1.The Habit of Lead Generation - The key to all choices.  When you have the ability to create leads, you have given yourself the ability to choose who you work with, where you work and when you work.

2.The Habit of Speaking Up and Asking For Business - We’ve all felt it before, the opportunity is staring us in the face to speak up, and we hesitate and miss the opportunity.  You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.  The answer is no if you don’t ask so you may as well ask!  The 2015 NAR profile of buyers and sellers says 88% of people would refer their agent...and less than 8% of agents ask!OH/RR

3.The Habit of Closing One More Time Than You Are Comfortable - My experience is many agents don’t even close once.  The research shows that it can take up to 7 attempts on your part before your prospect makes a decision to work with you. Every attempt gets you closer to a yes.  You never know unless you do it.

4.The Habit of Staying Organized With My Lead Follow up -  80% of sales require five follow-up calls and over half of the time, agents give up after one attempt.  The key here, don’t leave follow up open ended.  ALWAYS establish the next point of contact before ending any conversation.  Example...

5.The Habit of Practicing and Role-Play - Professional athletes, actors/actresses, entertainers, emergency personnel, medical professionals, marching bands, even children in a school play - they all practice and dedicate countless hours to being ready to perform at the highest level. Unfortunately, it’s been my personal experience that maybe 1 -2 % of all agents practice their presentations or scripts on a regular basis.  

6.The Habit of Following A Schedule - I like to think of your schedule like your GPS or compass that provides a direct path to your goals.  Don’t think of a schedule like a punishment or restrictive, it’s your guide, stick to it and trust it. Brings peace and certainty. (Change the way you look at things and the things you look at change.)

7.The Habit of Listening/Reading Positive Materials - I can’t stress the importance of this one enough.  We have two main sources that are continuously attempting to creep in and disrupt our mindset...the media with all the wonderful supposed news it reports and our own self-talk which isn’t typically helpful. We want to purposefully brainwash ourselves with positive information to offset the other.

8.The Habit of Pre-Qualifying 100% of your Appointments, 100% Of The Time - When you do this, you will see immediate benefits. It saves time, your conversion rate will increase, you will be more profitable and most of all you will experience less frustration that keeps you in a more consistent and productive mindset.

Trickle, Flow, Flood - Establishing Proper Expectations with Sellers

Scenario – You just got the listing agreement signed, and you want to now establish expectations, so the seller knows what to expect is going take place over the next few weeks.

Why is this so important?

1. It promotes excellent customer service.

This shows you have everything under control and are highly competent. We’re the expert and as the RE professional, we are here to take the seller through the process and provide direction and demonstrate our leadership. We may do this on a daily basis and in most cases the average seller may go through this process 4-5 maybe up to 6-7 times over their life time.

2. It reduces the seller’s anxiety and their mind from wandering and making stuff up.

Exactly, we don’t want our sellers to be graduates of MSU – Making stuff up.

It’s only normal for a seller to “wonder” what is going to happen next.  By telling them what to expect, you’re not only helping them be more comfortable with the process, they are going to have more confidence they made the right decision to hire you and build trust at the same time.

When you leave something to the imagination – as human beings, we can’t help but to go there.  Our minds are always seeking what this or that means, even if it’s not accurate or even exists.

3. Allows you to head off any seller remorse and doubt that may show up.

If you haven’t had this happen yet, it will. You do a great job positioning the home to sell promptly, for top dollar, you get a full price offer day one, and the seller feels they priced the home too low and were leaving money on the table. I believe it’s our responsibility to counsel the seller and bring them peace they haven’t left money on the table, nor would the market allow that to happen.  Having this conversation will help this

4. Direct the focus of the results, or lack thereof on the property, market and price. 

It’s not you, it’s not the seller, it’s simply the way the market is either responding or reacting to the property, its features, price and location. 

5. Sets up a much easier conversation should the price need to be adjusted later.

It’s a fact that more/longer our mind has been exposed to an idea, the more receptive we can be to accepting the information. When you set this up from day one, you have set the bar for what the showings that have/haven’t taken place are suggesting.  This is the feedback (positive or negative) the market has responded with and will easily open conversation for you to adjust the price if necessary. When you set this up correctly, it will be great leverage for you.  

There are several types of closes.  Today, we’re going to focus on 2 of the most common. Mastering the use of these two will allow you to book more appointments and close more sales.

1. Trial Close.
2. Alternative Close.

Trial Close - What is it?

The trial close is the salesperson's MVT.(most valuable tool)  It's like a thermometer or blood pressure cuff – it's a critical diagnostic tool used to assess a situation…or better yet, assess how our prospect feels about the product or service we are selling. A Trial Close is a 'closing technique' to test or determine whether our prospect or client is ready to make a buying decision. Trial closes are questions designed to get the customer in the habit of saying yes before you ask your final closing question. What happens most of the time is we do all the talking and leave them out of the conversation, not knowing what’s on their minds, not getting any diagnostics to work with and then all of a sudden ask for them to make a decision - Allow them to go through a decision or buying process in their minds - while leading them to yes!

How should I use it?

Use it during your presentation or after you have made a strong selling point. I found using it during a listing or buyer presentation to be a huge help in closing the sale. I refer to this as “getting to yes”.

Set up – you’re on a listing presentation – you’re going over the various things you do to market the home – you mention something like…here’s something else I do…I am going to _________(hire a professional photographer to take pictures, so your home makes the very best impression possible) – you notice they seller nodding their head – positively responding – this is where you throw in a trial close.  You’d say – it seems you like that idea? The say YES – So should I note that’s something you’d want me to do should you list with me? They say YES. On this one point in your presentation, they say yes to you two times. An embedded command is a Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) technique for "planting" a thought within the mind of another person beneath the person’s conscious awareness.The purpose of using embedded commands is to move your target’s mind in the direction you want it to go without seeming to be intruding, ordering or demanding in any way.

When you ask the trial close - be subtle and nod your head up and down too. Body language is 55% of communication. Whenever possible, layer this throughout your presentation 5-7 times, time it with a positive comment, body language - ex.a smile or when you notice them nodding yes with you. When prospect/client says yes multiple times during the presentation, it reduces resistance for a ye at the final close.

Alternative Close

What is it?

The Alternate of Choice close is a question with two possible answers — either answer is an agreement and gets you the desired outcome. The key is to give two solutions that both lead toward the sale. By giving two choices, one or the other is usually chosen. This is much better than what happens when you give one choice, and the only other option can be a “no.”

The Alternate of Choice can also be the simplest close you will ever use. It’s also so easy to forget to do it - I hear agents often saying things like “when would be good for you?” or I am open most of the day on Tuesday, when did you want to meet?” Often, this is our way of being “polite” and “customer service” oriented. However, it sends a message that we’re not busy and lacks professionalism. If you ever wonder why people think they can call you, and you’re able to meet them without any notice? This is why. People want to do business with people doing business. Imagine if we called our doctor, lawyer or CPA and they said “I am open most of the day on Tuesday, when did you want to meet?” It is safe to assume most of us would hang the phone up and have some doubts about their professionalism, and/or level of competence.

When should I use it?

1. Alternate of Choice question is often used to get a date or time commitment to set up an appointment. However, can be used any time you are looking to get a client or prospect to make a choice between two things.

2. Example of an alternative close: ________, I can meet you (Tuesday) at 4:30 pm or would (Thursday) at 5:30 pm. Which would you prefer? Or, you’re on a listing appointment, and you could say... do you want me to have the for sale sign up early next week or by the end of this week?  You see the idea here, we’re simply giving an “alternate choice” and either way you win. It’s important to be casual and not sound “salesy” or “scripted”. Just ask like it’s the right thing to do.

3. Don’t talk once you asked the question – the first person to talk loses.

How often do you ever hear -  “ You have to lead generate” and “You have to make calls”?

Step back and put things into perspective. Let’s address the details behind these comments.  I want to bring some awareness, help break this down for you and I trust the end result will be you feel empowered and have some clarity.

Usually, this is an open-ended conversation - it’s a broad subject “lead generation” or “prospecting” I’ve found, since it’s such a broad topic - almost like when we say the universe - that’s a big space - in fact how big is it exactly?  No one really knows.  So, when we say “you have to lead generate - make so many calls each day etc.  It can easily become overwhelming.  As a result, we tend to shut down and become paralyzed with fear and the unknown. So let’s go over a few basic steps that should help you accomplish your goals.

5 Steps to setting up a lead generation plan of action -

Step 1 - Establish your 12-month production goals - How many homes or units are you going to sell?

1. You have to know what you’re shooting for or you’ll miss the target every time. If you don’t know what this number is, a simple way to begin this process is to divide the 12-month income goal by your average sales price.  Ex: 100K / 7.5K would be roughly 13 - 14 sales in a 12 month period. Clarity equals power and lack of it leads to drifting and frustration. As simple as this sounds, I would say at least 50% of the agents I have met over the years aren’t really crystal clear about this first step.

Step 2 - Based on your goal, how many lead generation systems do you need to use to achieve your goal?

1. I notice a few things going on - either we don’t have any real specific plans and are just wandering through the day - or - we have wandering eyes and start something while keeping an eye on what someone else is doing and jump around from one approach to the next.  Key:  Determine what works for you - put your blinders on and go to work.
2. EX: Goal- 12 maybe 1, Goal 18-24 maybe 2, Goal 30-40, maybe 3 … and so on. Recognize the idea is to go small and remain focused on the approach(s) you’ve decided to master … and stick to it. You only need to have enough streams of income to accomplish the end goal.
3. I want to stress here, you don’t need to do 10 things, information overload - it’s typically 1-2 maybe 3 systems done really well and you’re making a great income.

Step 3 - Identify the various ways you can lead generate?

Which approaches do you see yourself doing or appeal to you? Here are a few different ways you can prospect for business:

Some ways to lead generate - not all of them - just some to consider.  

• *Your Database Referrals- sphere of influence and past clients
• Knocking on Doors
• *For Sale By Owners
• *Expired Listings
• Internet Leads
• Business to Business
• Networking events/organizations
• Social Media
• Open Houses
• *Just Listed/Just Sold calls or doors

Step 4 - Create an action plan - and get going.  

1. Learn everything you can about the process. Benchmark for results, find other agents that have had success in that area and model what they’ve done, read articles or blogs, watch a  video or attend training events that go into further details on the subject.
2. Learn and develop scripts about the technique you can use when engaging this group.- Don’t forget to practice, practice, practice. I can’t stress this enough!
3. Add it to your schedule. What time of day, what days of the week are you going to focus on this new system? Include your numbers, how many contacts each week?
4. Speaking of systems, what systems do you need to create to support the activities?  For ex, follow up systems so you don’t miss converting any leads you generate, or drip campaigns to maintain and nurture leads.
5. Track your numbers, this will bring some predictability to what you do in the future and give you something to measure now. I recommend tracking  - attempts, live contacts, appointments set, contracts signed that will lead to closings. Having an understanding of these numbers will - allow you to know exactly what activity will lead to results - and - give you  feedback for areas to improve.

Step 5 - Create an environment of accountability.

1. Tell the world about your goals.  (Humbly) Confess what you’re intending to do.
2. Find at least 3 accountability partners. This can be family, friends, co-workers, broker/manager, coach. If you have kids, they can really be a great accountability partner.
3. Find people that will not only support/encourage, people that will confront you too. People you respect or want the respect from are good accountability partners. People you won’t want to let down.  Often we will do for someone else more than we will do for ourselves.

Last point -

Use the KISS strategy.  

Have a plan and work it - remember to give yourself a fair shot at winning - this is going to take a full 90-day cycle to really see results begin to show up on a more regular basis.  You’ll have some wins along the way, just keep this in perspective and don’t break the chain.

The 4th quarter of the year matter. You can finish strong with these 1o tips to stay engaged during the holidays.

1. Don’t be too quick to buy into it’s the “it’s the holidays trap”.
2. When you let up in the 4^th quarter, you are losing six months of production.
3. Consider working from a 15-month business plan.
4. Prepare yourself for the end of year objections, they never change.
5. Accept the fact that you’re going to have to make more contacts in the months of Oct, November and December compared to March, April or May.
6. Have a mental diet prepared full of vitamin M - for mindset.
7. Most agents mentally check out around Halloween each year. Therefore, your competition decreases while your production increases.
8. If your business has slowed down, take advantage of this and work on your business since you’re not working as much in your business.
9. Understand part of having a grand harvest next year is planting your seeds ahead of time.
10. Start a 66-day challenge.

Eight Steps to get more sales through lead follow up

1. Have a clearly defined definition of what qualifies as a lead. 

2.Have an established pipeline - Build a list of your top 10 leads.

3.Approach each lead like there are serious, qualified and ready to go.

4.It’s critical to understand the majority of your appointments will come from lead follow-up … not your initial call. 

5. Most agents have too many “leads” which actually works against us.

6. Leads have no value … we must be thinking appointments and contracts.

7. When following up, set it up like an appointment 

8. What is the best follow up system to use? 

For Sale By Owners – Discussion Points and tips to list more FSBO’s

1. Winning with FSBO’S is 90% mindset and 10% skills.

I’m not discounting that we need to have some skills to get the job done, I am suggesting that it’s what our approach and expectations are that will make us win or have more challenges with the when working with the by owner seller.

2. Fact: at least 70-80% eventually list with an agent.

If we know that the vast majority eventually list, why not say to yourself it’s going to be with me and in order for that to happen I have to insert myself into the conversation, the odds are in your favor. There are more by owner sellers than most agents have as a goal to sell each year. 

3. They are only a few things that can happen, they sell, the list or nothing at all. The serious and most qualified ones are most likely to list with an agent.

Our job here is to sift through all of them to find the aces in the deck…or at least the face cards.  The key is to never lose sight that the good ones are there and often we allow the others … the 2’s 3’s 4’s…the less qualified sellers influence us and discourage us.  There are a lot of good people out there that are in need of your services…believe in what you have to offer and the solutions you can bring to them.

4. Being organized and having consistent lead follow up is everything with this source of seller leads. (The spider web)

I like to say we have to be “sticky” like a stamp.  Another way to visualize this is to think of it like you’ve spun a spider web…nothing gets out of your web (once it’s in there) unless you choose to let it go.  Time on task over time beats talent every time.

5. Don’t look down on them for trying to sell the home themselves.

This is quickest way to turn someone off and shut us down.  It’s a tactic that I’ve heard many agents over the years use…fear and scare tactics don’t work.  Remember the saying…it goes like this…a man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still.  Be supportive (sincerely supportive and professional) and follow up until they’re ready to fold. 

6. Pre-qualify first, if they meet your standards then either make an appointment, preview appointment of create a new lead to follow up with.

The point here is to be sure the lead meets your standards.  When I say standards, I am talking about things like…location – within areas you service…price ranges…there may be a point in which you aren’t going to work a lead that’s at a lower price or higher price…this all depends on your experience, market and economic factors.  I always have a standard around people’s attitudes…you have a choice and don’t have to work with unhappy people, negative people that have stinkin thinkin…it’s just a chance to reflect and ask yourself “is this business I want to pursue?”

7. Don’t get caught up in their story or drama of why they “think” they can’t afford to list with an agent…they can’t afford not to.

First, on this one…ALWAYS listen with respect…I am just suggesting not to buy in to the story or get caught up emotionally.  We have to separate ourselves from their circumstances and understand that at the moment they may not think they can this or that and in the end they will do what they have to do if they really need to move and are unable to sell themselves.  Tell the story – seller NRH – not going to list, has a friend they’d list with and wouldn’t pay full comm.  Not only did I get the listing, I got a full commission. Smoke screens are sometimes sent our way and we have to have a big fan to blow it out.  Point: When the motivation is present, we all do what we have to do. 

8. The facts are, 85% of all homes in the S. sell in the hands of a Realtor. Statistics show homes that sell with Realtors sell for more money than private party, if not the industry as a whole would go away.

It’s important to keep this in mind…over the years and going back to the beginning of real estate as a profession, our industry represents (depending on the source) 8 to 9 out of every 10 homes that sell.  And for the 1-2 of ten that sell, in many cases wasn’t that a by owner actually found a traditional buyer, there was an arrangement where a neighbor bought the home or a family member etc.  If we have to offer didn’t work to bring homeowners more money, quicker sales with less hassles and reduce their risk/liability our industry would have gone away by now.  This is why it’s so important to be top of our game and continuously be upgrading what we do as real estate professionals. 

9. By owner’s have a process to go through, some are longer than others. The key is being there when they are done going through that process, be persistent with your lead follow up.

We never know where we’re meeting someone in their process … we only find out when we make contact with them…we don’t know if they’re just getting started or have been attempting to sell for months – tired of fielding calls – sitting their open houses – and being tied down to their homes.  The only way to know if to make contact.  Think about human behavior – are most of us by nature the type to stick with things when times are tough OR are do most of us tend to break down and give up? (WAIT).  Exactly – so if we realize that as a society we have that tendency use that to your advantage and stay the course because the odds are they won’t!

Visual – you have a wall in front of you, you can’t climb or jump over it. How do you get to the other side? Take down one brick at a time until you can step over it to the other side. 

10. Our job is to help them discover they have a problem and then offer the solution.

Again, we don’t want to make them wrong here.  This is a technique you can use to create doubt or curiosity in their minds.  You can do this by asking strategic questions. 

 Curiosity – If I could clearly demonstrate a financial benefit by working with me…you’d at least want to know what is…wouldn’t you?

 If we met and you felt I could get you more money, a quicker sale with less hassle, would you at least consider it? Testing the waters not all fish will bite, that’s ok.

Doubt: Since 85% of all homes sold in the US are represented by RE Agents…I was curious what marketing angles you’re using to tap into the 15%?

RECAP - Conversion Tips

1. Come from contribution.
2. Never make them wrong or look down on them.
3. First present a problem presentation, then go into your listing presentation.
4. Don’t buy into their story.
5. Avoid trying to list them over the phone.
6. Be careful not to share all your strategies before you arrive at the appointment.
7. Don’t give them tips or write the contract for them or offer them any tools you.

Follow up is everything, especially when working with this group of sellers.

How to show less and sell more.

Your First Contact - Making it count with the 4 Ws: Why, Where, What, When

Make them convince you.

Listen for the following;

Clarity - Do they have direction, focus, and specifics in mind.

Urgency - What is the timeframe to work within? Do they have to buy or want to buy?

Open Minded - Are they coachable? Will they follow your lead?

Pre-Qualifying - It is about more than money. 

Financially - Can they meet the lending guidelines to fund the loan?

Motivation - Are they truly motivated to buy a home?

Finances and Motivation must line up. The more time you take having a solid first conversation, the less time it will take you to locate the buyers new home and have your next sale under contract.

Consultation - This is where most agents get off track. 

All parties must have 100% clarity of the desired outcome.

A consultation saves everyone time when showing property and prevents missed opportunity.

If a buyer resists meeting for a consultation, it is a red flag.

A consultation allows you to establish expectations up front.

Value Proposition

A value proposition differentiates you from the competition.

A value proposition gives them a reason to want to hire you.

Ask for a commitment. Getting a buyer commitment in writing up front is no different than working with a seller.

Your mindset will determine your success. There are three aspects to a winning mindset; attitude, approach, and expectations. 

Attitude

It is the small things that make a HUGE difference. 

95% of your success is attitude; the other 5% is attitude. 

What are you listening to? What are you reading? Who are you hanging around? All of these impact your attitude. 

Approach

Have a plan. 

Remember the five Ps - Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance. 

People don't plan to fail; they fail to plan. 

Expectations

Rome wasn't built in a day. You operate on 90 days cycles. Have you  taken enough action, consistently over a period of time to have measurable results?

The 11th commandment - Thou shall not kid thyself. 

The Three Step Prep is the key to setting up a successful 1st appointment with clients.

Step 1 – The Initial Conversation

Find out the Why, What, Where, and When about their decision to buy/sell their house.

Are you convinced they are motivated to take action?

Step 2 – Pre-Qualify

There are two types of pre-qualification, financially and level of motivation.

You must pre-qualify 100% of the time. Pre-qualification must become a standard if not already.

Step 3 – Set up the Appointment

Offer an alternative close to help set the appointment. Use an open ended question.

Ideally, allow for a few days to get lenders "ok" before you even meet.

A successful real estate business does not happen overnight. Nor does it happen without planning or effort.

In this episode of Agents in Action, Todd Smith explains the five stages you are likely to experience while building a successful real estate business.

1. Building a Solid Foundation

This step is often (and easily) overlooked in our excitement to get involved in the sales process. It is critical to have a solid foundation in place. The more solid the foundation,  the more likely you are to weather the storms of frustration and discouragement that will show along the way.

If you don’t know “why”, the “how” becomes a chore instead of a journey to your dreams.

2. Work with Dedicated Focus

Your business is built in 90-day cycles. What you see showing up today is a result of your action, or lack of action 90 days ago. You may not see immediate results. This is why it is important to know your big WHY.

3. Breakthrough

When you have your breakthrough, you begin seeing consistent results.   During a breakthrough, you are being rewarded for the action you’ve taken over the past 90 days. You've done the work and have some momentum working in your favor.

Beware. Most agents get caught between stage 2 and 3 and never move past the stage 3.

4. Growth

Few agents get to the growth stage. In the growth stage, you have a steady income as a result of your consistency and development of good habits.

5. Achievement

When you have reached the achievement stage, business begins to flow with less effort. You have reached the highest level of competence in your business.

Where are you? What are the steps to your next level? How do you prevent falling back?

Welcome to Agents in Action.

The Agents in Action podcast, brought to you by Todd Smith, is devoted to providing education and inspiration for today's agent in action.

You can expect the Agents in Action podcast to;

Provide a learning environment everyone can take advantage of. Whether you are a new agent working towards your first sale, or a seasoned veteran looking to have a breakthrough, the content of Agents in Action will help your career.

Agents in Action will bring real world experiences from the streets to you, so you can move forward faster.

Todd Smith will pay it forward and share tried and true strategies, experiences and knowledge to help you cut down the learning curve and have success earlier in your career.

This show will help you break through and take your real estate business, skills and income to the next level.