Talking to Outsiders and Yourself with John Martinez

July 14, 2021 melissa Real Estate Comments Off on Talking to Outsiders and Yourself with John Martinez

Talking to Outsiders and Yourself with John Martinez

We’ve talked about teaching sales through roleplaying with the team, but can you (and your team) suit up for the real thing? Our expert John Martinez (owner of the REI Sales Academy), says that maybe roleplaying with strangers is your next best move. And while you might think it’s tough to talk to strangers, it might be more challenging for you to speak to your counterpart! How should you deal with prospects that seem to turn you down the same way you would to others?

The points below are from the eighth episode of the Real Estate JAM. There, John Martinez talks about training people in sales, tips in talking to homeowners, getting around your prospects’ excuses, and developing your pitch. If that sounds interesting, you can listen to it on YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts.


 

Practicing with Outsiders

When you roleplay with the team with the intent to develop your conversational skills for sales, there’s this limit of how much you can learn. Because there is a maximum number of unique conversations the group can create, once these simulated scenarios run out, you reach a plateau of new information. Yes, roleplaying does prepare you for most of the scenarios possible, but there is an infinite number of ways conversations could be made. In addition, dealing with a real conversation’s emotional baggage can’t simply be replicated in roleplaying sessions. Thus, if you need to sharpen your claws a little more, you need to practice outside the training area!

When we say “practice outside the training area,” we mean put your skills to the test, not in real estate (for now), but real life! In the podcast, John shares his “weird” roleplay routine by talking to waiters and waitresses. You can get deep into regular people’s problems the same way you would with your prospects. As we’ve said before, engage in regular, daily-life conversations!

John starts with a “Beginning of the shift?” to get a grasp of how they’re doing. Whatever the response is, he tries to answer in a way that makes them feel like he understands. “Oh. Almost heading out? That’s gotta feel good, huh?” If they open up and say they have stuff going on, he goes, “What kind of stuff you got?”

Again, a normal conversation is still what you’re going for. You don’t even have to stick to restaurants and bars. Why not strike up a conversation with somebody new in the office or the person behind you while waiting in line at the cashier? You’d present yourself with a wider variety of opportunities to create a healthy dialogue with strangers than simply roleplaying with the team. This is a great way to do “live training” without having to put your leads at risk.

 

Dealing with The Excuses You Make Yourself

Everybody’s different, but sometimes people can be a little similar. While trying to talk with someone, whether you’re just roleplaying with strangers or engaging in sales, sometimes you see people who say the things as you would.

We all know the global excuses, right? In real estate, that might sound like, “Let me have my attorney review this first,” or, “I might need to talk to my spouse first.” That might be what you’d think of saying as well if somebody’s trying to buy your house. Those are usually said to get out of the conversation or a polite way of saying “no”. However, even if you make the same excuses with other people, you, as the recipient of those statements, have to stop thinking in their shoes. Don’t go thinking, “I can’t say anything to that. That’s what I would do.” You can still go in the direction of understanding the root cause of the problem.

First, try and see if they’re really going to check with their spouse or lawyer. But if not, then being honest with them may encourage them to be honest with you, too. That doesn’t mean you’ll go out and say, “I think you’re lying,” but using a little empathy can bring out the answers. Take a look at the following paragraph:

“Listen. I appreciate that. That’s exactly what I would do. But is it okay if I ask you something? You’re very nice, hospitable, and polite. I truly appreciate that. But I’ve been doing this for quite some time now. When someone says ‘I need to do this’ or ‘I need to do that’, not always, but quite often, they mean ‘Thanks, but no thanks.’ I just want to know what you honestly think. It’s perfectly fine to say ‘no’. No hard feelings here.”

If you say this to someone who sounds like they’re trying to avoid rejecting your offer, this gives them the permission to be honest with you. John says that we could make them feel like they’re a hero for lying and not wanting to hurt your feelings! Establishing this understanding relieves pressure from them so that they could get to the truth – a hard “no” or a “not now”.

What do you do with their answer? Now that the pressure is off, it’s time to get deep into the layers one by one. Why not? Or why not now? From there, you can figure out if it really isn’t a good fit, something you can address now, or get back to later.

With this simple mindset, you can prepare a versatile script for yourself (and your team) for any conversation. Sales or real-life!

 

Want to hear more from John? Listen to the full episode on YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts.

 

Outline of the Episode:

  • [01:27] Why is JD, a man who isn’t so easily excited, elated about John Martinez being on the show?
  • [02:36] John’s 20 years compressed into a quick minute.
  • [03:29] Is a salesperson made or born?
  • [04:34] Developing a program that ensures consistent growth among your people.
  • [08:41] How do you know if someone’s trainable and if someone’s a lost cause?
  • [12:38] The secrets to getting down to the root of your prospect’s problems. Get your notebooks ready!
  • [15:00] While it’s not as good as the real thing, how can roleplaying prepare your team for the real deal?
  • [19:18] The universal fact that people want to be heard and understood.
  • [20:35] Deal killers and how you can go past these doubts during conversations.
  • [25:36] Picking apart “excuses” from a homeowner the same way you would have if you were in their situation.
  • [31:28] Developing your pitch the way you want it to be. Don’t say what others want you to say, but attract the right people.
  • [36:14] Selling doesn’t have to be a dirty word.
  • [38:18] Working with a spouse or getting a spouse on board in the real estate journey.

Resources Mentioned in the Episode:

 Connect with JD, Annabel, and Melissa!