Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Julie Fantechi
Notices
While Keller Williams Realty, Inc. (KWRI) has taken due care in the preparation
of all course materials, we cannot guarantee their accuracy. KWRI makes no
warranties either expressed or implied with regard to the information and programs
presented in the course or in this manual.
Material excerpted from The Millionaire Real Estate Agent and SHIFT: How Top Real
Estate Agents Tackle Tough Times appear courtesy of The McGraw-Hill Companies.
The Millionaire Real Estate Agent is copyright 20032004 Rellek Publishing
Partners LTD. SHIFT: How Top Real Estate Agents Tackle Tough Times is copyright
2008 Rellek Publishing Partners LTD. All rights reserved.
Copyright notice
All other materials are copyright 2008 Keller Williams Realty, Inc.
Printed October 2008.
No part of this publication and its associated materials may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of
Keller Williams Realty, Inc.
Table of Contents
WHERE YOU ARE TODAY .......................................................................................1
THE BUYER SERVICE CYCLE ...................................................................................3
LEAD CONVERSIONTHE BUYER SERVICE CYCLE STARTS HERE ................................4
The Lead Conversion Process ...........................................................................5
Converting Buyers............................................................................................6
Moment of Truth .............................................................................................6
CAPTURE.............................................................................................................7
Making Contact on the Phone .........................................................................7
Making Contact Online ...................................................................................9
Making Contact in Person .............................................................................12
CONNECT..........................................................................................................14
Connect Through Consultation ....................................................................14
Connect With PurposeUse Your Lead Sheets ..............................................16
Connect With the DISC ................................................................................18
Connect With FlexibilityUse Dierent Approaches With Dierent Buyers
.......................................................................................................................22
Six Connecting Tactics ..................................................................................29
CLOSE TO APPOINTMENT ....................................................................................33
Eight Closing Tactics ......................................................................................33
Close Any Which Way You Can .....................................................................37
Leads to Appointments Ratios ........................................................................38
Criteria for the Appointment ........................................................................39
OBJECTIONS ......................................................................................................40
How to Handle Objections ............................................................................40
Common Objections to the Buyer Consultation ............................................41
CULTIVATE ........................................................................................................ 43
BINSYour Cultivation Autopilot ................................................................ 44
Set up an 8 x 8 Action Plan ............................................................................ 44
MY ACTION PLAN .............................................................................................. 50
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES ..................................................................................... 52
Further Reading ............................................................................................. 52
Accountability Tools ....................................................................................... 52
NEXT UP .......................................................................................................... 53
APPENDIX ......................................................................................................... 54
Before we get started on Step 1: Leads to Appointments, test your knowledge on what
you read in the Introduction.
1. Draw a line from the ve myths of agents to the truths.
1. Buyers are looking for
a real estate agent.
2. Buyers dont know
what they want.
3. I have no control over
a buyers decision to
purchase.
4. Buyers will walk away
if I ask them to sign a
buyer representation
agreement.
5. Inquiries on the
Internet are no good.
Answers:
1.
2.
3.
1, c ; 2, b; 3, e; 4, a; 5, d
1, b ; 2, d; 3, e; 4, c; 5, a
7. Postclose
Systems
Followup for
Referrals
Maintain Contact
Convert Leads
-Capture
-Connect
-Close
-Cultivate
6. Contract to Close
Track and Monitor
Preclosing Tasks
Bulletproof the
Trasaction
Attend Closing
Buyer
Service Cycle
2. Prepare For
the Buyer
Consultation
Create Your Unique
Value Proposition
Follow Up With Prospect
3. Buyer Consultation
Conduct Consultation
Prepare Offer
Deliver Offer
Negotiate
You Are
Here
4. Finding a Home
Prepare for Tour
Tour Homes
Follow Up With Client
Lead Conversion
The Buyer Service Cycle
Starts Here
The battle is not
winning buyers
over, the battle
is getting the
appointment.
Dick Dillingham
International Master
Faculty
Plano, Texas
Whether your intention is to work with buyers or sellers, you wont have anyone
to work with at all unless you can convert the leads you have generated into
appointments.
Gary Keller hammers this point home in SHIFT: How Top Agents Tackle Tough
Times. Describing an obstacle many agents face when trying to increase their
business, Gary observes, Doing lead generating activity is one thing. Getting an
active lead from it is another. Without the ability to turn activities into leads and
leads into appointments, any lead generating activities you do become a futile waste
of your time. In other words, conversion matters.
Getting the appointment is your rst hurdle, and remember, once you have it, you
have a good chance of getting the buyers businessif you want it. According to
The 2007 NAR Prole of Home Buyers and Sellers, 85 percent of all home buyers
report interviewing only one, or at most, two real estate agents.
Number of Real Estate Agents Interviewed by Buyers
Four
2%
Five or more
3%
Three
10%
Two
20%
One
65%
As Gary states in SHIFT, Getting to the table rst or second is what matters. And
this makes conversion more important than presentation. The competitive battle is
almost single-handedly won simply by getting an appointment before someone else
does.
This process can happen very quickly with all three events occurring during the
initial contactor it can be drawn out over months. Where the prospect is in the
home-buying process, and how successfully you can build your relationship with
them, plays a large role in determining how fast you can move from rst contact to
closing for an appointment.
In this step, well start with capture and look at the variety of ways you will make
contact with your buyer prospects.
In connect, youll learn how your lead sheet and behavioral styles can help you
gather important information and consult with your customers. By the end of this
consultation, you will have determined their level of motivation and can decide
whether or not to pursue the appointment.
In close, well look at dierent techniques for setting the appointment. There are
two outcomes to that conversation: you will either get an appointment or you will
not. At that point we will discuss how to classify the buyers who did not set an
appointment and how to cultivate them into future business.
Converting Buyers
Be it a lead from the Internet, a prospect from an open house, or an inquiry o a
yard sign, more often than not your opportunity to convert a buyer lead will be
because the buyer is interested in a property, rather than your services. They may
not be far enough alongor know enough about the home buying process to think
they need an agent. But regardless of the source of their call or where they are in the
process, your goals remain constant.
Your goals:
1. Get valid contact information: at least a name and phone number.
2. Get a home and/or email address if possible.
3. Determine motivation.
4. Set an appointment for the buyer consultation.
What some real estate agents dont realize is that people calling from a yard sign or
from an ad have a very dierent agenda.
So remember you only have a minute or two to make a positive impression. While
you are answering their questions about the property, be asking questions of your
own. You want to know who they are and, if possible, how motivated they are to
buy. Your challenge is that all callers are dierent. What is successful with one caller
might not work well with another. Because of the range of people youll talk to, you
cant have a rigid way of dealing with every caller. You have to be exible, gather as
much information as you can, and demonstrate that you can provide value.
Moment of Truth
A moment
of truth is an
opportunity to win
or lose big.
Michael Leboeuf
Author and Speaker
This is the rst of three moments of truth in the process of working with buyers
your initial conversion with the prospect.
Moment of Truth #1
What constitutes a win at this moment of truth?
Getting an appointment for the buyer consultation.
Capture
Your methods of response will vary according to your sources of contact. Since in
all likelihood you will be talking to your buyers in response to an inquiry they have
made regarding a property, there are three main sources of contact.
1. On the phone from a sign call, a just listed notication, or an Interactive
Voice Response (IVR).
2. Online through registration on your website or by direct email.
3. In person while you are talking face-to-face at an open house or through
your sphere.
According to SHIFT, your capturing should always focus on getting enough
information from someone so you can contact them. The best scripts to use are the
most straightforward ones.
Thanks for calling. Im Gary Keller. May I ask your name? and Thanks, and what is
your phone number? work really well when asked together.
If I were to need to get in touch with you, what would that number be? or If I
found exactly what youre looking for, how would I contact you? or If I found out
that information youre wanting, how would I get it to you? work well when asked
separately.
Say an armation out loud or think about the dollar value this call could
generate
To maintain
control of a
conversation,
While talking with a prospect, give positive responses to the buyer: Great!
Fantastic! Wonderful! Thats terric! Good for you!
Repeating what the caller says is an indication that you are really listening.
The person who asks questions controls the conversation. When you ask
questions, you get the information you need to help a buyer. You can
provide value (come from contribution) only when you know what a buyer
needs and wants.
If a call goes badly, end the call quickly and courteously.
answer a question
with a question.
Tom Hopkins
HOW TO MASTER THE ART
OF SELLING
10
15
20
25
Hours
Brad Korn, Mega Agent and Master Faculty, in Kansas City, Missouri, has learned
to calibrate his return calls to the time of day as well. He uses what he calls his 3
x 3 technique. Brad or a team member will return a call at three dierent times
typically morning, lunchtime, and early eveningfor three consecutive days. If
they havent heard back by then, they will stop. We found that the majority of
callers we eventually reach are actually grateful we were so persistent. They often
apologize for not getting back to us and thank us for taking the time to follow up.
After tracking calls, Brads conversion rates from IVR went from 10 to 15 percent!
8
Registration
Not having a registration on your website is not an option. You are not a free
service oering information for informations sake. Your website is a tool for you to
oer consumers what they wantreal estate informationin exchange for what
you wantcontact information.
You will up your chances of getting contact information if you require registration
from buyers who are coming to your site because they want to search all the homes
in an area (Internet Data Exchange searches or IDX), to get instant notications on
properties that meet their criteria (buyer instant notications or BINs), or to save
search criteria for future visits (search savers).
There are four widely used strategies (see below) ranging from up-front registration
to open searches with registration attached to ongoing use. Not all registration
yields equal results, however. For example, requiring your visitors to register up
front to do anything on your site may yield a high number of registrants, but a
lower percentage of appointments; allowing open property searches and asking
for registration may result in fewer registrations, but in a higher conversion rate to
appointments. Why the apparent incongruity? In SHIFT, Gary Keller explains that
people who register up front may not be as far along in their search as people who
are ready to save their searches and receive daily email updates.
Four Lead Capture Strategies
Higher Percentage of Registrations, Lower Percentage of Appointments
1. Up-Front
Visitors must register before entering search criteria
3. Limited Results
Visitors can enter criteria and view
limited information, but must register
for full complete results
Appointments
Registrations
2. Preresults
Both strategies are absolutely valid. An analysis of your conversion skills can
help you decide which technique works best for you. If you are newer to lead
conversion, it may be better for you to have a large number of leads to work with,
as your conversion rates are probably lower. If your skills are sharper, a smaller
number of leads to work with will net you the same result without having to spend
the time to sort through them all. You must experiment until you nd which
method yields you the most appointments.
10
Email
People who contact you by email are identifying themselves as being ready to buy
a home. They want information fast. If they dont get the information from you,
theyll move on to the next real estate agent.
According to a 2006 survey by the California Association of Realtors, email users
expect a quick response to their inquiries.
1. Twenty-three percent expect a response instantly.
2. Twenty-one percent expect a response within thirty minutes.
3. Eighteen percent expect a response within four hours.
If all you have is an email address, reply to an inquiry that way. Youll save
time if you have an autoresponder to reply to email inquires automatically, but
it is important to personalize the communication. And again, if you have a
phone number, it is always a good idea to get in touch with the prospect on the
phone. Talking on the phone allows you to control the conversation and get the
information you need.
11
Your opportunities to capture and connect with a lead in person will largely be
from your sphere, an open house, or a walk-in. A face-to-face conversation will be
very powerful and allows you to gather a lot of information about the lead, nd
commonalities, discover their behavioral style, and start to build rapport. You can
also get answers to important questions such as the prospects motivation and how
far advanced the person is in the search process. The more direct your contact (i.e.,
a direct conversation compared to email), the more prospects you will convert to
appointments. Remember that it is harder for a prospect to turn down your request
for an appointment when you talk in person than it is via email.
personality with
Open Houses
unbeatable market
When you rst meet prospects at an open house, your rst objective after they have
written down their contact information is to establish rapport. Ben Kinney is always
looking for commonalities, whether it is the type of car they drive or the logo on
their T-shirt. He wants to build the relationship and be seen as friendly, helpful, and
nonthreatening before he starts to address their needs. One way to learn about their
needs is to use the two-for-one techniquealways oering two pieces of information
for every piece of information you ask for in return. For example, you might say,
This house has 4 bedrooms, 2.5 bathrooms, and is 2,520 square feet. Are you
looking for a four-bedroom house? In this way, you are oering value as you identify
their criteria. Your focus during this process is not to sell them the house, but to create
a situation where you can meet their real estate needs.
knowledge.
Betsy Scheffe
Productivity Coach
Austin, Texas
At this point, Austin, Texas agent, Gary Gentry, the rst agent ever to join Keller
Williams Realty, stresses the importance of being prepared. If it appears that the
house is not of interest to the prospects, he will pull out a printed list from the
MLS of every single property in the area. Drawing on the information they have
already revealed, he will show them the homes that most closely match what
they are looking for and demonstrate his knowledge of the neighborhood and
surrounding area. He then uses this script to close for an immediate appointment,
Im going to nish up here at 4:00. If youd like to meet then, we could go and see the
inside of the properties you liked here on this list.
12
Every contact you meet at an open house is a lead which can be converted to
an appointment at a later date. Ben Kinney makes contact with his open house
leads on the next Monday and tries to close for an appointment. He draws on the
personal rapport he established during the open house, as well as any information
he gathered about their home search. Most importantly, he always oers
something of value. He uses this script, Thanks so much for coming to my open
house this weekend. Did you see any other interesting properties when you were
out looking? Well, I got online this morning and found ve other properties
that match your criteria. I would love to meet with you so I can show them to
you. Then, if any of them are interesting to you, we can hop in the car and go see
them right away.
KWConnect
13
Connect
How can you
have charisma? Be
more concerned
about making
others feel good
about themselves
than you are
making them feel
good about you.
Dan Reiland
VP of Leadership
Development, INJOY
Connecting with your prospect is the time to lay a foundation for your future
working relationship. This is your rst chance to let them experience what it feels
like to work with a consultantsomeone who asks questions and listens to their
customers more than they talk at them. Your questionsand the way you ask
themwill demonstrate your expertise, experience, and personality. At the same
time, their answers will reveal the validity and value of this buyer to your business.
Will they be worth your time?
14
15
16
Would that ultimately give you the goal that you want?
Lead sheets for in-town home buyers are covered in Lead Generation 36:12:3. The
same lead sheets are in the Appendix of this guide and on the Toolkit CD for this
course. The forms are Microsoft Word les that you can alter to t the way you
work. Some agents prefer to work with lead sheets that are fully scripted. Others
prefer sheets that are more condensed, with only prompts. Both versions are
provided, allowing you the exibility of working in a way that is comfortable for
you.
Tip!
Remember that states or provinces may require real estate agents to
discuss agency prior to asking all of the questions on the lead sheet.
You need to adhere to the law for your location. Ask any questions
that are allowed, set an appointment, and ask the remainder of the
questions in your face-to-face consultation after youve explained
agency.
17
Truth
You are auditioning for the chance to be
their representative.
Its important to understand how your predominant behavioral traits aect the
way you interact and communicate with prospects and customers. It is equally
important to understand how people with dierent behavioral styles respond
to you and how they want to be treated. With this understanding, you have
tremendous power to maximize how eectively you work with your buyers and
meet their needs.
If you have experience with the DISC, you know it is not a rudimentary tool, but
an advanced communication technique, and you are no doubt constantly rening
your skills. If you are new to the DISC, the more you study and use it with your
hires or vendors, the more adept you will become at using it.
Truth
In order to really meet your customers fundamental needs,
you must understand who they are.
18
19
The most
important single
You can identify behavioral styles based on the kinds of questions people ask. Once
you know their behavioral style, you can provide excellent service by meeting their
needs. Remember, most people have traits from more than one category. You want
to make sure you meet their primary needs.
ingredient in the
formula of success
D Personality
is knowing how
to get along with
people.
Theodore Roosevelt
Twenty-Sixth President
of the United States
I Personality
Questions: What kinds of questions do High-I people ask?
Inuencing people ask who questions. Who do you know?
Needs: What do inuencing people want?
To talk a lot
To persuade
To know about people who live in the area
To know about entertaining in the home
20
S Personality
Questions: What kinds of questions do High-S people ask?
Steady and supportive people ask why questions: Why do I need to
talk to you lender?
Needs: What do steady people want?
Assurance
Stability
To feel safe
To belong
C Personality
Questions: What kinds of questions do High-C people ask?
Compliant and detail-oriented people ask how questions: How
does the inspection process work?
Needs: What do detail-oriented, compliant people want?
21
How a lead comes to you is only part of the equation when it comes to handling
the lead. Another key component is the type of lead. What kind of buyer are you
talking to? What are their specic reasons for buying? What is motivating them to
make a purchase decision? And how far along are they in the process? Asking for
and listening to the answers to these questions will better equip you to capture their
business and meet their needs.
22
23
Depending on whether or not your buyers have to sell in order to be able to buy,
there are dierent courses of action.
1. They have to sell in order to buy. The vast majority of people have to sell
their house and use their equity toward the purchase of their new home. In
that case, make a listing appointment and put their home search on hold
until you have evaluated how much their house is worth, put it on the
market, and gotten an oer.
2. They dont have to sell in order to buy. If they are secure in the
knowledge that they can pay two mortgages, you can make a listing
appointment to do a CMA, get their home on the market, and at the same
time, help them nd a their new home.
Each of these scenarios could present some challenges. In the rst case, many buyers
will object to putting their home search on hold, and will want to make an oer
on a home subject to selling their own property. However, all things being equal,
that will not put them in a strong position to get the home. If the seller has a choice
between two oers, theyre not going to take the one with the contingency. You will
nd yourself launching a hurried marketing campaign to get their house soldbut
by the time theyre ready, their dream house is probably long gone. Your job is to
convince your buyers to get their equity out so they can make a rm oer on what
they want.
Paint a picture for them of what their search will look like if they have sold their
home and gone liquid. They now know their yield, have eliminated uncertainty,
and can devote themselves full time to nding the dream house they know they can
get.
In the second case, even if your buyers are willing to carry two mortgages, realize
that until they understand what their yield is going to be, they may not be totally
comfortable with committing to a new purchase. Both you and they are likely to
feel the stress associated with not knowing how much its going to sell for. At this
point, Steve Cohen would conduct a sensitivity analysis with them to set their
expectations for the likely outcomes they will achieve. Lets say you were to buy
your new home for x, and then sell your existing home for y. If it is y minus
5 percent, would life go on? If it is y minus 10 percent, could you live with it?
Through this analysis, he helps them to dene the range in which they will be
comfortable.
24
Out-of-Town Buyers
Your line of questioning with an out-of-town buyer is a little dierent from an
in-town buyer, so it is helpful to use a form tailored for these people. Out-of-town
buyer forms (one with scripts and one with prompts) are in the Appendix of this
guide and on your Toolkit CD.
Working with out-of-town buyers is a large part of many real estate businesses.
There are a variety of reasons for relocation, and the reason aects how you
work with the customer. For instance, if your buyers are relocating because of a
job transfer, you most likely need to work with their relocation company. Most
high-end moves use a third-party relocation company or an in-house relocation
department. Fortune 500 companies almost exclusively use agents who are in
the Worldwide Employee Relocation Council (ERC), meaning the agents show
up in the ERC guide. ERC is a membership organization with an annual fee.
Information about the organization is available on their website
(http://www.erc.org).
Out-of-town buyers may also come to you through the Internet. Ben Kinney, an
Internet-savvy agent in Bellingham, Washington, states that up to 30 percent of his
Internet inquiries come from buyers who do not live in the area. He dierentiates
them from his other Internet inquiries and handles them with the same techniques
he uses for other out-of-town buyers.
25
Tip!
Disclaim! Disclaim! Disclaim! Many investors will request a pro
forma showing an investment propertys potential for cash ow and
appreciation. No matter how thoroughly you research a property,
always include a disclaimer. No one can predict the future. We can
only show whats probable. Protect yourself and disclaim, disclaim,
disclaim!
26
27
28
To be successful
working with
buyers, you must
be genuinely
interested in
people.
Tip!
Whether its in the oce, at home, or on the road, you should have a
supply of lead sheets anywhere you might take a call.
Todd Butzer
Regional Director and
Operating Principal
Edina, Minnesota
29
To make sure you are meeting your customers needs, youll ask the following kind
of questions:
Do you have any questions?
Is there anything I should know that I have not asked about?
What are your fears, concerns, or uncertainties about buying a home?
What is most important to you?
Listening to people builds a relationship faster than anything else you can do.
6. Earn Trust
Weve talked about getting to know your buyers and being present in your
conversations. There is an additional element that is essential in your relationship
with any traditional home or investment buyer. That additional element is trust.
People will buy a house from you if they trust you. Honesty and trust go hand-inhand. So, how do you develop your buyers trust?
Truth
Trust is lost in
miles, regained in
inches.
Italian Proverb
31
Trust is an invaluable commodity. Treat it that way. You can spend ages building a
trusting relationship and then destroy it in a few minutes. Once violated, it is very
dicult to regain.
32
Close to Appointment
Youve captured. Youve connected. Now its time to close for the appointment.
Your rst moment of truth. Remember that in your role as a consultant working
with buyers, your job is to help your customers nd the home of their dreams,
make a great investment, or nd the home of their dreams and make a great
investment! By setting up a meeting with them, you are taking them one step closer
to realizing their dreams.
Remember that closing is not an event, it is a process. As soon as you begin to
convert a lead, you may nd that you have opportunities to close sooner rather
than later. Go for it! Use trial closes and try to close early and often.
Think of closing as payo time. This is where you recoup your investment in lead
generation and take the rst concrete step towards your buyer paycheck.
33
This technique puts a tempting oer in front of the buyersuch as access to pocket
listings or bank-owned propertiesbut then subtly creates a fear that they may not
be able to get it. You can say, Ive enjoyed talking with you. To be honest, I dont know
whether I can be of help to you or not, but Id be honored if we could meet to nd out.
34
This is another way of backing into the appointment a bit, compared with more
aggressive stances. You might wrap up by saying, Would you be oended if I asked if
we could meet to go over all this in a little more detail?
5. Trial Closes
Trial closes are questions you use to test the watersyou genuinely want to nd
out whether or not you and the client are in agreement. The answer might not be
yes, but if it isnt a yes, you need to return to the issue until it is.
Trial closes can be very transparent; for example, during the initial contact, you
might say, Weve visited for a while today, let me stop and ask you a few questions
to see where we are.
Also called a minor close, a trial close often seeks a smaller decision from the
customer before the nal commitment. Not, Are you ready to come in and meet with
me, but Can you see how receiving a list of all the new homes on the market in your
price range would help you in your home search?
Trial closes are tests of your growing alignment with your customers. The answers
you get will indicate how close you are to the nal closeand remember, that big
win can come at any time.
6. Assumptive Closes
When you are asking a caller to do something, never ask in a way that allows the
person to say NO. Give alternate choices, either of which is ne with you. The
alternate choice approach makes an assumption that the other person will do one
of the two things you suggest. By taking command and asking, Which works better
for you, Thursday at 3 or Friday at 2? you assume the close and prevent them from
saying no.
7. Tie-Downs
Tie-downs are phrases that ask for conrmation. Expressions like, Wouldnt that
be great? or forming questions with cant you? isnt it? and wouldnt you? ask for
agreement and get your customer into a pattern of saying yes. For example, you
could say, Well save hours of time on your home search if we meet in the oce
rst. Saving time is important to you, isnt it?
35
Trial Closes
Assumptive Closes
36
Well do an in-depth
needs analysis to
determine which property
will best meet your
needs.
Tie-Downs
Wouldnt that be
great?
Cant you?
Dont you?
Isnt it?
Wouldnt it?
Shouldnt it?
The Soft Close: Ive really enjoyed visiting with you. Would you like to get
together to discuss this further?
The Indirect Close: Would it be okay if I got you some information to look
over and then we can meet to discuss.
The Trial Close: Have we gone over enough today that meeting would be our
next step?
The Take Back Close: Ive really enjoyed visiting with you. To be honest, Im
not sure if I can be of help or not, but Id be honored if we could meet to nd
out.
The Tie-Down Close: It would make sense for us to meet in the next day or so,
wouldnt it?
The Alternate Choice Close: What works better for you? Meeting today or
sometime this afternoon or tomorrow morning?
As long as there have been sales, salespeople have been coming up with ways to
close the deal. Interview one hundred dierent agents, and odds are you will come
up with one hundred dierent closesat least! Pick your favorites and just do it!
37
Contacts Made
Appointments Set
New-1st Year
125
1-5 Years
62
5+ Years
35
These numbers come from Keller Williams Realty International MAPS coach
Tony DiCello. Tony should knowhe spends many hundreds of hours each year
coaching agents on accountability to lead generation and appointment setting. And
the goal for appointments to listings taken? Tony says MAPS coaches feel an 85
percent success rate is a realistic number for practiced agents.
38
Ill conduct
my buyers
consultation
anywhere,
although I draw
the line at doing it
over four wheels as
I hurtle down the
highway!
Shaun Rawls
Top Agent
Some agents, however, will meet a buyer outside the oce when motivated buyers
may be thin on the ground in a shifted market. In a buyers market, they have
the upper hand and are spoiled for choice. At that point, your priority becomes
responsiveness. How urgent are they? If your questioning gives you a sense that
you have a motivated buyer on the other end of the phone, it may be worth your
while to forgo the oce appointmentbut NOT the buyer consultation. In this
situation, do the consultation right on the spotat the kitchen counter or the
nearest coee shop.
You may also make a decision to meet them at the property based on the location
and site of your farm. Steve Cohen, leader of the Steve Cohen Team, in Boston
Massachusetts, works in a tight, insular market. Were focusing on sixteen to
twenty city blocks. If a prospect calls on one of these listings, well go out and
exchange information and email addresses right there. Then we set up the buyers
consultation.
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Objections
How to Handle Objections
Relax! Remember that objections are often buying signals. View them as an
opportunity to overcome a barrier to making a purchase decision. Develop
condence with your objection handlers, and couple that condence with
knowledge of your areas market and key statistics, key statistics of your own
business or your Market Centers track record. You will unlock a path to improved
use of your time and increased revenue for the time you spend in your business.
1. Remain curious rather than judgmental.
2. Investigate and isolate the real issue. No matter how good your response
might be, rst ask questions to explore and gather more information so you
can be sure you are addressing the real objection.
3. Dont argue. When you argue, you only cause the other person to defend a
position more strongly.
Objections handling is one of the very best ways for you to demonstrate your
expertise in a business-winning way. Tony DiCello, MAPS, advises, Every time
you handle an objection, ask for a close. It works.
AEIOU Technique
The sequence of steps in handling an objection can vary.
1. Ask questions
Get at the real issue by investigating the issue deeper. You might ask
questions such as, Can you tell me more about that? or Can you tell me
whats important about that?
2. Empathize
Acknowledge the buyers concern by saying something like, I can certainly
understand how you feel.
3. Identify the real issue
Restate what you believe the real issue is.
4. Oer a solution
Problems appear insurmountable until you know how to solve them.
5. Urge an agreement
Use tie-down statements such as, Dont you agree? or Are you
comfortable with that?
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Were standing in front of the house. Cant you just come and show
it to us?
Well, I want to show you the best and easiest and most eective way to nd a
house. Why dont we meet for fteen minutes and Ill take down exactly what you
are looking for. Once weve determined that, Ill send you an email of every single
home that matches your criteria. My program will save you time, because once we
gure out what you are looking for, everything that matches your criteria comes to
you, rather than you going out and trying to nd the house. You make the decision
and you are in control. As soon as you nd a home that works, I will get you in to
it.
Were going to use the Internet and find our home online.
I can understand why you say that, but we have found that many times the homes
on the Internet have not been updated and may not be available anymore. Youll
also need someone to get you inside those homes. You know nding a house is the
fun part, and we can do that together, but my real job starts when youve found the
house and youre ready to buy it.
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I am still in a lease.
Well, since your goal is to move at the end of your lease, now is the time to get
prepared. You will have to get preapproved, start your home search, and then nd
the house. Once you have found the house, it typically takes a preapproved buyer
thirty days to close on their home. So it sounds like the timing is good.
In a Buyers Market: What if the seller were to agree to buy out the remainder of
your lease? If that were the case wouldnt you want to get started today?
KWConnect
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Cultivate
Just because someone isnt able, ready, or willing to purchase a property
immediately doesnt mean they should be discarded as a lead. If you were not able
to close, but did manage to capture their data and make a connection with them,
continue to invest in the relationship by cultivating them until they are ready to
close for the appointment.
Cultivating Leads for Future Conversions
If you only spend your time with people who are ready to buy now, youll lose the
people who you need to be moving along your pipeline to get to the able, ready,
and willing status. You have to stay in frequent contact because you dont know
when a buyer is going to step up and say, Im ready. An analogy is the most
dramatic nish in the history of baseball. It was game one of the 1988 World Series
between the Oakland Athletics and the Los Angeles Dodgers. Kirk Gibson of the
Dodgers had a bad knee injury from the National League Championship series and
was not expected to playhe couldnt run. In fact, the only way hed even be able
to make it to rst base was if he hit a home run. Fast forward to the bottom of the
ninth inning, tie game. Gibson is put in as a pinch-hitter. Its a 3-2 pitch. Gibson
swings and hits a y ball to right eld. Its a home run and the Dodgers win the
game 5 to 4! You dont always know in advance when an unlikely buyer may turn
into a golden opportunity. Thats why you have to maintain good communication
with everyone in your pipeline and be there when they are ready to move forward
with the home purchase process.
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A Buyer Instant Notication System (BINS) as part of your 8 x 8 Action Plan will
eortlessly and automatically allow you to stay top-of-mind with your prospects.
Every dayand often more than once a day, depending on the listings available
you will be providing them with exactly what they want: all the new listings on the
market that meet their criteria, as well as updates on existing listings that they may
nd useful, for example, price reductions. When they are on a BINS system, they
are more likely to call you when they see properties they are interested in, and as
part of your 8 x 8 Action Plan, you will be able to make regular calls to ask what
they think about the listings, or suggest homes you think they will like. Well look
at BINS more closely in Step 4: Finding a Home.
Truth
Frequent touches say that you care.
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Description of Touch
1. Send a thank-you note with marketing materials and your
business card.
2. Put the buyer on a Buyer Instant Notication System.
3. Make a phone call to get feedback on property descriptions and
inquire about loan preapproval (if appropriate).
4. Send market statistics:
Market condition
Number of homes on the market
Average days on market
Price per square foot
List price to sale price ratio
5. Make a phone call to see if you can assist in narrowing the home
search.
6. Send any of the following items:
Mortgage information
Interest rate information
House maintenance or real estate investment tip
Newsletter
Item of value (calendar, refrigerator magnet, pen, etc.)
Spotlight new listing
Information on news or changes in the community
Information on the home-buying process
7. Send another item from the list above.
8. Make a phone call to see if buyers needs or time frame have
changed. If the buyer is not ready to buy yet, start a new action
plan that is appropriate for the time frame.
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The Keller Williams intranet has ProManage marketing materials such as the piece
shown here. It is a quick and easy way to take advantage of professionally designed
brochures.
Touch 2: Buyer Instant Notification System
If the prospect is not already getting notications from you about properties as
they come on the market, you should enter the prospect into a BINS. Doing so
demonstrates your value and can work toward developing client loyalty. You can
have buyers go to your website and enter their home search criteria. Alternatively,
when you know what the buyers are seeking, you can enter information to set them
up for notication as properties are listed in the MLS.
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47
ast year Mike Mendoza found that he had 300 cold leads
email registrations from his websites. His dedicated Leads Guy
entered these 300 leads in their Web-based lead follow-up tool.
Because of the follow-up communication, about fty people actually signed
up to search for homes.
Its worthwhile to look for your leads that have fallen by the
wayside. When you have a systematic lead follow-up plan, it is
easy to reconnect with people. Follow-up can generate sales!
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49
My Action Plan
Dont put away this training guide without developing a plan to put what you have
learned into action! Review the key challenges listed below and assess your current
ability to meet each challenge on a scale of 15.
1 = I have no experience with this.
2 = I am not very good at this.
3 = I am pretty good at this.
4 = I am condent with this.
5 = I am an expert at this.
For any rating of 3 or below, write down the action steps you will take to increase
your understanding, build your skills, develop your condence, see greater results,
and take home more money! Be sure you prioritize your actions. Keep in mind that
the dollar-productive activities are the ones you want to perfect before any others.
Challenge
Rating
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Action Steps
Challenge
Rating
Action Steps
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Additional Resources
Further Reading
SHIFT: How Top Agents Tackle Tough Times, Gary Keller, Dave Jenks, and Jay
Papasan
Fierce Conversations, Susan Scott
How to Master the Art of Selling, Tom Hopkins
Permission Marketing, Seth Godin
The SPEED of Trust, Stephen Covey
Accountability Tools
MAPS Coaching Programs
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Next Up
Your Progress
Introduction
Step 1: Leads to Appointments
Step 2: Prepare for the Buyer Consultation
Step 3: Buyer Consultation
Read
this
next!
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Appendix
Over the following pages, you will nd the four lead sheets referred to in this guide.
These sheets are photocopiable, and you can personalize them by downloading
them from the Toolkit CD.
1. In-Town Buyer Lead Sheet
2. In-Town Buyer Lead Sheet with prompts
3. Out-of-Town Buyer Lead Sheet
4. Out-of-Town Buyer Lead Sheet with prompts
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Date: _____________________
Lead Source/Property that prompted call:____________________________________________________
CONTACT INFO
Name
Email
Street Address
Children (names/ages)
Home Phone
Work Phone
Best way to get in touch
Cell Phone
Fax
Best times
55
Date: _____________________
CONTACT INFO
Name
Email
Current Address
Children (names/ages)
Home Phone
Work Phone
Best way to get in touch
Cell Phone
Fax
Best times
56
CONTACT INFO
Name
Email
Street Address
Children (names/ages)
Home Phone
Work Phone
Best way to get in touch
Cell Phone
Fax
Best times
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CONTACT INFO
Name
Email
Street Address
Children (names/ages)
Home Phone
Work Phone
Best way to get in touch
Cell Phone
Fax
Best times
58