Million dollar mistake? By Steve
Waterhouse
I just watched a ridiculous TV show. Well, it might
not be ridiculous if you like to see examples of very
poor sales skills.
In this ‘reality show’ called “Million Dollar
Listing”, real estate agents try to get big listings in
Malibu, CA and then attempt to sell the houses. In the
short piece I watched, the agents were attempting to get
a listing from an owner who had had trouble selling his
home in the past. The two realtors in this deal were a
husband and wife team. As they sat at the client’s
kitchen table with the listing contract open, the seller
asked what they thought he should ask for the house.
Immediately, the two agents got into an argument about
the price. Finally, one agent (the husband) turned to
the client and said, “You’ll probably need to think
about this tonight, won’t you?”
Later in the show, the husband and wife agents are
discussing the deal. The wife looked at the camera and
said, “He didn’t sign the listing agreement today
because he had to think about it.”
Hog wash!
He didn’t sign today for two obvious reasons:
1. Since the agents had no confidence in setting the
selling price, the buyer had no confidence in the
agents.
2. They suggested that he might want to think about
it overnight! Duh!
The real reality in this show is the pathetic selling
skills of the agents.
What can we learn?
First, if you and your sales team don’t speak with
one voice and make one strong recommendation to the
client, you can expect the client to keep shopping. This
is true for software, hardware, service and even real
estate.
Second, your client looks to you for advice. If you
tell them to sleep on it, they will sleep on it. Then
they will buy from the next person who walks through the
door, and that is probably not you!
Our clients look to us for more than just
information. They want advice and guidance in making a
purchase. In addition, clients anticipate the owning
experience to look like the selling experience. If you
and your team have it together in your presentations,
the client will believe that you can deliver after the
sale. If you don’t, they will be scared into looking for
another vendor.
Every time you are in front of a prospect or client,
you are affecting the next deal. Be up to the task!
Steve Waterhouse is Principal and Founder of Waterhouse
Group (www.waterhousegroup.com), a sales consulting and
training company that helps companies dramatically
increase their sales. He can be reached at
1-800-57-LEARN or
info@waterhousegroup.com.
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