In my second year as a real estate agent, I took 150 listings. Managing that as a young 20-year-old was a lot, but I knew early on that I needed to systemize my business. That's when I implemented something I called the "auto price reduction."

When I met with a seller, I'd say something like:

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"Hey, Mr. and Mrs. Seller, as part of my communication strategy, I like to do something a bit outside the box. Every two weeks, you'll receive a message from my team—back then it was a letter, but today it would be an email—asking if you want to consider adjusting your home's price if it hasn't sold yet.

I don't want you to be offended by it. If you're not interested in a price reduction, just disregard it. If you want to think about it, set it aside. But if you're open to having a deeper conversation about possibly adjusting the price, we can discuss it. It's simply a prompt to keep the conversation going every two weeks.

The reality is, the longer a home sits on the market, the harder ...

Hey, guys. When you're sitting with a seller and you've taken the listing, it's important to have what I call the "red flag conversation."

Here's how it goes: I say, "Hey, Mr. and Mrs. Seller, now that we've listed your home, I want to explain the next steps. We're going to get your property into the MLS, turn on my marketing engine—yes, I call it a marketing engine—and your home will be exposed to every buyer in the market. In the first couple of weeks, all those buyers will take a look, and one of three things will happen."

Scenario A: We get a ton of showings, which is great. That means buyers in large numbers accept the price and want to see the home.

Scenario B: The buyers look, but there are very few showings—a small trickle. That's a red flag, signaling that buyers don't think we got the price right. If that happens, I'll reach out to you in the first five days because I'll be monitoring the showing reports in real time. If I don't see significant activity, we'll discuss this...

There's a great book I'm gonna recommend to you called Influence by Robert Cialdini. In the book, he talks about the power of sales language. And how your language, when you're selling can have such a massive impact on your performance.

We tend to just wing it in this business. We tend not to know our lines. And we just kind of think that our sheer great personality is always gonna win the day. But that's a mistake. Just like any true professional, we should memorize some things in the real estate industry.

Not that everything's canned and everything's planned. But there are some things we need to memorize.

When you think about the highest paid professionals in any the industry—whether it's a doctor, whether it's an attorney, whether it's a CPA—do those three professions have to memorize some things in order to pass their bar exam and their accountants exams and all their other exams?

Absolutely. And you better hope that they do. Otherwise, they're gonna cost you thousa...

One thing that we should do this year is cut the dead wood.

What does that mean?

It means we don't wanna be walking up a mountain, our mountain being our figurative goal set that we've set for ourselves and have a backpack full of rocks on our back.

Now, what is that backpack full of rocks?

Those are clients that don't wanna sell, that don't wanna buy, that are wasting your time, that are frustrating, that are angry people that we do not need to be carrying around on our backs anymore.

We need to cut them loose and work with people that really wanna buy and sell.

So going into the new year, how can we approach our business a little bit differently?

One is to work with ready and willing clients which sounds crazy, but it is so simple that it's obvious, right?

We need to work with ready and willing clients.

Having a ready and willing conversation is important. So I'm gonna give you my "ready and willing" conversation script when I'm talking to a buyer.

So when I'm t...

Do you feel confident when you talk to a buyer or seller for the first time? Do you feel like you own the conversation? If you don't feel that way, then the reason might be that you don't have competence.

When you come into a room, you want to be the smartest person in the room when it comes to your profession. Unless you've hit that standard you are never going to be at your highest level. Here is one easy way to gain competence that will help you feel more confident when you're having conversations with buyers and sellers.

Know your numbers. Every MLS has a monthly report which will give you the monthly stats to compare each month and year over year statistics. Look at the numbers for pending sales. Where are they in your market? How many properties sold last month in your market? How about new listings? How long does it take the average home to sell? What is the months of supply in your market? How do these numbers compare to the previous month and the previous year?

Write the ...

According to a recent study the average person has 27 conversations a day from everyone from their gas station attendant, to their gardener, to their postal provider... as a real estate professional are you leveraging these opportunities? 

In sales we are either creating opportunities or leveraging opportunities to cultivate new relationships that can lead to more sales.  Watch this video to learn how to use the "Live Anywhere Power Script" to begin turning casual conversations into closings! 

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About Jim Remley:

Jim Remley is a nationally recognized expert in the field of residential real estate. Entering the real estate industry at the age of 19 he began an unlikely rise from college drop out to real estate Rock Star by becoming ranked in the top 1% of REALTORS® nationwide. Implementing game-changing strategies and deploying the latest technology advanc...

It’s 9:00 in the morning, bright and early for a hardworking real estate agent like you. You’re sipping your morning coffee reviewing the latest hot sheet, when the phone rings. Slightly irritated you set down your cup of sludge and pick the phone. “ABC Real Estate this is Tami how may I help you?”

There is a slight pause and then the bombshell question: “How much do you charge for your commission?”

Hey, you have a live one here! This is someone who obviously has some interest in listing their property for sale and who knows maybe today is your lucky day! Your heart skips a beat, your hand trembles slightly, and suddenly your at least four cups of coffee perkier! “We charge (X) ……”

Slum dunk, that was easy, next question please!

“Yeah, discount realty said they would do it for less!” and pause wait for it, wait for it, bingo there it is …. dial tone! Game over! You lose. What just happened? This is a classic pitfall that every agent in America will fall into at some point in their ...

Which is more important for your real estate business - the first impression or the last impression? It's an important question and one that can have a massive impact on your ability to build a referral based real estate business! 

Watch and learn how to beat the Million Dollar Challenge, five ways to work on your business and not just in your business, and six ways to create raving fans at the end of every transaction. 

About the Author

Jim Remley is a nationally recognized expert in the field of residential real estate. Today Jim leads one of the largest real estate firms in the state of Oregon with over $766 million dollars in sales volume a year with just over 150 active Brokers. As a consultant, author, speaker, and trainer Jim has one mission – to create abundance through simplicity of action.

In 2018 Jim launched an On-Demand Video Coaching platform designed for REALTORS to tap into highly focused information and actionable ideas based on thousands of interviews with top pro...

Have you ever thought to yourself – I just can’t do anymore! I’m at my limit!

But is that really true or have you instead placed a self imposed ceiling on your success? At times, in our changing market, it can certainly seem like we could not possible do any more. But this is a dangerous line of thinking. What you are really saying to yourself is that it is OK to push back from success. This psychological line in the sand can become a mental barrier that prevents you from reaching your true sales potential.

Consider the true story of a Roger Bannister. In 1952 while studying at Oxford University, Bannister had become the favorite to win the gold medal in Helsinki. He was such a favorite even the famous Duke of Edinburgh had arranged to watch the event. But during the first few minutes of the race Bannister was jostled, lost his footing, and was barely able to salvage a fourth place finish.

Roger returned to Oxford with a new goal, and a new passion, to break the “unbreakable” four m...