Powerful NLP Technique to Keep Prospects on The Phone

Summary

A real estate agent’s communication skills are the most important key in lead generation and lead conversion. But what do you do when a prospect won’t even talk to you on the phone?

One powerful NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) communication technique you must master is called a downswing. It simply means using a downward tonality at the end of a question. This is powerful because it communicates confidence & certainty in your voice.

Here are 3 ways to use a downswing in your conversations with prospects:

1. Asking their name.
2. Giving your name.  
3. Asking questions.

Your ability to communicate to your prospects with confidence makes them feel confident about hiring you because they know that you can help get them the BEST result.

If you want to dive deeper into NLP and communication techniques that will help you get more YES without the B.S., click here to get your free copy of The Book of YES. It’s loaded with the BEST scripts that will get you more leads, listings, and sales.

Full Transcript

Whenever they answer the phone, you have seconds to get them engaged in a conversation to stay on the phone with you so that they will say yes to you. 

Hi there, it’s Kevin Ward, the founder of YesMasters Real Estate Success Training, helping you get more YES and more successes in your business and in your life. 

But how can you get more success if you can’t get them to talk to you, if you can’t get them to stay on the phone with you? 

And that’s what this video is about. It is one of the most powerful techniques that you can use to get prospects to engage with you in a conversation, to get them to stay on the phone with you, to stay in a conversation, and for long enough that you can actually convert that lead into an appointment. 

Now, let’s just start with this. The number one most important skill for a real estate agent for lead generation and lead conversion is this, it’s your ability to communicate powerfully. 

It is communication skills, your ability to lead people to a decision, your ability to use influence and persuasion in a way, not just with what you say, but how you say it. 

The Power of a Downswing

And in this video, I’m going to talk about one strategy or one technique, it is a neuro-linguistic programming technique, or otherwise known as NLP, called a downswing. 

Now, if you want to learn more about it, you can get a copy of my book, my best selling book, The Book Of Yes. You can go to thebookofyes.com and get a free copy. You just pay shipping and handling and I’m going to send you this book, and it’s got a lot, not only in the book itself, but also it gives you access to some online training content that will take you deeper into NLP and communication techniques that will help you. Plus, it’s loaded up with great scripts.

But in this video, we really want to talk about just this one technique called a downswing. Now, a downswing just means when you ask a question, you end your question with your tonality or your voice going down rather than the tonality of your voice going up. 

Here’s how it sounds. I want the tonality of my voice to go down. No, it just went up, didn’t it? So the tonality of my voice goes up or the tonality of my voice goes down. And I want it to go down. Why? Whenever we do a downswing with our tonality in our voice, it communicates certainty, it communicates confidence. 

And whenever you’re having a conversation on the phone or in person with a prospect or with a lead, what do you want to communicate? Do you want to communicate certainty and confidence or do you want to communicate uncertainty and a lack of confidence? And, obviously, you want to communicate certainty. So you do that with a downswing.

Now, there’s three places that agents blow this over and over again. I did it when I was new and as I started coaching agents, training agents, I began to understand, you know what, the way we say it with a downswing is so much more powerful. 

Now, a downswing doesn’t mean just that I end the sentence going down, because I can do that and my voice sounds boring. Now, this is called a downswing, but it doesn’t sound powerful because I’m just ending by going down. So it’s not just technically that your tonality goes down, but it just goes down in a way that communicates confidence. 

And there’s, again, three ways I’m going to share with you in this video to do it. 

3 Ways to Use a Downswing

1.Number one is you want to use a downswing when you ask their name or you ask if this is them.

So I’m sitting here, my videographer Corey is here, so if I’m calling Corey and he’s a prospect there is an upswing and there’s a downswing. I’m going to do the upswing first and then I’m going to do the downswing. So the upswing would be, “Hi, is this Corey?” That’s an upswing. “Hi, is this Corey?” 

Now here’s a downswing, “Hi, is this Corey? Hi, is this Corey?” That’s a downswing, because I’m saying, “Corey.” I’m not saying Corey. Whenever you ask the question, I’m asking if this is him on the phone, “Hi, is this Corey?” Now, it’s clear I’m asking a question, but I’m also saying it with certainty. “Hi, is this Corey?” communicates I’m uncertain. 

Now, I get it, when you’re calling somebody and you’re like, “Well, I’m not certain that it’s him.” I don’t know who this is. I’m calling them. I don’t know. I’m not sure who it is. But I want to communicate that I’m certain, that I’m certain I’m talking to the right person. I’m certain about making this phone call.

So I want to communicate certainty. I do that by saying, “Hi, is this Corey?” Rather than going like, “Hi, is this Corey?” You hear the difference. One goes up, one goes down. Downswing communicates certainty. So that’s the first place you want to use it, whenever you ask their name. 

2. Second time you want to use it is when you announce your name. 

And this is crazy. What is your name? So right now, as you’re listening to me watching this video, I just want you to say out loud your name. What is your name? You just said out loud your name and you probably said, if I was saying it, you just say, “Kevin Ward.” Right. 

Now, is that an upswing or a downswing? It’s a downswing. What is your name? Kevin Ward. Corey Ford. So whatever your name is, I say the name and I say it with certainty so I downswing. If I’m not sure of the name. I would say, “Corey Ford.”I would say, “Kevin Ward.” I do up at the end because I’m not sure so that communicates uncertainty.

Now here’s what’s crazy, is how many agents do this and I guarantee you 90% chance that you do it too when you’re prospecting. If you ever record yourself, here‘s how I used to introduce myself on the phone and here’s how most agents do it. I would call a FSBO and I would say, “Hi, is this Corey?” I go upswing on the name. And they go, “Yeah. Who is this?” “Hi, my name is Kevin Ward. I’m with Century 21.” Now, I started with Century 21 As my brokerage when I started so I’m just going with Century 21 here, so just play with me. “Hi, this is Kevin Ward with Century 21.” 

That, my friends, is an upswing when you should be downswinging. It is you communicating, “I’m not sure who I am. I think I’m Kevin. I think this is Century 21. I’m not sure,” and you’re communicating a lack of certainty. You’re communicating a lack of confidence by your tonality.

Now, what’s really happening subconsciously is you’re saying, “Are you going to hang up on me? Are you going to talk to me? Are you going to stay on the phone?” And it’s like, “Please don’t hang up.” And we communicate with an upswing when we’re uncertain. 

Just a little insight on the side here, whenever somebody is not secure about what they’re saying, when they don’t believe what they’re saying or they’re not confident in what they are saying, they tend to go up at the end. That’s how they communicate uncertainty. It’s a subconscious little tell. 

So when I’m certain, I say, “Hi, this is Kevin with Century 21.” Or if I go first and last name, “Hi, this is Kevin Ward with Century 21.” “Hi, my name’s Kevin Ward, the founder of YesMasters Real Estate Success Training.” Now, how weird would it sound if I came on and I said, “Hi, this is Kevin Ward. I’m the founder of YesMasters Real Estate Success Training. I think I am. I’m not sure.” I want to communicate certainty with a downswing

So number one, when I asked their name, “Hi, is this Kevin?” And they say, “Yep, this is Kevin. Who’s this?” “Hi, my name is Kevin Ward.” I don’t say, “Hi, my name is Kevin Ward.” “Hi, my name is Kevin Ward with Century 21.” “Kevin Ward, Century 21, Remax, Keller Williams,” whoever it is, but you communicate it with a downswing, not an upswing. 

3.And then number three is you always want to use a downswing when you’re asking questions. 

When you’re asking just a straight up question, I still want to communicate certainty. So an example of the for sale by owner script, “So when the house sells, where are you going next?” Now, I communicate “next”. That’s a downswing. “Where are you going next?” I’m not saying, “Where are you going next?” “So when the house sells, where are you going next?” That’s an upswing. It communicates uncertainty, a lack of confidence, and what I want to communicate is I don’t know where they’re moving next, but I’m confident in asking the question.

This is the appropriate question for me to ask. I’m the appropriate person to ask it. “I am the best decision you will ever make. I am the agent that you need. So when the house sells, where are you going next?” Ask it with a downswing rather than with, “When it sells, where are you going next?” Because it communicates confidence and certainty. 

Your Confidence Makes Them Confident About Hiring You

And if they’re going to hire you, if they’re going to say yes to you, here’s what they have to feel about you. They must feel confidence and certainty. Where are they going to get that feeling? They’re going to get it from you. If you show up with a lack of confidence, if you communicate with a lack of certainty, guess what they’re going to feel? A lack of certainty, a lack of confidence. Guess what you’re going to get when they have a lack of certainty and a lack of confidence? Yes, you’re going to get “No.”

But when they feel confident, when they hear your certainty, they hear your confidence, it becomes almost irresistible for them to want to tell you, “Yes.” 

So if you have any questions about this, I know it’s crazy and it’s intense training. If you have any questions about it, please put them in the comments below. Where do you struggle most with your conversations on the phone, in your scripts, and in your conversation with prospects, leads, and sellers? Put them in the comments below. If you like it, give the video a thumbs up. If you’re new here, I hope you’ll subscribe to the channel for more great training to help you get more “Yes” without the BS.