how do i get good at talking on the phone

[Account Closed]

i have been doing this for about five months now recieving phonecalls from mymailing list. many people say to just let them talk and listen to what they have to say or find the solution to their problem.

some of the poeple i talk to though are just very silent and do not talk much at all, and i feel like a robot when i am asking them questions. any suggestions on how im supposed to go about this?

[Bill Gulley]

Practice, that's how.

Find someone to role play with, mom, sister, bar tender, whoever. They need to know a little bit about RE to even answer questions.

Write out examples, use index cards with information so you can deal out a situation like playing cards. Mix it up.

Describe the house, any issues, condition, title, any liens, taxes current?

Locations, prime hot areas, slow mature areas, rural areas, driving instructions if needed. 

Seller has an idea, no idea to,  or a specific,  sale price

Seller wants out before next payment, in 3 months, not in a hurry, considered selling

Situations where they need to sell or reasons to sell, new job, birth of a baby, granny died, lost job, husband going to jail, going to a nursing home, sick of the area, want to make a ton of money, etc.

Motivations, from those situations. Balloon payment can't be met, lender about to foreclose, mommy died, got married, got divorced, look to life issues that motivate

Give personalities, difficult, scared, wishy washy, deceiving, argues, poor us it's not my fault with excuses, aggressive seller with pitches, demanding and controlling, easy laid back, quiet and  gabby.

Your phone partner gets a script of variables with personalities and situations, they role play that seller. They need to understand the role which is why I said they need a little knowledge. They chose different personalities for each caller, they choose the motivation and circumstances, you can set the rest, property info for them.

Then practice with you working without anything but a yellow pad and a calculator, no scripts allowed!

This way you'll need to identify where your caller is, identify their motivation, the circumstances, what they need and want, what the issues are and walk them through a presentation and problem solving discussion to get to an appointment.

The goal is to identify the seller's motivation, what hurdles there may be, what the figures are generally and determine if it's a call worth chasing, if it is the goal is to get the appointment with all people on title, not with just the husband or wife as both need to be there to contract if a deal is agreed to.

Talk through each call, get the scope of the deal and the appointment.

Use a timer, keep calls under ten minutes. If they are talkers, say for example "I'm sorry to hear that but I have an appointment in a few minutes, if I may can I ask you this...." learn to cut people off and keep them on track to the business at hand we can chat at the house.

 You need to learn passive listening techniques but in an aggressive way, learn to pull information, develop leading questions to take them where you want them, ask questions that invoke positive responses, people do get use to saying yes or no.

Example; you need a bigger home for that new baby don't you, there really isn't room for kids in this house is there; I can see you'll need a bigger yard for kids to play; have you ever driven a vehicle in the back yard, can you get back here? What am I saying?

I got them to say their house is small, not good for their marketing efforts.

I got them thinking only empty nesters will be looking at their house, it's not really a family home. I can justify that in pricing later on.

I got them to admit you can't really get a truck in the back for roof repairs, that job will likely cost more to solve the roof issues.

While that may not be a phone conversation, it could be.

You should have a size and scope of your interests, qualify the property to your needs, I doubt you're really interested in a converted school house in a rural area 30 miles from you. You may not want condos, so develop a "I'm sorry" response and use it early on if you're not interested.

 Best to have your caller (who could be on the phone or across the kitchen table) to have a bit of RE smarts to select situations. even better if they know more than you to teach and give different alternatives as you practice.

My parents were Realtors and we did this, had some fun and funny times trying to stump them with responses.

Have your caller actually call while you're out, learn to walk and talk, inspect a property a take a call.

When I went into insurance when people rode in chariots, my district sales manager said he could teach a monkey to sell, role playing is a quick learning tool. You also need to use a recorder so you can critique your delivery. Your speech needs to be clear, understandable, friendly, without ahhhh, ummmm, ahhh's and be convincing, professional and honest.

Don't talk BS about you or how great you are, just a few words that instill confidence is all you need to project early on, later in the appointment if you sense they are skeptical about something you said, don't jump right out defending yourself, let it slide and moments later it's time for a confidence building moment.

Newbies can't build much on experience to gain confidence in a seller's mind as old pros, use other examples of deals that you assisted with or related to. My uncle buys more properties than I do, and we did this or that in this situation. Or, my attorney tells me that in cases like this your son has an interest in the estate so we need to speak with him about selling. In sales, this approach is the "third party influence" a very good way for newbies to gain a bit of respect without making BS claims.

Practice, follow this, you will get to be very good on the phone, Good luck! :)