Welcome back to Mike Ferry TV the week of April 15th. The days, weeks, months go by quickly. Are you doing your job every single day? Are you attempting to do your job? Are you doing the best you can possibly do to create a listing or make a sale? If you start thinking like that, along with the thoughts we’re going to share last week and this week and next week, your chances improved dramatically.

I have to tell you, I did my very first public seminar. I think it was probably 45 years ago. And on day three, at the end of the day, I made a statement and a lot of people were very kind. There was only 100 people in the room. A lot of them applauded, which was very kind when I made the statement, and a lot of them looked at me with a look of dismay on their face, because what I said to them is, if each of you believed as much in yourself as I believe that you can do the job that we’re trying to get you to do, we’re both going to win the game. And more importantly, your buyers and sellers are going to win the game because they’re dealing with a high level, intense professional like yourself.

The word “no” is such an important part of the sales process.

So we stopped last week and talking about the numbers game, we’ll go to the next point, which would be if I’m continuing from last week to this week, which I’m going to do.

Number seven. The word “no” is such an important part of the sales process. Once we understand and accept the rejection as being one of bringing us one step closer to a “yes,” then our attitude about selling Real Estate improves. “Mike, it’s so discouraging. You know, I took up this idea of prospecting, and I’d much rather just do social media and let them call me. But I started calling people and I got one. ‘Yes,’ and I got one lead. But gosh, these people kept saying no to me.” Well, the only “no,” N-O that counts is the last one before you quit. And if you get told “no” and you quit, you’re finished for the day, maybe the week for the month.

So “no,” for most sales professions is a vitally important part of the sales process. Now, at the same time, if you look at the Mike Ferry scripts very carefully and I play this game in seminars all the time, I’ll say to the audience, everybody on the count of three, say the word “no” out loud, one, two, three. And the audience screams, “No!” I said, “Now, when I want to ask you to say the word ‘no’ five times in a row, out loud, on the count of three, one two, three.” “No! No! No! No! No!” “Now, I’m going to ask you a question and I want you to say no.” “When do you plan on moving?” And the audience just looks at me and somebody will say, “Well, we can’t say no.”

Isn’t part of selling getting more agreements to the conversations you’re involved in? So you don’t have to be told “no” all the time. If you’re following the advice that people like myself give professionals like yourself, “When do you plan on moving?” They can’t say no, but they can say never. “And how long have you lived in this home?” “Well, you’ve been here for nine years” “And where did you folks move from?” So you’re creating a conversation where the word “no” is not part of the conversation.

Believe in yourself more than you’ve ever believed in yourself in the past.

Point number eight, it was, gosh, I think probably 45 years ago, as I mentioned, I said two things towards the end of the seminar. And the second thing I said to him is you need to believe in yourself more than you’ve ever believed in yourself in the past. You need to believe in yourself more than you’ve ever believed in yourself in the past. If you look around your board of realtors, look around your city. The majority of agents virtually are not doing anything to list and sell property. But yet in every city, every county, every state, every province, every place you go, I go. There are agents that are actively engaged in listing and selling property at this time. In many parts of North America, the market is down 30%, 40%, 50%. If the stats that we saw were true at all in 2022, we did over 6 million sales in the US, 2023, we did 3.7 million sales in the US. That’s a dramatic decrease because we did not lose enough agents to make the per person productivity improve. So develop a belief in yourself. “How do I develop a belief in myself?” By learning what to say, learning what to do and then. Having somebody hold you accountable to that.

Learn the answer and your confidence increases.

Point number nine, my broker, Pat McVay, taught me one of the most important simple rules in selling and probably one of the most important things that he taught me in the first couple of weeks. The objections you get from buyers and sellers are always the same. The objections you get from buyers and sellers are always the same. And he gave me a list of seven or eight objections from sellers. “I want to think it over.” There’s a new one. “I’ve got a friend in the business.” There’s a new one. “We want to compare companies.” “We want you to cut your commission.” “We want to give you a 30-day listing.” These are all common. And what Patrick said to me was this. Learn the answer and your confidence increases. And then if they give you the objection, you can smile, give them a responsible answer and move forward.

So I played a game with this. The first six months in Real Estate, I was really focusing on getting listings, and I took the list that Pat gave me of the eight objections, and I kept it in my pocket. And when I got to the end of the presentation, I would say to them, I have a list here that I’d like to show you. And it’s the common objections as to why you’re not going to sign a contract with me. Now, I’d like you to read through and pick out which one applies to you. First of all, most of the time they’d say, “We don’t have any objections. We want you to list the property.” “Fine. Would you sign the contract, please?” But they would often, especially the analyticals, they would look down and say, “Well, we’re concerned about number four.” “That is one of my favorite. Let me give you the answer.” And then they sign the contract. The questions and objections that buyers and sellers give. They’ve been giving these since dirt was discovered. Learn the answers to be better prepared.

Accept the fact that everything in our life is a canned presentation.

Point number ten. At MFO we have taught for many, many years the use of using canned scripted presentations and we drive this home. We drive this point home by saying everybody has a canned presentation because we say the same things over and over and over. They’re just not as effective as those that have a sales-oriented, client-oriented, canned presentation. Folks, when I put on my tie in the morning, I want it to look the same way every day. When I brush my hair, I want it to come out looking the same way when a young lady, when a lady does her makeup, she wants her makeup to look the same each day. When a man or woman does their hair, they want it to look the same way. When they get dressed. They want to be professional in their approach.

We already have a canned presentation, but then I gave this example years ago and the ladies would always get a chuckle. I would say, “Ladies, any time you cook a meal, you’re following a plan. And if you’re following a plan, you’re trying to accomplish something. So it tastes and looks and smells the same way each time. It’s called a canned presentation.” A chef uses a canned presentation, a pilot flying a plane uses the canned presentation. So if we can just accept the fact that everything in our life is a canned presentation, we can have a lot more success using the Mike Ferry scripted canned presentation.

I saw a great sign. This is point number 11. In fact, we produced this sign. We didn’t know who the author was. We often have it hanging on the wall at our big events, our Superstar Retreats, etc. and the sign said the following. “You can make money or you can make excuses. Which do you do most often and which do you prefer?” You can make money or you can make excuses. “Well, Mike, you don’t understand my market.” Markets are all the same. “You don’t understand my circumstances.” We all have circumstances. “But you don’t understand what’s going on in today’s market.” Folks, I probably have a better understanding than you do because I’m involved with all the people doing the business all the time in today’s market. So stop the excuses, start the activities that bring income to you and your family.

Asking great questions is the key to becoming a great salesperson.

And the last point for today, most people think selling is talking and carrying on in an enthusiastic manner. And enthusiasm is a very important part of the sales process. And asking great questions is the key to becoming a great salesperson. Asking great questions is the key to becoming a great salesperson. Master salespeople lose their edge. At about age 6 or 7 because when they when a child first starts to talk, the question, “Why Mommy? Why Daddy?” is the most common question they ask. And of course, what we tell kids is, you know, “Don’t be so inquisitive, don’t ask so many questions.” And, you know, so often we actually close down the sales process in a potential salesperson. I said to an audience one time, “The best listing agents are probably 6 years old because they’re just going to take the script and follow it.” But by the time we’re 16, you know, we’ve been told it’s better to talk than to ask. And by the time we’re 21, we quit asking any questions at all. And then at age 24, we go into Real Estate and we have to revert back to age 6 to understand the importance of asking questions. Asking brings a response. Asking creates engagement. Asking brings back the answers to help you understand what you have to do next. So it’s the 15th of April. The month is half done and I will look forward to seeing you again next week. Thanks for today.