Sell with Soul: Creating an Extraordinary Career in Real Estate without Losing Your Friends, Your Principles or Your Self-Respect

by Jennifer Allan

Overview

Even in boom markets, rookie real estate agents almost always find their new careers to be harder than anticipated, but today, even experienced agents are failing in record numbers. Statistics quote figures ranging from 70% to 95% dropout rate for first year agents and it s common knowledge in the industry that only a small percentage of the licensed agents are making enough money to live on. Why is the failure rate so high? Is it a matter of unrealistic expectations? Maybe. A lack of enthusiasm? Probably. A lack of support and training? Definitely. What agents need is good solid training on how to competently sell real estate and Jennifer Allan-Hagedorn's book Sell with Soul offers just that. The second edition of Sell with Soul has been updated to reflect the realities of today s more challenging real estate marketplace. The book takes on the tough issues of survival in a slowing housing market and provides a blueprint for success to help new agents navigate the critical first year and beyond. Sell with Soul comes complete with checklists to help agents keep on top of listings and contracts, step-by-step guidelines for building a thriving real estate practice as well as anecdotal examples of real world real estate dilemmas and solutions to them. Yet the book is so much more than a rookie survival guide. The author discusses such touchy subjects as commission discounting (she s all for it), buyer agency (don t push it), prospecting at open houses (do so with caution) and generating bidding wars (it s your duty). Practical advice is offered on everything from building a loyal client base to marketing listings to negotiating inspections and even handling pricing objections. Sell with Soul focuses on helping new agents become competent at their craft, so they can be confident with their prospects and clients. This confidence enables them to stay true to themselves because they will have no need for the Old School prospecting strategies and aggressive closing techniques that force many new agents out of their comfort zone. Readers consistently praise the readability of Sell with Soul, commenting that it reads almost like a novel instead of just another business self-help book. The book is written in a casual voice, with a relaxed style that is noticeably different from the more authoritative voices of the competition.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780981672779
Publisher:	Bluegreen Books
Publication date:	07/11/2008
Series:	Sell with Soul Series
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	237
File size:	722 KB

About the Author

Jennifer Allan is a former top producing real estate broker, a published author, a speaker, and a trainer. From her first day on the job as a real estate agent, she resisted the efforts of her company trainers, her broker, and her fellow agents to persuade her to implement the traditional real estate prospecting techniques of cold calling, door knocking, and mass mailing. Instead, she focused her business-building efforts on the people she already knew or the people she met. Without ever pestering a soul, she built a business based almost entirely on business and referrals generated from her sphere of influence. Jennifer has is a regular columnist in Realty Times and a frequent contributor to RIS Media, a member of the RE/MAX Hall of Fame, and is one of the industry's most popular bloggers.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Welcome to Sell With Soul 1

I Have a Confession... 4

So Who Am I... 5

Why Sell with Soul? 7

Of Special Interest to the "Socially Uncomfortable" 9

Chapter 2 What You Didn't Learn in Real Estate School...The Realities of a Career in Real Estate 11

So-Are You Ready to Sell with Soul? 11

The Myths & Realities of a Career in Real Estate 13

Some Truths 20

First Things First - Some Thoughts on Choosing Your Office 22

A Word About Splits 23

Jennifer's Blog - So, You Wanna Be a Real Estate Agent? 24

Chapter 3 Beating the Odds 25

Let's Get the Bad News Out of the Way 25

Enthusiasm 26

A $7,000 Phone Call 27

Love & the Real Estate Agent 28

Full Time or Part Time? 29

Jennifer's Blog - I'm New! Don't Waste My Time! 33

Competence...Begets Confidence... 34

Your Elevator Speech 35

Success or Failure... It's Not the Circumstances, It's You! 36

Have Fun with it! 38

If You're New with More Time Than Money... 40

Chapter 4 Let's Get This Part Started - Your First Week 43

To Begin...At the Beginning 43

Just Because You're New... 44

A Good Real Estate Agent Shouldn't Be Hard to Find... 46

Perfecting Your Communication Systems 46

Mastering Your Systems 48

Your Online MLS 48

The Tax Assessor's Database 49

Your Contract Software 49

You Real Estate Face 50

Building Your SOI 50

Your "I'm in Real Estate!" Announcement Strategy 52

Learning to Preview 54

How to Preview 55

In Case You're Wondering... 57

Chapter 5 Who Knows You, Pretty Baby? 59

"Fishing From the Friendly Pond" 62

Make New Friends...But Keep the Old 62

"There's Nothing Wrong With My Comfort Zone!" 63

Four Easy Strategies for Building Your SOI 64

Take YourFriends to Lunch 64

Get Out of the Office 66

My Low-Tech PDA 67

Be the First One to Call Back 67

What Didn't Work for Me 68

Jennifer's Blog - Selling Real Estate is Not a Numbers Game 69

Chapter 6 Mastering Your Domain 73

Learning Your Product...& Your Product is Property 73

Jennifer's Blog - Why She Lost the $700,000 Buyer... 76

Three Ways to Lean Your Market FAST 77

Preview with a Purpose 77

Do Five Practice CMA's 78

Your Own Home 79

Your Friends' Homes 79

Your Company's Listings 80

Go House-Hopping with a Friend 81

Other Learning-Your-Market Ideas 81

Chapter 7 Open Sunday! Your First Open House 83

Check Out the Competition 84

Prepare for Your Visitors 85

The Day of Your Open House 86

When It's Time to Go, Make Sure You: 88

That Evening or the Next Day...at the Latest 88

Chapter 8 Your First Buyer 89

Eight Steps to Finding "The One" 89

Pre-Qualifying Buyers 89

Showing Houses to Buyers 91

Find the One, Make an Offer 91

Everyone Likes to Negotiate 93

Start Scheduling Inspections 94

Buyer Gets Loan Approval 98

Final Walk-thru 98

Closing 98

Real Estate in the Real World-Your First Buyer 99

Search for Homes 101

PreviewPreviewPreview 102

Set Your Showings 102

Meet Your Buyer! 103

Showing Homes 103

After the Tour 104

Buyer Agency 104

Your Second, Third and Fourth (?) Trips 105

Making an Offer 106

Checklists for Buyers-Under-Contract 108

Closing Gifts 111

Chapter 9 Your First Listing Appointment 113

Your Listing Presentation 113

Section One (The Marketing Proposal) 114

Section Two (The CMA) 114

Proper Pricing is Your Duty 116

Jennifer's Blog - Is It Okay to Take an Overpriced Listing so You Can Acquire Buyer Leads? 117

The "Art" of Pricing Homes 118

What if You Underprice a Home? 118

Five Steps to the Right Price 120

The Two Most Intimidating Conversations in Real Estate 122

Discussing Price with Your Seller Prospect 122

Negotiating Your Commission 125

How to Completely Eliminate Any Fee Negotiation 126

When You "Double-End" a Sale... 127

Discounting Your Commission-the "Family" Discount 129

Chapter 10 Your First Listing 131

Turning FOR SALE Signs to SOLDS 131

Checklist for New Listings 132

Your MLS Entry 135

Photography and Virtual Tours 135

Home Brochures 136

Showing Feedback 136

Market Updates 137

Staying in Touch with Your Seller 137

Six-Week Meeting with Seller 138

Fluffing & Flushing 138

Open Sunday! 139

Home Staging 140

Selling Your Listing 141

Negotiating Offers 141

Good Offers 141

Low Offers 142

Multiple Offers 143

Contingent Offers 143

Closing Your Listing 144

Handling Inspections...as the Listing/Seller's Agent 146

The Perfect Seller 146

The Easily Offended Seller 147

The Cash-Poor Seller 148

The Appraisal 148

Checklist for Listing-Under-Contract 151

Chapter 11 Serving Your Client, Not Your Paycheck 155

Adventures in Agency & the Open Checkbook Policy 155

Agency and Multiple Offers 156

Agency and Open Houses 157

Agency and Represented Buyers 157

John and the Dangerous Furnace 159

The Open Checkbook Policy 160

I'm the Proud Owner of a...Dead Tree! 161

Have You Gone Beyond the Call of Duty Lately? 161

This One Hurt 162

Oops! The HOA Fees Went Up! 163

Kathy's Stove 163

In Defense of the Open Checkbook Policy 164

Chapter 12 Special Types of Sales 167

Selling New Construction 167

Should I Use the Home Builder's Lender? 168

Selling Condominiums 171

FHA Loans 173

Chapter 13 So, You Want to be a Licensed Assistant? 175

Speaking Frankly to New Licensees... 175

Who Makes a Good Licensed Assistant? 176

But It Gets Worse... 176

If You're Bound and Determined... 177

Chapter 14 Career Development 179

Prospecting 179

Web Marketing 180

Blogging Is Not High Tech 181

Floor Time 182

Farming 183

Give the Public a Break 184

For Sale By Owners (FSBO's) 185

Expired Listings 186

Newspaper Advertising & Real Estate Magazines 186

Housewarming Parties 186

Dinner Parties 187

Three "Outings" a Week 187

Finding Your Niche 188

101 Niche Marketing Ideas 190

Goal Setting 192

Start Building Your Team 194

Continuing Education 198

Commit to a Contact Management System 200

Chapter 15 Some Final Thoughts, A Few Stories & Last Minute Advice 203

Don't Get Too Caught Up in One Prospect 203

Play Fair with Referrals 205

You Can't be All Things to All People 206

The Stories of Three Great Real Estate Agents 207

Your Guardian Angel 210

Ya Do What Ya Gotta Do... 212

If it Feels Wrong, Don't Do it 214

To Wrap Up-A Few Words of Encouragement 216

Question Convention 216

Random Reflections 217

Appendix 219

Checklists 220

Questionnaires 226

Resources 230

Contributors 232