Selling Soulfully with Jennifer Allan

Quoted with permission from Go-Givers Sell More by Bob Burg and John David Mann:

"You may have been taught that to be successful in sales, you need to "step outside of your comfort zone." Let's reexamine that idea. If you push yourself to a place that makes you uncomfortable, chances are pretty good you'll end up making the other person uncomfortable, too. Consciously or not, they'll sense your discomfort - and attitudes are contageous.

We human beings tend to resist discomfort; in fact, we'll typically do anything to avoid putting outselves in uncomfortable situations. Why base your entire career on something your strongest instincts tell you to avoid?"

One fine day last spring, I got a phone call from a real estate agent whose name didn't ring a bell.

This agent whose name didn't ring a bell small-talked with me for a few minutes, while I racked my brain to figure out if he was someone I should remember.

Well, when the small-talking was done, he asked me if I knew anyone moving to his town that I could refer to him. Ahhhhhh, sez Jennifer, Now I get it. He's prospecting. Well, I know it's hard to believe, but I didn't happen to know anyone moving to his area, so I told him he could send me an email with his contact information and I'd be glad to let him know if that situation changes. He bade me farewell and hung up. And I never heard from him.

I thought it was pretty funny, not to mention an abysmal waste of his time - cold-calling someone and asking for referrals - and then not even following up?? Interesting strategy.

But over the next month, I got more such calls from agents around the country. Agents whose names I DID recognize; agents who were followers of my philosophy which specifically advises against any form of referral-begging. All asking me if I knew anyone moving to their area.

Now I was confused. What was inspiring this flurry of referral-begging activity?

I gently tried to dissuade the callers from making more such calls to their spheres of influence, but they all seemed determined and even enthusiastic about it.

Well, okay. To each his or her own. Far be it from me to talk someone out of a prospecting technique they're excited about.

It finally dawned on me that these calls must be part of a corporate training program. My assumption was correct - there was a program making the rounds where participants were instructed to call 100 people per day (or maybe it was per week) and ask for referrals.

Whatever. I think it's a ridiculous strategy to abuse friendships with any sort of referral-begging, but apparently I'm in the minority there, at least in the world of real estate training. I'll just say that I don't like it when it's done to me, so it's a given that I will never do it to anyone else.

But the epilogue to this story is that I heard from one of the agents again the other day. Was she calling to hit me up again for referrals to her area? Nope. She was calling to apologize for doing it the first time. That she'd felt sick to her stomach doing it, not only to me, but to the other dozens of friends and acquaintances she subjected her pitch to. She is concerned that she'd actually damaged her friendships and was asking for advice on how to repair that damage.

My friends, if it feels wrong DON'T DO IT. IGNORE the well-intentioned (?) coaches and trainers and brokers who say you have to venture out of your comfort zone in order to succeed. Because there's a difference between overcoming a fear of something new, and doing something you feel is wrong. A BIG difference.

And you know what? You can tell the difference if you'll only pay attention to that little voice inside of you. It knows what it's talking about!

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Wanna Prospect with Soul?
Join the Fun Beginning September 13th

EARLY BIRD PRICING
UNTIL SEPTEMBER 6

Learn More Here!

Prospecting with Soul... that's the name of a six-week Workshop I'm hosting that kicks off September 13th and goes through the end of October. And yes, there's a cost to participate and I suppose by writing this blog, I'm hoping you'll be interested enough in the Workshop that you'll consider participating. But that's totally up to you (well, duh, Jennifer, of course it is) - I won't be pushing or pitching it on you; if it's right for you, you'll know it.

Anyway, what do I mean by "Prospecting with Soul?"

Those who know me know that I'm not an airy-fairy, new-agey, karma-obsessed kinda gal. I'm actually pretty practical, so when I talk about doing Anything with "Soul" I'm not referring to anything, well, airy-fairy, new-agey or karma-obsessed!

The back cover of my book defines SELL with Soul as:"To enjoy a wildly successful career selling real estate by treating clients and prospects respectfully, as you yourself would like to be treated."

So then, what does it mean to PROSPECT with Soul?

It's quite simple. Basically, you don't subject your audience to a sales-pitch that would irritate you if you were the audience. You don't use prospecting strategies that wouldn't work on you, or that make you feel icky. When you Prospect with Soul, you come from a position of confidence drawn from the conviction that you are the Best Thing that Could Ever Happen to this Prospect.

When you Prospect with Soul, you never feel icky. You don't worry that your audience is dreading or is irritated by your approach. You never feel the need to apologize for your prospecting activities.

Which, I guess, probably makes it clear what I mean by Prospecting withOUT Soul. When you Prospect withOUT Soul, you do unto others stuff that would annoy you if done unto you. You ignore your gut when it tells you you're doing something icky. You have to psyche yourself up every day as you head into your blocked-off prospecting time because you absolutely dread it. You're starting to suspect that your audience (particularly your precious sphere of influence) is getting tired of you.

Most real estate training programs encourage, even celebrate Prospecting withOUT Soul. They tell us to suck it up, just do it and assure us that we'll get used to, even enjoy, all the rejection we'll encounter. They push us to venture way out of our comfort zones with dire warnings that if we refuse, we'll fail miserably.

But it doesn't have to be that way. You can prospect for business using strategies that feel good, feel right and, um, WORK.

And that's what the Prospecting with Soul Workshop is all about.

If you've gotten this far on today's blog, you're probably feeling one of two emotions:

One, you're certain I'm full of krap and are rolling your eyes in disbelief that it's possible to effectively prospect without annoying people - after all - annoying people is an integral part of the game.

Or two, you know I'm right.

If you know I'm right, but want to know more, please join me on
Wednesday for a free info-seminar on the upcoming
Prospecting with Soul Workshop.

REGISTER HERE

(The other day I promised to do a little series on applying Go-Giver principles to real estate - while this blog wasn't written with that in mind, I realize that it DOES indeed reflect a Go-Giver philosophy! So, let's consider this the first in that series, k?)

I was just talking to an agent who is going through a corporate-sponsored FSBO training program.

Sigh.

It’s typical stuff. Under the guise of being helpful, the program advises you to scare the guy to death about everything he doesn’t know about selling a house. Bring in a stack of complicated contracts and disclosures, “just so that he’ll be prepared if an offer comes in.” Include intimidating documents that he won’t actually need at contract (like a deed of trust and personal property bill of sale) just to beef up your pile. Provide a “helpful” info-sheet about the dangers of letting strangers into your home.

Again, your basic FSBO scare-tactics.

And again, sigh.

Hey, someone decides to FSBO their home because they think they can do it. They think they’re smart enough to do it and they don’t see the point in paying some smarty-pants real estate agent a whole bunch of dollars to stick a sign in the yard and do an open house. In most markets, they can pay a few hundred bucks to get on the MLS and borrow a For Sale sign, so they’re good to go.

And you know what? Maybe they are smart enough. But it doesn’t matter if they are or they aren’t; what matters is that they think they are. So, when you come in with your brow all furrowed with faux concern and your “helpful” material in hand, all you’re really doing is insulting the seller’s intelligence. You’re basically saying “You’re an idiot for trying to sell your house yourself! You can’t possibly succeed without me because I’m SO much smarter than you are.”

Oh, I know that’s not what you’re saying, but that’s what he’s hearing. And we wonder why FSBO’s can be hostile to us smarty-pants real estate agent types!

How about let’s be straight with the guy? If you think you can actually help this guy sell his house, then PROVE it to him. BE helpful without strings attached. Authentically CARE about his situation instead of mastering that look of faux concern. Be genuinely willing to walk him through contracts and answer his questions. Provide informative market reports to help him price properly.

Contrary to popular belief, demonstrating your expertise by sharing your knowledge won’t eliminate the seller’s need for you. I hope not, anyway; shoot, if it’s so easy to sell and close a house that we can explain it in an hour or two, that seller truly DOESN’T need us!

No, being cheerfully and genuinely helpful, caring and GIVING is gonna go a whole lot further with a suspicious FSBO than all the scare tactics in the world!

The Prospecting with Soul Six-Week Workshop
for Agents Who Want to Sell with Soul
Kicks off September 13th.

Join the Fun?

Prospecting with Soul

Several weeks ago, all on the same day, three different people suggested I read The Go-Giver by Bob Burg and John David Mann. Others have told me that - at least a dozen others - but this particular day, I heard it three times.

I took it as a sign, fired up the Kindle and forked over the $18.99 for immediate upload to my digital reader. Since I was traveling, I was able to dive right in to find out what all the fuss was about.

Wow.

These guys have been stealing my stuff. Or, maybe I've been stealing theirs. Or maybe (she says modestly) Great Minds Just Think Alike. But for those who have suggested I write a Sell with Soul for the general public; well, it's already been done by Mr. Burg and Mr. Mann. Exceptionally well, I might add, and (not without a trace of envy), a wee bit more successfully!

Seriously, if you enjoyed Sell with Soul, you will LOVE The Go-Giver. Or, conversely, if you've already read and enjoyed The Go-Giver, you will love Sell with Soul!

I'm planning a little series on how to apply Go-Giver principles to a real estate career. If you haven't read it yet, you really oughta (okay, now I'm just being bossy) - here's the link to it on Amazon.com:

The Go-Giver: A Little Story About a Powerful Business Idea

And while you're at it, you might want to pick up the companion book:

Go-Givers Sell More

Seriously, it's good stuff. Career-changing stuff. Which makes it life-changing stuff...

My mom died this past Sunday. Most of you already know that because I sent out a letter about it to my entire SWS mailing list. If you didn't get the letter and would like to read it - you can do that here.

I wrote the letter to share my sad news with my friends. Your friends, you ask? Seriously? Jennifer, your mailing list is made up of customers, readers and subscribers, but friends? That's a bit of a stretch, isn't it?

I wasn't sure, really. I hesitated before sending out the letter, mainly because I worried it might irritate my family who might think the death of our momma should have been kept more private. So, in keeping with my personality, I stewed over it all of five minutes and then made the decision to send it.

Oh, my.

Within five minutes, I got several hundred responses. Personal messages that ranged from simple condolences to several-paragraph-long, heartfelt expressions of sympathy. I was laughing and crying as I hit the "SEND/RECEIVE" button and watched another 20 or 30 or 40 more emails come in.

As the evening went on, the messages kept coming. At last count, I'd received close to 1,000 emails, all of which expressed various sentiments of love, support, sympathy and understanding. Many shared their own stories of their loved one's last days, weeks, months and years. Many thanked ME for sharing my experience and inspiring them to "give Mom a call."

It was an evening I probably won't soon forget.

Anyway, my point is that we often criticize others for "living online," or conversely, apologize to others for our own robust online lives. Because, somehow, our online relationships aren't "real." They aren't respectable. They're our excuse for not being out in the world living among "real" people.

And I get that. I even teach it. "Go out in the world with your antenna up and a smile on your face" is one of my mantras for building a real estate business.

But the world is changing. For the better? I dunno. But I tell you with 100% certainty that the hundreds of people who responded to my email yesterday and continue to respond today are my friends. "Real" friends. Even if I never meet them - never shake their hand, give them a hug, share a coffee or cocktail; even if I wouldn't recognize them on the street - they are my friends.

So, instead of worrying that you're hiding behind your computer screen, just rejoice that 21^st century technology allows you to have an even MORE robust social life than ever before! And to gather far more friends who truly care about you than you ever imagined possible.

And that is a very good thing.

Rant Cometh.

I am so sick of hearing people IN OUR INDUSTRY claim that our primary duty as real estate agents is to prospect. To bring in business. To make rain. To pursue buyers and sellers as our primary priority, even if that means we have to "guard against interruptions during our prospecting time from OUR CLIENTS" (don't get me started).

Here's what these folks imply, and sometimes outright say: That the vast majority of what happens after a listing agreement is signed or a buyer goes under contract can, and should  be handled by an assistant. In fact, some go so far as to call that stuff that happens after a listing agreement is signed or a buyer goes under contract "administrative" or "clerical."

I read a comment this morning on another forum that flat-out said that there really aren't that many details involved in a real estate transaction, so if an agent is getting "bogged down" in transaction-related details, she clearly needs to examine her systems and priorities.

Uh... HUH?

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that anyone who thinks closing a real estate transaction in 2010 (or 1998 or 2002 or 2005 or...) can easily be handled by an administrative assistant or even a licensed assistant isn't closing too many deals. Either that, or the agents on the other end of their deals are working doubletime doing both agents' jobs, while complaining bitterly (and justifiably) that the other guy is a lazy idiot.

But here's my real question of the day...

If you believe that the day-to-day functions of putting and keeping real estate transactions together can be delegated to an administrative or clerical support person; if you have so little respect for what actually DO that requires a license, HOW THE HELL DO YOU JUSTIFY CHARGING THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS FOR YOUR ASSISTANT'S SERVICES?

Okay, rant over for the moment. But I suspect there's more on the way...

REGISTER FOR THE SHOW

I've been running a little series of teleseminar shows in the SWS Virtual Studio this summer about various topics of interest to agents who want to improve their listing strategies. From commission negotiation to intelligently pursuing expired listings to helping a seller price right - lots of fun stuff!

To wrap up the series, the next show is about being an exceptional listing agent who is truly a blessing to his or her seller clients. And being an exceptional listing agent is so much more than simply writing good MLS copy or creating beautiful brochures or even pricing right, although those things are certainly important.

Being an exceptional listing agent means that you know how to sell houses in your market. It's that simple... and that complex.

If you know how to sell houses in your market, you'll enjoy a power over your business that is exhilarating, even intoxicating. Even better, your confidence in your abilities as a listing agent will be apparent to every seller you talk to which will inspire them to BEG you to take their listing! (Okay, well, maybe not, but you know what I'm sayin').

Seriously, when you can walk into a listing appointment knowing that you ARE the best thing that could ever happen to this seller wanna-be, you'll get every listing you want. And what's more... you'll SELL more of those listings, thus enjoying the love, affection and referrals of your happy seller AND that sweeeet commission check you'll have earned for yourself.

Sound like fun? It IS.

Join us? It's on Wednesday, August 11th, at 7pm Eastern. Here are the details!

THE DETAILS
Date: Wednesday, August 11th, 2010
Time: 4:00pm Pacific / 5:00 pm Mountain / 6:00 pm Central / 7:00 pm Eastern
Duration: 60 - 90 minutes
Equipment Needed: Nothing fancy - just a phone and/or computer
Price: Freeeee, but you have to register, below

REGISTER FOR THE SHOW

On Wednesday evening, Loreena Yeo joined me in the SWS Studio to talk with me (and a few hundred of y'all*) about "Pricing it Right - Helping Your Seller See the Light!" Well, I graciously let Loreena go first, thinking I'd get *my* turn soon, but it wasn't to be. Not that Loreena was a microphone-hog or anything - not at all, but the audience clearly wanted to hear more from her than the time I'd allotted was going to allow.

So, being the primary decision-maker here in the SWS Studio, I made the executive decision to save my thoughts for a later day and let Loreena continue to wow the crowd for the entire 75 minute show.

(I just scheduled the follow-up show for August 7th. If you'd like to join us, go here to register: www.SellwithSoul.com/proper-pricing.)

As the title implies, the topic of the seminar was how to persuade a reluctant seller to price his or her home properly so that it will sell. Sure, KNOWING what that right price is is important, but being able to communicate it effectively might be even more so.

Loreena shared some great strategies and while I won't describe all of them here, here are some of my favorites.

1. Come in armed with your stats
Loreena's listings enjoy a way-below-average DOM, a higher-than-average list-to-sold price ratio and an extremely low fall-out rate (listings that don't sell). In her early conversations with a seller prospect, she shares her statistics with him or her, which accomplishes several things. First, it clearly demonstrates that whatever she's doing is working, which inspires sellers to want to know more. Second, it lends credibility to her CMA and pricing recommendation and third, it helps her turn down overpriced listings because she can respectfully say that her record is important to her and she's not willing to risk it taking a listing she knows she can't sell.

Of course, using this strategy requires that you have a good track record! (And we're going to talk about that at the next SWS Teleseminar, How to Be the Best Thing to Ever Happen to Your Seller. Details here: www.sellwithsoul.com/best-thing.)

2. Spend quality (and quantity) time preparing your CMA
Being oh-so-efficient is way over-rated. Loreena spends several hours poring over her CMA reports so that she is intimately familiar with exactly what those facts and figures are telling her. When she is in front of a seller, she knows her stuff and it's obvious to the seller that she knows her stuff. This gives her tremendous personal power when talking about price.

Conversely, if you wing it, a seller can easily fluster you with his protests that: "The house down the street sold for way more than THAT!" or "The other agent we talked to gave us a much higher price than THAT!"

3. Don't try to be "listing specialist"
I've been singing this song for years. If you work with buyers, you'll be a far better listing agent. After all, who buys listings? Buyers, right?! If you don't hang out with them (buyers) on a regular basis, how will you know how they think, what they want and how much value they place on certain amenities over others?

4. And my favorite from the evening... After you've presented your data, sit back and smile sweetly
Loreena described how she comes armed with lots of paper - charts, graphs, lists, reports, summaries, etc... which she spreads out on the table for the seller to review. Once she's delivered her analysis of all this paper, she sits back and smiles sweetly, and lets the seller take it from there. Numbers don't lie and she just presented a lot of non-lying numbers. With her body language, she subtly forces the seller to acknowledge them.

Oh, there was so much more, but I'm outta time for today ... THANKS Loreena for sharing your wisdom. Can't wait to do it again!

* As you may know, Loreena is Chinese and English is not her first language. She speaks English exceptionally well, but she does have a charming accent. Anyway, during the show she used the word "y'all" in her cute Chinese accent which cracked me up (good thing I had my phone on mute). Must be the Texas influence...

I'm going to steal a page from the Broker Bryant rulebook and dredge up an old post from the distant past. In fact, what follows is one of my very first posts here on Active Rain, but I was inspired to re-post today it by Susan Haughton's excellent post on the same topic... 

Besides I only got 8 comments on it the first go-around (hmpf!), so let's give it another go!

BUYERS ARE NOT LIARS! (first posted January, 2007)

Buyers can be hard to nail down and you'll hear agents talk about the "Buyers Are Liars" phenomenon. It's a phrase usually used in frustration either when an agent loses a buyer or when he's at his wit's end showing homes that the buyer says work for her, but don't inspire her to make an offer. It simply means that buyers don't really know what they want, and often it's true.

Remember, buyers don't shop for houses every day and they probably don't know what they'll respond to until they see it. So you'll need to have a little patience with them.

Find out your buyer's preferred neighborhood. If he is unfamiliar with your city, find out what kind of neighborhood he thinks he'd like - urban, suburban, rural, mountains, coastal? Any particular commuting distance? Does he like charming older homes near the city center or new contemporary homes near the shopping malls? Price range?

Moving on... number of bedrooms, baths, garage? Any special needs? Don't get too specific though. Pushing buyers for too many details is counterproductive, believe it or not. If you keep pushing, he may start making things up to please you. Doesn't everyone want a garage and more than one bath? But he might not really care that much and, if you limit your search to his non-critical parameters, you'll miss a lot of great homes.

The other danger in asking for too many details is that your buyer will start telling you things like, "I really want a window over the kitchen sink" or "I want an open floor plan with lots of light." Depending on your inventory, you may end up with nothing to show her if you rely strictly on her wish list. And if you show her homes that don't meet her "requirements," she may think you weren't listening. You (and she) need to gauge her reactions to different styles of homes in person. Remember, buyers don't shop for homes every day and don't really know what they will respond to until they've seen it.

And you know what else (by the way, this is new material from here on out)? Buyers change their minds about what they want or need. OMG! How dare they? I mean, they TELL us they want to live in this-and-such neighborhood and then, BAM! They find a new favorite neighborhood they'd like to explore. Egads - the nerve of them! (that's sarcasm ;-])

When I was looking for a home in Alabama, I changed my mind at least three times as to whether or not I wanted to live in the City... or the country. Whether or not I could live without a garage. Whether that fourth bedroom was REALLY necessary. My real estate agent hung in there with me, never breathing a hint of annoyance at my incredible insensitivity to wasting her valuable time. Good thing, because if she had, I'd have found someone else more appreciative of the $7,000 paycheck I eventually generated for her, as well as the two other $7k-ish paychecks she got when I bought two rental properties.

My friends, our buyers are not liars. They're just regular human beings who deserve to be treated with respect and dignity. And we are well-paid to do just that. 

Got a google alert this morning about an article that was just posted 'bout me in the Pennsylvania Association of Realtors' newsletter. I rather like it, so I thought I'd share...

Sphere Includes More Than Friends and Family

Tuesday, July 27, 2010 By Kim Shindle

Working a "sphere of influence" business is not about pestering friends and family to help you get leads, according to Jennifer Allan, owner of Sell With Soul, a real estate consulting company based in Florida.

"Your sphere of influence (SOI) is more than friends and family," Allan said. "To categorize your friends as to whether they'll make a referral and to bombard them with sales material is an uncomfortable way to do business."

Allan defines "sphere of influence" as "everyone who knows you and knows that you sell real estate. That includes people you like, don't like, people you meet every day, new contacts - whether or not you think they'll make a referral."

"Many agents use an SOI business model as an alternative to prospecting strangers," Allan said. "They ‘warm' call their friends when it's clearly a sales call; they send mass mailings to their friends and they spam them with e-mails, all in order to avoid cold-calling strangers.

To continue... click HERE!

(This is JA now, not the article)... I've been thinking a lot about my beloved Sphere of Influence strategies and philosophies... and I have some new things to say... stay tuned...

To read more of my SOI ramblings... check out my SOI blog
www.Sphere-of-Influence.com