What has your experience been with sales professionals? Most of us think of words like “pushy”, “impersonal”, “demanding”, or just plain “rude”. Over the last five years, I’ve had the opportunity to coach and lead as many as 60 sales professionals at one time, and from that experience I’ve identified what I believe are the key attributes of a great sales professional. Here they are in no particular order.

1. Knowledgeable: A professional that knows the market trends from a macro and micro perspective. Understands the ins and outs of the sales process and how to effectively manage the transaction. Has a proper understanding of the laws, best practices, and procedures for ensuring a smooth closing of the sale. Has superior knowledge of the products and services they are selling.
2. Service Oriented (Caring): Is able to understand the emotions and concerns of a client as it relates to the sales process. Demonstrates they care through both actions and words of encouragement. They actually take on the cares and desires of their client and make them their own. Their service to the goes the extra mile ensures the client has an overall great experience.
3. Good Communicator: Is a good listener and speaker. Asks questions, takes notes, repeats answers to ensure understanding, does not over promise, and provides regular updates to clients. Stays in touch with past clients in a way that matches each client’s needs and desires. They do not over communicate through annoying emails, voicemails, or newsletters. They are not afraid to share their business vision and can articulate their values and goals to clients and referral partners.
4. Good Negotiator: Knows how to persuade people, seeks win-win solutions, and knows the limits of their negotiating power. Understands when someone is asking too much and is not afraid to let them know.
5. Trustworthy: Past performance and follow-through make them trustworthy. Their recommendations are reliable and their advice is sound. They explain the sales process in a way that makes clients feel comfortable and at ease with them.
6. Determined: They pursue their client’s interest with passion. They work hard to ensure success for themselves and the people they serve. They don’t take the first “No” as the final answer instead they work on solutions to problems.
7. Relational: They are easy to talk to, enjoyable to be around, and relate well to all parties, including family members of clients. They genuinely care about their clients.
8. Creative: They seek out new and innovative solutions to a client’s needs. They make recommendations to clients that help them achieve their goals in ways they did not think possible or expect. They solve problems in unique ways.
9. Honest: They are transparent, candid, and speak the truth even when it is going to possibly cost them a sale or a client. They do not hold back information needed to make a wise decision. They disclose all facts and information to their clients.
10. Willing to Sacrifice: They constantly are putting others ahead of themselves to make sure others’ needs are met. They do not do this in an unhealthy way, but in a way that leads to greater appreciation and “wow” customer experiences for their clients. They are willing to take  late calls, have regular meetings, and explain things two-three-or four times to a client so that they completely understand the process.

Questions: What do you believe are the attributes of great sales professionals? What did I miss?

Make it a great day!

Coach Dan

10 Attributes of a Great Sales Professional is a post from: Coach Dan Foster

I recently had the opportunity to be a guest blogger for one of the top bloggers in the U.S., Michael Hyatt. During the process of writing my post, working with Michael, and having my post go live on his site, I not only had a lot of fun, I also learned a lot!

I’ve narrowed down everything l learned to twelve key takeaways. This list is not exhaustive, but I believe it will provide you with a starting point for making the most of a guest post appearance on someone else’s blog.

Consider these five tips when choosing the right blog to approach for a guest post. You want to choose a blogger that:

1. Has a message and philosophy you believe in.
2. Has a blog with an engaged culture made up of repeat visitors and frequent commentators.
3. Has a target audience that you feel would be drawn to your own blog’s message.
4. Allows you to promote your blog and social media handles in your guest post.
5. Has a guest post policy in place with expectations, procedures, and recommendations.

Consider these six tips to preparing for your guest blog post to go LIVE:

1. Verify the links included in your guest post are active and properly pointed to the right location.
2. Make sure you have at least five of your latest posts displayed on your landing page.
3. Setup a “Featured Posts” widget in your sidebar highlighting your most popular blog posts.
4. Ensure your blog is easy to navigate and subscribe to via email and RSS.
5. Setup a detailed and engaging About Page on your personal blog site.
6. Schedule 15 minutes, every two hours to respond to comments made on your guest post.
7. Be yourself, be honest, and be open in your response to readers’ comments.

I had a lot of fun guest blogging and will definitely seek out other opportunities to do it again. I’m writing my own guest post policy now in the hopes that someday others will want to be my guest.

Some data you might find interesting. My blog readership grew by 25% after appearing as a guest blogger for Michael Hyatt and my site experienced four times the average number of visitors on the day of my guest post.

While increasing my own exposure was a goal of mine, I received the most satisfaction and joy from engaging with the audience on Michael’s site and responding to their comments on my post. Knowing that my post resonated with people made the experience GREAT.

Question: Is guest blogging one of your goals this year? If so, when will you accomplish it?

Make it a great day!

Coach Dan

12 Tips For A Great Guest Blog Post Experience is a post from: Coach Dan Foster

Today I had the pleasure of interviewing Shaun Jillions, Vice-President of Public Policy for the Oregon Association of Realtors (OAR). Shaun and I discussed how OAR champions the cause of property owners, real estate broker owners, and real estate brokers across Oregon and nationally in our Oregon legislative sessions. The interview covers a wide range of topics including the new continuing education requirements for brokers in Oregon and the Protect Oregon Homes initiative (Transfer Tax).

If you cannot see the video in this feed or email please click here.

If you would like to receive more information on any of the topics we discussed today, please contact Shaun Jillions at (503) 362-3645 or Sjillions@oregonrealtors.org.

Make it a great day!

Coach Dan

Interview with Shaun Jillions of OAR is a post from: Coach Dan Foster

This past week my team and I discussed what to do with listings that just will not sell. There are a number of reasons why listings struggle to sell including price, condition, location, and current buyer needs and wants. We focused our time together talking about a nine step guide to reaching resolution with these types of listings and our clients. This guide is not exhaustive and I encourage your feedback and critique. If you have a listing that is “stale” and not selling, you may want to consider the following process.

Step 1: Have a heart to heart with yourself, and ask yourself if you are willing to lose this listing, work harder than ever before, improve your communication, and truly connect with your client? Are you willing to do what it takes to bring about resolution, whether that means a sale or a canceled listing?

Step 2: Perform market research on your local area. Discover as much as you can about the regional and local market trends. Look specifically at the price range of your listing and analyze the average days on market, list price to sale price ratio, standard seller concessions, average sale price, inventory levels, and the number of homes sold per month on average. Become an expert by knowing everything about this price range and the market. Talk to other brokers that have successful sold comparable listings and talk to appraisers about values. Learn what it is taking to get homes sold.

Step 3: Perform a property analysis. After you have a grasp of the general market in your listing’s price range narrow your focus to your actual listing. Look at your current price compared to other homes on the market and assess your listings overall condition inside and out. Does it have amenities that are better, worse, or comparable to other homes that have sold and that are appealing to buyers? How does your home’s neighborhood stack up? You may want to consider paying for an appraisal to be done to help you determine what the home would sell for at this point in time. This appraisal could be very helpful later.

Step 4: Develop a short term strategy that takes into account all of your research on the competition and the overall market. If you are going to adjust price, what level will you recommend and for how long? Does the interior and exterior condition of the home need to be addressed? Review all of your marketing efforts to make sure they align with your strategy. Be willing to try new approaches that you’ve not done in the past.

Step 5: Review your client goals and remind yourself of their motivation for selling. In this market, sellers are typically price driven, relocating, or moving to remove a financial burden. Others may be moving just because the opportunity to move up in this market is so fantastic. No matter the reason, make sure that your strategy is in line with your client’s goals. If it is not, you may need to change your strategy and its end goal.

Step 6: Practice your presentation in front of a peer or your manager. Ask them to throw you objections and challenge your strategy. This will be good practice for when you sit down with your client. Identify the points in your presentation where you are certain to cause the client stress resulting in pushback. Make adjustments as needed so that you truly believe in your strategy and can confidently articulate it to your seller.

Step 7: Present your strategy to your clients. Be very clear and concise with your information. Do not overpromise results or response from buyers. Focus on what you can control. Review your market trends and feedback that you received from peers regarding price, condition, and the homes overall ability to sell. Tie your strategy back to their main motivation and need. Say, “if we implement this approach to selling your home, I believe we will be able to help you achieve your goal of _____.” Answer their questions with candidness. If they want an answer you can’t give them, then let them know you cannot and why. Review your timeline and benchmarks for where you hope your strategy will take you in the next 30, 60, or 90 days.

Step 8: Implement your strategy. Your sellers will be holding you accountable to what you presented to them and you owe it to them to keep them informed of the progress. Keep your sellers up to date on deadlines approaching for an “if-then” decision. For example, “if we reduce the price and we have no showings for two weeks, then we agreed our strategy would be to reduce the price again”. Follow your strategy and adjust only as needed.

Step 9: Live with results of your strategy even if this means that you lose the listing. Our goal should always be to help the client achieve the highest price possible in the shortest amount of time. However, there are some listings that just will not sell and a tough decision must be made by the parties involved. At the end of the day your seller will most likely be faced with a decision to cancel the listing and re-list with another brokerage firm, rent the home, stay in the home and cancel the listing, go through a short sale or foreclosure, or continue to reduce the price until it sells. My personal opinion is that you cannot hold at a price and just wait for a buyer to show up and pay your listed price. In a depreciating market too many sellers will be proactive and reduce their price until it sells thus creating comparable sales that you, and an appraiser, will be forced to deal with even if you do receive an offer at your hold firm price.

Again, this list is not the end all list but I think it does layout a strategy for getting resolution on your listing that is struggle to sell. You’ll notice that I focused on the word resolution instead of promising you that this guide will lead to a sale. When we over promise and under deliver it ruins our reputation and erodes the trust our clients have in us.

Question: What are you doing with your listings that just will not sell?

Make it a great day!

Coach Dan

9 Step Guide For Stubborn Listings is a post from: Coach Dan Foster

In today’s market overpriced listings are abundant. How you approach a seller and your understanding of their negotiation position is essential to you achieving your goal of mutual acceptance of an offer.  With this in mind, I encourage you to consider this five step guide to getting your clients’ offer accepted.

1. Perform a detailed market analysis on the listing. Your goal is to discover what the true market value of the home is right now. Make sure you compare listings that have similar square footage, number of bathrooms and bedrooms, were built in the same time period, and have similar architectural features. Try to find at least 3 properties in the categories of active, pending, and sold.
2. Study the overall direction of the local market. The market analysis of the home is simply a “balance sheet” view of the property at a point in time. You need to have a clear understanding of where the local market has been, where it is now, and the direction it is heading. Review the local market inventory levels, average list price to sale price ratio, average days on the market, and market absorption rate. Knowing this information will prepare you for the steps ahead and give you confidence in negotiations.
3. Review “if – then” scenarios with your client. I always like to review with my client how they plan to respond if the seller counters their offer. For example, if the seller responds accepting your price but wants a longer closing then do you feel you could accept that counter offer? This process always helps both me and my client identify their “must have” and “really want” terms. Identifying these early in the process will save you time and energy during the give and take of negotiations.
4. Interview the listing agent. I encourage you to have a short list of questions that you pose to the listing agent regarding the seller and their home. It is important for you to know if there have been previous offers and if so why they did not work out. Ask the listing agent to tell you what terms, besides price, are most important to the sellers. Ask the listing agent to share with you the comparable homes that were used to price the home where it is at today. The agent’s response to this request will tell you a great deal about the relationship between the agent and the seller. Be prepared to work with an agent that is unable to convince his client of the reality of the market and a seller that is focused on their relationship with their equity and not what the market is telling them. Finally, end with letting the agent know that this home is your clients’ first choice but they have others that will work if acceptable terms cannot be reached.
5. Ask to present the offer to purchase in person. Presenting the offer in person allows you to introduce your buyers to the seller in a personal way. My experience has been the more a seller identifies with a buyer the higher the probability of them accepting a buyer’s terms. This can be done through an introduction letter written by your clients. The face to face offer presentation allows you to present to the sellers your research on the market and the value of their home. I hate to say this, but some listing agents NEVER update the original market analysis they did when they list a home and the seller has no idea about current values and trends.

The steps you take before you actually present your client’s offer are very important and lay the groundwork for a smooth transaction between both parties. I encourage you to use these steps as a guide the next time you have to write an offer on an over-priced listing.

Question: What steps do you take prior to presenting an offer on an overpriced listing?

Make it a great day!

Coach Dan

Five Steps to “Yes” on Overpriced Listings is a post from: Coach Dan Foster