How to Sell Without "Selling": Tapping Into Your Potential

Many of you may have attended the National Association of REALTORS® Resort and Second Home Symposium (RSHS) this summer in Vail, Colorado. The event was a great success, bringing together a wide variety of real estate professionals with the purpose of discussing and learning about the global vacation home market.

There were a number of informative and engaging speakers presenting on topics from the condo hotel market, to the ins and outs of buying in Mexico. One of the most popular and charismatic of these speakers was Larry Kendall.

For those of you who missed the event, and who haven’t yet had the opportunity to be introduced to Mr. Kendall or his business philosophies, here’s your chance to catch up.

With a Masters Degree in Business Administration from Kansas Sate University, Mr. Kendall has been working in the real estate market for over 30 years. In 1976, Mr. Kendall and eleven other Realtors® founded The Group, Inc. (http://www.fortcollinsrealestate.com). The vision was to create a company where each individual was an equal owner. Today, with over 240 sales associates in seven offices located throughout Northern Colorado, The Group Inc. has grown into a highly successful real estate firm with a model that stands as testament to the true power of team work.

Together, with the other partners of The Group, Inc, Mr. Kendall developed a sales system known as “Ninja Selling” (http://www.ninjaselling.com). With a focus on customer satisfaction, the true success of “Ninja Selling” lies in the power of focused and combined energies of all parties, both on the buying and the selling side.

If you’re looking to become more involved in the second home and investment home market in your area, or if this has been your specialty for years, by now you’ve done your research. You know the demographic of the second home buyer (the baby boomer) and you are familiar with some of the best forms of target marketing to reach potential buyers in this demographic (through niche websites and informational and educational events).

With the market in flux, it may be time once again for you to fine tune your selling style for this particular market. The following are the highlights from Mr. Kendall’s presentation at the RSHS, titled, “Connect & Communicate”

Become a Proactive Trusted Advisor
Research indicates that baby boomer buyers do not buy on a whim. They want all of the facts. They want to be assured that the person who is guiding them through their real estate investment(s) knows what he/she is doing. It’s your job to become your client’s most trusted advisor. How is this accomplished? Firstly, dress the part. Your outward style reflects your trustworthiness to a potential buyer. Reflect your personality and unique style with your dress, but make sure you are always sharply turned out. Confidence. The more confident you are about what you are selling the more you will convey that you are a reliable source. And remember, convey your confidence without condescending! Above all, know your market. If you can speak intelligently on your local market, and the market for real estate investment as a whole, a buyer will be more likely to feel at ease with you and allow you to help them find their dream vacation home.

Connect by Building Rapport
Mr. Kendall maintains that the first two minutes are the most important when you’re first greeting a potential buyer. This is your opportunity to make that ever important first impression a great one. And to do this you have to know how to ask the right questions during those initial minutes spent “getting to know you”.

Ask the Right Questions
What’s the best way to spend those first few minutes of introduction? The best place to start is by asking the right questions. Mr. Kendall refers to the F.O.R.D model when asking the right questions of a potential buyer that you are meeting for the first time. F.O.R.D. is easily translated into questions about Family/friends, Occupation, Recreation, Dreams. The theory here is that you’re more likely to build trust and confidence with a potential buyer by asking questions that will demonstrate an interest in who they are. This approach stands in sharp contrast to the aggressive approach of presenting a potential buyer with listings before you know who they are or what they’re unique needs might be. This initial conversation is for you to listen! “Stop telling and start asking”, as Mr. Kendall puts it.

Once you have begun the process of asking the right questions you can ask the potential buyer’s permission to help them find a solution to their real estate needs.

Establish what kind of buyer you are working with and what their unique needs will be in terms of the process. To do this you will simply need to ask them questions like, what are their past buying/selling experiences? What did they like about those experiences? What did they dislike? What’s most important to them during the buying process?

By asking the right questions not only will you have demonstrated your willingness to go above and beyond for a potential buyer, but you’ve also gathered a large amount of information which will help you make the viewing and buying process much smoother and more successful for all parties involved.

Demonstrate Knowledge
Based on the question and answer process defined above you can begin to demonstrate your knowledge on the market that you’re selling in and/or a particular service that you offer that might be of importance to a particular potential buyer.

Present Your Message Powerfully
Now that you’ve begun to build a solid foundation with a client, you’re ready to pitch the properties you have available that meet their criteria. The effectiveness of communicating your product is based on three basic modes of communication. In terms of communication, you are 55 percent effective in person, 38 percent effective over the phone, and 7 percent effective in writing. If you have to show properties over the phone, make sure the potential buyer has visual aids in front of them during the call, as 60 percent of people are visual learners. These visual aids are most effective in chart and graph form and can cover information from local market analysis, property appreciation rates, and rental income potential etc. Mr. Kendall says that “showing is better than telling, and asking is better than telling.” The bottom line? Listen, Listen, Listen!

How to Attain “Green Light Selling”
In Mr. Kendall’s experience, most buyers have internal dialogues that say “No” to a buy based on three basic fears, 1. that they are wasting their time, 2. that they are missing a better opportunity somewhere else, and 3.that they are paying too much. Address these fears as early as possible in your dialogue with a client and you’ll pave the way to a successful sale.

Success is in the Process
Be confident and knowledgeable in your market. Learn to listen before you speak. And when you are speaking, ask questions. Create trust and develop honest and open communication. Listen to your client and you’ll learn everything you’ll need to know to close the sale. By selling without selling you’ll build your credibility and attract more clients with your success.

For more information on these and other techniques by Larry Kendall visit http://www.ninjaselling.com.

This article was originally published in the Winter 2007 issue of 2ndhome® Specialist, a digital magazine for real estate professionals specializing in the second home and resort markets.