When you’re afraid of the answer to a question, ask it!

When you’re afraid of the answer to a question, ask it!
We all know people whose lives would be immensely better if they would just ask a tough question.

This kind of “question avoidance” happens all the time.  They don’t ask the questions because they’re afraid of the answer. They suspect that they’re going to get bad news, so they keep putting it off as long as possible so they can extend the fantasy they have that everything is okay.  If they ask the question and get the bad news they suspect is coming, it will pop the bubble of denial that they’re living in.

Estate agents do this all the time.  They shy away from asking tough questions because they’re afraid of the answers.  They don’t ask buyers if they’re working with other agents.  They don’t ask sellers if they’re prepared to sign contracts at an appointment. They don’t ask clients whether they would be willing to write testimonials. You MUST ask those questions, even if they’re uncomfortable for you.

Indeed, it’s the very fact that you’re afraid of the answer should alert you to your need to ask the question.  You absolutely must know whether this buyer that you’re schlepping around all day is stepping out with other agents.  You definitely need to know if the seller is serious about signing a contract and you certainly want to know whether your client is happy with their experience with you.

It’s bad enough when people shy away from confrontations in their personal lives.  You can’t do it in your professional life.  Living in denial is no way to live.

Tom Benedict
Marketing Director,
@britainbesthome
Google+
www.britainsbesthome.com

Don’t be Afraid to be Called “Pushy,” at Least Once

Most of the very good estate agents I’ve worked with have one thing in common. They’re a little, sometimes a lot, pushy.  They’re not afraid to ask tough questions, make aggressive demands or put people on the spot.  Simply put, they’re comfortable making other people uncomfortable.

Most of us aren’t built that way.  We are hard-wired to be agreeable and cooperative and likeable. We’re empathic and deferential to other people’s needs. We try to be “nice” to other people in our daily lives because we want them to like us and we know they won’t like us if we’re pushy and demanding.  For the most part, those are admirable traits.

Sometimes it pays to be a little pushy when you’re in the business of providing a service to someone else.  You might not be pushy in your everyday life, when it’s just you and your needs that are at stake but you need to be willing to be a little pushy when you’re looking out for someone else.

Think of it this way.  If someone hit you with their car and you were filing a claim, wouldn’t you want your solicitor to be a little pushy? You don’t want some mild mannered solicitor who’s afraid to step on any toes, you want someone wearing big, oversized clown shoes stomping around on all the toes they can!  Think about how some of the most timid, agreeable people you know are about their children. You can push them around all you want, but they’ll bite your head off when it comes to protecting their kids.

Now, I’m not saying you need to become a raging sociopath.  If you’re not a naturally aggressive, demanding person, you’re not going to be able to pull it off. You’ll be uncomfortable and self-conscious and you’ll probably come across like a total idiot.  However, I do think that most of us have a lot of leeway to be a little more aggressive in our business.  We can push a little more than we do without actually crossing the line to “pushiness.”  We’re so agreeable, we shy away from those tough questions, aggressive demands and uncomfortable situations even when we should charge ahead.

My point is this. If you’ve never, ever been called “pushy” at least once in your career you’ve never challenged your OWN comfort level enough.  Commit yourself to push a little more until you find just how far you can go without turning people off.  Then, when you do finally get called “pushy,” it’s not the end of the world. Just apologise, explain that you sometimes get “so passionate” about what you do and then back off and change the subject. Now you know where the line is and how far you can go without crossing it.

Tom Benedict
Marketing Director,
@britainbesthome
Google+
www.britainsbesthome.com

When Someone Asks You How You’re Doing, Say “I’m GREAT!”

When you become an entrepreneur, you can’t afford to be in a bad mood. Bad moods bring bad results.  It’s tough to get hard things done when you’re walking around like a mope all day.  And it’s also tough to generate new business since people don’t want to talk to someone with a permanent scowl on their face.

It’s not easy.  Being in the property industry means having to deal with a lot of stuff that can make you want to crawl into a ball and hide from the world. Deals fall apart, buyers who end up hiring another agent, sellers who blame you for the state of the market.  It can be a hard slog.

But you have to stay positive, even if you’re not.  We could spend all day talking about the power of positive thinking but there’s a simple trick that you can use to trick yourself just a little bit into staying more positive on a daily basis.

The trick is easy.  When someone asks you how you’re doing say “I’m GREAT!”

For example, let’s say you’re in the supermarket and you run into a friend.  They ask how you’re doing.  Normally, you would respond with something rote, boring and mundane like “I’m good” or “I’m ok” or “I’m fine”. Instead, let’s say you respond with a fervent “I’m GREAT”

Why is that so much better? For one thing, it’s much more likely to start a real conversation with someone. When you surprise someone by saying “I’m GREAT” their tendency is going to be to ask you why.  It gets them engaged which is important insofar as you are in the business of trying to get people interested in talking with you.  Maybe you’ll start talking about property and find out that they know someone who needs an estate agent. I’m not saying that saying “I’m GREAT” will actually generate new business for you but it’s a lot more likely than if you just said something boring like “I’m fine.”

More importantly, by saying “I’m GREAT” you might actually trick yourself into believing it.  This isn’t some armchair psychology hocus-pocus. Lots of studies show that people can change their mental state by the way they talk and speak.  If you slump your shoulders, you’re going to reinforce your lousy mood. If you keep telling yourself that it’s going to be a lousy day, then you’re likely to be right.  But if you stand up straight or keep telling yourself that you’re feeling great, you can actually create a better mood.

So try it.  Whenever someone asks you how you’re doing, say “I’m GREAT”

It’s different, it’s interesting, and it might actually become true.

Tom Benedict
Marketing Director,
@britainbesthome
Google+
www.britainsbesthome.com

All the Stuff You Don’t Like to Do is Why People Pay You

I used to live on the fifth floor of an apartment building in Central London that had a dodgy passenger lift and combined with my fear of enclosed spaces, I walked the stairs rather thanrun the risk of being trapped. I hated walking up those stairs every day and I particularly hated carrying heavy things up the stairs.  So when I bought stuff like furniture or groceries, I would usually get them delivered. Every time, the delivery guys (they were always men) would do the same thing.  They’d huff and puff as they ascended, acting as if this was one of the greatest injustices in world history. How DARE I ask them to lug this heavy stuff up all these stairs!

Now, of course, they were just trying to guilt me into giving them a big tip for their troubles, but it always annoyed me.  I mean, that’s the job, right?  Their job was to carry heavy stuff up stairs.  If I didn’t have a lot of stairs, I could do it myself and then I wouldn’t have to pay them.  Indeed, their very job depended on me having a lot of stairs.

It’s like a dentist complaining that he really hates teeth.  If you don’t like teeth, don’t become a dentist.  Dealing with teeth is the job!

Estate agents do this all the time.  They complain about having to fill out paperwork.  They complain about dealing with clients who won’t pull the trigger.  They complain about having to prospect.  They complain about everything.

But all those things you hate doing? That’s the job! Those are the things people PAY YOU MONEY for.  Filling out disclosures?  That’s the job.  Calling FSBOs?  That’s the job. Schlepping buyers to look at house after house?  That’s the job.  If you didn’t have to do those things, you wouldn’t have a job, and you wouldn’t make any money.  If you really hate it so much go find another job that you’ll like better.  Maybe carrying heavy things up stairs will be right up your street.

The fact is, everyone complains about their job sometimes, regardless of how great the job is.  Somewhere there’s probably a movie star complaining about the boredom of sitting in his trailer waiting for the next shot.  Some jobs are better than others but every job has stuff that we don’t like doing.  That’s why it’s a job.

So suck it up. Don’t complain about your job.  It’s annoying, and no one cares.

Buildings Built Without Blueprints Fall Down a Lot

Buildings Built Without Blueprints Fall Down a Lot
You wouldn’t hire a surgeon who was just “winging it” when he performed your operation.  You wouldn’t feel safe with a pilot who chucked his flight plan out the window and literally decided to fly your plane by the seat of his pants.  You wouldn’t be comfortable moving into an apartment building whose contractors decided they didn’t need any fancy-schmancy blueprints.

Why? Because when it comes to important things like cutting into a human body, flying heavy hunks of metal in the air and erecting towering mountains of concrete, we recognize the value of having a structured plan to follow.  Whatever you call them checklists, project plans or blueprints these types of formal organizational structure save lives by ensuring attention to detail, consistency of execution and codification of best practices.

Unfortunately, estate agents rarely have these types of standardised procedures for running their business.  They make it up as they go along.  They wing it.  They constantly reinvent the wheel. They come into the office with a half-hearted “to do” list and good intentions but are immediately thrown off course by a phone call, an email or just their own tendency to avoid difficult tasks.

But if it’s good enough for pilots, doctors and builders it should be good enough for us.  Let’s say, for example, that you just took a listing.  Once you sign that contract, you have a bunch of tasks that you have to complete. Take pictures, write descriptions, check the accuracy of the description, order a sign, set up an open house and so on.  You might have 25 or 30 discrete items that you have to complete.  More importantly, they are the SAME 25 or 30 discrete items every time.

So why don’t we have a detailed “project plan” that codifies the best practices for putting a listing on the market? Figure out what has to be done, put it on the list and then take out that list every time you need it.  Think about all the ways that would help you. Saving you all the time and energy you spend trying to remember what you need to do next. Encouraging attention to detail by focusing your attention on each discrete task; Creating consistency of execution, because you would be doing the same thing every time.  Most importantly, a project plan codifying proven best practices would ensure a high level of performance for your clients.

And if you can do it for listings, you can do it for every other common project in your business. Facilitating a transaction, making an offer or even planning your productive day.  The more structured you are, the more organised you are and the more organised you are, the more productive you’ll be.

Tom Benedict
Marketing Director,
@britainbesthome
Google+
www.britainsbesthome.com

Any Plan is Better Than No Plan

All diets work even the gimmicky ones. You want to spend the next six weeks eating nothing but cabbage soup?  You’ll lose weight.  Nothing but carbs?  You’ll lose weight.  No carbs, just protein? You’ll lose weight.  Grapefruit, nothing but luscious grapefruit?  You’ll lose weight.  If you actually do something smart like simply control your portions, restrict calories and exercise a little, you’ll lose weight.

The point is – they ALL work.  Why?  Because any plan is better than no plan.

The same is true when you’re trying to make changes in your business.  For example, lots of estate agents have started lead generation campaigns, usually after they’ve attended some sort of coaching or training program, where they set up a “prospecting” schedule and commit to making a certain number of calls or contacts every day.

Like diets, all those programs work.  Any sort of plan to build your business is going to make an impact, regardless of whether it involves cold calling FSBO’s or online marketing or sphere development.  Why?  Because a lead generation campaign is a plan requiring you to (1) set goals, (2) track what you do, and (3) monitor your results. In other words, your campaign, like a diet, is a plan.  And any plan is better than no plan.

However, lead generation campaigns, like diets, only work in the long-term if you internalise the methods and make them part of your habitual routine.  The “plan” you adopt has to be something you can stick with. Something that spurs a permanent change in your behaviour and ultimately becomes second-nature.  Then it actually stops being a “plan” and just becomes as natural to you as brushing your teeth every morning when you wake up.

But all big changes in your life have to begin somewhere.  A plan, any kind of plan, is a good place to start.

Tom Benedict
Marketing Director,
@britainbesthome
Google+
www.britainsbesthome.com

Never Talk to Another Estate Agent For More Than Five Minutes

I love estate agents. I work with them every day. You probably like estate agents, too.  They’re your colleagues, your co-workers, your friends and the people you spend most of your time with every day.

But you should stop talking to them so much.  Why? Very simple. They’re almost certainly never going to buy or sell a house with you.  You need to spend more time with people who actually might.

Unfortunately, a lot of estate agents spend an inordinate amount of time every day talking to other estate agents.  We get pulled into these never-ending conversations where we complain about the market, gossip about other agents and share war stories.  Obviously, that’s all largely wasted time, and you should do your best to extricate yourself from those traps as much as possible.

But even the “productive” conversations you have with other estate agents can sap your time and energy. So here’s the rule you should follow. Never talk to another agent for more than five minutes.  Anything you need to discuss, an offer, an inspection, a transactional issue, listing feedback can be done in five minutes or less. Any more than that and you’re just wasting time.

A great way to limit your phone calls is to use “I only have a moment” trick, which goes like this: “Hi Bob, I just wanted to call you to go over the inspection, but I only have a moment.”  Why is this so helpful?  Because you’ve signalled to the other agent that you need to make the conversation quick, which encourages them to get to the point quickly. It’s not rude, it’s almost flattering. You’re indicating to them that you have a busy schedule but you’ve carved out time for this call because it’s so important.

Indeed, the other agent will probably appreciate it.  Don’t flatter yourself. They’re probably thrilled if they can get you off the phone in less than five minutes….

Tom Benedict
Marketing Director,
@britainbesthome
Google+
www.britainsbesthome.com