Managing Expectations in Real Estate Sales

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In my latest YouTube video, I dive into the turbulent waters of the real estate industry, specifically focusing on the last 60 days of the year. As a seasoned Realtor with over three decades of experience, I've weathered various market storms, from the dot-com bubble to the Great Recession and even the unexpected challenges of 2020's lockdowns. The real estate landscape is currently a puzzle with missing pieces. Agent commissions are under scrutiny, interest rates are a rollercoaster, and homeowners are locked in a maze of uncertainty. Income stability feels like trying to catch smoke in your hands. In this video, I share insights that every real estate agent should consider. I unravel the mystery of turning internet inquiries into genuine leads and the power of active prospecting over passive marketing. The goal is to inspire and empower fellow agents to stay resilient in the coming year. Health, both physical and mental, is a top priority for me, and I know it's a concern for many others in our profession. Balancing work, family, and the ever-changing market requires not just skill but adaptability and, at times, a glimpse around the corner to see what's coming. While some agents turn to coaches for guidance, not all coaches are created equal. Many peddle untested products and formulas. What sets me apart as a real estate sales trainer and coach is my experience in navigating through challenging market conditions. I've been in the trenches during the toughest times and have the wisdom to share. However, I emphasize that learning must translate into action. So, join me in this video as we chart a course through these uncertain times, armed with knowledge and determination. Together, we'll navigate the real estate terrain, adapt, and thrive. Because when it comes to success in real estate, it's not just about doing the work; it's about doing the right work. If you're ready to steer your real estate career through the storm, hit that play button, and let's embark on this journey together. Your success in the industry is my priority, and I'm here to provide the guidance you need. Stay tuned, stay informed, and let's make the last 60 days of this year count.

Focus On What Matters To Sell Real Estate And Thrive This New Year

There's a huge difference between being interested and being motivated. Let me explain. This is your first day in real estate and I am your real estate sales trainer and coach James Festini, and this is the program that's gonna teach you how to sell more real estate in less time. I've got a huge lead problem. I've got a lot of leads. I've got about 2000 leads as I went through my database earlier. I'm in lead hell right now because leads are easy. Especially if you're willing to pick up the phone and prospect or knock on doors, you're gonna generate a lot of leads. If you buy inquiries from the internet and you are actually following up on those inquiries and you have filtered them and identify them as a lead, and you spend a lot of money getting that, you have a lead problem too. You've found a lot of leads in your database, but you just can't seem to filter them. What is this? What do we do when we have so many leads? I've discovered a solution to that. The solution is to identify interest versus motivation. You see a parrott, I would say a monkey, but monkeys can't talk. So let's say a parrot could close a motivated lead, but a skilled closer. It closes that same lead. A skilled closer knows when they're motivated. A skilled closer knows when they're not. So I know that there's people out there who think they can sell ice to Eskimo, but if they don't need ice, you're. I basically scamming them, right? If they don't need ice, why would you sell ice to Eskimo? See, I want to find people who are motivated that have a purpose so that when I provide them my service, residential real estate, help them buy or sell that when that transaction begins, because that transaction is much faster than buying a bag of ice. It's 30 day escrow, sometimes six months worth of worth of searching. Or marketing time, right? You wanna make sure that they are totally convinced that the decision that they're making is the right thing. How do you get them to do that? They have to be motivated. You see if they're interested and you close them so many times, man, I'm a good clo. Oh, that's, I actually, like, I, I stopped being such a good closer because back in the day, I would literally be so good at closing people. I'll never forget this one where I got a listing agreement, right? And then the sign showed up and the homeowner called and says, why is there a sign in my front yard? And I'm like, because we listed. He goes, well, yeah, but I'm not ready to sell yet. I'm like, well, what about the contract? Like we said, he goes, yeah, but I thought that. I'm like, no. You know what? Uh, clearly I used my talent, my knowledge for evil because you're not ready old man. So I took the sign down and, you know, it actually was probably about six months before he was truly motivated to sell. You can have someone who's very interested. I mean, we're talking like hot, hot, hot, like level 10, hot one through 10, level 10. Uh, level nine, level 10 would be hot. But there's these varying degrees of motivation. So right now I'm going to be working, or I have been working with, uh, it's not enough to say hot, warm, cold. To identify motivation, we have to have a motivation scale, some sort of data set, some. Points of reference, some key triggers, words or actions, behaviors, conversations that have to happen with a potential client to say, you know what? They're ready. Let's just naturally close. You've heard that before. A closing is a natural ending to a good presentation. Right. When you are with a motivated seller and you sit down and you talk over price and terms, there's this moment where there's like, so what do you think Mr. Seller? And they're like, yeah, oh, great. Let's pull out the paperwork. Let's sign the contract. Let's, let's get this started. Let's rock and roll. Whatever your closing buffers are, you know, they're motivated. It just happens no matter if you puke on the table. And you clean it up, you could still get the listing, even if you have to skew yourself to go to the bathroom. 'cause you got bad stomach and it takes you like 10 minutes and they're like wondering if they're, you're in the bathroom dropping a deuce and then you come back, you're like, Ooh, that was hard. I've been there. That's why I'm relating to it. You'll still get the listing because they're motivated. Right? Hell think about what we're going through during the pandy about. MM two, not long enough ago. That's motivation. When you got somebody to sell during that, during a global pandemic, you got someone to live to like say, come on in. 'cause no one knew back then what it was. You know, nobody knew back then what it was. So for them to invite you into their house, they had to be incredibly motivated to do that. So I'm encouraging you now, ladies and gentlemen, to identify the difference. Recognize the words and behaviors and the conversations and be real with yourself. There is a difference. I actually got this because I was writing it down. There is a difference between interest and motivation. I. One of the notes I put here is, like I said, a parrot can close a motivated lead, a skilled closer knows they're motivated. You can't close those that are not ready. So when you collect all of these leads and you think to yourself, man, why am I not closing? How come I'm making so many calls? I can't seem to close them. It's because they're not motivated. And you need to hurry up and find out the varying degrees of motivation and put them in those pockets. So it's your expectation and your words and behavior and follow up and consistent, uh, attack to try to get them to sign a contract is in its right place. And time when they're ready. They are a level 10. So I'm having my databases now. Instead of just saying hot, warm, cold, with a high, medium, low callback story, it is now or frequency. It is now levels of M motivation, M one to 10. So if somebody is a lead today, says they're interested, but now they're no longer interested and they've changed their mind. Once upon a time, they were a lead. And I don't want to just throw them into what I would call gen pop. I would hold onto them, but when I called them, I knew that they weren't, like, they still weren't, but once upon a time they were. I say it's like a cavity when a dentist, you know, the, you have a cavity. You can avoid a cavity for years, but you know it's there. So, They have that cavity and you're the dentist, and they called in and said, I need to get this taken care of. And then they canceled the appointment, but they never filled the cavity. They just live with it. But what happens at some point, that cavity is gonna get so big and you just need to be there at the right place at the right time. So I'm putting these varying degrees of. Groups inside of Mojo that are M one through 10, and every conversation, every engagement is gonna either be a plus or a minus point based on the results of that previous conversation. Was it a positive conversation? Did they say they were still interested that they're in two or three months though? Well, maybe that's like they say they're really interested. Remember interest versus motivation. They say they're really interested in six months. Then that's probably an M five because they're not right now, but they are warm. So maybe these motivation, I say M, these motivational factor of five through, you know, one through 10, maybe 7, 8, 9 was hot, and maybe 4, 5, 6, 7 was warm, and maybe 1, 2, 3, 4 was cold, but you knew they were once upon a time and then a zero. Is just the phone book, right? You call a complete stranger. There's zero motivation until you identify it. Just like someone walking into an open house. Are they a lead? No. You'd have a conversation. Are they a lead? Yes. What are they? One through 10. M one through 10. So I'm saying it here. Now. It's gonna be in mojo, but I'm, I'm working on this thing. I, it's, it's a word that, let me say it now. Lead. Qualification. I heard the word yesterday. I'm trying to remember what that word was. But there's, uh, the, the lead motivating factor. You know what, I wrote it in my journal what that word was 'cause I've been trying to struggle with it, and I know that because I'm full-time doing this all the time. That there, oh, here it is. Probability matrix. Listen to these words. 'cause they're going to be mainstream in the next two years. And I'm, you're hearing it here first if it's even been said, but I guess I'll say I've coined them because I haven't heard them, but I've heard people speaking of these things and CRMs are touching in this space and what I, what I'm calling it is, A probability matrix similar to, uh, softwares out there who, uh, there's been a few lately where they say it's likely that they'll sell or the probability of them selling is based on some factors. They've been in the house for the last 15 years. They've got, you know, an interest rate above 5%. So their probability is maybe a little bit higher 'cause they've got equity and they're older, or maybe there's. Some other scores or metrics that they're using to identify motivation. But at the end of the day, maybe they're not. So it's a, a matrix, you know, uh, it's not like a one of those vertical scales, but it's all sorts of factors that come into the scoring of the lead. So moving forward, we're gonna look whether they're motivated, Or they're just interested. And many times you'll find that their motivation is based on an, their objections are based on either a condition, an immovable object, like a graduation or a job transfer or something that is there. That can't be done. Um, interest rates, for example, when they say My interest rates suck, you can't move that object. Can. Is there an alternative? How motivated are they? Well, we bought a house, you know, two or three years ago. We gave, you know, we bought a thousand square foot, two bedroom house and, or we bought a, 900 square foot, one bedroom condo. I met a girl, she got pregnant, we got twins. Interest rates suck. What are the, what's the probability score? What is the lead score of someone like that? Okay. A a, um, um, a single bachelor who bought a 900 square foot apartment, right? Just had twins with his brand new wife, three years later, 900 square feet. Four people and they're growing and eating a lot. What's his job? Right? Probability matrix will include what's his job situation? Is his financial situation changed? Does his wife work? 'cause if his wife works, now you have dual income, so they can't afford a new place. Ooh, probability matrix. Does it say that he'd be considering renting or does he have to sell that? What's the motivation there to sell this house? Because they have to buy a new one. Well, they need the money from here to this. Now we're looking at a listing probability. Lead scoring matrix that shows you what are the metrics that give you something that we all know as closers, but we didn't know it before. Now that we are some of us very skilled closers, the internet and society. Has raised us and and cultivated really good closers, but now as closers, we need to now rely on technology to assist us because now we are capable of lead generation and we are capable of closing. The difference is gonna be. Closing on motivated versus interested, and never before have I, in my 30 years of doing this as a professional, closer telemarketer, a hustler, whatever you wanna call me. I know one thing for sure. It's very easy to generate a lead. It's not that easy to identify motivation versus. Interest, you can have the most interested person who really, really wants to sell, right? Mr. Homeowner wants to sell really, really bad, but according to FE'S probability matrix, I. Which asks. The second question, man wants to sell is man married. Here's the matrix. Man is married? Yes. Okay. What's the wife say? The wife says, no way. We're not leaving California. My mother and father live here. All my kids are in this school. I'm not changing the schools period. Probability matrix just went from a 10 with the man to a one with the woman. What? Now we gotta focus on her probability matrix. He's covered. Hers is what matters. The schools will she move after the season or before the season? These probability matrixes will lead you to the questions that you should be asking that should automatically. Evolve in the conversation based on if you can identify the problem, right? Like a doctor. When a doctor goes, when you step into the doctor's office, they weigh you, right? They weigh you. They check your pulse, they check your temperature. Why did they do that? Why do they hit your knee with that rock? Why do they do that? Because they need a foundation. What we do is we ask preliminary questions as a foundation, right? And then they say, What ails you? Well, doctor my arm, right? You didn't need to weigh 'em for your arm, but maybe there's some other symptoms as to why your arm hurts, right? But they need to do the fundamental questions to find out are they sick? Do they have that cavity? Are they interested or are they motivated? And. Can we measure interest on a motivational sliding scale? I believe so. And one through 10, and that's what I'm doing inside of my system. I've created a group. I'm not solely categorizing them in these groups, but they are being identified as, or tags. You can use them as tags if you use other software tags, M one through M 10. And then of course, A phone book is just M zero and we no longer have to say hot, warm, cold. We know if it's a 10, you should have a high frequency of follow up. It shouldn't be a, a 10 means you're there. Maybe there isn't a 10, maybe a 10 means you've closed for an appointment. Maybe a a an M 10 means the next call you make will be an appointment. I've got so many leads right now and I've organized them through my. Hot, warm, cold spectrum, and my wife has always come to me and said, who's your top 10? Who's your top 10? Well, now I can say who my top 10 are. How many M nines do I have? How many M nines do you have? How many M sevens do you have? Those are something m sevens, eights, and nines. Should be getting a letter, an email. M nines should be getting brownies, right? They, they should be getting offerings to entice them to work with you. Help. Other businesses do it. Why aren't we when they're M nine with the inventory so low? Why are you dismissing them? Oh, because you can get a lead somewhere else. What quality? On the proba. On the sini probability matrix. Are they? Yeah. I'm getting tons of leads. They're all below M fives. So then they're not leads. Let's talk about the, the, the eights and nines. How many of those do you have? So today, Go into your database and think to yourself, how many of these are eight nines? Eight or nines, and how many of them fall below five? How many of these people have we been keeping in touch with? Because they've shown a high level of interest, but at a certain point the they've been showing a high level of interest for a long time. Are they motivated? They've been interested for an awful long time. Is, is I'm thinking of a guy, Reuben. M is Reuben. M is he motivated because he checks my system all the time. He opens my emails, he even touches that button and says, how much is my home worth? So I'm, I'm like seeing whoa. All the signs, man. He checks, he, he's doing, all the signs are there. All the call to actions are being triggered, but what's stopping them from making that move? Again, a script that leads you down the path of forcing an answer. That's why I like active real estate prospecting because I can say right now you what is forcing you, what is stopping you? What motivates you and what doesn't motivate you? What is stopping you from selling your house in a market that is clearly. A seller's market where the house prices have never been this high. Mr. Homeowner, what is stopping you from moving well, this condition? Okay, now we have a condition, they're motivated, but there's an immovable object. Now we can identify that and move on, so thank you. Hopefully I've enlightened you guys. I appreciate you watching. Make sure that you like, share, subscribe, all that stuff. I do one-on-one coaching. If you want to take it to the next realm, call me. I'm available. All right. That's all. Just, uh, what I say, it's been so long since I say, oh yeah, get back to work.  Doorknocking Book https://amzn.to/3eJzpHY   Training products and Membership, for Door Knocking, Cold Calling, CRM set up, FSBO, Listing Presentations, Prospecting, and One-on-One Coaching at www.JamesFestini.com/Training   More than just a dialer, a doorknocking app, it’s the best CRM out there. www.mojosells.com   The best email is video email Dubb.com https://dubb.com/r/jamesfestini   Get your phone list with my top Resources:  https://www.colerealtyresource.com/landing/JamesFestini/   Need a website that does it all? I use ZENTAP. Try it Free; https://form.jotform.com/92825591178165  My Local Video Marketing I use is at www.VScreen.com   FREE 2-week trial (no credit card required). Use the promo code: festini to receive 20% off the for the life of their membership!

Motivated Seller or Interested Homeowner

Gain Access to all of my videos and archives but becoming a member on Youtube or just pay your respects with a Superchat click Dynamic Door Knocking Book on Amazon. and Audible https://amzn.to/2S6CjqR One-on-One Coaching and products at www.JamesFestini.com/Training Forget BombBomb! DUBB Sends SMARTER Video Messages for LESS go to https://go.dubb.com/festini for a killer deal What's the best CRM out there? www.mojosells.com Want to call even faster? email shawnie@calltools.com ...nuff said Get your phone list with my top Resources; https://partner.coleinformation.com/jamesfestini Need a website that does it all? I use ZENTAP. Try it Free; https://form.jotform.com/92825591178165 My Local Video Marketing I use is at www.VScreen.com FREE 2-week trial (no credit card required). Use the promo code: festini to receive 20% off the for the life of a membership!

How Often Should I follow up with a Lead?

Phone companies sometimes block calls connected to suspicious calling patterns proactively for their customers. Many phone companies also enable their customers to block additional unwanted calls by enrolling in a service or installing an app. Consumers can also adjust certain settings on their phones, sign up with a third-party service, or download a third-party app to block suspected unwanted calls. A number of companies also offer call labeling to help consumers determine which calls they want to answer. Labeling services display categories for potentially unwanted or illegal calls such as "spam" or "scam likely" on the caller ID display. here is one of those links https://www.freecallerregistry.com/fcr/#

Caller ID Marked as Spam?

Dynamic Door Knocking Book on Amazon. https://amzn.to/2S6CjqR The book that ushers in the era of the Last direct marketing method after the phones die and believe me the phone is on hospice. Pay your respects at any level of contribution at Patreon.com/jamesfestini Or get a Mafia Membership, for Door Knocking, Cold Calling, CRM set up, FSBO, Listing Presentations, Prospecting, and One-on-One Coaching at www.JamesFestini.com/Training The best email is BombBomb video email http://www.bombbomb.com?bbref=FESTINI More than just a dialer, it’s the best CRM out there. www.mojosells.com Get your phone list with my top Resources; https://partner.coleinformation.com/j... https://www.telephonelists.biz/ Door knocking App I recommend www.SalesRabbit.com Need a website that does it all? I use ZENTAP. Try it Free; https://form.jotform.com/92825591178165 My Local Video Marketing I use is at www.VScreen.com FREE 2-week trial (no credit card required). Use the promo code: festini to receive 20% off the for the life of their membership! Follow me: Instagram-@jamesfestini Facebook-@jamesfestini @jamesfestinipage Twitter-@jamesfestini LinkedIn-@jamesfestini

Managing Expectations in Real Estate Sales

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