As a professional REALTOR\u00ae, you should always be ready to discuss Real Estate. But, don\u2019t be a boor.<\/p>\n
\u201cHi there! I\u2019m Jack Smith with ABC Realty! Are you folks in the market to buy or sell within the next 30-90 days?\u201d<\/p>\n
Ugh. Get away from me, Jack.<\/p>\n
Guess what? The world is sick and tired of salesy slicksters.<\/p>\n
Instead, you should be working on establishing a reputation as a Trusted Real Estate Expert, and conducting yourself like a professional.<\/p>\n
Have you ever met a family physician at a party, and all of a sudden, they\u2019re handing over their card and inviting you to come in for a check-up? You\u2019re trying to get away from them, and now they\u2019re following you around. \u201cYou know, I think I ought to take a look at that mole on your neck!\u201d \u200d\u2695\ufe0f<\/p>\n
No? This hasn\u2019t happened to you? Yeah, me neither. Because physicians are professionals.<\/p>\n
You should conduct yourself like one, too.<\/p>\n
This doesn\u2019t mean you shouldn\u2019t try to strike up conversations about Real Estate with people you don\u2019t know. You should!<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s more natural and far more effective to initiate a conversation about something else entirely, and let it come around more naturally to \u201cwhat you do.\u201d \u200d<\/p>\n
If you have a hard time striking up a conversation with people you don\u2019t know at a social gathering, try using the FORD method.<\/p>\n
FORD<\/strong> is an acronym for Family<\/strong> (Do you have any siblings?), Occupation<\/strong> (What do you do for a living?), Recreation<\/strong> (What do you like to do for fun?), and Dreams<\/strong> (Could you see yourself doing that professionally?).<\/p>\n Note: The \u201cDreams<\/strong>\u201d part of the acronym is NOT usually a conversation starter, but it\u2019s a topic that might be appropriate to use later, as you get deeper into a conversation.<\/p>\n \u201cAppropriate\u201d <\/strong>is the key word.\u00a0 For example, you wouldn\u2019t walk up to a stranger at a party and ask them, \u201cDo you have any siblings?\u201d<\/p>\n However, you might mention to a person that the crazy guy on the dance floor reminds you of your free-spirited (drunken?) brother, wait for a response, and then you might ask if they have any siblings.<\/p>\n Hey! You\u2019re having a conversation!<\/p>\n The FORD Method is a research-backed way to build rapport with people, by asking questions, and then really<\/em> listening to their answers. Next, you will comment on their responses and ask follow-up questions.<\/p>\n Being adept at small talk is an excellent skill to have to meet potential new clients. Showing interest in the other person will lead to more in-depth conversations, and the subject of \u201cwhat you do\u201d will come up very naturally.<\/p>\n Unless, of course, the other person is a complete narcissist and only wants to talk about themselves. If that\u2019s the case, move on.\u00a0 Those people are toxic. \u2620\ufe0f<\/p>\n Once you\u2019ve gotten started on a conversation, it will usually proceed quite naturally. It\u2019s the starting part that is hardest for most people, including myself. But, I\u2019ve found that if I push through that initial awkwardness, most people appreciate you striking up a conversation because they were probably feeling the same way!<\/p>\n Just remember \u201cThe FORD Method.\u201d After you\u2019ve practiced this skill for a while, you\u2019ll get good at it, and you\u2019ll be amazed at how quickly conversation starters come to mind.<\/p>\n This is a skill that takes practice, just like anything else. <\/strong><\/p>\n Next week, we\u2019ll talk further about how to have productive Real Estate conversations, the first important step in nurturing prospects to become clients.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As a professional REALTOR\u00ae, you should always be ready to discuss Real Estate. But, don\u2019t be a boor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":88,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-87","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-6-relationship-selling"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/agentskills2.dvsrvr.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/agentskills2.dvsrvr.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/agentskills2.dvsrvr.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agentskills2.dvsrvr.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agentskills2.dvsrvr.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=87"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/agentskills2.dvsrvr.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agentskills2.dvsrvr.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/88"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/agentskills2.dvsrvr.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=87"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agentskills2.dvsrvr.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=87"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/agentskills2.dvsrvr.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=87"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}