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The Basic Foundation of Selling

 

Welcome to Mike Ferry TV … it is the week of February 3rd. I’ll tell you … time flies when you’re productive, profitable and having a good time … and I hope all three are happening to you at this moment.

When I opened up the Production Retreat several weeks ago in San Diego, I referred to the fact that the foundation of almost any good sales business … now we have to understand that in Real Estate, often Real Estate people think that we are the only people involved in selling … and I want you to think about it this way … this pen was invented, produced, manufactured and then sold by somebody to somebody.

This little podium was thought of … produced … manufactured … and sold. The cameras that are working in this studio … same thing. The clothes you’re wearing, the jewelry you have, the car you have … everything is being sold all the time.

Doug Edwards, the famous speaker from the ‘60s and ‘70s used to say all the time, “Selling is the highest paid hard work and the lowest paid easy work of the world.” In Real Estate, unfortunately, most people do not earn much money and they’re very low paid because they don’t understand the process of selling.

So whether it be me selling you a new car … or me representing a commercial developer trying to sell a building … or listing or selling a home … there is a certain foundation that we have to deal with … and I opened the Retreat by going through that foundation, which I’ve done with all of you time and time again the past.

As we start month number two of 2020, I want to, again, help you understand that the basic foundation of selling revolves around four words … and what’s really important … the basic foundation of selling never changes. So, here’s what I started the Retreat with … four words … first word is the word “mindset.”

I believe the mindset is what’s going on in your head at a given time … about a person, situation or a thing. We’re either positive … or we’re negative … we can’t be neutral when it comes to mindset. We all have an opinion … we have a thought … and that, of course, is a mindset. Somebody pulls in front of us in the car when we’re on the freeway and we get angry and we honk … that’s a mindset. Somebody opens the door for us … and we walk through and we smile and say “thank you” … that’s a mindset.

But I wanted to go a step further … and I said to the audience in San Diego … I many times will go to Webster’s Dictionary … sometimes a couple times a day … looking for the actual meaning of words that we write … we think about … and we use. So, here’s what Webster said a mindset is … a set of beliefs … do you have a set of beliefs? Or a way of thinking that determines a person’s behavior … or their outlook on life.

A set of beliefs … do you believe that what I’m teaching you to do is going to work? A way of thinking … do you think the Mike Ferry Sales System … if you’re managing your time … if you’re prospecting every day … following up on your Centers of Influences … following up strongly on leads … prequalifying every Buyer and Seller lead … showing property professionally … making a strong listing presentation … handling objections so they can respond … closing for a signature … negotiating the contract … and then, most importantly, starting over again the next day.

Do you have that way of thinking in your head? Because if you do … it determines, according to Webster’s, your behavior … your outlook on life. Then it says, most importantly, it determines your attitude.

I believe that foundation is the first stone in a building block of stones on how to be a productive Real Estate person. The second word I talked about, which I talk about all the time, was the word “skills” … and you and I understand the skills are the ability to follow a path to a determined outcome, which in our case is getting contracts signed with Buyers and Sellers.

Again, I went to Webster’s dictionary … and they said … skills … the ability to do something that comes from training, experience or practice … to use one’s knowledge … what we have here … to improve performance. Now think about that … skills … the ability to do the same thing that comes from training.

Have you had sufficient training as a Real Estate salesperson? Do you know the scripts required to get a customer to respond? Can you handle objections when they come up? Do you know how to prospect? Do you know how to prequalify? These are skills. Do you know how to make a listing presentation that engages them … brings them to your side … gets them to sign a contract? Skills … the ability to do something that comes from training … experience … practice. Practice … we talk about practice all the time.

Professionals practice all the time … amateurs do not … to use one’s knowledge to improve performance. Would you like to have more listings … more sales in 2020? How important is skills to this business for you? I believe it’s critical. Mindset … skills …

Third word I talked about … the word “activities.” There are certain activities in Real Estate that bring high level production … certain activities that bring almost no production. Now, you have to decide what types of activities. So, I looked at Webster’s Dictionary … activities … something that is done as work.

Now isn’t our job to work 5 … 6 … 7 … 8 hours a day, 5 days a week? Of course, it is. Something that is done as work for a particular purpose. Activities … something that is done as work for a particular purpose … to achieve the goals we’ve set. Do you have a production goal for 2020? I assume you do. You want to do 10 … 20 … 30 … 50 … 100s of transactions? A production goal. Activities … something that is done as work. I’m doing something to achieve the goals I’ve set.

Then the fourth word is the word “action.” So, we have mindset, skills, activities, action … and of course it doesn’t matter what we know … it doesn’t matter our attitude is … if we don’t do something. So, I looked up the word “action” … the most productive or exciting activity that you can take in a particular field. Action … the most productive … the most productive use of your time? Licking envelopes … stamping postcards … you’re going to send out to your farm? I don’t think so.

The most productive use of your time … waiting for somebody to call you? I don’t think so. The most productive use of your time … being on social media 3 hours a day? I don’t think so. Most productive or exciting activity that you can take in a particular field … doing something with your knowledge to achieve the goals you’ve set.

I guess what we always have to look at is this … are we … you and I … willing to discuss, look at, establish in our minds that there is a certain foundation that a sales production goal achieved is going to be built on? And I believe that foundation is the strength of this … the strength of the skills … the activities we’re involved in … and the actions we take 5 days a week.

So, mindset … skills … activities … action … mindset … skills … activities … action … mindset … skills … activities … action … the more involved you are in those four words … the better this year is going to be.

Our commitment to you is to make this a great year. We hope that each of you has the best year of your entire career … and if you’re just starting, let’s make it a great start to a great career.

Look forward to talking to you next week. Thanks for today.

 

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Mike Ferry is the global leader in real estate coaching and training. Watch Mike each week as he discusses a variety of topics to help real estate agents and brokers. Grow your real estate business by improving your mindset, developing your skills and creating a plan of action to increase your production!

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