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!

(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

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

Just got off the phone with an ambitious newer real estate agent who is all fired up about selling some real estate. Some serious real estate. He has a plan. He's committed to this plan. He's passionate about his plan. He WILL meet his goal or die trying.

His goal? To have 35 listings in the next 90 days.

Impressive. And given his enthusiasm and commitment, I think he can do it.

But should he?

This agent is a follower of SWS which means, among other things, that he is committed to being the best thing that could ever happen to his clients. Which, it is understood, will result in business and referrals coming his way for years to come from all his happy, satisfied clients.

Do you see where I'm going with this?

No new agent can properly service 35 listings. Oh, I'm not saying that he can't HANDLE 35 listings (although it's questionable), but actually SERVICE them? No way. Very few agents of any experience level can provide repeat-and-refer-worthy service at that level of production. 

So, what do I mean by "service?" Well, you can bet I mean more than taking a listing agreement, hiring someone to put a sign in the yard, having the receptionist write up an inaccurate and boring MLS description, taking some awful photos, creating typo-infused home brochures and showing up six weeks later with a smile and an amendment to reduce the price. 

No, I mean overseeing all the moving pieces and parts of the complicated process of preparing, marketing, selling and closing a listed property. Really caring about the outcome. Making sure your seller knows you care about the outcome. Keeping your seller informed and involved. So many other things I've written about in the past.

Many say that most of the post-signed-listing-agreement functions can be handled by a $10/hour assistant. I disagree. But that's a post for a different day.

Anyway, I asked this agent if he really thought he could knock the sox off all 35 of his seller clients with his service... or if, more likely, he'd just find himself with 35 unhappy clients who would not use him again or refer him to others.

He's thinking about it. What do YOU think?

Stay tuned for more on the subject in an upcoming post...

An acupuncturist who also sells Pre-Paid Legal Services memberships... A sales trainer who also distributes organic chocolate bars... A land development consultant who also sells purified water machines... A real estate agent who also sells beauty products...

I'm seeing more and more of this. Friends, acquaintances and service providers promoting their *other* businesses to the same audience to whom they promote their *primary* businesses.

For example, I get emails now and then from a real estate agent who includes a blurb about that month's Avon (or maybe it's Mary Kay) special in her signature line. Sometimes it's reversed; she sends out a promotional email for her beauty product business and includes a blurb about real estate in the signature.

Another one - I was approached a few weeks ago by an industry sales trainer who wanted to know if I'd be interested in selling organic chocolate bars to supplement my own sales training income.

And yes, I was in an acupuncturist's office where his Pre-Paid Legal Services membership brochure was prominently displayed on the check-in/check-out counter.

Hey, I know times are tough. I recently calculated that I have 15 different sources of income, although I will say that the distribution of organic chocolate bars is not going to be one of them. In an uncertain economy, maybe it's prudent to hedge one's bets and create alternative income streams across different industries. (Maybe... I'm not convinced that a better strategy isn't to commit 100% to one, but that's a topic for a different day).

But cross-marketing incompatible products or services will likely backfire. We all have visions of the sort of person we'd feel comfortable entrusting our beauty needs to and that's not likely the same vision of the person we'd like to talk to about refinancing our home. And it's human nature to assume that someone who claims to be worth, let's say, $150/hour to consult on land issues shouldn't need to sell water purification systems on the side.

Instead of broadening the audience for both your primary product or service and your supplemental product or service by cross-marketing to your database, you'll very likely discredit yourself in both.

Okay, okay Ms. Smarty Pantz - I get it, but what should I do instead?

Here are a few ideas...

First, choose compatible industries. Selling organic chocolate bars might fit quite nicely into the business model of an acupuncturist, chiropractor or massage therapist. Ditto water purification systems. Selling Pre-Paid Legal memberships is somewhat compatible with the business model of a real estate agent or tax accountant.  Mortgage brokering along with selling supplemental insurance or financial services might make some sense.

OR

If you're already committed to incompatible industries, perhaps you can bring your spouse on board to be the "front" man or woman for the supplemental business. Therefore, when you promote the second business, you can be doing it ostensibly for your spouse (isn't that sweet?), even though you may be the primary business owner/manager.

OR

If neither of the above options are, well, options for you, don't promote the products or services at the same time. Keep them separate in your marketing. When you send out stuff about real estate, keep it about real estate. When you promote your organic chocolate business, don't breathe a word about your mortgage business. Don't show up at a real estate closing with a Mary Kay pin on your lapel. Don't show up at your Pampered Chef party with a REALTOR pin on your lapel.

Thoughts? Please share!

"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." ~  Dr. Seuss

In April, I did a teleseminar called "Don't Be Dorky, Be YOU!" which was about how to write interesting, relevant and non-cheesy content for your self-promotional material. During that seminar, I talked about the wisdom of being "transparent" to your audience; specifically, whether or not you should you share your personal beliefs and interests with your audience if those beliefs are at all controversial or subject to debate.

I used the rather obvious examples of *religion and politics. If you are a person of faith, should you make that clear in your personal marketing (whether that's your blog, your Facebook page, your website, your personal brochure and/or your SOI communications)? If you have strong political leanings, is it appropriate to publicly share those from time to time when current events seem to call for it?  

During the seminar, I said yes - it is appropriate, within reason. I explained that even though you take the risk of alienating some of your audience, you also maximize the chances that your candor will attract like-minded people with whom you will probably enjoy working. And even if someone doesn't agree wholeheartedly with your opinion, you'll still stand out among the crowd as simply being more interesting than most of your competition who is determined to play it safe and hang out in the middle of the aisle.  

Brilliant stuff, Jennifer, if she does say so herself.  

Well, last week, I had the opportunity to put my money where my mouth was. I sent out an email to my entire **mailing list, and, without giving it much thought, referenced a recent controversial blog I'd written.

Oops.

Well, sorta oops. The responses poured in, literally hundreds of them within a few hours. The majority of responses were supportive, even effusive. Neato.

But some were... shall we say... less so.

A handful of my (now former) readers blasted me for my opinion, and a percentage promptly unsubscribed from my mailing list and my Active Rain blog.

At first, I was shaken. I was hurt. I was mad at myself for carelessly risking the support of my readership. I berated myself for hours for being so stupid as to be that transparent with my precious mailing list. I didn't sleep much that night.

But somewhere in the middle of that sleepless night, I had an epiphany. While my transparency did indeed alienate a portion of my audience, it also solidified the support of a much larger portion of that audience, and also attracted dozens of new readers into my world.

I must confess that in my initial moments of panic, I considered apologizing, backing off my stance and returning to the middle of the aisle where it's much safer. But I didn't and I'm at peace with that decision.

Are you considering being more transparent in your self-promotion? If so, good for you! But be warned that it may take the wind out of your sails the first few times (actually, every time) someone nastily asks to be removed from your mailing list, and you may very well lose audience members. But be assured that there IS a loyal and supportive audience for your viewpoint (unless it's really wacky or creepy, LOL); one that will love you even more once they've discovered your common ground!

*See Post #44 for other, less-divisive examples of opportunities to be "transparent."

** If you'd like to join my mailing list so you can receive my sometimes-not-thought-all-the-way-through ramblings, just do that on my home page www.sellwithsoul.com.

There's a never-ending debate in our world about which buyers are worth spending time with... and which are not. Some proclaim that the only buyer business we should pursue is that which will likely lead to a closing within the next 60 days or so; others (myself included) don't mind spending time with someone who will probably buy a house someday, even if that someday is 6 months from now or longer.

These debates also usually include passionate discussion into whether or not to require pre-approval or buyer agency before allowing a buyer to "waste" an agent's valuable time. 

To each his or her own. I run my business my way; you are free to run yours your way. It's a beautiful country, ain't it?

Anyway, I recently participated in such a debate over at Agents Online (www.agentsonline.net), a forum where I've been a moderator for the last few years. As is typical, my voice (and Perky's) were on one side of the debate, with pretty much everyone else on the other. Frankly, that's why I hang out there - I kinda like the opportunity to soapbox on my philosophies knowing they'll be argued with. And from a mercenary perspective, I've noticed that whenever the debates get hot and heavy, activity in my bookstore picks way up.

But I digress (again).  Sorry.

There was a comment made by a participant something along the lines of how his time is much more productively spent on prospecting activities rather than working with buyers. Um... okay.  Am I missing something here? Isn't the point of prospecting to bring in buyers (or sellers) to work with?

Okay, to be fair, I think his point was that he'd rather spend time looking for what he considers a "perfect" buyer (one who will buy an expensive property quickly) rather than waste time on someone less motivated and less profitable. That if he spends 3 hours searching for that perfect buyer (or seller) instead of driving around with the imperfect one, it's a better payoff. I get that (I guess, actually, I really don't). But again, it's a choice and I respect that.

Here's my point, though (finally).

Our industry so enthusiastically celebrates the virtues of militarized prospecting that many seem to forget why we're doing all this prospecting. I see this all the time - agents bemoan the fact that they don't have enough business, but in the next breath, complain that the business they do attract with their efforts isn't, basically, good enough. So, they, basically, chase it off. My friend Susan Haughton said it best - "It is astounding how many roadblocks agents put up in front of the prospects they burn up so much shoe leather to obtain."

I have about 5 more blogs on this topic burning a hole on my keyboard, so if you like this one, stand by for more. But for today - the moral of the story is: Unless you are so darn busy with well-qualified, motivated, gotta-have-it-now buyers (or sellers), don't fret if the business you have isn't moving as quickly as your mentors seem to think it should. There ain't nothing wrong with a full pipeline!

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A few weeks ago, there was a bunch of hoopla on the local Florida TV stations about a $40M+ bill passed to help the Florida Tourism Department advertise to the world that our beaches are still pristine and oil-free. In fact, I was enjoying a Bushwacker at AJ's in Destin during the filming of one of the promotional spots... but I guess I didn't look the part of a happy tourist cause they didn't ask me to be in the commercial ;-[

Anyway, it occurred to me (okay, actually it occurred to my friend, but I'll take the credit) that it seems a bit odd to spend a whole bunch of money promoting Florida's pristine and oil-free beaches when, um, they may not BE pristine and oil-free by the time the spots hit the airwaves. In fact, they almost certainly won't be.

And that's exactly what happened. Last week, the oil hit the beaches of the Emerald Coast, and is on its way to the rest of Florida's Gulf coastline. The promotional ads have been pulled, and the advertising money shifted to marketing Florida's other, non-beachy attractions.

Okay, I get it. Tourism is huge here and without it, the Florida economy will suffer. Lots. But, Houston (or more specifically, Tallahassee), we have a problem. We have icky, nasty, stinky OIL off (and now on) our shores. Maybe if we solved the REAL PROBLEM, life could return to normal and the tourists would happily come back. But no, we're spending lots and lots and lots of perfectly good dollars on advertising that perhaps could be better put to use to Save those Beaches the tourists really want to visit.

How is this relevant to real estate? Well, I had the same feeling a few years back when NAR started running all those (presumably expensive) ads (with our money) about how valuable the services of a REALTOR® are. Frankly, the ads sounded defensive to me; as if NAR was trying to counteract the negative perception our industry enjoys from the general public. At the time I wondered if all those dollars might be better spent actually doing something about the REASONS our industry has a bad reputation (and there are plenty) instead of trying to convince people that their perceptions of us were incorrect.

Anyway, I don't have any real point here, except to say, as I've said for years now, that our industry has some serious credibility issues with the general public, many of which are well-deserved. I've written extensively on what these well-deserved credibility issues are, but for now, let me just say that I'd love to see some of our REALTOR dollars spent, not on band-aid advertising, but rather on improving the competence and professionalism of our practitioners.

Rant over.

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