My rant at the moment is selling real estate. Realtors are a very strange breed of people. I keep hearing the words “Selling Real Estate is different than any other type of selling”.

This is just a load of rubbish. These real estate people are just confused between making a simple sale and making a major sale. Here is another brilliant example:

Last weekend was stunning weather so I took the opportunity to visit some open homes. These are properties being marketed by the listing agent. They are open for public viewing usually for up to an hour.

The agent generally stands at the door welcoming anyone who wishes to view the property and asks them to write their contact details in a visitor book.

The homes I was looking at are expected to sell over two million dollars (seriously major sales).

The opening statement by the first agent of the first house was “The material cladding on the outside of this house is cement”.

Not only was this totally incorrect as the cladding was a low cost fibro product but a stupid welcome for anyone.
There was also no invitation to sign the book, no question about who I was, or why was I there?

Just a statement like “Feel free to look around” and “other houses in this street have sold for over two and a half million dollars”.

Information only, no questions!

There was no listed price on the house, only a stupid sign out front with “House for Sale, Expressions of Interest invited.”

The property was brand new and the chinese owners had clearly used their own taste of low cost imported products and decor.

I spent around fifteen minutes viewing the property and when I left the agent comment was “Thanks for comming”.

At no time was there any attempt by this agent to communicate with me, and I am currently actively searching for property!

She did not make any attempt to have me sign the book or take my telephone number, nor even ask a simple question like “Why are you here today”?

This is so typical of people in the real estate business. They have zero idea about making major sales. They have no conception of any difference between selling pencils or selling houses.

The second property I visited was a similar experience.

Another property worth over two million dollars. The agent this time was a male and the opening statement was “Welcome make yourself at home” “Feel free to look around”.

He did ask me to sign the book but there was no other statement or questions. Nothing about “why are you here”? “What did you think of the property”? or “Are you currently looking to purchase something”?

Why are these people not trained?

Why are they left to their own devices to flounder with the public and make idiots of themselves?

How many of these people are walking straight past sales opportunities?

Selling Real Estate appears to be a very transient profession (if you can call it a profession). The real estate agent must pass a simple exam before they obtain a licence but as far as I am aware no actual sales training is given.
Very few Real Estate agents ever pick up a book on “How to Sell” and as far as I am aware are totally oblivious to the different skill set between selling big expensive items or selling cups of coffee.

Is there an opportunity for a career in selling real estate? I seriously think so.

The proviso:

You must be able to read and above all have an ability to ASK QUESTIONS!

If you want to find further information on how NOT to sell your home go here:

Luckily I was in the country at the time and managed to arrange a get together of a few ex Xerox sales staff.
We all worked at Auckland branch in the early seventies (you can tell by the age)!

From the left: Dave Perry, Steve Jones, Ray Duncan, Steve Hilliar, Ken Arnold

What is the need for Sales Training?
Sales Training and Education on how do deal with making major sales are basic fundamental and an important ingredient required for development of any person who wishes to make big sales.
Sales Training and Education of a sales person improves income, mental status, and knowledge, also the abilities to develop skills to face practical and real situations. Sales Training is the only weapon with which one can kill ignorance and fight with unawareness.

A properly trained Sales person can perceive things in a better way because they acquire the skills and mind to see things differently. They have a knowledge with which they are able to understand all the facets of any sales problem and then will be able to handle the situation in a better way.

Status of a good sales education on how to make major sales is low in most organizations. Though continuous efforts are being made by some companies to achieve the higher standard most are still focused on general sales training.

But why is this so? The main reason is the average sales person and most companies just do not understand the difference between making simple sales and making major sales. Most of the books out there just cover the same old repeated tuition from the early ages.

Lack of Education in making a major sale is costing many sales people and their employers a great deal of profit and lost commission. There is very little or no infrastructure in schools or companies to cover this most important role. If you are interested in how to move from order taker to professional sales person fill just pop your name and email into the box for a rare insight on the difference between making a simple sales and making a major sale.
If you are a sales manager or sales person looking to secure a sales manager’s job the details on this website may assist you. Read on!

There is a fantastic book available right now for employers who require real hot sales staff. It is called “Top Grading for sales”. The book has been written by Bradford D Smart (phd) and Greg Alexander.

The book provides world class methods to interview, hire and coach top sales representatives.

Great sales companies do not just depend on strategies, they depend on hiring those very best salespeople who belong to an elite group. A group who are skilled in asking questions rather than telling selling.

The book “Top Grading for Sales” takes the guess work out of hiring, by teaching sales managers how to recognize those high producers. In other words A players “High Talent” salespeople. It also shows how to turn some B players into A Players and at the same time weed out C players before they do too much damage.

Brad Smart’s previous book “Topgrading”, has become the definitive guide for managers who want to hire, coach and train top talent. Now Smart has teamed up with with greg Alexander, who used Topgrading to dramatically improve his saleforce at EMC.

In Topgrading for Sales, they have boiled down the key topgrading ideas while adapting them to the unique needs of sales managers.

The book is straightforward, easy to follow and if used correctly will vastly improve any sales force. Using the methods and tools provided throughout this book should double your percentage of high performing sales reps.

There are forms and guides available to help sales managers assess current sales reps, obtain all relavent career history from candidates, and effectively hire A Players who will become long term sales stars.

It is a known fact these sales people are few and far between. Neil Rackham of Huthwaite Research discovered this back in the late 1960’s and consequently he has written and released a number of important and best selling sales books such as “Spin Selling” and my all time favorite “Making Major Sales”.

This new book “Topgrading for Sales” by Bradford Smart and Greg Alexander falls into the same important category as Rackham. It is an absolute must for any sales organization. Topgrading will save companies wishing to employ high performing sales reps an immense amount of time and agony if they study the methods available to them in this fine sales manual.
As professional sales companies or professional sales teams, marketing managers, sales managers or in fact anyone who makes sales should own a copy of “Topgrading for Sales” and be guaranteed the opportunity to double their sales for the cost of a few cups of coffee.
The Topgrading Website is here:

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Lee Honish, former Chief Loss Mitigator for a top 10 bank, teaches real estate agents and Realtors how to evaluate a simple short sale scenario.

Lee teaches hundreds of agents every week to cut through the red tape and bureaucracy’s of banks and get more short sales closed in less time. With is 20+ year experience in et management and loss mitigation he quickly cuts through the BS and Smoke and mirrors other ‘experts’ have been laying on them that have confused many agents in to thinking they don’t have a future in this market.

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So, let’s see how this all adds up. 2 + 6 + 2 = 10. 10 months from August 2008 is June 2009.
So the majority of the resets will not even hit the market until June 2009. And the average length of time to sell this property will be 11 months, if not longer. So the minimum time for the market to hit the bottom will be after May 2010.
The average price decline, here in California, will be more than $2000 per month. If you invest in property today, you will lose almost all of your equity.

What no says today, is that the property that has an equity line of credit will also reset to a higher interest rate once the property falls below 110% of the initial loan amount. This is a huge overhang to the market, and could make these loans now subject to default.Who knows where this will end?
Based on this scenario, what is the best way to make money in real estate today?
Sell any real estate that you have, even into today’s declining market. Then wait for the turn in the market to buy back, better than ever. That time is more than 2 years away.
July 27, 2008 update:
As I write this, the senate just passed the foreclosure help bill. The immediate effect is to raise the interest rates on homes. Why? Because the lenders will now have to calculate how they are going to get a reasonable return on their money that they lend. They now have to include the cost of taking a writedown on their loan if the buyer defaults. The net effect of higher rates means that the price of the house has to go down if the buyer cannot increase his payment. In Stockton Calif., 1 house in 25 is now in foreclosure.

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