What can a REALTOR® learn from an intelligence agent? Techniques on how to win over prospects and clients? Safety tips? How to get out of trouble? How to recruit talent to your organization? Let’s have some fun exploring all of these.
Winning People Over
Tip #1: Keep a small cooler in your car with ice cold bottles of water and cans of Coke. Your powers of influence go up dramatically when you give someone an ice cold beverage, particularly if it is a hot day, or if they’re thirsty, or if they’re stressed. When I was driving around in desolate parts of the world, this technique worked marvelously at getting through roadblocks even when I didn’t speak the language of the guards. Imagine pulling up to a roadblock operated by several men with machine guns. They have the power to ruin your day (and your life). And all you wanted to do was drive to your destination! With the engine running and the car in gear (just in case I needed a quick getaway), I’d roll down the window and give out Coca Colas. Then I’d point and ask to get through the roadblock. That gesture works like a charm, as the hot and tired guards would appreciate a simple act of kindness. As a REALTOR®, imagine handing your prospects a cold beverage when they meet you for the first time at the office. Those cool drinks also are much appreciated when you’re showing homes.
Tip #2: Conduct online research of your prospects before you meet with them. Intelligence officers meticulously research people before they even think of meeting them. Use Google, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and other online tools to discover your prospect’s likes, dislikes, and hobbies. This allows you to establish rapport and learn the behavior that would appeal to them the most. Are they direct and to the point? Do they have a love or a disdain for details? What’s really important to them? And above all, know this: they are researching you too! So make sure your online presence is something that would sell them on why they would want to work with you.
Tip #3: Use mirroring and matching. It is proven that people are generally more comfortable with people who behave like them. A slow talker is more comfortable with a fellow slow talker rather than a fast talker. If someone sits back in a relaxed fashion, it is wise to also sit back in a relaxed way. If someone is animated with their gestures, then match their animated state. As an intelligence agent, I would often take mirroring and matching to an extreme. If my intelligence source drank alcohol, I would match him. (Now I don’t suggest you drink on the job, and I should hope your prospect is not offering you homemade hard liquor. I’ve had way too much nasty, home-brewed alcohol in dimly-lit, seedy shanties.)
Tip #4: Preview homes before you show them to a buyer. An intelligence agent always scopes out locales before meeting someone there. It’s important to know the travel routes and layout of the meeting sites. As a buyer agent, consider holding yourself to a standard in which you don’t show a house to a buyer client unless you’ve gone there beforehand. You provide an even better service to your client when you preview homes before considering bringing them there. You’ll likely show fewer homes, as you used a process of elimination based upon what you actually saw instead of what you deduced online. If you’re going on a listing appointment, consider previewing other homes in the neighborhood in the two hours before you meet with the prospective sellers. That way, you can tell them that you’re familiar with the other nearby homes that are for sale. This will set you apart from most REALTORS®, who don’t bother to preview the competition.
Tip #5: Show up early. An intelligence agent always shows up early to observe the scene and to choose the best place to sit. Arriving early gives you more control. Many REALTORS® have a reputation for being consistently late, so by showing up early you already set yourself apart. Consider arriving 10 minutes early to your listing appointments, but instead of going to the front door, walk around the house with a clipboard taking notes. The sellers will likely observe you through the windows walking around their house. At the precise time of the appointment, ring the doorbell. Say something like, “We had an appointment at 3 o’clock, and well, it’s 3 o’clock.” That reinforces in their mind that you’re a professional who sticks to their appointments. Also, the sellers will appreciate that you took the time to study the exterior features of their house.
Tip #6: Ask lots of questions. The one who asks the most questions is the one in control of the conversation. An intelligence agent asks many questions, constantly digging deeper looking for facts and the truth. Information gives you power. Many skilled REALTORS® are masters of asking questions so they appear more as an advisor as opposed to a salesperson. If you’re conducting your initial consultation with a prospective buyer client, consider saying, “I’d rather ask you 500 questions and show you five homes, instead of asking you five questions and showing you 500 homes. Doesn’t that sound like a great plan?”
Tip #7: Use cover stops to meet lots of people. Intelligence agents use cover stops before and/or after meeting with a source so anyone conducting surveillance might be confused as to the nature of the agent’s activities. It would look suspicious for an agent to meet a source and then go straight back to the agent’s safe house, as it would reveal to any surveillance that the specific nature of the agent’s job was to meet that person. A cover stop can be meeting another person for coffee or stopping to drop off a gift for someone. In a day, an intelligence agent might stop for breakfast with someone, then meet their source, then drop off a gift for someone else, and then have coffee with another person. As a REALTOR®, you don’t want to be a secret agent where no one knows you’re in the real estate business. Have fun with meeting for coffee, dropping off gifts, or sharing a meal with someone. A number of 15 to 60 minute cover stops will generate business while being fun and easy.
Deployed Overseas. Undisclosed Location.
Safety
Tip# 8: If you sense danger, move off the X. Intelligence agents know that when they sense an ambush, they must move off the “X” immediately. X marks the spot – the spot where you die. An attacker has a plan, and they anticipate that you’ll be at a specific location so they can hatch their ambush. A keen intelligence agent observes their surroundings and follows their gut. If they sense that danger is close or if an ambush begins, they immediately move as fast as possible. That movement disrupts the attacker’s plan and forces them to react. In any situation, the one who has the initiative is the one in command. By moving at or away from an attacker, the agent takes the initiative. As a real estate agent, if you sense danger, move off the X as fast as possible. Run away, or drive away, or charge the attacker.
Tip #9: Communicate. A basic principle of infantry warfare is Shoot-Move-Communicate. In an attack, a soldier shoots, then moves, then communicates. The communication allows the others in the unit and the commanders know what is happening, so they can surge resources to engage the attackers. An intelligence agent operating deep in hostile territory is typically alone, so they communicate their planned travel to their colleagues. They also use code words to convey that they’re in a sticky situation. They also have specific phone numbers saved or on speed dial for quick emergency calls. A real estate agent should consider communicating their showing schedule to a colleague so people know where they are. Many real estate agencies have a code word for duress. For example, an agent in the field may call their front desk and state, “I need the red folder.” That can communicate that they’re in danger and need immediate support.
Tip #10: Know ingress and egress routes before you go somewhere. An intelligence agent studies multiple avenues of ingress and egress to their planned meeting site. They know that if there’s a roadblock or traffic jam, they can divert to another path. While they rely upon a GPS device, they also carry a local map just in case. Keeping a local map in the glove box of your car can come in handy. Consider being familiar with more than one route to the houses you’re showing. If nothing else, you’ll be able to take a shortcut if there is traffic on the main route.
Tip #11: If you carry a weapon, keep it in the same place all the time. If an intelligence agent carries a concealed weapon, they keep it in the same place on their person at all times. That way they’re not fumbling around looking for their weapon if they need it. Studies of ambushes indicate that the typical attacker engages the victim at a range of seven feet, with the victim having at best one second to react. In other words, an intelligence agent knows that they must react to an ambush within one second, with the attacker typically only seven feet away. If you carry a concealed weapon, keep it in the same place so you know exactly where to reach to grab it.
Tip #12: Sit with your back to the wall so you can see what’s going on around you. As mentioned earlier, an intelligence agent likes to arrive early and sit in a position where they can observe the environment. That means sitting with your back to the wall, so no one can sneak up behind you. This is practical for real estate agents because you can see the person you’re going to meet when they approach, so you can wave to them. It is also practical because you’ll have time to note where the fire exits are, just in case there’s a fire.
Your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to help lots of people buy, sell, and invest in real estate. This message will self-destruct in 10 seconds. Nine…eight…seven…six…
Tai DeSa was an intelligence officer with the U.S. Navy. One of his assignments was with the Defense Intelligence Agency’s Directorate of Operations. He is a veteran of the Kosovo Campaign, The Global War on Terror, and The Iraq War.
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