Most Powerful Technique of All Time

The most powerful hypnotic technique of all time is the metaphor.

That right - stories. Story telling, believe it or not, is a science.

The science of psycholinguistics (the science of language) and the science of neuro-linguistics have recently provided new tools in which we can now come into a better understanding of the power of metaphor and how to master the art of using metaphor to persuade.

You see, for years it was always accepted that the gifted salesperson had a natural gift of gab, a natural gift for story telling and, like it or not, you either had the gift or not. If not, well, then you were doomed to mediocrity.

Not so.

Master the metaphor and you’ve mastered the game.

Fact is, the number one common denominator of every true sales champion that I have ever worked with or studied is their extensive use of sales stories, metaphors and analogy.

For one, stories well told tend to hold the attention of people. And stories are inherently enjoyable. Everybody likes a good story. Stories can also contain hidden commands, that is, tonally marked words and phrases that actually instruct the listener to take some type of action.

For instance, if I were to say to your directly: “Stand Up!” You may or may not “stand up” depending on how you interpreted my statement. However, if I were to tonally mark, that is stress the words a bit differently, the words “stand up” in the midst of a story or sentence, the command would bypass your conscious rebellious mind and go directly into your subconscious - absolutely increasing my chances of getting you to comply with my request.

“Really, John, I think we should take a STAND. I mean, it’s UP to us to fight for what’s right.”

Try it on a friend. I think you’ll be somewhat amazed.

Or try this one: “Really, you have to give Betty a HAND. She secured TWO listings last week, and as far as anybody KNOWS - she’s on track to do it again this week.”

Chances are, in less than a minute - your friend will rub or scratch or wipe their nose because you gave them a hidden command to do so “hand to nose.”

Okay, back to metaphors. I got off track there for a minute…

Besides their obvious entertainment value, the skillful use of finely constructed stories and metaphors are an extremely effective means of instructing and informing people without having to directly “lecture.” You can help your customer or client to better understand and appreciate a product, service or concept by using a story that somehow relates to the topic at hand.

For instance we want to inform our seller as to the value of preparing their home for sale, that is, we want them to paint, clean the carpets, etc.

One option is we can come right out and tell them they are living in a pig sty and nobody will buy their home at a fair price (which probably wouldn’t go over real well) or we could tell a story:

“John and Mary, let me ask you: Who does the grocery shopping in your household. You, Mary? Great. Now when you go to buy tomatoes, to you just grab the first one on the counter or do you take a good look at all the tomatoes and pick the best one. You pick the best one, right? Buyers do the same exact thing when it comes to shopping for a home. They don’t pick the very first one they come to. No, they take a look at all the homes on the market and then they pick the very best one within their price range. What we need to do then, John and Mary, is to prepare your home to stand out as the very best tomato - make sense?”

One of my all time favorites that I have used for years to overcome a buyer or seller who is procrastinating, straddling the fence and won’t make a decision - telling me “well, I think I really need more time to think about it” or some other classic stall:

“I understand. You see yourself needing more time to think about it, to make a good decision, right.”

“Right.”

“Okay. John, do me a favor. Picture yourself in an airport, looking up at the screen flashing ‘Departures.’ You want to fly to Chicago from

San Francisco. There is a flight that leaves in one hour but it has a layover in

Cleveland. There is also a nonstop flight that leaves in three hours. You deliberate back and forth, back and forth: Do I take the early flight or the later nonstop? You walk around and think about it. Get a cup of coffee. Early flight or later nonstop? And before you know it, John, the early plane has taken off. The decision was made for you - you did not make the decision. Time made it for you. You lost your opportunity.

“We’re in the same situation here today, John. If you don’t make a decision - chances are - time will make the decision for you and you will lose the opportunity. There might not be a tomorrow when it comes to this magnificent home. Can’t you make a decision today?”

Of course, this story doesn’t always work, but I dare say that I have solicited many a commitment that I might not have if I hadn’t use this story. It makes sense and people are encouraged to make a decision one way or the other.

Metaphors and stories don’t have to be long in or to be effective.

“When you rent it is like throwing your money to the wind.”

“Would you consider selling a car without touching up the paint, washing and waxing it, vacuuming, and making sure it presentable in order to get top dollar? Then why would you consider selling your home without doing the same things?”

“Buyers are just like kids at Christmas. Their eyes are immediately drawn to the biggest present, the one in the best wrapper. That’s the present that holds their attention. That’s the present they want to open first.”

“Let’s take the bull by the horns and do it, Okay?”

“You’ve been renting for how long now? Two years at $600 a month? That’s over $14,000. Now when you move are you going to ask your landlord for your money back? Of course not. So what you’re telling me is that all you have to show for spending over $14,000 is a Thank you’ and a receipt?”

The Ten Most Power Types of Stories

1. Introductions: Use stories to relate who you are, why you’re there, and how you have helped other people. This story could very easily be told without you even being present if you put together and use a Success Portfolio Your Unique Selling Proposition is also an introductory story in and of itself which you should use every time you introduce yourself to someone new.

2. Overcome Fears: You can use “other people” stories to relate how the fears your customer is feeling now is common to the situation and also relate how they learned there was no reason to worry.

3. Grab Attention: One of the MUSTS of conversational hypnosis’ effectiveness. Use stories that are highly entertaining, stories that place them in the lead role, dramatic stories. Use attention grabbing stories to tell your customer why they should listen to you.

4. Feature-Benefits: Instead of just pointing out various features and benefits, you can embed them in a fascinating story. Instead of simply pointing out the large 8 x 12 foot storage shed, tell a story about some interesting use one of your previous customers came up with - raising pigeons and selling them at a profit or whatever.

5. Money: Everybody wants it and nobody has it. Use stories to show how your clients can actually afford to own the property, how others in the same position as them did such and such and came to such and such a realization. Money is often a “charged” subject - the use of stories to get your message across can greatly defuse the “charge.”

6. The Ego Stroke: People love to be loved and recognized. Use these types of stories to show how owning the home will increase their prestige, their stature in the face of their friends and family. How listing their home first will set the trend in their neighborhood - how they will be perceived as leaders and visionaries.

7. Improvement Realizations: Stories that show how buying or selling or using any particular tool like a staging video will improve their current situation.

8. Stories addressing Security: Peace of mind, emotional and financial security, and issues concerning safety. These are highly charged emotional issues that you should use at every opportunity.

9. Family: Home is where the heart is type stories. A man, his castle and his family. What more is there? You a number of stories that relate to bringing families closer together. The fireplace is romantic; the backyard barbecues.

10. Closing Stories: It all comes together here. Use various closing stories to summarize all the benefits of taking action NOW.

Metaphors can also be used to talk about the competition without having to resource to “sliming” them. For instance let’s say that a customer has just related to you that the competition had “slimed” you and your company. Our natural response would be to “slime” right back, but there’s a better way:

“You’re kidding! They said that about us? Well, I guess everyone wants to challenge the champion. Everyone wants to challenge the top dog, even if they’re only a little puppy, right?”

Perhaps you are working for a small, independent broker and have to compete against the big boys, the “nationally” recognized firms:

“Are we comparing apples with apples or apples with oranges? Is it really fair to compare us to them? Let me ask you: How do you like doing business with a voice mail box? If you go with that big company, in a lot of cases that is who you will be doing business with - a voice mail box - because they are too big to provide constant, personalized service. If you’d like a real live human being available to immediately answer your questions and service your property, then we are the company for you.”

Or perhaps you are in just the opposite position:

“John and Mary, I appreciate the fact that you are considering XYZ. Having a variety of options is always better than having just one. But it’s like you’re taking your family on a cross continental trip. Now you can either fly first class in a 747 jet airliner which is us, or you can take a four seater, twin engine Cessna, which is them. Which would you feel safest on? Who do you really want to trust the marketing of your home to?”

Design a number of stories and metaphors to use throughout your presentations. Effective use of the metaphor will bring you in more money than the piper has pickles.

Master the art of conversational hypnosis and you’ll make a fortune!

Happy Selling! 

Brandon Patrick

Dean of Students

Real Estate Toolbox University

Ideosensory Trance

We have studied four types of suggestions. Now let’s consider a type of trance state known as ideosensory trance.

People interpret the events in their world a bit differently than everyone else interprets the events in their own world.. Still, even though everyone is unique in their interpretations, three primary modes of interpretation are consistently used - visual, audible and kinesthetic.

Sales superstars are masters at instilling ideosensory trance states within their customers. This means bringing their prospects to the point of experiencing other worlds of sights, sounds, feelings, smells and tastes.

For example, you got tied up at the office and are heading home an hour and a half later than you had promised your spouse. You didn’t call. And as you head homeward in your car, you imagine the scene as you enter your home and face your spouse. There’s angry - you can see it on their face. You can hear the edge in their voice and you can feel the tension in the air.

And it’s all in your mind. You were in an ideosensory trance.

Master salespersons create ideosensory trance in their clients. They use multi-sensory words to describe the features and benefits of their product or service in order to get the client highly, emotionally involved.

“This house is you, Steve. I mean, imagine pulling up in the driveway and seeing Mary and the kids waving from the porch. You tell yourself you’re glad to be home and you run and give everyone a hug. It feels good to be home. And as you step in the door, you know your home. You smell the coffee and the aroma of dinner. Life is great.”

Negative ideosensory is also a very powerful persuasion tool. The premise is people will do more to avoid pain than they will to gain pleasure. People usually join health spas - not because they want to look good - but rather so they won’t look bad.

People will often submit an offer NOW, today, not so much because they are convinced that this is the home for them, but rather because this home might not be available tomorrow because of the demand. Their actions, then, were caused by a need to avoid a potential loss.

Amnesia

Amnesia is a pretty common hypnotic phenomenon and easy to produce in your customers. The best use would be to trigger this “forgetfulness” in relation to the presentation or advertising of the competition.

For example, let’s say that you are the third agents in line to make a listing presentation. The sellers haven’t decided they even want to list, they are simply gathering information - they are getting a little bit from everyone so they can decide whether or not to even use realty service.

Let’s prompt them to “forget” the competition. It’s really easy. You want to use words like “forget”, “impossible to remember”, “not important,” “too boring to be of consequence,” and “hard to keep track of.”

“Other agents in this business try to overload you with so many details about their companies like how big they are and how good they are and it is impossible to remember much of anything about their service. However, it will be easy for you to remember exactly what we will do together to market your home.”

In most cases, that is all it takes. Especially if you are working with a customer that is not detail oriented.

Hypernesia

The opposite of amnesia is hypernesia - referring to the enhancement of memory and recall.

Hypernesia is extremely useful when you want a specific issue or event to “come back to mind” later. In fact, you have probably used a form of hypernesia on yourself from time to time in an effort to remember something. Harry Lorriane of The Memory Book fame extolled the virtues of using association techniques, that is, linked a sound or an image to another for purposes of inducing hypernesia or increased memory recall.

The first rule to induce this technique is to tell your clients or customers that they will, indeed, remember whatever it is that you want them to remember.

You left a showing and are heading back into the office with your buyers. It was a good house, within their price range, and they seemed to like it. You want to increase this sense of “liking” - you can accomplish it through producing hypernesia -

“John and Mary, you won’t be able to forget that marble entrance way. You may be driving home tonight from the office and out of the blue - you see the admiring looks of your friends as you greet them at the door. And, as you lie awake in bed tonight, right before you drift off to sleep - you will imagine the sound of your footsteps against the marble and feel the warmth and security of it all. Yeah, you won’t be able to forget that marble. It was too nice. Umm, hmmm.”

Now, I realize you might be thinking that this wouldn’t be a natural thing to say. My question is this: Why not?

If I perceived John and Mary were really impressed with that entrance way, I would have acknowledged it then and know I am simply acknowledging it again. You could almost appear to be talking to yourself and still pull this off.

Another really powerful application of hypernesia is to use it to sell against your competition. For instance, you have given your opinion (based on a TMA/CMA, of course) as to price. The sellers have a fit and indicate that John Doe agent quoted them $8,000 more than you did. It’s obvious to you that John Doe was attempting to “buy” the listing.

Anyway, after you fully explain the realities of the market and all that you can simply state…

“Now I don’t think you will ever be able to forget that you were quoted over $8,000 above what the market would bear. That’s a lot of money and would have completely priced you out of the market. Absolutely unfair and unrealistic. You will always be grateful for taking a second look at this.”

Without directly addressing the competition, you can always get the same effect by telling a third person story that has the same “content” without ever naming a competitor - simply stating that such and such took place and this person “will remember that nightmare forever. His home stood on the market for 5 months and nobody, nobody, ever placed an offer on it. $8,000 was just too much for the market to bear. It even scared agents away.”

Revivication

Have you ever noticed the change of state people go into when they enter an elevator? How about when they hear their favorite sound or begin to relate a story they are particularly passionate about?

This process or state is called revivication. It is the process of reliving some earlier experienced moment in time.

The effective use of positive or negative revivication is perhaps the most powerful sales technique in existence.

The reason revivication is so powerful is it can be used by the professional communicator to take another person back into virtually any emotional state or emotion that they have ever experienced.

Then, you can use that same state or emotion to further your cause, that is, if you can elicit an emotional state of extreme joy and pleasure - your prospect will carry those same emotions of joy and pleasure with them into the home or conversation or wherever.

The “instant replay” technique uses a process of revivication.

Example:

“Mary, let me ask you: Do you remember what it was like when you got your very first apartment?”

“Sure do. I was really exciting, you know, being out on my own and stuff. And it was really great not having to answer to anyone.”

“Do you remember anything else about it? What it felt like?”

“It was almost incredible. I could hardly sleep it was so exciting. Oh sure, it was a little scary, you know, but it was great. It really was.”

“Great!. That was a really exciting time. And I’m sure you are going to have that same feeling of incredible excitement when you make an offer for this new home. The is better than your first apartment!”

Now think about it.

Mary’s face is glowing as she relives her memories of her first apartment. She is literally beaming with excitement. She is literally reliving and re-experiencing all of the same emotions that she experienced that day. Now, subtly, we relate TODAY with those experiences and emotions making it very, very hard if not impossible to be critical or in any way negative about the situation.

Powerful, powerful stuff.

I used to call revivication the yo-yo technique because you would dip into a previous experience and jump back into today’s presentation. Back into the past, forward to the present. Back into the past, forward into the present.

Pretty soon, almost without fail, the customer would be “stuck” in the remembered state and the sale is shortly forthcoming.

Negative revivication is just what the name implies - it is recalling a sense or emotion that they used to have but which is lacking today but which they would really like to get back.

Negative revivication could be used to eliminate procrastination if you could somehow get your client to relive a past loss suffered due to procrastinating in the past and bring that sense of loss into the present in order to motivate the person to action now versus accepting the possibility of experiencing those negative emotions again.

Four steps to mastering conversational hypnosis

1. Get and maintain the customer’s attention - Clinical hypnotists use swinging watches and crystals and twirling discs. These are the instruments of their trade, the device they use to hold their patient’s focus and attention. In the sales arena, we would be considered very, very weird if we asked our clients to “stare deeply into my eyes” or “following the watch with your eyes as it swings back and forth, back and forth.” To gain attention - use events, emotions, words, mannerisms and beliefs.
2. Pace - Present ideas that are absolutely, 100% impossible for the client to disagree with.
3. Increase the desire to respond and take action - I like to call this stoking the fire. We elicit a need or a problem then we do whatever is necessary to increase the sense of urgency to eliminate this problem. See, we’ve added fuel to the fire of their discomfort. We’ve stoked the fire.
4. Guide your client into taking action.

If you formulate all of your presentations these steps in mind, be it a letter, an ad or your actual face-to-face conversations - you will find yourself hearing more and more “yeses” to your suggested actions.

Right now, let’s look at pacing a bit more closely.

Pacing for Profits

Pacing is mirroring. That’s it. So, you already know this stuff. The only thing I want to say in addition to what you already know is that pacing (or mirroring) is the most effective way of getting two or more people in harmony with one another. Harmony = rapport.

One of the easiest verbal methods to pace is to simply begin all of your conversations with some undeniably truthful statements that you can see within your immediate surroundings. For instance: “Mary, I noticed you have a “for

Sale by owner” sign in your front yard and it shows very nicely from the street.”

“I noticed you were looking out the window as we pulled up on this sunny afternoon.”

If you notice a client glancing at his watch: “I see that you are pressed for time.”

Use undeniably truthful statements which pace belief and reality. This gets the prospects into a very agreeable and relaxed state of mind.

Another truism you might want to remember is: The more people agree, the more likely the will continue to agree. Pacing begins this “agreement” mode. You can strengthen it by using a series of “yes set” questions. Tom Hopkins used this approached.

You remember Tom Hopkins, don’t you?

He was a very popular speaker and trainer for a number of years, wasn’t he?

And wouldn’t you agree that using “yes set” questions is relatively easy?

Bottom line is persuasive sales presentations are built upon agreement. “Yes Set” questions are one of the easiest, yet most powerful tools for building agreement.

Pepper your presentations with a number of “Yes sets” and you will see a dramatic improvement in your results.

Repetition of words is another subtly powerful hypnotic technique. Repetition serves to focus, focus, focus one’s attention on whatever is being communicated.

“Your taxes are going up and up and up, year after year after year, and as long as your renting you are throwing good money right down the drain. Right down the drain. What you need is a counter-strategy. What you need is to own your own home.”

“This how has an incredible, incredible, incredible view. And the price below, way below market. It is an incredible, incredible deal.”

Use words that end in -ly - Obviously, sincerely, certainly, apparently, and clearly.

These are called vague ambiguities meaning they don’t have any reference points. With a reference, the client must “fill in” the blanks with their detail. Use of these words are great in conjunction with revivication techniques.

You can elicit a strong emotion and then indicate “that it is obviously clear how closely this house matches their needs. Clearly the landscaping is exactly what they were looking for.”

Use words that end in -er - Comparative words like closer, bigger, better, cheaper, cleaner, greater, fancier, and lighter are hypnotic words.

Happy Selling!

Brandon Patrick

Dean of Students

Real Estate Toolbox University

Imagine walking into an appointment, meeting the prospects, and within a manner of minutes - using only the power of words, the power of language - having so completely mesmerizing the prospects that they are virtually helpless against you and your persuasion skills.

Imagine your prospects becoming putty in your hands. Led at will, step by step, through your presentation until they commit without a peep of resistance.

Wouldn’t that be nice?

Well, it won’t happen. At least not consistently. But you can develop your presentation skills to such a point that you greatly increase your chances.

How? By learning one of the best kept secrets of the superstars - the effective use of conversational hypnosis techniques to build instant rapport, defuse objections, and lead the prospect into making a decision that is good for them and their situation.

Scientific studies have conclusively proven the major difference between a super successful salesperson and their not so successful counterparts - given the same product training and opportunities - the difference that makes the difference is highly-skilled salespeople use “word magic” to bring their prospects and clients into agreement with them.

There are mountains of proof, years of research, tons of published reports and plenty of indisputable facts which all point to the same conclusions:  Top sales people use the power of conversational hypnosis extensively - often without knowing it.

Your success will ultimately depend on your ability to persuade. And that’s where conversational hypnosis skills come into play.

Conversational Hypnosis?

One the reasons you may not have heard too much about conversational hypnosis is it hasn’t been until fairly recently that the actual process, the actual stuff that makes it work has been broken down into a form in which it could be taught.

In fact, many of the super elite salespeople that have been studied over the years didn’t know how to explain how to do what they do - it seemed to be something that just came natural to them, and in some cases, that was true - they had basically stumbled upon a few techniques that worked miracles for them so they continued to practice them and use them. Still, they were at a lose to explain the process or the structure of what it is that they did.

Today all that has all changed.

Today we know highly successful salespeople use communication techniques which are nearly identical in structure to the communication techniques used by world renowned hypnotists and psychologists. Knowing this, it also means we now have the means to actually learn these techniques and incorporate them as our own.

The state of hypnosis is a state of increased suggestibility.

Nothing more. Nothing less.

For instance, right now, take a moment and notice the tension in your jaw. Are you biting down and flexing your jaw muscles or are they relaxed? Is your tongue situated on the roof of your mouth, pressing against the back of your teeth, or is it simply lying down, relaxed?

Chances are, until I mentioned your jaw and its state of tension - it never even occurred to you, that is, it wasn’t within your realm of existence at the time.

Now, due to the power of words, due to the power of conversational hypnosis, you became aware of another state of being if you will - your state of suggestibility was increased to include yet another aspect that was previously hidden from your consciousness.

You, my friend, were temporarily in a state of hypnosis - a state of increased suggestibility.

Hypnosis is a part of everyday life.

Light levels of hypnosis are those in which your body is relaxed and you tend to “daydream.” This is a wonderful state of altered awareness in which you can “program” yourself to higher levels of energy, success, motivation, or whatever.

Medium-level hypnosis is often discerned by someone having a “far away look” in their eyes, a rather glazed-over look. You’ve seen it. You’ve been there. You simply “drifted off” into the ozone somewhere. Physically you never left - mentally, well, you were outta there.

Deep hypnosis is often associated with the theater and the stage. It is also the level of hypnosis that is used to block pain during a root canal or an amputation. This is also the level of hypnosis that is known for producing “amnesia” - you know, “when I count to three you will wake up and never remember anything that took place in the last few minutes.”

Deep hypnosis is pretty common

Have you ever had the experience of talking to a friend or an associate, the phone rings or a door slams or some other distraction takes place, and when you resume your conversation you experience “amnesia”, that is, you don’t remember what it was that you were just talking about?

Or how about a time when you were doggedly looking for something like your keys or your beeper and you simply could not find the item. You search until you are frustrated enough to solicit help and there…right in front of your nose all along…worse, the item was discovered in your hand.

That’s hypnosis. Nothing more than an altered state.

Hypnosis does not conflict or diminish one’s ability to reason.

Rest assured that we are not talking about covertly placing one of our customers in a frame of mind and state of being wherein their powers of reason and logic are overruled. It really cannot be done even if we were to attempt to do it. That is a misconception about the powers of hypnosis that is advocated in the movies - however, it has no place in reality.

Hypnosis may heighten the powers of one’s imagination but it will never diminish their ability to reason and stay highly rational. You cannot hypnotize someone and ask them to commit murder or invest in a product or home that they really don’t want or need. It simply won’t happen. They won’t buy it.

Besides, that would be unethical, wouldn’t it? However, if someone does want and need your services - using the powers of conversational hypnosis will give you an extra edge in persuading them of the benefits of using your services simply because when you communicate a message hypnotically - that message is more likely to bypass the person’s conscious defenses.

It is this ability that makes the master communicator so powerful and persuasive. Sometimes a person’s worse enemy is their conscious mind and the erroneous conclusions offered by it - if we can somehow get past these defenses, you will find yourself in a much better position to be able to help them solve their problems.

Some actual techniques

There are four primary ways to send practically irresistible suggestions.

1. Verbal suggestions - This is the most common form of offering suggestion. It is rather direct and is not the most powerful form of offering suggestion.

The idea is to set up a sense of expectation. For example, “You are going to be very excited with the view this home has to offer.” - or - “You are going to just love all the cabinet space in this home…”

Verbal suggestions work because they set the stage for people. People have a tendency to get what they think they are going to get out of an experience. If you think you will like the taste of something, you often will. If you decide ahead of time that you will not enjoy a particular event - chances are good you won’t.

Verbal suggestion gives you the power to literally control how your customer will think. You set the stage for a self-fulfilling prophecy. You set the stage for them to conclude: “I like this. I think I will buy this.” Rather than: “You want me to like this so that you can sell it to me.”

Big difference.

The reason these verbal suggestions aren’t tremendously powerful is because the content of your statements and suggestions are easily recognizable, that is, they are often noticed on a conscious level.

You might suggest that I will be tremendously pleased with the large master suite - I accept you statement perhaps, but I accept it tentatively - I might response to your verbal suggestion silently in my own head with something like, “Yeah, I hope so but we’ll just have to see.”

It’s a conscious process so it loses a lot of its power. Still, verbal suggestions are one of the greatest tools at your disposal. Use them and use them a lot.

2. Non-verbal suggestions - Non-verbal suggestion is a wonderfully powerful way to induce feelings of deep rapport. Raised eyebrows, a wave of the hand, a deep sigh - all of these are forms of non-verbal communication add emphasis and impact to our verbal communication.

Smiles are great. Smile non-verbally communicate: “I like you. I am easy and comfortable in your presence. Let’s be friends. I accept you as you are.” A sharp glance or intake of breath. A frown. A perplexed look. A nod of the head. A tapping foot.

3. Intra-verbal suggestions - These suggestions are offered by voice inflections and tonality. Your words are given extra power depending on how you say them.

One of the easiest happy to apply this technique is to add emphasis to your verbal suggestions. For instance instead of merely saying “think of how excited you will be with the panoramic view”… add intra-verbal power to the statement and turn it into a powerful command to feel excited, say” “Think how eexxccittted you will be…”

This extra emphasis can actually trigger that specific emotion in your customer. And if your customers somehow find themselves in an excited state - it should be too awfully hard to get them to carry that excitement right into listing or buying with you.

4. Extra-verbal suggestions - Now these are powerful. Extraverbal suggestion derive their power from being, for the most part invisible to the conscious mind - slips right by directly to the unconscious.

For example, if I were wanting you to stand up I could give you a simple verbal suggestion or command: “Stand up” or “Why don’t you stand up now.”

Or, I could offer an extraverbal suggestion: “Aren’t you getting a little tired of sitting down?” Without realizing why or how or whatever, you might find yourself suddenly standing - without ever realizing that you were led into that behavior.

Extraverbal suggestions are extremely powerful when properly executed by a master communicator for the simple reason that the listen will think that all of the suggestions are coming from within themselves - that it is totally and wholly their ideas. He or she acts or behaves in a certain manner because they feel that the thought to act in such a manner began in their own minds and in their own convictions and since they thought of it then they will want to act on it.

Heavy, heavy stuff here.

Are you about ready for a break? I am…

“Are you about ready for a break?” is an example of an extra-verbal suggestion. You probably weren’t even thinking about taking a break until I suggested it. Then, all of a sudden you were. You mind begins to answer the question and you arrive at an answer and decide to initiate an action all on your own. By adding the words - I am - I added even power by using the irresistible draw of social acceptance. Subtle, but powerful.

You are probably still battling with whether or not to get up and take a break.

Go ahead.  I’ll wait for you…

Now, be honest. Whether or not you actually got up and took a break isn’t really the issue - the point is, didn’t the thought cross your mind and you seriously had to consider the issue internally for a moment or two?

Or maybe you did get up and take a break! Pretty amazing!

I believe it was Napoleon that said, “We rule men by words.” And if you are like me, you are beginning to come into the realization that this is, indeed, true.

History has proved it. Look at Hitler and Stalin. Great orators. Most of our presidents and other great leaders like Winston Churchill - great orators. In the contemporary arena we have Anthony Robbins - a great orator. Rev. Jesse Jackson - another great orator.

“We rule men by words.”

Come back for more….. 

Happy Selling!

Brandon Patrick

Dean of Students

Real Estate Toolbox University

Lee Iacocca once said, “If you want to be the best, you have to separate yourself from all the talk about quality. And put it in writing.”What Mr. Iacocca was referring to was offering a guarantee.Every retail operation guarantees their products. Every manufacture guarantees their products. Every mail order operator has to guarantee their product or they will quickly find themselves out of business. Every auto shop must guarantee their service……what are YOU doing to guarantee YOUR service?Anything? Probably not, and it’s costing you big bux.Guarantees make people feel comfortable.Guarantees will remove the fear people naturally feel when committing themselves to invest in a product or a service.Most importantly, guarantees help the customer feel they can retain some semblance of control and exercise that control if they somehow and for some reason feel dissatisfied - this is especially true in a “contract” type situation.OFFER A “Love It or Leave it” GUARANTEE AND YOU WILL INCREASE YOUR NUMBER OF SALES EXPONENTIALLY.I guarantee it. Please, let me explain.What do you think is the potential buyers’s greatest fear when deciding to purchase a home through you - a licensed, contract bearing real estate agent?I gave you a clue… that’s right, they are scared of the “contract.”Well, let me ask you this: What do you think would happen if you could eliminate this cause of fear, this worry, from the minds and hearts of your potential buyers?What would happen if you could somehow take the risk and fear out of being stuck with a home they really don’t want? Why… you would in most circumstances obtain the sale, right?Of course. And even more importantly, you would be shutting out the majority of your competition because offering a guarantee in the real estate business is virtually unheard of and you can count on the fact that virtually no one else is doing it!!Now, wouldn’t that make a great Unique Percieved Benefit?Realize, of course, your broker is going to have a stroke the first time you offer this guarantee. Expect it.But do whatever it is that you need to do to persuade him/her of the value of offering a guarantee because this one secret strategy can make you more money than you could ever imagine - simply because no one else is doing it.But here’s the rub—it takes a strong belief in the quality of your service and marketing skills to make this kind of stand. Not too many agents out there are confident enough to pull this off successfully.You, however, are a different breed. You stand confident in your service. You know what you are capable of and you promote your capabilities. Right? Isn’t that how you feel?It should be - or you shouldn’t be in this business.Fact is… virtually every marketing campaign you use today should be built around and incorporate the fact that you GUARANTEE everything you do. It is one of the most powerful, influential, persuasive Unique Selling Propositions you can have. It IS incredibly powerful.Take a look… and then think about the many, many, many ways YOU can plug this concept of risk-reversal into your own business. I’m here to tell you… after fifteen years in the business… I’ve come to the conclusion that utilizing the principles and precepts of risk-reversal (guarantees) is, by far, the number one most powerful “position” you can come from.After all… who can be afraid of the big, bad wolf when the big, bad wolf doesn’t have any teeth?

I just wanted to write a brief post today to recommend a wonderful book that I just finished reading called Realty Blogging. The book was a great read and really went into the technical details and the strategies behind using a blog in your real estate business. Although it dug deep into the technical details, the authors Richard Nacht and Paul Chaney do an excellent job of explaining it in easy to understand terms.

Although I have been blogging for years and have the very popular real estate blog over at: realestatetoolbox.com there were a few strategies that I have not heard too many other people in the industry discuss. The main strategy that was intriguing to me was the idea of the co-op community blog that could be sponsored by a local real estate agent. On the surface it seems simple, but without the proper tools and more importantly know-how executing this strategy is not an easy task. They offered several options and solutions for developing your very own community blog.

A friend of mine just forwarded me a link to a new “training system” for real estate agents. Wow, what a surprise, another person coming into the real estate training industry boasting about how their system is the answer to all of your prayers, use this system and you can kiss your worries about the market, leads, etc. goodbye.

Give me a break!

I am so tired of seeing this crap popping up everyday. Now I am a trainer myself so some may call me hypocritical. Ok, I can accept that but I still get ticked everytime I see this. Now, I don’t care about the competition, competition is always healthy, but the false, over hyped salesletters, calls, etc. are getting to be too much.

This site I visited today said this in big, bold letters right at the top of the page:
“Succeeding in Real Estate Isn’t Hard!”

So, being successful in real estate is easy? Are you kidding me? Are we talking about the same profession that I have been in for 14 years?

I was going to post the URL and name of the site that I saw today making all of these ridiculous statements, but, it will just lead to more nonsense and B.S. so I am declining:)

I promise you will never hearing those words or any words about this business being easy come out of my mouth!

If you haven’t already done so, don’t forget to get over to http://busyagentpro.com to get details for the very rare opportunity to hear Robb Campbell be interviewed by long time industry leader Brandon Patrick exclusively from BAP. The interview will take place Wednesday April 9th at 1:00 Central time. You will be inspired and motivated after listening!

It is with great pleasure and excitement that I am making this announcement. Our very own Brandon Patrick will be interviewing Re/Max Broker of the Year for 2007 Robb Campbell in a tell all interview this Wednesday at 1:00 P.M. central time as a part of The BusyAgentPro.com Coaching program. This is a very rare opportunity to learn from one of the top real estate brokers in the world, you do not want to miss this!

For complete details head over to BusyAgentPro.com

Below is a picture of Robb receiving the Re/Max Broker of the Year Award!

If you haven’t already done so, you need to get over to BusyAgentpro.com and see what all the buzz is about. Over the past several months BusyAgentPro.com has become quite a buzz in the real estate industry. We are busy fielding calls and e-mails from people all across the country about BAP. We even had to hire an additional staff member just to help with the overflow. Although BAP has been around since about 2000, we have been able to keep it very quiet even having thousands of users. But the lid is about to be blown off of BAP and you should really get on board. You can get a free BAP Gold account and see what is going on today. Also, below is a video of Brian Rodgers, BAP Co-Founder briefly giving some information about the happenings over at BAP. Be sure to watch the video then head on over to http://busyagentpro.com, particularly if you are in the market for real estate coaching or real estate websites

Have you ever gone on a listing appointment and walked out disappointed because you didn’t know:

* They weren’t ready to sell for another six months.
* They just wanted to know what their house would sell for some time in the future.
* They want 25% more than the house is worth because they have new carpet.
* They owe 25% more on the house that it will sell for.

The questions below defuse a lot of these issues over the phone before you decide if you should go on the listing appointment. He keeps a script in front of him with the following questions:

* Mr. seller I really need to go over some questions with you so I can do the homework so when I’m out there I can answer your questions is that ok?
* I have your name, address, and home phone but I don’t have your work number may I have that just incase something comes up?
* Is it a 1 story or 2 story?
* Is the master bedroom up or down?
* How many bedrooms and bathrooms?
* Age?
* Lot size?
* What does the home back up to? (He wants to be sure it doesn’t back up to something that could hurt value)
* Tell me about your flooring? New Old Tile Wood etc
* How much living area?
* Where did you get that number?
* Do you have a pool, spa, security system, describe amenities?
* Why are you selling?
* Do you have a relocation package, what’s the name of the relocation company?
* How soon does it need to be sold?
* What do you feel your home is worth?
* What will it mean to you if the market wont bring that price?
* What is the loan balance, do you have more than one loan, how much?
* What are the 3 most important thing a Realtor can do for you?
* Are you interviewing other brokers, who, when?
* If you feel when were done, that I can (Repeat his/her answers) would you be ready to get started that day?
* When will you both be available?

This is like a mini listing presentation over the phone and you will be amazed at some of the answers you will get once you start asking these questions. You will also be surprised at all of the time you save not going on presentations with non-motivated sellers. Keep in mind sellers don’t mind wasting your time! Its the only time you have protect it!