What Does your Phone Voice Say about You?

Pretend you didn’t know you. Listen to your phone message. What ‘first impression’ are you making?  Do you sound happy to hear from that caller? Sluggish? Disinterested? Timely?

When I phone an agent today, I have no idea where that agent will answer his or her phone—or from what phone the call is being answered. And, I don’t really care. Technology allows the phone to follow the agent. That’s great. Here’s what’s not so great. Many times the agent’s message is so dull, powerless, or mumbled that it doesn’t sound as though the agent wants to talk to me. Or, the agent’s message is so long, that I’m impatient by the time I get to leave the message.

What Impact Do You Want to Make?

Surveys show that consumers want their agent to be enthusiastic. So why do many of the agents’ phone messages sound as though they are terribly tired or uninterested in the caller? Here’s the principle.

We use our senses to make snap judgments about people.

The less senses involved, the more important it is that we communicate properly. On the phone, there is only once sense involved—that of hearing. You have no ability to communicate your warmth, your interest, etc. visually on the phone. You have only your voice.

Decide What You Want to Communicate

What conclusions do you want your caller to have about you? Write down the five most important judgments you want your caller to make about you and your business approach. Now, listen to your own voice message. Do you believe you are communicating your ‘best self’? Ask five other people to listen, too. Decide what you like and what you want to change.

Research your Competition

Don’t listen only for your own communications. For three days, listen carefully to the tone, intent, and messages you hear on answering machines or voice messages of other agents and brokers. Listen carefully to how agents answer the phone at their offices. What do you think those agents are communicating? Do you believe they are communicating the kind of qualities they want to communicate—and think they are communicating?

Four important tips to remember when recording your own message:

1. Stand up—you’ll sound as though you have much more energy.
2. Write out your script first—and be sure it’s not too long. I don’t really care where you’re going to be all day!
3. Modulate your voice pleasantly. Try to get some resonance.
4. Sound as though you’re looking forward to hearing from me! 

These simple tips will increase your trust rate and your business. Get to ‘hearing’ today! Best news for budgeting: These tips cost you nothing, but reap you great benefits. First impressions count: Create your best phone voice.

www.realestateratingz.com

www.incredibleagents.com

www.zillow.com

These are agent feedback sites. You’ll see the good, the bad, and the ugly. In fact, you’ll be stunned, I think, at the impact a testimonial has in writing—on the net. This is a huge trend: Clients providing feedback that can be accessed by everyone. Now, even Realtor Associations, like the Houston Association of Realtors, is regularly surveying members’ buyers and sellers for feedback. Expect this trend to get bigger quickly.

Two New ‘Players’ in the Agent Information Business

In addition to the sites I told you about above, Bank of America and USAA are getting into the ‘information about agents’ business. Check them out, too.

It’s So Easy to Stand Out from the Crowd

You don’t have to be a top producer. You don’t have to be a technical genius. All you have to do to succeed is to put yourself in your customer’s shoes and think,

“How would I like to be treated? How would I like to be answered? What makes me trust a person? What makes me walk away from the product or service?” You’ve got it. You’re on your way to a stellar reputation and business.

Survey, Survey, Survey

Are you surveying right now? Would you like a copy of my survey? If so, click here. Let me know how it works for you!

Question: Why are agents afraid to survey? Studies show that only about 10% of agents actively and regularly survey.

In this blog, I want to share with you how to assure your commissions don’t shrink.

After all, if you’re a committed agent who invests monetarily and emotionally in a long-term career, you deserve the commissions you want to charge.

What it Takes to Preserve the Commission Levels you Want

There are two things you can provide that more than earn your ‘generous’ commissions (and that a computer search can’t do for a buyer or seller):

Expert consulting

Expert negotiating

In fact, negotiation skill was one of the skills California buyers said they wanted (and 82% said they didn’t get) with their buyers’ agent. 

Becoming that ‘Value-Added’ Consultant and Negotiator

There are some specific steps you can take to provide truly deliver immeasurable value to your clients. Here they are:

1. If you haven’t taken interactive, tough, to-the-point consulting and negotiating workshops, do so now. Unfortunately, most agents aren’t trained consultants or negotiators, so they’re missing the opportunity to differentiate themselves from other agents—and impersonal web-based services
2. If you don’t use a written questionnaire to interview prospective buyers and sellers, get and starting using them now.  (see The Complete Buyer’s Agent Toolkit and Your Client-Based Marketing System for comprehensive consulting tools)
3. Regularly survey your clients, at least at closing, to find out how you did—and keep refining your buyer and seller systems based on client feedback

Surveys Now on the Web for the World to See

A huge trend: websites have been created that feature surveys from real estate clients. The client has been feeling let down by agents, and now can either vent or brag! Take a look at

www.incredibleagents.com

www.realestateratingz.com

www.zillow.com

Ask yourself: If I were a client, what kind of feedback about an agent would cause me to want to work with her? What would cause me to avoid this agent? Some of the client surveys you’ll see on the site are awe-inspiring—and some are exceptional for entirely different reasons!

Down to the Wire

I believe that, very soon, companies will be either full service, generous commission companies, with dedicated, career-focused agents, or limited service, “less generous” commission companies. Which level of service (and fee structure) will you offer?

A Resource to Guide You to Today’s Representation of Buyers

Whether you’ve been in the business 3 minutes or 30 years, it is time to polish your buyer presentation skills. I’ve put together all the resources you need: Buyer presentations, with a PowerPoint presentation, and your own guide, where I coach you as a presenter. This is a really comprehensive guide, with over 150 pages and several presentations–plus dozens of checklists and documents.

Take a look at The Complete Buyer’s Agent Toolkit.

The market is slowly improving. Yet, many agents are not changing how they do business to take advantage of it. Historically, agents have ‘snared’ clients by promising they could get something for them, do better than that other agent, or represent them so client always won–and made the other client lose. (Not always legal is it?). In a market ruled by short sales, foreclosures, and other ‘not-controllable’ outcomes, that sales strategy just comes back to hit the agent in the face!

Stop Over-Promising and Under-Delivering

According to a recent California Association of Realtors’ survey, buyers gave agents an overall satisfaction score of 4–out of 100!

Obviously, this over-promise strategy didn’t work very well with buyers! One of the areas buyers said agents were deficient in were negotiation skills. Although I think that’s true, I believe the anger is caused by something else. Unfortunately, many agents are still using that old-style sales technique of making promises they can’t keep. I think they made promises to buyers, and, when they couldn’t get what they promised, the buyers thought the agent didn’t have negotiation skills. Better negotiation skills isn’t going to make a bank sign something the bank has not intended to sign!

This is not the era of ‘over-promise’ and ‘under-deliver’. It is the era of ‘under-promise and over-deliver’!

For example: The agent is attempting to get the bank to accept an offer on a foreclosure. To get that buyer to work with him, the agent has promised he will ‘get that bank to sign on the dotted line’. NOT! Now, the agent has over-promised to get the client, only to let the client down. The client believes the agent doesn’t have sufficient negotiating skills. Actually, the agent has used deceptive, over-kill sales tactics with the client. It’s a situation the agent can’t hope to win. Agents who are working like this must think clients are really, really dumb.

The Customer Doesn’t Know What He’s Getting–Until He Doesn’t

Have you heard that marketing saying? We all want to believe there’s a tooth fairy. We love to find ‘found money’. We want to believe all those smooth salespeople that say they can get us something for nothing. But, when it doesn’t happen, we turn against the salesperson. That is certainly happening in the real estate industry.

The Answer: Learn to ‘Tell the Truth Attractively’

Instead of using the old sales tactic of over-promising, learn to do a consultative interview with your potential client. Tell him what you can and can’t do. Give him your credentials and testimonials. Promise him you will rely on other experts in areas where you aren’t an expert. Become a ‘partner’ in solving problems. You aren’t a magician, you don’t control sale outcomes, and you aren’t an attorney–or a judge, or a bank.

Be Ready to Lose Once In Awhile

If you want to build a loyal clientele over time, you must be ready to lose to win. Sometimes you will lose a client to that old style manipulative agent. But, that client will come back to you, and be more loyal that ever. Remember, ‘the customer doesn’t know what he’s getting–until he doesn’t. And, when he realizes what has been done to him, he will appreciate your candidness and steadfastness. That’s the way to build loyalty over decades.

What do you do to build loyalty and counter the claims of that old-style ‘over-promising’ agent?

A Resource to Guide You to Today’s Representation of Buyers

Whether you’ve been in the business 3 minutes or 30 years, it is time to polish your buyer presentation skills. I’ve put together all the resources you need: Buyer presentations, with a PowerPoint presentation, and your own guide, where I coach you as a presenter. This is a really comprehensive guide, with over 150 pages and several presentations–plus dozens of checklists and documents.

Take a look at The Complete Buyer’s Agent Toolkit.

Why meeting buyer qualifying criteria is important: Buyers today have many choices of how to find homes. You need to create competitive reasons to help buyers choose you.  It will save you time and money. And, if you’re a newer agent, creating solid reasons to help buyers choose you will increase your self-confidence 200%.

Five Critical Questions Buyers Should Ask Agent ‘Candidates’

Here are five critical questions I believe buyers should ask agents to assure they have a ‘match’ between what they are looking for and what the agent provides. In addition, I’ve added what I believe buyers should look for in the anwers (that means that we agents must be able to qualify on these terms):

1. “Is selling residential real estate your full-time career?”

My advice to buyers: Listen to be sure the agent specializes in residential real estate. You want someone selling homes for a living, not apartment houses. Listen to see if this is the agent’s full-time career. Ask additional questions if the agent’s answers need more clarifying.

2. “How many homes did you sell last year?”

My advice to buyers: You want someone successful; that means, at minimum, the agent sold homes to buyers at least six times in that year.

3. “How long have you specialized in residential real estate in this area?”

My advice to buyers: Be sure the agent has been working in the area where you want to purchase for at least six months, so you know the agent has expertise and interest in that area.

4. “Describe the work you do in our price range and area.”

My advice to buyers: Listen to be sure the agent zeros in on the area and price range you need. If the agent says, “I work anywhere with anybody”, that agent may not be for you, for he may be trying to cover too much ground to know very much about specific areas.

5. “Tell us how you will work with us.”

My advice to buyers: Listen as the agent describes the buying process, as he views it. Does it reflect what you’re looking for?

Agents: Think These Criteria are Too Tough?

Did some of those questions and my advice to buyers make you defensive and argumentative? That’s because we agents tend to look at things ‘inside out’ (from our perspective). Instead, pretend you are a discriminating buyer. You’re going to spend $60,000 on a car. What kind of customer service do you expect? Now, think in terms of the real estate buyer. What kind of service should a real estate buyer expect?

Newer Agents: Panicked Because You Think You Can’t Qualify?

Relax. You don’t need to qualify on all terms. But, you need to have answers and explanations ready so you can provide buyers reasons to work with you.

 Advice: Educate yourself so that you are as well-prepared to help a buyer as an agent who has sold 100+ homes in his/her career.

Sound off! What did I miss? Are some of these questions too tough? What do you think?

Complimentary Sales Webinar with International Speaker

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This action packed 1 hour webinar is like a private consulting session with one of the industry’s top coaches and mentors.

Verl will take you step by step through how to build your business plan and achieve your financial goals.  Using the 3 Ts:  Technology, Training, and Trade Secrets of the top performers in the world, Verl will show you how to make 2012 your best year ever in real estate.  Invite your friends, partners, teams and entire companies to this event. 

When: Jan. 19

Time: 1:30-2:30 PM, PST

What: a webinar

To register:  https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/289780334

1. Wrong “career roadmap”

 Most agents have unrealistic expectations from the business. Examining your preconceptions–and misconceptions– is important to grasping how you got to where you are now–and why. What’s your job description right now? What kind of activities do you spend most of your time doing?

Recommendation: To make money, you should have only three priorities: Lead generating, showing and selling. Are you spending enough time doing those activities now? Analyzing your time and activities is key to gaining a hold on your time management.

For a Time Analysis tool,  click here.

excerpted from the On Track to Success in 30 Days System for the Experienced Agent.

2. Following the wrong role models

With real estate changing dramatically, each agent must know the opportunities and challenges inherent in his stage of the ‘career life cycle’. Without realizing it, many agents today are slipping into ‘decline’, hoping that real estate will go back to the ‘good old days’.

Recommendation: If you want to move your career ahead, you must consider yourself in the “growth cycle” of real estate. Why? Because the dramatic changes in the business force us salespeople consistently to examine our businesses and adopt new methods–just as we do when we want to grow a business, not merely maintain it.                                              

3. Not managing your attitude

A recent survey showed that agents expect managers to “keep them up”. Now, just think about it. How many times a day do you get “down”? Unless you carry your manager around in a fanny pack (that’s a picture), and wire him/her into your emotions, your manager just can’t ‘be there for you’ when you need a pep talk.

Recommendation: Find 4 methods to keep your attitude on an even keel. Listen to motivational audios; watch inspiring videos; read the right books.

4. A ‘peaks and valleys’ business

Do you know agents who have a great month, followed by four terrible months–even when the market is good? They do that over and over until it’s their business pattern. They’ve created a ‘peaks and valleys’ business. How did they do that? Mainly, by waiting for the customer to come to them.

Recommendation: If you’re getting more than 25% of your business from re-active sources, (floor time, open houses, Internet leads), you’re playing Russian roulette with your income. If that pipeline freezes, you’re back to being a first-day agent again! Your business should be coming from 75% or more pro-active prospecting (you go out to find the prospects).  

5. Spending your marketing dollars wrong

Recently, I was a speaker on business planning at a large regional real estate conference. I asked the agents what their best source of business was. They told me, “Old customers and clients–referrals.” I then asked them how much money they spent on that source. Out of 400 agents in the room, only one knew his investment in his best source!

Recommendation: Plan on spending 60% of your promotional dollars on old customers and clients. They’re your best source of business.

What did I miss? How do agents in your office get off track?

Don’t forget. Click here to get your time analysis tool. This is a very valuable tool that will reveal to you exactly how you’re spending your time–the good, the bad, and the ugly!

Where can you get more information to get past those career barriers? My consultative resource, The On Track to Success in 30 Days System for the Experienced Agent, gives you dozens of tips on how to figure out what’s right and what’s holding you back in your business. Then, I provide recommendations in each chapter, plus a 30-day regeneration plan.  See more here.

We know the name of the game today is keeping the client. Really, not only keeping the client, but keeping the client so happy that the client becomes an ‘evangelist’ for us. However, we’re way behind other industries in tracking our customer satisfaction levels—and exceeding client expectations. We have rather blithely stumbled onward, telling ourselves that we’re doing fine with our clients. Recent studies, though, show otherwise, as we’ll discuss here.

 What The Consumers Said About Their Agents’ Communication Habits

 Here are some disturbing statistics from Leading Research, San Clemente, California. Their recent survey of 100,000 buyers revealed that less than ½ of all home buyers and home sellers are satisfied with the quality and frequency of communication provided by their real estate professional. So, less than ½ would use the same agent again. We work so hard for that sale. It’s a shame not to work just a bit harder to assure that we’re meeting the client’s expectations so we’ll create an evangelist, not just get a check–once!

 Speaking of Getting that Check…………..

 In the Leading Research survey, buyers and sellers said that, about 1/3 of the time, they never heard from the agent after closing. Put yourself in the shoes of the buyer or seller. You’ve just paid them thousands and thousands of dollars in commissions. Then, you don’t hear from them again…………you must think that agent took the money and ran! (Well, that agent did just that!).

 Your Best Customer is the Customer You Just Sold

 That’s what the marketers tell us. Stop thinking about the next new one. Start thinking about the one who was nice enough to work with you and give you all that money.

Remember what Lee Iacocca, who pulled Chrysler from the brink, said, “Never rest on your oars.  If you do, the whole company starts sinking.” This year, make it part of your business plan to create a customer evangelist program. In other words,

treat your customer like an appreciating asset.

They are, and you will have a much more pleasant, cost-effective business—and one that’s saleable, too.

How would you rate your system of client follow-up after the sale? How would you rate other agents’? What have you thought of to keep that client for life?

 We’re All Presenters 

Everyone in the real estate business presents: Agents present, when they are doing listing or buyer presentations. Managers present when they are recruiting, or doing their office meetings. Mortgage and title reps present when they are in front of a group of agents in an office, talking about their services. So, doesn’t it make sense to become ‘killer’ at those presentations? You’ll double your money and halve your time. 

Bug Off: I Do Okay Just Like I Am 

Yeah. I know. As a musician, I’ve worked with literally hundreds of people who thought they ‘played good enough’. Some people just get to a certain performance level and leave it there. Have you ever thought that, often, our presentation strategies (or lack of) 

work in spite of us, not because of us?   

As a musician, I know the thrill of performing at high levels. So, open your mind and consider stepping up to a higher presentation level. Not only will you have personal satisfaction, you’ll make more money!

Right now, I’m doing a leadership series called 365 Leadership. I just did a session on creating a listing presentation play-off. This is an awesome leadership action–a way to  help agents get exceptional presentation skills, have fun, and create teamwork. You can see more about 365 Leadership here.  The next full series starts January 2012.

In the next blog, I’ll give you 3 specific methods to increase your presentation skills.

Social Networking has Taken the Place of Databases, Carla–You old Fuddy-Duddy…..

I know. You just love social networking. You could spend hours on it (in fact, you do). You go to all those classes on social networking, and, by golly, you know more about it than your manager. Don’t get too cocky yet. There are two problems you’re creating for yourself by relying on social networking:

1. You are probably spending too much time at your computer and not enough time meeting real people and forming relationships. Remember, buying a home is not like buying a set of knives. You’ll have to work hard to establish a trusting relationship. Most of us aren’t good enough at writing to do that without finally meeting someone.

2. You are not gathering your future goldmine–your database full of people who are going to love you and what you do.

Who do you ‘Own’?

Here’s the problem with relying on the social networking sites to keep track of your potential clients. You don’t own them. The social networking site could go out of business. It could start charging you. It could sell your contacts.  That’s why you need to ‘own’ those contacts in your own database. Now, you can create a marketing plan. You can communicate with those people on a schedule.

Start and Populate your Database Intensely

You’re a newer agent. You want to make money fast. You want to establish a solid long-term career. Become a ‘database freak’ so that you can remember all those wonderful people you met. Lead generation is the most important part of the sales business. Doing a lot of it assures high income. That means tracking all those people you meet. It takes more than one communication to create a loyal client.

New Agent Key to Success: Right Priorities

Those of you who have used Up and Running in 30 Days to start your careers know that I have worked hard to prioritize your business for you so that you are successful quickly, and gain business management habits for life. I’ve prioritized types of business, best sources of leads, and all the activities you’ll do to get started quickly. I want you to prioritize your technology activities, too. Remember, you’re a salesperson.

Become that database freak and see your business develop quickly.

How do you set the stage for a professional relationship with a seller?  How do you list properties that sell? Most likely you’ll have a phone conversation with the seller before you do anything else.  This is where many agents waste time and energy.  They hear the seller say, “I want you to come over and tell me what my house is worth”, so they run over.  Then, they find out the seller is listing with another agent, wants the evaluation for insurance purposes, or wants to move in one year, etc. Even worse, the seller says, “Just drop a competitive market analysis (CMA) on my doorstep. I’ll let you know if I want you to list the property.” The agent dutifully completes a CMA, drops it on the doorstep, and finds out another agent has listed the property!

 Five Questions to Answer to Set Your Professional Standards 

Avoid wasting your time and being disappointed. Here are five important considerations to answer for yourself to see if your “pre-first visit” system is up to standard: 

1. Would you go to a seller’s home just because he asked you to come over? If not, what are your standards? 

2. Would you give the seller a price opinion without a thorough analysis of the market trends and of the property? 

3. Would you go to the seller’s home without knowing why he is moving? 

4. Would you go if the seller wouldn’t let you explain how you work? 

5. Would you go to the seller’s home of all sellers were not present? 

If you answered ‘yes’ to any of these questions, you probably are doing too much work listing properties for not enough income! Establishing standards to meet for first visits to sellers, along with a pre-first visit questionnaire, will assure you use your time wisely.

Want much more help in screening sellers AND convincing them to list at the right price? Take a look at Your Client-Based Marketing System. Powerpoint presentation, plus dozens of tips on presenting professionally. Take charge of your listing process now!