In late October I attended the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Council of Real Estate Brokerage Managers (CRB) meeting at the Broadmoor Hotel, where I received my “thank you very much” award for serving as 2007-2008 chapter President. Beyond that much appreciated pleasantry , the small but vociferous group of leaders present brainstormed ideas on just how to make the Rocky Mountain CRB useful to the managing brokers. One particularly good idea, which became a theme, was to have speakers from outside the industry speak to us about how to better do the things we do. Great concept, and we will make that happen in 2009.

Of more interest to you is my happenstance discovery of a “You Tube” video on the thephoenixrealestateguy's blog site. His site featured a clip of Gary Vaynerchuk, slated to speak at Inman Connect. If he can reinvent the wine business, you can reinvent your business. Find this guy on You Tube and pay attention.

In these challenging times, I hear many Realtors® asking “what do I do to make a sale”. Here are my thoughts:

Please remember that we are in the sales business. We sell a service. Many people still want to acquire houses, and many people still need to sell them. The service we sell is the expertise to join together a buyer and a seller and effect a sale of real property. It is more difficult (but obviously not impossible) today because people are scared and concerned about the economy, politics, war, and their job. The public needs you to be reassuring and professional. Be calm, point out the plus sides, the big one being that prices are low enough to make home ownership possible for many people. Need help? Take a look at “Selling Simplified” below.

Selling Simplified-Selling is simple. Here is how it works:

1.) Find another person to talk to. (there are people everywhere, just start connecting)

2.) Ask that person about the things that matter, family, occupation, recreation, and dreams (F.O.R.D.). (if you do not care a whit about people, it is difficult to demonstrate genuine curiosity)

3.) Listen. (This is really hard. Stop talking. You are listening for clues of change)

4.) Determine if there is a need for the thing you are selling.

5.) If so, sell your thing; if not, add or make current their contact information, bid a pleasant goodbye, and find another person to talk to.

We have in our home 30 books on selling techniques, and they all boil down to that level of simplicity. Just 5 things, all 5 of which we learned before we were 6 years old. Somewhere after 6, probably by age 10 or 12, we learned about rejection. That learning experience was painful, and has screwed most of us up since then. Humans hate rejection, and we will avoid it whenever possible. We go to great lengths to find business without actually asking for it, hoping that because of our great technique, people will just line up and beg to work with us. That does not happen often enough to make a living. Rejection will not kill you (it does not feel good, but it will not kill you). Talk to people, you will find business. Really.

Back in 1998, Spencer Johnson, M.D. wrote a very cool book titled “Who Moved My Cheese”. I urge you pick up a copy and breeze through it. It is a short but valuable read. Since our cheese has been moved, both internally and externally, and is probably true that our cheese will never sit still again, you should embrace techniques to help you keep your eye on the cheese. Start with steps 1 through 5 above.