Technology TransactionsBetter Is Better Than Cheaper
The business environment is getting more competitive everyday. New
companies and new concepts are being born daily. There is always someone
trying to do it better and cheaper than what has been done previously.
There is more competition in today’s global economy. Do you remember when
the US Postal Service was the only way to send documents? Now that
age-old institution has to compete with Fed EX, Airborne, UPS, as well as
fax machines and now the Internet with email. Competition is everywhere
and in every business segment.
The real estate business is no different. The new companies and the
remaking of the old ones challenge us. There are two key questions that
must be answered if we are going to thrive, not just survive, in the
future.
1. How do we make our business (ourselves) the obvious choice for the
consumer?
2. How can we be different than the other competitive choices so that we
can better attract customers?
These two questions are at the center of success in attracting new
prospects and clients to your business.
Many companies and agents have taken the discount route to answer these
questions. Still others are adopting a fee-for-service model. Both of
these philosophies are trying to attract consumers solely based on the
cost of the service. I believe that this tactic is a losing proposition
for the Agent, the company, and the real estate community at large as well
as the consumer. Cheaper is not always better…better is better. For some
reason we are fixated on the commission we charge. We often have tunnel
vision as to how to compete. Because we lost a listing to a lower fee
broker we assume that we must lower our fee to compete.
In the last six months we have been working diligently with all our
coaching clients. We have worked with them specifically on their sales
skills, presentation skills, qualifying skills, and objection handling.
We have scripted, rehearsed, practiced and role-played with them to
increase their levels of skills. Here is what we found after studying
their commission structure and fees. Most have actually raised their fees
in the last few months because of their confidence and delivery in their
sales skills and objection handling skills. They have consistently
received the highest commissions in their respective marketplace. Many
have even added a processing fee between $295-$495 to all their
transactions. This processing fee has further increased their profit on
each transaction.
The key in all this is the skills that you possess. The ability to handle
the commission objection or the statement that another Agent will do it
for less. Your sales skills will make you the obvious choice for the
consumer. We all should have reasons that the consumer should select us.
However, you must stop and ask yourself these three questions:
Are your reasons well thought out?
Are they well laid out in scripts that you know cold?
Are you able to convey them with power and conviction?
If you can’t answer, “yes” to all these questions, you have work to do!
Step 1: List all your competitive advantages. They could be your
company, your service commitment, your statistics or listings to sales,
days on market, average list to sale price. Write down as much as
possible.
Step 2: Look at the list from the customers’ perspective. What do they
really care about besides lower commission? What would really set you
apart in their eyes? Pick the five key services you think they want. If
you are struggling, go back to a dozen past clients. Call them and ask
them why they selected you over the other Agents. You now have the
consumers’ perspective.
Step 3: Select five competitive advantages and script a response to them.
Your ability to drive these five points home can mean the difference
between a powerful listing presentation and a weak one, and could well
determine if you get the contract signed that night or have to wait a
week. Be prepared to say to the customer what is most important.
We then need to analyze the next question, how can we be different to
attract new customers? The first is to know your business and spend your
time there. We often do activities at work that don’t bring a large
return. I coached a lady that did 35 open houses in one year who made
$9,000 from all that work. Once she redistributed her time to calling her
past clients, her production skyrocketed. She added over $50,000 to her
gross commissions earned in less than six months. It was a matter of
understanding where her revenue was coming from and investing her time
there. Why invest your time in activities that generate little income?
Another technique to attract more customers is expansion of your leads by
using call capture or IVR systems to expand the number of leads you
receive. You can expand the number of leads you get daily and weekly by
50-100% by using call capture technology. There are numerous companies
out there that provide this service. In my opinion, the user-friendliest
with the best marketing minds behind the system is Pro-quest Technology.
They have mastered the use and implementation of this product and made it
easy. As Agents, the ability to generate more leads allows us to be able
to be highly selective in whom we work. Being selective leads to more
revenue. Take the time to implement your call capture system today.
Take some time this week to reflect upon and answer these key questions.
You are running a multimillion dollar sales company. Make sure that you
invest the time in planning your own course to a successful career.