I had a buyer in my car the other day. A nice, interesting, serious lady whom I’ve been emailing back and forth, and talking to for the past many months. But this was the first time we had met face to face. I thought we had built a truly congenial rapport over the summer. She was a referral. She is a dog-lover. Sadly, her mother had died during the past year after having spent some time in hospice. A lot of common ground and mutual respect. She was ready, willing and able to buy a house and I wanted to help her buy her ideal house for a price that’s right for her.
This should be easy. In this market there are ten homes for every buyer. We like each other. And I had an armful of worthy listings and a tank full of gas. So I was admittedly surprised when hours into our house-hunt I started to sense hesitancy from my client in response to some of my questions: basic questions like, “How much cash do you have to put into this transaction?”; “Have you thought about the earnest money?”; “Your loan officer said he can close within two weeks, how quickly are you planning on moving?”. I was surprised to find myself having to explain that I will be better able represent her if she’s forthright with me.
Later that evening I described the situation to Greg, my mentor, broker, husband, etc. He suggested that I still don’t see myself as a salesperson. I’m still operating in the project manager mode of my previous livelihood — facilitating the outcome rather than influencing it. But even though I don’t see myself as a salesperson, my clients all do. And along with that perception comes all the baggage that clients bring from having had a bad experience with a salesperson, or having heard of someone else’s bad experience, or having seen a movie like Glengarry Glen Ross, which portrays slimy salespeople.
Greg’s solution? Address the problem head-on. Go beyond where I had gone, which was to justify my need to know: Acknowledge that I’m in sales. Ask whether the client/prospect has had a bad experience with a salesperson and listen to the response. Then explain that I will do everything within my power to not make the same mistakes. Explain that the success of my business is directly tied to my clients loving having done business with me… Sage advice.
And later still that evening, while doing chores to the beat of podcasts on my shuffle, I listened to Zig Ziglar’s inspiring “Everyone is a Saleperson.” In this classic, Mr. Ziglar reminded me that sales — providing products or services for a profit to solve someone else’s problem — is a noble profession. In this podcast he demonstrates that this country was founded by salespeople and has become great because of sales.
I highly recommend you download and listen to the podcast yourself, but in honor of Columbus Day here’s an excerpt:
Not by any stretch of the imagination could you accuse Christopher Columbus of being a navigator. He was looking for India! He missed it by over twelve thousand miles. But was he a salesman? Well, he only had one prospect to call on… Isabella and Ferdinand of Spain kept saying to him “Chris, price too high; can’t afford it; we just can’t buy; don’t have any money actually.”
But Columbus persevered. The queen hocked her necklace to invest in the dream — an investment that earned her country riches beyond anyone’s imagination. And the rest is history…
So how appropriate is it that we celebrate this day with Columbus Day Sales? Happy shopping!
P.S. The lady got over her fears, we found a great house for her… better than she had hoped for. And we’re on track to close before the next holiday!
Technorati Tags: arizona, arizona real estate, phoenix, phoenix real estate, real estate, real estate marketing
Jeff Brown says:
Cathleen – You could sell me hot chocolate in Phoenix, at noon on an August day, in the middle of an asphalt parking lot. 🙂
October 8, 2007 — 10:06 am
BR says:
Cathleen & Greg, bravo. I’ve been dealing with this sort of problem for the better part of 6 months. It just doesn’t matter how hard you try online, there is just something missing in the relationship building process. Greg gives sound advice, for the very first face to face meeting- clear the air and then offer the value the client seeks. No blog or 2.0 product can do that for you.
October 8, 2007 — 10:25 am
Allen Butler says:
Hello Kathleen!
We hear so little from you! It’s refreshing. You’ll have to elbow Greg outta the way occasionally :>) I think your comments are dead on, and I hope that deal works out well for you. Good luck!
Allen
October 8, 2007 — 11:26 am
Derek Burress says:
Columbus was greedy and full of hatered towards his fellow man. He was also responsible for bringing slavery to the New World.
Let me know if you wanna read my history papers on Cuba as I have several mentions of Columbus in them.
The analogy from Isabella is not a good one as she too had greed in mind. Besides, the price was not high. She had little hope in the initial voyage (2nd voyage consisted of 17 ships) and Spain had just gotten their rear ends whooped. Had she not wanted to spread the Christian faith, she would have never given in.
(I am a history major).
October 8, 2007 — 11:57 am
Cathleen Collins says:
Hey Jeff — Better still… I’d love to buy you a tall, cold beer. But you’ll have to come back for a Phoenix visit. I’ve managed to get Greg to California once only, and that was waaay back when Greg could still wrap himself around Cameron.
October 8, 2007 — 12:38 pm
Cathleen Collins says:
Benn — Interesting how you identified this as a Web 2.0 issue. I hadn’t thought of that!
Allen — Thanks. I guess I’ll elbow Greg out of the way of writing at just about the time he elbows me out of the way of taking care of the animals, house, cars, laundry, groceries… Oh never mind. That won’t happen. I’ll just have to make the time. 😉
October 8, 2007 — 12:45 pm
Sean M. Broderick, CCIM says:
Cathleen..
Agree with Greg.. ask the tough questions..
“Back in the day” when I was at school in Texas, one of our impromptu speakers for an economics class was Guy Roy Odom (CEO for US Homes during the ’80s) and the one thing that stuck with me all these years was:
“Nothing happens until something sells”
Still true today..
October 8, 2007 — 1:10 pm
Allen says:
Derek. I also am a history major and a former teacher of history & geo-politics, although obvioulsy of a different political pursuasion. You sir, are no historian. You’re a history revisionist. Big difference. Happy day to you, all the same.
Allen
October 8, 2007 — 7:31 pm
rob aubrey says:
Hi Cathleen,
Great Post
I like the perspective Zig brings to a sales person. We all know that sales has the perception of not so good. I know deep in my heart I would never do anything to harm a client. I am sure you are the same.
For me sales is a series of questions that leads people to a decision. We don’t sell them anything other than using us. That is where the sales stops and the service begin. But the best thing we can do to service our clients is ask them a lot of questions.
Once you get past that sales is not bad if you are not bad, then you will actually enjoy sales.
I love these questions. Do you believe you are a good REALTOR? Do you believe there are a lot of not so good REALTORS? If you don’t sell them on using you then they will have to deal with the not so good REALOTRS.
So please for goodness sake sell, sell, sell…
October 8, 2007 — 8:29 pm
Derek Burress says:
Mr. Butler: With all respects, you have an email and a copy of my essay. I welcome your feedback. I sent you the wrong paper in the first email but both have mentioned of Columbus in them so either way, you can form your own opinions after reading them and going through the sources which I provided as footnotes as well.
October 8, 2007 — 8:44 pm
Jillayne Schlicke says:
As Derek knows, I like to point out that a woman financed the first loan made to discover America.
As Greg knows, I like to observe that we celebrate Columbus Day, but Isabella made the journey a possibility.
October 8, 2007 — 9:57 pm
Brian Brady says:
“Columbus was greedy and full of hatred towards his fellow man.”
It’s not a Columbus Day in the 21st century until someone tries this….stuff. Is it any wonder I’ve opted against public education for my daughter?
I know, I know…I’m living in denial. Happy Columbus Day, Allen.
October 8, 2007 — 10:55 pm
Brian Brady says:
“Acknowledge that I’m in sales. Ask whether the client/prospect has had a bad experience with a salesperson and listen to the response.”
That’s just brilliant stuff. By completely exposing yourself you disarm the customer and air the negative aspects of “salespeople’ while highlighting the benefits of one.
Customers do respond to such honesty, too. Everyone hates pushy salespeople but everyone loves a good one.
October 8, 2007 — 11:00 pm
Teri Lussier says:
Cathleen- I agree that your voice adds tremendously to the BHB experience. Do you really need sleep? 😉
>Everyone hates pushy salespeople but everyone loves a good one.
Brian- that’s a keeper
October 9, 2007 — 1:42 am
Jeff Kempe says:
Excellent, Cathleen; just excellent. Yes, we’re all salespeople, drawing on the skill a half dozen times in any given transaction. The irony, though, is that the very best salespeople are the ones who think of themselves first as facilitators.
Derek, the Mayans, of course, had slaves, as did the Aztecs and most of the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest, both pre and post Columbus. Slavery was ubiquitous worldwide. The “dead white guys ruined us!” meme suffers mightily under Google.
Which makes the Columbus allegory perfect historically, as well as perfect from the standpoint of what it means to be a salesperson.
October 9, 2007 — 6:57 am
Greg Swann says:
> Isabella made the journey a possibility.
By that tortured (pun intended) logic, Isabella is also responsible for Torquemada and the Spanish Inquisition. Still wanna play this game?
With Ferdinand, and as the more martially powerful of the two, Isabella consolidated the Spains into a nation-state and pushed the Moors off the Iberian peninsula. This is an amazing achievement for which she deserves her majority share of the shared credit — one which Osama bin Ladin, among other Islamists, regards as a potent injury to this very day. Ascribing the achievements of others to her because she was tangentially involved does nothing but call your own biases into question. Isabella was a great women in her own right. She doesn’t need to steal credit from Columbus or Torquemada.
October 9, 2007 — 7:09 am
Cathleen Collins says:
Thanks for adding to the conversation, Rob.
That’s a real nugget!
October 9, 2007 — 8:01 am
Cathleen Collins says:
Thanks for bringing the focus back to the essence of this post, Brian. It really wasn’t about whether someone in the fifteenth century was PC according to today’s standards.
Hope you were able to sow some selling seeds yourself in honor of Chris yesterday!
October 9, 2007 — 8:07 am
Brian Brady says:
“By that tortured (pun intended) logic, Isabella is also responsible for Torquemada and the Spanish Inquisition.”
…and she was the original commercial paper financier. I’m piling on, Jillayne which seems unkind but I do have a point.
Let me bring it back to today. Today, she’d be blamed for the liquidity crisis for an “unsound decision”, which would be entirely unfair.
October 9, 2007 — 9:10 am
Rob Aubrey says:
So does this mean the CC was the first buyer’s agent in the “New Land”?
Did Isabella get a rebate from CC or did she actually pay his commission?
Where there any limited service adventurers?
October 9, 2007 — 9:19 am
Benn says:
funny how these conversations morph into a life of their own. I really enjoyed the life reminder that Cathleen brings to the table that we are not salesmen or women, we’re people. In everyday life we would work on our relationships, feed them with solutions, options, and a really good give and take conversation about hesitation versus eagerness. Christopher and Queen whats her name aside, I think the reality of this story is what we’re faced with as agents- how do we blend a 2.0 world with our personal real estate relationships on the ground, overcoming obsticles to bring real resolution to the consumer.
October 9, 2007 — 9:40 am
Roberta Murphy says:
Cathleen: Good article and interesting responses. You managed to generate fun historic argument–and a good response to clients who understandably fear “being sold.”
Love the photo.
October 15, 2007 — 8:42 am