This article was originally published in Real Estate Agent Magazine Twin Cities, written by Charity Malmberg, Founder and President of Trademark Title
As a business owner and entrepreneur, you have many hats to wear including receptionist, project manager, marketing director, accountant, and even sales director. As a sales director, you have probably already mapped out your goals for the new year and are well on your way to following your sales plan.
But what if you could turn your sales plan into a dynamic sales system for you and your team? What if you could take your sales to exciting new levels in 2019 and beyond?
According to executive author, speaker, business coach, (and dear friend of mine) Erik Therwanger, as sales directors we need to create a “sales engine.” This engine should include the ability to achieve high levels of “Dynamic Sales Combustion” in order to accomplish your important goals. In his book, Dynamic Sales COMBUSTION he outlines the four main components to a tried and true Dynamic Sales Combustion System.
- Learn how to achieve an Unbreakable Mindset.
- Discover how to acquire Unparalleled Data.
- Understand how to maintain Unstoppable Gears.
- Develop the foundation for Unmatched Structure.
Today, I will focus in on how to create an ‘unbreakable mindset’ and provide you some simple and easy ways to infuse different elements into your sales plan to turn it into a dynamic sales engine. Believe it or not, sales is a mind game. As Henry Ford said, “whether you think you can, or you think you can’t, you’re right.”
ENHANCE YOUR MINDSET
On a daily basis you must commit to establish your mindset (attitude) to: seek self-improvement, leave your ego behind, commit to status GROW (not Quo), remain open to new ideas, embrace enhancements, take responsibility, and, above all else, stay positive for yourself, your clients and your family.
The right mindset allows us to overcome doubts, fears, and worries that stall our engines and keep us stuck in mediocrity.
ENHANCE YOUR CLIENT’S PERCEPTIONS
According to a survey by Hubspot Research, only 3% of people consider salespeople to be trustworthy and 50% of buyers perceive sales people as pushy. With these kinds of statistics, we have some ground to cover in changing perceptions that real estate agents “Sell, Close and Cash” to “Share, Open and Deliver.”
What do I mean by this? Well, what if you thought of sharing your real estate knowledge and providing solutions to your clients instead of selling yourself as the agent to work with? Does it change your perception of your role? Sharing, rather than selling, allows us to create an environment in which clients feel comfortable enough to share their goals and challenges. In order to be able to share solutions, we must ask better and deeper questions of our clients. What could you do to make their life easier in selling their house or finding their new house? What are their short term and long-term housing goals? After asking these deeper questions, then you can determine how you can provide better solutions.
Open the opportunity to build deeper relationships, don’t focus on closing more deals. When we share solutions with our clients we often need to “open up” about how our solution impacted us or others. Opening allows you to build trust and develop relationships on a deeper level. Practice active listening, identify client challenges, initiate relevant dialogue and build meaningful relationships. These are a few key elements to opening up more opportunities.
Delivering passion allows you to develop an unprecedented level of camaraderie, friendship and bond with your clients. When your clients share a bond with you, they will let go of any perceptions about you doing it for the money just to cash a check. Strive to become the valuable partner they seek out for any of their real estate needs. Some key elements of delivering passion are: being authentic, identifying their goals, telling an impactful story, and building stronger relationships.
Some studies show that only 8 percent of sales people generate up to 80 percent of the sales. Don’t you want to be part of the ‘8 Percent Club’? Slow down; take the time to start your sales engine or enhance your plan to include the key elements above to go from ‘status quo’ to status GROW.
Once your plan is in place, commit to it. With the right mindset every day, you are in control of your destiny because you can control your thoughts and your actions.