Sell with Soul: Recent Episodes
Jennifer Allan-Hagedorn
To enjoy a wildly successful career selling real estate treating clients and prospects respectfully, as you yourself would like to be treated.
But… what about… COVID-19 and Social Distancing? Is it still feasible to run a primarily SOI-based business in this Age of COVID?
Has anyone ever told you that “Success in real estate is a numbers game?” That the more people you ______________________, the more successful you will be? (Get your mind out of the gutter).
Everyone knows that your sphere of influence is the best source of business for a real estate agent (oh, you didn’t know that? It is!) But here’s the problem… most real estate agents do a terrible job of staying in touch with the people they know, for various reasons. And then they are disappointed that those people aren’t enthusiastic supporters of their real estate careers and proclaim that “SOI doesn’t work!”
Around here we believe that you can significantly increase your business if you are willing to (strategically) waste your time. What we mean by that is that you don’t blow off prospects or prospecting activities because they don’t appear to be leading you to a paycheck in the near future.
What’s the Number One Thing Sellers Complain About Regarding their Real Estate Agent? All together now… COMMUNICATION!
Real estate is a stressful career. Whether you’re crazy busy or slow as molasses, it seems there is always something to worry about and fret over. Sleeping through the night? A thing of the past, right?
As professional real estate agents, a big part of our job is to help our clients make decisions - to help them analyze the situation, evaluate their options and choose the (hopefully right) path to take. And, as our Code of Ethics and our agency agreements require, when guiding our clients we are obligated to put their interests first, above even our own (egads!).
Many agents have been brainwashed into believing that you have to ASK for business and referrals if you expect to GET business and referrals. But that's just not so. Any form of referral-begging (including asking, bribing, reminding or maybe even appreciating) isn't necessary; it's unprofessional and it makes people uncomfortable. Hardly the way to inspire the people you know and the people you meet to care about you and your real estate business.
The simple definition of Sell with Soul is: “To enjoy a wildly successful career selling real estate treating clients and prospects respectfully, as you yourself would like to be treated.”
However, the Sell with Soul philosophy goes much deeper than simply following the Golden Rule and centers on four interrelated principles: Respect, Competence, Confidence and Enthusiasm.
So, you have your first listing appointment and are wondering what, exactly to do before, during and after... or maybe you've been going on listing appointments for years but are wondering if there might be a better way. Well, if your approach thus far has been to sit the homeowner down and tell him all about YOU for 90 minutes, then YES! There IS a better way!