If you ever see me speak you will find out quickly that I love what I do! I love speaking and training and I love the nervous energy that I feel before every event! I am often asked if I mind all the travel and being away from my family and my answer comes quickly. I love what I do and the travel just comes with the territory; it is the means to that end. I don’t think about it; traveling is simply part of the process that creates opportunities for me to influence people and hopefully help them make changes in their lives and businesses that will impact their families in a positive way. Yes, being away from my family is difficult, but I am blessed to be married to an awesome wife who does an amazing job of caring for our six children. Without her, I simply could not do what I do.

One of the most important things an agent can do today is take careful self evaluation by simply asking these questions of yourself: “What do you do?” “What is your most important role?” “Where do you find your greatest value?” and “Are you a sales person?”

The first few questions establish your core values and motivating factors that allow you to do the difficult tasks, but interestingly, the last question is the one most agents struggle with—I call it the “Sales Denial Syndrome.” I recently spoke to a large group of real estate agents and asked the entire group to raise their hands if they think they are in sales and the response was mind boggling! Less than 10% of this group considered themselves to be “sales people”. I was floored—how can you be successful in real estate if you can’t sell?

Too often, when we hear the word “sales person” we conjure up an image of a sleazy, slick talker wearing a plaid jacket—and we sure don’t want to be associated with that image! But I simply ask you: How do you convince people to do business with you if you don’t give a great sales presentation? How do you overcome objections like “I want to think about it” or “I’d like to sleep on it” or “Another agent said they could do it for less”? These are all objections that require great sales skill and dialog in order to overcome them. The better you are at selling yourself and your services, the more likely that you will be successful as a real estate professional.

Think about it from the perspective of today’s home seller. Knowing what you know about the market and how slow home sales are in most price ranges, who would you prefer to hire, the agent that will provide you “great service” or do you want a “Freaking Sales Animal”? The difference is that the Freaking Sales Animal will follow up aggressively with every potential buyer, they will negotiate with confidence on any and all offers, and if they get a live one they will stay with that client until they buy or tell them to die!

I came into real estate as a salesman. I attribute my success to the training and experiences I had outside of real estate in competitive sales environments. I love sales, I love the selling process and my clients hire me today because they know I can sell their homes. I agree that exceptional service is critical to long-lasting relationships and repeat business, but you never get to the repeat business part if you can’t close to begin with!

Don’t be afraid of the supposed stigma that is sometimes attached to being in sales; embrace it and be confident with who you are! Study sales and sales strategies and get trained by the best sales people you know. When I coach agents today it is with the specific focus on helping them incorporate technology into their business, so they have more sales opportunities.

“Sales” is a 5-letter word not a 4-letter word! Now repeat after me: “I’m a Freaking Sales Animal and I am proud of it! I LOVE what I do!”

Verl Workman is a leading national speaker, coach and consultant. Despite his busy speaking schedule, and role as co-founder of Pinnacle Quest Consulting Group, he still sells real estate so that he can test and stay abreast of the latest tools and techniques that maximize results. He uses that knowledge to assist individuals and companies in building effective business strategies, implementing powerful technology solutions, and establishing strategic competitive advantages through coaching, seminars and private consultations. To contact Verl visit www.verlworkman.com or www.PQPipeline.com or email him at AskVerl@verlworkman.com.

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