Versatility – The Ability To Adapt as a Real Estate Agent

Welcome to Mike Ferry TV. This is the week of July 24th. I’m actually here on July 19th at the Superstar Retreat and Mike Ferry just shared what I think was the most detailed depiction of versatility that I think I’ve ever heard him speak. And I wanted to just talk briefly about that because I believe that versatility is one of the most important parts of the entire Mike Ferry system. And you probably have heard Mike Ferry talk about it. And I know if you go and research all of the past videos of Mike Ferry TV, you’re going to see a lot of us who have spoken about versatility. I’ve seen Ron do it on versatility. I’ve seen Tony do it. We’ve seen John Joseph do it. We’ve seen just about everybody who’s been on Mike Ferry TV. Talk about it a little bit. What I want to do is take just a slightly different perspective, because what I got from Mike today was something a little bit different than what I normally get.

“Mike Ferry just shared what I think was the most detailed depiction of versatility that I think I’ve ever heard him speak.”

So the whole point of being versatile is the ability to adapt. And most of the time when we’re listening to versatility and we’re listening to Mike, we’re listening for our personality style, which is the exact opposite of why Mike Ferry teaches it. We listen and we start identifying with what our personality style is and we’re like, Yeah, you know what? I do this a lot. Maybe that’s why I struggle. Maybe that’s why this. And maybe that’s why that. And instead of listening to the point. We end up using our personality style more as an excuse to behave the way we do versus using versatility to really become a better salesperson.

“We typically will lose 20 to 25 transactions per year just because of our lack of versatility.”

So I heard Mike talk about it a lot today that we typically will lose 20 to 25 transactions per year just because of our lack of versatility. So what I wanted to focus on is the importance of adapting. So I want you to imagine a couple of different scenarios. The first one I want you to imagine is you’re making a prospecting call. In a prospecting call, you typically have 3 to 5 seconds before a prospect decides they want to stay on the phone with you. And what’s going to decide that 3 to 5 seconds is your level of versatility. Can you adapt to the way the person said “Hello” that quickly, or do you just sound the same and robotic every single time?

Versatility Tip #1: Adapt to the Customer, NOT the customer adapt to you

Now we all have our own personality and that’s great. We were all told you’re unique, you’re special, all of that stuff, which is great. And it’s probably true. Now the challenge is, can you let go of that for just a brief moment? Can you let go of that and adapt to the customer or do you try and force the customer to adapt to you? That’s kind of the question I want you to start asking yourself.

Don’t worry so much about what my personality style is and who I am, and this is why I’m like this. Stop worrying about that when it comes to versatility. You already know what your personality style is, and if you don’t, we’ll go online and do a little bit more research. I’m sure you’ll figure out what personality style you are. Instead, I want you to focus more on “how do I adapt better.” That can come down to just the way you say “Hello.” It could come down to the speed you use on a prospecting call or how you emphasize your words on a prospecting call.

Let’s look at a second scenario. You’re doing a prequalifying call. You’ve already made a prospecting call. You’ve set an appointment and now you’re prequalifying somebody. If they give you a response that you don’t like, how do you adapt? Do you get upset? Do you get bothered? Do you get irritated? Do you start getting combative or do you adapt? Wow, that’s an interesting thought. Let me write that down very quickly. They get upset about something. Well, you know what? Why don’t we talk about that when I come over? Do you respond that way or do you get emotional? Do you respond in an adaptive way or do you let yourself and your personality get in the way? What do you do?

Versatility Tip #2: Stop being attached to the outcome

Another part of being able to adapt during a prequalifying call is not being attached to the outcome. So many of us are struggling to get appointments these days. And so you get one and then you start prequalifying and you hear them say something that should disqualify them. Like I’ll only list if you can guarantee me you get this price and you start asking, why do you need to move? And they can’t give you another reason other than they want this price.

Folks, if somebody doesn’t have to move and they’re not willing to price their home in a way that’s going to cause it to sell. Why would you take that listing? Why? What sense does that make? Oftentimes it’s our lack of versatility that creates that. Our lack of versatility keeps us attached to the outcome, rather than taking a very simple adaptive business approach. And that is, does this person qualify or not? If they do, great, we’ll move forward. If they don’t qualify, we won’t move forward. Something that’s simple.

Versatility Tip #3: How is your first impression? 

The other I want you to think about is imagining you’re sitting in a listing presentation. I heard Mike say this a bunch of times. He says oftentimes people will make their decision to list with you in the first 30 minutes or the first 30 minutes, the first couple of minutes of meeting you. It’s the first impression. Does your first impression give a good first impression? Do you have a firm handshake? Do you smile? Do you ask a lot of questions or do you get in there and just try and force them to sign a contract with you? What do you do?

Versatility Tip #4: How Quickly can you Adapt?

The question you’ve got to ask yourself is how quickly can you adapt? Well, what if there’s two people that you’re doing a presentation for a husband and a wife? How do you adapt? I heard Mike say this today, and I think that it kind of opened my eyes a little bit because all of us, we have our tendencies and our traits that may make us a little bit lazy.

I know for me, I tend to rely more on the person who is already connected to me and I tend to rely on that person more. Mike said something today that really made an impact on me. He said a good, versatile salesperson will spend an equal amount of time talking to each partner. And I thought that was great.

Versatility Tip #5: How Quickly can you bounce back?

The question that you have to ask yourself is do you have the versatility to be able to do that? Immediately when Mike said that I knew I needed to start improving my versatility. Do you? Do you already have the ability where you can shift from one person to the next instantly?

Versatility Tip #6:Learn your personality type.

So one of the things that Mike talked about as well is that those are the three scenarios I want you to think of. But one of the things that Mike talked about is this. He said that we’re all born with one personality style, which we all know that I know that some people think, well, I’m a little bit of this. I’m a little you’re not. You are one personality style. You have one way that you make a decision and that’s it.

Now, what Mike said is we’re also born with a certain level of versatility. In other words, we’re born naturally with a certain ability to adapt. And here’s the question I want to ask you is do you need to work on that more? Do you need to learn how to better adapt? I’m going to go out on a limb and say, yes, you probably do. Why? Because we’re human. I can’t think of a single human being who has nothing to work on in terms of versatility. Even the great Mike Ferry will tell you he works on it every day. He practices it every single day. And if someone who is that versatile has to, why shouldn’t we?

Mike Ferry’s 6 Points on Versatility

So the question you got to ask yourself is how do you adapt? How do you improve? Now, Mike gave us six very good points. I’m going to briefly mention what they are, and I want you at home to study these points as much as you can and go learn more about them.

Point 1: Learn how to ask questions instead of having to speak

The first thing Mike Ferry said is learn how to ask questions instead of having to speak. Question for you. When you’re talking with a customer, do you want to rush in and say something? Do you have something very clever to say that you really want to do? Did you memorize some script that bam, I got this very clever thing to say? Or do you ask questions with the intent to listen? How in the world are you going to get a prospect or a customer to make a decision if you don’t give them the time? They can’t make a decision if you’re doing all the talking. Questions cause them to make decisions.

Point 2: Listen Closely to the Answers 

Second thing the Mike Ferry said is listen closely to the answers. Listen very carefully to what they’re saying. The way they say something may mean something totally different than what the words say. Listen very carefully to when they hesitate. When they pause. Listen carefully to their tone. Listen to what they’re trying to communicate. The way Mike explained it to me one time was, listen, with the intent to understand the customer versus just listening to come up with a snappy response.

Point 3: Quit having to be right all the time

Third thing Mike Ferry mentioned was quit having to be right all the time. Now, this is a tough one for a lot of us because by nature all of us have an ego and that ego wants to be right. That ego wants you to feel comfortable being right. Being wrong is uncomfortable. So it’s natural for us to try and make ourselves right. Question for you. Do you ever make customers wrong? If so, why? Can you think of anybody that if you make them wrong, they’re going to want to list their home with you? Does it make a lot of sense? Does it.

Point 4: Put your Ego aside

The next thing Mike Ferry wrote down was put your ego aside. He actually said it this way. He got it straight from Larry Wilson. He said, “Put your ego in the trunk of your car”, which I think is a great way of saying it. Folks. Your ego tends to get in the way. Your beliefs about you, whether they are good or bad, tend to get in the way. I want you to think about this for a second. If you are so focused on yourself and the way you feel, how can you possibly put the customer first? How is it possible? Can the customer be the most important person to you if you’re putting your feelings first? Mike Ferry has this old saying that he used to say that. He would say, “Imagine that everybody has the letters M-M-F-I tattooed across their forehead” and MMFI stands for Make Me Feel Important. Folks, if your ego is in the way and you’re focused on you, how can you possibly make the customer feel important?

Point 5: Get out of the box that you have built for yourself

The next one, Mike Ferry said, was to get out of the box that you’ve built. So we’ve all kind of created this construct or we’ve created this reality that we live in and we’re comfortable there. Question, if you’re comfortable there, how can you grow? How can you grow if you’re stuck inside of a box that you created for yourself? It doesn’t work. I want you to imagine that you plant a seed, but instead of giving it sunlight, you put it in a box and bury it. How is that seed going to grow? Well, your ability to adapt is the very same way. Unless you can get outside of your box a little bit and start thinking a little differently and start putting yourself in different situations, you personally are not going to grow.

Point 6: Put Yourself in situations that make you uncomfortable

Number six goes hand in hand with that. He says, “Put yourself in situations that make you uncomfortable.” Well, what could that be? That could be a million different things. Are you uncomfortable being around people? Get around people. Are you uncomfortable making your prospecting calls? Make the prospecting calls. Are you uncomfortable on a listing presentation … Get on a listing presentation … Are you uncomfortable handling objections? Start role-playing and getting better at handling objections. Are you uncomfortable presenting in front of people? Get up in front of people and present. You can’t learn how to adapt if you do the same things over and over again. How can you learn how to grow and adapt if you’re just running in the same circles over and over again?

These are the things I got from Mike Ferry today. I hope this helps you. Thank you guys for watching Mike Ferry TV.