Dishin' Dirt on "What a Real Estate Sales Coach Would Tell You in 2021." Special Guest-Bestselling Author and National Real Estate Speaker, Dr. Cindy McGovern.

So you think you are great at sales.   What could a nationally renowned coach have to say about 2021?  

Check out this MUST listen to episode of Dishin' Dirt.  All the way from California, Dr. Cindy McGovern, the First Lady of Sales and Wall Street Journal Best Selling Author of "Every Job is a Sales Job," joins me to discuss real estate sales techniques in 2021. 

Topics we will cover include the number one thing sales people forget when trying to get a new client,  not missing unique sales opportunities, learning the importance of personal branding and more.  Cindy has coached some of the top real estate agents and has been a featured educational speaker across the country. 

You do not want to miss this great  opportunity to learn more about sales from the Doctor of Sales!  And don't forget another episode of Gary's Good News Only!

Gary  


* Gary serves on the South Carolina Real Estate Commission as a Commissioner. The opinions expressed herein are his opinions and are not necessarily the opinions of the SC Real Estate Commission. This podcast is not to be considered legal advice. Please consult an attorney in your jurisdiction for applicable legal advice germane to your issue.

Transcript

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This is deshon dirt with Gary pequin South Carolina's only podcast dedicated to the real estate agents craft. Hey guys, you made it you officially made it through 2020 2020 is officially in the can or should we say the toilet? It is officially over it is now 2021. And as that wonderful hymnal says, morning is broken. So Morton's broken on a new year for your career, and we're really excited about everything that 2021 has to offer. Gary Pickering here with another episode of our podcast. And as you know, this is our first podcast of 2021. We finished out last year, a couple of weeks before the end of the year we took off for Christmas and New Year's Eve. So we started back today with our first episode of 2021. And really excited about a lot of the topics and guests that we'll have for you this year. Now, I do want to thank you for making our podcast, the fastest growing podcasts in Columbia, South Carolina done by an attorney named Gary, you really were really killing it in the podcast by Gary attorneys, because of all of y'all is dedicated listening, so really appreciate that. Now, today's show is going to be a real treat for y'all. I have a very special guest Cindy McGovern. She is known as the first lady of sales. And she is a Wall Street Journal best selling author of the book called every job is a sales job. She has been all over the country speaking she is a very sought after sales coach speaker, she works with businesses. She's a business coach. He's our business coach, and she's also a sales coach. And she works with a lot of real estate agents in California and across the country on how to increase their sales. She is the owner and founder of orange leaf consulting. She has taught at Florida State University Columbia State as well as Belmont University in Nashville. And she joins us today all the way from San Francisco, California. Because yes, my podcast now has that kind of poll that I can get Wall Street Journal, bestselling authors all the way from San Francisco in a state that's completely locked down to join me on my show, which either tells you she had really nothing else to do today. Or maybe because she's our business coach, she felt obligated felt obligated to appear on the show. But anyway, it's your benefit, because she's going to spend time with you today talking about how to increase and grow your business in 2021 things that you need to know in sales, that maybe you've forgotten, you've never learned I've learned a tremendous amount from her. So I'm really excited. Of course, we're also doing an episode of Gary's good news only. Let's not waste any time today. And let's jump right on into our main guest. Alright, well, thanks, Andy, for being with us today. I'm really excited to have you here become a real good friend over the past couple years working together. And I think it says a lot about our podcast, that I have a Wall Street Journal bestseller author on our podcast all the way from California. I'm so excited to be here. Gary, I love working with you all. And I'm honored to be on this podcast. I'm a big fan. Well, cool. And you have a great book. And I really want to talk today about a lot of things that I read your book, once I started reading it, I really didn't put it down for the weekend. I really read it in a weekend, and then highlighted a bunch of stuff and circle things. So I really want to hit a few things in your book that are I think really important to all salespeople. So my first question is, when people are in sales in particularly real estate sales, what is the thing that they forget the most to do? So this is a fantastic question. Because oftentimes, people think that salespeople are supposed to be doing all the talking. And in fact, one of the things they forget to do is listen. So I think that's one of the most important things that you can do. And especially as a real estate agent, you have to ask those open ended questions to understand what your buyer or your seller wants and what their vision is, and really almost soliciting that and helping them to build the vision of what they're, you know, especially if it's a viral like their dream home. And that is all listening skills. And I find that a lot of salespeople in all kinds of industries, feel like they're kind of chomping at the bit to get an answer out. Or there's, you know, they're short and shorting the question so they can go Oh, but I don't answer who I want to tell you how smart I am. I'll tell you I know something about this. And that's not really it. It literally is about you doing less talking, you doing more listening, but asking those pointed questions. And I think that's so true, because real estate agents have their sales pitch memorized. And they get their listing presentation or their buyer representation presentation. And they just want to regurgitate it as quick as they can. And they don't even stop to ask what is it that the consumer wants in a house? Do they need an office in their house? Do they need a swimming pool? Do they need, you know, good schools, and I think that gets lost when they don't do the listen. One of the things that I coached. I coached some realtors here and there and one of the coaching conversations I had with a realtor about four years ago, in the Bay Area here in San Francisco. She was going after buyers and her sales cycle was so long, and I said well, how do you qualify them to be really clear, and she's like, Oh, they want a three, two or they want a three three or they want to blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, No, no, you got to figure out your sort of qualifying factors of what it is how they're going to use the space. Do they have family that comes in lives with For a month, that changes the way the house is laid out, like these things. And that's what you're gonna get through listening. But it is again as soon as we have questions, but given them a chance to tell you their story. Now in your book, you use the term a lot consultative sales. And you and I've actually worked together on consultative sales. And that's something we're trying to do here at the farm. How would a real estate agent First of all, what is it? How would a real estate agent use that and their sales reason so successful realtors are doing this already. So I will say that it is truly just using a more inquisitive approach to sales to understand before you are understood, so very similar to what we're discussing about listening, it's soliciting that information to really understand what the needs of that person are. So then you can offer your, your services as a solution, you know, it's kind of like a salesperson that pitches you something as you're walking past them in a mall or something that's a pitch. If they asked, hey, do you use face cream? Do you use hand lotion, and they solicited information, not only do they find that, yes, you are a qualified consumer for them, but it shortens the sales cycle, because you trust them more, because it feels like at least it's personal. And then it also gives you that opportunity to customize your pitch, which we know you already have figured out. So I think it's hugely important. And a lot of the consultative sales approach that I work with, with realtors with, you know, with you guys is understanding your client's needs. So you can ask those right open ended questions. And so for the real estate agents listening today and watching this today, I highly recommend a list of the questions that you want to ask every potential customer. And then you can pick a choose. And once you have that it kind of gets in your head. And you know, it's second nature. But I highly recommend if you've never done this for yourself, it's actually kind of a magical exercise. And I think it also makes the consumer feel like they got something of value because you are finding out what their needs are by listening. And then you're fulfilling that need versus like you said, in the mall, where it's just a pitch here, this is something you have to have. It's like, well, I don't even need that. Yeah. But when you do the listening, you do the consultative approach. You're finding out what they need, and then you're answering that question and fulfilling that need. Can we also be honest about one other thing with that you decide whether you actually want to work with them or not? Well, that's true. That's a problem. We think we have to work with everybody because it's impossible. So yeah, but but it's a way where you can decide whether you're going to be a good fit for them or not. I mean, it's a way that you kind of date before you get married. So it's a really nice approach. If you haven't, then I highly recommend it. And I'd love to hear some of your listeners, what they what they do after this podcast. Well, one thing I think people forget, and sales a lot is that sales opportunities present themselves in all kinds of different places. And in your book, you talk about some of the many different ways in which you fell into sales, your sales, or your clients fell into sales because of being somewhere or talking to the right person. I know in my business, a lot of times, just because I've been somewhere and met somebody like I met a builder the other day, a developer, because my daughter and his daughter, right horses at the same horse farm, we started talking, we're in the same business, I'm starting to do closings for him. So in your book, you call them the Hey, by the way sales. So I firmly believe that there are 7 billion people on the planet. So they're essentially close to 7 billion prospects. I think everybody is a potential customer, or a potential referral source, which then makes them a customer, everybody you need is at least an opportunity to be a center of influence for you and be able to think highly of you or negatively of you, and then talk about you. I mean, that's the whole point as a real estate agent is you don't want to be the only one selling your services you want your other partners and your past customers, but also everybody you encounter to remember who you are, why you're awesome at it, and how you can help somebody. And so that hey, by the way, sale is how you find those opportunities every day to just talk a little bit about what you do for somebody solicit information from them, what do they do? What are they interested in, kind of like with you and you know, your daughter's ride horses together, but start to get into the conversation. You probably met that person had that conversation left and never talked to this? Right. What I find is a lot of people do that. They think oh, but that was a social encounter. Yeah, you know how most business deals start as people do business with people they like, Oh, I think it's having that heightened sense of awareness that these opportunities are gonna present themselves. But there's one step before that. I think a lot of people skip which is your plan for when those present themselves of what you're going to do. What are you going to say in that moment? Where are you looking for people, it's almost like you're looking for a perfect jacket or a perfect pair of shoes or something. And then you're you start seeing them everywhere. And oh my god, they they drive a blue car, you drive a blue car, you drive a car, right? You decide you want a blue car. So for the real estate agents that are listening and watching the podcast today, I would encourage you get really clear on what those goals are. Get really clear on who can help you reach them. Start honing in on some of those targets, and then figure out what you're going to say, when that opportunity comes. And that's really where the Hey, by the way sale happens, there was a real estate agent 25 years ago, that told me one time, he always wore his name his little button with his name on his old tag, even when he's at home on the weekends that matter. And he would say that he'd be pumping gas and somebody had say, hey, you work for your real estate agent. And he had merely hand him a card. And he would literally get business off of that, because he would see that opportunity to get it. I do think it's interesting on a kind of a different note, as you know, my son play soccer. But I see this a lot that people who have kids on the same team, there'll be a real estate agent on that team that none of the parents have ever used. And I'm like, what's because she's never asked, they've never come and said, Hey, I'm in real estate, if you need something, let me help you. And if you're not asking those people that are in your circle of influence, to use a real estate term, who you're going to use, I mean, he's gonna use you, you're going out going out and trying to get complete strangers versus people who already know you and like you. And I think it's also that you give them a little too much credit. Like, I think that we sort of assume as human beings, it's like, oh, well, our kids play soccer together, or, you know, we live in the same neighborhood, they know I'm real estate agent, if they need me, they're gonna come after me. I'm telling you, right now, you're gonna have way too much credit. You got it, you got to put it out there, you got to invite them to work with you. Make sure they know how to tell your story. And that's where you're going to get more business. And I mean, it's a business really, in a lot of ways. I mean, you don't want to go cold call Who does? So it's making sure everybody knows how to tell that story. So they tee you up for those Hey, by the way, sales as well. For me it Nothing's more depressing than when I hear a friend or a casual friend, as I call him a casual friend or somebody that my son's parents or friends with, buy a house and didn't use me for the closing. And I'm like, why did they not use me for closing? Oh, they probably forgot you're an attorney. Because I never told them. So yeah, that's very depressing. So that's one of the things you hate losing those sales, I can lose a stranger sale. But when I find out somebody that I'm in a circuit with using somebody else, it's really depressing. It's like, do they not like me? Why do they not use me? It's probably because they kind of forgot I was in real estate. And you know what, that's one quick thing on that is, you know, there's a term called owner block. And if you're not owning your block, your neighbors, everybody else they're going to come You should say something to beef up your own neighborhood, be something people around your center of influence to make sure everybody knows, this is who you are, this is what you do. And this is why you're different, as well make sure that differentiation is clear. Right? In your book, there was another thing I really liked it. I read this section a couple times. And this is what Blair Cato really tries to do with a lot of our marketing, is that the moments that matter? Can you talk about what that what that is? And how that can help a real estate agent? Yeah, so this is something that we all experience on a daily basis, just as consumers there, it's sort of like the expectation of customer service. And then somebody goes above and beyond whether it's the way to remember is that I like sweet tea with extra lemon, or, you know, whatever it is, it's some little thing, but it's a moment to wow me that I wasn't expecting. And in real estate and title as well. And everything else, it's my last Pro, it's sort of this process that just sort of starts going and it just keeps ticking along. And then it's done. Right, we forget what the moments are for everybody else involved, you know, to you as a real estate agent, if those listening today, this is your 15th deal that you've done, you know, you've done through this 1000 times to this person, it's the second house, and they don't remember the process. They don't remember the stuff and what are the moments that matter to them? Well, it's not just the moment that matters to them, when they get their keys, or when they get their check. It's the fact that somebody actually wants to buy their house, or they found that. So right, it's looking for those little moments to wow them. And I think a lot of times we skip over them, because to us, it's very easy. And so an example that comes to mind for me is I had hip surgery a few years back, and I went to and I was you know, I was an athlete, and I went to this surgeon at Georgetown University. He does all athletes, all the same hip surgery, I was probably like number 57 that week or something. I was freaked out. I'm like, dude, you're gonna cut me open, and take my hip out of the socket and move stuff around and tell me what the heck is going on. You had a moment to wow me with simply pausing giving me 30 seconds in the office and explaining this to me. That's all he needed to do. What are we doing where we're not explaining to our clients? what the process is you do that and so especially in real estate, because there's a bit of a veil with real estate, right, like right now there's a house at the end of it. But what all is going on while it's all happening behind the scenes behind the curtain. Yeah, yeah, making sure you're informing your clients and more importantly, letting them know what that process is going to be even with, you know, we're going to be sending this to the attorney. This is going to take this amount of time then you're going to get this back, somebody He's going to be reaching out to you asking you for a whole lot of personal information. This is how you upload it like little tiny things. Those are the moments and then there's another moment that I have to mention for real estate agents that we coach realtors that we're working with on which is the house anniversary. This is your best moment to shine after they're out of your life. I cannot tell you how many real estate agents do the obligatory postcard? Hey, I know was mass produced. And as congratulations on your house anniversary, pick up the phone check in how's it working? Did you build that deck on it? Oh my gosh, you got a trampoline I love it. I'm gonna come over and hang out like whatever it is to help them understand you a remember them be that their business was important to you and you appreciate it. And see it's a chance for you to see if there's a Hey, by the way sale there might be a neighbor might be a friend might be a family member. You never know. I really want to get this last question because I know this one's I like this one a lot. Because I do this myself. Everybody in my market knows that I'm a baseball beer, Cleveland Browns and even the bachelor fan. That's the four things that people know me the four B beer, baseball, the browns and the Bachelor. And I get a lot of people like when they see me want to talk about those things. Because everybody knows that's what I like to do. And so how much of sales for a real estate agent is about their personality versus selling their service? I think a lot of people think, oh, they're just selling their service. I don't see that in today. And I think people are expecting you to you're selling yourself first and then your sir. Yeah, so as you know, in the book, I talked a lot about this. It's your personal brand. And as a real estate agent, you are the brand Yes, you but you know, hold your shingle under a brokerage, but knew that I'm buying and chances are you've moved brokerages and I followed. Your personal brand, in my opinion is more important than anything. And it is it's like that guy that was name tag everywhere he went, that was part of his personal brand. A lot of people that know me, and my personal brand is about gratitude. I am so very grateful for this opportunity. I'm very cognizant of the fact that I'm very lucky to get up and do this every day. And so I try to make sure that I express that to people that I meet in all walks of life. What is your personal brand? And that would be the question that I would have for everybody watching listening today is, could you explain it in four words like you just did? And if I've met you once or twice, could I at least no one or two of those words, not, we're not doing a good job of living our personal brand. Like, I want people to know that we grow business period, we make you more money. That's a company, that's what we do. My book is gonna help you make more money, help you grow your business, all that stuff. That's all I care about. But I want you to know that we do it authentically. We are grateful for it. Like there's other words in there. But at least make sure you know who you want to be known as because I'll also tell you this, and y'all know this as real estate agents, it's a crowded space out there. Being a Top Producing agent also isn't enough of a differentiator. I don't care what your designations are a care about who you are and how you work. So that's a great exercise. And especially like, you know, as you're going into planning for next year, and next quarter, whatever it happens to be looking at how you're building your personal brand, and what does it look like? And does it need to shift and times have shifted. I mean, this year has been insane. So looking here, so a while there's a lot to be grateful for, though that's true. I think there's a lot to be very true. But But I think that's a good opportunity for everybody to kind of look at their own brand, and see how you maybe want that to shift. And then make sure you're living it every single day. You're doing something to promote your build your brand to elevate your brand. Well, thank you. I know we're out of time. And I really appreciate you being with us today. But before we leave, where can people find your book? You're the first lady of sales. So where can they find your book? And where can they follow you because I follow you on Instagram. But you'll tell everybody how to follow you. Absolutely. So I'm pretty easy to find. It's Dr. Cindy calm. You can get the book there at Amazon, Barnes and Noble or basically any local bookseller. And best way to follow me is at one st Lady of sales, one st lady sales at the number one in St. Or you can type in Dr. Cindy and it'll pop up and I'm on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. And I'd love to hear how you all are applying what we talked about today. That's my favorite part of this job is getting to hear the success stories. So everybody needs to go buy the book. I'm telling you, it's a great easy Ray tech took a weekend, and I got so much out of it. I didn't realize how many of the sales things I was already doing. It's amazing. So it's a great book. Sandy, thank you so much for being with us. Thank you so much for having me, Gary. This was an honor and a pleasure. I appreciate it. Before we get to Gary's good news only Motor Trend this year named as it's 2021 Car of the Year, the Mercedes Benz E Class and I don't know if y'all have had a chance to see the inside of this and a lot of y'all wonder was Gary talking about cars Well, if you'll go to my YouTube page or Blair Cato and type in brokers Talking contracts, you'll see where last year I spent a lot of time driving around in these really expensive killer cars with brokers going over the CCR a contract. And one of the cars that we looked at while we were doing that was the Mercedes Benz E Class for 2020. Well, the 2020 and 21 now have this state of the art system. It's an mbu x multimedia system that has a 12.3 inch display. Basically, from the driver's door to almost the passenger seat is fully digitalized, with all kinds of gauges and lights. And a car comes with like a like, I don't know, 360 different lights, like under the dash. And in the doors. There's all kinds of light colors that you can change the interior of the car from blue to red to yellow to green, and it is really killer. And if you like Alexa, all you have to do is say, hey, Mercedes, and she'll be like, Hey, I'm gonna help you and you say, I would like to drive navigate to home. It's utterly amazing the technology in this car. Now if you want to go drive one, or test drive one or see one, you need to call my good friend Brad. Megan over at dick Dyer. Now, Brad, is you know, there's the saying, Oh, this is they dress the stars. Well, Brad is the one who puts all the real estate agents in Mercedes. He I think everybody who has a new Mercedes, who's a real estate agent, they got it through Brad, if you want a Mercedes, a Volvo any car, Brad can get it for you. But Brad knows the Mercedes. He is the man to get over it. Dig dire. So now 803-786-8888 or 803-397-4000. All right now we do our next segment, which is Gary's good news only. And as you probably know, this is our segment where we give only good news that's happening in the economy, the real estate market, as well as with the Coronavirus, and we started this back in March through our legal tips, when we just got so sick and tired of constant drumbeat of bad news in our media. So we started looking for and finding good news to share with all of our listeners. So today, let's start with our economy. As you all probably saw in 2020, we finished the year above 30,000 points in the stock market. That's the first time that has ever happened. Housing wire this week announced that in 2020, we saw historic lows and interest rates 16 times during the 12 month period, and that most believe that the interest rates will remain flat. So they believe that news home sales and re exit pre existing home sales will rise around 10% in 2021. That's very good news for everybody in real estate. In South Carolina, we found something that was very interesting, according to a study conducted by United Van Lines, which is a nation's largest mover of household goods. They found at that in 2020. Americans continue to ditch North Eastern and West Coast states for southeastern in sunbelt states. And according to the group's data, which is based on household moves, handled by united states with the highest inbound rates were as follows. Top three, Idaho, one, Boise's beautiful you need to go there, South Carolina is to Oregon three arguments are far south dakota, Arizona. Now the ones that were the most outbound, of course, were New Jersey, New York, Illinois, Connecticut, and California. People used to want to go to California now everybody wants to get the heck out in the corona. arena. Let's talk about some good news there. I mentioned some of this last time, but I thought we would go ahead and hit on it a little bit. Again, today, the University of Florida found that no asymptomatic or preset pre symptomatic spread and their new study that was published in the Journal of American metal Medical Association. So what does that mean? Well, the first thing it means is that what they found was the secondary attack rate is only 16.6%. So when the first person gives it gets it, they only give it to somebody 16.6% of the time. So there's an 83.4% chance that is somebody in your house gets it, you're not going to get it from them, I'd like to try to look at it on the positive number two, the attack rate they said for adults was much higher than the contact rate or attack rate for children, we know that kids aren't getting it the way that adults are getting it. They also said it was higher for your spouse than it was for other family members. So if you get it, you're more likely to spread it to your spouse and you already your children or your parents. The secondary attack rate overall is 18% for symptomatic cases. So if somebody was symptoms has it, they have an 80% chance of giving it to somebody else. But if they are asymptomatic or pre symptomatic, there's only a point 7% chance of spread. And according to the study, they said quote, this is not statistically different than zero. So basically, according to this study, if you're asymptomatic or pre symptomatic, there's a zero chance of spread. It's only when you're symptomatic that there's a chance to spread. Very good news to hear because that's not what they've been telling us in the media. Second thing I saw on COVID was Health and Human Services website, shared some very interesting information. We've also been led to believe in the media that the hospitals that people are literally standing in the hallways and they're out in the yard. And there's nowhere for these patients according to health and human services on website, the monitor this inpatient bed in hospitals is only 71.3% of capacity. Hospitals don't make money being zero capacity with people with COVID is only 17.74%. So less than 80% of all hospital patients are there with COVID, not for COVID. But with COVID, you can be there for something else, but you tested positive for COVID. So now you're there with COVID. And in the ICU beds are only at 63%. So there's still 37% of ICU beds available. And what the data revealed, according to this author is it see COVID-19 cases are not overwhelming hospital bed capacity at this time. The Health and Human Services numbers are also encouraging because what they're showing is that with this latest outbreak of COVID of the 100 Health jurisdictions in the United States, 66% of them are experiencing a decrease in cases four have already plateaued. So 70, almost 70% of the health jurisdictions are either flat or decreasing. In their cases. Now South Carolina is appears to be going up or there is now plateauing. But that's good news, we should obviously expect to start seeing star numbers decrease. Those are very good things to see. And Gary's good news only. Well, that's our show for this week. On a side note, if you are a fan of the bachelor, and if you are I understand if you don't want to admit that out loud, I used not to admit it out loud. But now I do. We do have a video blog that we do all the bachelor what we do is we talk about each week, all of the stupidity of the show, which believe me, there's tons of stupidity in that show. And then we post it on our Facebook as well as on our YouTube channel. So if you want to go to Blair Cato, you can look at that on by going to YouTube type in Blair Cato, and you should be able to find the latest renderings of our show called three dudes talk about the bachelor, I do the show with Chris Clough, who is a real estate agent and john Stackhouse, who is a real estate Commissioner. So it's a lot of fun. So hopefully you guys can listen to us making fun of the show that is known as the Bachelor. Well, hope everybody enjoyed this week's show. And if you did, if you'll please like us, share us and subscribe to us. You can follow me at patron Gary on Instagram, that's PRC K, Ra n g AR wha I hope everybody has a wonderful week and we look forward to having a great 2021