Let Us Hear From You

“Big ideas happen when people build on each other’s ideas.”
~ DAVID M. KELLEY, founder and CEO, IDEO

Real Estate Investing is a lonely business. Yes, we’re with people each and every day, if we’re doing it right. Yes, we’re on the phone with buyers/sellers and potential lenders every minute of every hour. But, when it comes to people who think like us, and understand what we go through – it’s lonely out there! What is a real estate investor to do? Read more

How to Handle Rejection in Your Real Estate Business

It doesn’t matter if you’re a seasoned veteran real estate investor or just getting started in the world of investing rejection is a part of life.  If you’re maximizing your time and focusing on the key business elements (marketing, buyers, sellers and private lenders) then you’re going to face rejection. Real estate investing is a sales business and in any sales business, it’s a numbers game.

Here are the top 7 Secrets You Can Use to Help You Overcome Rejection. . .

1. Don’t take it personally. First and foremost remember that it isn’t personal.  Think about when you say no to something.  It’s rarely about the individual that’s presenting it.  It’s usually bigger than that.  Don’t let a simple “no” ruin your day.  When you hear “no” think “I’m one step closer to YES!”
2. NEXT!  That’s right – it’s a numbers game.  Just keep plugging along and think “Next.”  When you’re talking to sellers you aren’t going to get an appointment with every one.  In fact, we know that through direct marketing, on average, for every 30 calls you get you will get 10 qualified leads.  Out of those 10 leads you will get 1 deal.  That means that you’re going to talk to 29 people that you aren’t going to do a deal with.  You could dwell on the 29 non deals are you could focus on the fact that you’re 1/29 of the way to another PAYCHECK!
3. Know Your Facts.  Oftentimes rejection isn’t rejection at all.  It’s a request for more information.  It’s your prospect saying, “I don’t have enough information to make a decision right now, I need to know more.”  If you’re talking to a detail oriented person they are going to want to know facts, figures, statistics.  The whole who, what, why, where and how of it.  If you don’t give them enough DATA they won’t make a decision.
4. Ask Questions.  Many times “rejection” comes because we haven’t filled the need.  If you’re too focused on saying what you want to say instead of fulfilling the needs of your prospect then you’re missing the boat.  Ask questions of your prospect to determine what their needs are, then let them know how you can fill those needs and what benefits they will receive.  Remember, it’s not about what you want to say, it’s about fulfilling their needs.
5. Keep Positive.  It’s easy to feel something slipping away and have your attitude slide downhill.  Keep it in check.  Keep upbeat during your meeting and your enthusiasm may become catchy.  Handling things in a professional and postive manner can keep you on the forefront of your prospects mind if their situation changes.  It’s not uncommon for investors to get 30-40% of their deals from follow up.  Leaving things on a positive note can help those numbers to increase.
6. Build Rapport.  Find things that you have in common (hobbies, kids, geography).  Talk about those things and establish a rapport with this person.  It’s much harder for people to reject you if they really like you and feel connected to you.  Having rapport won’t make someone do business with you that doesn’t have a need for your services, but if it comes down to you and another option, they’ll choose the person they know, like and trust.
7. Analyze and Improve.  Everyone can improve their presentation skills.  When you leave a meeting take your driving time to think through what you could have done differently.  Did you establish rapport?  What key “needs” did the prospect have and did you answer how you could meet those?  Learn from each deal and make mental notes for next time. 

Keeping the above in mind and knowing you’re not going to get every deal with help you get through those tough days.  The great thing is that there are plenty of motivated sellers out there just waiting to hear what you have to say.  Go out and offer it to them – just remember, fill THEIR need and show them the benefits of working with you! And when all else fails, just yell “NEXT!”

Taking Action “Outside of the Box”

I received an email communication from one of my Realtors recently that made me stop and take action.  Isn’t that what we want our marketing to do . . . make people stop and take action.  If you’re using the same old, same old marketing that everyone else is using then what makes you think YOUR marketing will make people take action.  Are you giving them an action statement?  That’s a big one.   Many people get frustrated that their target market aren’t taking action on the marketing, but are you giving them a call to action.  Something like, Call Today, or Go Visit This House Now, or Complete and Fax Your Application Now. 

This e-card that she sent wasn’t anything special, but it’s cute, it’s timely, it stands out and it has an action statement.  Check it out:

Read more

Renegotiating Private Money With Better Terms

With current 5 year CD rates at 2.94%, and dropping, one of the things we’ve been doing is replacing a lot of our private lenders that are at 10, 12 and 15% interest rates with MUCH lower rates. Just think about how much money you, as the real estate investor and holder of the property, could save if you replaced all your 12% money with let’s just say 7%. That’s a 5% savings each year and on just a $100k home that is a $5,000 savings. So, how exactly do you go about it? Read more

The Fed says, “Recession is Likely Over”

I, like many, have my phone set up to receive daily updates on how the stock market is going.  Yesterday I received what struck me as a funny message.  It said, “Fed is likely to keep interest rates at all time low and announce the recession is likely over.”  Well, there you have it.  The Fed said the recession is likely over so get out there and get back to reality.  What a funny statement.  Do they think we were all just waiting for someone to tell us we could go back to life now.  It’s like we were all waiting at the starting line for the gun to go off and someone to tell us it was time to go.

Here’s my take on it . . . Read more

Next Page »