Before you decide that telephone prospecting is not effective anymore, review the language you use in the first few seconds of your call. Eric Thain proves thereโs a commercial reason to mind your manners.
The harsh truth is that prospecting is seen as a chore โ itโs very intimidating and very confronting to those who have not yet learnt the art.
I have always said, โThe world belongs to the bold! And it is absolutely owned by the courteous bold!โ But hey, where are they? What has happened to those frontline salespeople who are so professional, so articulate, and so computer-skilled? I believe most salespeople suffer from avoidance. What’s that? โAvoidanceโ is a nine letter word for โfearโ and FEAR as an acronym can be described as False Evidence Appearing Real.
Productive Prospecting
Are Salespeople over-read and under-done? Yes absolutely!
Have we moved away from our primary role in real estate? Another resounding yes!
Then where is the time spent in those traditional sixty plus hour weeks? Of those sixty hours a week, how much time is spent in prospecting? Not much!
Surfing www.realestate.com is not dollar productive, effective prospecting. Propsecting is sadly given a low priority simply because salespeople from Cairns to Cowes just donโt want to do it.
Most salespeople have never really been shown how to prospect. Too often their introduction to prospecting is the multi-generational suggestion given to them by some principals which sounds like this: Here you go, do what I did twenty years ago โ leaflet drop and knock on doors. Then I want you to get on the telephone and TELEMARKET the area, okay?
They are just terrified into submission from making all those telemarketing calls with no training, no script and very little confidence. Is it any wonder the unsuspecting first year rookie makes a calculated decision that real estate is not for him or her? Thus the recruitment cycle continues to revolve and the casualty rate encapsulates some potentially very talented salespeople.
This is not a swipe at principals but it is true that many salespeople have been denied the opportunity of a menu of prospecting so as to find a model that suits the individualโs personality and style. The harsh truth is that prospecting is seen as a chore โ itโs very intimidating and very confronting to those who have not yet learnt the art. Prospecting can be a process that, when embraced with supportive coaching and systems and applied with enthusiasm and willingness, makes the โfruits of thy laborโ quickly evident.
Ask affirmative questions
Letโs talk about qualifications that matter in prospecting. I was absolutely hopeless at school and as such I graduated with an A in guilt and PhD in watching pigeons kiss outside the classroom window.
As a young man in the insurance industry I listened to the masters of insurance selling โ high income earners โ in 1971. I would write down their every word and study them. This is where I learnt the importance of prospecting techniques, and the crucial use of affirmative questions in sales. For example, โMrs. Smith is 10am appropriate or is 3pm more convenient perhaps?โ You would never hear the masters say, โIs that Okay?โ
โOkay?โ is a leading question and leads to no reply. โAppropriateโ is a far better word especially when woven into a phrase of choice rather than one of decision. The truth is people love to make a choice and loathe making decisions.
I could very easily be accused of teaching, coaching and mentoring salespeople in the absolute basics! Yes back to the basics โ because they work!
Script your own results
I have written scripts over my forty two year career, scripts that worked in 1971 and they still do in 2010, so I offer salespeople in my sessions this piece of advice: โBorrow my words until youโre comfortable with your own!โ
One unchanging factor in prospecting success is the importance of utilising good old fashioned manners in the introduction, the story and the close. We want your prospects to have a commercial experience that they may not have had before in the real estate industry. Why? Because we are going to leave them thinking and saying, โThat was a very polite approach and I was asked permission at every point if he/she could continue.โ
Phraseology is of utmost importance here. Your choice of words will have a direct influence on the results your sales communication will achieve. Even more powerful is the fact that exemplary manners create a persona of impenetrability or a โprotection shieldโ for the salesperson.
Asking permission to speak in the first seconds of a call is crucial. When we barge into peoplesโ lives and homes without the appropriate initial courtesies being extended first is when we get the proverbial โNo thanks!โ every time.
Remember, the words โMay Iโ in a question will open doors for you. Consider the word choice in the following example: โMay I ask for just ten seconds of your time please?โ If your opening phone greeting is met by the receiver with the psychological equivalent of a clenched fist, you could follow this question with โAnd allow me to drop the sales pitch,โ which gives them no reason to feel threatened and to drop the โboxing statureโ that they may have adopted (or imagined you had adopted towards them!)
Follow a blueprint
Many salespeople, whether they were solicitors, truck drivers or hairdressers prior to real estate, worked mainly for a wage, with a job description, and followed a daily structure of โDo this, do that and do it at that time.โ When they enter real estate they have all this time on their hands and very little structure โ hey presto โ they develop bad habits. They develop what I call: โYou can tell theyโre in real estate but you canโt tell โem much!โ
This is where we salvage the โwillingโ โ the salespeople who want to grow and to earn more than $60,000 a year or more than $100,000 and are prepared to follow a blueprint with coaching to make this industry work for them. Real estate is financially uncapped but it is performance based. I believe that performance is in prospecting.
Real estate is a numbers business but not a numbers game; it is a very professional serious business and has no place in game-playing. In being part of a numbers process, it is associated with immutable laws.
If I make more telephone calls each day than my colleagues, then I will receive the benefit of invoking a law, Theย Law of Cause and Effect. It plays no favorites and you canโt escape it โ it works if you work it!
Eric Thain is Australia’s prominent expert on prospecting and telephone sales. His unique, practical and valuable advice has provided a template for success in many industries where customer contact is required. Eric has also authored books on the subject as well as produced audio presentations.