All of us have faced commission objections during a listing presentation, and this is a real Achilles’ Heel for our industry. Cutting commission is the only tool many average agents have to resort to when they run up against prospect objections. The overarching sentiment I want you to understand is that price is only an issue in the absence of value. If you do a good job of communicating your value to the sellers you’re meeting with, obtaining your full and fair commission will not be an issue. Most of my successful students are actually able to easily charge a higher commission than their competitors because they are able to communicate how much over and above value the seller prospect will receive by working with them. Even if the percentage they charge is more than a lesser agent will settle for, the seller prospect is made to understand that they will net more in their pocket because this agent will get them more money for their home. And that’s the real bottom line for the seller, isn’t it.
Here’s some language that may help you in your discussions with your seller prospects. It works for many objections, including length of listing, as well as commission. If the seller asks you to cut your fee, say this:
"Mr. Seller, I can appreciate that we're talking about a significant amount of money here. Tonight we talked a lot about our marketing plan and specifically what my company and I will be doing for you to assure you home gets the most demand possible. We talked about our Sunday Tour, our Talking Ads, our Guaranteed Sale Program, our phenomenal web sites and internet exposure, classified, editorial and display ads and so on.
"Let me ask, have you ever flown on an airplane?"
Of course they say yes.
(The beauty behind this is they have no idea where you're going or how it relates to the objection.)
"Let's imagine, then, that you are about to leave on a transatlantic flight and to reach your destination, your plane requires 3,000 tons of fuel. Would you get on the plane if it only had 1,500 tons of fuel?"
They say of course not.
"If we were to cut our fee, we'd obviously have to cut back on the marketing we do. Cutting back on our marketing is like flying on half a tank of fuel. You see, we don't know which piece is going to get your home sold, but what we do know is that the more pieces we have, the greater the likelihood that we find the right buyer who is willing to pay you top market for your home. Does that make sense?"
If not, or if you're still getting resistance . . .
"Maybe it will help if we look at it this way; if we cut our fee 1% and, as a result, don't offer all the great lead generators and marketing we talked about, demand will go down or certainly won't be as high if we go all out, right? So, you save say 1% on the commission but perhaps you lose 3 or 4 % on the sales price because you don't have as many buyers knowing about your home. Is that what you really want me to do?"
I've found it very successful in my own business to use simple and logical analogies such as these to provoke my prospects to draw the conclusion I want them to all on their own. When they made the connection in their own minds, we started working together rather than disagreeing over significant points.
I teach agents how to structure their businesses so they can offer true over and above value to their clients, and then how to communicate this value to prospects so they’re able to win more of their listings. Many of my students now easily convert 9 out of 10 of the prospects they meet with in the same way I did myself in my own real estate business for over 20 years. A fantastic place to really immerse yourself in the winning strategies I teach is at my 3-day SuperConference, and my October 25-27/13 SuperConference in Orlando is only a few weeks away. This 3-days will be invaluable to your business. It is at my SuperConference that the most successful agents launched their trajectory to success, and you’ll meet many of them there to find out exactly how they did it. If you’re ready to take your business to the next level, register now while space is still available.
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