If you want to see a diagram of a toilet tank then you can see it here.
Toilet repair Part 2
February 18th, 2009Toilet repair Part 1
February 18th, 2009How to create loyal buyers
February 18th, 2009One of the phrases sometimes repeated by real estate agents is, “Buyers are liars.” That comes from the frustration felt when a buyer-client buys something different from what the agent thought the buyer wanted, and sometimes buys it through another agent. How can we become so valuable to the client that they feel loyal?
The following goes into some detail about how to interview buyers before you show them homes. Believe it or not, the interview connects you with buyers so effectively that they won’t even consider working with another agent. In fact if they have been working with other agents, they will adopt you as their only agent.
We often hear clients say that they will know the right house when they see it. The “right house” is a vague concept that they can’t describe. This interview is the answer. The following is an extraordinary form of listening. It enables you to:
Qualify the motivation of the buyers,
Streamline the process of finding the right home.
Build a healthy, trust-relationship
Streamline the process of finding the right home.
Build a healthy, trust-relationship
In a number of instances when this interview process has been followed, the agent has been able to understand clients’ needs so thoroughly that the agent could narrow the choices easily, and occasionally sell the first house shown. One woman exclaimed, before they even entered the house, that the agent had, “climbed into their head.” This was not luck. Master this outline. You can know where the bulls-eye is and hit it.
There are 3 qualifying steps:
What will they buy?
Will they buy now?
Will they buy from me?
Will they buy now?
Will they buy from me?
This first step involves a series of questions that uncover your clients’ attitudes and feelings about their future home. These questions follow a pattern that enables you and your clients to move beyond the superficial and obvious and to reach the heart of their desires.
Begin with open-ended questions. For example, “Describe your next house,” or “Tell me about your dream home.” Don’t be tempted to ask specific questions such as “how many, where,” etc. The objective is to allow your clients to explore their own thoughts about a home.
Sometimes couples surprise each other in this process, because new ideas surface. Watch for words that are emphasized or repeated. TAKE LOTS OF NOTES! Nod your head, make listening noises and keep still. (I know that’s difficult!) This listening may take an hour or more.
To further open up the thinking process, ask modified open-ended questions. These sound like “Tell me more about [whatever they have mentioned].” The process is called “layering down.” When they look off into space as they describe something, you’re on the right track. They are envisioning the enjoyment of some aspect of their new home. You don’t want to rush this process. Continue to stoke it and stoke it and stoke it until you have plumbed the bottom.
As your clients talk about their future home, they will talk mostly about “features” (big yard, one story, 4 bedrooms, etc.). Here is where you demonstrate a superior ability to understand them. People do not buy features. They buy the benefits derived from features. So the next step is for you to translate these features into benefits.
The next part of the interview is to ask, “What does having [a feature] mean to you?” or “Why is [a feature] important to you?” Work through the more prominent features. Listen for the benefit behind the features. I memorized these benefits so I could easily teach them to others, but the essence of the idea is to understand that features are the superficial expression of the benefits. It isn’t suggested that you talk about “benefits” to your client. Just be aware of them.
There are only 14 benefits derived from owning anything. Here are the benefits:
Aesthetics
Comfort
Convenience
Economy
Education
Entertainment
Health
Love (romance) A spouse or partner will sometimes buy to please the other one.
Prestige
Privacy
Recreation
Safety
Security
Self-actualization. (could be a work bench in the garage, a rose garden?)
Comfort
Convenience
Economy
Education
Entertainment
Health
Love (romance) A spouse or partner will sometimes buy to please the other one.
Prestige
Privacy
Recreation
Safety
Security
Self-actualization. (could be a work bench in the garage, a rose garden?)
If a client mentions that they would like to have a big back yard, the translation may reveal that what they really desire is privacy, or a place to garden (self-actualization), or the aesthetics of a view. While most agents would run out looking for a big back yard, you know that their real desire is to have the derived benefit, even with a small yard. You can apply this to even the most mundane elements of a home, such as a dishwasher, separate dining room, 2 car garage, etc.
This first step of discovering what your clients are feeling about their next home may take an hour or more, but it can save you many hours of searching and/or frustration. Since the essence of our work is building relationships, this is a priceless opportunity. You become a trusted friend in the process. Your clients understand more than ever before what is important in their new home.
Your notes will tell you which 3 or 4 benefits are the most important to your clients. Explain that every home purchase involves compromises and that they have indicated that some things are not to be compromised.
Ask, “If I locate a home that has [benefits: one, two and three], are you prepared to buy it?” This may seem like an aggressive question on paper, but when you have gone through Step I thoroughly, you will have a solid relationship with your clients that allows you to ask for this commitment. They will feel that you understand their desires better than anyone before, even better than they understood themselves before the interview.
Ask, “If I locate a home that has [benefits: one, two and three], are you prepared to buy it?” This may seem like an aggressive question on paper, but when you have gone through Step I thoroughly, you will have a solid relationship with your clients that allows you to ask for this commitment. They will feel that you understand their desires better than anyone before, even better than they understood themselves before the interview.
If the answer to Step II is yes, the next question secures the client relationship. Explain, I work with only a few clients at a time so that I can devote my time and energy to serve them well. In order to justify that commitment, I need to ask you to make a similar commitment to me? “Would you be willing to work only with me?” Most often they are totally sold on you and can say yes easily. If there is another agent in their thought, you may want to add, “for a period of 2 weeks.” If they don’t want to commit, move on to the next client.
As I mentioned at the beginning, I have used this interview process many times, and found it so effective that sometimes I have been able to show my clients one house, point out to them that it satisfies [benefits: one, two and three], and they buy it.
Review:
Ask lots of open-ended questions and listen, listen, listen.
Ask clients to tell you more about [their answers.]
Summarize the big three benefits and ask for a commitment to buy.
Explain that you make a total commitment and ask them to commit to you.
May you have much success with this interview process!
Ask clients to tell you more about [their answers.]
Summarize the big three benefits and ask for a commitment to buy.
Explain that you make a total commitment and ask them to commit to you.
May you have much success with this interview process!
Negotiating with REOs
February 2nd, 2009Negotiating with REOs
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Are You Prospecting?
January 26th, 2009What is Prospecting?
by Loren Keim
http://www.c21keim.com
Many years ago, I found myself without a date for Valentine’s Day. It was February 11th and I was in my mid-20’s.
I had recently broken up with a long-time girlfriend and wasn’t sure what I wanted in a relationship. So I went to the local florist and ordered a dozen roses. I then asked the florist to send one rose to each of twelve different young women I had selected. The florist said “You’re kidding, right?” I wasn’t. That’s called prospecting. Select a target audience and let them know you have something to offer them.
In the Real Estate Industry, as in most sales professions, prospecting is a dirty word. Far too many Realtors enter the field of Real Estate believing they can wait for the phone to ring and earn an above average income if they only select a brokerage with great advertising. Most new agents, as they venture into this endeavor, expect that the company will generate leads for them. While it is true that most good real estate organizations generate some buyers and sellers from the advertising done by the company, you will not make a great living at any company waiting for the phone to ring. That is the kiss of death in the real estate industry.
Prospecting, however, is not simply picking up the phone and calling possible buyers and sellers. To be effective, prospecting must be a consistent planned process. Your goal is to create a steady flow of business into your pipeline that will result in an above average income.
Your business will build like a wave over the long term of your career if you deliver exceptional service. Starting small, it can grow to tsunami proportions as more and more of your past clients, business associates, friends and relatives refer you business. It’s a process to create those referrals, and you have to survive long enough in the industry, making a living, until you have a database of people who like and trust you that will continually feed and expand your business and client base.
There are two fundamental truths about prospecting.
The first truth is that you must prospect consistently to be successful. Set aside time each and every week to perform the task. If you don’t block out time, other stuff will get in the way. “Well, Loren, I couldn’t prospect today because I really needed to go shopping for groceries, and I had an out-of-town client, and I had this awful hangnail.” My experience with training hundreds of Realtors over the years has taught me that prospecting is the hardest part of any real estate career. The number one reason that Realtors fail in this industry is that they fail to schedule the time to find prospects. This is particularly important early in a Realtor’s career. In the long run, Realtors who deliver exceptional service receive many referrals from their clients, which limits the amount of prospecting successful Realtors need to do. However, when building a real estate business for yourself, you need to look at the various options available to seek out qualified property sellers and buyers.
The second truth is that prospecting is a process, not an event. Some real estate trainers teach Realtors to randomly pick up the phone and call people until they get an appointment. A much smarter approach is to carefully select a target market that you feel is not being serviced, or where you may find a competitive advantage, and lay out a game plan to target that audience. The game plan will include a method, or several methods, of contacting the target audience, a reason for your contact or something of value for the group you’re prospecting, and a systematic way to follow up with that group.
The Prospecting System:
There are four steps to a successful prospecting system.
1. Select Your Target Market - Determine who you want to be the recipient of your message, advertising, or direct prospecting.
2. Select Your Method of Contact - There are literally hundreds of methods of contacting prospective buyers and sellers in your marketplace. Methods may include phone calls, door knocking, emailing, mailing, and some special deliveries. Some of them are quite fun, like delivering flags or pumpkins.
3. Give Your Prospect Something of Value - The primary goal of prospecting is to identify a potential client. You want to entice a client to raise their hand and acknowledge that they may be in the market to buy or sell some time in the near future.
4. Follow Up Consistently - Once you’ve identified prospective future clients, you’ll need to begin building a relationship with them.
Again, prospecting is a process, not an event. You can hope for business, pray for business or go get business. It’s your choice!
If you aren’t filling the “Marketing Funnel” by prospecting then nothing drips out of the pipeline each month! In this economy, prospecting has become even more important to the success of your real estate business.
Four Qualities for success
January 19th, 2009Four Qualities for Success
by Barry Lebow
www.thesenioragent.com
I am fascinated by why some agents do well, most do poorly and why only a few reach extraordinary heights of success.
In my studies I came across Francis Galvin, a cousin to Charles Darwin and someone who was without a doubt a true genius and scientific pioneer.
Galvin did a study of 200 of the most eminent people in history (up to late 1880s anyway) and found that most shared four common traits.
1. Power of Organization. The first trait is exactly what sets out the superstar agents from the herd. I have never met a top producer who was not organized and who did not keep exacting notes and diaries (or at least have assistants who will).
People will pay top dollar to have someone help them with music or sports lessons, but only top producers systematically go over and over sales techniques to perfect their closings. They are organized in the sense that not only are they on top of things, they are organized as they rehearse and roll play to get to and stay at the top.
2. They are persistent. The old saying of “you stop selling when either you or your client is dead” holds true. They believe in what they are doing and they do not accept rejection as defeat.
3. They have good health. Boy, this hits home for me. My father is 87. He is frail of body, and only gets out a few days a week because but his legs don’t carry him as well as they should.
My father was a superstar salesman all his life. How many people do you know who made $3.5 million in commission on one deal? My dad did and at 87 his mental health is the same as when he was at his peak. He called me the other day to ask if I had clients for a particular deal he was working on. How many 87 year old hustlers have you met lately?
Mental health is a key to success in sales. Being of good body is important. Great salespeople and leaders of industry must be able to go the distance and today that includes good mental health as well as physical. You don’t exercise? Then start, now, today. Exercise can clear the head, release powerful endorfens and regenerate you.
A few years ago I could barely walk due to a severe fall through an apartment building roof, today I suffer a lot of pain but damn it, I still can walk miles and love to dance. Hire a personal trainer if you can afford one and if not, walk around the block every day.
4. A Modicum of Ability. I had a little trouble with this concept of his until I figured it out as the genius within us. Something in you makes you unique, something gives you that drive, that one concept that can take you to new levels, like when David and Gail Liniger created RE/MAX despite the critics and the words, “it can’t be done, you can’t single handed change real estate.” Yep, it can be done and watch out for more changes in the future. We are evolving.
I just finished reading about Robert Allen. He wrote a major book on buying real estate with nothing down. I am not a great advocate of his work, but one thing about his program truly intrigued me. He was challenged by a reporter who thought that he was a sham artist. Allen challenged the reporter that he could go any city, go to the unemployment line and pick a couple and they could not only buy with nothing down, they would make a lot of money.
Skipping most of the details, here is what intrigued me the most about the story. Working with the mayor of a city, they invited the unemployed to a lecture that could turn their lives around and make them money. A lot of people showed up but by the coffee break most had left - they learned that it actually took some work. Of those who remained he chose one couple, they went out and used his techniques and made $100,000 in one month. I am not concerned about the nothing down aspect or the profit, what intrigues me is the parallel I see with society and our real estate industry.
All of the tools for success are there, making a $100,000 and more is not that difficult for a working agent but when it comes to working at it, most leave by the coffee break. I study market reports and what do I see? The top producers concentrating their grip on the industry across North America. In Toronto today probably 5% of the Realtors control 95% of the action! I would bet that this trend, with some variation exists in most cities.
Are they smarter? Not really, but they are more focused - and here is another thing - they embrace education. They do not go to mandatory education just for the credits they are there to seek a spark of an idea. They will travel to get the right education and they will hire a coach.
Funny thing, Galton set out his study in the 1880s of 200 successful people and nothing has changed since then. A new year, in 2009 you can go for coffee or stay to learn. Doing nothing usually ends up being the most expensive thing one can do.