2.
Don't Become a Commodity in Your Real
Estate Business With
the mass production and improved
distribution we've experienced in our
economy, many products have simply
become commodities that we shop to find
the lowest possible prices on. While
similar products can be manufactured
with different brand names, we still
often perceive these products to be
almost identical to each other.
As
an example of this, recently
I interviewed Rob Levy, one of the
top producing residential agents in the
Portland area. During this interview Rob
said, "In my opinion, the best
computer to buy is the one that's on
sale at Circuit City."
For
us as real estate agents this is
probably a very true statement. For our
day-to-day business needs, almost any
new computer on the market today is more
than adequate to handle everything we
need to get done. And with many of the
major computer companies purchasing
their components from the same
manufacturers, it's easy to understand
why different brands of computers are
often perceived to be very similar to
each other.
So
in segueing now into your real estate
business, how do you avoid becoming just
a commodity that your prospects shop for
among other agents in order to obtain
the lowest possible commission? As you
may have noticed, there's a lot of that
going on nowadays.
Part
of the problem is there are a lot of
agents out there who are desperate to
close a deal, and they'll reduce their
commission to whatever they need to in
order to land new business. But in being
the consummate real estate professional,
you simply can't allow yourself to stoop
to their level. If you do, you risk
becoming just like them.
You
need to prepare your presentations and
your responses to handle these
situations in advance. For example, if
you're hoping to obtain a listing at a
5% commission rate, and your listing
prospect says that another agent is
willing to take the listing for only 3%,
you need to learn how to present
yourself so you stand out to the
prospect as being a higher-level
professional who will obtain a higher
price for their property. In addition to
perfecting your own presentation skills,
one of the most effective tools in this
arena will be the questions you ask your
prospects that guide them towards
knowing that you're the best choice they
could ever make in a real estate agent.
With this in mind, here are some
questions you could consider asking your
prospects in this situation:
"I
understand that hiring an agent at a 3%
commission rate can at first glance not
seem like a bad decision for you to
make. But let me ask you a question...If
you were an agent with five different
properties that matched your buyer's
needs, and the owners of four of those
properties were willing to pay you 67%
to 100% more commission than the other
owner, in what order would you present
these five properties to your
buyer?"
"Keeping
this in mind, how would the fact that
your property will only be presented
very minimally to prospective buyers
affect the number of showings it
receives?"
"And,
in following this through to the end,
how much do you think this greatly
reduced number of showings will cost you
in terms of the lower price you will
definitely receive for your
property?"
"So
in effect do you see that by hiring that
desperate agent who is in dire need of
earning a few dollars right now, that
it's you who will truly end up getting
hurt?"
Notice
here how you've taken what seemed to be
a better opportunity for the owner in
the beginning and completely turned
around their perception about it. And in
the process, you've painted a picture of
the other agent as being desperate,
which is probably an accurate
description of someone who would
radically cut their own commission down
to a rock bottom rate.
Something
else to observe here is the power of
asking these questions of your prospect
instead of telling them your opinion
instead. If you told the prospect that,
"The other agent is
desperate," or "You'll end up
getting less money for your property
because of the reduced commission,"
you risk sounding like a bitter,
desperate agent yourself. But when you
ask them questions that lead them to
conclude these things on their own
without you telling them, you've just
unlocked the magic vault. They feel
they've reached these conclusions on
their own without you telling them to do
so...and this is an EXTREMELY powerful
alternative for you.
The
better you become at developing these
skills in your own real estate business,
the more easily you'll distinguish
yourself as someone your prospects
should always list with at a full
commission rate.
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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