KGCI: Real Estate on Air - How to Get a Sole Mandate

Episode Date: May 3, 2024

Hey everybody and welcome. This is the simple truth where I go through questions that come through from agents. Now, these particular questions, some of them are challenging. Some of them are quite straightforward and simple. But regardless, they are the simple truth and I'm going to help you to share those particular answers. So in one of my coaching sessions and in fact this was a group workshop, I had a number of agents that said to me, Stuart, you talk that we need to get sole mandates. But how do I go about getting them?

Because when I go through to my sellers and I say to them, hey, I'm an agent and I will only work with a sole mandate, they go, no, I'm not going to give you a sole mandate because I've had a bad experience with past agents. So if you want my property, you take it as is. Now, this is where agents get a little bit concerned because, well, do we come in a little bit hard and fast and say, well, no, I only work with it with the chances that we don't even get the listing. Well, in this session, what I'm going to do is I'm going to go through some couple of basic steps that you can work with that will help you in your business. You see, when you're working in real estate, real estate is about taking it. to the next level. Nobody said it was easy, but I will be able to give you the simple truth that will help you to elevate your business. Now I'm sure you're going to want to know how to

convince a particular seller from an open mandate to that sole mandate. Well here is where we begin. You remember, it's all about building trust and addressing that seller's concerns. And these are key when you're trying to convince them to give us all mandates. Don't just give in when they say, no, we don't work with agents, we only give open. No, address their concerns and build that trust with them. So how do we do that? Well, I'm going to give you a couple of little pointers that are fairly straightforward, fairly easy, and I know you can do it.

So the very first one, and this is probably the most important. out of all of them because this sets the stage. And it's what I like to call having an open communication. Having an open communication is about starting that discussion to address those sellers concerns. So how do we do that? Well, first, you need to schedule a meeting. This can't be something over a message.

This can't be something over a phone call. You need to schedule that meeting and sit with that seller face to face. This will allow you to discuss their concerns openly. Now, if it means that you've got to do it on a Zoom call, try and get them to put their camera on, but I always suggest doing it face to face. Now, a key part of this is you need to listen actively to their past experiences. And in doing that, acknowledge their concerns.

Don't be the agent that says, I can't believe that agent did that. Oh my gosh, that is so ridiculous. No. What you're actually doing is you're actually opening up a hole for yourself. So listen actively. Take notes of their past experiences. It could be something so trivial like my agent took the open,

or the sole mandate, and they didn't even contact us again. We never heard from them. We didn't even see them. We don't even know what happened. That's one of the big ones that I found from. real estate agencies, they just don't communicate back with their sellers. And that's something that you can overcome quite quickly. So make sure that when you're having these particular meetings,

have that open conversation. Ask them, hey, what are your concerns about a sole mandate? And then address them in a very light way, making sure that they can see that you're actually caring. Because it's about building trust. You want to help them. And this is a how we start to open that particular door. In the communications with your particular seller, it's at this point where you can start sharing some success stories. Now these success stories, they can highlight your sales of the past, but more importantly, these success stories can support and validate you overcoming their concerns. So if their concerns is, well, hey, my agents just don't communicate with them, you can actually share this.

success stories. Now take this and elevate it to the next level. It's all very well to say, well, I've just sold 20 properties and I sold them within two weeks. Validate that. What was the experience like? You see, this is an emotional cell and you want to make sure that your sellers understand it because their stress and anxiety is through the roof and you've got to bring it down. So what you're going to do is you showcase those positive testimonials and you do it from satisfy clients. Now you can do this in a nice unique way. If you're sitting in front of them and they've said, hey, my concern is X, Y and Z, you can actually reflect back to one of your sellers where you actually elevated that service that actually helped that particular seller. But more

importantly, it addresses the concerns of your current seller. So what do you do? You say, hey, Mr. Seller, I've actually got a client that I've just dealt with. I'd love to get them. on the phone so they can share exactly the level of service that I demonstrated and that's my competency and my reliability that I can offer to you. How about I actually give them a call right now? A better way to show a success story than right from the horse's mouth, right from one of your past sellers. Now don't just fall into the trap of just dialing any random seller and say, hey, can you give me a good success story right now because I'm sitting in front of a new cell? No, make sure that when you do have these positive testimonials, you actually openly and say to them,

hey, do you mind if I come across a situation in the future? Would you mind if I give you a quick call? And we just have just a little open conversation that you can support what I'm saying through to my particular seller that I'm working with. And when you get a positive response from them, perfect. Away you go. Now, the next is something that a lot of agents don't do. They don't explain the benefits of a sole mandate. You see, a sole mandate to a seller's eyes is,

I'm locked in for X amount of time period with this particular agent. That could be a problem, because we don't know what they're going to deliver. So what you need to do is you need to explain your benefits. You need to clearly explain the advantages of having a sole mandate, such as increased commitment from yourself, a focused marketing efforts and possibly even go through that streamlined sales process. You see, when you emphasize that having that exclusive rights to market their property, that can lead to a quicker and more efficient sale.

Why? Because you're going to be committed to their property. You see, this actually elevates it to the point that you're getting employed as an employee. They are your boss in essence. And you don't want to let your boss down because at the end of the day they're going to pay you through commission or professional fee. So you need to make sure that you explain your benefits. Think of it as part of your resume. This is what I offer.

This is what I can deliver. But make sure that whatever you offer, whatever you deliver, you actually do. Because remember, if you don't, your integrity is gone. So make sure that you do deliver as per your commitment that you've actually stated to them. Now, this is going to be on the back of something that I've seen very few agents actually deliver. And that's a marketing plan. You see, we get these listings and we get these mandates, and then we get stressed as an agent because we don't know what to do. What we typically do is we put it onto an MLA system or we put it onto a portal to try and get as much exposure out there.

And then suddenly we are starting to get a bit frantic because we don't know what the next steps are. What if plan A doesn't work? What is plan B? What is plan C? Well, that's where the marketing plan comes in. Now, I've created an eight-week marketing plan. It breaks everything down, step by step of what to do every single week. And you can do the exact same.

Start building exactly what you're going to do every week, whether it's a two week, four week, eight week, three month marketing plan, put that together. I even added a 125 point checklist. So it's almost like when you take your car in for a service and they check off these little bits and pieces to see if everything is good to go. Well, I did the exact same thing on a marketing plan. And what I would do is when I've completed week one, I ticked them off and I will then send that through to my salad. to say, hey, this is what I've done in the week. I've done this, this, this, this, as per my marketing plan.

You see, by presenting that comprehensive marketing plan, you're actually going to showcase and advertise that property to a whole new level that stands up above anybody else. Now, something that's very important when you're doing a marketing plan, we all have a basic template that we operate with. And that's why it's so important to have that open communication, right in the beginning of this relationship that you're building. You see, you need to incorporate some of those concerns

and you actually use them as strategies that's tailored to their property that's going to help them to go, oh, well, that was one of my concerns. Well, add that into your marketing plan. If one of their concerns is, my agent does not communicate with me on a weekly basis, you incorporate that into your marketing plan that, oh, by the way, every Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, whichever day it might be, I'm going to send you a message. I'm going to send you an email. I'm going to give you a phone call.

I'll even tie a note to pigeon and send it through to you, but obviously in the most respectful way, I'm going to communicate with you. Now, when you're doing these marketing plans, remember, it's not just an online plan. It's also going to incorporate some offline stuff as well. But when you put that together, the great thing is it's going to make your future properties when you market so easy. Why? Remember, you're going to just repeat it over and over again until you become a master at it. So get those marketing plans together and you'll find it's actually going to make your job so much easier. That's like a simple truth.

Now, I mentioned and I highlighted this in the marketing plan is incorporating that personalised approach. Is adapting that particular marketing plan what you do to that particular seller. You see, this will assure that the seller that they understand what you're going to do. But more importantly, that you actually understand what their unique concerns are. And that your method is actually designed specifically for them. In other words, you're doing this marketing plan. You do all this work, but you're actually addressing those concerns that you raised right in the beginning. And that's talking directly to them.

You see, those concerns is what you want to squish. You want to squash them, push them to one side, never have to address them again. Why? Because you're actually delivering what their concerns are and taking it to that next level. Now, when you start doing all of this, this is when your business elevates to what I like to call a professional business. You see, elevating to that high level within your business is absolutely paramount. So you need to be professional. Showcase your professionalism.

And this will include your real estate credentials, certificates, trainings, all of that nonsense. That really validates who you are. But also, it's for you to explain your commitment to the ethical business practices that you operate around, as well as all these industry standards. You adhere to them. You make sure that you comply to every. single level. And in doing that, it really elevates your business to that professional level. Because remember, we don't earn a commission. We own a professional fee. We're in the game of

professionals. So deliver your professionalism to your clients. And when you start doing that, you're packaging yourself and elevating yourself to a new level. Now, through all this process, professionalism has one key underlying principle. This is something, and I raised it in the beginning, it's those clear communications. It's so many times. I actually get almost saddened by agents that just go, well, you know,

I don't actually have anything to tell my particular seller because I haven't had any inquiries. I had a show day or an open house, and I didn't have anybody come through. I feel embarrassed to actually give them that information. Well, the truth of it is, by not doing that, by not communicating, you're actually going against one of the biggest concerns that sellers have. That real estate agents, hey, they don't communicate.

They want, they want, they want, they just don't deliver. So have those clear communications. And what you need to do is you need to establish a transparent, and regular communication plan. So whether you're gonna be communicating with your seller on a daily basis, on a weekly basis, on a biweekly basis, whatever the case may be,

have that communication with your seller to find out. How often would you like to be kept informed of this particular process? And if they say, I'd like a communication once a week, take it to the next level, all right? Once a week, Which day of the week would you prefer? How would you like?

What time would you like? And make sure that you put that into your calendar. And it's so easy with digital calendars these days. Communicate with your seller. You push, repeat until sold. It repeats every single week at that time. It becomes a reminder and that's what you do. At that time, on that day, every single week, you communicate information through to your seller.

If you don't, you're actually falling into that same big pool of agents that just do not communicate. So make sure that you've done that transparent communication through to your particular seller so that they know, hey, this is what I expect. And this is really going to start to elevate that professionalism. Now, on the back of that, what do we communicate? Well, there's a number of things that we can communicate. And one of the clear numbers is kind of like a performance metrics. So we can actually say, hey, by the way, we had X amount of web views or views from the actual portals. That came down to X amount of inquiries.

And from those X amount of inquiries, we got X amount of viewings. And from X amount of viewings, we got X amount of people to get pre-qualified or potentially put in an offer. So you can actually, you can create this track record and it can also start looking at the average time it takes a listing to sell. You see, if you've done this over time with a number of properties and your seller says to you, so how long does it take to sell a property in my particular suburb, you can actually make reference and say, well, hey, the last X amount of properties that I've sold has taken an average of about 30 to 40 days, depending on exactly what those market conditions have done. Why is that so important to share with your sellers? Well, your seller wants you to sell the property kind of today. That's the reason why they're giving you a mandate, hopefully.

And if you're going through and you're now giving them an unexpected result, in other words, you're giving them something that is just not validated, well, they're going to look at you and say, well, I'm going to give you this mandate, I want it sold in seven days. if the market is currently averaging at about 21 to 30 days, trust me, on day 14, that seller is going to get irritated with you. So start looking at your performance metrics, having a look at all that data, and making sure that you have it on hand, it's a level of professionalism, and you can deliver that to your seller. You see, what it does is start setting up expectations. And I know expectations are extremely dangerous because we don't have

control over the buyers. However, we are giving a guidance. Hey Mr. Sala, look on the last couple of properties, they've taken 45 days to actually go from listing to get an offer and get it sold. Now you've actually got a form of expectation throughout the week as you're communicating with them, you can actually say, hey, we can see by previous track records that there's actually fewer buyers at the moment, which means we've got a smaller pool that we're working with, which could take it a bit longer from historical results. Or on the reverse, hey, Mr. Seller, we said 45 days, what we've actually got is we've got this influx of buyers, and we're actually shortening up that particular time because of the marketing plan that I've actually done,

and I'll put all this in place, whether it's online, whether it's offline, and I've now started to assist to get this property sold. You see, having those performance metrics really, does give you a little bit of guidance and helps to almost mitigate those unexpected expectations that your seller is wanting to have. Now, when we start coming to the final points that I want to share with you, one is trying to get rid of all of the risk. And by almost mitigating these risks, you need to address any concerns about the potential risks of a sole mandate. And this is, explaining how you actively work to mitigate those risks. Now, those risks come into the form of sole mandate,

agent only has it, agent leaves agency, or agent suddenly disappears, and that sole mandate is locked into that particular agency. No one could tell. Go through the process, make sure that they understand the mandate. There's always a loophole, but one that I've always said, Mr. Seller, remember, An open mandate is basically anybody working.

It's like employing temporary staff. They come, they go, and they do as they please. When you give a sole mandate, it's like giving a fixed contract to an employee. You are expecting them to deliver a level of service. So as an employee, I need to deliver a level of service. If I don't, what is the risk mitigation? You're going to fire me, aren't you? And that's one of the points that I've said.

If I don't deliver the service that I've promised, you fire me. And by firing me, it means we're canceling the particular mandate. I know it's a hard thing to actually say to a seller. However, by saying that, it tells that particular seller, hey, should you not deliver on your promise, you can get fired. And that's something that really puts something on your shoulders that you need to deliver. You need to maintain that high level of service so that you do not get fired. So you can have that little as a lighthearted conversation with your particular sellers. Now the last, and this is really just negotiations. You see, as real estate agents, we should be

top at our skills at negotiating. So we need to be open to negotiating the terms of this mandate so that the seller can feel more comfortable. And one of the big areas that I negotiate on is I negotiate on shorter initial durations with initial being underlined and in bold. So shorter initial durations. Or you can actually do it on specific milestones. You know, I need to get X amount of buyers through the property. And if I don't get X amount of buyers in a certain amount of time, well, then we call it quits.

Because ultimately, that would indicate the property is probably. overpriced. And if they don't want to drop their price, well, that could lead to other problems. But that shorter initial duration, this is something that I've done on many, many times. I've spoken to a sale that they do not want to give you a sole mandate and they explain their concerns, they explain their reasons the last time I was in for six months and my property didn't get sold. And I say to them, well, why not? Let's start it with a shorter, 14 day, 21 day, 30 day, whatever the case may be. And in that time, I was in that time, period I will deliver as per my promise so it's a very short term sole mandate

now why would we do that well you see once they experience your high level of professionalism your high level of service the chances of them extending it are much higher you see you can call it the trial version and this is something almost like an industry standard we have a 14 day with 30 day trial version. And at any time, you can exit. There's no repercussions at all. And after 14 days, if nothing is working, well, you just don't renew it. But let me tell you something. When I've done this in the past, and I've gone for those shorter initial durations, and I've done the three week, suddenly when it comes closer to the time and they've seen what I've delivered,

and I then go to them and I say, look, here we are and we're actually building up this momentum, what are the chances of extending it up until three months, six months, whatever the case may be, what you find is the communication becomes so much more positive. They're actually more open to the idea of working with you because you've actually delivered on your promises and they've actually started to build a relationship with you. So try that when you're actually going in. And it's one of those last, last terms that you look at. that shorter initial term.

Now just remember, the goal is to build a strong and trusting relationship with your seller. You need to tailor your approach to address their specific concerns, which are so important, and demonstrate your commitments to providing an excellent level of service. You see, you need to make sure that you deliver as per your promise. And if you follow these particular stamps, I'm pretty sure the next time we have a conversation, you're going to be talking about how you got more soul mandates. And let me tell you a little secret. To close off this particular session, when you convert a seller who does not want to give you a sole mandate,

but you convert them to give you a sole mandate and you sell their property, you know what you've just created? You created a client for life that's going to give you referral business going right into the future. That particular client will scream from the top of the highest building and say if you're looking for a real estate agent, here's the one. They delivered on their promise and they sold my house. So make sure that you follow these steps. You convert to sole mandates. You deliver on your promises. And you're going to find that your business is going to grow to exponential heights.

And you're going to start seeing a dramatic. change in your business. You make sure that you have a fantastic day ahead. And remember, life is a question. How you live it, that's the answer.