A Real Estate Story

Spring is here and the housing market seems to be finally blooming or at least budding.

Having come through one of the toughest real estate markets in literally decades, first and foremost take a moment to congratulate and acknowledge your self. You’ve made it and you’re still here!

Now is the time to really take your business to new heights. It’s time to build your inventory. The more homes you have for sale the more business you’ll do. Even those of you who prefer to work with buyers, the more listings you have the more buyers will appear.

In coaching my agents I’ve discovered that many of them really want to take more listings and do more business but when it comes right down to it, they’re afraid. They come up with a million and one reasons as to why they can’t. This is only a choice.

It doesn’t matter where you are or where you’ve been in your life. It doesn’t matter if you’re a new agent or a highly successful seasoned agent. You can take your business to the next level at anytime you choose.

I want to share my story with you in hopes that it will inspire you, and help you see that you truly can have whatever you want.

From doing it myself and learning along the way what works, what doesn’t, what to do and not to do, I am convinced I can help any agent sell more homes.

Here’s my story.

My first job was at a real estate company in Richmond Virginia. I was the receptionist and worked there full time while attending college classes at night. I went to real estate school as well and became licensed while working. After About a year I left and went to another real estate company as their receptionist.

Shortly after starting with this company, the owner of the company promoted me to his personal assistant where I began to learn the ins and outs of listing and selling homes. Soon after he promoted me to the development and marketing manager for a new construction subdivision he was developing.

A few of the top agents in the company began hiring me as their assistant to handle their business while they were on vacation and out of town. They would pay me a flat fee for the week or weekend to handle their calls and whatever came up in their business.

I worked here for a total of about four years before I was exposed to my first real estate coach and training company. I was amazed at what I learned, the success the agents were having, and this whole new way of thinking. I was like a sponge and began listening, researching, reading, and learning everything I could about sales, mind set, success, and the road map to accomplishing one’s life dreams.

The agent and company I was working for didn’t really buy into this and was just your average agent. I saw him work hard, long hours, and noticed that he didn’t seem extremely happy, light, and joyous. I wondered if this was how all agents lived.

As an assistant I was making $70,000+ per year at this point. The agent / owner that I was working for sold about 50 homes a year. The agents I saw at this seminar were selling 100+ homes a year and I was intrigued and inspired. I wanted to know what they knew and what they were doing to sell so many more homes than the average agent.

One of the top agents that I met there placed an ad a few weeks later looking for an administrative assistant. Intrigued to just get to know the agent a little better, I called and talked with him. His disposition was so refreshing and different. He exuded success, happiness, and an overall feeling of someone people were just drawn to. Sadly, I found that he was only offering $25,000 a year, a far cry from what I was making.

We talked at length I asked him lots and lots of questions to learn about him and everything he did and was looking for in an assistant. As much and I liked him and the opportunity it presented, I was really hesitant to make the move for so much less money. He told me I would learn and be exposed to so much more by working with him and that it would be well worth the loss in money in the end. He said that eventually I’d have the potential to make much more.

After thinking about it for a few weeks, as crazy as it may seem, I accepted his offer of $25,000 and left the job that was paying me $70,000. I saw it as an investment in myself, my future, and a chance to learn and grow.

Choice, it’s such a powerful word and thought. Stop for a moment and look at your life. What choices are you making? Are they choices that will move you, your family, your life, and your business forward? If not, guess what? You can choose something different.

I worked with this agent for several years and was instrumental in helping him and another top agent, open their own company. Later I became their director of operations overseeing the company and all the staff. I managed the Buyers agents, the listing and closing managers, the relocation director, receptionist, and the accounting assistant. I assisted the two agents with listing presentations to potential sellers that came to the office to discuss listing their home, to see the office, and meet the team. I learned what seemed to be all the ins and outs of the real estate business.

My husband and I had been going through infertility for several years and finally in August I found out I was pregnant. We decided to move to a different city to be closer to family. We put our house on the market and my husband began his search for a new job. I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to go back to the administrative side of real estate or go out on my own and sell. I continued working and giving this lots of thought while we waited for our house to sell.

That January my husband found a job, but our house hadn’t sold yet so we decided to move and live with family until it did. I made the decision to sell on my own. Yes, in a brand new town. As soon as we were settled in, I hit the ground running.

But, I was 5 months pregnant. But, I was in a brand new town where I didn’t know a soul, barely knew how to get to the grocery store and back. But, I was living with family. But, I didn’t have much money and our house hadn’t sold. But, I was tired all the time from being pregnant. But, it seemed overwhelming and impossible to do. I could go on and on with the “buts”.

I remember my coach once challenged me to remove the words “but” and “how” from my vocabulary for one week. Try taking that on, it’s incredible how many times those words will show up and they’re stopping you in your tracks.

In coaching my agents that’s the first thing we work on is removing their “buts”, their “hows”, and their fear. You can have everything you want in your life and in your business, it’s only a choice. I mentioned it earlier. What a powerful word and thought. It can make or break us. Are your choices serving you?

Take some time to write things down and actually plan your life and your business. Write down where you are now in all the areas of your life, and then write down where you want to be. Look at the choices you’re making and the choices you could be making and then take action on those.

It’s not difficult to succeed in life, in fact, it’s more difficult to not succeed. It’s a matter of choice. Our company name is You’re The Difference because YOU are the one that can make it all happen. Not me, not us, not any book, speaker, or seminar, YOU. Those are tools, YOU are the vehicle.

So, that first year I sold 39 homes. My son was born in May and that June I had 19 closings. From here my business continued to grow and I went from myself to a team. I consistently sold over 100 homes a year for several years. After selling 139 in my best year, I decided to scale back and focus on coaching, training, and writing.

Throughout my career I had always had a coach and still do. I wanted to be a coach and teach others what I had learned along the way. My passion is to share everything I’ve learned and support other agents in having a highly successful career while having a balanced life. This I learned the hard way. For the first few years in selling I grinded it out, I consumed myself with work and allowed the business to create an enormous amount of stress, anxiety, and keep me totally overwhelmed most of the time.

I wasn’t committed to living this way and soon hired an Ontological coach and was on my way to learning How to sell and how to live!

So, how did I sell 39 homes my first year in the business in a brand new town where I didn’t know a soul? I called people. It takes people to buy and sell and I searched for people that I could help.

I called expired’s and fsbo’s primarily. I also did some cold calling and actually took 18 listings from cold calling the following year. Imagine that, by just simply calling people in neighborhoods and asking if they were thinking of buying or selling I took 18 listings. You can too!

It’s so much easier than you think to be on the phone talking to potential clients. It’s all a mind set. But, I don’t like prospecting. But, I don’t want to be pushy. But, I’m afraid they’ll be rude or hang up on me. But, I don’t know what to say. But, I don’t like making calls, that’s not me. Remember, remove that word and the next word that’s
coming right up for you right now, how?

There are more expired listings right now than ever before due to market conditions. If you call them consistently and follow up with them, you’re almost guaranteed to do more business. The more inventory you have the more your phone rings and the more business you’ll do.

Over 70% of my business comes from working expireds and fsbos. I’m still in the business actively selling, I sell 50 to 75 homes a year now and primarily spend my time coaching. I’m with you out here and know what you’re facing and dealing with in this market. I can help you and want to help you.

Please go back and read some of my previous articles to discover all kinds of tips, ideas, structures, disciplines, scripts, and objection handling I’ve shared. I’ve talked about the listing presentation, servicing buyers and sellers, efficiency and organization, working on price reductions, negotiations, the mind set it takes, daily schedule, structure and disciplines, prospecting, lead follow, the system I use, and much more.

If you haven’t already purchased my book, Now What Do I Say?, I invite you to visit our website at www.yourethedifference.com to get a copy. This is a real estate objection handling book offering more than 400 answers to over 70 of the most common questions and objections we face in the business. It’s available in published format, an electronic version, as well as an audio program so you can learn not only what to say but how to say it as well.

I also have a scripts CD where I share the exact scripts I use for calling expireds, fsbos, just listed, just sold, past clients, ad and sign calls and prequalifying buyers and sellers.

Our coaching, products, and services are priced very fairly because our commitment is to really be a support system for agents right now as we all dig our way out of this challenging market we’ve dealt with for the last several years. We want to make a difference but more importantly, show you that You’re The Difference.

Moving on with the top ten challenges Realtors face, in this article I will talk about organization and efficiency and balancing your business schedule with your personal schedule.

My clients often ask me, how do you do it all? I tell them one step at a time. Currently I am an active agent still selling an average of 93 homes a year, the co-founder of You’re The Difference Sales & Life Coaching, the mother of two, and the co-author of Now What Do I Say?, the Real Estate objection handling book. In fact, my partner and I are in the midst of creating Now What Do I Say, Too? which will be an audio program of about 20 new objection handlers with the most common questions I see us getting right now. If you’re interested in learning more about our products, please visit our website at www.yourethedifference.com.

So as I said to get it all done and still have sanity and a personal life, I take it one step at a time. Recently I was training for my first marathon and my coach told me not to ever think about the 26.2 miles. She said to think one step at a time, not even one mile at a time but one step at a time. At first I was mentally overwhelmed with the thought of running that many miles and often while training I felt defeated mentally. Once I shifted my thoughts from having to run so many miles to having to run one step at a time it made a huge difference in my training experience. That’s really all we can control, what we’re doing right now in the moment. As you’re growing your business don’t focus on going from 10 to 50 deals a year, focus on creating one more sale. Of course have a business plan and a goal for what you want to do but thinking about it each day can create defeat if you aren’t careful.

I have a question that I ask myself all day long and have my clients post at their desk, Is what I’m doing right now going to create income for me, make a difference in my life or the lives of others? If not, consider stopping and shifting what you’re doing to something that will. At the top of each hour take a moment to look at what you did for that hour. Was it productive? Are you spending time on the things that really matter to your life and to your business? Often times we waste way more valuable time than ever imagined once we actually track what we do all day long.

I follow a schedule where I do the same thing each week. The days are a bit different for diversity but each week is the same. I do certain things at certain times throughout the day. I work in blocks of time. This compels me to be most efficient with my time because I know it’s limited for each task. If I’m not finished when that time block is up I have to move on to the next task.

My coach once told me to be Olympic with my time. What a thought., Olympic with your time. What would that mean for you? No one is going to protect your time except for you. In fact, many will try to steal and waste your time. Be willing to say no when you need to. If you want to have a highly successful Real Estate business then you must be highly efficient with your time and schedule.

The systems I have in place for my business are very simple and manual. A few things that my clients have loved and found to really benefit their business are the following:

Have a lead follow system in place in stead of having your leads on stickies, napkins, the back of paperwork, on your calendar and all over the place. I have a seller lead sheet and a buyer lead sheet. Every lead gets one of these sheets which covers all their necessary information. The lead sheets go in my follow up system based on when I want to follow up with them. My follow up system consists of two sets of file folders. The first is labeled 1-31 which represents the days of each month. The second is labeled Jan-Dec which of course represents the months of the year. I throw the lead sheet in whatever date/month I want to call them again and don’t have to think about it until that date arrives.

Have Information Notebooks in place for each area of your business. These are simply three ring binders. I have one for my listings, pendings, buyers, past clients, and policies and procedures of my office.

In the listing book I have tabs a-z and the listings go based on the street name. I have an information sheet with all the sellers contact information, a copy of the MLS input, and an activity sheet to track the showings and feedback. I carry this with me everywhere so whenever I get an ad or sign call I have all the information. I am also able to speak with and update my sellers from this book at anytime.

In the pending book I also have tabs from a-z and the pendings go based on the property address. I have an information sheet with everyone’s contact information on it., the seller, the buyer, both agents & companies, the seller and buyer’s attorney and the lender information. I have a copy of the MLS input, a closing checklist with all the things that need to be done to get to closing, and a sheet for notes.

The buyer book simply has all my buyer lead sheets in it. The lead sheet contains all the buyers contact information, the criteria of what they’re looking for, a series of questions showing what their situation is. This allows me to follow up with my buyers on a daily basis and to easily keep them posted on new activity each day. The MLS of course offers automatic updates, however I like to be in more personal contact with my buyers and having them all together in one book makes that easy.

In the past client book I have a contact information sheet with all my past clients. It gives me all their contact information, what year they bought or sold with me, the property they bought or sold, special things to remember about them and a section for notes. They are also in a computer data base for mailing, emailing, etc. This notebook is at my desk and enables me to call them throughout the year and keep in touch with them easily.

The tracking book is how I track my business. This has tabs Jan-Dec and I track my business on a monthly basis. There are five sheets behind each month. One to track listings taken, one to track listings sold, one to track buyer sales, one to track closings, and then there is a sheet to record where each deal came from so I know what’s working in my business. It’s categorized based on the marketing I do. (prospecting, ads, signs, referrals, website, etc.) It’s important to know where your business comes from so you can adjust where you’re spending your time and money. So many agents don’t have a clue as to where their business comes from and are spending thousands of dollars on self promotion and advertising schemes that may not be making a profit for them at all. It’s beneficial to look at your profit and loss statement as a business so you can adjust accordingly.

It’s also important to know where you are in your production at all times so you can track and follow your business plan. Speaking of business plan, you will definitely want to have a simple, easy to read and follow business plan. I’ve talked about that in some of my previous articles and shared what my business plan consists of. The less complicated you make it the more likely you’ll actually follow it.

I have a daily and a weekly tracking form that I use to track what I do everyday. This holds me accountable to being the most efficient with my time as well because I actually have to record and report what I do each day and each week to myself. The daily sheet covers the following:

Total hours prospecting

Total contacts made

Total appointments set

Listing appointments

Buyer appointments

Sales made

Price reductions

Exercise I did

What I learned today

What I enjoyed today

How I contributed today

My biggest challenge and solution idea

The weekly tracking form reports the total numbers for the week.

We all know that large corporations have systems like this in place for their employees so they can track the efficiency of each employee. This is exactly the mentality I use in managing myself. Rather than think of myself as an independent contractor who can do whatever I want all day long, I think of myself as a large corporation running a highly productive business. I study what they do, what professional athletes do, how the Olympians spend their time and energy, and I pull from their resources to be the best I can be in my business and life.

Having simple systems in place will allow you to do much more business with a clear mind, much less stress and anxiety. Everything is neat, organized, in it’s place, and readily available. I do have the Blackberry and all the computer technology, this is simply what I’ve found to work best for me and for many of the agents I coach.

It’s a choice. When my agents ask me, how do you do it?, How do you get it all done in one day? How do you have a personal life and time for your family? How are you not totally stressed out and overwhelmed? One step at a time. Where you spend your time, thoughts, and energy is your choice. There are no gimmicks, no magic pills, it’s all up to you. That’s why our company name is You’re The Difference. You have to be the one to choose to make your life and business what you want it to be.

If Scott and I can support you in any way, please call or email us. We would love to connect with you personally on a free 30 minute coaching call to answer any questions you may have and to see if coaching with us may benefit your life and your business. If you haven’t already, I invite you to visit our website to see if the products and services we offer will support your business. We have a special sneak preview of our new audio program with 5 of the new objection handlers for only $5.99 right now and some packaged items on sale. Visit us at www.yourethedifference.com

Now more than ever before, communication is one of the most important factors in our business. Communication has gone from face to face, to over the phone, and now it’s a great deal by email and text.

Since the emotions are taken out of communication with text and email, you have to be even more careful of how you word things. You have to take the extra moment that you’re saving by being able to text and email to really think about HOW you’re saying something.

It’s not WHAT we say that has the impact it’s HOW we say it.

Soften your communication, what does that mean? Well, I’ve found that if you preface a statement or a question with something that softens it a bit, you’re likely to get a much more pleasing response. It’s like with everything else, you get what you give.

Here are some examples of what you might be saying and what would be a softer approach and, even more powerful:

You need to reduce the price if you want to sell.

I know you don’t want to lose money or give it away, but unfortunately, I do think we ought to adjust the price if you want to sell in a reasonable time frame.

Keyword in that sentence is adjust instead of reduce. Try to stay away from the word reduce, whenever possible. No one wants to reduce anything when it comes to their money. Adjust is a much softer word with the same meaning.

You should accept this offer.

I realize this is a bit lower than what you wanted as a bottom line, and I don’t want you to feel like you’re losing money. However, I do feel this is a solid offer that we should consider accepting.

Always preface your statements and questions by aligning with the client. Say things that allow them to feel your care and concern for them and their best interests, and then lead them.

Use words and phrases like:

I understand
Unfortunately
I wish it were (not so low, a better market, etc)
I know
I realize

I understand you want to get the best deal possible and …

Unfortunately this is the first offer we’ve received in four months and…

I wish it were not so slow and there were enough buyers to support the inventory…

I know you are already losing money and…

I realize these inspection repairs are more than what you expected…

Seems very elementary however, small things can make a big difference in your business.

When handling questions and objections from the client do the same thing, for example if they say I want to list high to leave room to negotiate, you say…

I understand you want to get the most money possible and you don’t want to give it away, and I’d rather have us priced just under the $250,000 price breaking point to gain the most exposure possible. We can be firm at that price if we need to. We’ll never get a second chance to make the first impression on the market and being priced right the first time around will have a much stronger impact than adjusting the price later. The first 30 days of it being on the market is when we’ll get the most interest and activity and we don’t want to lose those buyers by being priced too high, just to come down later. Does that make sense?

Take some time to write out some statements, questions, and objection handlers to the most common issues that come up in your day to day business. Being prepared with confident answers that are said in the proper way will make you thousands of dollars in the end. In many cases your communication alone, can mean getting the contract signed or not.

If you don’t want to take the time to write your own or what a guide, check out our real estate objection handling book, Now What Do I Say?, a collection of over 400 answers to more than 70 of the most common questions and objections that we face in our business.

My partner Scott and I are having a year end sale on all our products and services. I’d like to invite you to visit our website to see if anything may benefit your business.

www.yourethedifference.com

Hope you are having a good year and ready to kick off 2011. What you do right now will determine how the first quarter of next year looks for you so go out strong!

Christy Crouch is the co-founder of You’re The Difference Sales & Life Coaching, the co-author of Now What Do I Say?, and still an active agent in Virginia. She has participated in closing hundreds of transactions throughout her career and has been inducted into her company’s Hall Of Fame for her production. If you are interested in talking with Christy about coaching with her, email her at christy@yourethedifference.com.

So in my last two articles I talked about preparing for the listing appointment and going on the appointment. Now I want to share some thoughts on servicing the seller during the listing period.

I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that the clients want to hear from you. They want consistent communication with you to know what’s being done to sell their home, how the market is doing, and what the feedback is from the showings that are taking place.

I can’t tell you the number of expired listing appointments I go on and the seller says, “My agent listed the house and I never heard from them again”. As a professional in this industry, that is completely unacceptable in my opinion. The client is hiring you by signing a multi-month contract for thousands of dollars. You owe it to them to provide a professional level of service and communication.

It’s really pretty simply but for some reason we allow fear to get in the way of calling and communicating with our sellers. You leave the house with the listing signed feeling all warm and fuzzy, and then when a few weeks or possibly months go by and the home is not sold, we get scared to talk to the seller.

There are many reasons for this fear and it’s justifiable. The biggest issue with this fear is that you likely didn’t set them up properly at the listing appointment. The sellers are looking to you as the professional to lead and guide them throughout the entire process. Remember, they don’t know what they don’t know.

Here are some things that you should cover with your seller either at the appointment or within the first week of taking the listing.

1. You will call each agent that shows the home to get feedback from them and communicate this with them.

2. You will update them every 30 days with a new market analysis of their home via email showing how their home is continuing to compare to the market so that they can remain competitively priced in order to sell.

3. Explain that other agents and companies will be showing the home way more often than you are. As the listing agent your job is to market the home and get the home maximum exposure no matter what agent the buyer is working with. Don’t pretend you’re going to be showing the home all the time, in fact tell them the truth, you may never show the home as the listing agent. If you have a financially qualified buyer who is looking for something like their home you will but otherwise you will be spending your time marketing the home and looking for buyers, which is what they’re hiring you for. My agent never showed the home is another huge complaint I hear. Educating them on how this works will do wonders for your relationship with the seller.

4. Discuss price reductions right up front. Tell them the truth. The longer the home sits on the market the harder it will be to sell and the worse thing you can do is continue to let the home sit on the market month after month at a price that isn’t causing the home to sell.

5. If you are not going to do open houses, let them know this. Don’t allow the client to wonder about this. Either you are an agent that does open houses or you are not. There are a number of objection handlers in our book, Now What Do I Say?, to overcome this if you choose not to do open houses.

6. Ask them how they would like you to communicate with them, email, text, phone, mail. And then do what works best for them.

The future of business is in relationship and communication. Make sure your goal is to take excellent care of the client’s needs, wants, and desires first and foremost. A paycheck should come as a result of providing great service. Please don’t be the type of agent that is only concerned about getting a paycheck. Trust me, the client feels this from miles away.

Be a contribution to your client in every way possible during your relationship with them. Have form letters, checklists, price reduction campaigns in place to service the listing. It should be streamlined and the same for every listing you take. You shouldn’t have to think about any of this, it should be automatic.

Remember, the consistency of your day to day activities determines the consistency of your income month after month.

Please let me know how I can support you with your real estate business. I have recently opened my scheduled to allow space for a few additional individual coaching clients. My goal is to teach agents across the United States how to sell a 100 homes a year with great service, and a personal life too!

To learn more about how I can help you, please call me at 540-312-0085 or email me at christycrouch@aol.com, or visit our website at www.yourethedifference.com

I hope you are on track to Making 2010 YOUR Year!

Christy Crouch

The Listing Presentation

We all have different tactics for generating and securing leads that turn into a listing appointment.

As a co-founder, coach, author, and an active agent still selling real estate, I want to share some thoughts and ideas that I am confident if used, will help you take more listings.

There are many parts of the listing presentation and I’m going to break it down into three parts that I’ll write about over the next few days.

The first step is being prepared BEFORE the appointment. Being prepared ahead of time will give you the knowledge and confidence it takes to get the listing signed when you meet with the seller.

Now I realize a lot of you may have been taught and are practicing a two step listing presentation. You go see the house, hope to build rapport with the client, then go back prepare your market analysis and show up for a second appointment to hopefully get the contract signed.

My question to you is why? With yours and the client’s time being one of the most valuable things you both have, why would you want to waste time going twice to do what can be accomplished with one appointment?

Guys, lets face it, we really don’t NEED to see the house in order to prepare a market analysis. The factors that mainly determine the value of a home are the number of bedrooms, bathrooms, the square footage, age, style, and location. I know, yes, the condition does matter. And if you’ll take just a few minutes BEFORE you go on the appointment to ask the potential seller a few questions, you can get all the answers you need to prepare a market analysis and be ready to discuss price with them on the first appointment.

I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that really all the client cares about is how much can you sell my home for? What will you do to get my home sold? And, how quickly do you think it will sell? ;

If the client can know the price right up front on the first appointment, trust me, that’s what they want. So, before you go out either when you’re setting the appointment or the day before, give them a quick call and ask them some questions to help you prepare. Most of this can be obtained through tax records as well and it’s a good idea to verify the information with the client ahead of time.

I’ve discovered that the more questions you ask the client, the better chance you have of taking the listing and the more in control you’ll be of the entire situation. When you go to a doctor or a lawyer, don’t they spend most of their time asking you questions so they can best help you? As a professional Real Estate Agent, handling what is mosts largest single investment, don’t you think asking some questions would be a good idea?

In coaching, I teach my clients exactly what questions to ask and HOW to ask them. When asking the right questions in the right way, it’s possible to gain instant rapport with the client right over the phone before ever meeting them. A few of the questions are:

1. Tell me a little about your home.

2. Have you done any recent repairs or improvements that you feel will be important for a buyer to know?

3. How would you rate the overall condition of your home?

4. Do you have a price in mind that you are hoping to get for the home?

5. Why are you thinking of selling the home?

You can use these, add to these, develop your own, or I have a scripts CD offering the exact questions to ask while teaching you HOW to ask them as well. This can be purchased from our website at www.yourethedifference.com.

It’s called How To sell over 100 homes a year sales package scripts CD. It’s $49.99 and also gives you scripts for calling expired listings, FSBO listings, past clients, just listed, just sold, and how to convert sign and ad calls to buyer leads.

When you take the time to ask the questions ahead of time you’re showing the client that you are investing time to find out what their needs, wants, and desires are. Preparing for the appointment ahead of time also shows professionalism above the competition.

In addition to being able to powerfully present the market analysis specific to their home, you should also know your overall market statistics. This puts you in a place of power and confidence while proving to the client that you know what you’re doing, giving them confidence in hiring you.

Know at least the following statistics about your overall market. In most cases you can discover this with the click of a button on your MLS system.

1. How many homes are for sale?

2. How many homes have sold year to date

3. What’s the average sales price of what’s moving in your market?

4. What’s the average number of days on the market for a home to sell?

5. What’s the average list to sales price ratio?

While you may not think it’s so important in determining the value of their home, again, it shows that you know what you’re doing. And, the statistics actually do have an impact on their home because it’s what your area market is doing.

Always set the appointment in a fifteen minute time period so you don’t have to stress and worry about being there at an exact time. Tell them you’ll be there between 2:00 -2:15. When you are on the way, give them a call to let them know you’re on the way and looking forward to meeting them. The more you talk to them ahead of time, the more comfortable they will already feel with you when you show up.

Before you go on the appointment, spend some time practicing and role playing your presentation. Review the market analysis in detail so when speaking with them you are confident about the numbers. Take a moment to visualize signing the contract, putting the sign in the yard, and taking the listing. If you think you will, you will.

And last, rehearse handling objections. You know you’re going to get objections, so be prepared to handle them. Take some time to write down the most common objections you face when on a listing appointment and come up with some answers ahead of time that you can use again and again.

When you don’t have to think of answers on the fly, you’re much more likely to answer their question with professionalism and confidence leading to more listings taken.

If you haven’t already, I invite you to check out our Now What Do I Say? line of products where we answer more than 70 of the most common questions and objections that you’ll face in the entire real estate sales business with more than 420 answers. We have the published book, the book on audio, and a live role play CD where we demonstrate not only WHAT to say but HOW to say it when faced with objections. You may purchase these from our website as well, www.yourethedifference.com.

In the next article, I will talk about the actual listing presentation and give you more thoughts and ideas on what to say while you’re on the appointment.

Please let Scott and I know if we may be of support to you in any way.

I hope you are on track to making 2010 YOUR year!

Christy Crouch

You alone have the power to create an amazing life by design. It’s about realizing and tapping into your power to BE, do and have anything that your heart desires.

You’re the One to open your mind and life to the possibility that there is more to life than just life-ing along; You don’t have to be caught up in the rat race of what the world’s standards are, there is true inner peace, joy and happiness possible.

Create your life by design and not by chance. The decision is yours for the making…simply realizing that you’re the one is the first step to having all that you desire

There is absolutely NO proof whatsoever that you cannot be, do and have anything that you put your mind to. In fact, throughout history, time and time again, there is proof to the contrary. You can be, do and have anything you want…absolutely anything. You’re The One.

You’re the kind of person that has often felt that there’s got to be more to life than just this. Maybe it’s something you can’t quite put your finger on, but you know that you’re not like everybody else who seems to just be going through the motions of life, don’t you?

Being The One allows you to create a life of your choosing instead of having your life dictated by circumstances.

The only One that can make a difference in your own life is YOU.

The only magic pill is YOU.

So, what’s stopping you? What are you waiting for? Who are you waiting on to give you what you want?

Are you in a Someday conversation? Someday, when I have enough money, or Someday when I’m successful, or Someday when I have the time…then I’ll do this or that. I’ll buy that thing I’ve always wanted, I’ll do that thing I’ve always said I would do, etc., etc.

We hate to break the news to you…Someday isn’t coming; it’s not on the calendar. The truth is that you are the only One who can make Someday today.

It’s time for you to step into your own power.

What is your power? Have you ever taken a moment to appreciate all the great things about yourself; your talents, your attributes, what you have to offer to the world?

Right now, make a list of 7 to 10 things that you like about yourself. Think about what you do well, what others say they like about you, and what you feel are your greatest attributes.

Now that you have a list of things you like about you, spend some time appreciating you. Read this list daily and realize that this is who you are.

If you don’t believe that You’re The One, what will it take to convince you? Who or what are you waiting on to Be The One that makes the difference in your life?

Can you imagine how accepting and acknowledging that You’re The One can change your entire life? Being The One means that no one and no circumstance has power over you. Start to notice that simply realizing You’re The One instinctively gets you excited!

This is an excerpt from an audio program Scott and I co-wrote, You’re The One.  For more information on this product, or to purchase it, please email info@yourethedifference.com.

Make 2009 YOUR year!

If you are thinking of calling all of those expired listings that will come up next Friday, January 1st and are unsure of what to say, I wanted to share my script with you.

It’s allowed me to do more than 70% of my business with Expired’s and FSBO’S.  I’m actually going to give you the script that I use for leaving messages when I can’t get an answer, and you can basically use the same if you do catch someone home.

Now obviously you want to try to reach them in person whenever possible to set an appointment.  But, I’ve found that now a days, it seems a lot of folks are screening their calls with caller ID, and may not answer if they don’t recognize the number.

The other beauty of leaving messages is that most other agents even if calling at all, generally aren’t leaving a message.  And, I want you to know it WORKS!  Day after day I get clients calling back from my message asking to set an appointment!

Hi, this is _____ with ______, I noticed that your home came up on our computer today as an expired listing, and I just wanted to check to see if you guys were planning to interview a different agent for the job of helping you?

If you are, I would love the opportunity to meet with you and show you what I can offer.  I work with a lot of folks here in the area and have a very active and aggressive marketing plan that’s actually really effective!  I have been able to sell ____ homes so far this year, and consistently sell an averagey of ______ homes each year.

I mention this, just because I feel confident that I can help you get your home sold and of course, given the opportunity would take excellent care of you.  If you would be interested in getting together my office number direct is __________.  Thank you for taking the time to listen and I hope to connect with you.

It is a little long and yet I generally have plenty of time to get the entire script out, and it’s been very effective in getting response.  If you are new or haven’t sold a number of homes that you would want to mention, then you can use your companies’ numbers and simply say my company has sold ____ homes so far this year and consistently sells an average of ______ each year.

Don’t forget to register for our FREE call, Make 2009 YOUR year. Simply send us an email to info@yourethedifference.com and you’ll be emailed back with the number and code. The call is Thurs. Jan. 8th 4:00-5:00 est.