This "Secret" is like gold in your hand!

Listening.  Active listening.  Not a sales "secret" in the traditional sense; all agents know how important this is in developing relationships and in effective selling.  Certainly a lot written on this topic, and its a central focus of Dale Carnegie human relations training.

But it might as well be a secret, because so few agents have actually mastered this.  The fact is that if you are skilled at asking the right questions, your prospect or client will do the majority of the talking, and you will do the majority of the listening.  This is what builds great rapport, and makes you memorable in the mind of the customer.

Many agents though mistakenly believe that they need to impress by talking about their own background and experience and educating the client, and thus do most of the talking in every encounter.

Want to really impress your client?  Get them to do most of the talking, and actively listen - not only with your ears, but your body language as well.  Get good at asking questions, deeper questions, follow up questions.....

What is the first step?  Be totally honest with yourself.  Analyze your last prospect/client meeting.  Did you fall into the talking trap?  Easy to do...after all, we all secretly want to talk about ourselves, and let the client know how much we know.  You can fix it, and be consistent with listening more than you talk.

Still waters really do run deep.  Get them talking, revealing themselves.  If they ask you questions, keep your answers brief and to the point, and keep the focus on them.  They will find you strangely credible and brilliant, even though you did not rattle off your resume line by line.  You can take that golden nugget right to the bank.

Being memorable

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Do you have an open mind?

"We cannot learn what is right if we secretly insist that we already know it. Now, this statement seems quite obvious; a man would quickly agree with it. Yet, there is something drastically wrong somewhere. If a man truly sees that he does not know rightness, his very emptiness leaves room for it, which changes the man into a freer state. If a man does not change, it means just one thing: he fearfully clings to the false assumption that he already knows rightness, which blocks entrance of genuine rightness."  - Vernon Howard

An illuminating truth to reflect upon....in fact, we have a tendency to be closed to learn anything at all in an area that we are sure we already know.  I recently spoke with an agent inquiring about various lead programs....he had done "well" trying some lead sources and not so well with others, insisting that he had good products and was very confident in his selling and presentation skills....just needed more quality leads.

"Well" to this agent was selling to 3 out of 10 qualified leads.  We know the master communicators/master closers in our industry sell to 8 out of 10 qualified leads.  But initially, this agent refused to acknowledge the possibility that he could close more leads by both diversifying his solution set and improving his communication skills.  Once he put his ego aside, he created the freedom to accept new possibilities....new ways of doing business.  He ultimately improved his results dramatically, not by acquiring more leads, but by selling more effectively to the leads he already had.

Want to make more money??  Keep your ego in check and an open mind to new possibilities.  Keep a willingness to try something new and at least see how it works out.  Good luck and good selling.

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What do you say to yourself?

Most people don’t consciously realize it, but as we go about our daily lives we are constantly thinking about and interpreting the situations we find ourselves in. We all have an internal voice inside our head that determines how we perceive every situation. Psychologists call this inner voice ‘self-talk‘, and it includes our conscious thoughts as well as our unconscious assumptions or beliefs.

Whenever you find yourself feeling depressed, angry, anxious or upset, use this as your signal to stop and become aware of your thoughts. Use your feelings as your cue to reflect on your thinking.

If you wouldn't talk to your friend the way you talk to yourself, STOP right now.

You deserve the same love, consideration, and kindness from yourself that you give others... not only that, your thoughts and words have a powerful impact on your health, well-being,  happiness, and business results.

Treat yourself like the beautiful, amazing person you are, and watch your sales results dramatically improve!

How Does Your Target Market Think and Feel?

Top Gun agents know they cannot be all things to all people, so they find a smaller market niche to serve and serve well.  Part of "serving well" includes staying on top of relevant niche data to always be gaining insight as to how your prospects think and feel.  For example, for those in the senior market niche, the National Committee on Aging recently released new survey results:

http://www.ncoa.org/improve-health/community-education/united-states-of-aging/usa-survey-2013.html

Some interesting and insightful information...in reading through the fact sheet e.g. 65% of seniors report having at least 2 chronic health conditions....of course most boomers don't think it will ever be them! The stats on financial security concerns were insightful, but not surprising. Some good stats for planners to use to further encourage retirement saving and income planning.

Lot's of good nuggets reviewing survey results like this; so when you develop a couple of questions for prospects beginning with, "Did you know that according to the 2013 United States of Aging Survey that .....", you demonstrate your credibility and connection to the senior market.