The Science of Flipping - Episode 78: Question Based Selling

Episode Date: January 6, 2017

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Welcome to the Science of Flipping podcast. I'm your host, Justin Colby. What is up? What is up? What's going on? Kent Clothier, what's happening, baby? What is going on? What's going on? Man, just another great day here at the Science of Flipping. Welcome to another episode. Guys, again, my co-host Kent Clothier and I are here to help you systemize your business, implement tools and strategies in your business so you guys can live the life that you want to go out there and live. As entrepreneurs, I think it's one of the biggest things that we need to focus on is we do

this not to just make a lot of money, but to really be able to spend the life that we want to be spending and create the life that we want to create. And so every episode is all about either systems, tools, strategies, organizations, mindset, just to be able to live the life that you want. So you're not in your business all day long, that you can be traveling with your family like Kent does or just simply live in the life you want to live, man. And I know that's a big thing for Kent. And so that's why we do this. That's why episode after episode, we're trying to give back to you guys for free here on iTunes as much knowledge and wisdom as we possibly can. Couldn't have said it better.

Right on. Could not have said it better. Let's jump in. What are we going to talk about today? Yeah. So last episode, we had a good conversation about personality traits. I think there's likely more, right? But there's definitely four distinct personality traits that we reviewed with the color system, with blue, yellow, green, and red. And what I wanted to say is I think there's a way to bring this into real estate investing based around this idea of marketing and sales, right? And speaking to the right person and being able to get to the right person based around the questions you ask them. And I think one way of saying it is question-based selling is something that comes out of the sales industry.

But I think we want to keep it a little bit more general and just talk about we're in the business of marketing and sales. We are marketing for a property and we are selling that homeowner the idea of selling their home to us. And each homeowner is... It's not a one size fits all, right? I mean, you are going to deal young, old, inheritance, couples, singles, you're going to deal with it all. And it's going to be important for you to be able to communicate correctly based around the questions you ask them and the information you get. Well, I think that, you know, kind of following up on our last episode that the personality traits are one part of it. But I think to your point, you know, question based selling, being able to ask questions that make somebody feel comfortable and equally get you a lot of information, allow you to extract good information is a skill. And it's a skill that is, man, when you can do that well inside, especially in a real

estate business, then you're winning and you're going to win a lot. Question-based selling is something we have used for years inside of all of our businesses, where it is the art of asking a series of questions and effectively leading your prospect down a path to where you can extract a lot of quality data. Tell me a little bit about the house. When was the house built? When did you guys move in here? How long have you been in the house? How many square feet is it? Why are you selling the house? When was the house built? When did you guys move in here? How long have you been in the house? How many square feet is it? Why are you selling the house? Where are you going to go from here? There's a lot of things where it's a lot less robotic, it's more conversational, that you are asking these types of questions so that you are effectively kind of building a story in your

mind. And your prospect is arming you with information that allows you to do a better job of being who they need you to be in order to do the deal. Again, just kind of following up on what we did last time, right? We asked the question, how do you cold read somebody? Question-based selling is how you do that. You understand the path you're trying to walk them down and you clearly understand the end game. I need to be able to get them to a point where I understand why they're selling. I need to understand what their motivation, if there is any motivation. I need to understand why this matters to them. What's really important? Where do they place the value?

What do they believe the property is worth? Why do they believe the property is worth what it's worth? What's the crisis that's going on in their life right now? What is that crisis doing to them? Are they under some kind of time crunch? Are they not under a time crunch? Are they just interested or are they actually looking to sell? They're highly motivated. You understand that you have to get all of these answers.

So you're not asking questions for the sake of asking questions. You're asking questions with a plan and a purpose, right? Moving with intention. That's exactly right. And the key that I always teach our guys here in this office is it goes along with building rapport, right? Because to Kent's point, there may be extremely high motivation, typically financial and or deaths or health issues. And then there could be very little motivation. And it could just be

something that they're like, you know what? I feel like we should downsize. I don't need to downsize, but I feel like maybe we should, right? Where there's not a ton of this financial motivation and it does no good talking to those two polar opposite type of prospects the same way. You are not going to get the same result if you talk to both of them the same way. So your questioning starts to change because you need to find out one is an extreme financial risk and then the other is kind of hemming and hawing interested, but not committed in selling. And so I'm going to kind of just role play a little bit with you about how I would attack one type of seller specifically in real estate versus another. Because to last episode, totally different people, right?

The desperate financial situation, though they might not characteristically be a red, they just want the number. They want to know they're going to get out of this situation without the foreclosure, without losing the home, or without hurting themselves more often than not. That's their only care. Get me out of this pit of hell I'm in. Give me a number that pays off the bank, off my liens pays off this whatever right there even though they could be a blue a yellow or a green more often than not if i'm coming into that situation they only give a damn about is i can close cash i can close quick and i get them the number that that's gonna you know cure their issue no i agree with that i agree with that um yeah i mean i don't think i i don't think there's anything i strongly disagree with i would hear their issue. No, I agree with that. I agree with that.

Yeah, I mean, I don't think there's anything I strongly disagree with. I would tell you that, in my experience, it's always about time and money, right? In those types of situations. In other words, how can you make,

to your point, how can you make this stop? Because time is just this endless pit, to use your word. I mean, this is eternity. I feel like I'm getting consumed by it every day I wake up, and I'm just dreading it, and time is still here, and I just want to get, I mean, so it's basically money and speed, right? Move, move, move, move, move. I can get this, I can solve this for you today.

I can pay cash. I can close quick. I can make the pain stop. I mean, that's what it's really about. The money almost becomes secondary in that situation. I'm okay. You're going to take care of me. But really, what's happening here is the time and equally, you know, I just inherited a property and I don't have time to get on a plane and fly halfway across the country and go check out the house and go do all this stuff. Okay, so I'm going to save you all that time. So being able to recognize those things and speak to them quickly is really, really important. And when you can quickly identify the motivation and the crisis that's going on, and you can

keep it centered around time and money and ask the questions kind of in terms of those things, what you're fine what you're getting is it's almost like you're you know somebody's somebody's giving you a um a paint by numbers right yeah and they're basically they're giving you what number you know what what color to paint each one of the areas around the picture so that you get the whole picture you know this one you need to paint green this one you need to paint red this one paint picture so that you get the whole picture. You know, this one you need to paint green. This one you need to paint red. This one paint blue so that you can actually see the whole picture.

You're just trying to get what color do I need to get in all these different areas so that I can get the complete picture. Because once I have the complete picture, now I know exactly what it is and I know exactly how to work it. Oh, yeah. And the way, you know, the first question that most people say is, well, how do I figure out what their issue is? Whether they're desperate or not desperate. And I have a very easy question that my guys have to ask every single time on the phone and then in person is, what's the most important part to you about selling your home? Because that opens up

financial desperation. I just inherited this. I live in Michigan. I don't even live in Arizona. I want nothing to do with this. I want the whole, you know, my mom and dad just passed. I want it all to be done with. I don't care. It's not about the money. You know, whatever the extreme situations are, right? I want to downsize. I want to go move with my family. You know, I'm getting older and I want to see my grandkids. I'd like to move. That one question, what is the most important part about selling your home to you, can open up the floodgates of where you need to be asking the questions. What personality trait are they? Or simply what situation puts them into that personality trait.

So you can be effective at building the rapport, focusing on what's important to them, right? And solving that issue, solving all of their issue, not just one component of their issue. You know what we need to cover on the next episode, we need to cover the closest because, you know, we've talked about the personality traits and we're talking about some of the questions which i know you're going to get into but what you also need to talk about what we need to talk about is the close right how you how you get somebody to the point to where

you're doing a trial close and they understand you know hey this is we're going to go down this path and when we get to the end this is what my expectations are are we clear before we go much further that kind of stuff is going to be very beneficial to the listeners. So let's talk about some of the questions here. Yeah. So that's my main one. Now, depending upon how that opens up the can of worms, so to speak, for lack of a better way of saying it, if there's someone who, you know, I know we're getting a deal right now that it's just an older gentleman, he lives alone, the house is 1600 square feet. He wants to go live in one of the, not old people, you know, the assisted living homes, right? Where people are around, there's a community of people and he wants that, right? So for him, you know, the house has no loans on it. He has no income. He's fine.

It's not the financial need. It's the want to actually socially be around other people now, because it's just one man, no wife anymore. I think kids are well into adulthood and he wants that. So for me to come in here like an A personality and say, okay, I'm going to give you this amount for your money, take it or leave it. That's not going to fly with this guy. It might, but you're not going to likely go very far. You need to start reading in. So when I ask that question of what's the most important part, he answers that. Then I'm going to start going into, that is an awesome idea. Have you looked around and found a place that you want to live? And where I'm going with that question is speed. Because if he already knows where he wants to live, then he is sure as hell going to want to close quick, right? He wants it

on and over with. And if I can close in 20 days and get cash in his pocket and he can move into his new place, it's a win. Yeah. Let's talk about the benefit, right? Let's talk about the benefit of question based selling, especially if you're paying attention and somebody is giving you the details like that, you know, moving into a 55 or older community or whatever the case may be. The benefit of question based selling is that's what you're selling. Now you sell the benefit. Right. Right. So, I mean, that's just another way of saying what you just said, but it's no longer about price.

Hey, listen, I'm going to make you a fair offer. I'm going to get you there quicker. I'm going to take care of everything I can here for you. I'm going to help you get this thing packed. I've got to come over here on the weekend and get you packed up so that we're going to have you sitting back with a Mai Tai, laying out in a chase lounge,

hanging out with all those women around that pool, you know, doing shuffleboard in the afternoons, and we're going to have a great time, but we're going to get you there in the next two weeks instead of the next two months or maybe in the next two years. How's that sound? By listening and asking the right questions, you then have the opportunity to sell the experience or sell whatever it is that they've been doing in the details. Right back to my example earlier, they're giving you the full picture. So now you're selling the picture instead of just talking about money,

just talking about speed. You're really kind of selling the dream, which is really powerful because that's the way people actually, you know, and at least three-quarters of the people, that's the way they want to buy. They want to hear that kind of stuff. They want to know that there's something else. You certainly have the hardcore reds, just what's the bottom line, what's the price. But even in those cases, if you're paying attention, after you get through that first initial hard hit,

I just want the price, get it to me, you keep asking questions, they're going to help you fill in a lot of the blanks. They're going to help you get to, you know, a guy like me, listen, Kent, you know, I'm reading on you that family and travel and spending time with the people you care about and going off and collecting moments and not things. And if they've done any research and they tap into that type or that part of my personality, getting a deal done with me is going to be infinitely easier. No doubt. Because they've walked me right down the path and they're playing into my ego. They're playing into exactly what it is about me that makes me tick. And suddenly I want to do business.

And so if we're a little close on price, we're going to get the deal done. And that's the value in asking the questions and not being robotic and not being just going down. Well, the questionnaire says my application says I need to get this and this and this and this and this. And now this is, you know, hey, I noticed you've got golf clubs. You get a chance to play? No, that's part of the reason I'm moving. I don't get a chance to play anymore. I'm looking to move down to Florida.

Okay, now you've just given me something that I'm going to anchor to as we start moving forward because that's what I'm going to help you achieve. It's no longer about selling a house to me. It's about helping you achieve the one thing that you just told me you're trying to get to. Yeah. Yeah. And then you are able to... So again, Kent focusing on benefits, that's what my whole mission, even in our slogan for Phoenix Wealth Builders, real estate solutions. And so the benefit is we not only just buy your home, but there's a lot of different solutions that we can help you with. So for example, if I am dealing with a yellow, right, a personality, it's more of a bleeding heart, socially conscious, always wants to be around and help other people and maybe wants to go help

their daughter who's a single mom or something of that nature, right? I get enough information to pull that out of them. The first thing I'm going to start offering is other ways to help them. Because if I can connect with them on their language, which is helping others, and now I'm going to start offering is other ways to help them. Because if I can connect with them on their language, which is helping others, and now I'm saying, hey, have you thought about moving? Do you need help moving? Have you ordered a U-Haul truck? How are you going to move this big furniture, right? You can't lift it. Have you thought about these things? Can we be of help to you? Because we can actually help line this stuff up, possibly even show up ourselves and help you. I start going there. I'm in their language. I'm speaking exactly what they talk,

right? Yeah. You called me. What's the best outcome you see from this transaction here? How do you see us helping you the most? Right. And let them talk. Yep. And they're going to tell you exactly how to sell them. Yeah. Listen, you ask what Kent just asked. And you say, what's the best way that I can help you, Kent? And then I got to shut up. Let Kent talk, right? Like, let him answer the question. Because he's just going to give me more and more opportunity to fulfill his needs in terms of buying the home, closing quick or whatever.

Helping him move. Helping him find another home to live in, whatever his need is by me shutting up and listening after I ask a question that just opens everything up for me, for me to, to fulfill the need that he's needing. A great book that you guys should all go get is called the Dan Sullivan question.

And if for no other, I mean, certainly people that are selling anything high end, you're going to find it fascinating. But it is a great illustration of what we're talking about here. And it will help you craft and wrap your mind around the way this is done and the point of doing this. It's a book you can read in 30 minutes, but it is proven to be a very powerful book in my businesses. It helps me to, it has helped me many times to just think about how simple it really is. Ask the prospect, you know, make them tell you how, you know, this is what I need to hear from you, Justin, in order for me to do business with you. I mean, it is almost that simple. Yeah, it is that simple. I mean, that's, that's right. Look, it is, you can read it in 30 minutes, no doubt. Great book, right?

You can use that in anything. That book I have found very fruitful in my personal life. No doubt. No doubt. Right. You know, with any, with anything. And I think what we're even talking about removing business out of it, being able to talk someone else's language like that. Um, and did not be, you know, I was just reading a book, uh,

recently about, um, uh, imperfections. And one of the things that the, the author was talking about is it is incredibly courageous to ask the other person for something you want or what they want. And there's a lot of courage in being able to communicate something like that, right?

To be able to ask what can be helpful for you, or this is what I am looking to do. Would that help you to be able to say things like that? A lot of times people can get a little nervous. It can be a little intimidating, but it's a very courageous thing to be able to ask, you know, Hey, what's the most beneficial thing I can do for you, Kent? And honestly, most people don't even talk like that anymore, right? I mean, how rare is that where someone is truly there to say, Kent, what is the best way I can help you, your business, your life, whatever's going on? Well, they're going to give you the answer. And when they give you the answer, they're literally giving you the answer to the question of what's in it for me.

In other words, they're telling you, if you will say this back to me and present your case back to me like this, you will answer the question and tell me the one thing I need to hear, what's in it for me. Yeah. Period. I mean, it's unbelievable when you do that to somebody and say, and as crazy as it sounds, it's exactly the way the real world works. Just structure it correctly. And again, go get the Dan Sullivan question.

You know exactly what we're talking about. And it is an amazing exercise on how to structure a question when you're going and talking to any prospect. Yeah. And it'll be very, very helpful and beneficial. No doubt. No doubt. All right, dude.

We got another one in the book, baby. All right, man. Hey, guys, next time we're going to talk about the close, right? Some of the trial closes you can do, how to walk somebody down a path, kind of few-paste them is what it's called, and keep them engaged. They're going to understand the process and effectively agree to the close as you're kind of still negotiating with them. Right.

And you're kind of walking them down the path to the point where they're, they're, they will, it greases the gears. It makes the whole process a lot easier. No doubt. No doubt. If this is your first time seeing Kent and myself get over to the science of

flipping, there is an absolutely free ebook. It's the 15 most costly mistakes you can make as an investor. It's absolutely free. I built it along with Kent and other investors about the mistakes that we've made along the way. Go download that free for you at thescienceofflipping.com. If you're listening on iTunes or if you're watching a video on YouTube, comment, engage, ask questions, like the video, give a review on iTunes or if you're watching the video on YouTube, comment, engage, ask questions,

like the video, give a review on iTunes, anything to keep engagement high. We'd love to be there and help you at any level. Yeah. There's topics you want to hear us talking about. Make sure you send an email to Justin. Justin, what's your email? Justin at R-E-W-W dot com. Send him an email. He loves it. Blow my com Send him an email He loves it Blow my email up, boy He loves it You're lucky I'm not Giving your cell phone number

Because if you keep going I will do that right now as well Let me just pull over my phone Man, blow my email up Send Justin an email Justin at R-E-W-W dot com Let him know What topics you want to hear us talk about

And we'll gladly Make sure we cover them On a future episode Alright, I'm getting off the phone right now Otherwise he's going to give you The cell phone So we are out. Thank you guys for being great listeners.

But we are gone. Peace. See ya. Peace. Hey, you. Yeah, you. I want to know what you think about the show. Subscribe and leave a comment.

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