Eight Keys to Mastering the Art of Sales

by Tom Ferry

It is very fair to say that most markets across the country have changed significantly in the past year. We have come out of a market in which if you had a real estate license it was not too difficult to sell some homes - "an order-taker market." Find a seller, find a buyer, get in the middle, get paid, right? My point is you did not need a great deal of skill to experience some success.

Well, guess what? That market is probably gone for you. What does this mean? In my opinion, it means that now, more than ever, it is time for you to get really good at selling.

Your ability to master the essential selling skills will determine your success (or failure) in this business. Period.

Now is the time to begin or accelerate your journey towards mastering your craft and to become an expert at the art of sales and persuasion. Real estate is a conversation, and the more you connect and know what to say to prospects and clients, the more business you will do.

Knowledge = confidence and ignorance = fear

Most sales people would agree that when they know what to say to a past client or new prospect, they take action and make the call. Conversely, when we don't know what to say, we get caught up in the mental cycle of rejection through analysis. We have all done it:

"What if I call this person and they ask a question I can't answer."
"What if they tell me they have a friend in the business?"
"What if they've already found a house?"
"What if they answer the phone!?"
What if ...what if ...what if...

The truth is when you don't know what to say, we create negative expectations. We create made-up stores in our mind that do not serve us and that stop us from taking action. Have you ever driven by a For Sale By Owner and not stopped? Have you ever looked at a lead and said to yourself, "They'll never buy." The stories go on and on.

My intention here is to outline the eight essential selling skills and, most importantly. to ask for your commitment to constant and never ending improvement of your communication and presentation skills.

1. BE ASSUMPTIVE

This one is very mental. I believe that all sales begin with assuming, assuming you have the right client, the right opportunity and it's the right time to act. Assume they will list with you, pay your fees, write the offer and accept the offer. Assume you're going to win! Of course if you assume the opposite, you will attract the opposite. We must assume the sale.

There is an old school philosophy that would disagree with this theory. You may know the old phrase, when you assume you make an "ass" out of "u" and "me." I totally disagree with this concept. I believe you must assume everything. Assume what you want will occur and it will.

2. BUILD RAPPORT

No sale occurs until the client is comfortable and feels you have their best interest in mind. Old school rapport taught us that like attracts like. They used to teach salespeople that if the client likes fishing, you should say, "I like fishing too!" This almost sounds silly today, but some people still operate in that world.

I believe rapport is about common behaviors. To build rapport, we should match or mirror our client's behaviors so they feel we are like them and so they feel comfortable. This is where the magic lies; people always want to do business with people they feel are just like them.

Start practicing mirroring and matching the following two things:

Rate of speech. Is the person you are talking to a fast talker, slow talker or medium paced? If they talk fast, speed up your pace. If they talk slowly, slow your pace down.
Energy. Does the person you are talking to have high, medium or low energy? If they have high energy, match them. If their energy is low, bring yours down a notch.
Do just those two things with everyone you meet and notice how easily you get connected to them.

If you really want to have some fun try using what I call anti-rapport. Simply do the opposite of the person you are with. Talk really fast to a slow talker,or be overly excited when talking to someone with the energy of a slug in a puddle. I don't recommend this with clients, but it's really fun in an elevator!

Again, no sale will occur if your client is not comfortable with you.

3. ASK QUALIFYING QUESTIONS

I am always amazed when I talk with a salesperson who doesn't qualify their prospects. For example they get an ad call and the person wants to see the home and the agent says, "Okay, I'll meet you there." They fail to discover who the person is, what they want, if they can afford it, do they need to sell a home before they buy, etc...

One of the most important skills you can work on immediately is qualifying. I promise you that if you are assumptive and in rapport, and then ask the basic qualifying questions, you will discover EXACTLY how to influence the prospect. The best part is that when you get really good, they tell you everything you need to know, which makes the process of helping them quite simple.

4. THE LISTING PRESENTATION

After you have assumed, built rapport and qualified the clients, it is time to present to them. This is the where you show them who you are, what you do, why they should work with you vs. anyone else and how you will service their needs of communication.

My belief is that the quality of your business is dependent upon the quality of your presentations. If you want your business (and your life for that matter) to be extraordinary, become an extraordinary presenter!

So I am going to ask you to make a commitment. I want you to become an extraordinary presenter. I want you to fall in love with presenting. I want you to become so good at presenting that naturally and automatically you will want to go on more presentations just because you love it. Got it?

5. THE BUYER PRESENTATION

They (whoever they are) say the typical buyer isn't loyal, doesn't tell the truth and cannot make up his mind. Typical buyers are also flaky, take up too much of your time, shop multiple agents and are looking online everyday for the best deal. And if they find what they want without you, sorry Charlie! Because of all this, many agents dread working with them.

And yet, why is it that some agents love buyers? How is it they close them with ease?

The answer is simple: skills, process and presentation. How good are you at handling an ad call? At qualifying? How is your first meeting with a buyer? Are you passionate and convincing as to why they should work with you? What do you say when you show property? How do you ask them to buy? How do you present the offer (either to the agent or the seller)?

You may be thinking, "Tom, I don't have any of that documented or scripted out; I just do what I do." Aha! This is exactly why we have all our clients work on their skills, create processes and master their presentations.

Again, being influential is about helping people get what they want. What you do is too important to be left to chance. Stop winging it and get it right.

6. HANDLING OBJECTIONS

"I want to think it over."

"I have a friend in the business."

"Would you reduce your fee?"

"Will you kickback a portion of your commission when you sell me a home?"

"I've never heard of your company?"

"Your company is too big."

"We only want to give you a 30 day listing."

The list goes on and on.

How do you feel when you receive an objection? There are only two emotions: one feels good and one feels bad. How do you feel when someone asks, will you reduce your fees?

The bottom line is that if you feel bad it is because you don't know what to say. That is why you feel bad; you feel helpless and out of control.

If you feel good, it is clear you've taken the time to practice and rehearse responses to these objections. You know what to say and how to say it, and therefore you have confidence.

My goal for you is that you become a lean mean objection-handling machine! Get to the point where you are thinking, "Go ahead, bring it on, give me your toughest objection; is that all you got?" Mastering the art of objection handling takes some time and practice, but the dividends are massive.

My advice is to get a hold of scripts and tapes that give you the answers to the most common objections. Write out the list of all the objections and the responses. Read the list over and over again, internalize it, practice and role-play, and soon you will find yourself handling objections with ease...

7. CLOSING

Are you a closer? How do you feel about asking for the order? Do you like it? Is it scary to you?

Just like with objections, if you feel bad, it is because you don't know what to say. That's why you feel bad, helpless or out of control. You are afraid to ask for fear of being told NO.

If you feel good, it is clear you have taken the time to practice and rehearse various questions or assumptive closes. You know what to say and how to say it; thus you have confidence.

Now, some people say, "I'm just not into that; it's not my style," and they speak poorly about those who deem themselves to be influential closers. But that is the group that feels bad; they simply mask it with a story to justify their lack of learning how to be influential.

Be honest with yourself, which one are you?

My good friend Brian Tracy shared with me a statistic many years ago that stated 80 percent of all sales people ask for the order just one time, if ever, and it usually comes out like, "So, what do you think?" Some 10 percent ask for the order three times. And the very best ask for the order seven or more times. Remember, the influential sales person is committed to helping people get what they want so they won't let people's natural tendency to say no or delay get in the way of helping them.

Ask and you receive; don't ask, don't receive. It's that simple!

8. NEGOTIATION

Has there ever been a time in your career when you were close to putting a deal together with a motivated seller and buyer, but the deal just couldn't be sealed?

One of the greatest strengths you can have as a sales person is the understanding and application of the art of negotiation.

Negotiation is defined as: Consistently creating successful outcomes for your clients. I believe that equates to creating a win-win situation. When you do this for your clients and the clients of the other agent, you are in the negotiations zone.

Successful negotiations begin with a powerful mindset, an openness to see the deal from all sides. It is about having a larger perspective; seeing the big picture of everyone winning versus the narrow focus of earning a commission or even simply getting a good deal for your client. So when entering a negotiation, always ask yourself: What is the desired outcome? What do we want to achieve? What's important to my client and to the clients on the other side of the table? How can I best serve the group to make this deal work?

Do this and not only will you put together more transactions, but you will have happy clients, and you will enjoy abundant referrals and a thriving business! Just like for your presentations and objections, it is important to practice your negotiating skills. Create and learn new approaches, questions to ask and strategies to put more sales together.

So, those are the eight essential selling skills. The question now becomes, how would you rate yourself in each of those areas? My advice is to work on strengthening your strengths. Improve upon what you are already good at. At the same time, work on the tools and specialized knowledge you need to become more proficient at your perceived weaknesses.

Remember, the quality of your life is in direct correlation to the quality of your communication and presentations. So get excited about the possibilities and be inspired about becoming a master of influence.

Article from: www.brokeragentnews.com