I am going to make and disclose a very profound, critical and crucial secret, that a handful of professional, proficient and knowledgeable brokers, associate brokers and agents are very aware of and practice day in and day out; breathe, sleep and eat this amazing, but simple concept!
Like myself, we make every attempt “not to sell anything” to our purchasers, investors and tenants or their counterparts, our important “owners.”
What I really mean, is that “selling is dead!” at least in my world and anyone that is still doing the “old school” selling, like the guys in the 1992 film, “Glen Gary, Glen Ross” adapted by David Mamet from his 1984 Pulitzer Prize and Tony winning play of the same name and directed by James Foley (with our A-List actors, Al Pacino, Alec Baldwin, Jack Lemmon, Alan Arkin, Ed Harris, Johnathon Price and Kevin Spacey (I left him last for a reason!).
It focuses on this group of real estate salespeople and takes place in New York.
Most people don’t know that the title of the film, Glen Gary and Glen Ross is about two developments that are being peddled by some of these unscrupulous agents and their devious manager!
I could write thousands of words about the film and all the antics, tragic situations, verbal beatings that Alec Baldwin, the “hired sales motivator” places upon the unknowing and timid agents, etc.
However, I would rather have you all view it, (whether you are an agent or not) on your favorite movie channel or wherever you can retrieve it!
It is a movie that makes a very profound statement about selling and surely is a must see for the “newbie” or experienced agents or anyone else that wants to learn some things about our industry.
Although the movie is 25 years old, it really and truly displays what had and still does occur in our industry with all its abuses!
Our marketplace and our industry have been drastically transformed over the last 25 years; even over the last three to five years, with all the technology that has been created to entice and grab the eyeballs of sellers, investors, buyers and tenants to try to work on their own without a realtors assistance.
However, over the years this has become a minority, due to the complicated, frustrating, legalities and massive amounts of paperwork that the homeowner and purchaser must go through to close a sale.
Most important for sellers, is how they expose and market their properties to the purchasers and what has to been done, staging, 3D Virtual tours, high resolution photos, accurate measurements or whatever you can think of to find that one qualified purchaser. Searching out a buyer who has excellent income and credit and low debt to income ratios as well as a sufficient down payment can be challenging undertaking.
These are all standard qualifications that all agents must seek out; but then again, how creative one can and must be to make a deal close can be very daunting to many, unless they have years and years of experience and have mastered the field of real estate.
Now, this leads some of us to the concept of “consultative selling,” which I have been practicing for almost 60 years! I started when I was seven.
I began, what I thought was selling, homemade lemonade by my first home on the corner of Baker Hill Rd and Station Road in Great Neck.
However, looking back, it wasn’t about selling lemonade, but more of convincing all those truck drivers, passing cars and the pedestrians to try my delicious drinks.
Did I really try selling my lemonade? Not really, it was more of developing rapport and relationships over the summer months with the people that would see me each day, at least 5 days a week, 8 hours or more a day!
I became more and more friendly with all those people who saw me day in and day out; the housekeepers, contractors, mail people, bus drivers, etc. (those days were much safer back then and my mom never really worried about me and I wasn’t even cognizant of her being around or even watching me).
These experiences began molding me into the broker I am today. So I never really felt comfortable selling anything. However, whatever I did, it was more about learning, absorbing and applying what I had learned and then providing this information to those that had an interest in whatever I had available for them to purchase.
I took the word selling, quotas, closing (ABC-always be closing from the “Glen Gary Glen Ross” movie) out of my vocabulary.
My ABC=Always Be Consulting.
Coffee is for closers from the same movie, was another fallacy that I never thought very valid at all.
One’s success as a realtor has no bearing on what you drink, but your competence, qualifications, complete knowledge, professionalism, dependability, and a rare quality today, called honesty and how you go about creating your brand.
As I have said, selling the old fashion way, like how they were doing it in the movie, “Glen Gary Glen Ross” is no longer a proper and correct way in my world, to approach the consumer in today’s environment.
I practice day in and day out and so do my agents a method that I have taught them called, Show, Advise, and Consult (your client sellers, investors, customer purchasers and tenants) through your concerted efforts, disciplined actions and the sacrifice of your valuable time.
To me, this is the only way one should communicate with your clients and customers today. We were born with two ears and one mouth; so twice as much listening and half as much talking! The money is listening, qualifying and then consulting, it’s the only way to go to earn a six-plus figure income!
When you practice my methods, selling becomes irrelevant and then consulting people to consider purchasing, is the way that works most effectively and stress becomes much less of an issue for all parties attached to the transaction.
However, having a passion for the business, and really and truly loving it; over time becomes fun, enjoyable. You earn as you learn and you begin to realize as to the possibilities of a very profitable enterprise when you learn how to consult your way to potentially becoming rich and possibly wealthy!
Phil Raices the owner/Broker of Turn Key Real Estate at 7 Bond St. in Great Neck.
He can be reached by email: Phil@TurnkeyRealEstate.Com or by cell (516) 647-4289 to answer any of your questions or article suggestions.
