As a real estate agent you need to keep your cool

CLIENTS AND REALTORS BOTH SUFFERING FROM STRESS

The past year or so has seen mean realtors having to deal with people under huge stress loads.    The realtors themselves are possibly also suffering from stress because most agents have not had the success in real estate that they have enjoyed over the previous 4-5 years.

It is often quite difficult talking to a client who has major difficulties if you too have similar difficulties.  It could be financial, health or family problems, but either way it can be hard to be the sounding board of a client if you too are struggling.

SO HOW DO YOU HANDLE EMOTIONAL SITUATIONS?

1. you could hand the job on to another agent in the office and agree to some sort of split commission
2. you could endeavor to be very closed on an emotional level which your clients may find stand-offish
3. you could empathize with the client and let them know you understand and why, but indicate that you don’t talk about it

It is often better to be open in a situation like this because otherwise your reactions (and there will be some) may come through as though you don’t like them as people and this would not be good at all.

FEELING SOME ANGST?

If you feel that you are going to lose your temper, walk away.  Excuse yourself and tell the customer that you have to leave and you will get back to them as soon as you can.  The next day would be a good idea if it can wait that long.

CONTROL YOUR STRESS BEFORE IT GETS TO YOU

Selling real estate can often be quite stressful as people want answers NOW, and you can end up under a lot of pressure at times.   Taking regular breaks can be the answer to that.  Breaks throughout the day and holidays during the year.  This is the sensible way to keep on top of your stress levels. 

It is actually a good idea to commit yourself to a sport where you need to be once a week.  This way you will make the effort to be there and being away from real estate for a few hours will do wonders for your stress management.

If you are sick, stay at  home and get over it, otherwise you will be dragging a half dead body around for days because you won’t have time to get well.

Having a career in real estate means that you have to look at the long term and care for yourself in the short term.  By dealing with your stress levels on a regular basis you will enjoy the industry so much more.

What should be in your real estate presentation kit

YOUR PRESENTATION KIT IS ALL ABOUT YOU

Most certainly it is also about the office that you work for, but essentially you are selling yourself.  What you want to do with a Presentation Kit is assure the client that you are going to work hard for them and they should be shown exactly how you are going to go about that.

Setting up YOUR presentation kit

1.    The start of a presentation kit should be devoted to showing the client about the real industry so it should have information about the office, the who, what, why and where, plus it should have successes of the office and market share etc.  All this can be otained from the principal.

2.   Then it would be a good idea to show details about what is currently happening in the market place and also how successful you have been.  If you are new focus on the results of the company.  Show the office back there is re sales executives, administration and property management.   Include here all the available contacts for yourself and the office.

3.   Give details on how you would expose the vendor’s property to the buying public.  List every single way of marketing (not advertising) the property that you can think of. 

4.   An explanation of how you close a sale and the closing process.

You see, even if you are new, but have all this information in your kit the sellers will understand that you know your stuff, and that you are not just another real estate agent running around trying to make a fast buck.

Understanding the benefits of a real estate presentation kit

MANY NEW REAL ESTATE AGENTS DON’T LIKE TO USE A PRESENTATION KIT – WHY?

This is something that I cannot understand.  Have you ever been to a seminar or presentation where the presenter has forgotten what he was going to say (that’s OK, because it does happen) but an organised presenter has slides or notes to help him through those moments.

When a presenter does have written content you feel assured that he has not missed any important facts that he should be telling you.  No-one really expects or even wants a presentation that is given to them by rote, but we do expect that if we are giving our valuable time to someone then they should be organised.

BACK TO A PRESENTATION KIT

You can see that if you turn up to do an appraisal or a presentation and you do not have all your information in some sort of note form you are likely to forget some details and not give them to the client. 

So let’s take that a step further, if you have given your presentation and do have written information that you have forgotten, you can almost be certain that other agents who present to the same people will have told them what you have forgotten.  So how is that going to make you look?  Incompetent, too casual, inexperienced or what exactly?

INTERRUPTIONS CAUSE MISTAKES

When you are doing presentations of any sort in real estate you can be assured that you will get interruptions as you go along.  This is only natural because your proposed clients will want to query different points that you have made. 

This is why you have a presentation kit.  TO HELP YOU KEEP ON TRACK!

Know your real estate competition

Like any business, you need to know your competition.

When I had a business I always wanted to be near my opposition because that way I could see what they were doing and knew that all I had to do was outsmart them to be successful.  Of course, I didn’t all the time, but it certainly gave me an advantage knowing what was happening and often, when it was happening.

Espionage.  That is what it is and it happens in bigger businesses much more than it does in small businesses. 

But as a real estate agent, you need to do it too.  You need to know who you are going up against and you need to know something about them so that you counter any offers they may make.  After all, you don’t want to get out to a listing and be totally surprised at what is being offered by your competition.

Buyers do this all the time.   They research different properties and areas before they contact you so that they know what they are up against when they want to put in an offer.

It all makes sense doesn’t it?

Real estate agents need to find the sellers motivation

Just popping along for an appraisal, hoping to get a listing either that day or at a later date, is not going to get you the results you are after.

Everybody who is selling their property has a reason to do so, otherwise why would they?

Your job as real estate salesperson, is to find out the true reason for them selling.  Depending on how much information the sellers are prepared to impart this could be an easy task or a difficulty one.

The reality is though, that if they have decided not to tell you the true reason for selling it can make your chance of getting the listing that much harder.  The more you know about the listing the better chance you have of being able to focus your listing presentation to their needs.

Sellers need to be made aware of this and aware of the fact that you can only do your best if you know how to meet their requirements.  Sometimes it becomes a bit like an inquest before they will trust you enough to finally let you in on what they want from you, the agent.

Build trust through empathy when you are a real estate agent

Building trust with your clients can sometimes be quite a difficult task.

One way that has always worked well in selling is to build empathy with your client.  Sure you may not fully understand their situation because you probably have not been through the exact same set of circumstances, but if you put your mind to it and really listen to what they have to say, you probably can understand how they are feeling and the level of stress that they are in due to their circumstances.

Show empathy to a client will endear you to them and in most cases they will feel that they have someone who will understand their needs and wants and who will work for them.

Make the effort to listen, ask questions, trying not to be too personal and offer your help.  Ask if there is any particular service they are looking for that you have not mentioned.  This often works a treat!

You will find that by showing empathy you will be building blocks for a good customer/agent relationship.

What are the main attributes of a real estate agent?

TRUST!

I know there are many others as well, but trust comes way up there are the top in most cases.

Have you every done business worth thouands of dollars with a person or people that you don’t trust?

This all may sound simple but it is not as simple as it may seem.  You see what you perceive as trust, is not necessarily what the next person wil perceive as trust.  That is why it is a little difficult to understand why you did not get the listing, or get the sale when you thought you had it all sown up.

A lack of trust could come from a personality trait, a smile, other body language or even the car you drive. 

You see trust is a perceived emotion and if you may not be able to show trust to a particular person.  Take for  example, a person who is used to dealing with (could be a family member) who smiles the way you do but that person has done the dirty on them at some stage.  It does not matter how trustworthy YOU are, the fact that the client is a preconceived perception through a previous experience will mean that they will have difficulty in trusting you.

So how can you get around this?   The best way is to make sure that you are honest with your verbiage and that you give them as much true information as you possibly can.  This way if you are checked up on you can not be faulted.

Make an effort to be right, if you don’t know, check it out before you tell them.  Tell them that you will get back to them with the right answer!

The Importance Of Presenting an Accurate CMA

The Competitive Market Analysis (CMA) can make or break your chances of getting a listing

When you go out to do an appraisal you are going out to sell your services.

A large % of listings are acquired because the seller believes in the skills and honesty of the real estate agent.

 

Presenting the CMA

This document should contain listings that:

•  have sold
• listings that are still on the market
• expired listings (those that have not sold but taken off the market)

“Fair enough” you might say, but if your seller does not see correct information at this point they will not trust you. 

A problem that you may face here is the fact that the neighbor down the road may have said, “I got what I wanted”, but with a listing of $340,000 you may think they got that price or near to that price.  In actual fact they may have only got $305,000. 

Convincing your seller

This is where when you hand over your CMA you may have to convince your seller that what you have written is right.  This will come down to how you present, how you explain it and your attitude to queries that they make.  If you do convince your seller that what you have written down is correct, you will have won them over. 

The moral of the story – GO PREPARED!

How do you convince your seller that they should market their property?

THIS IS A GOOD QUESTION AND THERE ARE SEVERAL POINTS YOU SHOULD CONSIDER AND PUT INTO PRACTICE.

Have a look at these points:

1. You have to believe in yourself so that you sound confident
2. If you don’t show you care, they will not know it and will be weary of you
3. You or you and your office have to have the runs on the board
4. Your profile will speak for you (you have been marketing yourself, haven’t you?)
5. It is important that you build a relationship with the whole family, even the dog
6. Your whole team needs to be committed to the process of making sales
7. You have to believe in being able to sell the property
8. You must know your surrounding area and what is going on there
9. Take their calls at all times and help them with any concerns
10. BE fun – BE businessline – Be professional

“Life is short and if the seller is not ready to sell NOW don’t waste your time.  Leavve a good image behind and bow out gracefully.  move on to the next project.  Your time is valuable.”   These could be future sellers so keep in touch on a regular basis and give feedback on the questions they were asking about.

If you are serious about making a great income in real estate you cannot afford to sit around and chat for a couple of hours when you are not going to get a listing.

“Eat that Frog” then get on with it and having a great day!

We all hate doing unpleasant jobs don’t we, and in real estate selling it may be ringing a vendor and telling them that the contract has fallen over.

Have you ever given thought to how, not dealing with unpleasnt jobs first can impact your day in a negative way?

If at first you don’t succeed……….. so what!

What is the worst that can happen to you?…………….

Feeling a bit down and discouraged?

Believe me you are not the only one and the difference between those who whinge and moan about the doom and gloom and those who are having a ‘moment’ is that the latter professionals know how to turn a negative into a positive.

So you are having a bad time!………….

Bad times don’t last.  Look at the good time we all had, that didn’t last either.  Things are always changing and it is those that can change with the times are the ones that succeed.    The real estate market is a constantly changing environment so you need to learn the skills to change with it.

Look at the ‘Global Crisis’ things are on the turn.  Sure everyone is still a bit cautious but if you look on the positive side you will succeed too.

A good book I read recently, which I am sure you will enjoy and can relate to real estate selling is “Eat That Frog”, by Brian Tracey.  it is all about saying no, about doing the most unpleasant jobs and getting on and having a great day.

Let me know what you think when you have read it.