Stop Trying to Sell to a Seller
People assume real estate agents are rich. Agents drive fancy cars, have their nails done, wear diamonds, silver and gold. We have the MILLION DOLLAR CLUB. Did you know if you sell a million dollars in real estate - and assuming your company split is 70:30 - that before taxes and before expenses your gross income will be about $21,000. Where I live, you have to sell $2 million to be in the million dollar club. Why? Because assuming I sell a home for $100,000. The listing agent also sells a $100,000 home. This means that I’ve only sold $50,000 worth of home because that one home can only be counted ONCE as sold in the MLS, not twice.
Therefore for me to get a million dollars’ worth of sales credit, I have to sell $2 million. You can then assume then that an agent who makes the million dollar club may earn about $42,000 before paying taxes and paying expenses. Marketing should run about 10 percent, then when you factor in the cost of signs, advertising, business cards, brochure boxes, gas, mailings, postage, office expenses - let’s say about 25 percent to run your business. That means you net (before taxes) $31,500. That’s not a million dollars.
So why do salesmen think we’re made of money? I had a very pushy dude insist on presenting some thing in person, an advertisement for a home magazine. I told him I already had my marketing budget figured for the year, but if he wanted to mail me a sample I’d think about it for 2010. He said, “I’ll just take five minutes of your time and drop it off.”
“Okay,” I agreed.
My phone rang ten minutes before our designated meeting time. It was my husband and I said, “I have an appointment in 10 minutes.”
“Fred” then walked into my office at that moment and said loudly (interrupting my call), “You’re appointment is here!”
Before he began, I explained again that my marketing budget was already planned out for the year but he was confident I’d be convinced with his product. Fred made me watch a computer slide show. When I asked a question, he shushed me and said, “It’s almost over.”
Once it ended, he began the hard sale push. Exasperated I said, “Fred. You’re talking with a real estate agent. I’m sure you know what the market’s been like this year. You can’t squeeze blood from a turnip!”
Fred got angry. He threw all his stuff back in his briefcase, folded up his little computer, and began to walk out of my office. I said, “If you’d like to leave a card, I’ll call you when I’m planning next year’s marketing campaign.”
His reply, “I’ll call you.”
Wow. He refused to leave his card and gave me the “Don’t call me, I’ll call you!” line. What a bizarre sales pitch! If I treated my customers like that, my broker would hand me my head. I’ll definitely keep Fred’s behavior in mind every time I meet a potential client… what not to do.
