at what you do, being a little more productive, taking a couple of listings, having a listing sell, making a couple Buyer-controlled sales.
The market does not stop anywhere because we are close to the holidays. People buy and sell Real Estate every day, so let’s make sure you’re participating … you’re engaged … and you’re active, which means … you have to always be working on your presentation skills.
Last week, we started by talking about how to become a great performer … and I mentioned the fact that we’re very lucky to live in Las Vegas, Nevada … and we get to go to all the great shows … and there’s so many great shows to see all the time. One of the things that I love best about the shows … many times, it’s not so much the content, which we enjoy, but I enjoy watching the performance … watching how they handle that audience … how do they respond to the audience.
Your audience is of course a Seller … a Seller that you’re trying to list their home for sale. So, last week, I gave you 6 points … I have a group more I want to present to you today on how to be a great performer … because again, as I stated last week, I truly believe 100% that every single one of you watching this show … and we are very fortunate to have thousands and thousands of people that watch Mike Ferry TV every week … I believe every one of you can become a great performer. It is up to you to make the commitment … it’s up to you to have the desire … it’s up to you to want to become better at what you do.
So, here’s the next point … number 7 … continuing from last week …
7. Always ask questions during your presentation that lead to a logical conclusion for that Seller.
Ask questions that lead to a logical conclusion. “Do you folks still have to sell your home?”
“Yes, of course Mike, we do.”
“And do you want to price it to sell or leave it on the market a long time?”
“Oh, we don’t want to leave it on the market a long time, but we don’t want to give it away in terms of price.”
“I wouldn’t ask you to give it away … but let me ask you this question … Would you like me to handle the sale of the property for you?”
“Well, we think so.”
“Great. Why don’t we get started by signing the contract?”
“Well, Mike, can you tell us specifically what you’re going to do first?”
“I would love to take that and do that for you right now. May we start?”
And they say, “Go ahead.”
Everything I’ve said right now leads to a logical conclusion.
“Do you see how this price will make a difference to a potential Buyer?”
That question brings about a logical conclusion. What I want you to think about … if you take the scripts we offer … and I know that each of you will try to alternate them just a little bit … put number 3 before number 1 … you’ll want to put number 2 at number 7 … agents do that. But then you also want to edit the scripts. You’ll want to say, “Let me add this … let me add that … ” and I understand all that, but let’s just make sure that whatever you’re adding, subtracting or changing in the script … it always brings a logical conclusion for the Seller.
Our objective … yours and mine … is to get a contract signed. Their objective is to make sure that whoever they sign a contract with is the most qualified and the best agent to get that job done. Remember, when they don’t think you’re qualified, they ask you to cut the commission … when they don’t think you can do the job, they’re going to be more persuasive and try to raise the price.
So, number 7 … ask questions that lead to a logical conclusion … based on last week finishing with number 6.
8. Use a lot of tonality to control the conversation.
“Hi … I’m so excited to be here tonight … I’m really a good agent. I love listing property. I love your home a lot … it’s so pretty.” No tonality whatsoever. Tonality draws them in … tonality keeps them interested … tonality is using the words that everybody else uses with a little bit of strength.
“Would you like ME to handle the sale of the property for you?”
See, all I did was I put a little emphasis on the word “me” and I changed the tonality on a word. Use tonality.
Then I wrote …
9. To keep the presentation moving forward, sometimes you will ask and answer your own question.
Here’s what I want you to think about … people in general … now I’m not being specific to a Seller or a Buyer you’re working with … I’m not being specific to you, but people in general have a difficult time making decisions.
I used to, in my seminars, always tell two little kind of fun lines. I would say … You know, you ask the average person … do you have trouble making decisions? And they say, “Very, definitely, maybe.”
Do you have trouble making decisions? “Well, yes and no.” Well that’s how most people believe and operate their lives. Most people … the problem they have is making a decision, even when they know, in their heart, in their mind, that you’re the right agent for them, they’ll still hesitate. So, if the goal is to get them from start to finish as quickly as possible, you sometimes will have to ask a question.
“Now, folks, you do understand the value of putting a price that bring Buyers in? You understand that, don’t you? And now that I know you understand it … why don’t we talk more about the price?”
So, I ask the question … and then I answered it … to keep the presentation moving forward. If you really want to get contracts signed quickly, follow the scripts because the scripts offer you a chance to ask a lot of questions and at times you get to answer them.
Remember, we don’t get paid by the words we use … we get paid by the questions we ask … and a listing presentation that is question based is going to be dramatically shorter than a listing presentation that is all conversation.
10. Support your presentation with facts, figures and numbers to remove any fear that they would have … and they all have fears.
Put things on paper … black and white … make it very simple … market stats become vitally important. Facts, figures and numbers …
“See, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, as you can see hear … 3 homes similar to yours have sold … and I understand and appreciate that your home is, in your minds, much nicer than the rest. Let me ask you a question … they’re all 4 bedrooms, 3 baths … they’re all 2-story like yours … they’re all on a 7,000 square foot lot … they all have a block wall fence and a 2-car attached garage.”
“But Mike … remember … we put in new carpet.”
“And I understand that … but let me ask you a question … If the Buyer walks into your home and the husband and wife look at each other and say, “We love this beautiful home, but the first thing we have to do is change the carpet to match our needs,” is that going to bother you?”
“Well, no … if they want to change the carpet, they can.”
“Well, we can’t charge them for something they may not want to keep, correct?”
“Well, yes … ”
“And did your carpet go up in value after you put it in?”
“Well, no.”
“Then we can’t ask more money for it, can we?”
Facts, figures and numbers.
11. Always be closing to make sure the prospects understand and accept the points.
Remember the ABCs of selling. This is as old as dirt. ABCs of selling … Always Be Closing. So, therefore, as I ask a series of questions throughout the presentation … in essence … I’m giving them multiple opportunities to make the decision to go ahead and sign a contract.
12. Remain consistent in what you’re saying.
Remain consistent in what you’re asking. Be very consistent in your responses. You could be in that house for 5 minutes to get a contract signed … you could be in the house for 25 minutes. If you’re in the house for much more than 30 minutes, you’re talking too much … but the longer you talk, the more inconsistent we often become … so to remain consistent, we want to ask instead of talk.
13. Practice all the time.
You know, it’s so interesting … great professionals practice … amateurs do not. The only way to ever really become good is through practice, however, if you have a bad script and you practice it all the time … all you’re doing is practicing on a bad script and how to become bad at what you do.
If you have a good script and you practice all the time, pretty soon that script becomes part of who you are … and the purpose of the script is to make it part of who you are. Practice … 30 minutes a day … 45 minutes a day … 5 days a week … whatever phase of the listing presentation you’re working on and need to learn, you practice all the time.
14. Personal appearance must … in almost every case … match our presentation style.
For the guys … a suit and tie … at minimum … a suit and tie.
For the ladies … makeup … your hair done professionally … professional attire.
I tell people all the time … for men and women … buy a couple of listing suits … for the men and women. You know, the women have such a huge advantage over the men because if there are any flaws, they can put make up on. I wish we could do the same guys, but in most cases, we can’t. We would look like Boy George … and that wouldn’t work in most cases. But personal appearance is vital because … and we want to remember … the moment they open the door, they start judging you and I on the spot … instantaneously. Therefore, our personal appearance becomes vitally important.
15. Present in such a manner that the client will want to be with you forever because they respect what you’re doing.
See, a listing that you take today … it could sell in 2 weeks … it could sell in 2 months … it could take 6 months to sell. In the Seller’s mind, that is forever … so therefore, we want to present in such a manner that as we work through the time that it takes to get it sold, the level of respect remains the same. So, constant communication is part of the performance … always reselling them on what you’re doing all the time is part of the performance.
16. Everybody has a hiccup in their presentation style … so don’t worry about it … just don’t hiccup too much … because we’re all going to make mistakes. Everybody does … it’s just part of the process.
I just watched a great female comedian who’s very famous … and I just watched a video of hers and she said one of the names wrong and she didn’t even hesitate when she made the mistake, she just self-corrected and kept on going. She was in front of an audience of thousands of people … she made a mistake … didn’t stop and say, “I made a mistake … I’m so sorry,” she said Bob Smith wrong … she said Bert Smith instead of Bob Smith … or whatever the name was … so she said Bert Smith … I mean Bob Smith … and continued. I don’t think the audience even caught it.
Your ability to be a professional presenter is 100% up to you. Your ability to do it in a style or manner that is going to elevate you above your competition is up to you. Your ability to make the decision to be a top-flight professional presenter is 100% up to you. Don’t let anybody talk you out of the fact that you can get better than you have been in the past. Don’t let anybody talk you out of the fact that you’re not going to be the best of the best of the best, which you can become … but remember, it’s a journey … it’s a destination … it’s a path that we’re going to be on.
A couple years ago, I told agents every day … it’s going to take 18 months in most cases to transform you from point A to point B on being a better presenter. Spend the time … spend the energy … look at the end result … use the scripts … practice every day … and it’s going to be a great Christmas. Talk to you next week. Thank you for today.
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!
