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How Proactive Real Estate Agents are attacking COVID-19

Welcome and good morning to Mike Ferry TV. It is the week of March 23rd. Okay … so for 45 years … the one thing that people have said about Mike Ferry is, “He’s too controversial” … and of course, I teach what I believe to be common sense, which, in most cases, is very controversial.

This morning, before I started recording … I often get a lot of feedback to our Mike Ferry TV, which I’m always open to … and this morning I was handed 11 and they were all regarding this last week, saying, “Thank you … thank you … very positive … excited … thank you … thank you.” Then I got one that says … “Mike, this is in very poor taste … truly bad form on this.”

Then I thought … “Well that’s interesting” … I got 11 responses and one didn’t like it, so I think I’m batting a pretty high percentage. Then I looked up the name of the person and this person happens to be a Real Estate speaker, trainer and coach … so I would expect that from my competition. Interesting that in this time of national and international and world crisis … that the one set of people that are calling me for advice are my competitors, which is interesting.

Okay … I’ve got a couple things that I want you to think about. Yes … there are advantages to every crisis that takes place. There’s also numerous disadvantages. One of the advantages is how we choose to react, so I’ve put together … with Tony Smith … the 18 advantages for working in this marketplace today. If any of you would like a copy of that … if you’ll send an email to Mike.Ferry@mikeferry.com, we’ll send a copy of that out.

Second … because a lot of our clients are very concerned about their ability to prospect in this market … Mike’s Top 20 Lead Generation Skills … again, it’s multiple pages … Mike.Ferry@mikeferry.com … we’ll get that sent out to you also. So, let’s make this a great week in a time of very difficult times that we’re dealing with.

I was asked 2 nights ago by one of our clients, “What do you want us to do in these trying times?” because, let’s face it … you know, we had 1986-1987 … which many of you were not even in the business at that time … very difficult time. 1990-1991 … very difficult time. Obviously 9/11 was a tragic and difficult time for the world and for this country. Obviously 2008 … ’09 … ’10 … ’11 … and ’12 … very difficult time … and even 18 months ago it was a difficult time because the amount of agents coming into the business was rising faster than we’d ever seen.

Of course, at the same time … as you’ve heard me say … as the number of agents increased, the number of transactions does not increase proportionally, so per person productivity went down … however, all of you that are well-trained … well-scripted … hardworking … and dedicated to your business … you’re commanding a bigger portion of the business for yourself.

The imbalance that we’re experiencing today is one of the big crises we face outside of the obvious health issue that we all face. Imbalance … meaning … a smaller percentage is doing a larger percentage. Our goal is to have you be part of that smaller percentage. So, I do that through a lot of the things that I create and I write and I share with our clients and with our Mike Ferry TV viewers.

Here’s the question … What do I do for the next 30-60 days to make sure that I’m going to be heavily involved in this marketplace? Because … see … we always have to remember … no matter what the circumstances are … as trying and difficult as we face … and we all face trying and difficult times … there’s always going to be a certain group of people that need to sell their home. There’s always going to be a certain group of people that need to buy a home … and our job is to be in the middle of that and be the person to help those two parties come together. That’s what the function is. I wish we could magically transform our industry so we were in front of those people automatically. It doesn’t work that way. We have to go out and find them and work.

So, here’s what I said to a group of my clients a couple of days ago … “For the next 60-90 days” … because this crisis, as difficult as it is today with the world health problem, is going to pass as every crisis does. We don’t know when … but we have to remain positive and active in what we’re able to do as this crisis takes place.

So, here’s what I said … “Pick the number 3 … 4 … or 5 hours a day … 5 days a week … on the phones … prospecting … finding right now Sellers and right now Buyers because there’s a big group of people that still have to do something. They’re out there … and you and I know how to find them … and if they even hint about saying something about moving or buying … our response is, ‘Thank you.’”

“Two thoughts for you … one … I’m going to be emailing you information that will help you decide if you want to sell now or in the future … as well as help you in the next 30 … 20 … 15 days to decide on a price for your home if we decide to sell. Also, would you please take your cell phone, walk through your home, take a video and tell me about your home. I’ll review this and then we can decide together on the next step. Also, I’m committing to sending you weekly updates as to the market so you’re familiar with what’s going on … and if you have a pen and paper, my cell phone and email address is … and I will need your email address please.”

So, we create a little dialogue if we’re doing our prospecting … because even though they may not want to sell today … if they have an interest in the near future or 3 months … 6 months out … let’s capture those and incubate those leads … which is something we’ve not talked and asked you to do in the past.

Also, I wrote down … prepare and practice your lead follow-up and prequalifying skills. They’re probably as important today as they’ve ever been. I’ve asked everybody to videotape yourself practicing and doing these … looking carefully at the smile on your face while you’re on the phone … and the levels of energy and enthusiasm that you’re exhibiting.

See, there’s a lot of fear … it’s normal. I mean, do you remember 9/11 and the fear that we all experienced? Could that happen in your hometown? Could that happen again? Is this something that we’re going to expect to have happen in the future? There was a lot of fear … and it was certainly understandable and tragic for the several thousand people’s families who lost family and members during that time … but remember that when we have a smile on our face, we negate a lot of fears. Energy and enthusiasm reduces some of the fears that people experience … so therefore, if we are smiling and energetic and enthusiastic … it will draw people in and we’ll create conversations we may not have otherwise had.

I wrote down third for all of our clients … Are you using the MFO Pre-Listing Package? I’m going to suggest that 3 days a week after lunch, you prepare a practice Pre-List Package following the MFO system. So, just pretend you’ve got an address … you’re going to prepare a Pre-Listing Package just to keep in the routine of preparing a strong Pre-Listing Package, which is a deciding factor by many Sellers when they choose to list.

Next, prepare to do a virtual listing presentation. So, do this with another agent in the office … prepare and role-play live … a listing presentation with somebody else. Record it … and then act as if you were on the stage at our Superstar Retreat. Practice it every day for 30 days so you can perfect the skill of listing property on a virtual basis, which you have to do.

Prepare to show your listings virtually … prepare your Buyers for this … write your offers and get signatures through DocuSign, which we can all do today.

Thirty days of productivity knowing that Mike Ferry and my company are behind you 100%. Take three to four mindset breaks a day. You’ve been preparing for this type of thing to take place for a long time … and now you have a chance to perform. It doesn’t matter what is going on in the world … people are always going to buy and sell Real Estate. Our job is to have you and I prepared to be in those transactions.

Now, I had a great call a couple days ago with Joe Lehman, our Coach. He made two Coaching calls early in the morning a week ago, Wednesday. The first call, the agent he was coaching … excited about the opportunity … excited to get to work … couldn’t wait to go out and perform. The second call … hiding in the house … totally depressed … the world’s coming to an end … and he said to me during the call, “How do we help people who are on the edge of failure because of their attitude?”

I said, “The answer is … encourage … encourage … encourage … encourage.” Yes, it’s difficult. Yes, it’s hard times … but the world is still moving … it’s still circling … there’s still transactions taking place. I’m getting reports every day from our Coaches about the unbelievable results a lot of the agents are getting that are working. We want them for you.

Here’s the question … Do you want them for you? If so, watch this every day this week. Thank you.

 

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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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