real estate agents Archives - Page 8 of 8 - Wade Webb Real Estate Coaching

The Diamond Of Salesmanship – The Four Things You Do On Any Appointment To Get Results!

kelowna on November 2, 2016

I am always amazed when I get to see mastery in sales at work and how the best can make it look effortless and it really isn’t sales at all but something that is natural and who they are like poetry in motion. The legend, my friend and one of my mentors Floyd Wickman taught us to be effective consultants and not sales person’s with people by using what he called the “Diamond of Salesmanship.”

4 Points to the Diamond of Salesmanship

The Diamond of salesmanship was the perfect tool to help come across as a consultant or an advisor with people and not another salesperson. These four powerful activities allowed the best of the best to get the result they were wanting on almost every single appointment and you can to.

At the top of the diamond was “Use their names” when meeting with people. When you use someone’s name a lot they begin to feel like they are important and special to you. Using their names a lot also makes people trust and like you faster during your time with them.Let’s be honest here, who doesn’t like to hear someone say your name over and over again? I don’t know about you but personally I love this part of the diamond for another reason and that is I am excellent with faces but absolutely terrible with names and using someone’s name over and over again helps me internalize and remember their names so much easier.
The second point on the diamond of salesmanship is “Ask questions” the world’s greatest conversationalist is someone who says little or nothing because they ask powerful engaging questions and are then quiet and listen.Wouldn’t you all agree it is not by chance we all have 2 ears and one mouth and we were designed to speak less and listen more. The most difficult skill for myself is to ask more questions and to listen more and be present and attentive to the other person and their needs and not my own needs. When we ask more questions and let the other do the talking you find them saying “I don’t know what it is but I feel like I know you and that I could talk to you forever” and you just smile and say, “I get that a lot.” So remember, ask questions and listen more and you get the results you want.
The next point on the diamond of salesmanship is “Facial expressions and Voice inflections” the greatest part of communication is the non-verbal piece. Your client clearly understands and hears you better when communicating with the right facial expressions and voice inflections. We have all heard that your energy level changes when you smile while talking over the phone. The English language is so complex when you say a word and end it with a up voice or down voice inflection. For example the difference between really and reeeeaaallly.The first is heard like you are surprised or wow. The second is a response is heard as possibly an exaggeration. Never forget that almost 86% of communication in sales is from your facial expression and tone or voice inflection every time.
The fourth and final point of the diamond of salesmanship it “Visuals” never “tell” but always “show and sell”. In sales we have always heard the statement “talk is cheap” and this is so important when dealing with others and not to tell but use visuals to show and sell.Half of the people we deal with are auditory learners and half are visual learners including myself but you will never know which one the client is so never tell, rather show and sell. Honestly the most powerful sales tool on the planet is a note pad and pen. While I am communicating I am always writing, drawing while communicating to visual enhance my communication with the other party.

So there you have it, the four things you do at any appointment to get the results you are wanting. Take the time to study and practice these skills and please don’t practice this on your clients first but on your peers, family member or spouse and become proficient in the diamond of salesmanship and take your business and effectiveness to another level.

Strength and courage,
Wade

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Agent’s Guide to Writing a Business Plan

kelowna on October 26, 2016

Business Plan – a written document that describes in detail how a business, usually a new one, is going to achieve its goals. A business plan lays out a written plan from a marketing, financial and operational viewpoint.

FACT: LESS THAN 3% OF REAL ESTATE AGENTS HAVE A BUSINESS PLAN
FACT: ESTIMATED 3% OF REAL ESTATE AGENTS IN NORTH AMERICA DOING 97% OF BUSINESS

“If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” Writing a business plan may seem a daunting task as there are so many moving parts and concepts to address. Take it one step at a time and be sure to schedule regular review (quarterly, semi-annually, or annually) of your plan to be sure you on are track to meet your goals. It is that time of year again when we begin to build our plan for 2017 and let’s look at the key areas of the agent’s solid business plan.

1) Defining Your Mission & Vision

Writing a solid business plan begins by defining your business’s mission and vision statement. Though creating such a statement may seem like fluff, it is an important exercise. The mission and vision statement sets the foundation upon which to launch your business. It is difficult to move forward successfully without first defining your business and the ideals under which your business operates. A company description should be included as a part of the mission and vision statement: what type of real estate do you sell? Where is your business located? Who founded your business? What is sets your business apart from your competitors?

2) SWOT Analysis

Once you’ve created a mission and vision statement, the next step is to develop a SWOT analysis. SWOT stands for “Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.” It is difficult to set goals for your business without first enumerating your business’s strengths and weaknesses, and the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors. Do you offer superior customer service as compared with your competitors? Do you specialize in a niche market? What experiences do you have that set you apart from your competitors? What are your competitors’ strengths? Where do you see the market already saturated, and where are there opportunities for expansion and growth?

3) Setting Goals

Next, translate your mission and vision into tangible goals. If your mission statement is to make every client feel like your most important client: how specifically will you implement this? Do you want to grow your business? Is this growth measured by gross revenue, profit, personnel, or physical office space? How much growth do you aim for annually? What specific targets will you strive to hit annually in the next few years?

4) Marketing Plan

You may wish to create a marketing plan as either a section of your business plan or as an addendum. The Marketing Mix concerns product, price, place and promotion. What is your product? How does your price distinguish you from your competitors—is it industry average, upper quartile, or lower quartile? How does your pricing strategy benefit your clients? How and where will you promote your services? What types of promotions will you advertise? Will you ask clients for referrals or use coupons? Which channels will you use to place your marketing message?

5) Forming a Team

Ensuring the cooperation of all colleagues, supervisors, and service providers involved in your plan is another important element to consider. Is your business plan’s success contingent upon the cooperation of your colleagues? If so, what specifically do you need them to do? How will you evaluate their participation? Are they on-board with the role you have assigned them? How will you get “buy in” from these individuals?

6) Implementation & Follow-up

Implementation and follow-up are frequently overlooked aspects to the business plan, yet enormously vital to the success of the plan. Set dates (annually, semi-annually, quarterly, or monthly) to review your business plans goals: are you on track? Were the goals reasonable to achieve, impossible, or too easy? How do you measure success—is it by revenue, profit, or number of transactions?

And last, how do you plan to implement your business plan’s goals? When will you review and refine your business plan goals? What process will you use to review your goals? What types of quantitative and qualitative data will you collect and use to measure your success? So there you have it your guide to building your 2017 business plan. Click here to download your Click here to download your free 2017 business plan template and make 2017 your best year in real estate!

Strength and courage,
Wade

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Hey Agents Have You Ever Googled Yourself?

kelowna on October 19, 2016

I am often reminded of the importance (if you have never done it before), of googling yourself. Actually sit down, open up google and search your name on google and look at what you see or worse, what you don’t see.

So let me ask you a question. When you google yourself, how do you rank?

When you google yourself, what else came up during your search? Anything? Nothing?

When I google myself I gratefully rank on the whole first page of the search but I found a solar company by the name “Wade Solar” and a judge in the mid-west with the name “Wade” in the search.

Now more importantly, how many results were about your business and would they make you want to work with you if you were a buyer or seller looking for an agent online? In February of this year, Inman reported that businesses with 10 or more reviews get 3.5x the attention and 6.5x the inquiries. Client reviews and testimonials help boost your incredibility with leads like crazy. They also help boost your credibility with Google.

So, if you’re not getting the results you want when you Google yourself and your business, that means Google doesn’t quite trust you yet. There are really only 3 ways to get traffic to your real estate website (Ads, SEO, and Social). This week we’re going to explore how your social media pages can help you rank better and higher in Google searches.

While Google may or may not use signals on Facebook or Twitter such as the number of followers you have to boost your placement, it’s clear that each platform still ranks and ranks well, at least for broad searches. If your content performs well and is widely shared, it can help drive more traffic and qualified leads your way for years to come. But let’s get back to social media. Social profiles are often among the top results in search listings for individuals and brand names. While your Pinterest page may not have the same impact as a 5-star Yelp review, it’s still a great place to start.

Think about it. If a lead only knows your name, they may start with that as a way to find out more about you and let’s be real – social media platforms are becoming just as much of a search engine as Google is. It’s likely future clients are going to want to learn more about you and the quickest way to connect is through social networks. If you’ve got a stellar Pinterest presence with several well-crafted boards full of useful information and a decent number of followers, you’re well on your way to making a great first impression and achieving your goal of gaining trust with your viewers and Google.

Whether you’re active on two or 12 social sites, here are a few practices that will easily increase your SEO and help push you to the first page of Google. Whether you have 100 or 100,000 followers on any given network, the way in which they engage with you will help establish you as a credible source. Growing your follower base is one way to do this, but they’ve got to be high-quality fans. What does this mean?

Well, for one, that they’re not bought. Buying Likes/followers will do absolutely nothing for you. Do Not Buy Fans. It’s not worth it and will ultimately decrease your chances of ranking on Google. As I said before though, there’s still a lot of conversation happening around whether your sheer number of followers even influences your Google ranking and whether it does or it doesn’t, how you interact with your audience totally matters. When thinking about increasing your reach, I want you to keep these three words in mind – Resonate, Relevant and Reach… let’s quickly break these down.

The way you will resonate with your target audience is by producing relevant content and these two things will increase your reach. Listen to what your viewers are saying. This could be one person or 10. It doesn’t matter. Because if you can help one person solve a problem, chances are there are many more people looking for answers to the same question. Help them solve it to increase your reach.

Optimize Your Posts – Again, this all comes back to content. To make the most of your updates, make sure you’re sharing strong, valuable content consistently. A detailed blog post, video or infographic will help you accomplish this the fastest. Make sure to also say something about the content you’re sharing in the post description and try and include a keyword or term relevant to that search.

You can also focus on optimizing your posts for your local community and having them show up in big search engines. Hint: This is how you can start to compete with portal giants such as Zillow and Truila. It is impossible for you to be a local expert like them, so get out there and make it happen. An easy way to get started on this, aside from making sure your actual profile is up-to-date with your location and services..etc., is to engage other local players. Try Googling “best pizza (your area)” and see what comes up.

Choose the top 3 and then check out their social media profiles. Try out each one for lunch or dinner over the next few weeks and write your own guide for newcomers. You can then tag each place across social media and begin engaging them on a more regular basis.

Whether you work with a team or are a one-agent show, you are your brand. The best way you can increase your brand awareness and authority is by publishing quality content regularly. Your online reputation is essentially built upon your social media presence. In order to generate and maintain a credible image, you’ve got to keep active. Your social media presence, though important, is really just a way to give you more visibility online and drive traffic to your site. That’s where the real action happens.

Strength and courage,
Wade

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What Are The Best Agent Transaction Tools?

kelowna on October 12, 2016

The transaction tools available for agents today have changed the way the real estate transaction gets done: “There’s no more signing deals on the hood of the car. Now you see a home, and the agent writes the offer on the spot, it gets sent to the client’s phone, who signs it, and it’s emailed to the other side. It can be close to immediate if you have your tools properly set up. And no more carbon copies or faxes.” Agents have no doubt that transaction tools have made their lives more efficient and technology has enabled them to do more deals.

However, agents still have a long wish list of how the transaction process could be improved, and they would like to see their chosen software interact better with the software preferences of others. Of those currently on offer, the most commonly used transaction tools are:

DocuSign – “DocuSign is convenient, easy to use, provides date and time stamps and is easy to forward to all parties involved in the transaction,” said one high-performing agent. Added another: “DocuSign is the only one I couldn’t live without; I could replace the others easily.”

dotloop – Dotloop, meanwhile, makes it easy to connect to everyone, said one agent: “In the office, at the listing, with a buyer at the chosen home, on the road or home at the lake. With the clients, the other agent, the attorney, the bank, the admin and the broker.” Added another broker: “Dotloop is absolutely the best tool out there. It saves me time daily, has a mobile version, is easy for clients, easy to manipulate, add, change, edit, initiate, it’s simple, effective and just overall the best tool of my business.”

zipLogix – zipForm®, by zipLogix, is a powerful easy-to-use real estate forms software program that has been helping real estate offices across the country.

Top Producer – Give your clients a complete, end-to-end buying and selling experience by adding Reesio transaction management to your systems.

TransactionDesk – A secure online forms platform and document storage system. The service includes online … hich includes InstanetForms, Authentisign and DocBox, among others.

SkySlope – SkySlope is a simple cloud based Real Estate Transaction Management software.

Also mentioned BackAgent, Nekst, appFiles, HelloSign, Realvolve, BoomTown, Brivity, Todoist, Referralmaker by Buffini and eEdge as part of their software solution.

For many real estate professionals, the challenge is finding the right suite of tools that will integrate well. “ZipLogix and DocuSign are just tools of the transaction, but managing it requires communications with client and date tracking, which Realvolve does.”

AppFiles was rated highly by some as it will do the job of all other systems for a large team. AppFiles is an extremely robust paperless office system that allows for all the features provided by the other platforms and more things they don’t provide. It is perfect for true real-time collaboration and support of a dispersed sales force. Basically, it is a one-stop-shop.

AOSdates is the go-to for one well-organized and successful agent. AOSdates creates a complete timeline of the transaction that gets emailed out to all the parties involved in the transaction. It also keeps both my clients and myself informed on the progression of the transaction with automatic email reminders so nothing slips through the cracks.”

For e-signature software, HelloSign is the easiest, most user-friendly, intuitive e-signature software out there. I never get frustrated, it always works. Some consumers way prefer it to DocuSign or DigiSign.

Agents are still looking for the magic combination. A large number of successful agents in the industry are using Form Simplicity, but wants to bring in more. Agents are still in the search for an end-to-end CRM solution. They all have bits and pieces but nothing that integrates my contacts, calendars, phone calls, texts and so on. We have to kind of manually enter everything.

So there you have it. I would love to hear what all of you are using and find that all in one solution for our readers and followers.

Strength and courage,
Wade

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Are You In Control Of Your Money Or Is Money In Control Of You?

kelowna on October 5, 2016

I will never forget the time I was sitting in a seminar presented by T. Harv Eker on the Secrets Of The Millionaire Mind and the crowd of nearly a thousand people were all asked to bring with them a $100 cash bill to the evening session of the seminar for an exercise to teach us about our mindset and blueprint we all have about money. We are all asked to hold up our $100 bill and if you were unable to bring that bill with you then you were politely asked to leave this part of the seminar and demonstration.

We then watched a few of the seminar staff line up in front of the stage with burning candles for the crowd to begin to line up and prepare to burn your $100 cash bill to prove to yourself you are in control of your money and money is not in control of you. As I sat there I saw a wave of emotion come over the crowd as some people are getting angry and others are starting to cry and others are really showing no sign of emotion of what they have been asked to do.

Personally I am sitting there saying to myself I can do this but honestly I wish I could give it to someone in need or it go to better use but if I need to do this to prove to myself money is not in control of me then so be it. They slowly have the crowd stand and begin to line up in front of each of the staff members holding the open burning flame and let the emotions and energy build and build in the room. Then at the very last second they say “ok, everyone sit down and put your $100 bill away and start journaling what you experienced and what you felt through that exercise.”

So how would you feel about doing that? Would the money control you or would you be in control of the money? Would it make you mad, sad or feel nothing? Here are seven powerful tips I used myself from Clason’s novel “The Richest Man In Bablyon” and strategies for you to implement and be in control of your money in real estate and not the money in control of you.

A Part of all you earn is yours to keep.
The most powerful and most important message you read and hear from all experts in financial prosperity. “PAY YOURSELF FIRST.” Clason refers to this as “Starting thy purse to fattening” He uses the story of the humble egg merchant. If the egg merchant put ten eggs in his basket each morning and take out only nine by evening. Eventually what will happen? It will in time become overflowing. Or how about every ten coins you place in your purse you take out and use only nine. Your purse will fatten and soon will build increasing weight and bring you great satisfaction. Create a second account that is difficult to access and take that one egg, take that one coin and let it build and overflow over time. Just like this merchant you too create an account at a different bank and set up automated withdraw into this account, that can’t be readily accessed to build up your purse.
Control your expenditures.
“BUDGETING” – All men are burdened with more desires than they can gratify. We have this false idea we can gratify our every desire. Clason states there are limits to your strength, limits to the distance you may travel, limits to what you may eat and limits to the zest you may enjoy. The key to controlling your expenses is taking the time to really identify your fixed expenses and eliminate or minimize your non fixed expenses. Discipline yourself to live lean and mean. Pay yourself your fixed expense amount at beginning of the month. Review Constantly – identify habits; implement cost savings i.e. basic cable or even no cable. Apply the same principle to your business accounts.
Make your gold multiply.
“INVEST” – The greatest opportunity and wealth building strategy we all have is buying what we know… Stocks, Bonds, Mutual, Commodities, Mortgages, Rentals, Loans etc. Clason states a man’s wealth is not the coins he carries in his purse but it is the income he buildeth, the golden stream that continually flows into his purse and keeping it bulging. Amortization in wealth building is key… Example: Only $5,000 per year or $416 / month Invested. Over 10 years – at 5% becomes 66K at 15% becomes 116K… Over 20 years at 5% becomes 173K at 15% becomes 589K.
Guard your treasures from loss.
“INVEST WISELY, CONSERVATIVELY” – Start by investing small amounts and learn to protect and grow those first. Clason said every man is tempted by opportunities where it would seem he could make large sums by its investment in the most plausible projects. So often we are urged by friends or family to eagerly enter these high return investments. Remember the risk or penalty is probable loss. TIP – borrowing to invest. Ask your advisor for their personal net worth statement. WORDS OF WISDOM – Invest only where the principal is safe and where the principle may be reclaimed if needed and where you will not fail to collect a fair return. Consult with wise men. Secure their advice and let their wisdom protect your treasures.
Make of Thy Dwelling a Profitable Investment
“OWN A HOME” – To a man’s heart it brings gladness to eat the figs from his own trees and the grapes of his own vines. To own his own domicile and to have a place he is proud to care of and put confidence in his heart and reward behind his endeavors. Discipline yourself to pay this home off. Blessings to the man who owneth his own home. Greatly reduces his cost of living and making available more of his earnings to build his wealth.
Insure a Future Income
“SAVINGS” – It behooves a man to make preparation for a suitable income in the days to come, when he is no longer young and to make preparations for his family should he be no longer with them to comfort and support them. It is important you maintain savings and have funds put away for many different reasons. Health, emergency expenses, major financial setbacks or economic down turn. You will get old. You may get sick. You will die one day and you should be prepared. TIP – wills, insurance life & disability
Cultivate, Study & Learn
“BECOME A STUDENT” – Constantly improve yourself and become more skillful. Act on these principles and have the discipline to learn and implement them. Then begin to teach them to others including your own children. Clason reminds us “There is more gold in Babylon my students than you could dream of. There is abundance for us all.”

So there you have it, 7 powerful financial laws that made a difference with my control over money vs. the money having control over me. I challenge you to implement these strategies into your personal and professional lives and take control over the finances and win the money game.

Strength and courage,
Wade

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The Power Of Seller’s Choice in Commissions

kelowna on July 20, 2016

I am always confused why so many real estate agents over the past few decades have the mindset of less commission versus more commission in any of their marketing strategies. Why do so many of us go into a listing just thinking a basic rate of fee for service instead of going in thinking of higher or smarter rate of fee for service? This simple but powerful shift in an agent’s mindset can put tens of thousands of dollars into your bottom line each and every year just by giving the seller the choice!

That’s right give the sellers a choice!

Here is a simple but powerful strategy many top producers have discovered and implemented into their business. You need to present effectively and simply by giving the seller the choice and just “ask and you will receive” more instead of always taking less or the going fee for service.

I always felt as an agent the majority of the population believe they get what they pay for. I believed as a top producing agent I delivered more than the average level of service and also believed we should get paid for delivering more as well. In my waiter, serving days if I delivered a higher level of service then my gratuities and tips reflected on the level of service I brought to my guest… make sense?

So I am going to use fees, numbers and rates in this post as just a guide or an example and they are by no means my telling you what you can and cannot use in your marketplace. Let me begin by asking you this question. Who does the seller pay us to market their home to? The most important person they want us to market to I believe is the cooperating selling agents in our trading area, agreed? If I can get the cooperating agents with all the buyers excited about my sellers property and in turn they get their buyers excited about buying my listing and paying whatever it takes to buy it, then I believe I have done my job! I believe the fastest, most effective way to get a cooperating selling agent excited about my sellers listing is to offer and pay them more!

So let’s say the Basic or trending rate of fee for service in my trading area is 2.5% to the cooperating and selling agent. 5% for the total fee. What if you offered a Smart marketing fee to the cooperating agent at 3%? The total fee for service for Basic Marketing 5% and Smart Marketing 6%. Educate them on the differences and benefits to them and give them a choice. Here are some very powerful statistics from top producing agents and what they found giving a seller the Basic Marketing rate or the Smart Marketing rate.

Smart Real Estate Marketing Stats…

7 out of 10 sellers chose the Smart Marketing Fee Option
100% SOLD – Listings with Smart Marketing Plan All Sold. Not all Sold with basic.
3-4% Higher Net Sale Price to Seller with Smart Marketing Plan. Do the math for the seller.
Motivated Buyer Agents in turn creating motivation with their buyers.
Less Cutting Of Commissions and never on the listing sides fee.
Win-Win Situation For Buyer, Seller and All Agents. Everyone wins.
Giving 2 Options allowed sellers to make an educated decision and feel more in control
If each home sold for $500,000 that meant $2,500 more for buying-selling agent
10 listings a year at the Smart Marketing means $25,000 more commission to you a listing agent a year

So there you have it, a simple but powerful strategy to allow you to work smarter and not harder. More importantly set yourself apart from the competition and go into a listing looking for more and getting it 7 out of 10 times. Take the time to create visuals for this strategy and don’t just tell the seller but “show and sell” the seller on the smart marketing plan and the benefits to them and their home and their wallets!

Strength and courage,
Wade

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The Secrets to Working with Buyers Exclusively & Getting Paid

kelowna on December 3, 2014

Redefine Your Buyer Agent Mindset for 2015

For more than two decades I have watched real estate agents roll the dice and let the home buyer take advantage of them, their profession and their time.

Why do we continue to gamble and let the buyer play the game better than us?

With the creation of buyer agreements we would think the game would stop but that is not what is happening at all.

My opinion is, I feel the level of training on how to present your value proposition to get a buyer to sign with you has not been taught compared to how we have been educated to work with a seller and sign them to a commitment!

What is Your Buyer Agent Mindset?

Do we just hope buyers will be loyal, roll the dice, stand back and see if we win some and lose some?

Is this the way we want to do business with buyers?

Or do we decide… real estate is my livelihood, this is serious and I am a lean mean appointment machine… this client has “X dollars” of my money and I want it?!

Buyers are not liars, we just don’t ask the right questions my friends. They use and abuse us because we allow them to and don’t have a system that allows us to take control.

Having the right mindset changes everything for a buyer agent.

The next important skill set is having the ability to qualify, measure the buyer’s motivation and determine their timing.

A successful buyer agent is one who can get a buyer to like and trust them quickly and ask powerful, engaging questions and than be quiet and listen!

Find the right scripts, dialogs and questions to establish rapore, qualification, motivation and timing of the buyer.

(I put together a PDF for you to download highlighting the top 10 benefits a buyer receives by using an exclusive agreement… enter your info below to grab it for free.)

The most powerful qualifying question for a buyer is the question “when”?

Once you’ve established your new mindset, and have the skill to build trust and qualify and now we need to answer the buyer question “why you and why exclusive?”

To effectively answer this question you need to first be able to understand and solve their biggest challenges for the home buyer.

Biggest Challenges Home Buyers Face Today

Too much information
98% of listings they inquire on they won’t buy
Can’t find what they are looking for
Can’t find a deal to buy
Best buys selling too fast
Multiple offers and losing out

What You Can Offer to Solve These Buyer Challenges

Provide data, interpret and advise
Auto email listing alerts
Provide them with sleeve, expired listings
Multiple offer and negotiating strategies
Mail and door knock service on behalf of the buyer
All access pass to the MLS data
Virtual tour all inventory in office to save time and create short list

The items mentioned above are just some of the things that help us convert the buyer.

Now let’s look at ways to engage the buyer and simplify the buying process.

Have them come into the office and show them your 4 step Home Hunting Plan.

Step 1 Qualification
Step 2 Tour homes virtually
Step 3 Pick short list
Step 4 Show and sell.

Here are a few of my buyer agent tips to save you and your client time, money and stress.

Don’t work with them all. Pick and choose and don’t be afraid to send them away. No commitment then no go!
Buyer presentation will help to get commitment and the buyer agreement signed just like your listing presentation. Do you have one?
Show no more than 7 homes. The reason phone numbers were 7 digits is because the human mind can only recall 7 digits and the same us true for home views.
Name and rate every home you show. By making up a name for the property the recall of memory increases and by rating they are helping the elimination process.
Let them go in and you follow. They will get that feeling when they know it is the one. Look for the buying signals and follow behind.
Close! Ask them to buy every house. Can you see yourself living here? Do you like this one enough to buy it?
Show them the top 2 homes a second time right away. I increased my chances of an offer every time I did this.
Write the offer at the kitchen table of the home they are buying. Psychology helps them connect and you make less mistakes with inclusions and other contract items.

I trust that you find value in this weeks content and begin to really work with buyers at a higher level and get a commitment and get paid every time!

I put together a PDF for you to download highlighting the top 10 benefits a buyer receives by using an exclusive agreement… enter your info below to grab it for free.

Strength and Courage,

Wade

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Real Estate Agents… Learn the Art of Seller Counselling

kelowna on July 16, 2014

9 Seller Counselling Tips

In the early 90’s when I first started in the real estate business it seemed like every seller counselling session I had for the first five years of my career was about Mr. And Mrs. Seller paying too much, needing too much or wanting too much.

N.A.R. reports that around 80% of people don’t use the same real estate agent more than once because they never hear from their agent again after the sale or after giving the agent their listing.

Another common reason we hear is “We felt our real estate agent really didn’t do that much for us.”

When we are getting paid a large sum of money for our services, isn’t it fair for the seller to expect some kind of advisement and service throughout the process before, during and after?

Seller Counselling… Top Tips of Advisement and Service During Their Home Sale

Establish a plan – clearly set out for the seller the level of communication they can expect from you throughout the process. Then exceed that expectation. Kill them with communication.
Don’t focus on their price, rather focus on the 5-6-7 technique to help you and your client determine what their hot button for selling truly is. All of us are motivated by either pain or pleasure. How many of us have asked our sellers a minimum of 7 deep questions to find out their true desire for moving? It is always about something they are running to or running from and they consistently need to be reminded of that pain or pleasure button. That is how we “move them” to want to sell and not choosing to stay.
When nothing is happening, this is the time we communicate even more! How many of us have nothing to say and therefore just choose not to communicate with our seller? There is always something to say… you just need to find it.
Prepare and educate the seller in advance of the paradigm shift in virtual showing vs. the physical showing in today’s market. With the use of modern technology we are able to qualify even better than before and allow the buyer to virtually tour your home and not have to waste your time with so many physical showings to find the right buyer. Saves you from them getting upset about having fewer than expected showings.
Show them your system for pre qualifying the prospect. I truly believe they hire us to market to cooperating agents who have the buyers and qualify them and qualify any other buyer before they enter the seller’s home. I would show the seller a list of questions I would ask to prospective agents and buyers qualifying them prior to viewing their home.
Have them come in weekly, bi weekly or worse case scenario 3 weeks and sit down to discuss online activity like website traffic. Share with them all the marketing that has taken place in the past and what is planned moving forward in the future. Discuss sign calls, ad calls and any other leads that have been generated on their home from your marketing efforts.
Review a classic sales tool from my mentor Floyd Wickman called the Saleability Checklist. Every week share with your seller a creative idea or two that they could possibly implement to help their listing become more saleable other than lowering their price from this fantastic checklist. They hired you to be the creative marketing expert and dropping their price is not what they had in mind. For example, suggest to them a technique from the list called a “Dutch Auction” where you would agree to create a market buzz by pre signing price reductions for every week for an agreed upon amount until the home is sold. Buyers become interested in the listing watching the price drop week after week until finally a buyer pulls the trigger before they feel it sells to someone else first. Although a Dutch Auction involves asking the seller for a price reduction, this technique at least is actual creative marketing that can create a buzz and interest around a property. If explained properly this can offer the seller hope and get them excited again, whereas simply telling them to drop their price is frustrating and discouraging. (Click on this link to download a copy of our Saleability Checklist)
Take the seller and play the game my mentor David Knox taught me “The price is right”. You tell them you are picking them up for a ride and that you are buying coffee and dessert. Drive them by the 3 most recent sales similar to theirs and read them the feature sheet and show them interior photos but don’t tell them the sale price and let them guess the final sale price for each. Then take them to preview the top 3 homes for sale that compete directly with theirs and again don’t let them know the asking price until you come back to the car. After the 6 homes and the price is right game then go for coffee and desert and discuss how they feel their home compares to what they just saw.
My final tip is to review all this information and really deliver value to the seller in all your seller counselling sessions during the listing period. I always ask them these very important questions…
1) What do you think we should be doing different?
2) What should we be doing next, moving forward?
3) What are we waiting for and why are we not doing anything about it?
I then pull out 2 forms and a pen. One paper is a price reduction form and the other a listing cancellation form. I explain to them that I cannot afford to disappoint them and fail them at selling their home and I need them to either reduce their price or release me of my responsibility of selling their home.

I hope you find these tips and the checklist incredibly helpful with your seller counselling in 2014 and begin to sell more homes and not just list more homes. We are in the business of selling homes and not just listing them and you want to be known for the selling.

Strength and courage,

Wade

Sell the Sizzle & Not the Steak – Features Vs. Benefits

kelowna on May 14, 2014

Switch Up Your Real Estate Marketing – Start Selling Benefits

In sales one of the most difficult skills I have had to learn and try to teach other real estate agents is feature, benefit selling in their realty business.

Dale Carnegie and Floyd Wickman always said you need to “sell” and not just “tell” in sales.

I always remember the story of a group of hardware salesmen trying to sell a drill bit. Every one of them would explain to the customer the type of bit, the size of bit, what the bit is made of, how strong it is and feature after feature they describe to the customer the drill bit.

What Carnegie and Wickman taught me was to sell the benefit instead of the feature to the customer.

The benefit to the customer of a drill bit is what? It is not the size, the type or what material the bit is made of. The benefit to the customer of a drill bit is that it will make you a “hole”… that is what the customer ultimately wants… a hole!

So why do sales people struggle so much with selling the customer on the benefit instead of boring the customer with all the features?

I know this is a major problem in sales and more specifically in the real estate industry.

For the last 21 years, consistently I noticed MLS listing descriptions are all jammed packed with only features.

For example in an MLS listing a typical feature is an air conditioner… virtually every listing you see will only state “air conditioning”. Air conditioning is just a feature of the home; instead, sell the customer on the benefit of air conditioning in that MLS listing.

What about something like “imagine relaxing with your family and friends during a hot summer day in the cool comfort of your central air equipped home”?

See the difference?

The consumer buys emotionally and justifies logically.

We need to emotionally connect our real estate clients to the benefit of air conditioning.

Sell the Sizzle (benefit) and not the Steak (feature).

Go back and read all your MLS remarks, your feature sheets, ads and internet remarks on your website this week.

Our customer needs to hear “what is in it for me?” this is the benefit and not the feature of sales.

When you only present the feature, in the customers mind they are saying “so what?”

The drill bit is this long… “So what?”

The drill bit is made of titanium… “So what?”

The drill bit turns this many times per second… “So what?”

I just need a hole Wade!

When writing your next presentation, MLS listing remarks or even your feature sheet try following this simple but powerful technique.

FACT – BRIDGE – BENEFIT – TIE DOWN.

Here is how it works…..

FACT – Mr. And Mrs Seller we will be displaying your home with texting mobile device technology.

BRIDGE – Why this is so important to you is…

BENEFIT – Today buyers expect and want information instantly. Using this mobile technology will allow a potential buyer to instantly receive a photo tour and details of your home like bedroom, bath, price and size of your home in seconds while capturing their phone number and notifying myself of their interest and number so I can quickly call them to arrange a showing, answer questions and sell them on buying your home.

TIE DOWN – Mr. And Mrs. Seller you would want the agent you choose to sell your home to market it using a texting mobile device technology system wouldn’t you?

Let us try the same technique for a buyer now.

FACT – Mr. And Mrs. Buyer this home has a large patio.

BRIDGE – What this means to you is…

BENEFIT – The perfect place to enjoy a family get together or summer time dinner parties. Kick back… relax… spend some quality friend and family time.

TIE DOWN – Mr. and Mrs. Seller, can you see yourself enjoying this patio space with your friends and family?

I hope you see the power of this mind shift in your marketing and can really begin to develop the skill of benefit vs. feature selling and “move” your buyer and sellers emotionally.

Stop telling and start selling with this simple but powerful technique FACT – BRIDGE – BENEFIT – TIE DOWN and take your sales business to another level this year.

Stop “telling” the drill bit and start “selling” the customer on the hole!

Strength and Courage,

Wade

Please pass this “tidbit” onto someone who would enjoy it!