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!

“The first step to success is to stop lying to yourself”

I would dare say that the vast majority of people would consider themselves honest, ethical people.  In fact, I was in a room of 500 top producing agents when the speaker asked who in the room felt they had integrity.  98% of the room raised their hands.  When asked to lower their hand if they had ever lied to themselves or made a promise, resolution or goal and not kept it all the hands went down. 

Our quest for success starts within and to truly address the issues that are getting in the way of our achieving our wildest and most audacious dreams we need to have an honest look at ourselves.  Our justification, excuses and reasons are all hindering us.  The first step to our success is to face the truth about our situation. 

I am not talking about condemnation, guilt or shame – none of those have a place in helping us.  But honesty and truth, yes, honesty and truth will allow us to see things for what they are.  Once problems and issues are identified our mind has a way of seeking answers that were previously hidden from us.  I’m not talking in a meta-physical way, but in a very practical way.  Our mind blocks millions of things a day from our 5 senses that it doesn’t feel are relevant.  When we face our issues, the possible solutions become relevant and our mind will allow us to see and hear them.

If we want to achieve success, whether it is an increase in income, growth in business or overall life balance, we must first face the truth of where we are and the very real disparity of where we want to go and seek the solutions that will allow us to bridge the gap. 

Remember, The first step to success is to stop lying to yourself.

Are you busy or are you productive? 

These are two very important questions that have to do with activity.  The first is what most agents will tell their friends, their spouse and themselves when they evaluate how they are doing.  The second is the one that matters. 

How productive are you?  How much of your day and week is spend in dollar productive activity?  Not administrative things, not organizational things, not file management things – but those things that bring in dollars, those things that directly affect income. 

How much of your time is spent in the following areas -

There have been times when I wanted to tattoo these truths on people’s foreheads, but that probably wasn’t my best idea ever.

What is a good strategy is to share these with you now, and beg you to learn them, not because I made them up (because I didn’t), but because they are true and you need to know them to succeed in business.

1. People do business with people they know, like and trust. It is not hard to develop a relationship with your prospects, but it is essential. The good news is that you can do it passively, and the bad news is that so can your competitors.

2. People buy solutions or experiences not features. This means that people buy what they want, not particularly what they need. For example, we all need to eat, and most of us need more fiber and greens in our diets, but still the majority of us choose burgers or pizza for lunch rather than steamed broccoli and a side salad.

3. People want specialists to handle their problems because they feel more confident that someone with experience and specific expertise will understand their situations more completely, and will handle it better than a generalist. Who do you want handling your brain surgery: Your general MD or a neurosurgeon?

4. Your real estate service is not the right solution for everyone, but that is no reflection on its (or your) value. You may not know all the reasons people choose not to buy from you, but you should know all the reasons they do buy so that you can find more of those people.

5. When you invite a prospect to work with you, you’re not begging for money, you are offering a valuable solution to a problem. But if all you care about is the sale, then you are a beggar.

I am an avid reader – I burn through quite a few books to weed out the nuggets.  I thought I’d share some thougths from How to Become a Rainmaker: The Rules for Getting and Keeping Customers and Clients by Jeffrey J. Fox which is a fantastic book and a”must read” for those in the real estate industry.

-Cherish customers at all times

-Treat customers as you would your best friend
-Listen to customers and decipher their needs
-Make or give customers what they need
-Price your service to its dollarized value
-Show customers the dollarized value of what they get
-Teach customers what they need
-Make your product or service the way customers want it
-Get your product or service to your customers when they want it
-Give your customers a little more than they expect
-Remind your customer of the dollarized value they received
-Thank each customer sincerely and often