What Is The Million Dollar Question?
I want to share something with you today that I think is going to make it a lot easier for you to get listings that are priced right. This works equally well for For Sale By Owners, Expired’s, Cancelled listers.
When you’re talking to a FSBO or Expired or Cold Call prospect on the phone and they say, “Yes, we’re thinking about selling our home.” Great, go ahead and schedule the listing appointment! And one way you can really help yourself, and set that FSBO or Expired listing appointment up for success, is by asking what I call the “Million-Dollar Question.” I asked it when speaking with FSBOs, Expired’s and Cold-Call prospects on the phone.
This was my process when prospecting for listing appointments, by phone:
I always had a sheet of paper in front of me with two columns of questions that I would ask people about their house. (I saved hours of time by doing this ballpark market analysis for myself, right then and there.) At the end of one column, I had a space labeled: ‘Seller Price Opinion.’
The purpose for this is that I want them to answer this question while setting the listing appointment—before I showed up.
I would ask them a healthy amount of questions like,“What kind of amenities does your home have?” and so on. I wanted to get them in the habit of answering questions. I did this for a reason (I’m actually teaching the science of sales here, but I’ll save that subject for another blog post…)
After asking a series of questions about their home, I’d reach the point of asking my listing prospect his/her “Seller Price Opinion.” I didn’t always have the “Million-Dollar Question” in my back pocket; no one in Real Estate Training class had taught it to me! I’m told that Brian Buffini, Tom Ferry, Floyd Wickman, Mike Ferry, Craig Proctor, Dirk Zeller or Tom Hopkins don’t teach this, either. Anyway, I knew I needed to refine the wording for the “Seller Price Opinion” because asking it in the traditional way just brought us down a dead-end road.
For example, in prospecting, when you ask a seller, “How much do you think your house is worth?” …is their answer going to be a number that’s a little too high or a little too low? Most likely their opinion on price is going to be way too high!
So I changed the standard way to ask my listing prospects that question. I call my proven solution the “Million-Dollar Question.”
The “Million-Dollar Question” goes like this:
“If you were going to win a million dollars by guessing correctly, what price, realistically, do you think a buyer would pay for your house?”
Some sellers hesitate to give an answer; wanting you to go first, they hide behind an, “I don’t know.”
Other sellers do this thing (I’m sure you’ve seen it too) where they say, “Well, you know the guy down the street sold his house eight years ago for ‘blah-blah-blah.’”
Of course, I wasn’t asking about the house down the street, I was asking about the seller-prospect’s price opinion of his/her own house! So I’d just wait for that dialogue to die down, and I’d repeat the “Million-Dollar Question” again, “If you were going to win a million dollars by guessing correctly, what price, realistically, do you think a buyer would pay for your house?”
Resolute and determined, they doggedly continue down the same road, with, “Well, the guy behind me has his house for sale right now and he’s asking ‘blah-blah-blah.’” Again, I’d repeat the same, “Million-Dollar Question,” saying, “Okay, well, if you were going to win a million dollars by guessing correctly, what price, realistically, do you think a buyer would pay for your house?”
There’s even a their category of sellers who’d say, “Bob, you’re the agent, aren’t you supposed to tell me what my house is worth?” I’d smile and jestingly say, “Look this is a mental health quiz; I want to see if you’re nuts before I show up, so, if you were going to win a million dollars…”
When they finally hear what you’re asking, and how you’re asking it, this becomes a completely different question with a completely different answer. When they answer it, they’re almost always right. Their “I don’t know” suddenly becomes: “$359,250.19”…because they absolutely do know!
I hope this helps your cause. Always get the million dollar question answered before you go to the appointment. That’s how you become a Fearless Agent. My coaching students tell me that other coaches out there— Brian Buffini, Tom Ferry, Floyd Wickman, Mike Ferry, Craig Proctor, Dirk Zeller or Tom Hopkins and Tony DiCello, to name a few—don’t cover the things I teach, even after agents have paid them thousands of dollars!
I teach the exact real estate strategies, scripts and skills that other coaches: Brian Buffini, Tom Ferry, Floyd Wickman, Mike Ferry, Craig Proctor, Dirk Zeller or Tom Hopkins and Tony DiCello are not teaching.
I teach from experience. I am available by telephone to personally speak to you about your real estate business and give you real, income increasing solutions the very day that you need coaching—the day the situation comes up and you call me at 480-385-8810!
