How to Be a Power Agent in Real Estate

253 Pages·2003·2.57 MB·English

by  Davis D.

DARRYL DAVIS
How to Be a
Power Agent
in Real Estate
McGraw-Hill
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DOI: 10.1036/0071415920
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Contents
Introduction vii
1. Time Management for Real Estate Agents 1
2. The Art of Prospecting 17
3. The Listing Presentation 44
4. Objection Handling 60
5. Servicing Listings to Sell 94
6. Working with Buyers: How to Work with Fewer Buyers,
Make More Sales, and Have More Fun in the Process 108
7. The Art of Negotiating 130
8. Farming for Dollars 146
9. The Art of Self-Promotion 162
10. Working with Assistants 177
11. Building a Referral Business 195
12. Your “Next Level” in Action 215
Appendix A: A 60-Day Action Plan for New Agents 219
Appendix B: A 30-Day Action Plan for Experienced Agents 228
Index 233
v
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Introduction
If you’re like me, you probably skim through the introductions of most
books, frequently without reading them. Well, I want to strongly encour-
age you to read this short introduction. Why? Because it establishes the
foundation for much of what I present in the following chapters. It’ll just
take a few minutes ..., so let’s get started!
This book is designed to help you reach your “Next Level®” in your real
estate career. The principles and techniques I reveal throughout these chap-
ters have helped many agents double their income. I know they will work
for you as well.
Before I go on, let me give you a brief background on where I came
from, because I want you to understand that I wasn’t born a top producer.
That is, when my parents gave birth to me, they didn’t turn to one another
and say, “Look, honey, we have a top lister!”
Like most agents, I stumbled into real estate. Before joining the indus-
try, I was a professional actor appearing in movies and commercials. To help
support myself while I pursued a theatrical career, I started in real estate
part-time at the ripe old age of 19. In my first six months, I was a failure. But
I was committed to making it work, so I persevered.
I knew I needed to get better at what I did and I figured, “Why rein-
vent the wheel?” So, I became a seminar junkie, teaching myself from
countless courses, audio tapes, and books. And I became a more effective
agent as a result.
Eventually, I left acting and became a real estate agent full time, averag-
ing six transactions a month. I later became a licensed broker and, as a man-
ager, I opened a new office that became the number-one listing and selling
office in my market area in just six months.
vii
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viii Introduction
I soon learned that my true joy in life came from making a difference in
the lives of others. I became very good at coaching agents and brokers to
achieve their goals, to break through the obstacles that stop them, and to
enjoy phenomenally productive and successful careers. Better yet, I found
that I truly loved doing this.
In 1993, I created The Power Program®, the only training course for
agents that meets once a month over the course of a full year. On average,
graduating Power Agents®double their production over their previous year. Each
year, more than 1,000 agents participate in The Power Program, delivered
across the nation by me and my team of trained Power Leaders.
The book that you are holding in your hands is unique in the real estate
world precisely because the many tips and techniques I present have been
battle-tested and proven by Power Agents in markets throughout America.
My goal in writing How to Be a Power Agent in Real Estateis to share with
you what I know works in the real world and to avoid having you run
around chasing some theory about how real estate sales should be. But
there’s another reason why this book will make a tremendously positive dif-
ference in your career, and it goes beyond simple tips and techniques. It has
to do with helping to develop your personality and your attitude.
You see, in order to provide their clients and customers with the best
possible service, I believe salespeople in our business should master the
skills, tools, techniques, and concepts of real estate sales—the technical
knowledge that serves as the foundation of the real estate industry. As you
know, many excellent courses teach various versions of these building
blocks and many of these techniques are described in this book. Yet, after
taking courses, reading, books and listening to tapes, why is it that some peo-
ple go on to be highly successful in real estate sales, while others struggle?
Simply put, there is a wide disparity in production and income between
real estate professionals, because the ability to “make it” in real estate sales
depends on personality and attitude as well as skill and ability. This book is
packed with tips and lists and sample dialogues—all wonderfully effective
tools—but these items in themselves are meaningless. What is vital is the
mental context in which agents perform. Said another way, your belief struc-
ture and personal attitude are the most crucial factors determining whether or not
you will succeed.
This book will give you all the basics of real estate sales, but with a pow-
erful addition. I’ll provide you with information that will expand your abil-
ity to work effectively with other people, to listen to them, and to help them
achieve their goals.
Introduction ix
The Three Power Principles of Real Estate
Principle #1: The Coaching Philosophy.If you look around you, you’ll
find that there are many people who dress differently, drive different cars,
like different food than you, etc. The ability to understand what people like
and why and to be committed to helping them get what they want is what
I call coaching. The first Power Principle, therefore, is “The Coaching Philo-
sophy.”
The old-fashioned approach in real estate was based on selling, not
coaching. The foundation of this approach was manipulation: you tried to
get your clients or customers to do whatever it was that suited your agenda.
Your only concern was that they took a particular action (e.g., signing on the
dotted line) so that you could get your commission.
In contrast, The Coaching Philosophy asks you to look at what they’re
committed to and give them advice to help them get there. If you truly see
yourself as a “real estate coach,” you could even go on a listing appointment
and, based on what the sellers say, you might determine that it’s appropri-
ate that they don’t list with you. Now, 99.9% of the time, this won’t be the
case. However, if you are honestly committed to doing what’s right for them,
you have to allow for this possibility and be more interested in serving the
clients’ best interests than in serving your own.
When you are coaching others, you have more fun, less stress, and more
peace in your career because you are not being combative with your sellers
and buyers. You become engaged in what they want and in helping them to
achieve it. You learn how to get them excited about buying or selling real
estate and to allow them the freedom to make decisions based on what they
need or want from the purchase or sale of a home. Imagine life as a sales-
person without always fighting with people—wouldn’t that be great?
One of my own personal goals is to bring integrity back into the real
estate industry—a concept directly related to The Coaching Philosophy.
Listen to this: according to the first Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, published
in 1898, the definition of “integrity” is “the fair dealings of people in the
transfer of property.” So, our industry helped create one of the original
meanings of “integrity.” Yet sadly we no longer associate it with our indus-
try. In my view, part of having integrity is to coach buyers and sellers based
on what they’re committed to, rather than what’s in it for us.
So, how does an agent master the art of coaching others? Most new
agents are taught basic information about listing and selling real estate in
just a few weeks or even a few days. They are then thrown out into the real
x Introduction
world expected to know how to effectively use the information they’ve just
received. Studies show, however, that it takes 21 days to internalize a habit,
so how could anyone possibly master all of real estate in only a few weeks?
My solution was to create The Power Program, which, as I said above,
meets once a month for 12 consecutive months. By focusing on one topic a
month for 30 days, agents can really internalize that one area of the real
estate, thereby mastering their careers one step at a time. This book can help
you do the same thing.
There are 11 skill-building chapters in this book, corresponding to the
12 months of my course. (We spend two full months on “the listing presen-
tation.”) Unfortunately, unlike taking The Power Program, what you don’t get
out of reading a book is the actual accountability of implementing these
items. So, you’ll be left to your own devices to move forward with these con-
cepts. Nevertheless, even if you don’t master these items, you can still
improve your skill and abilities by 10% in each area. That’s substantial and
will make a tremendous impact on your success.
Principle #2: The Next Level® Design. The Power Program offers radical
new approaches to goal setting and personal growth through the Power
®
Principle called the “Next Level Design.” Simply stated, the Next Level
Design is based on a quote by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.: “Once the mind of
man is stretched, it can never go back to its original form.”In other words, we can
measure our lives in levels. When there is a major occurrence in our life, we
grow as a person and that growth can never be taken away. For example,
when you get married, that is a Next Level; when you have a child, that too
is a Next Level. You can’t go back to being someone who was never a parent.
When a real estate agent goes from making $50,000 to $75,000 a year,
she has to “rise to the occasion” and grow as a person to reach this Next
Level. The following year, she may make only $60,000, but she still knows
what to do to earn the $75,000. She has the knowledge and experience to
get there again.
Now, some Next Levels are reached by happenstance. However, when a
person creates his or her Next Level by design, not accident, then the person
is truly in control of his or her life. For anyone who wishes to become a top
producer in real estate, or any other worthwhile endeavor, it is imperative to
learn how to set objectives and achieve them. The Next Level Design encour-
ages you to set long-term goals of a year or more.
But defining your Next Level is only half the battle.
Introduction xi
Principle #3: Maintaining Focus. Simply knowing where you want to go
won’t get you there. The secret is in focusing on attaining this Next Level and
in taking action consistent with your commitment.
During The Power Programthrough the years, I often ask my students how
many actually make New Year’s Resolutions. I’ve found that typically only
10% follow this custom. The other 90% don’t make resolutions because they
know they’ll break them, so what’s the point of making them? You know, in
January it sounds like such a good idea, but by March you’ll be onto 50 dif-
ferent projects and will have forgotten all about your resolution.
In The Power Program, because we meet once a month for 12 consecutive
months, we have a built-in solution. Every 30 days while in class, Power
Agentslook at what they did the previous 30 days and set a goal for the next
30 days. Just doing this in and of itself helps them to stay focused. In fact,
when graduating Power Agents are asked what they think are the main rea-
sons why they double their production after completing The Power Program,
the number-one response we get is that the monthly meetings help them to
stay focused. If you can create a similar support group with other agents and
commit to meeting once a month to hold each other accountable for the
goals you have set, you will get much more out of this book than if you sim-
ply read it by yourself.
You see, real estate is like a marriage. You don’t walk down the aisle, say,
“I do,” close your eyes, and hope it will work out for the next 50 years.
Rather, you must wake up each morning and recommit to making your rela-
tionship work. That’s right: there’s actually work to be done.
It’s the same thing in our business. You can’t just pass your real estate
license exam and watch the six-figure income start to roll in. You must con-
stantly recommit to the profession and reinvent yourself along the way,
maintaining your focus on reaching your Next Level.
When you systematically look at your goals every 30 days, especially in
a group with other agents, you suddenly develop a sense of urgency. You
stop putting things off because you know you must be accountable to oth-
ers in your group who expect to see you move your goals forward and
because you are constantly reminded of your commitments.
Let me tell you about Robert Kirby, a Power Agentfrom Virginia Beach, VA.
Robert started in The Power Programwhen he had been licensed for only two
weeks. In his first year in real estate, he did 97 listings and 34 sales. Even more
amazing was the fact that he did this part-time! I’m not kidding—he was driv-
ing a truck for Pitney Bowes every day, Monday through Friday, nine to five.
xii Introduction
When he graduated, I asked Robert what aspects of The Power Program
had most helped him with his phenomenal achievement. Here’s what he
said: “It was the fact that every 30 days, I had to set a goal. It was always,
‘What do I need to do in the next month?’”
Now, while this book is not a substitute for the experience of The Power
Program, it does present the proven concepts from the course and will help
you to reach your Next Level. For best results, I recommend you read
through the entire book first. Then, go back and review one chapter each
month. For the next 30 days after that, maintain focus on that one area of
real estate until you master it.
As an independent contractor in our business of real estate, if you can
implement the three Power Principles we just discussed—to employ The
Coaching Philosophy, to be Next Level-driven, and to maintain focus through-
out your career—you will soon find yourself walking up to get an award at
your company’s (or the real estate board’s) next banquet.
What This Book Will Provide
Some people can read a book like this and very little of what they read will
actually stay with them. Why? Again, it is a matter of focus. When you read
because you feel forced to read, you may glean an idea or two, but for the
most part you’re just wasting time. I believe that reading is an investment
that depends on youfor its return.
If you approach this book with the attitude that the solutions you want
and need are here and all you have to do is discover and understand them,
you will find that this book will provide you with tremendous value.
Throughout these pages, you’ll find the best tools, tips, and techniques, many
of them adapted and refined from the original masters of sales literature, like
J. Douglas Edwards, Napoleon Hill, Clement Stone, Zig Ziglar, and many
others. For over a decade, in my speeches and training seminars, I have been
enhancing and customizing these tools to make them appropriate and pow-
erful in today’s real estate market. If you read this book with the intention of
getting as much out of it as you possibly can and then taking the time to
internalize these various skills, you will excel in your real estate career.
Another reason you will benefit from reading this book is that what I’ve
presented here has been proven effective. These aren’t my own theories of
real estate that I’ve created in my secret laboratory and have decided to test
on you. On the contrary, everything I talk about in this book is proven in