Life and Business.

I recently spent about an hour and a half on the phone with one of the individuals that I am mentoring in the real estate business and we were going over about 30 different phone calls that he had received over the past two weeks due to our marketing campaign.  With each phone call, he would summarize how the conversation went with the potential client and what the end result was of the call.  As I began to listen to his summarization of the calls, I would ask him questions regarding what I thought were absolutely essential pieces of information but he had not acquired from the seller.  What I’m getting at here is that it is impossible to determine whether or not a deal could have been made unless you know what the FULL scenario may have been.  I ask questions of a potential client or in this case, a home seller, that help me to paint an entire mental picture of exactly what is going through his mind at this point in his life.  I deal in the business of finding motivated sellers, but motivated sellers don’t always reveal their cards immediately (some do show you their cards right away but that’s another subject!)

 

Now you may have the belief that asking good questions is a result of experience in whatever field of work that you are involved with and I would agree that there is a certain degree of truth to that statement.  However, I believe that you can take someone who truly understands the art of eliciting an outcome and asking questions and stick them into any sales related industry and they will soon be successful.  One key is that if you think about your end result and you’ve crystallized where you want a conversation or meeting to go even before it occurs, the chances are that you may get the result that you desired because your agenda was clear in your own mind from the beginning.  That clarity led you to properly gather the information you needed that would support your result and for your eventual ‘close’.   How can you ever achieve a desired result if you don’t know what that desired result is?  If your agenda is fuzzy to begin with, it most likely will be fuzzy once the conversation is over. 

 

One way in which I have found effective in coming to a desired result is by simply seizing a moment or opportunity.  Whenever I take a call that is from my marketing, a handful of thoughts go through my head right before I take the phone.  The first thought is to maximize the opening few moments of any conversation and allow it to become something other than just another call about business.  Just because someone is a stranger and they are calling you in regards to a business matter does not mean that the call initially has to be about business.  I can’t tell you how many times a complete stranger has called me and although I know they are calling with a house to sell, we get off on such a good note (whether I say something comical or I react to a background sound) that it may literally be three or four minutes before we start talking about the house.  Again, this is with complete strangers that I don’t even know or have never spoken to.  The benefit of such a strong opening is that when we are ten or fifteen minutes into a conversation and I am at the point of making an offer or closing, they are not looking at me any longer as some sort of adversary.

 

In addition, I know that if I can provide people with an education during the course of the phone call, my chances of closing are much higher.  I don’t shy away from letting people know that they have other options and even spending some time in going into a bit of detail on what else they can do in their situation.  One great question that I’ve found always works is to simply ask, “Has anyone ever taken the time to fully explain the _________ process to you?”  Most times that answer is going to be ‘No.’ If the answer is ‘Yes’, I always ask them to repeat back to me what their understanding of it is, which many times leads to them revealing that they don’t really know as they stumble over their words.  This is a key phrase that takes the importance off of past competitors and also opens up the door for someone to be sold on your product or service this time around.  Remember, when it comes to an initial phone conversation, over 70% of the importance is placed on how you deliver your message rather than the words themselves.  Remember to work on yourself and your own habits first and watch how the results change very quickly by implementing those strategies. 

About the Author:

David Oswald or “The Diamond” is a full time real estate investor, licensed mortgage solicitor, and a life and title insurance producer in the state of New Jersey. He is also a founding member and currently a consultant to MortgageNow, Inc.
David is growing his wholesaling business and working on a national level through a busy seminar and speaking schedule. He speaks on the topic of real estate, does one on one mentoring for students, sells a core package of information regarding foreclosures and the short sale business and continues to run a very large pipeline of short sales himself. “The Diamond” is speaking at up to ten events per month and holds his all day seminar, “Short that Sale When the Market’s Stale” once per month.
Oswald is a member of Evangel Church and considers his faith to be the most important aspect of his life. For booking for speaking engagements or for mortgage or real estate business consulting, contact www.davidoswaldonline.com.

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com - How Mindset Creates Opportunities and Results