Successful Selling in Tough Times and Tough Markets©2006 Real Estate Champions, Inc. 5 responded, “I go to where the puck is going to be, not where it is.” Are you going to where

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Real Estate Champions’ mission is to teach and inspire people to use their God

given talents to achieve excellence in life.

©2006 Real Estate Champions, Inc. 1

Table of Contents

1. Introduction ......................................................................... 2

2. Current Marketplace Trends ............................................... 2

3. Marketplace Challenges ..................................................... 5

4. Key Mindsets ...................................................................... 7

5. Key Skills for Success.......................................................... 9

6. Key Sales Skills

a. Prospecting .......................................................... 15

b. Lead Follow Up/Qualifying ..................................... 22

c. Objection Handling................................................. 24

d. Closing ................................................................... 29

e. Time Management ................................................. 33

f. Value Added Selling............................................... 38

7. Conclusion ........................................................................ .43


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As we see the slowing of the economy and the lowering of consumer confidence, we

can feel the momentum being sucked out of the real estate market. If it weren’t for

historic lows in the interest rates for home mortgages, the national real estate market

would be softened even more severely. It is possible that it could dry up, except for only

the most motivated sellers and buyers.

To not merely survive in these market trends, but to ultimately thrive, there are a few

key skills that a salesperson must master. These skills, mindsets and concepts allow

you to close sales even in these apparently, increasingly difficult circumstances and

markets.

First we have to identify the buying and selling trends that make the job of the

salesperson increasingly difficult.

1. Buyers making slower buying decisions.

They take longer because there is no sense of urgency, given the market trend.

They are less logical in their approach and have limited reasons to hesitate, but

they do. The “move up” buyer can hesitate, but now is the best time for them to

buy.

2. Tougher competition for service dollars.

Other companies and especially sales people adopt the mindset of “whatever it

takes” to make the sale.


3. Drastic reduction in commission fees charged.

This again, due to the “whatever it takes” attitude to meet the financial

obligations.

4. Your best past clients and “raving fans” suddenly have very few referrals.

They don’t know anyone that is moving or who would want to move. The

markets trends indicate, with help from the media, that we are in a less than

favorable time to invest in real estate. Your referral business just dries up in

tough times. Your referral base is less effective in generating the referrals

needed.

5. Your “internal advocates” or people who are in strategic places inside companies often lose their clout and power, or even lose their jobs.

6. The number and intensity of price and commission objections you receive during presentations are more frequently voiced and with more force of belief.

That means that they are harder to deal with and require more skill to overcome.

This trend is especially true if you’re unprepared for them in the first place.

7. Escrow or pending transaction fallout grows.

The cancellation of listings and deals pending accelerates and expands. We

have seen this specific trend growing exponentially in the fall of 2001. The need

for the Agent, to have the skill to acquire high amounts of earnest money is

accentuated.


8. The length the seller is willing to give you to sell the house shortens while the days on the market increases.

9. Unexplained, rapid and radical changes in direction by buyers and sellers.

10. More personal procrastination from your buyers and sellers.

This starts from granting appointments; to follow up, to showing property, to the

eventual forwarding of the paperwork to all parties.

11. Call activity drops and the quality drops with it.

Long-term prospects are more prevalent. The motivation of the prospect moves

into question. More lead follow up is needed to move the prospect to client

status.

12. The lack of a credit worthy buyer causes transactions to be more difficult.

Are you currently experiencing any of these in your marketplace? You only have to

experience a few of these I’ve listed above to see visible signs of the toughening

market. You don’t need all twelve to see a significant effect on your sales activity in

your marketplace. Markets can adjust drastically with only one or two of these

pressures being applied. If you are experiencing these trends you should begin

preparing for an uncertain or changing market, at the minimum. If these trends

continue, the real estate market will move squarely into a tough market segment.

The evaluation of the marketplace should be an ongoing activity by every salesperson.

Most salespeople don’t track and evaluate their performance, or the marketplace

performance, so they can’t move ahead of where the marketplace will be. Wayne

Gretzky was asked one time why he was so great. He didn’t comment about his speed

on the ice, the way he handled the puck or even how he took his shot. He just plainly


responded, “I go to where the puck is going to be, not where it is.” Are you going to

where the marketplace is going to be rather than to where it is? Are you reacting to

what has already happened or are you proactively going to where the marketplace is

going?

If we don’t learn to study and evaluate the marketplace we will always be playing catch

up and therefore always be behind. Let’s take a strategic look and list some of the root

causes to the marketplace challenges and then how to deal with them.

1. The fear of the unknown and the perception that an unforgiving future is here or is right around the corner.

This fear causes motivation to lower and the sales process to lengthen. You will

find more low motivation prospects than ever before.

2. Apprehension about what the experts are predicting for the future.

Prospective clients make extra evaluations of the facts and figures, so there are

no mistakes made by in their decision.

3. The explosion of forecasters, futurists and so called experts.

4. The eventual tightening of credit.

There will be tremendous rates that no one can qualify for in the end. Banks and

lending institutions could get rocked with extensive foreclosure properties if the

marketplace continues to be sluggish. The vast majority of the American

consumer is over leveraged and under capitalized. This has caused credit card

debt to explode to heights never seen before. More people have over leveraged

their equity in their homes as well. They have borrowed against the equity for

pleasure items or debt consolidation. This will produce people who can’t sell


their homes because of lack of equity in their property. Their options will be

limited to staying, a short sale or foreclosure for the consumer that is in trouble

financially. None of these options are good for the market or for the over

leveraged consumer.

5. An extended period of sluggish economic indicators (unemployment, slow growth, etc.).

6. An insistence by the media to report the “truth”. This insistence broadens the gloom and doom felt and perceived by the consumer.

7. A constant and continued eroding of consumer confidence numbers and ratings.

8. The continued shrinking and absorption of small organizations and businesses.

The strong will survive and after, thrive in a difficult marketplace.

9. International events will impact either directly or indirectly, key marketplaces inside the United States and globally.

10. If these trends continue, the culmination will be a growing lack of belief in the key institutions (Government, banks and Wall Street).

To clearly understand the cause and effect relationship in the marketplace, it is

essential to get ahead of where the marketplace is going. In the end, the marketplace is

the marketplace and as salespeople we have a limited effect or cause on the

marketplace. What is truly paramount, are the strategies that a salesperson employs to

win in the current marketplace and the future marketplace. The final step to achieve

success is the implementation of the strategies specifically suited for the tougher


marketplace. These strategies need to be prepared and implemented previous to

arrival in a tough marketplace.

The difference between the Agent that sees opportunity verses the one that sees only

failure is their mindset. The right mindset and attitude are even more essential in a

tough sales environment. The key mindsets must be learned by each salesperson.

Learning them is not enough to achieve continual growth of sales. One must master the

key mindsets and then maintain them long term to achieve continual growth. Let’s

examine some key mindsets to master and maintain.

1. Tough times, tough marketplaces require you to work harder.

You will have to work harder to achieve the same results as before. You have

only two choices, you can either work harder or you can work better and more

effectively. You also have a choice to do both. The bad news is, there is no way

around having to work harder.

2. You have to be constantly focused on the improvement of your skills.

The skills that brought you to where you are will not be enough to keep you there

in tough times or a tough marketplace. What are you doing to improve your

skills? What specific skills need improvements? How do you plan or accomplish

the improvement? In a tough market, it’s either improve or die.

3. Realize that someone, somewhere, somehow will be creating sales.

In every marketplace and market condition, sales will be made. The question is,

are you going to be one of the salespeople who are doing it? In the end sales

will happen, it may as well be you making them happen.


4. There is no such thing as ½ speed in a down economy.

You play how you practice. You have to play all out, like everyday is the Super

Bowl. Taking it easy on a workday is a thing of the past. When you are

scheduled to work, play all out. When you are taking a day off, take it fully. That

means, no phone, no e-mail, no distractions from “down time” and family time.

Most Agents merge their business time and family time too often. This leads to

burn out.

5. There is nothing more valuable than your time.

It may require more of your time to learn the market, improve your skills and add

value for your clients. Never waste or abuse the privilege of your time. We are

going to need to invest it well. We may have to even invest more of our time

than ever before.

6. Your sales strategies must be more precise than ever before.

You must follow your outlined sales process to the letter. In an aggressive

market you can deviate and still probably do well. In a changing or tougher

market your process, and the skills you use to follow that process, are essential.

One of the key reasons not to deviate is that you will need to establish new sales ratio

benchmarks. Sales ratio benchmarks are the anticipated return on your time and

dollars invested. An example would be, your actual contacts to the leads you generate.

A contact is defined by talking to someone who can make a buying or selling decision or

can refer you to someone who can. Your “old” sales ratio benchmark will probably

change in the tougher times and tougher marketplace. It will increase and take more to

achieve a similar result of the past. You should have sales ratio benchmarks for

contacts to leads, leads to appointments, appointments to listings, and listings to

closings. You should also have sales ratio benchmarks on the buyer side as well. Most


salespeople don’t track and create their sales ratio benchmarks, so they are trying to

achieve success via Braille. By knowing your sales ratio benchmarks, you will be able

to clearly understand where you need to improve. You can see numerically that your

appointment setting is weak, or your listing presentation needs a tune up. With your

sales ratio benchmark in tow, you will be able to dominate in the new marketplace.

We have looked at the key mindsets and changes that need to be made mentally. One

other critical area is the improvement of skills. In the end, your skills and mindset will

dictate the result that you achieve. There are skills that are essential in the new tougher

times and tougher marketplace. Let me list the skills that must be internalized in tough

times and tough marketplaces.

1. Your current customers are gold!

You can’t afford to lose customer relationships. We have to focus on keeping the

relationships positive and profitable. You will want to work diligently on creating

long-term relationships and referrals. Accessing our current customers for

referrals is paramount. Most Agents neglect to “work” their current clients for

referrals. You will need to ask for referrals when you first create the relationship,

when you help them into a pending transaction and after you close. You will

need to ask each client for referrals four times before you close a transaction with

them. You will need to ask them two or three times in the 30-45 days after the

close of the home. Your current clients are a wonderful way to increase your

business in a tough market.

2. Be willing to do smaller deals.

Even in a slower marketplace there are deals to do, your job is to find them.

Usually, a constricting market less affects the lower end of the housing spectrum.

You have an opportunity to segway into a new market segment. Don’t avoid the

lower segments like you would do in a robust market. Your objective is to


continue to get to the plate to swing the bat. One benefit of this adjustment will

be the opportunity to learn the skills to do more transactions. You should focus

on increasing your units per month and year. The market change could force

you to do more units. The great news is, if you can learn to close more

transactions when the market is tough, you will be able to take advantage of your

new skills when the market turns.

3. Help your clients make small decisions and once they make the small decisions you will be able to link them together to form the big ones.

The big ones, such as; listing their home with you or buying a specific home from

you. We have to become masters at sales momentum. Building our sales

through the process of the little “yes” decisions that finally add up to a large

“YES” of doing business with you. The little decisions lead to the big ones. Most

salespeople in real estate never get the small “yes”. The small decisions, when

confirmed, lead to the big “YES” that is hanging out there all alone. We then get

scared to ask for the big “YES” because we are afraid of getting rejected. By

getting small “yes” decisions early, and often, we can confidently ask for the

order.

4. You have to spot quality prospects quicker.

You will have to switch your time from administration and some lead follow up to

prospecting. You will need to know if the person is a quality prospect quickly.

You could spend a tremendous amount of time in lead follow up and show little

return. The goal in a tough market is the quality of the leads, not necessarily the

quantity. We must focus on the quality of the lead from moment one. The best

way I have found to determine the quality of the lead is to ask for an

appointment. You will know immediately how motivated or serious this prospect

is by asking for an appointment. You must continue to focus on the people that

want to do something now. The lower quality leads will probably never do


anything because they don’t have to. You have to find the people that “have to”

buy and sell.

5. You have to do more with less.

You will have less advertising dollars, less time to service clients, and more

challenging transactions. You have to make it appear to your prospects and

clients that you are not doing with less. You have to show them that nothing has

changed, even though it has. What does do more with less mean to you in your

business? Is it less advertising dollars? Is it more frequent contact by you

because you may have to cut your staff level? Whatever it means to you, you

will need to act on it now. In the final analysis, what it really means is that you

will have to work harder and smarter to achieve similar results.

6. Value added selling is essential.

We have to pour on the value of our products, our services and ourselves. The

natural tendency is for Agents to reduce price to attract business. They fixate on

commission because they feel that it is the edge they will gain over the

competition. You have to create the edge through cost efficient services that

create value instead of decreasing fees.

Don’t be fooled, as many have been, thinking selling is a volume game. Most

people feel that if they increase the volume or units sold they will achieve

success. There is a prominent speaker who claims, “You can’t go broke making

money”. He could not be more wrong. He is preaching that selling is a volume

game.

Selling is a margin game. Your margins have to be right or it does not work no

matter how many homes you sell or how much money you earn. The margin is


the difference between what you earn in gross commission and what it cost you

in time and overhead and resources to produce the revenue.

Most Agents poorly control their margins. They spend way too much in

marketing, advertising, staff expenses and commission cutting to even be

remotely profitable. The first place they look to balance their equation is to the

company they work for and their commission split. Your company expense is

usually small compared to the waste in the other expenses areas for Agents.

There are two keys to value added selling. The first step is to realize that the one

who purchases your service determines value. You may be all excited about a

particular service, but if they don’t share your enthusiasm they will also not

believe the value you attach to it. Value is perception and the client’s perception

is reality. What do your clients and prospects perceive as the value you bring?

You have to increase the perceived value that you provide for your clients and

prospects. The second key is that you must constantly look for new ways to add

value. It is not enough to continue the service level that you are currently at.

You must look and create new value regularly, by adding services and products.

Ultimately, in your life and your business you can’t hover. We are not like a

helicopter that can hover and stand still. We are either growing and moving or we

are shrinking and losing ground. A river that eventually fails to move water is

called a swamp. We have to work to figure out ways to increase the perceived

value by our prospects and clients.

7. Relationship selling rules, especially in tough times.

People would rather do business with people they trust and respect and have a

relationship with. Your prospects and clients are more fearful in a tough

marketplace. You can be a transactional salesperson in a wonderful market, but

in a tough market, transactional salespeople don’t last.


Transactional selling is defined by moving from individual sale to individual sale

with no transfer of long-term benefit or long-term relationship established. A

telemarketer selling you long distance is a transactional salesperson; often a car

salesperson is a transactional salesperson. REALTORS® have been more

transactional in nature for years. To build the necessary trust needed in a tough

market with skittish buyers and sellers, you must build relational selling

techniques. We have taken that process to another level with our Stewardship

Selling™ program for Agents. It’s focus is to teach you the relationship and

value-adding techniques to raise your skills to the stewardship level.

To be a steward, is defined as someone who is entrusted with someone else’s

money, property or most valued possessions. That level of trust and intimacy is

essential in a tough market. There is a process that must be employed to reach

the stewardship level in sales. The questions that you ask, your ability to read

your clients and prospects and to make the presentation adjustments are

essential. You also must work to uncover the conditions of satisfaction for the

client and align your offer of services with those conditions. This all must be

done quickly and early in the relationship, for it to continue and to be profitable

for both you and your client.

8. There will be more of the “show me” business.

“Show me” business will be the buyers that will buy if they can get a steal on a

property. If you can find them or show them an incredible value, they will buy. A

“show me” seller will be, “If I can get a certain price I will sell”. Usually the price

is rather outlandish. They will not commit as buyers and sellers until the

conditions are perfect.

Rather than looking for better prospects, many Agents think they can find the

right conditions of satisfaction for their client. The challenge is that often we don’t

ask enough questions to find out the “true” conditions of satisfaction. Only


engage with these types of clients if you know exactly what they want to

accomplish. Then confirm it with them by asking, “If I do this and this and this,

what will you do?” You will then know if you have a committed client or not.

Then engage the client if you can perform in the pre-agreed upon manner and

terms. Sales is a risk and reward business. You must be skilled at accessing

the risk against the anticipated reward.

9. Avoid the pitfalls of commission.

In a tougher marketplace, Agents begin to compete on commission to make their

house or car payments. That is why building value is crucial. It can help you

keep away from commission competition. If you cut your commission you will

also cut your margin.

Agents will often use commission as an excuse for poor performance or no

performance. Losing a listing to an Agent who did a “commissionectomy” is a

reasonable explanation for your sign not being in the yard this time. Don’t turn it

into an excuse every time you lose to a low cost Agent. The time to prepare for

this trend is now. My friend, Jim Rohn says, “Don’t wish it were easier, wish you

were better.” To be better you must be willing to prepare and practice.

You must have the correct responses and sales objection responses to some

other Agent offering a reduction in commission. This is your chance to get better,

to become the best that you can be, the best in your marketplace or in the

country. Seize the opportunity!

All nine of these key skills are absolute necessities for the weathering of tough times

and tough markets. If you work to master them rather than just learn them, you will

move beyond surviving to thriving. There are people and businesses that always thrive

in tough markets and tough marketplaces. The only question is will you be one of

them?


We have looked at the key skills, now let’s break it down further to the key sales skills.

A highly skilled sales person will generate more revenue during the tough markets. He

will make more because of finely honed skills, in turn the competition will be reduced.

Which will result in fewer Agents in the marketplace. Then when the market turns for

the better there will be a period of time before everyone re-enters the real estate Agent

arena. High skilled Agents will have a growing market all to themselves.

What are the real selling skills that one needs to master to achieve success in tough

times and tough markets?

1. Prospecting

2. Lead Follow Up & Qualifying

3. Objection Handling

4. Closing

5. Time Management

6. Value-Added Selling

I. PROSPECTING

This is the element that truly separates the producers from the non-producers in

sales. It is the engine that drives the train of sales. During this time of more

work and discipline, if you work to improve your prospecting skills your business

will be more successful than ever. Confucius said, “The gem cannot be polished

without friction, or man without trial”. This new challenging market will prepare

you to achieve a greater victory. Here are a series of concepts and skills to

master in prospecting.

A. Don’t let your feelings dictate your results.

I hear continually from Agents that they didn’t prospect today because they

didn’t feel like it. Since when has doing what has to be done daily have


anything to do with whether or not you feel like it? When was the last time

you really felt like changing your child’s dirty diaper? Where you got up and

said, “Oh boy! I get to change junior’s diaper ten times today, I really feel like

doing it today!”? The winner in the sales game does not to allow the feeling

of not wanting prospect to dictate her success. The loser in sales lets the

reasons why they don’t feel like prospecting take over. It’s easy to find the

reasons not to prospect. The champion performer finds the one reason to

prospect. The champion then acts on that one reason instead of the millions

of other reasons not to prospect. There will always be distractions it’s your

choice to be distracted or to be disciplined.

In the end daily prospecting is an act of will, not an act of feelings. I am not

saying that prospecting daily will be easy, because it won’t be. It will be

difficult, but it will be worth it. When the “difficult” part of prospecting is

coming true, always remember the “worth it” part will come true as well.

Successful people persevere, struggle and work to master the fundamentals

to reach the pinnacle of peak performance. Prospecting is one of those

fundamentals that needs to be mastered.

B. Double your prospecting time…now!

You will need to make more contacts to generate a similar number of leads,

compared to an expanding marketplace. You will have to search more for

quality leads. In the past, it might take 15 contacts to generate a good quality

lead. In a tough market, it might take as many as 40 contacts to get one

good, quality lead. In a tough market, to get one quality lead you have to

increase the time invested in prospecting. Let me give you a six step process

to increase and intensify your prospecting.


1) Find a time and place to prospect.

The most successful salespeople prospect at the same time daily from the

same place. They don’t work their prospecting around their day. They

work their day around their prospecting.

2) Forget your previous failures.

Start everyday fresh with a specific goal for the number of contacts, leads

and appointments. You must start everyday at zero. We have all had

days where the results were not what we had hoped. Stay tuned into and

focused on what needs to happen today.

3) Fight away the distractions.

Your mind and other people will create more disruptions and distractions

than you can imagine. We often will even look for them or hope that they

appear. I call that participating in creative avoidance. The reality is, you

must fight off any distraction or disruption that may cause you to stop

prospecting, with passion, discipline and commitment.

4) Focus on the result.

The most successful people develop the skill of focus. The ability to focus

and be in the moment, to be able to do the exact thing that needs to be

done at the appropriate time. One technique to help you focus is to

practice your scripts and dialogues for ten minutes before you make the

first call. The practice session will put you in the focused mindset you

need to make those calls.


5) Follow a plan that puts prospecting first.

I suggest that Agents should prospect in the morning when they first get in

the office, that way their day has not gotten away from them yet. Plan the

process of success. Plan to prospect early. Plan to acquire and achieve

success. Then follow your plan.

6) Be faithful to yourself.

The biggest commitment you have is to yourself. If you say you are going

to do something, do it. If you commit to prospect a certain number of

contacts or for a certain amount of time, then do it! Finish what you start

every time. You have to run the whole race all the way to the finish line.

No one remembers who was ahead at 90 meters in the 100-meter dash at

the Olympic Games, unless that person won the last 10 meters. Don’t pull

up short of the finish line. Be faithful to yourself and finish what you start.

C. Be Organized.

Your ability to have an organized prospecting process is essential. If you lose

or misplace lists, leads and opportunities, this lack of organization can be

devastating when you are in tough times and tough marketplaces. Create a

system that you use to track and collect your leads and contacts. Even

successful Agents lose as many opportunities as they convert because of a

lack of organizational skills.

D. Don’t neglect your past clients and sphere as opportunities for future business and referrals.

You will not be able to live solely on referrals in a tough marketplace. Your

best referral sources will not produce as much as they did in a great market.


You will not have as many referrals because your sphere of past clients and

raving fans will not be looking as hard for you because of the market. You will

have to go deeper and wider on your referral sources. You will have to make

up the loss by talking with more people because those giving referrals are

giving fewer referrals. If your whole business relies on referrals you could be

in trouble in a tough marketplace. I would suggest pursuing at least one other

revenue stream to make up for the loss in revenue.

E. Do your homework…know the market.

Prospecting when you have knowledge about your market will cause the

conversion to be better. The people you prospect will have more questions

that are market sensitive. You will have to be able to answer them with

power. You need to know what exactly is happening in your market in all the

price ranges. Knowledge is the true power in a tough marketplace. We have

to maximize our opportunities.

F. Utilize an efficient process, but personalize everything. We need to maximize our impact to secure opportunities.

The output cannot be so impersonal and shotgun that is doesn’t connect with

anyone. You will need to personalize all correspondence to insure it gets

read. Your prospects are investing more activity in their business as well to

stay at previous levels or to increase their business. They will have less time

for “junk” correspondence. You have to build the bridge of personal

connection in your e-mails, cards, letters and notes.

Evaluate your efficiency and effectiveness in all processes. We can ill afford

inefficient systems to create the activity necessary for growth in this tougher

marketplace. I caution you, that the real goal is effectiveness not efficiency.

Let me describe the difference; efficiency is doing the activities right, doing


the activities quickly and expediently to completion. Effectiveness is doing

the right things at the right time. If you are doing the activities quickly and

well, but they are not the right activities, you will not achieve the desired

results. Do the right things at the right time!

In tough times and in tough marketplaces salespeople must get out of the

answers and into the questions. There are more questions to be asked than

ever before. You must ask key questions of yourself and of your prospects.

Some questions for you are:

1) What really works right now?

2) What do I need to do differently?

3) What generates me the most revenue?

4) Why don’t I do that activity more?

In the end, the most productive statement a salesperson will make always

ends with a question mark? How well do you ask questions of your prospects

or clients? Do you ask what you need to ask, when you need to ask it? Are

you both effective and efficient in this process?

G. Use prospecting time as a time management tool.

Save time by only working with people who are qualified to give you a “yes”

and want what you are selling.

H. Treat prospecting with respect.

It is the lifeblood of your sales career.


1) Focus on quality.

Do the prospecting in the proper order to receive maximum gain. As an

example, you will see better return from calling past clients than cold

calling.

The proper order is:

a. Past Clients/Sphere

b. Expireds

c. FSBO’s

d. Cold Calling

Make sure you are connecting with your past clients and sphere first. We

have to spend the majority of our time either looking for qualified

prospects or meeting with qualified prospects.

2) Focus on quantity.

You have to have enough leads to be successful. You will need more

than you have had before to get the same results. Your success depends

on having enough good sales leads. You need both quantity and quality.

3) Focus on your consistency.

The key to quality and quantity is consistency. The real key to growth is

consistency, the skill and ability to do it everyday. If you are consistent,

you will avoid the roller coaster ride of income that most Agents spend

their whole life on. Your return will be better and easier to attain with

consistent effort. You will also be able to establish momentum and keep

it. Establishing and keeping momentum on your side will transform your


business to the next level. I would never bet against someone who has

“big mo”.

I. Start doing it now!

Prospecting is the single fastest, most financially efficient way to explode your

income right now. Your sales will increase right away if you prospect

consistently, with purpose, in the order of effectiveness and if you do it now!

II. LEAD FOLLOW UP AND QUALIFYING

Most Agents struggle to handle leads properly, first and foremost because they

don’t have enough of them. They don’t want to disqualify them because they

would then have to prospect to replace them. The shear result of having too

many leads causes one to learn the skills to control and qualify the leads better.

Let me share a few principles of how to effectively qualify and follow up on leads.

You need to establish a “stay in touch” system to follow up.

A. Every Agent should have an integrated system of lead follow up with phone calls, periodic mailings and personal contacts.

My caution is, that mail never replaces the need for phone calls or personal

contact. You could mail your clients daily and they would still need the non-

mass or personal approach to maintain contact with them. The phone call is

the key to a good referral business.

B. Don’t believe you are the only one that is after them.

Most prospects are in other Agent’s databases as well. Our job is to get in

front of them to solidify the relationship before the competition does. This is


the only way to have that prospect think of you first. We want prospects to

think of us first when they are ready to buy or sell. Our agenda is to achieve

“top of the mind consciousness” with our prospects and clients. You do that

through phone or personal contact.

C. Our prospects motivation could change.

The individual motivation of a prospect could change at any moment. It could

happen suddenly and drastically without notice. If we are not connected with

them then we will lose the sale to who is connected with them. In an

uncertain market, people’s needs will change rapidly and often radically.

They will heat up and cool off with the latest release of the market conditions

or even based on how they are feeling. You must work to elevate long-term

prospects and bring them to the short term, purchase and sell relationships.

You must also remove the people who think they are short-term prospects

that are really long-term. Your ability to apply the right frequency of follow up,

to the right people, will help you save time and produce the results you want.

We have to be alert to people who move up and down in their motivation and

time frame while doing business with us. We must first assume that all

prospects are short-term unless they’ve proven themselves to be long-term.

Sales is a process of leading and mindset. Your mindset is the assumption

that they want to move forward now. Some prospects think that they want to

move in 6 months, so when you call back in 5 months you find that they

moved 4 months ago. Always assume they are short-term prospects until

they answer your questions and the responses they give, coupled with their

actions, lead to the long-term conclusion. The key is response and action

linkage; you must have both to make an accurate qualifying.

Qualifying is a lost art in the real estate sales process. We usually qualify

someone on their financial capacity to perform well. What we fail to do is qualify

them as to their desire to perform now! If too many long-term leads compromise


your business, your business is not healthy. That commission check I earn will

be at least 6 months away, or very likely, never. I would rather have five “now”

leads of people who want to buy or sell than one hundred leads for people to buy

and sell in 6 months. Ultimately, how many prospects can you afford to invest

large amounts of time with, while your commission check is 6 months away?

I have used every qualifying technique known to man in my sales career. I still

think the best one is the straightforward and simple one. Ask them for an

appointment. In one question, you will separate the unmotivated prospects from

the motivated ones. The people who are unmotivated will not want to meet with

you. All they want is the information and then to move on. The motivated ones

want to accomplish something and they need your help, although they may not

know they need your help yet. This appointment needs to be in your office. Set

the appointment in your office where you have control. Another benefit is, they

will automatically have a higher level of respect for you than for the other Agents

they are probably talking with.

The most important factor in the sales process is how you create and cultivate

your prospects. A true sales master knows how to create prospects daily. They

know how to cultivate them until they are converted to clients. They have

systematic cultivation or a lead follow up process. The first step is the creating

step. If you don’t have a good supply of prospects you will have nothing to

cultivate. Then you will have no one to sell your service to, no matter how good

your service.

III. OBJECTION HANDLING

This skill is essential in tough times and tough markets, more than any other

time. The reason being is that you will receive more objections in tough times

than in expansive times. People are looking at their decisions with more

discernment and are more cautious. There are a series of steps you need to


employ to improve your conversion at the objection handling stage. There are

also a few mindsets you must utilize to achieve the edge over the competition in

sales.

A. Correctly qualifying prospects.

By correctly qualifying prospects, you can eliminate objections early in the

relationship. This may cause you to eliminate the prospect, which is fine and

since you are now regularly prospecting, this one is easy. You will also know

what the objections will be long before they come up in the closing

conversation. By knowing the objections you will be better prepared,

practiced and rehearsed to convert the prospect to a client. Your confidence

will increase because you are removing the prospects that won’t convert

anyway. You are then better prepared for the ones that will.

Sales is a confidence game. Objection handling is an essential part of a

salesperson’s confidence. If a salesperson struggles with objections they will

usually not prospect to put themselves in a challenging situation. They will

only do the deals that are easy, deals where the prospect rolls over and says,

“Where do I sign,” before the salesperson even asks. Makes sure you at

least eliminate the people who are not qualified or motivated enough for you

to work with.

B. Most objections are really stalls in tough times and tough markets.

You will hear, “I want to think it over”, until your ears hurt. The question is,

are you ready for it? Do you have a couple of well prepared responses or are

you going to just let them “think it over” while the next guy gets the contract

signed. We need to isolate the objection. What is it that they need to think

over? “ If you had to make a decision right now, what would you choose?”


Too often we take the stall bait without probing deeper for the real reason.

We have to gain access to the real bottom line objection.

C. Most objections are price or commission based.

In tough times, people are looking at their dollars, not yours. They are

evaluating the service vs. the cost of the service. In the end, if you did not

build enough value you will lose. In tough markets, most people view Agents

as a commodity. A commodity is a product or service that is purchased or

used solely based on price. A bushel of wheat or a bunch of bananas are

both examples of commodities. Do you care if your bananas are Dole, Del

Monte or Chiquita? If you have not differentiated yourself, the price and

commission will be the probative factor in the prospect’s decision.

D. Add and offer value components to your sales process.

If you don’t want to compete on cost, you have to compete on value.

Consumers make buying decisions based on a simple formula:

Value=Benefits-Cost. To handle objections well, you have to focus on value

by raising benefits. Your benefits must go up to hold the line on your cost.

You can be like many Agents that only manipulate this formula based on the

cost factor. Remember, sales is a margin game and if you manipulate cost of

service your margin shrinks dramatically. Sales is not a volume game but a

margin game.

E. Realize the opportunities in objections.

Your mental approach to an objection will determine your success or failure.

Most Agents dread hearing an objection. They are not mentally strong

enough, or skilled enough, to realize the opportunity in objections. Truly,


objections are opportunities for the salesperson. It gives you four different

opportunities:

1) Redirect the sales process.

An objection shows you that you are either moving in the right direction or

you need to redirect your sales process. It shows you that you are either

on track or off track. Why wait until you try to close to find out you are off

base? When a concern is raised by the prospect you have a chance to

build value in your service. You also have a chance to reconfirm their

needs and wants and then redirect your sales process to emphasize how

your service best meets those needs and wants of your prospect.

2) Improve your skills and abilities.

There is no better way to become a “top gun” salesperson, then to master

the objections. You will hone your skills to a razor’s edge by working on

your objection handling techniques. The more objections you face,

practice and learn to handle objections, the more successful you will

become. If you look at the best salespeople you know they will have good

skills in this area. Now, I am not talking about the best marketers, who

spend large amounts of money to attract leads. I am talking about pure

sales skills. The marketing techniques are constantly changing; the

objection handling skills are less changing.

3) Create inner strength.

When you master the objection handling process you will gain incredible

inner strength. You will start to notice patterns in how people deliver

objections and see the consistent themes in objections to the services you


and other Agents offer. Your mental strength will not waiver, even when

you have a bad appointment or bad day.

Words do not adequately describe my feeling of confidence when I master

the objections. In selling real estate, I knew that I could go into any listing

appointment and come out with the listing at my price, my commission,

and the length of listing that I wanted. It’s like going into the Super Bowl,

knowing you are going to win. It was like the feeling that Tiger Woods

must have going into the Masters Golf Tournament. In the end, there are

no sales without objections. There are many trainers, trying to claim that

they have created the objection free system to selling. That is flat out

wrong! There has never been and will never be a system created that is

objection free. Objections in the sales process indicates the level of

interest of the prospect. If you are in front of an objection free prospect

you are in front of someone with low motivation. They are not ready to

move forward. The primary mindset we need to embrace, is that

objections are good. We want objections in the sales process. Your

attitude and mindset should say, “Bring it on”.

4) Make the sale.

We are all in this to earn a living and build a career. Hopefully, for most of

us, we are trying to build a business that we can eventually sell after all

our hard work. The sale is a result of a well-orchestrated process that is

applied by a professional.

The truth is, the actual sale today is the least important aspect of the sales

process. Now that you have thrown this paper across the room, let me

explain. The one sale that you make right now is small compared to the

hundreds you will make if you gain command of the points 1-3. At the end

of the day, the sales you make are temporary, but the skills you acquire


are permanent. The goal should be acquisition of skill and technique and

mind set, those skills have the ability to make you a fortune. For most

Agents, the money was gone weeks ago before the sale you are trying to

make this week.

IV. CLOSING THE PRESENTATION

In tough times, you will have to work harder at getting someone to sign a

contract. You will have to employ a variety of closing techniques to complete the

contract. The closing is a natural ending to a great presentation. The closing

must be built on top of a benefits driven and a value-added presentation. The

days of the hard sell are long over. We have to focus on service and benefits

based closing techniques. The verbal judo we played in the 70’s and 80’s does

not work in any marketplace.

Ask and you shall receive. Most salespeople forget to do the most important

element of the sales and closing process. That element is to ask. There will be

no receiving without asking. That concept is Biblical and older than time, yet we

often forget or are embarrassed to ask. What happens when you forget to ask

the prospect to sign a listing or buy the home? The short answer…Nothing! The

other part of the story is, they end up working with the person who did ask. We

spend a tremendous amount of time, effort, and energy to let the sale slip away

because we forget to do the final step…ask. Why do we do this? Is it because

we do not want to offend our prospect or are we afraid of the rejection we might

face when we hear the word “no” exit their mouth? Is it because we don’t know

what stage in our presentation to ask or because we have not created enough

value for the prospect to buy? There are more reasons than answers to these

questions. Each person has their own unique reason for not asking. Let’s move

beyond the reasons and evaluate some causes:


A. Lack of sales skills.

If the salesperson has good sales skills the lack of confidence and

assertiveness would be a non-factor.

B. Lack of belief in your service.

Especially with new Agents, we have to build the belief in the company until

the Agent gains belief in their individual service. To be the best you have to

have full belief in your service.

C. Lack of results focus.

A great salesperson has to be focused on the result. The result is a satisfied

client, but also a sale that must be made. The game of sales is very clear.

For a results oriented salesperson, they understand one of the primary

elements of sales is that there is no pay for second place. Sales is not a

horse race where you get paid for win, place and show. You get paid for only

one result…a closed transaction. The more results focused, the more sales

will be made by the salesperson.

D. Lack of confidence and assertiveness.

My belief is when someone’s confidence goes up their competence goes up

as well. What are you not confident in during the sales process? What

service do you need to improve to believe in yourself more completely? You

have to believe you are the best Agent that they could hire to do the job. Until

you truly believe in your abilities, your results will not meet or exceed your

expectations in selling.


E. Lack of a good sales process that leads to the close.

Everything we do in sales should be part of a pre-determined sales process.

If we leave to chance the process, we leave to chance the result. The

process has to point to the close. If we are making it up as we go, our results

will be poor. An attorney in a trial has already planned out the way it will go

before he steps into a courtroom. He has planned the questions for each

witness and has anticipated the exact response. How well does your process

lead to the result you desire?

There are certainly more reasons than these five that I have listed. No matter

how many reasons for not making the sale, the buck stops with the salesperson.

We often look to the pricing, poor marketing, sales management, the market,

other Agents, our clients and prospects for our failures. If we fail in making the

sale it is not because of these reasons I have just listed, it is because of you.

You control the outcome. For some Agents that is refreshing, for others that

statement scares them. Remove all the posturing and hyperbola, it is the truth.

We control the outcome!

With that strong stance to back me up, how do we solve our reasons and

problems? How do we create our environment where we achieve more success

in tough markets?

1) Understand what your job is.

We are not marketing managers, ad consultants, customer service

specialists, public relations people, interior decorators or Internet experts.

Our job is to make sales, period!


2) Learn to ask people to buy and list once the terms are acceptable.

We have to ask plain and simple.

3) Believe in your company, yourself and your service, so much that you can convince others they need it.

Then ask them to buy or list with you.

4) Become a master at asking questions.

Know the key questions you are going to ask before you ask them. Ask

questions that will elicit some feedback rather than just a yes or no.

5) Become a skillful listener and observer of behavior.

Sometimes what people say and what you observe are different. Learn to

read people well. Listen to what prospects are saying, but also what they

really mean. These could be entirely different things.

6) Have at least three effective closes you know well.

If you have one close and it doesn’t work with this prospect, what’s next?

A warrior doesn’t go to battle with only one arrow in his quiver. It’s fully

loaded for battle, is yours?

The close is the final piece of the sales puzzle. You can have no sale without a

well-executed close for the signature on a contract. Don’t stop short of

completing the whole sale.


V. TIME MANAGEMENT

The ability to control and manage your time for a maximum return will separate

you from all other sales performers. It will allow for you to better weather the

storm of tough times.

One of the reasons Agents don’t improve on their sales skills, closing skills,

objection handling skills and value-adding selling skills, is because their time

management skills are poor. To improve on your other skills in life takes time.

You have to have the time to invest to improve. If you are out of control of your

time, you will never dramatically improve.

Time mastery is the one singular skill that separates a producer salesperson

from a non-producer salesperson. A producer learns and knows the value of

their time and then works to master it.

The famous writer Jean-Louis Serran-Selseiben wrote, “…unlike other resources,

time cannot be bought or sold, borrowed or stolen, stock piled or saved,

manufactured, reproduced or modified. All we can do is make use of it. And

whether we use it or not, it nevertheless slips away.” It’s truly how we use the

time we have that matters most.

There are four key points to maximize the use of your time in tough times and

tough markets.

1) Define your objectives clearly and daily work them to completion.

One skill of great time management is the ability to plan your work for

tomorrow before you leave today. If you spend a few minutes planning

your day on paper the day before, your subconscious mind will kick in.

The plan, or list, triggers your subconscious to work on your challenges for


the next day, while you sleep. Your mind will be working like a rotisserie,

turning the challenges for tomorrow all night long, while you rest. When

you get up you will be ready to attack the day.

Before you start your workday make sure to ask these key questions:

a. What is my highest result task I can do?

b. What, if done with excellence, can make the biggest difference?

c. What can I do well that no one else can do?

d. Why am I on the payroll?

These questions must be asked each day before you begin. The most

successful people are not the jack-of-all-trades, they are the people who

specialize in something and who perform activities that no one else can

do. These people perform these actions with excellence to a higher

standard. If you are able to do that, you also will be highly sought after.

Successful people understand the trap of urgent vs. important. As

REALTORS® we are faced with that challenge daily. We get interrupted

constantly by phone calls that are urgent, not important. We have to make

quick judgments on unexpected phone calls from other Agents, sellers,

buyers, title companies and escrow people. The consequences of

selecting the urgent, not important, can easily cause us to lose

productivity. Often urgent things are not important over the long haul.

Here is a good rule to use when evaluating urgent vs. important.

Important things are usually self-directed or self-generated. They are the

things that you can do to move your business and life forward. These

important things will have the greatest impact on you, your business and

your family. We often select the urgent over the important because of

someone else’s emotional state that influences us. When you feel

yourself being swayed by someone’s emotional state, take a few steps


back to analyze the situation. Most often, the people around us generate

urgent activities. These activities are caused by inbound calls by others,

emails or other trivial problems. Often people want their urgent problems

to be assumed by you. Someone else causes urgent activities. By setting

boundaries as to when you will be dealing with urgent activities you will be

able to accomplish much more in your allotted time. With clearly defined

objectives, your usage of time will result in more production. You will be

able to double your effectiveness when at work.

2) Always apply the Pareto principle.

You might know the Pareto principle by another name, The 80/20 Rule.

Vilfredo Pareto wrote the original concept of the 80/20 Rule in 1895. He

observed that society was comprised of two groups. The “vital few” which

were about 20% of the society, they were the ones that had the most

influence, power and money. The 80%, he concluded was the “trivial

many”. They had what appeared to be little influence on society. He later

discovered that almost anything in life and economic activity and

production could be explained by the 80/20 Rule.

Applying it to real estate; 80% of your prospects will take 80% of your time

but only contribute to 20% of your revenue. The reverse it also true. A full

20% of your prospects will take 20% of your time, but create 80% of your

revenue. The time vs. return for each of these groups is staggering. This

one error in judgment could cause financial ruin for any company or Agent

very quickly.

Taking this principle and applying it to your day, we all have a long list of

things to be done daily. The truth is 80% of that list does not carry the

weight equal to the other 20%. If you have a list of ten items today, in

reality, two of those items are more important and worth more than the


other eight combined. If we complete the eight before the two we have

lost our effectiveness. We fail to do the right things, even if we have done

the eight correctly. Our obligation to ourselves is to do the two right away

without delay.

We have a tendency to want to do the eight because the two are far more

difficult than the eight. Usually by the time we get back to the 20% we are

too tired to complete them and they flow into the next day. This can easily

go on for days and weeks. We must apply the Pareto principle daily to

achieve success.

3) Clearly define high payoff and low payoff activities.

We need to know what creates the most revenue per hour for us. What

task or activity generates the most revenue? What activities pay us $100,

$200, or $300 plus dollars an hour when we do them? As Agents, we

have activities that we do for our clients, which ones provide the highest

service? Which ones pay us well?

Let me share what I feel are the highest payoff activities for an Agent:

a. Prospecting

b. Lead Follow up

c. Listing appointments

d. Showing appointments

e. Writing and negotiating contracts

f. Spending time in personal development

Most Agents that participate in these activities are paid hundreds, even

thousands an hour to perform them. We tracked our whole coaching

client base for six months in regards to their prospecting time. Analyzing


the results, we found that the lowest hourly return per hour for hundreds of

clients was $1050 an hour, with the top being $7,000 and hour. Now

that’s a high payoff activity!

4) When in doubt, do growth activities.

Growth activities are defined as prospecting, lead follow up, and

appointments. The more time you invest in growth activities, the more

money you make. I cannot say that about the administration of your

business. Based on our study of thousands of Agents, most Agents

spend less than 10% of their time daily in growth activities. They spend

well over 80% of their time in administration. Growth activities are the

core of a successful salesperson’s business.

If you are forced into too much administration time, you might want to

consider an assistant. Providing quality service to your clients is essential

for referrals. The truth is, many REALTORS® are in fact paid to service,

more than they are paid to sell. The problem is, the pay for the service is

a lower hourly rate than the hourly rate for selling. That is why many

Agents work many more hours than they actually have to. They are

earning too little per hour. It also causes their income to go up and down

dramatically. They are always in “feast or famine” in their career. They

move from one crisis to another in their sales career.

If I have described you, are you investing your time where you should? Are you

doing the most important things that only you can do? Are you doing the activities

that pay you the most per hour that you can earn?


VI. VALUE-ADDED SELLING

Since we have ineffectively sold our value for years to the consumer, both the

consumer and the Agent are confused as to what value-added selling is in a

normal market, let alone a tough market. Many Agents view access to them by

the client, as value-added selling.

For thirty years, we have been taught as REALTORS® we must be there for our

clients. I hear that all the time from Agents across North America. “I want to be

there for my clients”. What does ‘be there’ mean? Does ‘be there’ mean we are

available 24 hours 7 days a week for our clients? Does it mean that we miss

soccer games, tee ball games, piano recitals? For many Agents, that is exactly

what it means. For many of us we equate access with service. We have been

trained for years that access is the primary vehicle of customer service and value

transfer to clients. We feel we need to be there for our clients. We grant them

access to our lives whenever they want it. They can and will take over our

business if we let them.

I want to share with you a new concept. Access has nothing to do with customer service and value transfer to prospects and clients. There are

many professionals we do business with on a regular basis who are less than

accessible. A skilled doctor cannot be contacted via phone and will not respond

within minutes. A skilled doctor is busy with other patients and will get back to

the caller during the course of the day. A professional attorney may be in court

or in conference or taking a deposition. We don’t expect them to return our call

immediately. I would certainly question the ability of these two professionals, if

they could get back to me right away. That would tell me they are not very busy,

which would cause me to question their capabilities. Yet, being phone available

is like a badge of honor for a REALTOR®.


Ben Franklin said, ”If you want a job done right, ask a busy man to do it.” Ben

understood the perception of industrious diligence. He also understood human

nature. When Ben Franklin was a young printer, he was seen daily on Market

Street at noon pushing a wheelbarrow stacked with reams of paper. After later

becoming successful, he shared that the paper was not in the wheelbarrow

because it needed to go somewhere, it was there to promote Ben as a busy man.

He created a public perception of value through his daily wheelbarrow walk. If we

can meet with clients at all hours of the day and night, they begin to wonder if we

have any other clients. We are not promoting being a successful sought after

professional.

There are three key principles to be effective in value-added selling:

1) We must work to be the “lowest risk” provider of real estate services.

The lowering of risk has nothing to do with price or commission. People

will make the decision to work with you based on the assessment of risk.

If the risk is higher, the commission will need to be lower. If you lower the

risk, you can command a greater fee for your service.

You can lower the risk through comparing your statistics to the board. If

your average “days on the market” is short, or your average price to sell is

high compared to the board, you can show the seller that working with you

is a lower risk decision over the competition. You will be able to prove to

them that you can net them more for the sale of their home because you

are a better negotiator or that you will sell it quicker and save them a

house payment on a home they no longer wish to own. You must isolate

the risk they are feeling, then add value to reduce that feeling with the

services and benefits that you provide.


2) We have to provide something that differentiates us from the competition.

The first step in differentiating yourself is, you have to know what your

strengths are. You have to know what you do well that you need to

emphasize. The next step is to know your competition. You must know

what they are offering so you can help the client compare. Then sweeten

the deal, make sure you are offering additional value over that of your

competition. If you can align the value-added with the perceived needs or

problems of the client you’ve hit a home run. We cannot get by with the

bare minimum in tough times and tough markets.

3) We have to master marketing benefits rather than features.

A quick definition of a feature is how you describe your product, service or

awards and the recognition that you or your company has received for

them. A feature could even be what you do to sell a home. Benefits are

the outcomes that are good for your prospect or clients that are achieved

out of the features.

Most salespeople feel they understand the difference between features

and benefits. It’s been my experience, after coaching and training

thousands of salespeople, that they don’t use them properly to make the

sale. They usually make three key mistakes:

a. Most still treat features and benefits like they were of equal value.

All you have to do is observe the advertising we do. Our ads are

feature based not benefit to the client based. Who cares if we sold 50

homes, are a member of the million-dollar club, achieve a certain level

of production in our company or have an alphabet soup of designations


behind our name. Most consumers do not know what any of these

features mean. We have to draw the connection between these

features and the benefits that they will derive from working with us,

which is the benefit of experience and how that affects them. The

benefit of a higher level of education and having seen every possible

situation in selling real estate. The benefit of a calm, methodical

approach to achieve the number of homes you sell annually.

b. The average salesperson confuses the prospect or client with too many features and benefits.

We can easily lose a prospect if they are focused on the result and we

overemphasize the features. Many sellers have a result in mind and

they don’t care how you get there as long as you get there. These

people are not interested in a 30-minute presentation of why you

create a four-color flyer for the property. Select a few benefits for your

clients, for use in your presentations. Then use the rest in the

objection handling process and questioning process to add value and

then close for the contract.

c. Salespeople often present the benefits they feel are important to them, not necessarily what the prospect would deem important.

In the end, if a prospect doesn’t have the need for a specific benefit

that renders the feature that creates that benefit irrelevant. It also

makes both the feature and benefit worthless to the prospect.

You have to be probing in your presentations so you can make

adjustments and align your benefits with what the prospect wants. The

key rule is you cannot reverse this process. You are not going to be


able to over power this prospect with what you think is important. You

have to sell them on their reasons, not yours.

Let’s close the feature benefit discussion with an action plan:

1) Select one of your services and list all the features of that service.

Once you have listed the feature, create a list of the benefits that this

feature produces. Then develop a question that will uncover the benefit or

benefits of this feature to see if they have a need for the specific benefit.

Here is a hint, if you don’t get a favorable response it means that they feel

they don’t need the benefit. If they don’t need the benefit, then they surely

don’t need the feature, so don’t bring it up.

My last thought on features and benefits is, only bring up the benefits that your

questions uncover as important to them. Present the benefits that the prospect

has indicated that they have a need for. Only share those specific features, or

you will begin the prospect confusion process.

If you embrace and follow the information that was presented in this report, you will

weather the squall of tough times and tough markets. These techniques are intertwined

in a cohesive group. To forget or neglect one will lower your results. To do them all,

will explode your production. In the end it is your choice.


Let me close with a few trends I see in the future:

1. The change in the world of real estate sales will speed up rather than slow down.

2. Much of the change will be driven by factors other than the salespeople and real

estate companies.

3. It’s not the change that will cause failure in companies and salespeople. It is how

we respond to the changes and how quickly we react to these changes.

4. Salespeople will not be replaced by technology. A few years ago the

prognosticators felt REALTORS® were on their way out because prospects could

access information via the Internet. That has proved to be incorrect.

5. The consumer, in the end, will have more options in a tough market then a robust

market. They will work to use that to their advantage. They will demand more

and command more in tough times and tough markets.

If you are looking at gaining a competitive edge in the changing landscape, I would

encourage you to contact us about how we can help prepare you for success.

We offer a wide variety of mediums for training, such as:

1. “Live” Programs – seminars, workshops, retreats, sales rallies.

2. Tele-Seminars – 1 hour – 3 hours in length, (materials included).

3. Coaching – for managers and Agents.

4. Written and Audio Programs

You can reach us at 1-877-732-4676 to discuss how we can assist you in your growth.


Documents

Successful Selling in Tough Times and Tough Markets©2006 Real Estate Champions, Inc. 5 responded, “I go to where the puck is going to be, not where it is.” Are you going to where