Make a goal to get back $20,000 of that next year. That means your commission will increase from 2.3% to 2.55%. Not an insurmountable goal.

Develop a script – that fits your own personality and way of speaking around the following points:

Here’s how:

1. Assume that ALL sellers will asked for a reduced commission. They feel stupid if they don’t ask. But if they don’t ask…don’t bring it up!

1. When they ask (not before) tell them your reputation is not in just getting houses sold – you get them CLOSED. And they way you do that with all your clients is to ask them “not to tie your hands up front.”

1. The reason is that EVERY closing ALWAYS has a Last Minute Money Problem. This problem -sometimes last minute required repairs, an unanticipated increase in closing costs, a buyer a little short on closing funds – BUT whatever the dollar problem – it ALWAYS causes the seller last minute anxiety, less money than they thought they were getting and it almost always causes a delay in closes which has it’s own problems that people hate.

1. That’s where you “come to the table”.  You look the seller in the eye -firmly and say- That’s where I come in – and I can solve it in minutes by solving the problem out of my own pocket.  I do it as a practice and as a cost of business…and I guarantee I’ll be there when you need me most.”

1. Most importantly- When the time comes to close – Make sure you do. Buy that water heater, or broken this or that. Keep in mind that by not cutting a ONE PERCENT off the commission you saved about $5,000 or more. So find a way to kick in up to $1,000 at the end. They will forget the 1% immediately if you give it up front -but they will remember you very fondly if you buy a $750 water heater at the end. You can bet on that and you just saved $4,250!