For those of you who sell stuff or negotiate the old fashioned way...that is to say belly to belly with a human being or over the phone in direct conversation with real people, I'd like to share with you a collection of words, phrases, and understanding of human psychology that I have cobbled together over the last few years, parceled out in as many parts as it takes to share it. This is a compilation of learning directly from some of the best in the business, plus my own trial and error, over the last few years. More importantly, it works. And once you start putting these phrases and concepts into practice, (and practicing them until they are second nature), you'll likely find that in situations past where you've been tongue tied, stumped, brushed off, or otherwise rejected, the vast majority of those situations will vaporize, and you'll have Jedi-like power over others that will translate into real money if that's what you're after.
Before we get into the gold, a few notes:
-This is my first post of what I consider to be real value to help others. If some of this stuff was posted elsewhere on the forum 5 years ago, I apologize. I can't read every thread that's ever been posted.
-This information has helped me pull in hundreds of thousands of dollars from thin air over the last 2 or 3 years.
-About 5 years ago, I switched from being a real estate investor, to a real estate brokerage owner. I started my company from the ground up, which means I did everything myself and had to learn how to sell. At first, this was very difficult. I had been used to sitting at a computer analyzing real estate investment deals, or out in the field dealing with property. Now I was forced to convince complete strangers to hire me as their realtor. It was a 180 degree turn for me, and did not happen overnight. I stumbled in the dark for a long time, then got some good mentors, kept working on my game, and now have an industry leading record in a few statistics in my field. If I can do it, you can too.
Basic sales premise #1:
The first thing you need to understand about real selling, and the reason it has been and always will be one of the highest paid gigs around (including if you are a business owner), is that it is different and more difficult from order taking. When you take an order from a prospect, customer, or client (we'll use the word prospect from here on), it's real simple: they've already made up their mind that they're going to buy your thing. And nearly any goofball can fulfill that request. This is why the person behind the counter at McDonalds gets paid minimum wage (or is being replaced by a computer screen to be more relevant). Conversely, it's the sales person who, in one way or another, crosses paths with the consumer before they are ready to buy/sign up/commit; and it's that person's job to convince the prospect that it's ok, indeed in their best interest, to take action. This persuasion timeline to get the prospect to take action is typically in line with the size of the transaction. If you're a waiter and you're selling dessert after the prospect's meal, your timeline of persuasion might take 10 seconds. If you sell Boeing jets, your persuasion timeline might take over a year all said and done.
Pulling that persuasion off of course, is the rub. It's more difficult. You are not taking an order. You are leading the horse to water. And that's why great sales people, and business owners who hire and train normal folk to become great sales people, make far more money than those who sit around and wait for an order to fall in their lap.
In a nutshell, great sales people are great negotiators. And to do that, you have to be a great listener, and great at preparing. But when it's your turn to talk, it REALLY helps if you know what to say and how to say it, what to do and how to do it, and what to avoid altogether.
Before we get into phrases and such, a quick and infinitely helpful sidestep to anyone struggling with this concept is:
Have a sales process in place first.
The beauty of selling, and contrary to the opinion of many lone wolf types who do it, is that it is a repeatable process, just like all the others in business. It is also very teachable, and therefore scalable, despite what many in my industry believe. You should not be re-inventing the wheel every time you try to convince a prospect to buy/sign up/commit. You're encouraged to refine your process over time and make it more valuable to the prospect...but get a process in place first. Get it in writing so that you don't have to keep remembering it all. Here's a condensed version of what mine looks like at my realty brokerage:
1. Marketing and Lead Generation on autopilot (Facebook ads, Zillow, Yard Signs, Past Client marketing). I get them to reach out to me (way better than cold calling/door knocking).
2. Prospect reaches out to me: either a direct inquiry about a property (buying or selling), or registration.
3. I follow up quickly and often, with a combination of calls and texts, until I get them on the phone. This may take 5 minutes, it may take 5 weeks. If I can't get them on the phone after about a dozen attempts, they go into another database, where my system continues to drip value on them permanently and follow up occasionally until they become a client or tell me to go away.
4. On the phone (and this is critical for my industry)...the goal is NOT to sell them a home. It's to get face to face with them (either in person or over Google Hangout). This is called setting an appointment.
5. At the appointment, which can last 30 minutes for buyers or 2 hours for sellers, the goal is to sign them up as a new client, exclusive to me/my company. This is where the sale is made. This is done by overwhelming them with value and a no brainer decision that I'm the right guy for the job.
6. After they are a client, I'm now largely an order taker, with moments of persuasion here and there, until they close a real estate transaction.
There are many more steps within and around this whole song and dance from when someone first reaches out to me, and when I actually have a check in my hand, but you see...if you don't understand what the process is, and where the crucial moment of selling is, you run the risk of stumbling around in the dark, constantly on the back foot, or worse, trying to sell somebody way the hell too early, which in this case would be on the first phone call.
Now let's dive into some specific words/phrases, that should instantly make your life easier and more lucrative in anything related to sales or negotiating.
Cold Calling (or other cold approaches).
I don't recommend cold calling if you can avoid it, but when you are just starting out, it might be the only option. When I first started my realty company, I cold called AND cold door knocked. Both freaking suck, let me tell you, but I did generate leads and dollars from it. I quickly found better alternatives, but you gotta start somewhere.
When you are reaching out to a stranger on the phone or in person...and let me specifically say that when you are the one initiating the conversation...not them (that's why it's called cold) for any purpose whatsoever, you need to understand that you are interrupting that person's day. You are catching them completely off guard. So don't bullshit around about it. Don't make it something that it is not. Because when that person opens the door or answers the phone, a series of biological and evolutionary linked, hardwired actions are occurring in their brain in the blink of an eye, and if you could read their mind, it would sound something like this: "Who the F*ck are you, and should I fight you or run from you?"
Not exactly a, "Welcome friend! Join me for tea and crumpets" type of moment.
Now here's where most salespeople screw this very key moment up. They open with something like, "Hi there...my name is Bill Smith with XYZ corp. I was wondering if you had any interest in (insert product or service)."
Now I know that at least one other person has posted on here not to open with the above, but let's take a moment to explain why, and then finish the subject with what you should do instead. In this situation, the prospect is going to hang up on you/close the door, or at best, reply with, "Wait...now...who did you say you were again? Oh...ok...not interested...thank you." Already, right from the word go, you're on the back foot. Here's why: in the split second that you are introducing yourself, the prospect's brain is trying to make some connection with you that is familiar, only it can't, because you aren't familiar. Once that split second is over, the brain realizes that you are a stranger, and possibly worse, a salesperson stranger, and so the brain immediately goes on guard. Fight or flight. The prospect may not be overtly sweating or apprehensive, but believe me, inside their brain and body, that's exactly what's going on.
Like most things in life that you can't fight and win (the ocean, the stock market, taxes, etc), you need to acknowledge the situation for what it is, and use a type of jiu-jitsu to your advantage. Ride the wave...don't fight it.
Rewind, start over.
Here's the EXACT phrase that I learned from a close friend who is a marketing and sales genius. This person started his own marketing consultancy from scratch around 2009, made hundreds of thousands of dollars in income each year starting about year 3, and 10 years after starting, sold his company for nearly $2M. He used it throughout, and uses it to this day. Translation...it works:
"Hi Bill (use their name, if you know it...delete if you don't), we've not met or spoken before, and I know I'm calling you out of the blue...but when I don't have a relationship with someone, this is how I typically reach out."
PAUSE AND SHUT UP.
About 10 times out of 10, the prospect is going to eventually say, "Ok?..."
On the pause, my friend and I have waited as much as 30 seconds. That is an eternity. Nevertheless...you do NOT speak until they do.
What you are doing here is called a Pattern Interruption.
The only way that you can get around the lizard brain (the ancient part of the prospect's brain that wants to fight you or run from you), is to show it some novelty. You don't need to be a goofy circus clown, but you can't give the prospect a chance for their brain to associate you with a stranger salesperson. And the above phrase in bold is exactly how you avoid that. You are riding the wave. You are using psychology and evolution to your advantage here.
From there, after the prospect says "Ok?...", you are being given permission to proceed. The clock is ticking, and what you say and do not say next is also very key. You will continue by NOT stating your name or your company name. Doing so would immediately revert you back to the flowchart of fight or flight, and you will be spit out. Instead, you proceed with a novel, one line benefit statement, and then a low threshold "go for no".
I'll talk about those exact phrases and their psychology in Part 2, followed by more warm call/appointment/persuasion stuff in the coming days if there's any interest.
I have a company to run, and I have to get back to work, but have been meaning to be of use to you all since I joined up in November.
Hope Part 1 was helpful, and I hope to do more. If no interest...I'll go back to making money.
Before we get into the gold, a few notes:
-This is my first post of what I consider to be real value to help others. If some of this stuff was posted elsewhere on the forum 5 years ago, I apologize. I can't read every thread that's ever been posted.
-This information has helped me pull in hundreds of thousands of dollars from thin air over the last 2 or 3 years.
-About 5 years ago, I switched from being a real estate investor, to a real estate brokerage owner. I started my company from the ground up, which means I did everything myself and had to learn how to sell. At first, this was very difficult. I had been used to sitting at a computer analyzing real estate investment deals, or out in the field dealing with property. Now I was forced to convince complete strangers to hire me as their realtor. It was a 180 degree turn for me, and did not happen overnight. I stumbled in the dark for a long time, then got some good mentors, kept working on my game, and now have an industry leading record in a few statistics in my field. If I can do it, you can too.
Basic sales premise #1:
The first thing you need to understand about real selling, and the reason it has been and always will be one of the highest paid gigs around (including if you are a business owner), is that it is different and more difficult from order taking. When you take an order from a prospect, customer, or client (we'll use the word prospect from here on), it's real simple: they've already made up their mind that they're going to buy your thing. And nearly any goofball can fulfill that request. This is why the person behind the counter at McDonalds gets paid minimum wage (or is being replaced by a computer screen to be more relevant). Conversely, it's the sales person who, in one way or another, crosses paths with the consumer before they are ready to buy/sign up/commit; and it's that person's job to convince the prospect that it's ok, indeed in their best interest, to take action. This persuasion timeline to get the prospect to take action is typically in line with the size of the transaction. If you're a waiter and you're selling dessert after the prospect's meal, your timeline of persuasion might take 10 seconds. If you sell Boeing jets, your persuasion timeline might take over a year all said and done.
Pulling that persuasion off of course, is the rub. It's more difficult. You are not taking an order. You are leading the horse to water. And that's why great sales people, and business owners who hire and train normal folk to become great sales people, make far more money than those who sit around and wait for an order to fall in their lap.
In a nutshell, great sales people are great negotiators. And to do that, you have to be a great listener, and great at preparing. But when it's your turn to talk, it REALLY helps if you know what to say and how to say it, what to do and how to do it, and what to avoid altogether.
Before we get into phrases and such, a quick and infinitely helpful sidestep to anyone struggling with this concept is:
Have a sales process in place first.
The beauty of selling, and contrary to the opinion of many lone wolf types who do it, is that it is a repeatable process, just like all the others in business. It is also very teachable, and therefore scalable, despite what many in my industry believe. You should not be re-inventing the wheel every time you try to convince a prospect to buy/sign up/commit. You're encouraged to refine your process over time and make it more valuable to the prospect...but get a process in place first. Get it in writing so that you don't have to keep remembering it all. Here's a condensed version of what mine looks like at my realty brokerage:
1. Marketing and Lead Generation on autopilot (Facebook ads, Zillow, Yard Signs, Past Client marketing). I get them to reach out to me (way better than cold calling/door knocking).
2. Prospect reaches out to me: either a direct inquiry about a property (buying or selling), or registration.
3. I follow up quickly and often, with a combination of calls and texts, until I get them on the phone. This may take 5 minutes, it may take 5 weeks. If I can't get them on the phone after about a dozen attempts, they go into another database, where my system continues to drip value on them permanently and follow up occasionally until they become a client or tell me to go away.
4. On the phone (and this is critical for my industry)...the goal is NOT to sell them a home. It's to get face to face with them (either in person or over Google Hangout). This is called setting an appointment.
5. At the appointment, which can last 30 minutes for buyers or 2 hours for sellers, the goal is to sign them up as a new client, exclusive to me/my company. This is where the sale is made. This is done by overwhelming them with value and a no brainer decision that I'm the right guy for the job.
6. After they are a client, I'm now largely an order taker, with moments of persuasion here and there, until they close a real estate transaction.
There are many more steps within and around this whole song and dance from when someone first reaches out to me, and when I actually have a check in my hand, but you see...if you don't understand what the process is, and where the crucial moment of selling is, you run the risk of stumbling around in the dark, constantly on the back foot, or worse, trying to sell somebody way the hell too early, which in this case would be on the first phone call.
Now let's dive into some specific words/phrases, that should instantly make your life easier and more lucrative in anything related to sales or negotiating.
Cold Calling (or other cold approaches).
I don't recommend cold calling if you can avoid it, but when you are just starting out, it might be the only option. When I first started my realty company, I cold called AND cold door knocked. Both freaking suck, let me tell you, but I did generate leads and dollars from it. I quickly found better alternatives, but you gotta start somewhere.
When you are reaching out to a stranger on the phone or in person...and let me specifically say that when you are the one initiating the conversation...not them (that's why it's called cold) for any purpose whatsoever, you need to understand that you are interrupting that person's day. You are catching them completely off guard. So don't bullshit around about it. Don't make it something that it is not. Because when that person opens the door or answers the phone, a series of biological and evolutionary linked, hardwired actions are occurring in their brain in the blink of an eye, and if you could read their mind, it would sound something like this: "Who the F*ck are you, and should I fight you or run from you?"
Not exactly a, "Welcome friend! Join me for tea and crumpets" type of moment.
Now here's where most salespeople screw this very key moment up. They open with something like, "Hi there...my name is Bill Smith with XYZ corp. I was wondering if you had any interest in (insert product or service)."
Now I know that at least one other person has posted on here not to open with the above, but let's take a moment to explain why, and then finish the subject with what you should do instead. In this situation, the prospect is going to hang up on you/close the door, or at best, reply with, "Wait...now...who did you say you were again? Oh...ok...not interested...thank you." Already, right from the word go, you're on the back foot. Here's why: in the split second that you are introducing yourself, the prospect's brain is trying to make some connection with you that is familiar, only it can't, because you aren't familiar. Once that split second is over, the brain realizes that you are a stranger, and possibly worse, a salesperson stranger, and so the brain immediately goes on guard. Fight or flight. The prospect may not be overtly sweating or apprehensive, but believe me, inside their brain and body, that's exactly what's going on.
Like most things in life that you can't fight and win (the ocean, the stock market, taxes, etc), you need to acknowledge the situation for what it is, and use a type of jiu-jitsu to your advantage. Ride the wave...don't fight it.
Rewind, start over.
Here's the EXACT phrase that I learned from a close friend who is a marketing and sales genius. This person started his own marketing consultancy from scratch around 2009, made hundreds of thousands of dollars in income each year starting about year 3, and 10 years after starting, sold his company for nearly $2M. He used it throughout, and uses it to this day. Translation...it works:
"Hi Bill (use their name, if you know it...delete if you don't), we've not met or spoken before, and I know I'm calling you out of the blue...but when I don't have a relationship with someone, this is how I typically reach out."
PAUSE AND SHUT UP.
About 10 times out of 10, the prospect is going to eventually say, "Ok?..."
On the pause, my friend and I have waited as much as 30 seconds. That is an eternity. Nevertheless...you do NOT speak until they do.
What you are doing here is called a Pattern Interruption.
The only way that you can get around the lizard brain (the ancient part of the prospect's brain that wants to fight you or run from you), is to show it some novelty. You don't need to be a goofy circus clown, but you can't give the prospect a chance for their brain to associate you with a stranger salesperson. And the above phrase in bold is exactly how you avoid that. You are riding the wave. You are using psychology and evolution to your advantage here.
From there, after the prospect says "Ok?...", you are being given permission to proceed. The clock is ticking, and what you say and do not say next is also very key. You will continue by NOT stating your name or your company name. Doing so would immediately revert you back to the flowchart of fight or flight, and you will be spit out. Instead, you proceed with a novel, one line benefit statement, and then a low threshold "go for no".
I'll talk about those exact phrases and their psychology in Part 2, followed by more warm call/appointment/persuasion stuff in the coming days if there's any interest.
I have a company to run, and I have to get back to work, but have been meaning to be of use to you all since I joined up in November.
Hope Part 1 was helpful, and I hope to do more. If no interest...I'll go back to making money.
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