What To Say Now: Episode 2 - Salesperson vs Advisor
and How Do You Handle A Lost Listing?

What To Say Now Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/whattosaynow

Dan Stewart: All right. All right. We made it we're live. Good times. Good times. Happy Monday on a Tuesday everybody. My name's Dan Stewart. I'm the founder of Happy Grasshopper. And with me is the good Mr. Brian Rayl. He is our director of marketing. And as you see, he's floating in porpoise and he can breathe under water. How are you Brian?

Brian Rayl: I'm doing great.

Dan Stewart: Good, good stuff. So welcome to episode two of What To Say Now. All right. This is a special thing. We're real excited to be here because this whole group, the whole reason we're doing this is because people need help knowing you guessed it, what to say now. And you see, we believe that conversation is truly the key to health, to wealth and to happiness, right? So what we're all about is freeing you from some of the bad messaging that's crept into the sales process, right?

Dan Stewart: So many people are running these tried and true scripts that have worked forever. And as a result, we feel inhuman, right? We feel like robots out on a mission instead of people getting to really enjoy our lives and make a difference in people's lives. So welcome to episode two everyone, we're going to have a great time today. We're going to tackle some issues that were brought up in the group during the past week. So if you're not already a member of our Facebook group, go to facebook.com/groups/whattosaynow. Facebook.com/groups/whattosaynow, and that's where you'll post any sort of communication issues that you're running into.

Dan Stewart: And Brian, I don't know about you, but I've faced some communication issues in my life. I once had to beg my grandmother for money so I could get through my last semester in college. And I did that in a letter because she wouldn't talk to me and then the money arrived, right? I mean, that's a really crazy example, but if you have the ability to communicate, you have the ability to persuade. And if you're in the business of selling things for a living, you must become more effective at persuading people to your point of view. So at What To Say Now, we're going to help you with any sort of issue that you have, you just posted at facebook.com/groups/whattosaynow, myself, Brian, and our entire writing team here at Happy Grasshopper, we'll dive in and point you in the right direction. All right.

Dan Stewart: So let's dive in last week, we had a post from a friend of mine, a guy that many of you will know named Mr. Ryan Bokros. He's out at Houston, Texas. He's an agent and a broker there. He's had a long track record of being very productive as an agent and perhaps even more importantly, super involved in his community. And when we were discussing topics of conversation, one thing he brought up, I thought was worth bringing up and sharing with everyone today. And that is the concept of not showing up as a salesperson, but showing up as an advisor, right? There's a huge difference there. Do you know what I'm talking about, Brian?

Brian Rayl: Yeah, absolutely. I think agents get a very bad rep because there's a lot of people that are just sales, sales, sales, and everyone looks at it like, "They're in it for the buck, they're in it for the transaction and then onto the next."

Dan Stewart: Yeah, it's true. And as soon as your friend, right, this neighbor, this person you engage with starts to feel you becoming more of a salesperson and less than a human being in equal proportions, they throw up a shield, right? They want to defend themselves from being sold. They want to protect themselves from that. And internally that causes all sorts of problems for salespeople. So remember I opened the show by saying that we believe conversation is the key to health, wealth, and happiness, right? So let's acknowledge that the first conversation that we have is always the conversation we're having with ourselves. And if we walk around every day, feeling the sense of an internal conflict, where we're not really pleased with having to show up as a salesperson, instead of as that trusted advisor, it's a place where all sorts of problems can develop.

Dan Stewart: So we want to be very, very clear to have our mindset absolutely in alignment with our actions, right? Everything gets easier when our mindset is in alignment with our actions. Okay? And it works both ways. So for example, if I want to be fit, if I want to get in the gym and really workout, build some guns and I'm telling myself constantly, "Oh, I have to go to the gym", well, my internal conversation is such that my external result just isn't going to materialize. Instead if I wake up and I say, "Hey, this is amazing. Look at this, my arms work. I get to go move some weight around so that they'll get even stronger." I mean, how cool is that, right? That internal conversation fuels an entirely different result. So to you salesperson out there who's listening to this, you need to recognize that if you're dreading that next sales call, if you're dreading that next door you're going to knock on, if you're dreading that next opportunity to work with someone in a one-on-one environment, it's probably because your internal conversation does not match your external expectations. Okay?

Dan Stewart: So we could do hours on this stuff, but I'm telling you it's as simple as fixing your internal communication, it will lead to the right external result. So Ryan, thank you for bringing that to the group's attention. I definitely appreciate that. We had another post this past week. This is from my friend and client Owen Poveda. Owen is just a super, super guy. He is such a sweet, nice, helpful, good human being. The moment you meet him, you're going to sense this about him. He is the polar opposite of someone who comes across as a sales person. He comes across as a human who cares. That's what you see when you meet Owen and you talk with him.

Dan Stewart: So he posted a question. I'm going to read this to you because I want to get it right. Imagine this situation, he has a client who said they're going to list their home with him in about a year. Okay? So that feels good. If you're a real estate professional and you know you've got this listing coming at some point in the future, that feels great. Except sometimes people don't do what they say they're going to do. And in this scenario, that's exactly what happened to Owen. 60 days later, that home showed up on the MLS, right? So this person whom he expected to serve, decided to go ahead and accept service from someone else, right? So that's an interesting place, right?

Dan Stewart: It reminds me Brian of driving through a neighborhood and seeing another agent sign up in front of your neighbor's home. How did that happen? They know what you do for living, right? So we walk around sometimes with these internal expectations that just because someone knows us, we're going to get the business. When in reality, we have to actually ask for it. So I suspect what happened in Owen's case is that this other agent showed up in this person's life, maybe they were prospecting, maybe they just are friends of a friend. You never know. And this o ther agent didn't respond the way that Owen did, right? This other agent heard, "Oh, they're going to list their home", and they did or said something that caused that person to decide not to just list with them, but to list with them now, right? They completely changed their timeframe.

Dan Stewart: So the good news here in this scenario is that Owen is now at the point where he gets a second chance. Okay, how cool is this? The home did not sell. The listing expired. I mean, we don't know what happened, right? Maybe this other agent came in and set an expectation that it would sell it a number that the market just couldn't provide. We don't know what that situation is. But we do know that we now have an opportunity for Owen to realign himself with this individual, to get that listing and to help serve this person's desire to sell their home. So Owen asked us what can he say? How can he approach this person after this thing has happened? There was an expectation, that expectation wasn't met. There were supposed to be a listing, a listing didn't happen. And then of course, the person didn't do what they say they were going to do, right? They said they would hire him and they did not.

Dan Stewart: So you put all that together and it feels a really awkward place to put yourself. I mean, what could you possibly say in the scenario that is going to give this potential listing, this potential client, the sense of comfort and safety, where they can step back and forgive themselves for not having hired you, right? What you've got to do is make room in the conversation for them to forgive themselves. You have to give them the pressure relief that they're looking for, put yourself in their shoes, right? Put yourself in their shoes and ask yourself how you would feel if you had done this to another person? And would say, "Hey, I'm going to buy that mattress from you, Brian. You've got the best mattress store in town. I'm going to buy it from you." And then I don't. Well, I find out this other bed that I bought doesn't cut the mustard, now it's time to maybe buy a new one.

Dan Stewart: It'd be great if you had some language ready where you could help me want to be your customer and not feel bad, right? So one of the things that I suggested to Owen was that we let the pressure off this conversation. So saying something along the lines of, "You know what Mr. and Mrs. Potential customer", I don't know what their names are. "I know we had talked about doing business together, and I also know how ridiculously busy I was at the time we had that conversation. So don't feel bad that you chose another agent at that time. I feel bad because clearly they didn't do a good enough job for you. Your home didn't sell. So I hope that you'll forgive me for not being more aggressive in wanting to serve you on your timeframe. I'd love the opportunity to just serve you now." Right?

Dan Stewart: So just examine what we've done there. We created space, we suggested, "Hey, it wasn't just you. It was us. It was me. That's the reason there was an issue here." And so what we have is a situation where now that person has room, they can take a breather, they can go ahead and forgive themselves and therefore decide to work with Owen. Now, what I would like to do is suggest that anyone who's watching live now, go ahead and join that Facebook group, facebook.com/whattosayow. And when you post your communication challenges and questions there, our team will get to work and help you through those sticky situations. So, Brian, let me kick it over to you here for a moment. What haven't I mentioned today that came up in the group that you think is worthy of sharing?

Brian Rayl: There's a lot of stuff in there on social media and things to say on social media. To me, social media is supposed to be social. It's not supposed to be business. You have a business page for that. And some of the simplest things can create a lot of engagement. I posted an image of a series of boxes and it says, "How many boxes does it take to complete the cube?" I've got like over 80 responses to that. Half of those are mine responding, and the other ones telling them if they're right or wrong or whatever.

Brian Rayl: But the way that social media algorithms work, all of those people that commented on my posts are now going to see more of my post going into the future. And I'm going to be able to engage them more on social media and have conversations and I'm not selling anything. And that develops those relationships and develops that trust and everything else. And that's the way that you win on social media. It's not posting every open house sign that you have or every new listing. It's about building those engagements and being social, which is why it's called social media.

Dan Stewart: Thank you. Thank you. You bring up such a good point because knowing what to say is half the challenge, knowing how to say it is a different challenge, right? At times there are technical limitations, like social media and the way those algorithms work. Other times, it's just, "Oh God, I want to send something in the mail to 300 people. Ah, how do I do that?" Right? It can be analog or it can be digital in other words. So thank you for bringing that up. It's so important. And the answer by the way, the cube, it's 45. It took me two tries, I got it wrong the first time. I got it right eventually, right? That's important.

Dan Stewart: So there was one other thing that came up in the group last week that I want to share. I posted a question, I said, "Quick question, would you be willing to get paid on the mortgage as well as the sale?" Right? I got 39 comments on that. It's a poll [inaudible 00:14:02].

Brian Rayl: There was a lot of back and forth on that.

Dan Stewart: Some people would love to get paid, some people see it as an ultimate conflict. And I brought that up because there's a guy I met recently named Andre Lujon, at a company called Shore Capital Corporation. They're out of the West Coast. And he is in the lending business. He's also in the brokerage business. And so I was just curious, right? Because it's polarizing. So I wanted to have some conversation with people in the community about that. So this is a technique here that I want to break down so you can use it in your own social media stream, right? Quick question, that's easy. People are going to see that it catches their attention and it engages their brain and thinking, "Oh, it's just a quick question. Okay. I can answer this." So then you can't write a book, right? If you say it's a quick question, that'd be a short, quick question. That's important.

Dan Stewart: And I'm asking their opinion directly. So think about this. Do I know from all those people who commented more than I used to know about how they feel about this issue? I absolutely do. Right?

Brian Rayl: Yup.

Dan Stewart: So if you're in real estate and you post a question, "Curious pool owners, do you like a chlorinated pool or the old fashioned kind?" Right? Now you put that kind of a post out, if you're a pool guy that's useful. You're going to see people who are engaging with that. If you sell real estate for living and you ask home ownership related questions, you're going to get homeowners answering. You'll know more about them, you'll create an opportunity for them to see you as a professional that they might like to work with. Right? So those are the tips that I definitely want to share, little bonuses from this past week's comments in the group.

Dan Stewart: We are up to. I'm going to do a quick check here now. And just the first full week of the group existing. How many members are we up to Brian? Do we have three or four yet?

Brian Rayl: I think it might be five now.

Dan Stewart: I think we're up to five. Okay. Let's see here. It's so easy to find on my phone, I should have known this before clicking on this. I believe that we're right around 300 members in the group.

Brian Rayl: Very nice.

Dan Stewart: If you're here, welcome, thank you for being here. Please share the group. The more people we get involved in the conversation the more good we can do in the world. So I will look forward to the next episode next week, Brian, that's going to be on Monday. That will be the 1st of June. And one thing that we do at the beginning of a month, every month, is we break down a communication plan for you that will give you some beats throughout the month that you want to share with the people in your database. So definitely be sure to tune in 2:00 PM on Monday, right here on Facebook Live. So Brian, thank you for your participation today. I appreciate it.

Brian Rayl: As always.

Dan Stewart: Ryan, Bokros and Owen Poveda, thank you very much for your questions in the group. You guys have a great week.

Brian Rayl: Have a good one guys.

Dan Stewart: All right, take care. Bye.

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