Can You Get Real Good Real Fast?

     Yes you can get really good, really fast.  It is amazing how quickly you can improve sales skills once you are aware that you need to and you start working at it.

     Answering questions with a question is a skill that I teach in my 45 hour post license class at Climer School of Real Estate.  This is a pretty basic skill in salesmanship.  A lot of my students have never heard of this before.  This is a essential skill to learn.  I encourage my students to start practicing this all the time, not just when you are with customers. 

     When their fellow student asks,"Where shall we go to lunch today?".  They reply" We could go to Nick's Diner or we could go to The Wing House.  Which do you prefer?"  Ending with a question has multiple benefits.  If nothing else, it keeps the conversation going. The other party has to respond.

     I encourage them to ask more questions when they are showing houses to buyers.  Ask them questions and learn about them. Ask them questions about their hobbies.  Ask them questions about their kid's hobbies.  Ask them questions about their old house in Chicago.  Ask them questions about their new job.  Ask them questions about everything.  Keep asking questions. 

     The natural next step would be to learn to answer questions with a questions.  When they ask questions like,"Are there lots of kids in the neighborhood?", you can reply "Are you familar with the fair housing act of 1968?"


     When they ask, "Will the sellers take less?".  You can reply," How much did you want to offer?"  When they ask you, "Will the sellers hold a mortgage?", you can reply,"How much did you want to put down?".  When they ask,"Will the sellers leave the swing set?", you can reply "Did you want me to put that in  the contract offer?". 

     You don't have to always answer a question with a question.  It is OK to answer their question and add a question.  Such as:  They ask," What is the price of that house at 123 Main street?".  You reply,"It is 295,000 dollars.  Is that a comfortable price for you?"   They ask,"Is that house in the XYZ school district?"  You reply,"Yes, it is.  How many children do you have?"

     Start practicing asking questions and start answering questions with a question.  The next time someone asks you," Where should I go to real estate school to get my Florida real estate license?" You can respond with a question,"Did you want to go to the best real estate school in Orlando?  Have you been to Climer School of Real Estate's website at www.climerrealestateschool.com ?"

Ask Questions For More Rapport

   If you want people to like you, understand this.  The more they are like you, the more they like you.  In sales training at Climer School of Real Estate, we call this common ground.  Discover common ground between you and your prospect.  Discover that you both collect stamps or you both belong to the same group or you both like antiques or whatever.  How do you discover this?  Ask questions. 
   The magic word is discover. To discover things, ask questions.  Form a habit of asking questions.  If you are going out to visit a new listing prospect for the first time, ask questions.  Ask lots of questions.  Ask open ended questions.  That is questions that can not be answered with a yes or no.  Questions like:
Where are you moving?
Why are you moving?
When you visited there, what was it like?
What is your new job?
   Ask people questions about their stuff.  If they have an antique, where did you find that?  If they have a boat, where do you go fishing?  Catch anything?   As long as you are asking questions, you are building rapport.  When you are asking questions, the other guy is talking.  Most people would rather talk than listen. The more they talk, the more you listen, the better they like you.  If your goal is to establish rapport, let them talk.  Listen.  Be interested.  Do not worry about being interesting.  Be interested.  That is enough.
   They do not want to hear your stories.  They want to tell you theirs.  You can tell if they want to hear your stories.  They will ask you.  Until they do, remember why we are here.  This is not play.  This is work.  Work at establishing rapport.  Work at getting people to like you.  If it was easy, they would lower the commission.  Work at it.  It is worth the effort