The third realtor we interviewed illustrated many lessons in selling…me…on….someone else.
“Here are three of my listings.” He lays out spec sheets on three houses that he has listed (on the market).
Action Point 7:
Establishing credibility is about the audience or client, not the salesperson or business.
What is it about real estate agents that the client will find credible?
- Homes that have sold.
- Personal Integrity.
- Someone who exhibits interest in the client/customer.
He had just sat down, not asked any questions about my house, my plans….nothing. Just handed over his three listings…as if I magically would want to buy one of his listings…of course he was there to talk about selling my house….right??
After looking over the house and sitting down to get to the business of why he should be selected as my agent, he said, “Now, let me tell you about Coldwell Banker. Last year we were number one in sales in the Twin Cities, beating even Edina Realty…blah, blah, blah, blah….”
Action Point 6:
Ask me what is important to me in hiring an agent.
Don’t sell the client on the company, sell the client on YOU.
Key point about which corporate entity was #1 in sales last year: I don’t care.
This is meaningless information. Coldwell Banker is a corporation and not the person selling my house. I soon tuned back in hoping for a change in his presentation style…like maybe he would ask a question…nope.
I thought to myself, “can you quickly save my polite boredom and save yourself by very quickly telling me about you, what you have sold, what benefits you can give me vs. another Realtor?……”
…not a chance.
Boredom kicked in. Now my mind is wondering if “Lost” was a rerun tonight or if the new Pamela Anderson TV show would be as funny this week as it was the preceding week.
So, I decide to ask a question, “What is the biggest weakness of my house?” Answer, “Clutter.” (Thousands of books.)
That helps. At least it’s a great house. Remove the books from the library rooms…, but was happy to hear that was the biggest weakness.
Action Point 5:
Give direct answers to questions and elucidate on how that information will help me solve a problem.
In this case, “If we show buyers about 25% more floor space you are going to get 10-15,000 more dollars.”
Now he’s telling me about other people who are selling their house and giving ambiguous opinions about whether the Elvis Presley and Paul McCartney autographs should be removed (along with all the very obvious Kevin Hoganish stuff)
Action Point 4:
Never discuss meaningless information about what someone else who is also a client is doing unless it has direct and certain impact on me, the customer.
I don’t recall the answer because it took too long to get it. He was too busy telling me about all kinds of other clients who had personal items in their homes and how long it took HIM to sell THOSE houses.
Here’s what I wanted to hear: “Kevin, get someone to box up your library and store it until you sell. Make sure that your personal valuables like the Elvis autographs are taken down for your safety and also to create a more neutral and comfortable environment for buying the house.”
(Those two sentences would have required 12 seconds. Instead he gave me 14 minutes in answering my question….I don’t recall what it was he did say…because I was just about to sleep.)
Action Point 3:
Given the choice of being brief and simple or long and complex, be brief.
The question about the value of whether an “Open House” was a good idea or not, was answered directly in opposition of Gary at Remax, who said, one would be fine in the first couple weeks…this gentleman wanted one every weekend. Oh my.
Gary suggested that the seller could be home, though less than ideal. This Realtor said that the seller (me) should never be home during the Open Houses. Of course it makes sense to have the house as human-free as possible but it was interesting to see the lack of concern by the agent in the top 5% of sales nationwide (Gary), and the current agent who was essentially impotent.
Wait! This might be important…he’s telling me another story about how in some cities you need to do various inspections…those are cities that aren’t the city I live in. I’m sure that I missed something. Why someone would tell me something that doesn’t apply to me when trying to get my business….well…what a learning experience.
The guy in the top 5% was in the top 5% because he worked and he worked with his client. If I’m going to be home when the house was being shown, he’d make sure it would work. If I wanted to do X, he would show me a way to compensate.
Action Point 2:
Show the customer your flexibility and make sure you allow your client to STAY IN HIS COMFORT ZONE just like Gary did with me.
Finally, the guy in the top 5% left me with a personalized portfolio of my house and how it compared with everyone else’s that had sold recently. He GAVE me information about how to “stage” the house, price the house, etc. All in the book. The middle-interest Realtor gave me sheets of paper with comps on them. But no cool book about my house…and the idiot from the company I couldn’t have cared less about the name…he gave me his business card.
Action Point 1:
Always give someone something of perceived tangible value, with a personal touch if possible.
It’s so easy to do things poorly, yet Gary from Remax wasn’t a genius, he simply knew human nature. Give a guy a BOOK about his house, why it’s special, it’s strengths and weaknesses, who the likely buyer will be (demography), all the houses I was going to compete with and those that had sold, all under one cover, totaling about 120 pages….
…it was no wonder he was in the top 5% nationwide. Because he followed Napoleon Hill’s advice to go the extra mile. Extra milers are winners in every respect.
