How Realtors Can Get “Yes” without the BS
SUMMARY
The trust level in our world is probably as low as it has ever been. When you are prospecting, or doing lead follow up, or a listing presentation, most sellers (and buyers) are automatically listening to you with skepticism and often outright distrust. People are sick and tired of B.S. When they feel like they are being manipulated or conned, they will resist almost to the death. How does an agent convert those opportunities to appointments and listings and sales without B.S.?
I believe it is time as an industry that we together commit to eliminate the B.S. from our scripts and our presentations. You can get “Yes” with the B.S. My challenge to the entire real estate industry…from real estate agents to brokers to company owners, to real estate trainers, coaches, and speakers…if you know in your gut that what you are about to say or teach is not authentic, straightforward, and true, DON’T say it….and don’t teach it.
When you approach people with authenticity and true integrity, people will respect you, trust you, hire you, love you, and refer you over and over. Here are three keys to getting “Yes” without the B.S.
#1 The “Connective Tissue” between you and a prospect or client is that you genuinely care about serving them and doing what is in their best interest.
#2 Focus on Delivering Results for your clients. It is extremely powerful and compelling when your primary motivation for your business is not “getting the listing,” but rather is to deliver great results for your clients.
#3 Shoot straight with people. When prospect have objections or ask questions, it is possible to handle their objections honestly and in a straightforward manner in a way that will inspire them to hire you. I wrote “The Book of YES” to give real estate agents a powerful conversation guide and the resources and skill to be able to answer with integrity and effectiveness the tough questions and objections they hear.
You can get “yes” without the B.S. and people will love you for it.
FULL TRANSCRIPT
Hi there. It’s Kevin Ward with YesMasters Real Estate Success Training, helping you get more yes’s and more successes in your business and in your life. Today, I want to talk to you about B.S. I want to talk to you most importantly about getting rid of the B.S.
In our industry here is what I know for sure. People are sick and tired of being sold a bunch of B.S. People feel like whenever we use bogus scripts on them, that we come across where they feel like they’re being manipulated and people are sick and tired of it.
I think you would agree with me that the trust level in our industry. In fact, the trust level in our world, in our country is probably the lowest it has ever been. When you talk to somebody. Whenever you start having a conversation with a prospect, or with a lead, or with a referral, with a buyer or a seller. When you start that conversation, people, they come into that conversation with skepticism. They come into that conversation with their guard up. When people feel that they are being manipulated. When people feel that we are giving them a load of crap, they are going to resist us. Period. End of story.
So much of the stuff that we have been taught, and so much of the stuff that I used to use as a real estate agent was BS. Here is my call. This is my call to the real estate industry. Whether you’re a real estate agent, a broker, an owner, a real estate coach, real estate trainer. Whatever your position is. Whatever you’re doing in the real estate industry. My call to the industry, to all of you is just to say, “Let’s raise the bar of integrity.”
If you are about to give a line. If you are about to say something to a client or to a prospect and you’ve feel and know in your gut that what you’re about to say is not honest, it’s not true, it’s not real, it’s not legit, then don’t say it. Don’t teach it. Don’t say it. Don’t use it. We don’t need it.
One of the things I’m so passionate about is teaching real estate agents to understand that you can actually get yes without the BS. If you’re about to give a line to somebody. If you’re about to tell them something, or you’re about to use an objection handler, or use a script, or you’re about to do a sales close on them and you’re about to say something that does not have integrity behind it, that is not shooting straight with people, eliminate it.
You can get yes without the BS. You can have total integrity in what you say. Here’s the thing. If we will just make a commitment that I am going to strip away everything in my business, everything in my vocabulary, every conversation that I have with every seller, with every buyer, with every prospect, with every lead, and I’m just going to strip away everything that is false and everything that is not real. That is is a total game changer.
Again, when clients or prospects feel like they are being manipulated, they are going to resit you. Whenever they believe if a client or a prospect, a seller or a buyer. If they believe that you are there for their best interest. That you are there to serve them and to care about them, they will follow you. They will hire you. They will love you and they will refer you and they’ll respect you and they will use you over and over again, because when people, honest people are honestly led to a yes without the BS, they’re happy that they were led there.
Now, what do we need to do? What needs to happen right now? What would help you get more yeses without the BS? I want to share with you three keys to getting yes without the BS so that you don’t go, “I know. I hate it when I use BS, but I don’t know what else to do, because those are the scripts that I’ve been given and so forth.”
I want to share with you three principles to help us as an industry be able to raise the bar. I think we all want to. I think real estate agents, and I think real estate trainers and coaches would love to say, “You know what? We don’t need all the crap to tell people about our 149 and a half point marketing plan,” because back when I started real estate back in the 1900s I worked for Century 21 and we had a 21 point marketing plan.
I found out as I got going that there were other people that had a 30 point marketing plan, and then a 50 point marketing plan, and then a 72 point marketing plan. Every coach and every trainer and every broker knew that those marketing plans was 98.9% BS. It was total crap. We don’t need the crap. If you can’t shoot straight with them. If it’s not relevant. It’s not real in getting them results, we don’t need it. What is the shift? What is the change?
There are three things that will help us to be able to get yes without the BS.
#1 Connective Tissue. What is it that causes us to have a connection with another human being? In other words, what is it that will allow you to connect with a prospect, with a seller so that they feel that connective tissue, that sense of connection that they feel safe, that they feel like they can trust you. That they are willing to follow your lead without resistance.
Here’s the connective tissue, it’s caring. It’s that you actually care about what is in their best interest…that you actually care about helping them get the result that they want. That leads then to number two.
#2 Delivering Results.
It’s not about … Our industry … The game of real estate is not about getting buyers and sellers. It’s not about getting listings. There’s so much of an emphasis on lead generation on prospecting because that’s where your business starts. It starts with you finding a buyer and a seller. It’s where it starts. There’s a lot of emphasis on “prospecting, lead follow up, going out there, lead generation, and marketing. You’ve got to find the buyers. You’ve got to find the sellers. You’ve got to attract them to you. You’ve got to capture them.” All of that stuff. Why? Because it’s true. You don’t make any money till you do that. It starts there.
You don’t make money there. You make money on the back end. You make money when you deliver results. If our focus were to shift from getting listings to delivering results, it’s a total game changer. Why? Because results is what the client wants.
Look. Would you like to take a lot more listings and sell them quickly with little hassle? Yes. You know what? That’s exactly what every seller out there wants as well. They want to be able to put their house on the market and have it sell for top dollar fast with no hassle. They want the same thing you want, but not if we’re focused on get, get, get, getting a listing, getting commission.
As long as I’m focused on me and serving what I want, I’m not focused on them and I’m not focused on delivering a result for them. They are going to resist that, period. Because as long as they believe that you’re in it for you rather than for them, they’re going to resist you. They’re going to feel like you’re manipulating them. The moment that they understand the connective tissue is there that you care about them and that you know how to deliver results. The moment they believe that, they’re yours.
#3 Shooting Straight with People.
That’s it. It’s just learning how to have a straightforward conversation whenever you’re talking to a prospect. If you’re talking to a for-sale-by-owner or to an expired, or you’re talking to a referral, you’re talking to somebody in an open house and they’re asking questions about the market and about buying, “How is the market?” “The market is great. You should buy.”
They may not want to buy right now. They may not want to move right now. Stop trying to get them to do certain things until you know what is in their best interest, “Is this the best time to buy?” “Oh yes! The best time to buy.” Maybe, maybe not for them.
Have a conversation with them when you actually care about them, create the connective tissue. Focus on, “Can I deliver results that’s in their best interest?” and then simply have a straightforward conversation with them.
When a seller comes up with an objection and expired, says, “Where were you when my house was on the market?” “I specialize in helping people whose homes didn’t sell the first time.” What does that have to do, “Where were you when my house was on the market?” or “Your agent screwed up and they didn’t tell me about your listing.” Really? Are you going to go there? That’s absolute B.S.
Learn how to shoot straight. You can have an honest, straightforward conversation with people. If you are committed to delivering … To serving them and to delivering a result that’s in their best interest, you can connect with them to get yes without the B.S.
In fact, I wrote this book. The reason I wrote The Book of YES: The Ultimate Real Estate Agent Conversation Guide is to give real estate agents the resources so that they could have straightforward conversations with clients, with prospects, and with leads without the B.S. It’s simply a matter of looking at it and saying, “What is it that they’re really asking for when they threw out this objection?”
“How many homes have you sold in my market?”
“What are you going to do different than the other agents?” All of the questions that they ask are simply their way of saying, “How do I know that you’re the right agent for me?”
Instead of throwing some manipulative line that is not honest, that’s not straight forward, learn how to get yes without the BS. You can learn it. When you learn it people will love you. They will follow you. They will use you. They will refer you. They will respect you. Most importantly, you will respect yourself when you learn how to get yes without the BS.