Mike Ferry: And welcome back to Mike Ferry TV the week of November 15th, which means we probably now are thinking holiday season a lot and discussing it with your friends and family and mentally preparing for it, which is certainly understandable in the U.S. we have our Thanksgiving holiday coming up and then of course, worldwide the Christmas holidays and whatever holidays your religious preference has in store for you. But we know this is the holiday season. We also know that the number of transactions done the last part of November and December in most of North America will drop, you know, virtually in the market from 10 to 20 to 30 percent. So, there is going to be a little less depending on your market transactions available. But the good news is for all of us, the number of agents working actively like you’re going to continue to work drops by 75to 80 percent. The last two weeks in November and December. So as my friend Neil Schwartz says, you know, it’s a race to the finish and it is a race to the finish because what we have to understand and I’ll never forget my broker Pat McVeigh at a sales meeting the first of December, way back in the early nineteen seventies, saying to all of us. Guys and gals, you have to understand that all the stores are open and selling their products and services. The insurance company is still open throughout the holiday season.

Mike Ferry: You know they may be closed early on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, but that still leaves a lot of the month of December. Then you would smile and say if you want to buy a new car in December, by the way, there’s car dealerships that have salespeople to sell you a car. And then he said, you have to understand the people buy and sell Real Estate in the month of December. And the only question is, do you want to participate? And if the answer is yes, remember there’s only this many agents working in this many transactions. Let’s get you involved in more deals November, December to make January, February strong financial months for you and your family. Last week, I talked about prospect present and close. And it’s a vitally important part of the entire sales process, and we gave you some points on how to become a little bit stronger presenter. I want to continue that today and think about a few more thoughts that may help you understand the importance of becoming a great presenter and the next thought, I wrote, and you’ll get a kick out of this. Always remember that everybody has the little hiccup in their presentation style. Everybody has a little hiccup. You know, you have a little twitch, you have a little movement, you have a little word that you use, you have what I call a go to phrase that is part of your vocabulary.

Mike Ferry: It’s normal. Don’t worry about it. Just work to control it and make sure it doesn’t overrun anything you’re saying and presenting to your buyer and seller. But then the next point on really becoming a great presenter, a great presenter speaks with conviction and authority. Conviction and authority come from your knowledge of what you’re saying and your knowledge of your sales plan. And the skills you have, the stronger the knowledge, the more the client will see that you’re an authority. Think about this again, let me repeat this, and this is probably one of the hardest ones for most to accept. A great presenter speaks with conviction, the tonality in their voice, the nodding of their head, et cetera and authority. Conviction and authority come from your knowledge of what you’re saying and your knowledge of your sales plan and your sales skills, the stronger the knowledge, the more the client will see that you’re the authority. So the knowledge and the skills are how they judge us as to whether they want to list or buy from us, and those knowledge and skills make us stand out as an authority. Remember that your tonality can be a sign of authority, so practice downswing versus the upswing, we know which leaves a question in their mind. I’ve had a lot of people talk to me and send me emails and so forth and call me about this particular point and they always say the same thing.

Mike Ferry: How do I have more conviction and more authority? And the answer, which is Mike Ferry’s answer to almost everything, is role play and practice. I had a person recently say to me, do you understand how an actor and actress really works? And I said, well, based on your question, I’m going to say no. He said, you know, they approve a script that they’re going to use, and they will then take three to six months and practice the role of that person in the script or that part of a play or movie they’re going to play. I said, OK. I said, are you talking about in the camera with the guy? No, no. They do this all the time. Then they’ll spend three to six months memorizing the script. So, they can then spend two to three months practicing and role-playing the actual scripts they’re going to use before the cameras ever turned on. Can you imagine if we, as real estate professionals spend three months just practicing the pre-qualifying of a buyer or seller script? Imagine if we spent three months every day practicing all day long. The Listing Presentation script. Can you imagine if we spent three months practicing handling the objections of a buyer and objections of a seller? We would have so much personal power that our closing ratio on buyers and sellers would skyrocket.

Mike Ferry: You want to take more listings? Want to make more sales? Improve the conviction and authority through your knowledge of the sales process? I wrote this simple little point. We also know that at times in a presentation, whether it be to our prospects sitting at the kitchen table or a group of individuals like I’m doing today with you, we have to know when to ask the difficult or challenging and tough questions. Then it is important to be open to the answers they give you so you can address their concerns. Folks, I’ve presented to you, our CMA. And I know this market has been very, very strong and we know that often a seller enjoys the opportunity to get above asking price. But do you think there might be a breaking point on the price where we don’t get the immediate response and the immediate offers? Well, probably. So, what is that breaking point on pricing? I’m recommending $675,000 which is about fifty thousand more than the last couple of sales that took place in our hot market. And you’re saying $795. Does that make a lot of sense to you? And then being quiet, nodding your head and smiling and listening to the answer? You know, you have to ask some tough questions and those tough questions, many times create a little backlash, which if we’re prepared for, we can smile and say thank you for saying that.

Mike Ferry: Thanks for sharing that. I appreciate you bringing that up. May I address that with you now? To which they’re going to say yes. And then you respond because you know what to say. But that ties us right into the next point I’m presenting. A great presenter will always keep moving the presentation forward. You don’t want to stall on one little thought, one little action, one little point in your sales plan. You don’t want to stall on one house out of nine that have sold at different prices. You want to keep moving forward and that can be done through asking a lot of questions, which is the entire Listing Presentation script, by the way. That’s really the whole entire pre-qualifying is good for buyers and sellers letting them answer, as well as again responding with authority, strong, reassuring, not creating doubt and keeping as I stated the conversation moving forward. The objective in the Listing Presentation is getting the contract signed. How do we get the contract signed? Have a highly qualified motivated seller in front of us understanding that in this marketplace today, in most of North America, there’s as many sellers selling for greed as there is for the desire to have to move for whatever that reason may be. And part of the Pre-qualifying we’re looking at agreed. Or are we looking at the real true motivation? Because the conversation regarding the greed I want nine fifty for a home that’s worth $650.

Mike Ferry: That’s a greed seller versus we need a bigger house, a smaller house. The kids are grown up. We’re moving into another area. We’re being transferred with the company. We want to shorten our drive to work, which is a motivational factor. So, we have to be an authority, we have to be strong. We have to be reassuring and keep the conversation moving to the point that we get a contract signed. I believe that all of us can become better at the presentation. I often get a compliment when I do in like this year, we’ve been doing these two days with Mike in September, October, November, and December. And I’m sure some of you have attended and we thank you for that. But I’m told all the time and I don’t say this to sound braggadocio, but I’m told for those that I’ve been working with for five, 10, 20, 30 years plus, which is thousands and thousands of agents. They always keep saying to me, gosh, you’re getting better as you get older. To which in my mind, I say, isn’t that what we’re supposed to do? Get a little better as we become experienced, get a little better as we become more mature in the real estate sales business and get a little better today than we will be next week because next week will be better. Finish November strong. Talk to you next week. Thanks.