Broker Bryant has a serious 'tude!!!

Hi folks. OK my post today was sparked by Jennifer Allan's post "What Your Sellers May Not Know......but need to." If you haven't already read it, take a minute to do so, as it is very good. Jennifer is briefly touching down on a mistake she had made by assuming that an experienced Seller knows all about the selling process. Jennifer and her partner made the decision to.....well here's what she wrote:

"We didn't want to insult his intelligence by boring him with all the details of having a home on the market; we figured if he had a question about the process, he'd ask."

Well, it turned out that he was not as informed as Jennifer had assumed and it create unnecessary stress and confusion for the Seller.

By the way, Jennifer Allan is a very smart REALTOR®. She is also a trainer, consultant and a published author. In fact I just received her book "Selling with Soul" in the mail today and I'm really looking forward to reading it. One thing I have learned, in my 13 year real estate career, is that we will NEVER know everything. Real estate is a learning process. We all make mistakes. The key is to learn from our mistakes and to learn from each other. Even though I feel I'm pretty smart when it comes to real estate I'm sure I will learn something new from Jennifer's book. Sometimes it's something as simple as a new way of looking at things.

OK, enough of my book plug for Jennifer. Go to amazon.com and buy her book. I'll be back in a week or two to post my book review. Jennifer, I promise to be nice.

Here is the comment I left on Jennifer's post:

"Jennifer when I meet with experienced Sellers I tell them that I'm going to just start talking about the process and ask them to stop me if they feel they already know something. They NEVER stop me. I agree completely it is our job to make sure our customer/clients know the process. In fact the majority of my listing presentation is talking about showing procedures, contract negotiations, inspections and getting to closing. My assumption is that I already have the listing so my job is now to educate. It also keeps the Seller focused on the end result and not whether or not to hire me. I hire myself as soon as a potential seller calls me. Does that make sense?"

Folks, read my comment carefully. It contains the key to my success at taking listings. And that key.....is attitude. My attitude, from the moment a potential Seller calls me, is that I'm hired. I don't spend time at a listing appointment selling my services. My time is spent doing my job as their Broker. And my job is to educate them on the selling process, market conditions and pricing. My entire presentation is based on the assumption that the listing is already mine. In fact, when I go to a listing appointment I'm going over to place the property on the market NOT to sit through a REALTOR® interview. This is a mindset that I've always had and it works.

And why shouldn't I have that attitude? I'm very good at what I do. I know my market inside out and I'm the best person for the job. I know what your thinking, "Broker Bryant that sure is cocky." The reality is, that it's not cocky at all, it's confidence. There's a big difference. To me, I would be doing THEM a disservice if they don't list with me. I have many years of experience and knowledge and I know that if their house can be sold then I'm the one that will get it sold. I also know that I will look out for them and make sure that things go as smoothly as possible. If I know these things to be true how could I have any other attitude? I can't.

Folks, next time a potential Seller calls you, hire yourself. Then, don't go over to interview for the job, go over to start working. Just jump right in and start educating your new customer/client. Then when you are done have them sign the listing agreement. If you approach your listing appointments with this attitude it WILL work. Confidence is contagious. If you exude confidence in what you are doing they will have confidence in you. Taking the listing will be nothing more than a technicality.

So, there you go, a new way of looking at things. How's it look?

Picture is compliments of Bob Carney. Thanks Bob!!

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