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.

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

As an agent myself for over twenty years, still actively selling in the midst of
this chaotic market, and coaching agents across the United States, I have
learned that most of us have the same challenges.

The top 10 I hear most often are:

1. How do I get more business?

2. How do I handle and present pricing to sellers so they list at a price that
will cause the home to sell?

3. How do I market my listings?

4. How do I handle all the objections buyers and sellers give?

5. How do I organize myself, my business, and my schedule?

6. How can I have a personal life and a successful business without
it being stressful and overwhelming?

7. How do I develop and maintain confidence and daily discipline?

8. How do I do an effective listing presentation?

9. How do I develope stronger negotiating skills?

10. How do I market myself?

The question is, how and what do we do to overcome these challenges?

I find that in most cases an agent has it together in one area, but not so much in the other. Ahhh, That balance thing.

It does take balance to have sales and life work together. In fact, it takes a lot of stuff to have it be even close to a life most would want.

I don’t have to tell you. You see it, hear it, and probably have experienced itfirst hand yourself.

With many highly productive salespeople they experience lots of money and
success but their health, diet, stress, sleep, relationships, kids, and overall well being is largely impacted.

Many salespeople find themselves divorced and married again several times, kids who they don’t even know, shallow show type friends, a fast food diet, many smoke and drink or pop pills to minimize the stress this sales business
presents.

They don’t have time for friends. They don’t have time for exercise or eating
right. They can’t spend quality time with their kids because they have SO much to do all the time. There’s never any time for them, many are totally exhausted at the end of the day.

Our society is so fast paced and so intense that it’s hard enough to keep it all in balance. Throw being a top producing salesperson in any business, and it proves even more difficult.

How do I know, Because I’ve lived it.

I went from being a drug addict working in an administrative position to a top producing agent selling over 100 homes a year, The co-founder of You’re The Difference Sales and Life Coaching. A coauthor of the highly acclaimed real estate objection handler book, Now What Do I Say?, A collection of over 400 answers to more than 70 of the most common questions and objections that Realtors face.

When I moved to a brand new town where I didn’t no anyone and was six months pregnant, I sold 39 homes my first year in the business.

I’ve raised my two kids in the midst of building my real estate business, creating our coaching company, and writing the book. I’ve been through the divorce because I didn’t have time to be a wife, didn’t have time to be in true relation with him.

I’ve been through the ER trips thinking I was having a heart attack or stroke
only to find it was anxiety and stress from trying to keep it all together.

I’ve participated in closing thousands of transactions and experienced all the different issues that can come up along with the pressures, stress and learning curve that come with it.

I’ve been the top agent that other agents don’t like and talk about because
they can’t stand the success.

I’ve experienced the good markets and the not so good markets in this business.

I’ve learned how to overcome all of the top ten challenges and many more along the way.

Over the course of the next few weeks as 2010 comes to an end, I’m going to
share articles with you addressing each of these challenges. I’ll share what
I’ve learned along the way not only from my own experience, but from coaching
with hundreds of agents across the United States and learning from their
experiences and challenges as well.

You can do this business, do it well, and have the life you want at the same
time, and so much more. If you’ll open your mind to the possibility that there is a way, that you don’t already know everything, and that you can actually learn something.

Yes, even if you’re a seasoned agent who’s been selling for a lifetime. You have to be willing to remove your ego, open your mind, and allow the space for growth in your business and in your life.

I still have a coach myself and have had a coach for over fifteen consecutive
years. I don’t claim to know everything or have it all together. I am human
and know I need to continue to learn, grow, be held accountable, be challenged and then give back what I’ve learned.

My intention is to teach others How To Sell, How To Live. This is also a year long course that my coach and I offer where we personally walk you through each step it takes to create a highly productive sales business and a healthy, well balanced life.

I invite you to read my upcoming articles as I share with the intention of
making a difference in your life and in your business. I don’t have the magic
pill or all the answers. In fact, that’s exactly why our company is called
You’re The Difference, because we believe You’re the one that makes the ultimate difference. No coach, company, book, seminar, audio program or anything else can do it, only you can.

Am I trying to sell you something? Of course I want you to take advantage of
the coaching, courses, and products that we offer because naturally, all of that will make a huge difference in your success. The more you immerse yourself, the faster and larger the results, I don’t have to tell you that.

I invite you to visit our website to see what we do offer, and if it’s a fit for you, great! I would love to personally lead you and teach you everything I know.

I will invite you to some free conference calls that my partners and I will be leading to support our clients in making 2011 a great year. I hope you will take advantage of this and not write it off as just another one of those sales calls.

I look forward to sharing with you in my upcoming articles.

Remember, what you do in your business right now will determine how the first
quarter of next year is. Don’t wait for New Years Resolutions… Begin now!

Start creating a plan for 2011. Ask yourself the following questions:

How many deals do you want to do?

How much money do you want to create?

How many vacations do you want to go on and where?

What areas of your business need improvement?

What do you need to clean up, clean out, and organize before the end of the year so next year can arrive with clarity?

How do you want to contribute and give back?

What areas of your health need your attention?

What relationships need improvement?

As you answer these questions begin to create a vision for what 2011 looks like for you and write it down. Less than 3% of the population takes the time to plan their life. They spend more time planning their weekends and vacations than they do their lives. Consider that if you plan your life and business it will automatically unfold just like your greatly planned vacations do!

Make 2011 Your Year!

If you haven’t already purchased 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. I invite you to check it out on our website to see if this or any of our other products, services, and coaching may benefit you. We’re having a year end sale on everything right now in an effort to prepare our customers and clients for 2011. Please visit us at www.yourethedifference.com

“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.”

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.

But, where will the prospects come from to write contracts for? How will you
get them? How do you become a top agent in your marketplace? How do you handle
the objections along the way?

These are questions that almost every new Realtor faces when beginning their
career. And due to lack of training, some agents are still asking
themselves the same very questions years into the business.

My first full year in real estate in a brand new town where I didn’t even know
how to get to the grocery store and back, I sold 39 homes. How? With a strong
desire, a strong commitment, an unwavering level of daily discipline, and a
coach.

When I began this business I didn’t ever think of myself as just a salesperson
or just a Realtor. I thought of myself as a business owner. I formed a
corporation for tax purposes which actually made it a business. Not telling you
to do this however calling myself a corporation vs just Realtor surely helped my mindset in addition to many tax savings.

I had no income at all at the time, and a baby on the way. I knew I was going to
do this real estate thing at all costs. My goal was to sell 100 homes a year.
I had this posted everywhere. I talked about to everyone. I had a detailed
business plan to follow and an amazing coach to teach and hold me accountable
along the way.

I got two credit cards, one with enough of a credit line to pay my coach for one
year and one to pay my living expenses for six months. I jumped in head
first without giving myself any options other than to make it.

I knew to truly be a top salesperson in any business, you can’t sit around
waiting and hoping for business. You have to get up, get out, and find the
business.

But how? Well it’s really fairly simple. As an agent our goal is to find buyers, find sellers, and put them together. It’s really much more simple than many agents think.

But how? We have to go out and talk to lots of people that we don’t already know. Sure, you can talk to
your family, friends, and associates. This will carrry your business for a
few months and hopefully help get you started, but after that you’ve got to find a way to create business.

But how? Prospect expired listings, FSBO’s, call around yours or your companie’s
listings and recent sales. Call neighborhoods that you would like to have
listings in. Call apartment complexes. You could also door knock but in most cases it’s
much more efficient to call.

Let me ask you, if you were just opening up a brand new business that gave you the potential to make hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, how would you answer the following questions? Take the time to answer them to yourself and then take some actions as a result toward building the foundation for your business or growing your business to the next level.

Begin to think of and treat your real estate business as a real corporation and automatically your business will increase.

You just opened your brand new company…

How would that make you feel?
How would you spend your days?
How would you dress?
What would you think about most of the time? Remember Earl Nightengale’s quote “You become what you think about most of the time”
Would it be helpful to have someone who’s already accomplished what you’re trying to do, train and teach you how to do it most effectively and efficiently?
Would you trust and listen to them?
Would you have a detailed business plan to follow?
Would you have a daily schedule and/or routine to follow?
Would you practice the skills it would take to grow and maintain your new business?
Would you realize that you have to go out and create the revenue and business?
Would you tell everyone you come in contact with about your brand new business?
Would you consider writing a vision statement of what it will be like in your life when your company succeeds and you’re making hundreds of thousands of dollars?
Would you be enthusiastic and excited about your new business?
Would you realize that it will take some hard work, some long hours, and some levels of frustration to get there?
Would you try it for a few days or a few weeks and then give up and say it doesn’t work?
Do you believe you are or can be a successful business owner?

Guys, while some of this may seem simple and elementary, these ideas and exercises are a common denominator for the vast majority top corporations, athletes, salespeople, etc. across the country.

If we want the same level of success they have then surely we should follow the same basic principals they do, right?

If you are looking for the right coach to take you to the next level or to help you begin your business of selling real estate, I would love to support you. Please email me at christy@yourethedifference.com.

Christy Crouch is the co-owner of You’re The Difference, Inc, co-author of the real estate objection handling book, Now What Do I Say?, a collection of more than 400 answers to over 70 of the most common questions you’ll face throughout your real estate career. She is an active agent still selling in Virginia, the mother of two children and is dedicated to helping agents across the United States have successful real estate careers with a balanced life. To learn more about how they can support you, please visit their website at www.yourethedifference.com

If you haven’t already, please take a moment to read my partner, Scott Friedman’s most recent article about the importance of pricing properly. It’s not always easy to tell the client the truth about price. It’s much easier to tell them what they want to hear, take the listing and hope and pray it sells.

What we need to realize is that the seller is looking to us for professional advice. They interview us to educate them on what it’s going to take to get their home sold. Why would you allow them to set the price?

So many agents make this mistake, then later the seller is wondering why the home hasn’t sold. They call and ask you, what are you doing to sell my home? How come you haven’t shown my home? When will you do an open house? And on and on with an endless stream of objections as a result of you not properly educating them up front on the right price to actually cause the home to sell, vs sit on the market month after month like the other thousands of homes that are not selling.

Sellers have two choices; price it to sell, or price it to sit. Ask them which side they want to be on and share the market statistics that reveal the right price.

Do you go to the doctor so you can tell him how to properly treat you or do you go looking for professional advice? My guess would be the latter. So, my question is, what causes you to believe the sellers aren’t looking to us for that same level of advice?

Agents seem to have an unwarranted fear about asking the seller to list at the price they know it needs to be listed for. This is because they don’t know what to say or how to say it. In many cases agents lack confidence due to simply not knowing what to say in order for it to make sense to the client.

Here are some objection handlers that may help you with price:

Seller says, I want to start out high to leave room to negotiate.

Mr./Mrs. Seller, I can appreciate your thought process and what I’m afraid of based on the market statistics, is that we are pricing ourselves out of the market. This can cause buyers to not even look at ours. I’d rather see us be firm at a price that brings interest and offers rather than being overpriced and lose buyers, wouldn’t you?

Seller says, another agent said they could get more.

Of course they did. Because that agent really needs your listing or specializes in overpriced listings that produce buyer leads for them. Imagine the buyer calls they’ll get on your home. Mr/Mrs Seller, I’m not interested in just taking your listing. I’m interested in helping you to actually get it sold. I have the courage to tell you the truth up front, and that’s not easy. Let’s look to see how we can convince a buyer to pay more than the market value, or should we just price it right and get it sold?

Seller says, I’m not going to give it away.

I totally get your position and you’re not going to give it away. What I hear you saying is you want to make sure you don’t leave any possible profits on the table, is that right? Great, I don’t want you to either. In fact, I want you to make the most money possible. After all, the more you make the more I make as well.

My concern is that if we don’t price it within market value, you may never see a profit because the home may never sell. As a buyer, would you pay the price you want to ask after reviewing the comparables? Be honest. And then there’s the appraiser to convince. They’re getting tougher and tougher on price now than ever before.

Shouldn’t we just price it at X and get it sold, or did you want to take the chance of other sellers using us to sell their home? Because undoubtedly you realize buyers will look at ours and then look at these others and see they’re getting more for the money down the street, or a lower price for the same thing. We can either sell or help our competition sell, which do we want to do?

Business and sales is 90% communication. Learn to powerfully communicate and automatically your business will increase. If you haven’t already visited our website to see products and coaching that we offer around communication, objection handling, building rapport, generating more business and what to say and how to say it we invite you to learn more about us at www.yourethedifference.com

“Christy Crouch is an active agent in Roanoke, Virginia and sells an average of 100 homes a year. She is the co author of the highly acclaimed real estate objection handler book, Now What Do I Say, the co founder of You’re The Difference Sales and Life Coaching where she teaches agents across the United States exactly what she does and helps them to dramatically increase their production. If you’re interested in a free coaching call or more information on products, coaching, and courses please email christy@yourethedifference.com or call 609-601-1296.”

What I am about to write flies in the face of the vast majority of real estate agents in North America today.

That is, the number one thing that contributes to the sale of a home, in any market, is the price of the property.  That’s it.

Location, features, benefits…all of those have a price tag.  What that means is, if I had a dump of a house in a dump of a location, it would sell if the price was low enough.

That being said, what’s low enough for a buyer to want to buy may not, in fact, be low enough for a seller to want to, or be able to sell.  Yes, that was simple economics at it’s best and it lends to explaining much of what has gone on the last few years…the price a seller would/could sell a house for far exceeded the price a buyer would (and sometimes could) pay for the house.

Now, let’s get back to the reason you, and most agents, might not like this article.

Both when practicing real estate (May 1998-Dec 2006, top ten percent in my market 2001-2006), and more recently as a coach, I’ve heard the arguments against price being the number one reason homes sell.  Most of those reasons center around an agent’s ego and/or the huge misconception as to what their job actually entails, as well as some sort of misplaced loyalty to the seller and the price they say they want.  (Before I go any further, I’m not in any way advocating that you shouldn’t be loyal to your sellers.  I’m saying defending a random price a seller tells you they want, ignoring comps and any sense of reality, is misplaced loyalty.)

Some of the arguments from agents:

“If price is the only thing that matters, then we real estate agents aren’t needed.” – Guess what?  That’s actually kind of true.  If you’ve ever heard of a FSBO selling on their own, then you automatically realize selling a house can be done without a real estate agent.  The good news is that the vast majority of FSBO’s do not sell without the help of an agent (even if only on the buyer side – but most end up listing).  And, unfortunately for the FSBO seller, they get a very low list to sale price ratio as compared with when listed by an agent (both stats are published by NAR).  So, on some level, my fine fellow agent, you are definitely needed…so breathe a little easier.

“All you want to do is lower the price as far as you can, darn the seller, and take your quick commissions!” – A buyer will not buy something they don’t feel is priced correctly; plain and simple.  I’ll explain more about that later in this article.  In the meantime, I can only go on statistics/facts.  My personal statistics in my former real estate practice showed my listings selling for an average of 4-9% more and up to twice as fast my market’s average, depending on the year.  Simply put, I was getting my sellers more money, and selling their homes much faster than the market average.  So how was I harming the seller?  I don’t know many sellers that want their home to sit on the market for a long time, do you?  Do you know of any seller’s who want LESS money for their home?  I sure don’t.

And where does this false sense of loyalty to the seller’s price come from?  I’m sorry, but it’s so misplaced.  I always wanted to get as much money as possible for my sellers, and did my absolute best to make that happen.  But just because a seller WANTS a certain price doesn’t mean they’ll get it, or, in most cases, that it’s even realistic.  I’m sorry if the seller paid $400,000 and owes $350,000.  If the comps say it’s worth $275,000 then that’s what it’s worth.  Listing it at $400,000 so the seller can feel like they broke even does NOT mean the home is WORTH $400,000.  Nor does it mean they will get anywhere near that.  In fact, in my example, with it being so far overpriced, if there isn’t a significant price reduction, the house likely won’t sell at all.  How is that protecting the seller?

I don’t want to digress too much, however in a previous article I wrote on negotiating, I discussed the issue of many listing agents being egotistical about the price they set on their listings.  If a buyer comes in low, the listing agent scoffs and postures to the buyers agent about how the home is worth every penny of what it was listed for, etc.  Please.  The only true test of what a home is worth is what a ready, willing, and ABLE buyer is willing to pay…not what the listing agent or the seller thinks its worth.

“It’s not price, it’s marketing.  Staging, open houses, broker opens and advertising are all where it’s at.” – This is the reason for the big chasm between the average agent (selling between 2-5 houses a year, on average, according to NAR) and the higher producers (over 25 homes a year).  Agents who sell a lot of homes know how to SELL, and know that their job is to SELL the home for the most money possible.  Agents who don’t sell a lot of homes typically aren’t good salespeople, don’t actively prospect for buyers and sellers and think their job is not as a real estate SALESperson, but rather a real estate MARKETINGperson.

Simply put, you can market a house to the hilt, but it will NOT sell if the buying public thinks it’s overpriced.  In fact, today’s shrewd buyer who combs the internet and does their homework, won’t even look at home that they feel is overpriced; unless they think they can get a tremendous low-ball deal.  And, if you want to take a notorious low-ball buyer around so he/she can throw offers up on a wall and see what sticks, have at it.  You’ll end up doing a lot more work and probably be very frustrated.

So, let’s investigate some of these marketing ideas:

Staging – I’m always amazed at how someone comes up with something for agents that doesn’t sell homes, yet agents buy into it in droves.  Text “MOVE” to 12345 and receive no obligation information on this listing.  That worked for about a minute until buyers realized they would get called back from agents they didn’t want to talk to.  Now, it’s no better than a regular sign with a regular phone number or website.  Or, how about the private radio station that drive-by buyers can tune into and hear all about the house?  Way to go!  You just bought something that assures you of never hearing from your buyer leads!  They won’t need to call you to find out information because you gave it to them on their car stereo.

Staging is one of those tools that doesn’t sell a house.  Yes, the house should always look its best.  And, yes, if you stage a house, it will look better than the competition.  BUT…staging only works better to sell your house versus the competition if the home is priced competitively.  Let’s say you’re in a development, and two identical houses on the same street are for sale.  One is for $350,000 and NOT staged.  The other is for $425,000 and is staged.  The seller or agent who paid for staging of the $425,000 house doesn’t know anything about sales or economics and wasted their money.  No amount of staging in the world can trick a buyer into grossly overpaying for a house.

Open houses – This is the biggest real estate scam ever perpetuated on sellers.  And the funny thing is, many sellers will fight tooth and nail for the right to leave their house for multiple weekends in a row so that you can park yourself there for 4-6 hours at a time and put balloons out front.

NAR itself puts out a report every year that shows a very small percentage of buyers buy the home they saw open.  It’s usually around 1%.  That is an astonishingly low rate of return on your marketing efforts.

Open houses do provide buyer leads for the AGENT, not the seller.  All listing agreements should come with a disclaimer showing the past year’s NAR percentage of homes actually bought due to the open house.

Low producing agents love open houses because they haven’t been taught, or are too afraid, to prospect for business.  So, the idea of sitting in a home and having potential buyers come to them seems good.  Never mind that most people are just looking, and the percentage of leads converted to actual buyers (and the time it takes to convert them) is no better than a call in on a sign or website.  And let’s not mention the fact that you may sit all day at a house and have NO traffic.  God forbid if it’s a rainy weekend.

Broker opens –   These have a small chance of helping you sell the home because it can get you exposure to agents who missed it in the myriad of listings on the MLS.  However, it’s usually not worth doing a broker open until well into the listing term, and is most effective to get a price reduction for the seller by having the agents write their pricing opinions on a survey card (darn, there’s that pricing thing again).  And here’s the fundamental flaw - top agents, you know the one’s doing 90% of the business, are typically too busy to stop at broker opens.  So you’re exposing the property to a handful of agents who have nothing better to do than to eat your free lunch.  Look, I know I’m sounding harsh, but my big concern is that many agents think their job duties entail hosting and going to things like broker open houses and working on making a pretty brochure…things that DON’T help sell a home.

Advertising – Here’s another scam on the seller.  NAR reports a very small percentage of homes are sold as a result of being advertised.  I will admit they also report a slightly higher percentage of homes are sold as a result of the buyer calling in on a different home, so advertising can help (but the home still has to be priced right).  For the sake of this article however, I want to stick to the specific house you have listed, and I’m talking about advertising over and above the norm.  I mean the type of advertising where the agent thinks it’s the solution to why the home hasn’t sold in the last 90 days.  We all know that every agent does some form of advertising, whether it’s the MLS itself, the various websites that agents/companies have, the websites that pick up listings from the MLS, or the newspaper ads your company provides.

Here’s the flaw:  If your local grocery store paid for circular ads in your town’s Sunday paper, and advertised premium, no-filler, turkey lunchmeat at $50 a pound, how many people would buy it?  The answer is nobody.  Two things would happen.  People might still visit that store, but they would buy another brand of turkey lunchmeat (congratulations, you’re overpriced turkey ad sold the competition), or people will go to another store all together to buy that brand at its normal price.  In any case, the store could have spent millions of dollars on ads all over the place and it wouldn’t matter a lick in regards to the sale of that brand of turkey.

Yet sellers and agents all think that more advertising will equal a sold home.

The bottom line is that your job as agent is to educate the seller and list the house at a price that will cause the home to sell.  Stop kowtowing to the seller who wants to overprice the home.  Stop with the false sense of loyalty to a pie-in-the-sky price, against all reasonable economic sense as evidenced by the comps.  Stick to your guns, be professional and price it right.  Or, horrors, be willing to say “no” to the seller, and walk away from listing the home if they insist on overpricing it.

You’ll be doing yourself a huge favor, I promise you.  Even if another agent lists the property, don’t worry.  It’s not going to sell.  Look at your market.  Look at any market.  Overpriced listings don’t sell.  Why do you think there are so many expireds?  Oh, right, I forgot.  The agents all must not have staged those homes.  Yeah, that’s it.

In coaching agents across the United States I see this with my clients. Two agents can use the same exact script or objection handler and have two completely different results. It’s not only WHAT to say it’s also HOW to say it that makes a difference in the result. It’s also in who and how you’re being with the client that makes a huge difference.

Before I share some thoughts and ideas on communication I want to talk a little about what I mean by who and how you’re being for the client. We all know we never get a second chance to make the first impression on anyone. Before you make a call to a client, a potential lead, or go on an appointment, take a few minutes to clear out your thoughts and get focused on the client. Our head can be a really scary place and our ego can be very dangerous when it comes to our business.

The client can sense almost right away if you’re only concerned about getting a paycheck, if you’re arrogant, pushy, egotistical, a know it all, or rushed to get in or out. My intention whenever communicating with my clients is to always be completely present with them, not in my head about all that I have to do or what’s going on in my life or what’s in it for me. I want to come from a place of contribution to the client and look to make a difference for them. I am focused on talking about them, their needs, their wants, their desires, and leading the conversation by asking great questions that allow them to talk and share about themselves and their situation.

Guys trust me, the client does not care about you, your personal life, your interests, or being friends with you. They are looking for you to be an educated professional to assist them in one of the biggest investments of their life. They don’t care about your kids, your busy life, or your personal interests. Taking the focus totally off yourself and putting it on the client will have a huge impact on your business. And I know you may think this is elementary but trust me, this will be huge if you study and practice it.

The more questions you ask, the better the client feels. This allows them to talk about themselves and their situation. The most important person to everyone is themselves. Whether we as human beings are willing to admit it or not is another conversation. One thing is for certain, people love to talk about themselves. You allowing the client to do this will set you apart from most agents. What do most agents do? Talk non stop about how great they are, and what the client needs to do or not to do. No one wants to be TOLD anything. They want to be led and guided to making the choices and decisions that’s right for them and their situation.

I see it time and again with the agents I coach. The use the exact same scripts and objection handlers and get two totally different outcomes. Why? It’s how it’s said, it’s your body language, it’s whether you have rapport or not, it’s the words you choose to use.

I was on a listing appointment the other day and going through the house with the seller talking about things that could be done to help the home show better. She had interviewed several other agents before me. At the end of our meeting she said, “Gosh, you are so different than the other agents, they told me the same things that needed to be done, but totally offended me and I would never do business with that one lady.” Case and point right there, same thing being said, and the client took it in two totally different ways. Needless to say I got the listing and one of the reasons was HOW I communicated with her.

You have to gain rapport with the client not by having common interests, and telling them how great they or their house are, but by aligning with them, matching and mirroring them, acknowledging them, and having compassion and understanding for their situation. Then lead them to the decision that’s right for them.

At our coaching company, You’re The Difference, our intention is to transform the public’s opinion of salespeople from social leeches to one of contribution, genuine care, concern, and service for clients.

We want the public to no longer view salespeople as a necessary evil; rather they will look to them as their trusted adviser.

We teach effective sales communications, business generation, mindset, and objection handling skills that will open the doors for you to substantially increase your sales and make a positive difference with your client and the real estate industry across the board.

To gain instant rapport with your client you want to BE like them. Not have similar interests but communicate like them. People like people who are like themselves; it puts them in their comfort zone. If you talk walk and act like they do, the client will automatically feel more comfortable with you. Sounds crazy but try it on for a while.

If they talk slow, you talk slow. If they talk fast, you talk fast. If you’re a fast talker what do you instantly think of when you’re talking with someone who speaks slowly? If you’re a slow talker, what do you automatically think of when talking with someone who speaks fast? Case and point, you need to be like them so they trust you.

Same thing with loud talkers vs. soft talkers, words and phrases. If you’re a soft talker, how do you feel abuot loud talkers? If you’re a loud talker, how do you feel about soft talkers? Talk the same as them. Also, Pronounce words and phrases the same as they do. Not doing this makes them feel uncomfortable and possibly wrong because you didn’t pronounce the word the same as they did, or they think you’re wrong. Choose to BE like them.

And last, emotions. Match their mood and their emotion. Think about this, if you are angry and upset and someone comes up to you all cheerful, happy and excited telling you things are going to be okay, how does that make you feel? Same thing, if you are happy, energetic, and excited and someone comes being tired, unenergetic, and overall mundane, how does that make you feel? Match your client’s mood. Don’t be how you are as a person, transform yourself to be, talk, and act like your client.

Let’s face it, when we are presenting, it’s show time.

And always, always, keep in mind, no one cares how much you know, until they know how much you care.

Here are few examples of what I mean when there is saying something and it coming across in two totally different ways.

Before you put this home on the market you need to clean it up, paint it and get rid of all the clutter in the yard. This is what the other agent said when the client I mentioned above got offended.

I said, “Guys I know it’s overwhelming to sell a home, especially when you’re moving out of town. I realize you don’t have a lot of free time right now but can I mention a few things that I think would help the home to show better?” And THEN I shared what needed to be done.

Just the preface of acknowledging them, their situation, and their feelings FIRST made all the difference. This is what I mean with whom and how you’re being.

Another example:

If you want to sell this house then you need to price it right or it’ll just sit on the market.

Try on… Guys, I know you want to get as much money as possible, and I want to help you make as much as possible. I realize this is one of the largest investments you have, and that you’ve put a ton of time and money into the home with the improvements you’ve made. Unfortunately, the market is still very challenging and to sell in these conditions, price is very critical. If you want to actually sell in this market vs. just sitting on the market like the other thousands of homes that aren’t selling, then we need to price it right, does that make sense? We have to look at what’s going to cause the buyer to buy your home vs. all the others that are for sale. When you’re buying, isn’t price most important to you in most cases? Same thing said but two totally different impacts.

One more example:

Before you look at homes or we go out, you need to get pre approved for a loan.

Try, Guys, if you haven’t already talked with a lender to discuss what price range we need to stay under in order to get your payment at a place that’s right for you, we may want to do this. You know, most lenders will approve you for way more than what you actually want to spend and what we want to find out again, is exactly what price range we need to be looking under in order to get you at a monthly payment that’s comfortable for you. Plus, in representing you and negotiating on your behalf, guys in this market, most sellers won’t even look at an offer without a pre approval letter from the buyer’s lender. Being approved ahead of time will give us much more negotiating power to get you the best deal possible. My job is to protect your best interests and I want you to go into the home buying process with eyes wide open about the entire process and all your options. How about I have one of my lenders give you a call to get started with helping you?

Same thing, two totally different impacts.

I hope this is helpful information to you and that you’re on track to Making 2010 YOUR year!

If I can assist you with becoming more effective in your business and in your communications, please let me know. My partner, Scott Friedman, and I have a few spaces open in our one on one coaching right now where we personally speak with you on a weekly basis to teach you all of these techniques and exactly what I do on a daily basis to sell 100 homes a year. We can assist you either just beginning your business or taking your already successful business to the next level.

We also have a 6 week tele-course where we teach you all about how to effectively communicate, handle objections with proven NLP language patterns, gain instant rapport anytime anywhere with anyone and create more confidence for yourself.

I personally am still actively selling real estate, coaching agents, have two kids under the age of 10, and am training for a marathon this year and to fight in a karate tournament. I write these articles on a weekly basis and still have a personal life. I can help you to have it all and not just be consumed by real estate. It’s in the efficiency, the schedule, the systems and the communication that opens the doors for you to have the life and the business you deserve.

Call me if you’d like a free 30 minute coaching call where you can ask me any questions that you have, and we can see if we’re a match for coaching together and making a difference in your business. 540-312-0085 or visit our website at www.yourethedifference.com

Scott and I are the co-authors of the 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 you face in real estate. If you haven’t already purchased this, please visit our website for this and audio programs that will immediately help you do more business. www.yourethedifference.com

Christy Crouch

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

In my last article I talked mostly about preparing for the appointment and today I’m going to talk about the actual appointment.

My listing presentation consists mostly of questions. The more questions you ask the seller, the more in control of the conversation you are. Asking the client questions allows you to learn about what their needs, wants, and desires so you can better serve them.

When you’re the one asking the questions, you also avoid more objections and put yourself in the interviewer position versus them interviewing you. Actually, you should consider a mindset of being the interviewer when you’re on the appointment anyway. Because of many reasons, you may decide not to take the listing.

As you go through the presentation, decide whether you want to take the listing instead of worrying about whether or not you’re going to get the listing. This confidence proves to the client that you are a professional salesperson and not someone just trying to impress them. Be careful that you don’t come across with arrogance. No one likes an arrogant salesperson.

When discussing price there are three areas of statistics you want to address:

First is the overall market for your area. You want to educate them about what the market is doing in general in your area.

Second are your personal stats, or your company’s stats. Sharing yours or your company’s track record gives the client confidence that they are dealing with an experienced professional.

And last, is the market analysis specific to their home. Your opinoin of the right listing price is primarily what the client wants to hear. Decide ahead of time a price range at which you are willing to take the listing. Studies have shown that taking an overpriced listing doesn’t do you or your client any good. The longer a home sits on the market, the harder it is to sell. Be honest with the client up front about what price it will take to actually get the home sold, and not just have it listed.

Practicing presenting price is something Scott and I highly recommend. You want to be able to powerfully and confidently discuss market values with your client. They are looking to and trusting you as their professional to educate and lead them to the right decision for their circumstances. Have the courage to tell the truth up front about the right price.

Your listing presentation should not exceed an hour including paperwork, taking pictures, placing the sign and the lockbox. The longer you stay in the home the less confidence the client will have in you. Remember our job is to get their home sold, not to make friends with them. Just as if you were going to a doctor or an attorney for advice, they don’t sit with you for hours. They come in, ask a series of questions, tell you what their opinion and plan of action is and they get out. This is the same mindset and strategy you should have.. Present and view yourself as a professional salesperson just like doctors and attorneys do.

In my next article I will talk about servicing the listing and working on price reductions. Studies show that if a home is sitting on the market, it’s likely the price that is keeping it from selling. Educate your sellers up front about the possibility of having to lower the price if it doesn’t sell within the first 30 to 45 days. This way they are mentally prepared to discuss a price redcution when the time comes.

Don’t forget about our 6 week course, Now What Do I Say?, The Course. In this 6 week course we will teach you powerful language patterns, objection handlers, and talk about the mindset it takes to sell homes in today’s market.

Please visit our website at www.yourethediffreence.com for more information on this, and other products and services that can benefit your business,

I hope you are on track to Making 2010 Your Year.

Christy Crouch