I LOVED the movie, The Wolf of Wall Street. I remember watching it and thinking, there is no way this is even based on the true story of a real person!
From all the interesting and often times hilarious scenes, the one that impacted me the most was the ending.
“Sell me this pen” – Jordan Belfort
I watched that scene where Jordan Belfort went to each audience member one after another asking the same question. “Sell me this pen”.
I thought about it myself and went through a number of scenarios thinking, what I would say?
How I would say it?
Could I be convincing?
Would my approach be correct?
I learned the proper answer to that question reading today’s book, Way of the Wolf. Turns out, I was way off.
Lesson 1: Know the Prospect
The right answer was not to start talking about the benefits of the pen.
It was not to create a scarcity mentality.
It was not to say positive things about the pen or even the prospect.
It was not to start overcoming objections.
Step one was to find out if the prospect was even in the market looking to buy a pen.
Duh. *Insert forehead slap*
But how many people truly realized that? I certainly didn’t.
The first thing to be done is to gather intelligence. What good is trying to sell to someone who is not trying to buy?
You have to know your market. Where are the prospects we are targeting?
Then, craft the appropriate marketing that is cost-effective and gets the message in front of the highest number of potential prospects.
Repeat. Multiple touches, multiple follow ups, multiply chances of success. This gets the maximum number of prospects into your sales funnel where you will continually filter to separate the true customers from the non-customers.
The real estate deal funnel is exactly the same.
We broadcast our message to find motivated sellers through all the marketing mediums we can afford to put our time and money into.
We use lists of potential prospects: Pre-foreclosure, Probate, Divorce, and Out of Town Owners.
We attempt to contact them using Direct mail, bill boards, radio ads, craigslist, cold calls, and door knocking.
We continue to negotiate with the sellers to ascertain their motivation level.
We negotiate until something is under contact.
The more motivated sellers we reach the more likely we are to do a deal. Different seller each time, but always the same steps.
Lesson 2: Soft Skills
People do business with people they know, like, and trust. Way of the Wolf highlights three essential positive qualities.
We need to be:
- Sharp as a tack
- Enthusiastic as hell
- An expert in the field
These three qualities are important because they convey the right mix of credibility and likability. We want to be seen as intelligent, capable, and competent.
- The people that we are helping through our real estate business want to know that we can execute.
- They want us to answer their questions.
- They want us to put them at ease.
- Most importantly they want us to fix their problems.
The good news is that anyone can portray these qualities. The only cost, a little extra effort.
I’m not saying to lie or fake it until you make it.
I’m saying that attitude is everything. If you know enough to help someone that needs their real estate problems solved, act like the expert.
Lesson 3: Certainty and pain
In a situation of influence like a sale or real estate transaction people have the need for certainty.
They need to be certain that they trust and like you, your company, and your product/service.
In the example of the motivated seller they need to like you enough to listen and negotiate. The seller also has to believe you can implement your strategy to buy their house or do something creative to solve their problem.
Same concept for my fellow landlords. The potential tenant needs to trust that you will take care of the property and make it a great place to live by addressing their needs in a prompt and professional manner. They need to envision living in your property happily.
Motivated sellers reach out to us because they are experiencing some kind of pain that needs to be resolved. It is our job to alleviate that pain.
The solutions in our toolbox is purchasing their property or coming up with other creative solutions that will allow them to move on with their life.
Sometimes when negotiating and talking to a seller they need to be reminded how negative their alternative is. Sometimes we have to remind them that the pain they feel today can worsen if the problem continues.
Back payments grow larger. Foreclosure looms ahead. Think about your future if you take a massive credit hit.
If we can gracefully create a win-win then the pain goes away. We can make that pain go away and they can be certain we will follow through with our end of the bargain.
The Way of the Wolf was informative, entertaining, and heavy with practical applications.
I recommend getting the audio version. The author, Jordan Belfort, narrates the audio version and there are subtleties in vocal tonality that he teaches which simply cannot translate to just written words.
I highly recommend you learn the persuasive tactics of Straight Line Selling because it is what we do on a daily basis.
The better we get at it, the more successful we are, the more we can help others.
That ability to help others is one of the most beautiful things about being a real estate investor!
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