Real Estate Agents (YOU) are in Demand

At first glance, you may think that I am crazy but before you go down that path, read my thoughts and suggestions on how you can Create More Demand for you and your services.

Most of you do not know that I was a coach for a national real estate coaching company a few years back. My specialty was to coach agents on how to produce extraordinary results in short periods of time. During my coaching years, I was able to work with a lot of top agents across the country. I was able to evaluate their business and help them find weaknesses that we could work on along with identifying their strengths so we could exploit them even more.

While working with these top agents, I noticed something every interesting. These agents were able to create demand for them selves in every type of market. It did not matter if the market was going up, down or sideways; they were in demand and they could produce a lot of business in a very short period of time.

I want to share a few skills that they possessed that made the consumer seek out their services. In others words, here are a few ways that they created demand for themselves.

They removed the emotion from the transaction

For most of us, this is a challenge. All of us have heard of the times when a retired widow purchased a condo conversion unit in 2006 at a high price with the intention to flip it and make some quick money. We all know how that story ends also, usually in a major loss of cash, a short sale or foreclosure. In many cases, that was all of the money they had.

When thinking of this situation, if she were to call you, how would you respond? Would you want to avoid the call hoping she will go away? Do you tell her that she has no chance in selling? Do you tell her now is not a good time even though she will be foreclosed on before it is a good time again?

Unfortunately, most agents let their emotions dictate how they respond to this situation. Remember, your emotions do not change the facts and the facts are what the prospects need to hear. You cannot force a seller to sell yet at least give them the chance to make an informed decision.

The top agents had the skill to communicate the facts in a way that made the prospect feel that they cared. They had the ability to empower the prospect with knowledge and then let them make a choice. This skill develops through hours of practice so if we are interesting in creating more demand for our self as an agent then we need to start practicing today.

They understand the market

This may appear to be obvious yet it is not as easy as it sounds. Knowing the current numbers in the MLS is a start yet to truly understand the market, you must know what the numbers mean and you must have the skill to communicate that meaning to your prospective clients in a way that they understand.

It is easy to check the computer and find how many listings are available and how many sales have been made this month. What does that mean to the seller or buyer? Does it mean buy today or sell today?

It takes a little time yet you must look at these numbers closely and determine the importance. Of course, I wish I could predict the future yet none of us have that skill. Often, you need to put yourself in the shoes of your prospective client. Ask yourself if you were them, would you do the deal with the current information that you have? If not, then what other information would you need in order to make that decision?

To understand the market, you must know the numbers backwards and forward. Once you know the numbers that well, it is your duty to communicate the numbers in a way that the average consumer can understand. Once again, this is a skill and all skills require practice.

They had the ability to positively convey the negative.

Above, I have talked about the skill of knowing the market and removing the emotion from the transaction. I cannot stress the importance of these two skills in today’s market.

One thing that really sticks out when coaching top agents is their ability to convey negative news in a positive way. The market is the market. We have no control over it. The only thing that we control is the way we communicate the market to our clients. We have to convey this information yet we have to do it in a way that does not make them wrong or put them on the defense. Top agents have the skill to convey information in a way that causes others to be in action. Sometimes that action is to do a deal and sometimes it is an action to not do the deal. Either way is fine yet being in action is the key.

If you want your leads to take action then develop the skill for conveying the negative news through a positive conversation. Your prospects will make the right decision if they have the right information.

I hope that each of you can take something from this email and use it in a way that will help your business. As I mentioned in the past, I am committed to being a positive influence in our local market. As real estate agents, we have the duty to serve the consumer at the highest level. I am sure we all have different opinions on how to serve yet most of us would agree that we can serve the consumer at a higher level when we grow as agents. The better our skills, the better we can serve. The better we serve, the more demand we create for ourselves.

I hope each of you have a great Christmas and plan for a profitable 2009.

Let me know if I can ever do something for you.

Your Fellow Realtor,

Greg Harrelson
843-457-7816