RISMEDIA, June 19, 2007-Let’s face it, a major challenge to the sales process is that it is often difficult to put the time and energy that goes into developing quality, long-standing relationships with every potential customer. More often, it is much easier to service the customer, make the sale, or accept their rejection and move on. Achieving and surpassing your goals determines success, not the ‘warm and fuzzies’ of building a relationship with prospects and clients, right? Wrong!

If you continually strive to build a relationship with potential or current clients, you’ll find that even the toughest objections may not be the end of the relationship. Today’s marketplace presents aggressive quotas and almost impossible deadlines. In that kind of environment, many salespeople focus on numbers of prospective clients rather than focusing on the quality of each relationship. For many sales professionals, thinking long term on a customer-to-customer basis does not seem to be worth the time. It can often be more difficult to think of what the customer could potentially purchase, who the customer could refer in the future or how long the customer may stay with the company.

The trick is, the sales strategy does not have to be an either/or plan. It is a proactive decision to have this long-term mindset before you speak with any prospective clients. To clarify this sales position, the following questions are imperative to ask:

- Are you making a sale or making a customer for life?

Sara, a pharmaceutical sales representative hoped that her repeated visits to this doctor’s office would eventually pay off, just like all the others. When she walked into this office today, she was met with a great amount of resistance. The nurse asked her to leave samples without the doctor’s signature, a practice against Sara’s company’s (and personal) code of ethics. She stood her ground, upheld the code and disappointedly left the doctor’s office, thinking she just lost a potentially large account.

Eventually she was able to get past this rejection and change her focus to view this office as a long-term customer. Suddenly, this was just one objection that she had to find a way around. She persisted in visiting that office and eventually was asked to leave samples while she witnessed the doctor’s signature.

Tip #1: Be proactive; envision successful long-term relationships with each and every client.

How do you view your client relationships? Do you focus on that one large sale? Do you look at them as a lifelong customer? How you see this relationship can directly impact how you overcome objections. How you overcome objections directly impacts how successful you become!

- Are your needs the same as the clients’ needs?

Matt was in the market for a patio for his hew home. He kept negotiating with the contractor, trying to get a better price. They were both within $500, Matt knew if the price came down $500 he would be within his budget and would be comfortable moving forward. The contractor’s position was, “We can’t go down another $500 but we will throw in a fire pit.” Neither Matt nor his wife had expressed interest in a fire pit even though it was a popular feature at the time. Matt could not be convinced, even after the offer was repeated.

Frustrated with the process, Matt found another contractor, one who listened to his wants and needs. The deal was signed, the patio was installed. While a patio is hardly a repeat purchase commodity for most customers – because of the quality of the work and product, and because the contractor was attentive to the customer’s wants and needs – he ultimately had five more sales in the same neighborhood. When neighbors learned of Matt’s positive experience and saw the finished product, they arranged to have patios installed, too.

Tip #2: Don’t begin the sales process with what you think the customer wants.

Eliminate your preconceived ideas about the client’s needs, as difficult as it may be. Of course you must do your research and learn about marketplace trends, however, nothing is more important than listening and I mean listening ‘hard’! Really dig in to determine if there is a difference between what the customer wants and what you think they want. This is important no matter how well you know your business, or how long you have been in this position. It is okay to suggest another feature or a suggestion, but if it is of no value to the customer, hear them, and respond accordingly.

- Do you really ‘like’ your customers?

You can buy cheese and meat anywhere. However, there is a place that my wife and I frequent in Wisconsin that is a high quality Italian delicatessen where we always go to buy our meat and cheese. They are more expensive and a little out of our way. So, why would we regularly shop at this deli? They like us. At least, that is how we feel when we walk in.

We are greeted, by name, in the owner’s enthusiastic Italian manner (shouting over the counter), then they ask about me, my family, and my business. They do this for every customer. They remember my name, my wife’s name and they pick up where we left off, at the last visit. Every customer (and we continually witness this) is greeted in this same way. Nowadays, many retail outlets barely know their customers, can’t seem to remember their names, nor do they seem to care. How has this deli set themselves apart? They are more expensive and are located out of the way, however, they like their customers and show it, each and every time. Of course, this individual attention is in addition to, not in place of, the high quality service and products they offer.

Even if you can’t compete on price, you can set yourself apart on likeability. If asked, how many of your customers would say that you like them? Do your customers feel that you like them? Do you know their names, their spouse’s or kid’s names? Do you know how their business is doing? Do you know what they like to do in their free time? Where they like to vacation? How do you show this? List your actions that show this emotion.
List actions that could show this? Start today to set yourself apart!

Frank Bucaro is an author, speaker and consultant who specializes in the benefits of ethics for business growth and personal success. Using a distinctive blend of humor and enthusiasm, Frank works to integrate ethical standards with solid business practices. His clients range from Fortune 500 companies to associations to small businesses. Frank’s latest book, “Trust Me! Insights Into Ethical Leadership,” highlights the unique role of ethics in leadership today.

For more information, www.frankbucaro.com or call 800-784-4476.

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“When you have a real estate organization as large and diverse as Prudential California Realty, Prudential Nevada Realty, Prudential Texas Properties and Prudential Texas Realty with more than 5,100 agents in 139 offices handling more than 35,000 transactions that generated $15 billion in sales and was ranked the eighth largest broker in the United States in 2005, then your back office solution provider had better bring in their ‘A’ game,” said Steve Russo, the CFO for the Prudential California Realty, Prudential Nevada Realty, Prudential Texas Properties and Prudential Texas Realty.

“We selected Profit Power as our back office solution in July 2005 for many reasons. We liked that they have been around since 1978. We liked that fact that many of their current clients were large enterprise firms, such as ourselves. But the one thing that stood out as we investigated the organization behind the technology was their ‘can-do’ commitment to service and support,” Russo said.

“We found that the Profit Power Team met whatever challenges we encountered during the implementation phase and they went the ‘extra mile’ to ensure a successful conclusion to our implementation of Profit Power Solution,” said Russo.

“A new end-to-end back office system will have a direct impact on just about every person within the real estate organization,” said Aaron Taylor, CEO for LanTrax, Inc., the exclusive service provider for the Profit Power back office system. “As such, the Profit Power Team is required to provide a 110% committed effort to ensure the client’s goals are achieved. The entire Profit Power Team really appreciates it when a client recognizes the energy we put into their implementation project and we congratulate the entire staff at Prudential California Realty, Prudential Nevada Realty, Prudential Texas Properties and Prudential Texas Realty for their fantastic effort and team approach.”

“I would highly recommend Profit Power and their Profit Power Team to anyone looking for a full-scale back office solution for large enterprise size real estate organizations,” said Ed Krafchow, president of Prudential California Realty, Prudential Nevada Realty, Prudential Texas Properties and Prudential Texas Realty.

For more information, visit www.prurealty.com and www.profitpowersystem.com.

RISMedia welcomes your questions and comments. Send your e-mail to: realestatemagazinefeedback@rismedia.com.

There’s only one problem: for the average agent, it’s not the most exhilarating experience known to man. But it can be. Your business plan is the best crystal ball you have. How exactly is that, you might ask?

The end must be at both the heart and the beginning of every business plan. A useful plan fosters a certain degree of prescient thinking, and that’s where the challenge – and the fun – arises. We interrogate our own preconceptions about the future by asking the question, “How do I want this story to end?” Then we slowly travel backwards to the present, turning hindsight into foresight, pausing to consider various causes and effects, and ultimately arriving at a clear set of activities that we are confident will aim our business precisely in the direction we’ve envisioned.

One agent, armed with a solid plan, can generate millions of dollars in revenue every year, but what about 100 agents? 500 agents? Any broker who has ever attempted to manage the progress, productivity and profitability of multiple agents knows what a formidable ordeal it can be. The sheer time commitment involved in performing the administrative and managerial tasks required to keep your agents on track can rapidly consume the entire business day. Sounds like we’re back to the broccoli again.

What if brokers, however, could keep a pulse on their brokerage unprecedented in scope, efficiency and speed? What if they could create, control, manipulate and project an infinite array of possible scenarios in real-time for all of the agents that compose their team?

Track all agent production, in aggregate, in seconds. Identify key performance trends across the organization. Postulate and model revenue sources, then apply different commission, fee, income and expense structures to each one.

Now that’s a broker’s banana split.

CreateAPlan (www.createaplan.com) has just released its new broker-centric business planning tool. Four years of development has taken the platform well beyond its initial primary focus on agents to shape a robust online business planning system totally devoted to brokerage management.

CreateAPlan’s Vice President, Allen Wright, stated, “For years we have focused on the agent side of business planning. Now we are able to offer brokers the opportunity to make better business decisions by mapping out the productivity of their entire sales team, managing their business plan through one convenient online portal.”

Imagine a poorly managed, complex and convoluted organizational system. Factor in the daily rigors of real estate sales, and the result typifies how real estate offices generally operate: things tend to get messy, fast.

“CreateAPlan calculates and consolidates dozens of factors and summarizes them for the broker,” explained Wright. “It not only offers built-in accountability to ensure that agents meet their goals, but amasses and consolidates all marketing activities into one routine checklist,” he concluded.

Become one of the first brokers in the nation to wield the power of fully-automated online business planning across your entire brokerage. Contact allen@createaplan.com or call 949.349.9394, ext. 115 to arrange an online demonstration.