“The 13 Most Important Minutes in the Life of a Real Estate Investor” – By Ron LeGrand

 

Buying and selling houses in the pretty house business boils down to just a few steps to buy or lease gorgeous houses in nice neighborhoods in all price ranges, including multi-million-dollar houses. We have all of these steps automated today where other people do the work for very small amounts of money so all the grunt work we used to do is now outsourced.

That’s why my high producers, who make seven figures annually, spend very little time actually working in the pretty house business. There’s not much for them to do except …make decisions.

However, there is one critical task that is literally the difference between success and failure and will make or break a career in the pretty house business. This task is so important, if it is not mastered there will be no checks arriving. That task is…

MASTERING THE CLOSING CALL TO THE SELLER.

It’s so important I recently developed a seminar focused on only that where we practiced in class and critiqued each class members calls and watched them get better in a matter of a couple of days. That class was such a big hit, we decided to continue it two or three times a year.

There are some critical mistakes folks make when making these closing calls, even those people who consider themselves sales persons make these same mistakes. I’ve listed them here for you excerpted from the manual used in the class.

I’d suggest you keep these mistakes nearby when you’re making calls to sellers. Before you make any calls, it would be a good idea to practice using my scripts, while recording your call to someone in your home. Play back the recording of your practice call, with my list in front of you and make your list of how many of these things you’re guilty of. Then, continue making practice calls and correcting yourself as you go. This is the only way you’ll ever get good at mastering the closing call.

Now, I’ll confess people receive these instructions from me, go home and practice, but they do not record the calls. Get this and listen closely. If you do not record the calls and play them back to yourself, you cannot hear, and therefore cannot correct your mistakes. Do exactly what I ask you to do and you’ll understand why after you followed my instructions. You’ll be amazed at the stuff you hear, that you did not know you were saying, and how you were saying it.

Look, I don’t want to belabor the point but not mastering this call could cost you hundreds of thousands of dollars per year, and the good news is it can be done very quickly if you do it right…

THE AVERAGE CALL WILL TAKE ABOUT 13 MINUTES IF THE SELLER IS INTERESTED IN TERMS.

If they aren’t, it should take less than three minutes. Any longer than that, you’ll have diarrhea of the mouth and talk too much which is one of the mistakes listed below.

Once you possess the ability to get on the phone, get the answers to the big four questions, make an appointment to see the house, and handle yourself while you’re there, everything else in this business is easy.

The big four are price, down payment, monthly payment, and term. If you don’t get the answers to these four questions while on the call, the whole thing was a waste of your time and the seller’s time. You only need three or four sellers in a month’s time to give you the answers you like. With that, you have just gotten yourself one or two deals that could easily net you $20-$50,000 each, within the next 60 days.

I’ll say it again, mastering this call is the most important thing you must do to be successful in the pretty house/terms business. So here are the mistakes we see folks making….

10 Mistakes When Calling Sellers

Talk too much

You have only one mission!  Get the answers to the Big 4 questions:

Price – Down – Payment – Term

If you get off the phone before doing so, you’ve accomplished…

NOTHING!

Talking too much is an indication you’re afraid to ask the Big 4.

Get to the Point and Get Off the Phone

 

Get off Script and get lost

Scripts are critical to your success and that of any company with people on the phone.  Mine are simple, easy to follow and get the Big 4 quickly and generate a clear understanding so you don’t waste trips.  Ten seconds prescreening saves two hours on the road.

Part of the scripts is being prepared to answer questions not on the script.  These are “Default” scripts.  There’s only a few questions a seller can ask.  Master the answers and your confidence rises quickly.

Teaching

If you want to teach seminars, rent a room and invite guests.  The seller’s house is not the place.  The more you teach, the more you talk. The more you talk, the bigger hole you dig and perhaps the more questions you generate.

If you are slick and talk over their head you may scare them and cause a negative response.

Ask Questions, Get Answers,

Get to Conclusion and Get Out

You Beg

If you talk too much or teach, you are begging.  But begging can also be detected in your voice in the way you ask questions.

Do you sound incompetent?
Do you wreak of fear and it shows?
Do you sound like you’re asking for a favor?

Your tone and the way you conduct yourself can easily be the difference between success and failure.

For example: “We usually buy houses with nothing down” will get a totally different response than “Will you sell with nothing down”!

Recording your calls and practice will fix this quickly.

Obviously reading a Script

The key points in all my scripts can be memorized quickly so you can effectively follow them without reading every word like a teleprompter.

Look at the B Script.  It has a simple opening question and goes directly into the Big 4.  Use this script 10 times and you won’t need it anymore.

Slow Down!  Don’t Rush! Have Fun!  Talk like the seller is across the table.

Caution: Getting away from the scripts too soon can be deadly until you know them by heart.

Don’t get the Big 4 answered

Do not get off the phone until you get these answers.  If you do, the seller is controlling the conversation.

You must learn to counter their stall tactics.  When they say they don’t know and you fall for it, you lose.  Get the answers or get rid of them and deal with the people who really want to sell.

Speak too softly

You cannot instill confidence if you can barely be heard.  Put a sign in front of you…Speak Up!  If you can’t force yourself to speak up you must get someone else to make the calls.  Easier to simply talk louder.

Feeling Intimidated

This is a sign of low self-esteem on your part and likely a fear of what others say.  It can only be cured with practice.  No one can fix it for you.

Remember this:

• You’re only calling people who asked you to call.
• They have the problem to solve. You may be the solution.
• Their attitude has nothing to do with you. You did nothing wrong.  It’s their life that sucks and you’re only next in line for their venting.
• If the call doesn’t go well you’ll never meet them. What do you care what they say?

You Will Not Be Intimidated by The People Who Really Want to Do Business with You…

Only Those Who Won’t No Matter What You Say!

Whack Em’!

Can’t answer seller questions

That’s why we have default scripts.  There’s only a few and the answers are simple.  You’ll only learn them once.  Practice until you can answer anything thrown at you but learn to tell it like it is.

Answer Questions With

Questions When You Can

Then it’s up to them to answer your questions.

If you don’t have an answer, defer to this when applicable…

I Don’t Know but If It’s Important

I’ll Get You the Answer

There you have it. You may consider this the million-dollar list because if you cure yourself of the issues on this list you should easily be able to knock down two or three deals a month, and then start replacing yourself with an acquisitionist who then will make these calls and do all of the work for you, so you truly then have nothing to do but make decisions. Practice. Practice. Practice.

Ron

 

FYI, if you are currently working with one of our mentors, they will listen to two of your taped calls with sellers and send you a critique, but only after you practice first and record yourself and fix it before you get on the phone with sellers. Get to the point to where you feel you are as good as you’re going to get before asking for their help to polish it off. If you do what I just said, in 30 days you will not recognize your own phone skills.