My name is Tony Smith with the Mike Ferry Organization. Welcome back to another edition of Mike Ferry TV. Okay, here we are. You know, Mike recently stated in a Production Retreat that we had back in January, which some of you will remember that the single most important skill that he felt like he should pass along to us to become a great salesperson is our ability to ask questions. Okay. Of all the skills we do, our ability to ask questions is one of the most prominent, one of the most important skills we can ever do. And it’s a bit of a challenge because we happen to be in an industry that is centered around everybody making big, bold, aggressive statements all the time. You know, look at my marketing plan. Let me tell you what I do. Let me tell you about what the market’s doing. Let me tell you what you need to do to sell your house. Tell tell tell tell tell. Okay, so in our world, according to Mike, the single biggest thing we can do is shift as an agent and run our business by asking great questions all the time. So, I want you to think about a few thoughts here that we’ve written down about what happens when you learn how to ask. Good question. And what are the advantages to you as a real estate agent?

1) By asking good questions, you learn what’s important to the prospect and how to deal with those concerns

The first note I made by asking good questions, you learn what’s important to the prospect and how to deal with those concerns, right? If we don’t ask, we never really understand what’s important to the customer. And after all, we all know that what’s important to us is what’s most important. And the customer is always right. If we don’t know and we don’t ask, then how can we really deal with those concerns?

2) Good questions show the prospect that you’re truly interested in them

Look at two on this list. Good questions show the prospect that you’re truly interested in them. Okay, I got to tell you, most of the world does not feel like they’re heard these days. They don’t feel heard. And so, if we ask a lot of questions, doesn’t that demonstrate that level of interest that they need? They feel like they’re being heard. You know, I don’t know if you’ve ever caught yourself on a listing presentation where you’ve been presenting away, making big statements. You get finished with your presentation and the seller says, well, we need to think about it for a while. And then you call back and find out that they listed with someone else. And if you have the courage to ask why? They’ll say something like, well, we just felt better with the other agent. It’s possible that they felt more heard with the other agent. Really important when it comes to asking questions.

3) Asking good questions gets the prospect involved and thinking about making a decision

Look, at this point, asking good questions gets the prospect involved and thinking about making a decision. You know, we’ve all been trained at MFO that logic makes people think. Emotion makes them act. If we ask a lot of great questions, we get them involved. And being involved actually gets emotions up, doesn’t it? You know, if you’re sitting in a chair and somebody’s just hammering away at you statement after statement, is there any emotion in that? No. But if I have to participate in if I’m involved, then when it comes to making a decision, it’s easier for me to sign the contract.

4) Asking questions draws out their questions and the objections they’re experiencing

Look at number four that Mike asked me to say. Asking questions draws out their questions and the objections they’re experiencing. Boy, if you can learn to ask questions, it’ll draw out from them what their objections are, what the real hangup is, what the challenges they think they have with hiring you as a real estate agent. And then you can handle those things. I don’t know if you’ve been on a presentation where the seller is just there smiling and nodding and nothing ever comes out. They never object, they never complain, or they never bring out their concerns. They just don’t sign a contract. So, we’ve got to ask questions.

5) Asking great questions is an effective way to change someone’s perspective

Look at this. Asking great questions is an effective way to change someone’s perspective. So, what I know is if you preach to someone and you just talk to someone, it’s really hard to change their beliefs at all. But if you’ll ask questions, then they start to think about the answers and then those answers actually change their perspective about it. You know, if you do a great job and a great Listing Presentation that’s question based. And you go in there that, well, no, we’re already going to hire the neighborhood specialist. We’ve already made up our mind and we want to list it way up here and we’re sure about that. And then you ask questions and you watch their perspective change. And the next thing you know, they’re listing the property at your price. And they’re not listing it with the neighborhood expert that they thought they wanted. It’s by changing perspective.

6) Asking questions separates you from your competition

Look at six. Asking questions separates you from your competition. Okay. One of the easiest ways, the easiest ways to win is to do things different than your competitors. Is it likely that your competitors will just simply make big, bold statements on their presentation? Will they just talk about marketing? Talk about themselves? It’s pretty likely. So, if you want to separate yourself, you’re the agent that comes in and all you do is ask questions. And those questions makes you just so much different than the competitors. Okay.

7) Asking questions gives the prospect a chance to express themselves

And then the last point I wrote down today. Asking questions gives the prospect a chance to express themselves. You know, sometimes as a seller, they simply need to get it all out there. Mike used to give this example. Have you ever blown up a balloon and you blow it up and you’ve got this balloon, and then you let it go? The balloon falls flat. If you ask questions, sometimes the seller just gets to express themselves and get it all out there. And then what do they do? They fall right to the space where it’s okay, let’s sign the contract and we can move forward with the listing. So I’m just going to ask you a simple, direct question for yourself. How much time are you spending working on your ability to ask questions versus just make statements? You can get started by simply using all of our scripts and dialogs because they’re all question based. Okay. So, if you want to become great with your skills, let’s start with our ability to ask questions. Thanks for your time.