Dave Robison
By Dave Robison
A few years ago, I was talking with an agent in my office, we will call him Jack. I said to Jack, “Jack, what happened last week? You didn’t make any new calls.” In our office, we report how many calls we make each week to hold each other accountable. Jack said, “The Smiths deal is taking up my time…it’s just all I work on. The other agent is so difficult to work with, too.”
At this point I could have said, “Okay good luck, keep up the good work.” But if I want him to succeed, I have to go deeper:
Me: “Okay, lets talk about that. Yesterday, how many times did you call him?”
Jack: “Once.”
Me: “How long was that phone call?”
Jack: “10 minutes.”
Me: “Okay, so what happened with the other 8 hours of the day?”
He became frustrated with the statistics and was at a loss of words. He realized that his emotions surrounding the deal were consuming him. He had anxiety about the deal going through. A sign that you might be stuck in this same mode is if you have closings one month and none the next. Or, if you didn’t have any time to call new leads yesterday you might be in this mode, too. The top REALTORS® all share something in common: They have emotional resilience. They learn how to get closings every month. Here are some steps to overcome the consumed state of mind and make yourself consistent with closings.
1. Keep statistics: By keeping statistics of your BIG ROCKS, as Stephen Covey suggests, you can ensure you get the most important things done. We keep stats on the number of calls we make. Continue reading »
Dave Robison
By Dave Robison
A few years ago I experimented with a very powerful lesson. I was four hours away from home and had a potential seller call me up. Becky explained to me that due to time constraints she could only meet with me at 6 p.m. I wasn’t due home until 8 p.m. I decided to leave early and I told her I would make it work.
After listing her home at that appointment, on my way out the door she said, “Ohh…you didn’t leave early just to come to our appointment did you?” Naturally I wanted to say, “Oh no…I had other things to do as well.” Or many other people say, “Ohh, I do it for all my clients.” Or people say, “Oh, it’s no problem. Don’t worry about it.” Saying any of these actually make you a failure at relationship building. I recognized that this was a moment of relationship building power. It popped in my head because I had been listening to tapes by Robert B Cialdini on Influence. I also recognized that I needed to be honest. How many people say, “Oh, it was no problem; I was planning on coming here anyway.” They basically lied. Your intent for leaving early was the appointment so don’t dodge that. Tell the truth and embrace the moment of power. So I said to her, “ You bet I did.” She started to blush as her eyes grew big with gratitude and she said, “Noooo, you shouldn’t have.” She is a very high “S” personality on the DISC which S personalities don’t like to be a burden on others..they are the peacemakers. I continued, “Of course I did…that’s what we do for each other.” Our relationship grew that day. We had a stronger and closer relationship. It didn’t just make her know I’m committed to her…but it also made me feel great and closer to them.
Now for the cherry on top. The next morning I got a call from her neighbor. Her neighbor recited the exact story to me and said, “I want you to list my house.” I got two high-priced listings in that neighborhood. And I continue to get listings in that neighborhood because after selling those two homes word got around that if you want something sold you need to call Utah Dave. That day, I learned from personal experience that changing one sentence can be the difference between success and failure.
Dave Robison, known as “Utah Dave,” is a broker of Robison & Company Real Estate.
Dave Robison
By Dave Robison
Ever had that friend that whenever your phone rang, you looked at the caller ID and cringed? You simply subconsciously wanted to call them your friend because at one time they were, but for some reason they crossed the line into a category that none of us dare say to their face that they are now apart of. It’s the “What are they selling now?” category. Many REALTORS® are in that category, especially during the downturn as they have jumped to selling their clients other products, cell phones, or even pyramid schemes.
For me, I hated getting calls from that friend. For that reason I built my company so that I didn’t have to beg for business. I could focus on being a friend instead of a beggar.
How am I getting referrals without asking for referrals? I’m having fun and growing a tribe.
First: Facebook has stats on fan pages and I can see how effective I’m being. I can tell if my tribe is growing and can gauge interaction with people. If likes are growing and interaction and comments are growing my referrals will grow as well. Secret weapon to getting referrals without asking is my fan page
Second: The blogging of house listings and market conditions are dead. Blogging is all about interacting. We started a theme called “Dig it or Ditch it” where we post a picture of a room inside a house. Comments soared. Add a contest where people ‘”share the post” on their profile and our likes grew too. We now are reaching our friends’ friends. On one of these posts we received 19 new fans who were friends with our friends. We didn’t have to call our friends and beg them for business and we gained access to 19 of their friends without throwing a house warming party or sending out postcards. We just posted a pic of a room in a house. Continue reading »
Dave Robison
By Dave Robison
According to NAR’s report about real estate professionals, the majority of us came from admin jobs rather than sales jobs. There is a high probability that the majority of you reading this are order-takers. The good news is you can change that. You can become a better sales person.
I admit it, I was an order-taker and learned this lesson almost 11 years ago. I was showing a friend of mine houses so he could buy his first home. No luck in writing an offer though because he couldn’t make up his mind and he was reluctant to put in an offer. (It was his fault, right?) My dad came out with me to show my friend the same homes a second time around. My dad said, “This is a great house, Kelly. Lets write an offer.” My friend said, “Okay,” and I got my first sale. (Oops, I blamed it on my client but it was really my fault!)
What was the difference? I was just showing homes, I was an order-taker. My dad was a salesperson. Here is how you can know what an order-taker will do versus someone who is a salesperson:
Example – Listing Client: “I’m not in a hurry. We don’t have to sell. We will move if that one buyer comes along.”
Order-Taker: “Okay, I will keep you updated with showings and whether we get any offers.” *Tries to smile while they feel frustrated with their client.*
Salesperson: “What do you mean by that?” “Tell me more about that.” “What is your timing on when you want to move?” (A salesperson will ask more questions so that the seller can come to a better conclusion. Being a salesperson means being a counselor, too!) Continue reading »
Dave Robinson
By Dave Robison
What’s the worst buyer you have ever worked with? I hear it from many agents. “Ohhh, this buyer can’t make up their mind. I’ve shown them a million homes; we have done several offers and they just can’t find that perfect home. I’m tired.” Matter of fact, just Monday, I had a buyer’s agent call on one of my listings and the agent said, “Dave, this guy is an engineer and I’ve shown him a million homes.”
There could be multiple reasons why this is happening. However, I am here to tell you as an agent, it is your fault. Why is it your fault? Because the agent misunderstands the buyer and doesn’t know how to help them.
We helped “one of those types” whose name is Adam. He likes to research data, ask a million detailed questions, etc. I assisted Adam in learning about his talents. Adam also read an article that explained the dangers of his talent. As a result, Adam only saw eight homes before he bought a home. That is it! How did we take “one of those hated buyers” and help them buy a home after seeing only eight houses?
1. We helped Adam understand his talent by taking an assessment. You can order one online at www.kahunarainmaking.com (It’s $50 for a buyer assessment.)
2. We showed Adam that his talent was to prevent risk and his natural tendency would be to look at everything he can so that he would make the perfect pick…however, we showed him that if he did that, he would end up feeling like he “settled.” As someone who likes to research, we gave him an article so he knew what we were saying had credibility. The article is here: http://www.kahunarainmaking.com/TheTyrannyofChoice.pdf
3. We had him research online and narrow down his selections to about 10 homes. Continue reading »
Dave Robison
By Dave Robison
When the Focus is On Getting More Money:
Recently, I talked to an agent who, unfortunately, didn’t quite know where their focus should be. It can be really tough to know. If more agents did, they would be selling a lot more homes.
If you can learn these secrets, though, you could be consistently successful. As John Wooden would say it, “Skill may take you to the top, but it takes character to stay there.”
The agent who didn’t quite know their focus had many outside influences affecting them: They were doing a loan modification; their time was limited due to a new baby; and they stacked up a lot monthly bills creating a “higher lifestyle” for themselves in previous years. All of these things added stress, taking time and focus away from work, on top of less pay than previous years and too many bills.
But this particular agent figured the split with their broker was the cause of stress. They thought that if they got more money for what they were already doing, it would help.
So this agent went to the other agents in their office to see how they felt about getting a higher split. “A higher split?” some of the other agents asked. “Of course. But is that possible?” The agent wanting more money said, “Of course its possible. I mean, look at the broker and all the vacations they are going on. We are the ones struggling with a loan mod and the broker is in Cancun, we deserve more money and the broker can afford it.” Continue reading »
Dave Robison
By Dave Robison
Mo Money Mo Problems! Bank of America has got it all. If they can’t even order a payoff, how is the Home Affordable Foreclosure Alternatives Program (HAFA) going to help? Do a short sale with them in 30 days! And a cry for help!
If the government gave you $45 billion dollars, what could you do with it? With that amount of money most of us probably think we could change the world! Bank of America got that much in bailout money. They got MO MONEY, but it looks like they aren’t changing the world, it looks like they have just inherited MO PROBLEMS! Yes, we all know the nightmare on their short sales; however there are more problems than that. Bank of America can’t even order a payoff for a home that isn’t a short sale and they are foreclosing on the wrong mortgage on property where they issued a reconveyance on their own loan.
There is some good news out there. There’s a practitioner in my CYBERSTAR Agent Network (group of practitioners nationwide) who did a B of A short sale in 30 days. I’ve been using equator.com to do short sales with Bank of America as well and have accomplished a 60 day turnaround. The main hiccup with us wasn’t B of A; it was my seller getting their information entered into their system. It is an online system that we knew they were going to convert to over a year ago. It took them a while to implement it but its up and running and working good! So here are the tips in working with B of A on short sales:
Tip one: Sign up on Equator.com Our short sale process has gone from 6+ months to 2 months. Continue reading »
Dave Robison
By Dave Robison
How many times have your clients or friends asked you about your crystal ball? My clients ask me all the time. It’s almost daily you hear, “If I buy this house, how much do you think it will appreciate in the next 2 years, or 5 years?” or “How much more money will I make on my house if I wait a year to sell it?” Practitioners need a new core course to renew our licenses titled, “Gypsy 101,” or “Palm Reading 201.” Or you can just read this blog entry and you can become pretty good at being psychic. There are two parts in being psychic right now to know what is happening with the market: know how to price listings, and to know what to tell your clients.
First, you must follow the rules. In 2006 when the market was booming in Utah, there were numerous people that came to me and asked, “Should I buy this home? All I have to do is use my credit and flip it the next day.”
Many of you now are thinking, that’s common sense. But then it wasn’t. It was very enticing, someone’s friend just made $100,000 doing one flip supposedly. I asked 2 questions. Continue reading »
By Dave Robison
A short sale would have you think it’s going to be a quick and short closing. The problem is they all have too much Junk in the Trunk. In a race, their tail end is dragging along the ground, which makes the vehicle go about as slow as my kid in a wagon.
Here are two examples of what is going wrong and what you can do about it.
First case involves Aurora. We submit an offer in to the bank on our listing from a buyer. It goes 60 days or so before we get a negotiator from the bank. In the meantime a couple comes in with an offer for higher than what the current offer is. Aurora approves a sale price and we should be good to go right? Wrong!
The bank will only take the offer they reviewed. You can’t switch it out for a higher offer. If you do, you have to cancel the offer, resubmit another offer and guess what …. wait another 60 days for a negotiator. Too much junk in the trunk! All of these policies in their trunk are making the banks lose even more money.
Second case involves Fannie Mae. Banks appraisal at $230,000. FannieMae wouldn’t accept less than $270,000. Really? That’s right, Fannie Mae won’t take anything less than $270,000 when the purchaser owes $255,000. That is just plain silly that they think a buyer is going to come up with $40,000 more than what it appraises for.
This home got foreclosed on. Today, it is on the market for the same price it could have sold for 8 months ago. They could have cut their losses 8 months ago but now their cut is getting deeper and deeper.
Third case from various lenders. They approve the short sale but want the seller to sign a note for the difference. The sellers are going into bankruptcy. This doesn’t make any sense. If they could make payments for the difference, they would rent it out and make payments for the difference.
I have three deals right now with different banks that the banks want a note and the buyer won’t sign. The buyers attorney said don’t do it. We are doing bankruptcy.
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