Real Estate Sales Techniques

How to Become a Power Agent in Real Estate

Here’s a book published way back in 2003 that is still relevant to agents today. This guide to powering up every element of real estate sales, author Darryl Davis offers tips on everything from prospecting, servicing listings, to handling objections. The book is based on his “The Power Program” which was a monthly training program for agents. New agents will find this book’s discussion and techniques very informative and ultimately profitable, and experienced agents may find it inspiring. I know I did.

Perhaps the main contribution of How to Become a Power Agent in Real Estate is how Davis recommends focusing on sellers and asking key questions of the seller, specifically what is the seller’s motivation to sell. Davis calls it the sellers commitment. The seller’s commitment (to move onto their next home and life) forms the basis of the buying strategy. When sellers balk at the price, terms, commission or selling to a specific buyer, Davis reminds the seller of their need to take the valuable purchase offer and move onto their new life. A great tactic to keep people thinking positively toward a future they’re eager to get to rather than hanging on to squeeze a few more $K on their home sale. The same principle applies to buyers who may balk at paying a price or lose faith in buying a home.  The coach must encourage, inspire and give direction. It’s an active approach that leads to win-win.

Real Estate Sales Book - Optimizing your Sales Effectiveness

The other key selling attributes he recommends developing are consistency, repetition, and patience in achieving results. It takes time for any kind of promotion to take effective and generate action from your targeted prospects. A new agent will find these tips inspiring.

Davis calls his strategy a consultative approach to selling, where the agent helps the buyer achieve the results they need. The agent then becomes a coach to buyers and sellers. The consultative approach is a popular sales technique today since so many sales people are engineers and advisors who must help customers and clients discover the right solution among very complex options.

Davis also offers tips on approaches For Sale by Owner homeowners, expired sellers, and foreclosures. While many won’t deal with these types of sellers, he offers hope that these types of leads can be converted to a new customer.

The chapter on handling objections is thorough with plenty of techniques and real life examples. He even touches on what may be the key to not having to face objections. That would be good preparation. I might add that today, good preparation is a good website. However, when you’re with the seller and trying to close, it is almost certain they are going to be tough on price and commissions. One technique that may work well when sellers ask for a reduced commission rate. He suggests calling your commission a marketing fee. Your services then become broader in context as you’re marketing the home rather than just selling it as a commodity with a fixed price.

In the chapter on Negotiating, Davis offers some great tips for dealing with listing agents. Although the listing agent can pose real problems in reaching the seller with a great offer, it makes sense to find ways to create value for that agent rather than getting into a power struggle with them.

In yet another informative chapter on Self Promotion, he gives encouragement to agents to become local celebrities. Many agents do try to become celebrities as many top sales producers are very well known citizens. Lots of billboard and other outdoor advertising helps as does getting involved in the community. Davis calls it simply, the self-promotion campaign and he discusses everything from logos to post cards to giveaways.

If you haven’t read this book, it may be one of the better books for real estate agents and certainly inspires you to examine how you’re running your business. Davis wants agents to excel and become top sales performers.

Darryl Davis is a speaker, trainer, and business coach and you can discover more about his services at http://www.darryldavisseminars.com/.