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Convert Every Buyer Call!
How to Use the Commodity Exchange!
By Jim Remley
Pro Performer Seminars
A phone rings; the floor agent jumps and minimizes his solitary game just in time to pick up the call on the fourth ring.
Agent: Hello
Suspect: I am calling about the house in the paper. Your MLS number is 23453, it's got a price of $230,000. Can you tell me the address?
Agent: Sure, just give a minute here…. Yep, it's on Johnson Street…
Suspect: What the address?
Agent: Its 124 Johnson, hey listen are you working with an agent? Hello…Hello…Hello..
Recently I conducted a seminar for a large real estate company that wanted desperately to improve its call conversion ratio. The broker and agents had noted that while they were spending more and more money on their marketing efforts the net result was next to nothing.
In a large conference room at a local hotel we rigged a telephone to two large speakers and I called ten real estate companies randomly selected from a local real estate publication. Of the ten companies we called, two did not answer their phone instead voice mail eventually picked up the call. Of the remaining eight when we were finally connected to an agent I simply asked for the address of one of their listings.
Now here are a few questions for you: How many of those companies do you think asked for my name? How about for my phone number? How about for my email address? How about a simple appointment to show the home?
ZERO! None of the agents from eight different real estate companies asked for a single shred of information from me, and amazingly what do you think everyone of them without hesitation handed to me? You guessed it every one of them gave me the address without requiring anything from me!
Now you may be saying - Hey, I handle calls better than that!
Do you? Here is a great way to test your abilities. Invest in digital tape recorder; you can buy them almost anywhere. Keep the recorder on your desk and when you receive your next few floor calls press the record button. Trust me after you listen to the first three or four calls - you will be gritting your teeth in agony!
Almost all of us can vastly improve our call conversion skills. Let me give you a simple, painless, and easy way to begin converting every call!
I call this method the Commodity Exchange. The concept is based on the fact that we all hold a commodity, something of value that the person who has taken the trouble to pick up the phone and call us wants.
What is the commodity - in the vast majority of cases it will be the address of the property. As soon as we give up our commodity does the caller still need us? Absolutely not! So now the question becomes what are you going to require in exchange for your commodity?
- Will you require a name?
- How about a phone number?
- How about an email address?
- How about an appointment?
Now I know what some of are you already thinking - Yeah, but what if they hang up? What if they won't give me what I'm asking for?
Hey, they will probably hang up anyway! It's your responsibility to make the attempt to convert these calls into sales opportunities. Think of it this way, when was the last time you called a business when they didn't require your name, or your address, or your email address, or at least some kind of personal information. As consumers we are becoming conditioned to accept this as normal. In fact I believe that some consumes may be shocked that we don't ask for more information before we hand out the address.
Now some of you are thinking - Yeah but in my market someone else will give them the address if I don't. Good for them, it still doesn't make having a broken exchange rate a good business practice. But if you feel like you must give out the address before you ask for anything in return you might try the following technique.
Create another powerful commodity, for instance you may want to offer to place the caller into your special list of people who you send real estate information to on a regular basis, or you may offer to put them on a reverse prospecting list so they can receive information on every new listing that matches their search criteria.
What else can you do to get better at converting calls? Let me give you four more quick ideas:
- Use a Script - Take the time to map out your conversation. If you follow a pattern to your call conversion process you will build strong habits.
- Track you're Success - Measure your success against your actions. Is your script working? Can you make improvements? How do you rate compared to the rest of the office?
- Use Simple Conversion Tools - Keep copies of the company advertising close at hand, keep a pad and paper nearby, and always keep your appointment book open and ready.
- Listing Conversion - If you expect to receive calls on your listings, why not build a list of other similar properties that you can discuss with callers.
Consider - What if you were able to convert every call into an appointment? What would that mean to your career? I believe that most of us today come into contact with far more potential clients than we could ever dream of working with. By taking the time to review your call conversion system you may be able to turn those missed opportunities into a treasure chest of new found clients!
About the Author:
Jim Remley is a speaker, author, and consultant. He is also an active real estate broker in Southern Oregon where he owns a network of six offices. Jim won the Rookie Instructor of the Year award in 2001 from Realty-U, the largest network of real estate educators in the nation. Recently he won the 2002 Pacesetter Award, and was nominated for the Real Estate Instructor of the Year Award during the first quarter of 2003. To learn more about Jim please visit www.properformer.com or email him at jim@properformer.com.
To book Jim as a speaker for your next event please contact:
www.brokeragentspeakers.com
1-800-361-6848
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