QUESTION: What is the most successful method of making contact with FSBOs?

QUESTION: What is the most successful method of making contact with FSBOs?
(Sent in by Valerie K. of Memphis Tennessee)

ANSWER: Numbers don’t lie but emotions sometimes will. Making sound decisions on how to grow your business can be made by either looking at the numbers or doing what feels best. Unfortunately I’ve seen too many new and experienced agents make bad business decisions based on their feelings instead of studying the numbers. As odd as it may sound many agents are more willing to spend their hard-earned money for a quick fix to growing their business instead of investing the time necessary evaluating different solutions.

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Question: How can you get around the fact that in some areas the FSBOs are actually able to sell on their own without my help?

Answer: Of course FSBOs are able to sell on their own! I never said they couldn’t or haven’t and neither should you. But the real question isn’t whether or not the FSBOs are able to sell on their own; the real question is ‘Will they come out AHEAD by doing so?’ The mere fact that you’ve heard about FSBOs selling on their own doesn’t mean they came out better off financially. In fact, earlier this year NAR published the results of their survey comparing homes sold by owners to homes sold with the assistance of a Realtor and found that agents sell homes for 32% more than owners. So unless you’re charging sellers more than 32% commission to sell their home for them they’ll most certainly come out better off hiring a pro than to take the task on themselves. Check out NAR’s Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers here.

LEARN HOW TO LIST MORE FSBO’s…

Question: What do I do with the FSBOs I can’t reach by phone?

Sent in by Brian L. of Atlanta, Georgia

QUESTION: Thanks to the system I learned in your workshop I’ve been having great success with the FSBOs that I’m able to reach when I call them –but what should I do with those that I can’t reach by phone?

ANSWER: First let me congratulate you Brian on your apparent success with those FSBOs you’ve been able to reach and thank you for submitting your question; I’m sure many others have the same issues. As you already know reaching FSBOs by phone is one of the most predictable, least costly and most effective methods of making the initial contact. Yet in light of that there will still be a group of FSBOs that no matter the time of day or the day of week they just aren’t going to answer the phone. My students tell me that nearly 25% of the FSBOs out there fall into the ‘Can’t Reach by Phone’ category. Doesn’t make sense does it?

The good news is that while you’re NOT reaching this group of folks by phone NEITHER are the other agents in your marketplace. This is good. Your options of course for reaching them are really quite simple — you’ll have to either visit them in person or send them something and hope they’ll call you. If you do decide to try visiting them just make sure you’ve got something to leave behind that’ll capture their attention and give them a reason to call you. The same holds true when sending them something; if it doesn’t give them a reason to call you they probably won’t. You must give them a reason to call you.

One of the most effective marketing pieces (I actually got it from one of my students a while back) that my students use for reaching Expired Prospects, Pre-Foreclosure Prospects, as well as For Sale by Owners they can’t reach by phone, is a simple piece of yellow-pad paper that is copied but looks like it was hand written. The key is to make it simple yet unique enough that a homeowner will look at it. (see sample to right)

So far the response from my student’s prospecting efforts has been a lot better than mailing letters or postcards, or dropping off refrigerator magnets or calendars. It’s quick, it’s easy, it’s cheap, it’s effective and it’ll help you to make contact with those FSBOs that just won’t answer their phone. Give it a try, I think you’ll be amazed. Good Luck.

Scot Kenkel, Instructor
http://www.TheFSBOSuccessWorkshop.com

Question: How do you TALK someone into doing something…?

QUESTION:I’ve been to enough of your learning sessions to know that I thoroughly enjoy your style of teaching and yet I’m still having a hard time committing to registering for the FSBO Success Workshop. Can you talk me into committing without talking me into it? (Sent in by Maryann J. of Houston Texas)

ANSWER: Maryann, I understand exactly what you’re dealing with and oddly enough you’ll find most of your home selling prospects are facing similar challenges. Should we try to sell it ourselves? When is the best time to get started? How should we go about picking the RIGHT agent if we do hire one? These are all common concerns that your prospects are dealing with on a daily basis.

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Question: How Much Do You Charge?

QUESTION: It seems that no matter what answer I give when asked “How much do you Charge?” that it ends up turning into nothing more than a feeling of frustration and defeat. What should I be saying to get the sit down when they ask that question? (Sent in by Richard D. in Brooklyn NY)

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Question: How can I get a FSBO to sit down with me?

QUESTION: Scot, I can’t seem to convince FSBOs to let me come over and meet with them. What am I doing wrong or what should I do differently? (Submitted by Irene B. in San Mateo CA)

ANSWER: I think the biggest challenge most agents have when it comes to working with FSBOs — or any prospect for that matter — is getting THEM to CHANGE their BEHAVIOR. In any given interaction either you’ll change their behavior or they’ll change yours. Becoming successful in this business, or any other for that matter, requires that you learn how to change behavior through simple persuasion.

Persuasion should not be thought of as merely TALKING someone into doing something your way. Persuasion isn’t the ability to pester someone into submission either. Persuasion is simply the art of helping others see other possible outcomes for their current actions.

Instead of trying to TALK FSBOs into meeting with you I’d suggest you focus on your conversational abilities. Get your FSBO to tell you why they decided to do this on their own and then ask them (this is how you help them see other possible outcomes to their actions) if they’d still be doing it themselves if they KNEW for a FACT that they could hire a PRO to do it for less?

More than likely you’ll pique their interest and you can then leverage their curiosity to get them to sit down and meet with you. Give it a try and you’ll see how well it works.

Question: Scot, is the process of going after expired listings the same as what you taught us to do during the FSBO Success Workshop?

(This question was sent in by J.S. in Key Largo)
Answer: For the most part the process for working Expireds is very similar to working with FSBOs; first you should build rapport with them followed by helping them discover a problem and then leveraging your solution to get a sit down with them. The key distinction between FSBOs and EXPIRED prospects has more to do with the PROBLEM you’re going to help them to discover.

FSBOs will be more curious to LEARN How it Costs Less to Hire a Pro than to Sell on their Own while your Expired Prospects will be more concerned with LEARNING how to guarantee that they’ll be able to HIRE the right agent to get their home sold.

Focus your efforts on offering to educate them on how to go about picking the RIGHT agent — an agent that can GET the job done and PUT the MOST money in their pocket — and you’ll be more likely to turn their curiosity into a bona-fide sit down. From there all you need to do is to BE the RIGHT agent.

Twenty Five Strategies to Grow Your Business

 

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Question: What do I say when the seller wants me to CUT my Commission?

Answer: I’d recommend that instead of becoming defensive and telling them how much you DESERVE what you charge, understand that homeowners care more about their finances than yours. The only reason they’d ever ask you to CUT your commission is because the BELIEVE by doing so they’ll come out better off financially. However, if they found out that paying LESS would actually COST them MORE they’d probably beg you to raise your fees, right? All you have to do is PROVE that CHARGING LESS to sell their home will COST MORE and CHARGING MORE will COST LESS. (I hope you’re not confused yet…)

The real secret to educating sellers on how it COSTS MORE to CHARGE LESS takes nothing more than a little research and a teeny bit of math. Do this; spend a few minutes searching your MLS for homes that sold by brokers that typically charge less than you do. Then calculate their average MARKDOWN PERCENTAGE (list price less sold price as a percentage) and add that number to the fee you believe they charge. Compare those numbers to yours and you’ll soon learn that CHARGING LESS to sell a home actually COSTS your sellers MORE. Now you just need to assemble the information in an easy-to-explain format and let your sellers know why they should PAY YOU MORE. I hope that helps…