Rich Levin

It’s one of the most interesting parts of my job.  When an Agent that I coach is in the middle of a tough negotiation I ask them to call me.  Debbie did.

The asking price was $769,000.  The offer came in at $625,000.

Debbie is smart and talented.  As the owner’s anger and frustration arose, Debbie calmly explained that, “All offers are good offers,” that in this market Buyers feel that owners may be desperate.  The key is that she kept the owner objective.

She did not disparage the offer, the other Agent or the Buyer.  She didn’t compliment them either.  Instead she kept it objective.

The owner countered at $725,000.  The Buyer came back at $640,000.  Again, as you might expect the owner was angry and frustrated.  Again, Debbie kept her cool and told him.  “I want to be as upset at you are but my job is to keep my eye on the goal of getting you the price you need to get the job done.  So, let’s decide do we want to tell them we won’t respond until they raise their offer?  Do we want to make a small concession and keep inching closer?  Or do we want to go to or close to your bottom line and send the message that we want to get this done with less “Mickey Mouse” back and forth.”

She explained the risks of not responding and allowed the owners to lead the decision making with her guidance.

So many Agents who are far less skilled negotiators than Debbie empathize with their Client in ways that paint the other Agent or the other party as wrong, greedy, etc.  Debbie demonstrated three key negotiation skills of a talented negotiator.

1. She kept the negotiation and her Client objective.
2. She kept the conversation and the negotiation focused on the goal.
3. She kept herself objective and focused on the goal.

Rich Levin

Marketing guru Jennifer Cummings describes an “Aha” experience as “An idea that inspires action.  The combination of the our Daily Coaching webinars and working with individual Agents on their 2010 business plans created a few huge “Aha” moments. 

1.      There are three distinct phases to planning.  It is best to complete one phase each week over three weeks to gain insight and add depth to each.  The three are:

a.       Your motivation, mindset, attitude, and psychology

b.      Your measureable goals by the numbers

c.       The activities, skills, and habits necessary to achieve your goals

When you focus on each of these separately in this order you get motivated by the first week, excited at the possibilities of the second week, and eager to put your plans into action by the third week. 

2.      Your daily and weekly habits are more important than your plan.  Many Agents spend a long time planning and the plan is mostly ignored as the year ensues.  However, Agents who develop simple daily and weekly habits of prospecting, marketing, quality service, and planning achieve consistent success with greater ease.  Habit focused Agents achieve more even if they have a weaker overall plan. 

3.      A results (goals) focus produces results.  Focusing on activities leads to frustration and never achieving a sense of completion.  Focusing on the number of appointments you need each week and the sales volume each month leads to satisfaction, insight, and self-motivation.  Focusing on how many things need to be done leads to anxiety, frustration and damages your motivation even while you are planning. 

We have built our newest (most comprehensive and least expensive) coaching program around these new insights and we can see already, even before the year begins that the Agents are more focused and excited about their future.