Well, all the sellers are taking “happy pills.” There are more FSBOs, and they are tougher to talk to now. What are my coaching clients doing right now?
- On the FSBOs, they are setting up spreadsheets that keep track of the information on all FSBO’s in their market area.
- They subscribe to services like Landvoice and REDx to get lists of FSBO’s.
- They check their hometown newspaper and subscribe to the rags where the really cheap FSBOs might advertise.
- They check all the FSBO websites.
- They have built a team of family, assistants, and affiliates who drive through town, always taking different routes. This team writes down all the FSBOs addresses with their respective phone numbers, and they pull brochures, if available.
- They time-block this weekly accumulation of information for about an hour on Monday morning. Each of the affiliates knows to get his/her information in before that time frame.
- Next, my clients carefully go through the ads and complete their spread sheet columns. The columns would be the following: property address; situs address; owner name; 4 spaces for phone numbers with the first one being the one used in advertising; bedrooms/baths; square footage; extra rooms; garage space; lot size; basement; upgrades; best features of the home; email address, and special circumstances. Additionally, including columns to answer these questions: is the seller a local buyer; in what city do they need an agent; why are they selling; and what date they have to close.
The first week of these activities will be tough, but it will get easier after that! After the information is assembled for the week, a call is made to the seller. Let the seller know that you show your buyers more than just MLS property. If they tell you they won’t pay a commission, tell them that commission is taken care of by an agreement with the buyer via a buyer brokerage agreement. Complete any empty slots in the spreadsheet. Let them know you would like to send them articles and information that may help them, and let them know that you will call them after they receive the letter or email.
Send them letter/email #1 out of “Grow Your Leads: Just Add Wa(l)ter” from the FSBO chapter. Call to follow-up on the value that you mention in the letter on Thursday. Time-block it.
On the next Monday, do it again. Send letter/email #2 to last week’s FSBOs and letter #1 to the new FSBOs for this week. Call the new ones on Monday to fill in your spreadsheet. With each call, you may be adding more information to your spreadsheet. Call everyone again on Thursday to see what value that has been mentioned in the letter that you can deliver to the FSBO.
There are twelve letters and twelve phone calls in addition to the initial phone call to complete the spreadsheet.
Give copies of your spreadsheet to your buyer’s assistant(s) so that he/she can start showing the FSBO whenever they have a buyer who is even close. Make sure he/she leaves a lot of material with your picture and name on it plus mention your name liberally.
Pay special attention to nice FSBOs who take value from you, have a clear reason for selling, and especially, have a definite move-out date. “Special attention” means previews, personal consultation, pre-listing consultations, and sessions to show that if you use their closing date and work backwards that now would be the time to list.
Most sane FSBOs who need to sell, have taken help from you, talk with you, and have not sold should be talking about listing around the 7th week.
In the meantime, show the property to your buyers and earn commission. Talk the “sold” FSBO into being your buyer and earn commission. Send the FSBO as a buyer referral someplace in the world and earn a referral bonus. Get the buyers to whom the FSBO didn’t sell and earn commission. Finally, build the FSBO into a raving client who becomes part of your database and earn money from the referrals and business after they have learned that being a FSBO is no fun.
As I used to own this demographic, I’m proud to see my coaching clients dominating their individual markets’ FSBOs, too! You could send another request for someone to like your Facebook page or get to work with great systems that make lots of money!
Walter Sanford has been designing and implementing real estate systems for 30 years. One of the most successful REALTORS® and now wealthy from his systems, Sanford teaches his systems and strategies through his products, seminars, and personal coaching producing the best results in the industry. Do what works, do what is proven. Hire Walter Sanford. Call our office at 800.792.5837, email walter@waltersanford.com, or chat with us online at www.waltersanford.com.
