Welcome and good morning to Mike Ferry TV … the week of August the 10th. One of the questions that I’m being asked constantly is … What are the predictions, if you can do such a thing as make a prediction, for the marketing from now until the end of 2020? And with the pandemic in play … and it’s probably going to remain in play … I think that the predictions are very strong that we should see a very good market. The lack of inventory, the low interest rates … everything is driving the Real Estate market.

Now, there’s certain parts of the country that are probably not as strong as others, but generally speaking, I think we’re going to see a very strong market right through the end of the year. But, see, the truth is … whether the market is strong or the market is weak isn’t really the issue at hand … because there’s going to be a certain number of transactions taking place in your city, your county, your market, your province … no matter what the economy is doing.  So the question then, of course, is … for the months of August through December, how many of those transactions do you want to have?

I’m predicting the market will be strong through the end of the year and probably through at least the first quarter of next year. We’ve had a long run from 2012 to 2019 of a very strong straight upward trending market, which was nothing more, as some of you know, of regaining some of the losses we had from 2007 to 2012. So, that’s my big prediction. I’m not going to change it. That’s what it is, and we don’t have to talk about it … because if you’re good at what you do, it doesn’t matter what the economy does. Get good at what you do … and that will always defeat any ups or downs in the economy.

I’m going to spend a little bit of time today talking about something we don’t talk about often in the Mike Ferry Sales System … and that is the belief and concept of how do we become good at being the closer on a presentation … Buyer or Seller … or negotiating a contract to get a contract signed.

There’s a lot of books written on the topic … there’s a lot of seminars on the topic … you’ll notice we don’t spend a lot of time on it and there’s a couple reasons for that. I took our workbook and I started looking at some of the points that we’ve written on the topic of closing, and I want to share some of them with you today … because all I’m trying to do is help you get a better understanding that the close … and probably this is the most important thing I can say to you regarding closing … the close is a natural ending to a good or a great presentation. Or, in essence, the better you are at presenting yourself, whether it be a Buyer or Seller … the better you are at presenting the services that you offer to a Buyer or Seller … and the more accepting they are of the services you’re discussing, the better chance you have at getting the signature on a contract.

So, if you accept the fact that closing is a natural ending … and as a natural ending … I’ve presented to the Seller, what we do, how we do it, how it’s going to work on their home … the natural thing to then say is, “Would you like to get started? Would you sign the contract please?” That is only difficult if we’re not making a strong, great presentation. If we’re hemming and hawing during our presentation, we’re not sure of ourselves, we’re showing a lack of belief … if we’re not in a position where we know that we can do the job for the Seller, they’re going to question our ability to do the job for them … whether it be a Buyer or a Seller. And as a result of the questions … the delay in the closing process takes place.

I wrote down a thought … a great appointment, Buyer or Seller, is when the prospect needs the services we have to offer. If they don’t need the services, what’s the point of making a presentation? And they can see that the services we offer will help them achieve the goal they’ve set … buying or selling a home. This makes the close quite simple.

Now, you’ve heard me say in the past … in a Real Estate transaction, there’s a Buyer … there’s a Seller … our job is to bring them together … you know, bring them to the point where they both agree that this transaction makes sense to Buyer and Seller … and then how difficult is the close itself. They see the need to get something done … they see that our services can fulfill that need.

So, I wrote down then, being a good closer is really more about the attitude that we have towards the prospect, the presentation we’re making, the services we have to offer, the enthusiasm that we show during our presentation, the confidence that we can get the job done. “I can find you the home you’re looking for.” “I can get your home sold.” And the belief that we have in ourselves … it’s more about those than using some kind of a strong, tricky type of closing skill or technique.

I had a good friend of mine that doing a lot of sales training for a long time and he said to me, “What do you teach when it comes to closing?”

I said, “We ask them to make a great presentation.”

He said, “No, no. I said, ‘What do you teach about closing?’”

I said, “We teach people to make a great presentation.”

“Yeah, but, Mike, I guess we’re not communicating.”

I said, “No, we’re communicating.” I said, “If they make a great presentation, the close is a simple part of the transaction. If they do not make a great presentation, the customer has objections, questions, concerns, delays … and they will put off … if they ever sign a contract with you at all.”

So, here’s what I’ve written … if you follow the listing presentation that we suggest you follow, verbatim, and you’re sitting in front of a prequalified and motivated Seller … now, think about this … I want to be a better closer. Good … then only spend your time with prequalified, motivated Buyers and Sellers … because you can be the best closer in the world, you can have 500 different closes. This other friend of mine, speaker, says, “Well I teach 45 different closes to an audience.”

I said, “I teach one. Would you sign the contract please?” But what I teach an audience is to be so strong in the presentation that people want what you have to offer. So, if you follow the listing presentation verbatim and you’re sitting in front of a prequalified, motivated Seller, the close is simple … but, when you haven’t prequalified them and don’t know their motivation, the close, of course, is a challenge and very strong.

So, as I debated with my friend about the fact that we teach 1 close and he teaches 45 … I said, “Well, what do you teach them in terms of a listing presentation?”

“Well, we don’t get into that much. We pretty much let them say what they want, but we teach them all the ways to get a contract signed.

I said, “Well, I think we’re never going to get an agreement on this because I believe that if you’re really strong in your presentation, people will want what you have to offer.” I mean, watch a great entertainer … watch a great singer … a dancer … a performer … a musician … the presentation to the audience is so strong, when they finish, you can’t wait to applaud and many times stand up and applaud. So, we want you to understand that you’re probably not getting a lot of standing ovations after a listing presentation, but you can certainly present in a manner that they will want to applaud and their applause is signing a contract with you.

I wrote down this … they expect you to close. A Buyer and Seller expects you to close … and therefore, you need to close them because they expect it. It’s part of the process. See, they will often say to each other before you get there … “Listen, don’t sign anything. Commit to not signing anything. Let’s make an agreement, husband and wife, we’re not going to sign anything. We’re going to talk to three more people before we … now this guy’s supposed to be good … don’t sign anything.” And then, 30 minutes later, they’re signing a contract.

Well, they expect us to do a good job. They expect us to be strong in our presentation. They expect us to be strong in our presentation. They expect us to have the answers to the questions they have. They expect us to respond to their concerns … and they expect us to then say, “Would you like to get started? And, if yes, would you sign the contract please?”

So, here’s a fun thought for you … you have to believe in your own value as a salesperson to get the customer to believe in your value as a salesperson. As the value to the customer increases in their eyes, the close becomes a lot easier and a lot quicker. You have to believe in your own value. I mean, do you really believe you can do the job for the Seller? Do you really believe you can do the job for the Buyer? Do you really believe that you are the right person to execute and get this transaction taken care of? Because your value as a salesperson has to be so strong that they believe in you as much as you believe in yourself.

Then I wrote one last thought for our Mike Ferry TV today … they’ve invited you to their home if it’s a Seller for a reason. Your job is to make a strong presentation … follow the script … and get a contract signed. This decision is always made as a business decision. Make sure you make a good, strong listing business presentation. Facts … figures … always move people a lot faster to making a decision. Develop the strength and belief in yourself. You develop the strength and belief in yourself as you learn your presentation. Practice it every day. Prepare yourself mentally, physically and emotionally to go in and do a great job, and you’ll discover that you don’t have to have a lot of trick closes to make it work. Close is a natural ending to a good presentation.

Let me end my presentation by saying, “Would you sign the contract please?” See you next 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!