Learn the Basic Phone Skills in Real Estate Business
You have to learn great phone skills in this business if you want to get anywhere. I’m going to give you some good information, and I’m going to talk about telephone magic. There are certain things you want to do, certain things you don’t want to do, when you are talking to Sellers on the phone.
Put Them On Hold: The first time you are talking to a Seller, and sometimes they are very aggressive, asking too many questions, not letting you get a word in edgewise, and he’s trying to take control of the call, that kind of thing, there’s a little hold button on your phone, and if you don’t have a phone with a hold button, maybe you can switch over to the other line or just pretend they are on hold. Go ahead and put them on hold. If you get somebody that is asking too many questions, or questions that you aren’t ready to answer, just put them on hold. Every time you put them on hold, they will lose their train of thought. So, if they start asking you questions that you aren’t ready to talk about yet, and if you are still getting your info about the property or details of the sale, just say “excuse me” and put them on hold.
And then you come back and take off where you left off. It’s a way to take control of the call politely. For all they know, you have another call coming in and you can let them know that. But it is a good technique to use if you have someone that won’t let you get your point across. Or, they want to keep talking and talking and talking. If they keep talking, just put them on hold. It sounds silly, but try it. Once you get your timing down, it will help you take control of your calls.
Ask “Yes” Questions: Here’s another one: Ask “Yes” question before you ask a couple of tough questions. When you are on the phone, you want to get your potential seller in the habit of saying “yes”. One of the things they say about live sales is that when you are talking to someone, keep shaking your head “yes”. It gets them to subliminally keep thinking about “yes”. I have a Brett Favre bobblehead that reminds me of this. Ask “yes’ before tough question. At the beginning of the call, here’s a scenario to use: “Hi this is Nick ,can you hear me okay?” Then, the seller will answer, “Yes”. “Are you calling about the house you have for sale?” And then the seller will answer, “Yes”. Every time you know you’ve got a property and you have to ask a tough questions, like asking them to drop the price a little bit lower, get them to say “yes”, first. You just really want to get them in the habit of saying “yes”. It’s going to more likely make the call go in your direction.
Say “If” A Lot : Here are some examples of how to use the word “if”. “IF your property is one we decide to work with.” “IF your property is at the right price and my partner is interested in it .” “IF there are not too many repairs and it’s something we want put in our program.”
Especially with todays’ buyers market, there are so many deals out there, so many cheap houses out here, use the word “If’ a lot. You want your seller to be afraid you are going to say “No, I’m not interested”, and hang up the phone. You want them to really believe that they need you a lot more than you need them. And it’s true, we’re helping them out in a jam. By saying “If” a lot, it puts doubt in their mind that we are going to actually buy their property and help them out. It’s much less likelier for them to turn on their sales talk. You are not trying to convince them to sell, they need to be convincing you to buy. Once you get that atmosphere on that phone call, you will have a lot more successful calls.
Mirroring: You also want to use mirroring when you are talking to people on the phone. Mirroring. You want to reflect back to them the same personality that you sense they have. So, if you are talking to someone who is talking really fast and asking a lot of questions, you want to talk really fast and ask a lot of questions. If you talking to someone who is kind of old and they are talking very quiet and they are talking very softly and slowly, then you should talk very quietly and softly and slowly as well. If you are talking to someone who is talking kind of “street” and they are cussing a little bit, be careful, but you might want to cuss a little bit right along with them. People want to do business with people they feel are like them. People they have something in common with. Subliminally, if you mirror their personality and reflect it back to them, they are more likely going to want to work with you. They are going to like you and trust you more and you are going to get the deal over someone else.
Last Question Dropped: Why do I say “Last Question Dropped”? Whenever you are negotiating price, you talk about the price and get the rest of the details. This works best over the phone, although it can work at the home too. The main goal of your phone call is to get an appointment to go see the house. After you have asked about the price, you have asked if they can do any better, you have already talked price. One of the last things to do before you hang up that call is to try to get a couple more thousand dollars off. You have already talked price, you know what their bottom line is. “Okay, thank you very much, I’m going to discuss with my partners or I am going to do my homework and check the market in your area and I’ll get back to you soon. By the way, when I talked to my partner-can you cut off a couple thousand dollars if that the difference to us taking the deal or not? “ It’s a last-ditch pitch, I call it. Sometimes that last 10 second sentence will make you 2, 5, or 10 extra thousand bucks, just for flapping your lips-so don’t be afraid to say it.
Pet the Goldfish: Here’s what I mean by Pet The Goldfish. In conversation, different things come up. Maybe they will talk about their kids, or they’ll say they need to make the call quick because they have to pick up their daughter from ballet. Anything you can catch about their life, their personality, or family situations. Something personal about them, by talking on the phone, you want to bring it up. “Oh, your Son plays hockey, gosh my Son plays hockey too, or I used to play hockey”. Don’t go overboard and lie. It goes back to mirroring, creating rapport over the telephone.
Answer A Question With A Question: Another thing that’s really good in a lot of cases is to answer a question with a question. Sometimes, they are not giving you as much info as you want. You want to use techniques to make them talk more. So, they ask you a question and you repeat the question back to them. They say, “Would you be interested in a house that needs quite a bit of repairs?” And you say, ”Your house needs quite a bit of repairs?” And they keep talking. And they say, “What type of timeline are we on? Is this something that could be done fast?” And you say “Well, would you need us to get this done fast?” Or they say, “I’ve never heard of anybody doing a deal this way, don’t take it personally, but it sounds illegal. Is this alright”? And you say, ”Does this sound right to you? Why does it sound illegal ?” Ask the question back to them that they gave to you and you’ll get a lot more info on what they are thinking and their train of thought.
Return Calls: Another thing that is going to help you when you need to call someone back is to set a time to make that call. Make an appointment. Don’t just say “I’m going to talk to my
partner and call you back”. Say, “Okay, I’ll talk to my partners, look at the area and see what the values are, and I’ll do my homework and research your property”, whatever that might be. Instead of saying “I’ll call you back tomorrow”, say, “I’ll call you back tomorrow at 3:15 in the afternoon, is that good”? Set that appointment. By setting an appointment, it makes you seem important, it makes your time seem valuable. Plus, if they have that appointment, if you ask them to write it down, you are more likely to get through to them. How hard do we work to get people back on the phone? We leave message after message, they call us and we’re not here, and we call them back. Don’t be afraid to set an appointment for a phone call at a specified time and date. It’s really important.
Other Deals: When you are talking to people, also talk about other deals you are doing. Talk about other properties you’ve bought and sold in the area. And don’t seem desperate. Seem like you don’t care if you get the deal. Again, it goes back to them trying to convince you to buy the property, more than you convincing them to give us the deal. Be indifferent, pretend like you don’t care at all. I know some of you are so desperate, you want that deal so bad. Air is not as important to you today as getting that deal. You can’t let THEM know that. If they sense any desperation over the phone, the deal’s dead. So you have to act like you don’t care, you have plenty of deals, there are all kinds of people calling you, you’re just picking and choosing the best. This way you’ll get the best deal, and you’ll more likely get them to do something less traditional, or differently than what they had planned.
I hope these are some great tips that you can use, I use them all of the time, I TEACH these to my people all of the time. Here are some tips to succeed and get the deal:
Take control by asking questions. The person asking the questions is the person in control.
”Mirror” the seller/prospect. If they are talking slow and quietly, or fast and loud, do the same.
Put the Seller on hold often if you feel they are trying to take control, or won’t let you talk.
Listen more than you talk!
Don’t be afraid of dead, “silent” spots. The seller may get more uncomfortable and give you more info.
Repeat a Seller’s statement back to him in the form of a question. He’ll elaborate.
Set a specific appointment time for a return call. Don’t just say “I’ll call tomorrow”.
So here are some goodies to make you a better investor. Now go make an offer!
You have to learn great phone skills in this business if you want to get anywhere. I’m going to give you some good information, and I’m going to talk about telephone magic. There are certain things you want to do, certain things you don’t want to do, when you are talking to Sellers on the phone.
Put Them On Hold: The first time you are talking to a Seller, and sometimes they are very aggressive, asking too many questions, not letting you get a word in edgewise, and he’s trying to take control of the call, that kind of thing, there’s a little hold button on your phone, and if you don’t have a phone with a hold button, maybe you can switch over to the other line or just pretend they are on hold. Go ahead and put them on hold. If you get somebody that is asking too many questions, or questions that you aren’t ready to answer, just put them on hold. Every time you put them on hold, they will lose their train of thought. So, if they start asking you questions that you aren’t ready to talk about yet, and if you are still getting your info about the property or details of the sale, just say “excuse me” and put them on hold.And then you come back and take off where you left off. It’s a way to take control of the call politely. For all they know, you have another call coming in and you can let them know that. But it is a good technique to use if you have someone that won’t let you get your point across. Or, they want to keep talking and talking and talking. If they keep talking, just put them on hold. It sounds silly, but try it. Once you get your timing down, it will help you take control of your calls.
Ask “Yes” Questions: Here’s another one: Ask “Yes” question before you ask a couple of tough questions. When you are on the phone, you want to get your potential seller in the habit of saying “yes”. One of the things they say about live sales is that when you are talking to someone, keep shaking your head “yes”. It gets them to subliminally keep thinking about “yes”. I have a Brett Favre bobblehead that reminds me of this. Ask “yes’ before tough question. At the beginning of the call, here’s a scenario to use: “Hi this is Nick ,can you hear me okay?” Then, the seller will answer, “Yes”. “Are you calling about the house you have for sale?” And then the seller will answer, “Yes”. Every time you know you’ve got a property and you have to ask a tough questions, like asking them to drop the price a little bit lower, get them to say “yes”, first. You just really want to get them in the habit of saying “yes”. It’s going to more likely make the call go in your direction.Say “If” A Lot : Here are some examples of how to use the word “if”. “IF your property is one we decide to work with.” “IF your property is at the right price and my partner is interested in it .” “IF there are not too many repairs and it’s something we want put in our program.”
Especially with todays’ buyers market, there are so many deals out there, so many cheap houses out here, use the word “If’ a lot. You want your seller to be afraid you are going to say “No, I’m not interested”, and hang up the phone. You want them to really believe that they need you a lot more than you need them. And it’s true, we’re helping them out in a jam. By saying “If” a lot, it puts doubt in their mind that we are going to actually buy their property and help them out. It’s much less likelier for them to turn on their sales talk. You are not trying to convince them to sell, they need to be convincing you to buy. Once you get that atmosphere on that phone call, you will have a lot more successful calls.
Mirroring: You also want to use mirroring when you are talking to people on the phone. Mirroring. You want to reflect back to them the same personality that you sense they have. So, if you are talking to someone who is talking really fast and asking a lot of questions, you want to talk really fast and ask a lot of questions. If you talking to someone who is kind of old and they are talking very quiet and they are talking very softly and slowly, then you should talk very quietly and softly and slowly as well. If you are talking to someone who is talking kind of “street” and they are cussing a little bit, be careful, but you might want to cuss a little bit right along with them. People want to do business with people they feel are like them. People they have something in common with. Subliminally, if you mirror their personality and reflect it back to them, they are more likely going to want to work with you. They are going to like you and trust you more and you are going to get the deal over someone else.Last Question Dropped: Why do I say “Last Question Dropped”? Whenever you are negotiating price, you talk about the price and get the rest of the details. This works best over the phone, although it can work at the home too. The main goal of your phone call is to get an appointment to go see the house. After you have asked about the price, you have asked if they can do any better, you have already talked price. One of the last things to do before you hang up that call is to try to get a couple more thousand dollars off. You have already talked price, you know what their bottom line is. “Okay, thank you very much, I’m going to discuss with my partners or I am going to do my homework and check the market in your area and I’ll get back to you soon. By the way, when I talked to my partner-can you cut off a couple thousand dollars if that the difference to us taking the deal or not? “ It’s a last-ditch pitch, I call it. Sometimes that last 10 second sentence will make you 2, 5, or 10 extra thousand bucks, just for flapping your lips-so don’t be afraid to say it.
Pet the Goldfish: Here’s what I mean by Pet The Goldfish. In conversation, different things come up. Maybe they will talk about their kids, or they’ll say they need to make the call quick because they have to pick up their daughter from ballet. Anything you can catch about their life, their personality, or family situations. Something personal about them, by talking on the phone, you want to bring it up. “Oh, your Son plays hockey, gosh my Son plays hockey too, or I used to play hockey”. Don’t go overboard and lie. It goes back to mirroring, creating rapport over the telephone.
Answer A Question With A Question: Another thing that’s really good in a lot of cases is to answer a question with a question. Sometimes, they are not giving you as much info as you want. You want to use techniques to make them talk more. So, they ask you a question and you repeat the question back to them. They say, “Would you be interested in a house that needs quite a bit of repairs?” And you say, ”Your house needs quite a bit of repairs?” And they keep talking. And they say, “What type of timeline are we on? Is this something that could be done fast?” And you say “Well, would you need us to get this done fast?” Or they say, “I’ve never heard of anybody doing a deal this way, don’t take it personally, but it sounds illegal. Is this alright”? And you say, ”Does this sound right to you? Why does it sound illegal ?” Ask the question back to them that they gave to you and you’ll get a lot more info on what they are thinking and their train of thought.Return Calls: Another thing that is going to help you when you need to call someone back is to set a time to make that call. Make an appointment. Don’t just say “I’m going to talk to my
partner and call you back”. Say, “Okay, I’ll talk to my partners, look at the area and see what the values are, and I’ll do my homework and research your property”, whatever that might be. Instead of saying “I’ll call you back tomorrow”, say, “I’ll call you back tomorrow at 3:15 in the afternoon, is that good”? Set that appointment. By setting an appointment, it makes you seem important, it makes your time seem valuable. Plus, if they have that appointment, if you ask them to write it down, you are more likely to get through to them. How hard do we work to get people back on the phone? We leave message after message, they call us and we’re not here, and we call them back. Don’t be afraid to set an appointment for a phone call at a specified time and date. It’s really important.Other Deals: When you are talking to people, also talk about other deals you are doing. Talk about other properties you’ve bought and sold in the area. And don’t seem desperate. Seem like you don’t care if you get the deal. Again, it goes back to them trying to convince you to buy the property, more than you convincing them to give us the deal. Be indifferent, pretend like you don’t care at all. I know some of you are so desperate, you want that deal so bad. Air is not as important to you today as getting that deal. You can’t let THEM know that. If they sense any desperation over the phone, the deal’s dead. So you have to act like you don’t care, you have plenty of deals, there are all kinds of people calling you, you’re just picking and choosing the best. This way you’ll get the best deal, and you’ll more likely get them to do something less traditional, or differently than what they had planned.
I hope these are some great tips that you can use, I use them all of the time, I TEACH these to my people all of the time. Here are some tips to succeed and get the deal:
Take control by asking questions. The person asking the questions is the person in control.
”Mirror” the seller/prospect. If they are talking slow and quietly, or fast and loud, do the same.
Put the Seller on hold often if you feel they are trying to take control, or won’t let you talk.
Listen more than you talk!
Don’t be afraid of dead, “silent” spots. The seller may get more uncomfortable and give you more info.
Repeat a Seller’s statement back to him in the form of a question. He’ll elaborate.
Set a specific appointment time for a return call. Don’t just say “I’ll call tomorrow”.
So here are some goodies to make you a better investor. Now go make an offer!
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