Prospects Need a Compelling Reason to Do Business With You
Wed, Aug 13, 2014
Today, I’m going to teach you one of the lessons we’ll be sharing at my upcoming SuperConference in Ft. Lauderdale, FL on March 7-8, 2015. How can I just give away these principles that took me years to perfect? Simple: because I have so much more to share. This is just the tip of the iceberg.Agents who attend our Super Conferences not only change their perspective – they change the way they do business, their success rate, and ultimately their lives – and we need three days to pack in all that growth. Let me give you a taste of what we’ll be covering with today’s blog post, where I discuss #3 of my 8 Universal and Irrefutable Business Principles I’ve learned that underlie my entire system.
Universal Business Principle #3: Prospects Need a Compelling Reason to Do Business With You
The real estate business is highly competitive. Prospects won’t call you just because they know who you are. If you want them to favor you with their business, you must answer the question your prospects are asking: what’s in it for me? Your typical prospect will be bombarded daily with dozens of agents’ names and faces, all wearing the same warm smile, all offering the same attentive, personal, professional, expert, results-oriented, fabulous service. So how do you stand out in such a crowded space?It’s All About Positioning
Most real estate agents don’t understand the concept of “positioning.” Positioning is the place that prospects and clients have slotted you in their heads. It is your “label,” the way they think about your product, service, or brand in relation to other competitors.
To gain a position in your prospect’s mind, you have to first understand how their mind works. Because it’s not organized by the features that you’re probably using to sell yourself.
Here’s an example to show what I mean. In the crowded beauty market, Chanel No. 5 could present itself in a number of ways. It could laundry list the ingredients that make up the perfume recipe, showcase how beautiful the bottle is, or talk about the awards their product has won. But instead, it uses images of classy women spraying their perfume, dripping in sophistication and understated sexiness. Customers see that ad and they’re no longer looking at perfume, but “sophisticated sex appeal.” And that market is a heck of a lot smaller!
How to Stand Out in a Crowded Market
To get started, answer the following question in 60 seconds or less (from marketing guru Dan Kennedy): Why should your prospects do business with you above all other options (including doing nothing)?
When you answer this question, you discover your Unique Selling Proposition, or USP. Your USP is the unique offer you make to your prospects to set yourself apart from your competition. It’s the highly specific, relevant and meaningful consumer benefit that enables your prospects to make a direct translation: “If I use this agent’s services, I will get ‘X.’
To develop your USP, write a list of all the things that your customers want. Go through the list and circle which of these needs you can fill. Then brainstorm ways to clearly state to your customers that you are the source to fill those needs. When you find the most powerful way, you’ve found your USP.
My USP and How I Use It
I tested many USPs over the years, but the one which remained strongest and most enduring for me personally was, “Your Home Sold in Under 120 Days or I Buy It.” This was my positioning in the marketplace – I was the guy who bought houses.
And why was this statement so compelling to my prospects? Because seller prospects know well that many homes either take forever to sell, or even ultimately expire, because the agent is unable to sell the home at all. I knew from research that “selling fast and for top dollar” were my prospects’ top concerns, and this USP spoke directly to this. A variation on this USP, “Your Home Sold in Under 120 Days, at Your Price, or I Buy It”, spoke clearly to both top concerns.
Now some of you will protest that this program is too risky and that you’re not in a position to buy homes. Well, neither was I. But remember that you set the conditions of this program. I wrote up hundreds of contracts but seldom had to buy a house because my systems were so good that it was rare that I was unable to sell a client’s home when they’d met my conditions and signed up for this program.
Of the thousands of Quantum Leap System members who are now high 6 and 7 figure earners, not one of them has failed to incorporate this potent Performance Guarantees as part of their marketing system, however, there are plenty of other USPs I teach at my SuperConference that ANY of you could successfully use.
For example, one of the easiest ways to set yourself apart from your competition is to research and use statistics. I made millions of dollars in commissions as an agent by motivating seller and buyer prospects to use my services on the basis of 3rd party statistical evidence that I used to set myself apart.
Now before I go any further, I know there may be some of you reading this right now that are saying to yourself, “Well, sure Craig could use statistics because he sold a lot of houses, but what about me?” Well, that’s the great thing about statistics: anyone can use them. Let me show you how.
The first step you need to take is to research which areas you stand out in. It’s not likely that you’ll shine in all areas. Your job is to find the stats that make you look good. (You won’t use the others.)
How do you do this research? And what exactly are you looking for?
Well, what you’re researching and comparing are your personal numbers vs. the MLS (or Real Estate Board) statistics. If your personal statistic on a certain dimension is not impressive, you may want to use your company statistics, and if this still doesn’t look good, eliminate this particular comparison, and move on to another criteria.
Let me give you an example. If you are at a listing presentation and the seller is interviewing agents, you must show that seller what’s in it for them to list with you. One stat you can use is your List-to-Sales ratio vs. the Real Estate Board List-to-Sale ratio. Let’s say you did this research and found that your listings averaged 98.6% of sellers’ asking price vs. the Real Estate Board average (i.e. everyone else) at 96.5%. This would mean that your listings sold for 2.1% more than the Real Estate Board average. This is a USP you can use very powerfully to get you the signed contract.
And this is just the tip of the iceberg as far as USPs are concerned. I will teach you everything you need to know at the SuperConference, but for now, remember these 6 rules:
6 Criteria Your USP Must Incorporate
- Be Unique . . . Offer something that is truly different
- Be Specific . . . It’s always better to be very precise and specific. The more precise and exact a statement is, the more believable it becomes. People generally won’t challenge - or even doubt - precise numbers because they assume that this precision was calculated by some kind of reliable mathematical or statistical method. Instead of saying that your homes sell for 2% more than the real estate board average, say they sell for 2.36% more.
- Be Relevant . . . This means that you have to offer a benefit that means something to your prospect. You have to connect with them at some deeply felt level.
- Be Believable . . . Don’t offer something that is so hard to swallow that you fail to be taken seriously.
- Be Focused . . . Don’t try to be all things to all people. But equally, don’t target your message to too small a group (you have to be able to earn a sustainable income), and don’t forget to keep your eye on the future (your USP may have to evolve with changes in the market).
- Be Concise . . . You do NOT want a paragraph of copy. Instead, you want a single - easy to understand - thought. You must articulate “in a few words” the precise advantage you have over your competition.
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