The Information Hoarder/Revealer Agent Has No Value Today

When agents were able to hoard the information about homes, agents could sell value based on home information. Now, there’s no agent-provided value there. So, what value do you provide, and how do you show it?  I believe there are three packages that buyer’s agents need to provide, to justify their desired exclusive buyer’s agency agreement, and their commissions:

• The Pre-Appointment Package
• The Consultative Package (I call it “Your Guide to Purchasing a Home”)
• The Home Buyers’ System Package

Why packages: To create visual, substantive evidence that you are professional, you are knowledgeable, and you are current and contemporary.

Here’s the principle you’re going to follow:

We believe what we see, not what we hear 

Non-Committed agents need not apply. You and I know that a non-committed, part-time, or low producing agent just isn’t going to take the time to create these packages, processes, and systems. You are. Creating these packages and systematizing your buyer process shows you are a committed, savvy, value-added agent.

Systematizing: The Pre-Appointment Package

To guard against that Internet buyer de-valuing the services you provide, you’re going to start educating them from the time you first talk to them. Your pre-appointment package will do just that.

Systematizing: The Consultative System and Buyer’s Package

Because you’re thinking in terms now of a complete buyer system, part of that system is a professional process to meet with the buyer using a planned process to meet the buyer’s needs. That means you’re going to educate the buyer, and you’re going to carefully and systematically qualify the buyer. You’re going to use the ‘consultative’ approach, asking great questions in an orderly, purposeful fashion.

Bottom line: You’re going to create awesome value, because you’re going to help that buyer prioritize the myriad pieces of information they’ve gotten from the Internet.

Added Value: The Home Buyers’ System 

The last package you’re going to create is the most valuable. But, it’s not given to the purchaser unless and until the purchaser agrees to work exclusively with you. This package has the specific processes, checklists, and systems that you’ve created to partner with the buyer successfully through the home buying process.

The Ideal Buyer’s Agent: Working with the Internet Buyer Through Fully Systematized Processes 

You’ve systematized your buyers’ process to raise it to a value-added level. You’re not focused on information-providing. You’re focused on information-prioritizing. You are now matched up with the needs and desires of that Internet buyer, and you’re poised for exceptional real estate success. Congratulations! 

Don’t waste time reinventing the wheel: To help you get into action instead sit creating systems at your computer, I’ve provided a ready to use PowerPoint presentation, along with the three buyer packages you need, read to go, in The Complete Buyer’s Agent Toolkit. Not only that, I’ve provided a comprehensive training system to assist you in performing like a top producer—even before you are one. Click here to learn more.

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?

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 A Middle that Educates your ‘Audience’ to your Point of View

 In the middle of your presentation, add those stories, statistics, and visuals that support your point of view.  By the way, as you create that presentation, jot down your point of view. If you’re doing a presentation to sellers, one of the major objectives of your presentation is to persuade them to your listing price point of view.

The Power of the Visual

There are two reasons to use visuals in your presentation:

We believe what we see

We retain the information much longer

As you organize your presentation, ask yourself:

What are the main, and frequently, unspoken objections my ‘audience’ will have? How do I educate them to show them the reasoning behind my point of view?

Retention is Key

Have you ever met with sellers or buyers, given them lots of information—and then had them question you about it a few days later—as if they never heard you—or heard you backwards? That’s because people don’t hear and retain very well. Look at the statistics:

Three days later:

We retain 10% of the information when we hear it

We retain 65% of the information when we hear and see it

So, use visuals to prove your points, not to merely show pretty pictures of houses (or whatever your topic is).

The Ending: Take your Audience Back to the Beginning

Have you thought about your wrap-up? Or, like many presenters, does your ending sound like this?

Well, that’s all. What do you think?

We’re out of time. Thank you. I hope you’ll list with me

I don’t have time to close.

I couldn’t get to much of the material, but you can read it

 In fact, even the most professional presenters frequently have trouble with their endings. One of the main reasons is that they run out of time. Another is that they haven’t thought the ending through.

How to Do a Stunning Ending

Crafting an effecting ending is the second most important part of your presentation. (The first is the opening). To craft a great ending,

            Go back to your beginning opening theme

            Summarize the benefits of going ahead with you/take action

            Motivate your ‘audience’ to take action

 A Great Presentation is Crafted like a Pop Song

As a musician, I know that all pop tunes are constructed with this format:

 theme—variation—theme

This is known in the music business as the ABA format. Think of your favorite pop tune: Hum the beginning. Think of the end. They’re alike, right? It’s the middle—known as the ‘bridge’—that is the humdinger. It wanders all around. Your persuasive presentation should be crafted like that pop tune:

A         A compelling start (think Billy Joel, Neil Diamond, etc.)

B         An interesting, developed middle, with stories, statistics

A         Back to that theme, with a motivating ending

Now, you’re all set to craft a great listing or buyer presentation, great recruiting meeting or sales meeting, or awesome product/service presentation to any audience.

P. S. Practice, practice, practice!

Many more tips on presentations and presentation skills are in my new resource, Knock Their Socks Off: Tips to Make your Best Presentation Ever.  Whether you’re doing listing and buyer presentations, or sales meetings, or 3-minute ‘get in front of them to sell your services’, you’ll love this resource.

In my new resource, Knock Their Socks Off: Tips to Make Your Best Presentation Ever, I show a simple three-step format to create your persuasive presentation. No matter why you’re in front of people, we need to be

                                                                   persuasive

Think about it. Real estate salespeople: When you’re doing a listing presentation, what do you want to happen? You want them to sign the listing agreement when you’re done. So, it’s extremely important that you organize your listing presentation using a persuasive format, not just an information-heavy dialogue flow.

In this blog, we’ll discuss great openings–one of the 2 most important parts of any presentation.

 Grab Their Attention in the Opening

 Have you thought about your opening? Or, are you nervously standing at the sellers’ door, worried about what you’re going to say? Are you hiding in your office because you dread doing that sales meeting? When we haven’t organized our presentation, we come up with some really boring, off-putting openings, like:

 I won’t take much of your time, but

We have a lot to cover today (boy, that sounds exciting and motivating, doesn’t it?)

We won’t get through the outline/presentation (then, why do we have that outline?)

I know you don’t want to listen, but

I’m not really prepared (this happens in many presentations in front of 2 or 2000!)

You just open your presentation book, point to the pretty pages, and say, “here’s a keybox”  (I’m not kidding. I’ve seen it….)

Great openings, yes? Yet, we’ve heard them dozens of times. You don’t have to settle for whatever comes ‘naturally’. Instead, make your openings

             Provocative

            Interesting

            Different

            Engaging

  Motivating

The First Two Minutes are Critical

I just attended a Train the Trainer’ session (yes, I still learn great stuff every day!), where the trainer said it was important to engage the audience in a meaningful way in the first two minutes of your presentation. I think that’s a great rule to follow today, because people’s attention spans are the length of a gnat’s eyebrow. So, the next time you attend a presentation, see how much time elapses before the speaker/presenter/trainer gets the audience into meaningful action. I don’t mean to ask a rhetorical question, either!

Want many more presentation tips for your next meeting, listing or buyer presentation, or sales presentation? Check out Knock Their Socks Off: Tips to Make your Best Presentation Ever.

In the next blog, we’ll talk about the other 2 parts of the presentation, and how to make them sizzle, too.

What mistakes have you seen presenters make in their openings? Let me know. Also–what do you do to grab their attention and interest in the first two minutes?

 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.

Would you agree? The more we can fulfill the client’s expectations, the more referrals we can expect from that client.  And, we all know referrals is the name of the game. Referrals cost us much less, and the client referred to us loves us already. Plus, by making the client ecstatic, we have a reason to charge those generous commissions we love—and we should.

 Obvious Question–Not an Obvious Customer-Agent Service Match

You may the above question and answer are obvious. But, we should slow down and really think about it. Why? Because the gap between client expectations and general agent performance has, in the evaluation of the consumer, become a chasm. And, unless we can breach that gap, our commissions will keep sliding downward.

 Time to Think ‘Outside In’

 As you read this, stop yourself from thinking ‘inside out’ (What we like to think about ourselves). I, like you, have spent most of my adult working life as a Realtor. I sold hundreds of homes. I hired, trained, and coached thousands of agents. It’s painful for me, as it is for all of us, to look at ourselves from ‘the outside’. But, if we want to sustain our practices in the best way possible, we have to close that gap between what we think of ourselves and what consumers think of our practices. We have to think ‘outside in’ (look at ourselves from the consumer perspective).

 Buyers Talk—Let’s Listen 

Take a look at this survey of 2009 from the California Association of Realtors.

 CAR asked buyers to rate the overall satisfaction level with their buyer’s agent. Wow! 4 out of 100! Now, I know that’s not true of you, but, it is what those thousands of buyers rated those thousands of agents they dealt with. Is 4 out of 100 good enough to get referrals? Is it good enough to sustain ‘generous’ commission levels? I don’t think so, do you?

 Our Reputation as an Industry is Impacted By Every Agent’s Practice 

Yes. I know most Realtors are independent contractors. We like to think we are not impacted by others’ practices. But, in truth, study after study shows we are. The consumer judges us generally by the level of practice of the agent with whom they have contact. Then, we ‘inherit’ that reputation—whether we earned it or not. And, when we have that less than sterling reputation, we have to dig ourselves out of the hole to prove we’re not ‘one of those’. It’s there, and we have to recognize it. 

What do YOU Think?

What do you think the consumer wants that he/she’s not getting? In the next blog, I’ll show you what they said (what they wanted from buyers).

The Ideal Agent

I’ve given you {buyers} dozens of suggestions for choosing the right agent for you, from qualities to skills to questionnaires. As I wrote this chapter, I starting thinking about the criteria I would use to choose an agent. So, turnabout’s fair play. Here’s the kind of agent I’d look for if I were buying a home today:

• Has been in the business three to five years and seems real committed and enthusiastic
• Has completed higher level training (Graduate Realtors Institute and Certified Residential Salesperson–both Realtor-sponsored educational series for real estate agents, which include sales and technical skills)
• Has completed an average of 10-20 sales per year or more  (working with buyers)
• Has letters of recommendation, and list of people I could contact
• Has a portfolio or brochure, with stated mission and values
• Specializes in area where I want to look
• Has time to put me first, within reason
• Doesn’t delegate me totally to an assistant
• Seems strong enough to tell me the truth, even if I don’t like it
• Explanations about agency relationships and how he works are clear and concise
• Has high standards for choosing buyers
• Demonstrates strong communication skills
• Seems to match my business values

Last word to agents: Hone your skills and your values to match the kind of person you’d like to work with–when you’re a buyer. It really helps a salesperson customer service rating to pretend he’s a “real person”–for a change. Seeing the world of sales from the consumer perspective will give you fresh new ideas, and help you differentiate yourself from other agents. With ever-raising buyer demands, this will assure you compete in the next decade.

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.

Agents: You must really, really know your market, your statistics, and be able to provide prioritized knowledge to your client, not the same things the consumer can get on the web! You need to fess up to the client, now, if you’re not committed to the profession and them full-time, so they won’t be disappointed later (read the stunningly low buyer satisfaction levels with agents below).

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.

Agents: You need to practice enough that you are really good at it—and committed to your profession. If you don’t aspire to more than 6 transactions a year, how valuable are you to the client?

3. “How long have you specialized in residential real estate in this area?” or “Describe the work you do in our price range and 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.

Agents: Even if you’re new, you must prove to the client that you are worth that prioritized knowledge. Become a buddy to an experienced agent. Make yourself the area expert; do not try to ‘cover the whole state!’

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

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

Agents: Be sure you have a Professional Portfolio, to  give the consumer an idea of your work. Remember, we believe what we see, not what we hear. Organizing your portfolio also shows your commitment to our profession. Include testimonials; we believe what others say about us, not what we say about ourselves.

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.