Win New Listings in a Tough Market

In today's tough market, it's not enough to know the ins and outs of short sales and how to help buyers get qualified. Your competition already knows all that.

To grow your business, you've got to win new listings. And that takes being able to convey your value proposition with confidence and clarity.

How do you accomplish this?

Not just by running down a list of your skills or recounting how many homes you've helped to sell. Too often, this approach can sound like bragging — and nobody likes a braggart.

You do it by making a human connection while making your point. You do it by telling a story.
Not just any old story, either. It's got to be the right story at the right time — a story that tells who you are, what you stand for, and what sets you apart from the competition.

To unearth that kind of story, start by examining your values.

WHAT MATTERS TO YOU?
Have you ever considered your core values in life, those principles that you hold to be important? If you do, you might come up with traits like honesty, integrity, or fairness.

You could also focus on those values you feel are pertinent to your job performance — values like persistence or attention to detail. Either way, it could take a little navel-gazing to come up with a list. Here are three methods to help you zero in on values:

• The Buddy Ad: Pretend you're writing a classified ad to find a best friend. Write down all the qualities you'd want that person to have. Chances are, if these qualities are important in a best friend, they matter to you in nearly all your relationships. In other words, they're core values.

• Three Words About Me: If you had to describe yourself in three adjectives, what would they be? Calm, confident, and fabulous? Assertive, detail-oriented, and brainy? Once you've got your three words, take some time examining your life. Come up with a story that demonstrates each adjective — like the time you were selling encyclopedias to put yourself through college, and you wouldn't call it a day until you sold your first set. That shows persistence.

• The Late, Great You: Pretend you've passed away. Now sit down and write yourself a glowing, but true, obituary, paying more attention to your character than the details of your life. Were you generous? Were you loyal? Great. Now recall some true stories about times you demonstrated those qualities.

MAKING HARD CHOICES
It's one thing to claim you're truthful; it's another to be truthful when it's difficult, when you're tempted to tell a lie. That's where the rubber meets the road -— where your actions tell that you stand by your principles.

And that's what impresses a prospect.

To come up with this kind of story, recall a time when you made a hard choice, when it wasn't easy to stick with your core value, but you did it anyway.

At one of my workshops, a real estate agent told the following anecdote: One morning, he had just enough time to make it to his company meeting, but his young son was fussy, having trouble adjusting to his new classroom. What to do? The agent chose to take the time to get his boy settled in at school before proceeding, late, to his business meeting.

You can talk about putting family first all you want, but if you'd like to make a real impact, try telling a story of how you put family first when it was hard.

WHAT SETS YOU APART?
How are you different from your co-workers and competitors? Are you super-knowledgeable about the law? Are you well connected, or a finance whiz? Maybe your set of values is what distinguishes you from the competition?

Think long and hard about what makes you different. This is the heart of your value proposition. This is what sets you apart.

If you can, boil it down to a key phrase like, "I'm an excellent listener who always puts the client's needs first." Then look for a story that illustrates how well you listen.

Why a story? Well, anyone can say, "I'm a good listener." It may be true, but how does the other person know that when they first meet you?

It's more effective to tell a story that demonstrates your listening and client commitment in action — like the time you were able to help a finicky buyer find a home, after he'd already gone through five brokers who wouldn't listen to his needs. That's almost like a testimonial, but it's casual and anecdotal — and therefore more effective.

SHARE YOUR PASSION
Having trouble coming up with that value proposition? Sometimes, it's as simple as your passion for your work. Got a fire in your gut? That may be what sets you apart and makes potential clients choose you.

My website copywriter, Patrice, had been going to a financial advisor for months and was getting ready to change advisors. (The woman had terrible "people skills.") Just before Patrice lowered the boom, she happened to ask the woman, "Why are you doing this work in the first place?"

The woman told Patrice that she'd been raised by a single mother, living hand-to-mouth. When she grew up, the woman swore that if she could prevent other women from having to go through what she did, she would do whatever it took. And so she became a financial advisor specializing in women.
Did Patrice stay with the advisor? Absolutely. And that's the power of using the right story at the right time to express your value proposition.

In the end, if you want your presentation to stick, wrap it in a story. When your potential client takes in that story, they take you to heart and trust you. And when you get their trust, you get their business.

Bruce Hale is a Master Storyteller and Author. He works with individuals and companies that want to improve client relations and increase sales. Bruce blends a background in business with experience in the performing arts to help clients in real estate, insurance, and financial services supercharge their communications style and reach business goals.

To find out more about his StorySelling work, visit: http://www.brucetalks.com