RealTown's RealTalk

Mark Jay wrote in part:

I'm.. as usual too long on this post… so I'm not going to lay out sample scripts in detail but I will say this… I've found the best approach is to be 'matter of fact' in making cold calls.

Chris Newell wrote in part:

I'm not MJ, so you may not want this one, but . . . . Hi, it's Chris Newell calling, do you want to sell your house?

That's it. I learned it from Gary Keller. I love it. It works. It catches people off-guard, so they don't typically get upset over the false behaviour and lies that so many cold-call scripts are.

It's not the opening script that matters, it's how to respond to what they say next that really counts.

Joe Ski asks:

Yes Mark, your post was a little long, but as usual, worth reading.... I for one would like to see a script or 2 that you find will work better than others.... I'm sure that there are a lot of other people out there that would also welcome a little guidance...

Cold calling is hated by me and a lot of other people because we are not good at it....

I know that there is no magic bullet, but I would love to have the next closest thing... A script or outline that you know will work....

So don't worry about long posts, share a few secrets....

Mark Jay responds:

AGAIN! There are no secrets, there IS no magic script… but there ARE some "guidelines" that should govern your narrative. And there are some attitudes you should maintain. Once again, keep it simple, direct and 'matter of fact'. What Newell suggests is excellent. "Do you want to sell your house?" Then shut up and listen and let what THEY say govern what YOU say. Whatever you do, don't "hard sell" or to use Newell's terms; engage in " the false behavior and lies" that many scripts are. I sense that Newell uses his "opener" when calling up and down streets… REAL cold calling. If you're calling a FSBO your opener might be "Hi it's Joe Ski, I'm a real estate guy. I know you're selling yourself and I understand that. I just wanted to check in with you to let you know than IF you do decide to use a REALTOR… well I'd like to apply for the job!" Then listen. Most often you'll get some variation of NO not you. Then you say "thanks" or even "OK" "Good bye" and then go to the next one. Accept the NO and move on to the next one.

Then 5 days or 7 days later… Hi, Joe Ski again with XYZ company… I just wanted to check in with you to see how you're doing…" … might be the opener. Then shut up and listen. What THEY say will guide what you say, if anything. If you get another variation of NO… then accept that in a "matter of fact" way… saying something like "OK, I understand" or OK, Great" Thanks… but this time say something like "oh, by the way, one quick question and then I gotta go… where are you going? Have you bought something yet? They say… "Yes, I have…" then you say "Great" "Thanks" "Goodbye" and move on to the next. … Or they might say… "No, we haven't" You say "I see". "First things first, right?" "First you gotta sell?" "Well, know that I'm here for you if you need me" then you say "thanks" "good bye" Or "OK, good bye" and move on to the next. What you've done in this call is planted the "subliminal" that you call a lot of people to see if they want to buy a property. You'll come back to that in subsequent calls once your FSBO has acclimated to your calls.

You will ask the same exact thing but with different words on the next call in the next 5 to 7 to 9 days. … A variation on "how's it going" …listen … accept the NO if that's what it is and then "Oh, before I go, you DID say that you needed… or you don't need… a replacement dwelling or house or Condo or whatever….?" And then listen. Maybe they'll "engage" and maybe not. You prefer they do but accept if they don't…. At some point you're going to circle back and remind the FSBO that you ask a lot of people if they need to buy a property. I think I asked you a couple of times Bob, if you needed to buy. I ask everybody that and I talk to around 1,000 people a month. If I had your property listed that's one of the ways I find buyers. And in my company we have a couple of hundred people doing the same thing every day. Is that the kind of agent you'd want?

Now you really have to ask everyone you're prospecting the "where are you going, what do you want to buy" question so that when you deliver the script you're telling the truth. As Newell said … no false behavior or lies… Your honest for a couple of reasons. One, it's expected of you, it's the right thing to do. Two, people are very sensitive and on an unconscious level they WILL sense it if you're a 8ull$4it artist. Three YOU will know you're dishonest and unless you are a sociopath one part of your brain will undermine another part of your brain… and I could elaborate here but I won't… and you will fail. You will sabotage yourself if you're acting dishonestly… Unless that is you're a sociopath.

So there you have it… MY magic words… at least the words I would use in one variation or another. All I know is my "opener"… beyond THAT I'm reacting to what they're saying…. I'm too long but I'll plow on for a little longer….

Your goals are to acclimate the FSBO to hearing from you so that they are comfortable with you and know that you're not a "pushy sales type" or "dishonest" and manipulative. You want to get that level of "acclimation" and "trust" so that you can go over and evaluate their property and their motivation and some other things to see if you want to list what they've got and do business with them. Your goal is to get a LISTING APPOINTMENT!

Listing appointment behavior is a whole other thread…. The short version is that you call FSBOs or Expireds to get an appointment to see them in person to determine if you want to do business with them and on what terms. And they let you do that because they trust and respect you. TRUST and RESPECT is more important than if they "like" you that's why you shouldn't go "all smarmy" on them. You have to be "likable"… you certainly can't be an AH… but the most important thing is that they trust and respect you and believe that you're competent and honest. Direct and "matter of fact", friendly but not a phony, competent but not overly dramatic. Short declarative sentences and questions until you have permission to go farther with them.

So beyond what you say. And there ARE some "scripts" that are better than others. And there are certainly some people who speak better than others. That's important too. How you should sound could be another series of very long posts.

But more important than scripts and how you sound delivering them is to acclimate YOU to get used to talking to strangers who at first instance do NOT want to talk to you. That's the reality. FSBOs are advertising for Buyers… almost always to "save the commission". FSBOs are NOT advertising for Real Estate Agents. What's so hard about cold calling is NOT learning what to say. What's hard about cold calling is the completely UNATURAL act of approaching strangers and asking them questions.

HERE'S THE IMPORTANT PART…..

FORGET ABOUT SCRIPS and what to say and when to say it and how to say it… all that stuff is important BUT… Cold calling is about overcoming the FEAR of rejection. Cold calling is about your "inner game". Cold calling is about wading through making 3,000 or 4,000 "dials" per month and talking to hundreds of people as many as a dozen or more times over a five or six week period to get maybe 4 decent listings where 2 will sell and two will expire, maybe…. And at the end of the day you walk away with 6 or 8 thousand dollars. Three or Four THOUSAND telephone calls? That's a LOT of NO, NO, NO, NO, NOT yet, we're going with your competitor, we're going with the MLS only, we're going with our Brother in Law, We'd rather burn it down than list it, hang up, hang up, Angry seller, angry, seller, mad seller, stupid seller, can't understand the accent seller, dial ten numbers and talk to two people, my husband's not home, the decision maker's not here 5 times in a row and then when you get him HE says NO and hangs up on you, what's your commission? Can you do it for 2.5% like Joe Blow does, will you do it for $495. $595, $250 plus 1% and on and on and on and on and on…. Cold calling is a little about scripts and a LOT about what kind of person you are in the last analysis…

As Alec Baldwin's character pleadingly said to Jack Lemmon's character in the clip I posted from Glengarry Glen Ross… "They're sitting out there WAITING to give you their money…are you going to take it? …. Are you MAN enough to take it?" Here watch it again at Three minutes and thirty seconds…. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TROhlThs9qY

Go to Mike Ferry's web site… he's got some free scripts. Search You Tube. There must be hundreds of real estate people with scripts. Search and watch.

At the end of the day are YOU man enough to pick up the phone EVERY day for 3 to 3 and a half hours? Maybe 4 hours on Saturday? Add another 2 or three hours on Sunday? Can you wade through THOUSANDS of negative and discouraging calls to get a half a dozen listing appointments and then work those listings until two or three sell after 60 to 90 to 180 days or so? Can you do that?

Don't let your lack of "scripts" or dialogs stop you. That's just an excuse that people use to avoid the PAIN of cold calling. Say almost ANYTHING to them…. Just call and say what Newell suggests. "Are you selling your home?" No magic there, is there? I would be that you could call people over and over again with the exact same script. "Are you still selling?" and then shut up and listen and at some point you will call someone who has just said to his wife… " I've had it… the next damn real estate salesman who calls we'll list with and be done with it" And at that moment YOU call and say "Are you still selling?" … and the guy says… "Yeah, come on over and list our house…"

So in closing I'll repost Newell's closing "It's not the opening script that matters, it's how to respond to what they say next that really counts. And then I'll add… it's not that what you say that matters it's that you say SOMETHING…

And you can't say something unless you CALL them first. Just call them! The more you call the better you'll get. You just have to get past the unnatural act of approaching and talking to strangers. YOU and I and everyone is genetically programmed to avoid stranger contact. That's why little kids hide behind their father or mother's leg when you talk to them and they don't know you. It's natural. Are YOU naturally comfortable with walking up to strangers and talking to them? Of course not. Overcoming that natural FEAR is what cold calling is about. And you acclimate to that by doing it… Over and Over and Over again.

Bernard Gibbons writes:

Gotta love that line - "Coffee's For Closers... "

There is much truth in what Mark Jay says here but probably few will change what they do because of it. Most are pretty set in their / our ways

Mark Jay comments:

Bernard is absolutely right! But there ARE a lot of people moving through these discussions and THAT'S who I take as my audience. When I comment in a thread it seems like I'm addressing the person before me but I'm actually writing to the group as a whole. There may be someone or a number of people who "aren't good" and cold calling and they can't figure it out. They ask the question…. Why am I failing? Are my "scripts" crap? Is my voice terrible? Am I calling at the wrong time? Why are people so mean? GOD, this is unpleasant work. Why are others so successful at this and I'm a loser? Some people haven't had the insight others have had. And I'm open to people telling me I'm completely full of "it" or any other letters you'd like to add to "it"….

But here's my thinking. Cold calling isn't about "them" it's about YOU. That's the starting point. Cold calling isn't about the script. Sure, there are better and worse scripts. And some people DO sound terrible on the phone. And some of those that sound terrible can improve but many can't. What cold calling is about is getting the expectations in line with reality. People who do a lot of cold calling get EXACTLY the same response that everybody who does cold calling gets. A LOT of No's and almost more negativity and failure than a person can handle. But that's the way it is. There's NOTHING too wrong with your script. There is NOTHING wrong with YOU. There is nothing wrong with THEM. What it is.. is.. what it is. You stay with the prospect until they are ready. And then when they are ready MOST of them will go with someone else… but you'll get some and that's the game. That's it. Hard work… infrequent but LARGE payoffs. That's what it's about… controlling your emotions through the process… patience and indifference as to immediate outcome secure in the knowledge that you'll get your share.

The most successful cold caller. The Mike Ferry student with two headsets and two phones at the stand up desk with Mikes portrait on the wall above him or her surrounded by other "affirmations" and "answers to common objections" plastered on the wall within eyesight. The guy or gal with 30 or 50 or 90 listings is CALLING THE EXACT population you are. That cold call Monster is getting the EXACT same answers YOU are… (more or less… you DO get better with experience) And that cold call Monster is pretty much getting the EXACT same proportion of results YOU are. The difference is that the cold call Monster keeps at it and is completely unmoved by the negativity and rejection. The cold call monster is not good because he's got the magic script, he's good because he's actually calling day in and day out… Real Estate Sales is a JOB. You have to WORK. Work is unpleasant by and large… that's why you get PAID for it.

"They're out there WAITING to give you their money… are you going to take it? Are you MAN enough to take it?" Remember Alec Baldwin's brilliant performance? The difference between really good or GREAT cold callers and not so good or "bad" cold callers essentially disappears in importance when those good and bad alike are compared to those who "try it" and can't handle the emotions. I'm going to go out on a limb here and declare that there really aren't any people who are "good" at cold calling or "bad at cold calling… there are just people who cold call and "handle it" and those who DON'T cold call and instead look for "scripts" or secrets BEFORE they cold call and because there ISN'T any perfect of even any great script, never get around to cold calling in a systematic, regularly scheduled, persistent way.

Here's something else that's real important, I think… enter Mike Ferry listing presentation into YouTube and you'll get at least 60 videos to watch showing listing presentations. Here's one and it's a beautiful presentation… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkTl-ZgmF4Q and if you click on this link the 60 or so videos will all be there. These are listing presentation "magic script" videos and I know we're talking about cold calling… search these out on your own and look them over, too. …But here's the point I'm making. These videos and narratives supplied by trainers and coaches are great. BUT… life as a cold caller doesn't really work that way. So if you're just starting out and you're discouraged with yourself because you're not as "good" as the Mike Ferry super star doing the presentation don't worry about it. The Mike Ferry super star is NOT that good at it in real life. These are role plays. Real life cold calling WOULD work as well as the role plays except the subjects of your cold calls DON'T HAVE THE SCRIPTS that the role playing FSBO's in the videos have. Whenever you see cold call role playing know that the cold caller will ALWAYS get the appointment. YOU will hardly EVER get the appointment…. And in real life THEY will hardly ever get the appointment.

A real life demonstration of a REALTOR cold callers life would be everyone in the audience coming three days in a row and watching the cold caller make around a THOUSAND or so dials… talk to a couple of hundred people and MAYBE get 2 appointments. OR… OR… you could all be sitting there for 3 hours a day for three days in a row watching the cold caller call and see him or her get NO APPOINTMENTS. None! Nada! Zip! Zero! THAT'S what cold calling is really like for the most part. Well… maybe the results are a little better than that… but if you can handle THAT then you will be a successful cold caller. Can you do a thousand dials and get no appointment? And then do it again? And again?

So again! Cold calling isn't about scripts so much as it's about actually DOING it and maintaining an attitude WHILE doing it. Day in, day out…. Don't worry about what to say. Say what Newell says… "Do you want to sell?" then listen and respond to what they say using short declarative sentences and asking short easy and direct questions… all directed at getting and appointment so you can get them to sign on the line which is dotted…(another Baldwin line from the GGR video)

Real Estate cold calling listing monsters make a lot of money. It's hard work… you didn't really think you could call maybe 100 people and get 30 listings and have maybe 27 of those sell and pocket $5,000 on each one so you net about a million dollars a year, did you? How about THIS… make a THOUSAND dials to get two appointments and one listing. Now run THAT math out to see what it takes to gross a million in a year.

They ARE out there waiting to give you their money but you DO have to be MAN enough to take it and to take the "abuse" that goes along with it. Are you man enough? ARE you?

Christopher Cassidy wrote in part:

I think Mark Jay (and others) somehow missed the last section of my expanded response, where I talked about calling FSBOs and prospecting Expireds. I pull them through RedX, but unfortunately in my area, at least 95% of Expireds are on the DNC, so I just don't call them. They initially get a direct-response postcard and then a snail mail letter campaign (also with a direct-response component), and if they call my Proquest, I call them right back at that point.

Mark Jay responds:

That's right… I responded before I got to your follow up response. You've got a "complete package" going for you and I certainly wouldn't challenge that. Almost everyone is on the DNC list? THAT's a bummer if you want to do cold calling. Christopher's situation is another and a good example of how different areas have different characteristics. Proof once again of the quip "all real estate is local"

CC continues:

Many coaches/trainers will tell you to call them anyway, even if they are on the DNC list, but I don't feel comfortable doing it.

Mark Jay comments:

I wouldn't call them either. They don't WANT to be called… yeah you can get away with it a lot of the time by "posing" as a salesman with "buyers" but I'm not into insincere and manipulative techniques. AND if you DO run into someone who wants to "stick it to you" you'll be into a LOT of time wasting and maybe even a big fat fine.

CC continues:

I think people also missed the point about craigslist. I don't do ANY print advertising AT ALL in newspapers or real estate books. Other than postcards, all of my marketing is online. The cost is almost nil. It all goes back to having the right systems, my initial point in all of this. Back in the good old days, I blew a TON of money on marketing, and I agree with Mark and Chris that Craig's system can be very expensive to run doing it that way. Thing is, you don't have to run it that way, as I pointed out, and I don't.

Mark Jay comments:

I also rarely use print, just too expensive. And in my area Craig's List is just too crowded yesterday there must be over 150 RE for sale ads. I've run there and posted every day for a week with a virtual tour that records hits and gotten one view in a week. Passive marketing… waiting for "them" to call. I like it when they call me but I can't make a living that way in my market, I don't think. I ran ONE Craig's List ad for an apartment with a tracking virtual Tour and got 70 hits on the tour and likely many more hits on the ad. Yet another example of real estate being local. Christopher gets loads of hits and leads from CL and I get one hit. And that one hit was for a beautiful listing priced a little BELOW market so I expected more… much more….

Plus… and I've written about this before. I don't really like Craig's list as a venue. I think it's largely a venue for prostitution. They charge for "adult services" ads and the others are free, right. Doesn't CL take in a lot of revenue? They're not in it for the social service, are they? Hasn't "Craig" made a boat load of money and retired because of his list? I don't like the fact that Craig's BIG business is ads showing the lower end of some people's alimentary canal along with the associated geography and other peoples twig and berries all blown up. … and isn't that other list Christopher mentioned even MORE explicit? I'm no prude and I've certainly "seen it all" in that regard… I just don't like the "mash up"… you're a** and my listing a couple of clicks away? I don't like it.

Christopher continues:

Ultimately, for me, my time is valuable. The way I generate leads might be passive, as Mark says (not sure I completely agree, but that's cool), but if I generate 30-40 leads a month through my websites, almost all of it through free ads on craigslist or BackPage, and another 100+ through Proquest (flat fee of $50 a month, free online ads, plus brochure box flyers, pretty low-cost), and another 100+ through Expireds and FSBOs through RedX ($50 a month, thank you March Madness promotion), all for about $250 a month, it's more than worth it. Before you factor in my time, you're talking roughly $1 per lead, then you factor in 5-8 hours of my time per week of follow up.

Mark Jay comments:

Yup! Time is money…. Running call to action ads IS passive marketing. No agreement or disagreement needed. Passive is getting people to call you… ACTIVE is when YOU call people. Those are just the definitions. Here's an illustration from another similar sales business… the car business. The car salesmen who depend on what's known as the "swing of the door" are engaged in passive sales prospecting. People drive by the lot and stop and look. People read the large display and the in-column car for sale ads call and stop in. That's passive marketing. WAITING for the calls. I know a couple of car salesman and one in particular who makes in the $400,000 per year range selling cars and all he does is ACTIVE marketing. Calling past customers… and he's got a lot after 35 years selling cars. Maybe calling people going through the service department who WERE customers of other salesman who "left the business". This guy NEVER takes "swing of the door" "leads"…. Too uncertain. How many times have YOU gone to a car lot, talked to a car salesman and bought a car? Not many I would guess. Imagine how many people come through a car lot that a car salesman gets to talk to… Active and Passive marketing.

Christopher continues:

If I thought I could get similar results cold-calling, I'd probably do it, but I just don't see it.

Mark Jay comments:

Understood! There is a difference in areas that we as individuals work in. What works in a downtown Chicago office where you're surrounded by urban condos and an uncovered parking spot on a black top lot costs $30,000 or so and your parking lot condo fee to maintain the pretty yellow strips and show removal is $300 per month may not work in a small town in the middle of (where did you say you're from Christopher?) nowhere with a population of 5,000 and an average selling price in 2009 of $135,000 for a single family home. I get that! And seeing as how I'm about to ramp up a cold calling campaign with the latest technology shortly-good bye little green metal box and 3x5 note cards-I'm happy to see NOBODY cold calling FSBOs and Expireds… especially in MY market where it looks like… from the beautiful new Mercedes S550 4matic on of my "competitors" is driving… that cold calling works pretty well around here…

And in all honesty, it's been a while since I've spent time cold calling FSBOs and Expireds. I used to do a LOT of it and I'm completely over the emotional aspect of it. It's just hard work, that's all I know. And I DON'T have any particular script. And I'm not going to look for any and I'm not going to try to reconstruct what I used to say years ago… because I don't think it matters and I'm sure that it will all come back to me as I hear the "SOS" from people again. What I DO have is the willingness to actually DO it every day and completely focus my day on just that activity. THAT'S the key…. Prospecting MUST be at the center of your universe. SAME time, SAME way, EVERY time, EVERY day. EVERYTHING yields to the phone. Everything!

I'm not MJ, so you may not want this one, but . . . .

Thanks to all for the feedback on cold calling! I just finished a class on learning scripts - easiest way to get them down fast is to read the script aloud 10 times as fast as you can, one time after another. This is also a good exercise to use to warm up before you start cold calling. The opening line from Gary Keller is the one I use for FSBO'S, expired's and withdrawn's. Then you need to know the responses appropriate for each situation. Remember, you are not trying to get the listing over the phone, you are calling for the appointment!

Pam Jernigan, Realtor® Your Short Sale Specialist

Keller Williams Realty Experience Matters

Cell 512-635-7592 Generous Referral Fee

Fax 512-579-4256

ladybug@kw.com

Mike Ferry has FREE scripts on his website that you can down load.

Then practice, practice and practice some more. Tape yourself. How does your
voice, tone sound? Likeable? Robotic? Dull?

Improve your approach...by standing up and smiling. It does make a difference.

Cordially,

Eileen Landau, BA, MA, OTD, e-Pro Internet Certified, REBA, RERA, SRES
Over 30 Years of Successful Full-Time Real Estate Experience
REALTY EXECUTIVES Pro/Team
Serving Downers Grove & Naperville
Universal Direct: 630-297-7550
www.moveuptonaperville.com
www.moveuptonaperville.blogspot.com
MoveUPtoNaperville@Yahoo.com

Mark...

Your cold call post is probably the BEST you've ever written.

Agents don't understand that to succeed you HAVE to call EVERY DAY. It becomes a habit,
like brushing your teeth. It's neither good or bad. It's your job. You do it.

And, after doing it for a while your ratios may drop to 1 appointment out of 50 calls. That's
when it gets to be fun.

Cordially,

Eileen Landau, BA, MA, OTD, e-Pro Internet Certified, REBA, RERA, SRES
Over 30 Years of Successful Full-Time Real Estate Experience
REALTY EXECUTIVES Pro/Team
Serving Downers Grove & Naperville
Universal Direct: 630-297-7550
www.moveuptonaperville.com
www.moveuptonaperville.blogspot.com
MoveUPtoNaperville@Yahoo.com

I could not agree more with Jay concerning his Passive/Active Marketing essay.

Best Regards,

Ed Hain

The Dirtseller