Good morning and Welcome back to Mike Ferry TV the week of May 13th.

The year is going by quickly. They always do. I want to spend the next couple of months doing something a little bit different with all of our viewers. I was speaking at a retreat in Palm Desert, way back in the probably mid to late 80s, and a fellow approached me and said, could we have lunch? I said, fine, so we sat down for lunch and I said, what can I do to help you? And he said, I want to say thank you. And I said, well, you’re welcome, but thank you for what he said this morning. You presented the most precise sales system that I’ve ever heard, and I’ve been in real estate 25, 30 years as a mega producer.

And I said, well, what did I present? Because I don’t recall calling anything the Mike Ferry sales system. He said, well, you went through ten steps and that is the foundation behind selling Real Estate. Today we’ve got thousands of ideas on what we should be saying and what we should be doing. But if you look at a business and Real Estate is a business and you look at selling, and selling is of course, a very step by step process. If you look at the business of selling, there should be a foundation that almost all industries work from.

The 21 Steps in the Mike Ferry Sales System

And it doesn’t matter whether you’re selling clothes or you’re selling cars or you’re selling insurance, or you’re selling financial planning, or you’re selling Real Estate, there are certain fundamentals that have to be accomplished to attain the goals you’ve set, and the goals of the prospective buyer or seller you’re working with. What I’m going to do is I’m going to today, just go through briefly the 21 steps in the Mike Ferry sales system.

I’m going to ask each of you that are watching to write down the 21 steps. And you’ll probably have to watch it 2 or 3 times and make some abbreviations as you go. And then I want you to decide for yourself which is the biggest weakness and which are your greatest strengths. Where do you need the most help? Because we have a lot of different services, many of which are of no charge, that you can use to enhance these different basic skills that are necessary.

1. Time Management

The first skill in Mike Ferry sales system is time management. Having a schedule that you can follow that leads to a listing or a sale. A schedule full of busy work, you know, things to do today. Check on a file. You know, make sure I check my Facebook account. Those are not production based ideas. Your time management schedule should be and should include the next 4 or 5 things we’re going to talk about in the Mike Ferry sales system.

2. Prospecting

Number two is of course, prospecting. And every time I mention that word, a lot of people’s, you know, they get nervous and they get afraid and they get nervous and afraid because they did not come from a business where prospecting was vitally important in selling anything, any product, any service.

There’s two types of sales. And I’ve mentioned this to you before on Mike Ferry TV. You have, of course, retail sales. And in retail sales the prospects come to you. You have a storefront, you have an office, you know, you’re in a shopping center, you have a product or service, you have a name that is attractive. People walk by. Oh, or they drive by. Oh, and they come in and see you. And that, of course, the prospects coming to you.

But Real Estate is what we call direct sales, where you take your service out to somebody else and see if they have an interest in buying or selling. So prospecting, as much as we hate to think that we have to talk to people that both we know and don’t know is a big part of real estate.

3. Past Clients and Centers of Influence

Number three is past clients and centers of influence, or what we call a database. And the database is those people that, you know, those people that trust you, that have faith in you, that for whatever reason, are people that you can converse with and talk to on a regular basis. And of course, past clients, you know who they are.

4. Lead Follow-up

Number four is lead follow-up. And I was state that in most cases today aggressive lead follow up. The word aggressive becomes critically important. We have to remember that if you have a lead from a potential buyer and seller, the odds are that buyer or seller lead gave their name to more than one agent.

5. Prequalifying

The most aggressive agent who has a smile on their face and is enthusiastic, is going to get the appointment prequalifying without a. Doubt in 2024. Prequalifying is one of the most important parts of the whole sales process. Having the courage of your conviction to know that if you ask all the questions, you can do a better job for that potential buyer and seller.

6. The Listing Presentation

Step number six is the listing presentation. Of course, that is not just sitting down and saying, hey, we’re a great company … You should list with us. It’s identifying what their motivation is and then tailoring what you have to say and what you do to help them accomplish the goals they’ve set.

7. Pricing Property

Number seven is pricing property … and pricing property is always a critical part of the sales process. And with the inflation we’ve experienced over the last 12 to 18 months, the prices have gotten much higher than they’ve been in the past.

8. Handling Objections

Number eight is handling objections. Here’s what’s great, and you’ve heard me say it before. If you’re new to real estate and or you’re an experienced veteran, the objections rarely, if ever, change. Make a list of the common objections you’re receiving. Go to our website. Download the answers and responses. As I said, they’re all free and you can make some money handling objections.

9. Closing Skills

Number nine is closing skills. Having the courage to say would you sign the contract, please?

10. Negotiating the Contract

Number ten is negotiating the contract, bringing the buyer and the seller together, price terms, etc. and that is a very much a very basic skill, you know, satisfying the needs of both parties. When the buyer wants the best price, they can possibly get, and the seller wants the highest price they can possibly attain.

11. Working with Buyers

Number 11 is working with buyers and of course with the proposed NAR settlement coming up, hopefully mid-July this thing will be settled. We’ll have a whole different perspective on working with buyers.

12. Administration and Staffing

Number 12 administration and staffing. There is a point, usually at 30, 35, 40 transactions a year when I recommend that an agent consider getting their own full-time staff and assistant. If you’re fortunate enough to work with a broker that has transaction coordinators, you’re blessed as an agent because they can handle most of the admin on a transaction for you.

13. Customer Service

Number 13 is customer service. We’re only as good as the service we extend, and the more services we extend, the better off we are. People are paying for quality service.

14. Business Planning

Number 14 is business planning. Again, you can go online to Mike Ferry. Compress the button for business planning. It will download for you the exact process. It’s not complicated. It’s probably four and a half … five pages of questions we want you to answer, which creates a road map for you to get to what you want to accomplish as a real estate professional.

15. Tracking Numbers

Number 15 is the tough one. Tracking numbers, tracking numbers a big part of the Mike Ferry sales system. If you track the number of people you talk to, if you track the number of leads that you’ve attained, if you track the number of appointments you go on, if you track the number of contracts that you’ve got signed, you’ll start figuring out some of the ratios that are so important to work and improve upon, because by improving upon the ratios without doing more work, you’re going to get more contracts signed.

16. Practicing Scripts and Developing Skills

Number 16 practicing scripts A big part of being a professional is practice. And as professional athletes will say, pros practice amatures don’t, which is why they’re called pros. So spending the time each day practicing scripts.

17. Strengthening the Mindset

Number 17 is strengthening the mindset. This is our greatest asset. And the more time we spend putting good, positive thoughts into our head, the more positive thoughts come out of our mouths.

18. Goal Setting and Motivation

Number 18 goal setting and motivation. Goal setting. What do you want to do with the money you’re going to earn? What is your motivation to become a more successful real estate agent? We’ll spend a lot of time on that.

19. Money Management and Profitability

Number 19 money management. There’s a lot of money involved. As a real estate pro, your commission checks are getting bigger and bigger, not because of what we’re doing. It’s because inflation is running a big part of our part of our business today.

20. Business Systems

Number 20 business systems having systems in place as your business grows a listing check checklist a sales checklist. You know, systems to follow to make what you’re doing a little bit smoother.

21. Understanding Personality Styles

And number 21, understanding the four personality styles.

So here we are the week of May 13th, 2024. We’re going to spend the next few months going through at least two of these topics per week. So be prepared to learn. Be prepared to listen and understand that 100% of our time and energy is devoted to the goodwill of your personal production, achieving the goals you have set, giving the best customer service with the best sales system in the business today.

Look forward to talking to you next week. Thanks for today.