I was reading this morning and came across a message of great importance from Mr. Shaun Rawls OP with Keller Williams Realty. After reading and re-reading, it struck me that the next 180 days is crucial to our business. Not just for the benefit of the next 6 months, but indeed the momentum of the next 6-10 years. Please take a moment and READ his message. I think you will find it to be quite helpful in today’s market and economy. Then after you read it… TAKE ACTION, Give me one more.
Onward and Upward in 2009!   - James

It’s 2009.  It’s also March, which signals the beginning of spring and hence, the best six months of the year for real estate sales in Atlanta.  I am so thankful that we are in the middle of March NOW.   That doesn’t mean that I’m glad we made it to March.  Rather, it means that after all this time of enduring the challenges of our struggling economy, I am so very glad and thankful that we are in March at this point in our economy versus being in, say, October, and looking forward to the lean Winter months of November, December, January and February.  I’m glad those months are behind us and the great weather, the emotional excitement and an all-but-certain increase in home sales is about to be upon us.

If the next five or six months could be some of the toughest months of our economy, I wouldn’t want them to come during any other time of the year!  March, April, May, June, July and August are the wheelhouse months of the real estate industry in Atlanta.  They are the best batters in the line-up.

For those of us in real estate, now is the time to CHARGE!  The next six months are the most opportunistic months we may ever see in our careers.  Deliberate, focused, intense, consistent lead generating action will not only improve our individual business results, but will also create the end of tough times for our entire local market.  The next six months should generate more sales than the last six months.  Increased sales mean more activity than the last six months.  Increased activity means increased competition over the last six months.  Increased sales, activity and competition may even bring us some positive reports from the media (or at least positive statistics for US to report!).   And if, by some chance, average sales prices start to move up as a result of all of this activity, then we may indeed be approaching the point of no return – and that’s a great thing!

Here’s what I’m urging you to do:  RUN!  Run faster, run harder, run longer.  Stop walking and stop jogging and start sprinting towards the beginning of what may be the most important shift in momentum in your career.  If you’ve been making calls, make more.  If you’ve been knocking on doors, knock on more.  If you’ve been holding Open Houses, hold more of them.  If you’ve been sending emails, send more.  If your energy matches the opportunities of the market in the next six months, you will create momentum that will propel you through the next six years.  Run towards this opportunity!   Think of these words as those of your personal trainer, “Give me one more set, one more rep, one more lap, one more, one more, one more!  You can do it!  Don’t give up now!  Push through and earn your reward!”    I’m not kidding.  I believe that the months ahead represent the Period of Champions.  Extra effort started and sustained will create and reveal the champions among us.  Can you do it?  Of course you can!  The better question is, “Will you?” 

The good news is that being at Keller Williams is a lot like being with Verizon in that we have a HUGE network of associates that is always behind us.  We are never alone.  With every call we make, every presentation we give, every house we hold open and every closing we attend, we have the wisdom of more peers supporting us and cheering us on to victory.  “It’s the network.”  And there’s no better network than ours at Keller Williams.

When he wrote “The Dip,” I wonder if Seth Godin knew how well-timed that book would prove to be?  I seriously doubt that he had any idea of the magnitude of The Dip we were entering.   I am entirely confident that the end of the dip is near.  I can feel it.  I can almost see it up ahead.  However, by saying that, I don’t mean that things will soon be “the way they used to be.”  The end of the dip will represent small and consistent improvements over time that will provide relief and rewards to those who have been faithfully preparing to take full advantage of a positive shift in the market.

The natural improvements that we should see over the next six months, combined with our extra (lead generation) effort will allow us to obtain our unfair share of the market and secure the future destiny of our businesses and careers.

Let’s sprint to the finish line and beyond…together!

Your #1 Fan,

SHAUN

Often we find ourselves as real estate professionals second guessing ourselves in the manner in which we assist the public in finding their dream homes. My question and comment to all Realtors abroad? Do we wake each day with the RIGHT attitude? Do we set high standards in our daily task? Do our family, friends, and clients perceive us as real professionals in our daily walk? Do they really appreciate us and think deep in their hearts that we are after their best interest?  hmmmmmmmm

If you find yourself questioning these items, I encourage you to examine your ATTITUDE. Let’s all strive to work hard and raise the bar to the highest level possible for all concerned. I am certain that the public at large will appreciate us more. Let’s make them proud of our industry!!!

Our attitudes are contagious, is your worth catching??? I sure hope so for all concerned!

Onward and Upward in our efforts to make each day a win-win for everyone!

James Hamby, GRI

Team Leader ~ Managing Broker

I was reading this artilce this morning from Broker/Agent Social and found it to be quite interesting… Please feel free to read and I’d like to hear your comments…  Onward and Upward  ~  James

Why Objections are Good, and the Secrets to Handling Them

Published on Tuesday, December 30, 2008, 2:25  by Scott Friedman

So, you have an expired seller on the phone and they tell you they’re going to re-list with the same agent. Or, they tell you they want you to cut your commission in order for them to list with you. Or, perhaps you’re in their living room and they want to list at a price much higher than you’ve recommended.  Or, they just want to think about it, so they’ll call you on Monday.

Or, a buyer calls up on your sign and says they just want the price.  Or, they want you to work with them and if they find something they like, then they’ll talk to a mortgage person.  Or, worse yet, they have a home to sell but won’t put it on the market until after they find the home they want to buy.

Now what?

Some agents are really good at handling objections like those.  Many are not.  Many are scared to get objections; so much so that they won’t try to generate leads for fear of not knowing what to say.  No one wants to be caught of guard, or feel stupid.

That being said, here are my secrets to objection handling.  And, as you read the first point, you’ll realize why getting an objection is actually a good thing. 

1.  Realize where objections come from -  This is the biggest secret and the simplest thing to get.  Objections only come from people who are considering doing business with you.  You should be happy when getting an objection.  If you don’t care about something, are you going to bother talking about it? 

For example, let’s say you’re in a clothing store and you want to a business outfit in blue, black or gray.  Let’s say you told the salesperson you only want to spend up to $200.  So, if the salesperson comes back with an orange outfit for $215 dollars, are you going to ask them to discount it to $199? 

NO!!!  You’re not considering buying that orange eyesore, so what the heck do you care about the price?Same goes with a buyer or seller - if they have questions and/or objections, they’re interested in using you.  If they’re not interested, they won’t object.  They’ll disappear.

2.  Get some objection handlers - I don’t care how or where you get them, just get them.  Create them on your own.  Find some you like from other agents, coaching companies, websites, etc.  The point is that you need to have standard answers that you can go to anytime something comes up.

Clients aren’t coming up wtih new objection handlers to fool agents.  Objections are pretty much the same.  And, since one client doesn’t know what you’re saying to another client, it shouldn’t matter to you if you think you say the same thing over and over again.  Listen to a flight attendant…do they make up their in-flight safety speech as they go along, or have they rehearsed it hundreds of times?  For that matter, check out the pilot.  Are you upset when you find out the pilot does the same exact pre-flight checklist for you as he/she did for the 25 other flights he/she’s flown this month?  Heck, no!  You want him/her to do the same things.  He/she’s a professional. 

Well, so are you.  So stop being surprised when you get objections, they’re a part of the selling process.  When a seller says they want you to cut your commission, or only wants to list for 90 days, have your answer ready.

3. Practice, practice, practice - I already alluded to this with my flight attendant analogy.  You must practice objection handlers to the point of memorization.  The phenomenon that occurs once you practice is that you are so confident, and ready to get objections, you rarely ever get them anymore.  That’s the joke.  The more you look forward to them, the less you get them.

As I stated in point number one, you only get objections from people who are considering using you.  However, one of the reasons you get those objections is that they sense you’re not as confident a salesperson as they want/need.  If you walked in and they just thought, “Wow!  That person’s gonna sell my home!” they wouldn’t ever bring up an objection.  That’s because you give off a confident and authoritative quality.  Please don’t confuse that with ego or arrogance.  If you come of as arrogants, they won’t be thinking, “Wow,” they’ll be thinking, “How,” as in, “How can I get this jerk out of my house in less than 15 seconds?”

Make a daily habit of practicing objection handlers.  Schedule it.  Do it with other agents if you can.  It’ll pay off hundreds of times over.

4.  Agree with the client, understand the client’s point of view, don’t fight - Since you now know the reasons you get objections, you can understand the buyer or seller’s point of view when they raise the objection.  That means you can acknowledge and agree with what they say.  99% of the time, you want to agree with them before handling the objection.

The client wants to know they’ve been heard, so when you agree with them and/or repeat what they said, they feel heard.

I’ve seen agents berate, argue, debate and otherwise fight with a client, telling the client how wrong the client is and how right the agent is.

How do you like being told how wrong you are?  How do you being told what to do?  How do you like it when people don’t treat you nicely?

So, why on earth do we think that we can just be that way with a client and things will be just fine?

5.  Don’t take it personally - This piggy backs off the previous point.  For some reason, agents take objections personally.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  If it was personal, the person wouldn’t be working with you anymore.  They’d yell at you, they’d hang up on you, they’d never return your calls.  They wouldn’t object.

“Bob, I just don’t like you.  You’re a jerk, and I’m pretty sure you hit on my wife during your presentation.  So, if you cut your commission, I’ll be okay with all of that.”

Do you really think Bob would be getting that objection?  He’d be lucky if he got out the house without being punched.  

So, just get that people object for many reasons that have nothing to do with you.  Heck, the media is always talking about how a client should ask for this or that, etc.  People are just doing what they think they should.  And keep in mind, again, they’re only objecting because they’re considering using you.

One time, when I was still selling real estate, I sold an expired listing in 10 days for 99% of the asking price, and got them a great house at a great deal to move into.  Literally as he was signing the buying contract for the new home, Mr. Client, pen in hand, looked up and asked if I would now cut my commission.  I looked at him as a parent might look at a child who’s trying to pull one over on the parent and said, “Good question, but AS you’re signing the contract?”  He laughed and said, “I had to ask,” and signed the contract without hesitation.

I had every right to take it personally, too.  I just did what their last agent couldn’t do, and did it 5 months and 20 days faster, and they wanted me to cut my commission???  How dare they???  Really, I just realized he was doing what he thought he had to, and I didn’t take it personally.

6.  Pick your battles, so to speak - If it’s at all possible do NOT handle objections over the phone.  If a seller asks you to cut your commission over the phone, no matter how good you are at handling it, you won’t be listing their house.  They’ll likely not agree to an appointment with you and won’t answer your follow up calls.  Handling objections over the phone gives the power to the person on the phone.  They can simply hang up, and if they don’t like your answer, never take your calls again.

As a rule, only handle objections that help you set an appointment.  If a seller says they’re going to re-list with the same agent, by all means, handle that objection to get them to agree to an appointment with you.  If they say they only want to list for 90 days, that’s not something you deal with until you’re on the appointment.

7. CLOSE!!! - Never, never, never handle an objection if you aren’t going to close for whatever you need to close for, be it appointment or contract.  Spouting off all your newly memorized wonderful handlers won’t do diddly if you don’t end it by asking for the business.  Always close at the end of objection handlers.

Hopefully you can now shift how you feel about getting objections from buyers and sellers, and realize getting objections is a good thing.  Just be ready to handle them and watch how much more business you do!

Welcome to James Hamby’s Blog! This blog will provide you with valuable information, tips, and general insight into the real estate market in Tucker.