1. PROSPECTING CHAPTER 4

2. LAPTOP I KNOW EVERTHING I CAN DO: PRESENTATIONS, MATH, FORMS . . . EVERYTHING. TAKE ME WITH YOU TO EVERY LISTING PRESENTATION

3. Prospecting is the process of locating owners who are interested in selling property and prospective buyers who are interested in purchasing property. Who are the top producing agents, listing or selling Agents? Usually listing agents. Remember, listing is the Realtor’s invention or product.

4. PROPER ATTITUDE Prospecting is the process of locating owners who are interested in selling property and prospective buyers who are interested in purchasing property. Do you recognize the urgency to maintain a constant supply of new properties and buyers? Do you consider prospecting a major challenge?

5. Do you have a well – organized system to use for prospecting? Are you afraid of REJECTION ?

7. TYPES OF PROSPECTING 1. Door–to–door canvassing. 2. Telephone canvassing. 3. Direct mail canvassing. 4. Expired listings. 5. Newspaper leads. 6. For Sale By Owner. 7. Announcements.

8. FARMING Farming is a method of gaining clients or customers. There are a variety of ways to farm. Clients are sellers and customers are buyers.

9. DOOR-TO-DOOR CANVASSING Obtain an Area. An Agent’s Farm Area

10. BASIC CONCEPTS 1. Introduce yourself and give your broker affiliation. 2. Explain why you are there. 3. Ask if they need help in their real estate needs. 4. Ask if they know anyone that needs help in real estate. 5. Always thank them.

11. Contact your farm area at a minimum of once a month. Your area should have 250 to 300 homes in it. If your area has 300 homes in it, you need to make 15 contacts per day to contact everyone in farm at least once a month. Take notes of their reactions.

12. TELEPHONE CANVASSING Learn to use the phone – it is your best friend!!! On the negative side, people will hang up far more quickly than they will slam a door in your face. In your farm area, call at least once a month. Again 15 calls per day, five days a week. Again take notes of their reactions.

13. AD CALLS The ad call is one of the most important calls that you will ever answer. Most people don’t know how to take an ad call. They think they know how and they ad lib from call to call. They don’t have consistent success and pretty soon they think ad calls are a waste of time.

14. There are several methods of answering ad calls that work well. This is one of the most simple and most successful methods of answering an add call. “ Hello, this is Dan Johnson from Cerritos College Real Estate. How may I help you?” “ I wanted to get the address on the property of the ad you have in today's paper.”

15. “ Can you read that ad to me please?” (they read the ad to you) “ Everyone’s calling on that ad – I think that’s one of our best buys.” “ I’m sorry, I’m Dan Johnson, what’s your name? (They will usually give you their name) . I’m going to get that information, it will take me a few minutes, I’m going to put you on hold. Just in case we become disconnected, what is your number? (There is about 50/50 chance they will give you their number.) “I’ll be right back.

16. Should the buyer refuse to give the telephone number or name: “ You are sincere about buying a home aren’t you? This home you are calling on may not be the answer to your needs. Homes come on the market every day. It would be frustrating for me and disappointing to you, if one did come on the market that fit your needs, and I could not get in touch with you. I promise I will not abuse the privilege of having your number – I’ll only call when it’s in your best interest. What’s your number?”

17. Get approximate time the prospective buyer will drive by “ May I make a suggestion to you? Would that be alright?” (Wait for their reply ) ”The home you called on may not be the answer for you. If you’re going to invest your valuable time driving by the outside of the property, let me talk to the owner and see if I can get you inside. This could be the home that tells us the interior your looking for.” (Wait for their reply)

18. GO FOR THE APPOINTMENT “ If I make an appointment for you to see the property, what time would be best for you 6:00 P.M. or 7:00 P.M.?” “ Our office address is (Give the address and directions for your office) . Please be here at give the time sharp, as I will be making arrangements with the owner. If you are going to be a few minutes late please call and let me know.”

19. VERIFY & CONFIRM THE APPOINTMENT TEMPT THEM WITH “THE MORE” CLOSE “ I don’t mean to impose, but if you don’t mind, I will research the area and see if I can come up with some more homes. Will that be O.K? (Wait for answer). It will only take a few minutes more. That way you can make a comparison. See you at (Verify The Appointment Time) sharp then.”

20. Learn: CITO CITO is the acronym for “Come Into The Office.” These Magic Words “Come into the office” will help keep control of the client and earn you several thousand dollars more.

23. DIRECT MAIL CANVASSING . Use #10 plain envelope. Dan Johnson Cerritos College Realty Mr. Rob Rooks 11110 E. Alondra Blvd. Cerritos, CA 23456 37¢

24. Always use first class mail. Don’t use mailing labels. Hand write all addresses or use the computer to address envelopes. Don’t try to indicate that your letter is something it is not. Get the readers attention in the first few lines. Never send out mass mail without testing it first. Add two business cards.

25. This is a 12 pt. type, usually used in letters. Put important or main ideas in 20 pts. This will make them stand out and get the readers attention. Which line did you see or read first?

26. For monthly mass mailing in your farm try using post cards. Cerritos College Realty Dan Johnson Do you know the market value of your home? I would be happy to give free market analysis of your home. Call Dan Johnson at 562-860-2514. We just sold the home at 12345 S. North St., Cerritos, Ca. 99999. [email_address]

27. EXPIRED LISTINGS Never contact owners before their listing has expired. When contacting the owners, you want to find out immediately if they have re-listed the property with their agent or another agent. If they have, wish them well and end the discussion. Expired Listings are listings that were listed by a real estate agent and for whatever reason they didn’t sell. The term of the listing has expired, they are no longer contractually for sale.

28. EXPIRED LISTINGS Expired Listings are one of the richest sources of listings for the active real estate agent. The reason most listings expire is because the home is over priced. DO YOUR HOMEWORK. Get comps.

29. How Much Money is Locked Up in Your Home? Because of high demand in your area, your home has exceptional appreciation. If you wish to explore the possibility of taking advantage of the market opportunities, we can supply you with a supported estimate of your home’s present market value without cost or obligation on your part. I will be calling you in about a (give a time, i.e. about a week) to determine if you are interested in knowing what you could receive from a sale of your home. Yours truly,

30. ESTABLISH THE FAIR MARKET VALUE. Do Comparables – Establish 3 homes in the area that have sold in the last six months. Don’t forget to view them. Were the homes better or worse? Adjust the price of the home.

31. There are several things you need to be aware of before you attempt to get expired listings from the Multiple Listing Service. Just before the listings expire the listing agent will take the owner’s telephone number out of the listing. To counter this you should download the entire listing data base once each week using a program called Altaira. When the listing expires and the telephone number has been removed you simply go back to your Altaira database and the number will be there.

32. The second thing you will want to know is how to do a K–Par search on Expireds. The K–Par tells you if the property has been re-listed yet. If it hasn’t you make a call.

33. (One objection you may get is “I’m tired of all you brokers calling, you’re the 15 th person to call!” In a kindly, but worried voice, say: “That worries me a little. We have 18,300 members in our board of realtors and if only 15 of them called maybe there is a bigger problem. Did your last broker (agent) do a Salability Checklist? No! That could be the problem, I’d better do one when I come over to see if we can isolate the problem.”)

34. EXPIRED LISTINGS are pursued using three basic methods: 1. Telephone 2. In Person, at Their Door 3. By Mail

35. Hi, my name is Dan Johnson, with the Cerritos College Realty, and I was wondering . . . 1. Is your home presently for sale? 2. Would you be offended if I took a look at your home? 3. Why did you decide to sell your home? 4. If you were to move . . . where would you go?

36. 5. How soon do you have to be there? 6. What did that agent do . . . that you liked best? 7. What do you feel he or she should have done? 8. What will you expect from the next agent that you choose? 9. Have you already chosen an agent to work with?

37. 10. I would like to apply for the job of selling your home. Are you familiar with the techniques I use to sell homes? 11. What would be the best time to show you. Monday or Tuesday at 5?

38. The expired listing at the door is exactly the same as on the telephone, except you are there. You can do the walk through while you are there and you can accomplish the initial steps of your bonding while your there. The questions and the approach are identical.

39. Currently there are programs that can be programmed to call into the Multiple listing service, find the expired listings that have not been re-listed, then go into the County Tax Assessors Records and find the address of the owner. These programs will then write and print a letter as well as make a list of mail labels. When you get to the office in the morning you would simply put the letters in the appropriate envelope, stamp them and mail them. This is particularly good for follow-up after a telephone call or personal visit.

40. NEWSPAPERS Newspapers can provide a number of sources of buyers and sellers. When checking newspapers for leads, don’t forget that there are other papers besides the large daily papers. There are throwaway papers, usually devoted entirely to ads; there are papers for groups such as mobile-home owners; and there are a wide variety of ethnic and foreign language papers. All of these papers contain leads.

41. FOR SALE BY OWNER FSBO A major reason owners try to sell without an agent is that they feel they are saving a commission.

43. You may find For Sale By Owners while driving around, and in advertising media such as newspapers, the Penny Saver, any local media — even advertising boards in markets. You have the same two basic ways to talk to the For Sale By Owner: by telephone or in person.

44. You will then enter into a series of questions after which you will want to take a look at their home, or rather have them show it to you. There are several films on For Sale By Owner and Expired Listings that you should acquire, watch and study.

48. THE INTERNET IS THE AGENT’S BEST FRIEND! Learn to use the internet, it will save you a lot of time, your most important commodity. There are many different ways to market property on the internet.

49. These home are for sale and can be found on the internet. Many agents today have their own websites and some will not cooperate when you contact them on their website. Why put the properties on the MLS?

50. Learn to use the internet -- it will save you time and money. You can see a better representation of homes, and decide in the office if the buyer wants to see the home.

51. Step 1 Develop your site. Usually it is best to have it set-up by a professional. Step 2 Maintain your site. You need to periodically update information and properties for sale or listed on the site. Step 3 Advertise your site. Your business card should include not only your phone number, fax number, but also e-mail address and web site. Such as: “ [email_address] ”

52. It is suggested you use your name for your website and e-mail. Catchy names are hard to relate to. Step 4 Some agents use more than one website. Step 5 When advertising your listings, use as many pictures as practical.

54. Internet sites are a great advertising tool. The internet can create interest in your business and an inventory of homes. Also set up an e-mail address. The e-mail address is not the same as a web site. Obtain an e-mail list from the clients you work with or have done a transaction with.

55. Name @ site yourname.com or Name @ site company. net Example: danjohnson@emailaddress.net

56. REFERRAL LIST Develop a systematic plan. Keep track of the results. Make sure every contact knows that you are in the real estate business. Follow-up referrals by reporting back to the referrer.