Is An Educational Session A Sales Pitch? Of Course It Is.

by Brian Brady

Commercial Real Estate Finance Expert
Structured Debt and Equity
Licensed Real Estate Broker in AL, CA, and FL

Author website

I’m a salesman and have been since I hawked peanuts on the Ocean City boardwalk.  I’m addicted to “the pitch”.  I love writing them, watching them, and critiquing them.  Many people get upset when a “trainer” comes on to give an educational talk and finishes with an offer to buy books, tapes, coaching, et al.  Not me; I love it.  It gives me an opportunity to study someone else so I can better perfect my “pitch”.

The best pitch is the one that isn’t noticeable  It builds value and ends with a call to action that has the audience swamping you.  Rather than “asking for the order” it is so compelling that the prospective customers beg to buy what you’re selling- I saw one of those yesterday.

Lender (and Unchained graduate) Scott Schang invaded San Diego yesterday and presented to the East County Board of Realtors about a niche loan product.  He gave starving REALTORs  a juicy cheeseburger.  Scott invited me to both attend and critique his presentation yesterday.  He kicked butt but I spotted a few things he might improve.

Scott runs a shop called Porchlight Mortgage. Scott lends statewide and offers buyer brokerage in Orange County.  He has traditionally marketed directly to the consumer so this was his first shot at marketing to the REALTOR channel.  He did an excellent job explaining how his firm is committed to working purchase business rather than refinance loans and that value was recognized by the audience.  One agent questioned about his ability to wear his “lender” hat, with her clients, since he practices real estate brokerage.  What measures would he take to insure that her clients weren’t turned over to one of his “in-house” agents?

That was a fair question and I think Scott addressed it well.  I was thinking of Greg Swann’s “shoot the elephant in the room before he breaks all the furniture” approach to salesmanship.  Simply put, you HIGHLIGHT the negative objection up front…then shoot it down so it doesn’t become an issue. I suggested that Scott open his presentation by serving up that elephant.  I think he should proclaim that he is a REALTOR and will work with clients in the greater Anaheim area.  His specific expertise can be a benefit to REALTORS outside of Orange County because he is familiar with all of the potential red flags and can instruct agents how to avoid them.  Scott should develop and explain a “lead tracking” system to help REALTORs with their follow-up for these shared customers.

I think Scott missed a chance to give an incredible “call to action” to the audience.  One agent asked whether this loan program would be available after the first of the year.  While Scott and I agree that it will, it may look dramatically different in 3-4 months.  The program recently upped the down payment requirement from zero to 3%.  If the general fear is that the program might be altered by 2009, the immediate opportunity for REALTORs is to call everyone in their database to see if they know of prospects for this specific loan program.  Scott encouraged me to highlight that and it resulted in 2-3 “soldiers” in the Porchlight army.

The audience was excited and wanted information about a similar state loan program.  Scott hinted at another visit then explained the “new” program anyway.  I might have explained that the similar program was worthy of another presentation and scheduled it on the spot so that I could visit this Board again.  It’s always good the keep the crowd “wanting a little bit more”.

Scott mentioned that the loan program offers no yield spread premium and limits the origination fee.  Then, he said the origination fee is negotiable.  I might have explained the “maximum origination fee” as the “guideline” and defined transparency in lending so that my fee would not be open to future negotiation.

Finally,  Scott didn’t have an ongoing “educational” program in place for the REALTORs.  I want contact information every time I speak.  Scott counted on the “Googlability” of the audience to find him by searching “PorchLightScott”.  I might have offered a free webinar, conference call, newsletter, or ongoing training to harvest the audience’s contact information.

Why did I spend a few hours helping Scott Schang do business with agents in MY backyard? I can’t do EVERY loan in San Diego County.  If I could, my ego isn’t large enough to think I would.  Scott is working an incredible niche market.  I’m grateful to him for allowing me to share this critique with the BloodhoundBlog readers.  Make no mistake about it, I’ll be “pitching” my niche one day at this place.  Scott will be sitting in the audience and critiquing me.

Why?  That’s what Unchained graduates do. We want to hone our craft and be the best we can be.

Join us.

PS:  When I describe the educational session as a “sales pitch” it is with an understanding that we are always selling ourselves to our referral partners and potential customers.  An educational session is a sales pitch inasmuch as it’s a demonstration of expertise.  If the goal of the presentation is to secure new customers, why not make it flawless?

PPS:  Scott gave an amazing presentation yesterday.  His next one will be bullet-proof.