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2.
Why Rapport is a Major Key to Successful
Prospecting
As I've
said for many years now, success in real
estate sales and leasing primarily comes
down to being very good at these two
activities: 1)
Identifying the prospects you want to
work with 2)
Successfully enrolling these prospects
in working with you exclusively At
first glance it may look like building
good rapport only pertains to the second
activity above, but I can assure you
this comes into play in your prospecting
also. The reason I know this is both
because of my own experience as a real
estate agent, and because of my own
experience in having real estate agents
solicit me for business, too. Whenever
agents have contacted me, wanting to
know whether I'm interested in buying or
selling a home, I'm quickly sizing-up
whether or not I'd be interested in
working with the agent. And most of the
time I feel that the agents I come in
contact with lack the professionalism of
really being someone I'd want to work
with. This is primarily because there
are simply a lot of mediocre agents out
there doing business, and I want to work
with someone who is professional,
knowledgeable, and really communicates
to me that serving my needs is their
number one priority. So
I realize that if an agent approached me
as a prospect and I felt they were
probably not an agent I'd want to work
with, it would simply be easier to
downplay any interest I might have in
buying or selling a home if I were in
the market at that time. It's just a
much easier route to go than telling the
agent I'd like to do something, and then
explaining to them why I'd have no
interest in working with them at the
same time. I mean why would I want to
open the door to potentially having the
agent pleading with me to change my mind
about them and start working with them?
I'd simply rather move on and find an
agent I'd really like to work with. So
if this is the way that I feel, do you
think that a lot of other people out
there probably feel this way too? I mean
if you were in the market for insurance,
and an insurance salesperson called you
who you felt was pushy and
overly-aggressive, don't you think you
might politely try to end the
conversation instead of opening the door
to potentially having them become your
regular agent? I think this response is
probably very natural for quite a lot of
people. With
this in mind, what I'm saying here is
your presentation and rapport-building
skills will definitely affect how
successful you are at finding new
prospects. And the more that people like
you and feel that you're someone they
will want to work with, the more they'll
open up to you and tell you the truth
about when they'll be looking to buy,
sell, or lease in the future. If
you've been in the real estate business
for a number of years now, you may have
even experienced the following scenario: You
connected with a prospect within the
past few months and they told you they
had no plans to buy, sell, or lease in
the near future. And now, either weeks
or a few months later, you've found out
that a competing agent has signed an
exclusive agreement to represent the
exact same prospect. While
it's possible that there was some sudden
change that necessitated the prospect
now taking action, it's also possible
that the first impression you made
didn't convince the prospect that you
were the agent they should be working
with. And if this is the case, you may
really need to work on your presentation
and rapport-building skills with your
prospects. So
here are two methods I recommend for
doing this: 1)
Get on the phone with someone you know
and role play a typical prospecting call
where you're talking with the prospect
for the very first time. And record the
conversation so you can listen to it
again later on. 2)
Videotape a typical presentation you
might make to one of your prospects when
you're meeting with them for the first
time. And just as in the first exercise
above, have someone you know role play
with you as the prospect you're meeting
with. What
I've found to be very true about
building successful business
relationships is that people want to do
business with people who share the same
beliefs, ideals, and opinions that they
do. They also want to work with people
who communicate that they provide great
service, and that the client's needs
will always come before their own. In
addition, people want to feel that
you're someone very similar to who they
are themselves. So
the way that you look, dress, talk, and
move your body will communicate whether
the prospect feels you are someone they
will want to work with...or not. With
this in mind you'll want to vary the
tone, tempo, volume, and timbre of your
voice to match that of your prospects,
in addition to matching their body
language, too. And in the process you'll
want to look and dress in the best way
imaginable for the type of meeting
you'll be having, the location where the
meeting will take place, and the person
you'll be meeting with. And
finally, when you listen to and watch
the recordings of how you're presenting
right now to your prospects, you'll
learn much that will enable you to take
your presentation skills to a whole new
level. And when you learn to match and
mirror your prospects' voices and body
language, you'll soon find a lot more of
your prospects deciding that you're
simply the best agent they would ever
want to work with. 
Click
here if you'd like more information
on my one-on-one coaching program to
take your real estate productivity to
the next level. One-on-one coaching is
available for both real estate agents
and company management.
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