Welcome back to Mike Ferry TV. It’s the week of December 9th. It’s hard to believe this year has gone by as quickly as it has. It seems like just yesterday I was presenting something for December 1st, 2018. We’re almost at the end of not only a good year … we’re almost at the end of the decade.

Okay … I get asked all the time about how to become a better listing presentation presenter … and the truth is … the marketplace in the world of listing property has changed in a very positive manner. Positive meaning that you have to become better and better to be a competitor because the agent’s listing property today are becoming better and better.

Yes … there are fewer agents listing property today than probably ever before. I don’t know if these statistics are right … but I’m being told all the time that today … 10% of the agents control up to 90% of all the listings, which means … that 10% … who you’re going to be working against … and maybe you’re part of that 10% today … are really good at what they do. But it also means that there is one point for the million agents in the U.S. and tens of thousands more in the great country of Canada … that means that the number of agents that know how to list property on a professional level is very thin. It’s very marginal … there’s not many.

So, you always have to look at that question and I’ve wrote it down right here … How does a Seller select an agent? And of course, I think both of us recognize that if the agent is weak in their personality … in their style … in their presentation … the Seller will often select them based upon the price … too high … and the commission … too low … but if an agent is really strong, the Seller selects the agent based on their professional image, their approach, the expectations the agent has, their ability to ask questions, listen to the answers and become a strong presenter.

A couple years ago, I put together a segment for our Production Retreat, which we do each January … doing it again coming up in about 4 weeks in San Diego … hope you’re going to be there. By the way, if you’re thinking about the Production Retreat … it’s going to be an exciting 3 days.

Day 1 … I’m going to give you a very specific plan on how to close 50 transactions in 2020 … step-by-step what you have to do.

Day 2 … I’m going to cover how to close 100. Now, granted, that does limit the number of players in the game. Very few people really have the desire to be that productive. Everybody says they want to be productive until we tell them what they have to do to be that productive.

Then Day 3 … We’re going to cover how to do 150 transactions a year, which in most cases would be 3 or 4 years down the road for each individual in attendance … but it gives them a great track to run on … a great path to follow … a map in existence for what they can accomplish.

Throughout the course of that, I’m going to talk a lot about how to become a great presenter because the strength of what you say and the strength of what you do is going to determine … in every case … the response you get and the number of contracts you get signed.

I guess it may have been now 4 or 5 years ago … I actually did 3 days at the Production Retreat on how to become a great presenter. It was popular enough that we actually videotaped the entire 3 days … we sold tens of thousands of copies of that … because a great agent, like you, watching this short TV program today probably someplace inside says to themselves, “I have the desire to become a great presenter.”

Now, as many of you know … Sabrina and I live in Las Vegas, Nevada, and of course … living in a high rise right down off the Strip in Las Vegas … we’re very lucky … we get to go to a lot of the shows … a lot of the performances and I think most of you recognize that Las Vegas is unique in the fact that most of the greatest performers in the past and today and in our future perform in Las Vegas. So, we’re excited about the fact that we get to go see a lot of great performers … and, you know, Gaylee Weinberg, one of our great coaches, and Sabrina and I … a few months ago … went and saw Lionel Richie … and Lionel Richie’s been around a long time … a great performer … and after the performance was done and everybody had applauded, I remember turning to Sabrina and said, “Isn’t it amazing? Isn’t it amazing how well that man can perform, grab an audience, hold them for an hour and a half, and we’re so excited about listening to the voice that he has perfected?” His performance was a 12 on a scale from 1 to 10.

I’ve talked to some of you about the fact that we went and saw a wonderful 76-year old performer who’s been around performing since he was 16 named Paul Anka and he performed for a couple of … I think it was actually about 2-and-a-half hours … straight without taking a break … and it was incredible because the man’s performance level, like Lionel Richie, was at a level of 12 on a scale from 1 to 10.

They’ve learned how to perform to grab the audience, your Seller, draw them in and get them to respond … and of course we saw again for probably the 15th time … in Las Vegas … Andrea Bocelli … and he’s a master at his performance because he walks out on that stage and he captivates the audience. A great listing presentation is a performance … a great listing presentation is something that anybody can learn to do. It doesn’t matter what your background is … it doesn’t matter what your personality style is … it doesn’t matter whether you have a lot of experience or a little bit of experience in Real Estate … it only matters that you want to learn how to perform because actors and actresses, entertainers, singers and dancers … professional athletes … have learned to perform at a level up here. None of them started up here … they all started at the same level. Yeah … now a lot of them have some natural skills and talents that they’ve taken advantage of, but the majority of all great performers in any role that they play have learned how to do it, which is so exciting for you and I because that means we can learn how to perform at a higher level.

So … I’ve written down … and I’m going to cover both this week and next week a series of thoughts on how to become a great performer. I believe that every one of you can become a great performer if you choose to become a great performer. Yes, it takes time … it takes energy … it’s blood, sweat and tears, but folks … once you do … you’re going to be so commanding when you walk into the house … and again, whether you’re 5’1 or 7’2 … whether you’re male or female … young or old … it doesn’t matter because it’s the ability to learn how to be captivating, to learn how to present in a manner that draws people in … which you can learn to do … and then of course practicing and doing it on a regular basis.

So, I’ve written down a series of thoughts. Here’s thought number 1 … A great performer speaks with authority.

That’s number 1 … and number 2 … They believe 100% in what they’re saying.

Now … if you’re watching Mike Ferry TV for the first time … you’re probably going to say to yourself, “I’ve heard about this Mike Ferry … I wonder if he’s any good.” But if you’re a regular viewer of Mike Ferry TV … if you’re a client of ours … if you attend our seminars … if you’ve been involved in our coaching, one thing you know for sure … I speak with authority.

I absolutely believe 100% … I know for a fact … that what I’m sharing with you is the right thing for you. I believe in what I’m saying to the degree that if somebody tries to argue with me … they’re going to lose 99.9999% of the time … because my belief in my authority comes through in everything that I demonstrate when I’m doing a program.

So, I wrote down this question … How much conviction do you have in what you’re presenting? How much conviction do you have when you’re talking to a Seller? When the Seller says, “Are you any good at listing property?” And if your response is anything other than, “I’m the best person to get your home listed and sold starting now.”

And they go … “How do I know you can do it?”

“Let me show you the plan I have in effect for getting a home sold.” That’s called authority. That’s called believing in what you’re doing, but if the Seller says, “Can you get my home sold?”

And you say, “I’ll work real hard. I’ll try real hard. I’ll do the best I can … ” all the authority and conviction is out the window.

So, if you think about this … if you go to a concert, there’s going to be seats in the front that are at one price … seats further back at a little less price … and then seats up in the nosebleed section at a much lower price … and the performer themselves … they get paid based upon their ability to perform to all three groups of people. So, it doesn’t matter whether it’s a $2 million home … a $600,000 home … or a home for $150,000 … our ability to have conviction and perform … they’re going to pay us for that ability to perform.

So, the first thought … speak with authority … and you have to believe in what you’re saying. We’ll talk about how to get there in a minute.

Second thought I wrote down … You have to know when to disagree with a Seller … and redirect what they’re saying to you through asking a lot of good questions. If you’ve taken the Mike Ferry scripts and you’ve watched them carefully, they’re 100% question based. There’s no just … yadda, yadda, yadda … talk, talk, talk, talk … blah, blah, blah, blah, blah … which is what most listing scripts are … which is why they’re so hard to learn … because paragraph after paragraph of long-winded conversations that we don’t even know if they’re listening to us … because there’s no interaction … makes no sense.

So, I wrote down this … Do you actually believe, in this market, that a Buyer will pay you the money you want for this property above what I’m asking you to go ahead and list it for?

“Why do you feel your property’s worth $25,000 … $50,000 … $75,000 more than your neighbors’ home that sold for the same price?”

You have to learn to disagree. It’s okay … in your performance to a Seller to disagree, but you disagree by asking them a … say it to yourself … you’re right … the word “question.”

Then I wrote down … third … to be a great performer, you have to understand that you might have to use a little humor to break the tension. Listing property is stressful for the Seller … and many times stressful for the agent … but if you have a lot of confidence in yourself and you have a lot of conviction, you believe in what you’re saying, you can add a little bit of humor.

“You know, MaryAnn … Bob … I can appreciate the fact that you want $450,000 for your house … and believe me … I wish I could get you that money for this house. May I tell you why?”

“Yeah … why?”

“Because both of us would make a lot more money … and that’s really not realistic, is it? And you’re not trying to pay me more than what you think I’m worth, are you?”

They’d say, “Well of course not.”

“Well then, fine, we’ll have to list it at a price that’ll cause it to sell.”

So, you have to be prepared to break the stress … and you can use a little bit of humor. I’m not saying walk in and tell them a bunch of jokes, which people do all the time. But, remember that humor opens up the mind … and when the mind is open … it is a little more accessible to what you’re trying to say.

I wrote down … number 4 … to be a great performer, we have to know when to ask the hard questions and then listen to the answers that we probably don’t want to hear … because most of the time we don’t want to hear the answer to the questions that they bring up.

You know … they ask a question … we give them an answer … then they want to respond back, and we don’t want to listen to that … so my answer is this … Don’t be afraid of the answers that you give and don’t be afraid of the answers you get because when you’re asking a question and they’re answering or they’re asking you a question and you’re answering … again, you’re creating engagement … you’re getting them involved … you’re having to pay close attention because what they say and you say is going to guide you down to a contract being signed.

I wrote down number 5 … you have to know your presentation backwards, forwards and inside out.

Some of you recall that many, many years ago … I created … I took 5×8 cards and I wrote on the top, “Trigger Card,” and the purpose of the trigger card was to have all the questions that are in the listing script … written out in front of me … as a trigger to remember to ask the questions.

So, I would walk into a house … and if you’ve seen me speak … I always have notes in my hand to trigger what I want to say next. So, I would walk into a house and I would say, “Mr. and Mrs. Seller, I’ve written down three really important questions … may I ask them now?”

They would say, “Of course,” and then I would ask the three questions.

Question number one … I wrote down … “Do you folks still have to sell your home?”

And they’d say, “Well, of course we do.”

“I thought so … I wanted to make sure you hadn’t changed your mind since we talked on the phone.”

Question number two … it’s a hard question … I wrote down … “Do you want to price it to sell or leave it on the market for a long time?”

“Well, we don’t want to give it away.”

“I wouldn’t ask that of you … of course … but do you want to get it sold or leave it on the market a long time?”

“Well, we need to get it sold.”

Then I wrote down question number three … “Would you like me to handle the sale for you?”

And what if they say “yes”? You’ve just listed the property. In most cases they’ll say, “First you have to tell us what you’re going to do.”

“Thank you for bringing that up. May we proceed with our presentation?”

And these are all written out in advance. If you go to my website, www.MikeFerry.com, and you press the button for scripts … and you take the listing scripts … it’s all questions written out for you.

Then I wrote down the last point for today … in becoming a great presenter … always be presenting to the end result. Do you really think they want to hear about your personal life? About your kids? About your dog? About your vacation? No. The end result is the contract signed … them signing a contract … engaging you to get their property sold. So, my only goal walking in the front door is the end result, which is to get a contract signed.

So …

1) Speak with authority.
2) Believe in what you’re saying.
3) Know when to disagree and ask questions.
4) Use a little humor to break the tension.
5) Know when to ask the hard questions and don’t be afraid of the answer.
6) Know your presentation backwards, forwards and inside out …
and …
7) Always be presenting to the end result.

I’m glad you’re with us this week. Next week, December 16th, I’m going to continue on how to be a great presenter. Let’s think about this. Watch this every day this week and we’ll see you next week. Thank you.

 

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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