To be successful at anything, you must learn to . . .

. . . turn "rejection" into "acceptance."  Never accept "maybe," always always always go for "yes" or "no."

TEACHINGS OF A SUCCESSFUL REALTOR, by (prophet) Sam Ferreri  (lol)


The corollary to that rule, from Tom Hopkins' early mentoring, is "never see failure as failure, but as an opportunity to learn and grow."  You will fail far more than you will succeed in the real estate business, so you must learn to grow from each experience.

I love to talk about my successes, but what failures did I learn from?  Very recently, a lady called me dissatisfied with her current real estate agent.  She needed to get her home sold, and he was dawdling. So she said that she'd terminate with him by Friday, and would call me back to meet with her.  (red flag)
A week went by, she didn't call.  So I called her, and left a lengthy voice mail.  (red flag 2)
Yesterday, the home was terminated by that prior agent and listed with another agent, all in the same day.  (failure on my part)

OK, I think of myself as a fisherman -- I never focus on the ones that get away, but the ones I catch. However, here is an opportunity to learn and grow.  What did I do wrong?  (I'm tempted to end this blog here, just to see what kind of responses/comments I'd get to this from fellow agents.)  But, in the interest of never dwelling on failure, let's diagnose, learn, grow, and move on.

The Leverage Summit - read the fine print below

First of all, I let this end on "maybe."  The cardinal rule of any telephone call is "set the face-to-face appointment."  I didn't do it, I didn't ask.  I did, however, follow up, but never asked for the appointment.  With leads, you must be relentless to obtain a yes or no.  We have methodologies in place for that with online, phone-number-less leads, but this should have been a score.  I didn't go for the appointment.

So now, I can discuss a success or I may mope all day!  (not!)  I'm in a face-to-face listing conversation, and the clients asked if they could call me next week and get started.  (In other words, this is the classic "we want to think it over" objection.)  This is one of the most common objections in any selling situation . . . think about it . . . I bet you've used it in department stores, car dealerships, from small items to large items . . . I need to think about it.  "OK, I'm sure you have many unanswered questions," I went on, "can you share those with me?"  (In other words, what do you want to think about?)

"Well since I'm here, why don't we save yourselves some time and get the paperwork completed, then we'll be ready for the market when you are?"  In other words, you need to sell your house, I'm here, most people (something like 70%) hire the first Realtor they meet, so the odds are in my favor to get this done.

(Frankly, I posed this objection to several agents, and most were satisfied to let these guys call them next week, and responded, "OK, I'll be ready when you are!"  Hmmm......

But, I took the "Sitting Bull" approach and thought, I'm here, I'm at your table, you like me, I like you, I'll just sit here until I gain agreement.  We did.  We laughed.  We hugged.  We became good friends.

What would YOU have done?  What will YOU do next time?

Want to learn more from the prophet?  (lol)  Join us on Monday, 1/26/15, from 2-4pm at the TopRealtyUniversity campus for our FREE program on Team Building.  Register here:  https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-tru-advantage-leverage-summit-or-how-to-build-a-successful-real-estate-team-tickets-15451465750 . . . We'd love to have you attend!