There’s no doubt that 2020 has been full of ups and downs for all of us. As the year comes to a close, this is the time to reconnect with your clients and follow up with them on their real estate investments. There’s gold in your database, you’ve got potential sellers to nurture so that you can list more homes.  

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So brush up on your follow-up skills and tune in to this episode. Bill is a master of communication and continues to keep up with market changes, technology, and smart communications to provide his clients with the knowledge they need.

We want to thank Bill and Jason for sharing their knowledge with us and the real estate community! It’s important for us now more than ever to band together and support one another through these uncertain times.

Here is a transcription of the entire discussion 

Kevin McCarthy:

All right. We're live here with the next Keeping It Real. Welcome back to all of our viewers and listeners and thanks for joining us. This episode is going to be awesome. We have as our guest today Bill Jenkins from Las Vegas, Nevada. Bill is a long time user of Real Geeks and he's been on the show before maybe a couple of times. And he is a master of scripts and dialogues and is frankly inspiring every time I hear some of his responses, just absolutely incredible. And he's also got a cool side business. I don't know if we'll get into it on his vacation rentals that he's doing in San Diego. It'd be cool to talk about how those fit in with his business in Vegas.

Kevin McCarthy:

Your co-host for today. I'm Kevin McCarthy, the co-founder and CEO of Real Geeks. And we have on today as my other co-host Jason Simard from Nanaimo in Canada. And he's been a Real Geeks customer for five years and he's been a successful coach for the last 16 months and helped out a lot of agents become successful. And he's on pace this year to do 450 deals, I just found out which my mind is still blown by that. So maybe we can talk about that a little bit too.

Kevin McCarthy:

This episode is called Mastering the Art of Prospecting and really what we're going to do is dig into some cool scripts. We're going to have a live role play session. A lot of you have sent in some of the common things you're hearing on the phone, some objections you're hearing. And I'd love to run those by Bill and Jason and hear how they answer. They might not answer the same way. It'd be cool to see how they differ and see where they agree. With that, I'll let Jason kick off from there.

Jason Simard:

First off, get your pen and paper out. There's going to be a lot of notes. This is going to be one that you're going to probably go back and watch multiple times and write down, what did he say? Bill's a master. I've taken notes many times from listening to Bill and I'm actually excited to kind of spit fire some stuff his way. But before we do that, Bill, maybe tell us a little bit about how long you've been in the business, where things are at in your production level right now and kind of where you guys are moving towards.

Bill Jenkins:

Right. Just to give you a real quick synopsis or a snapshot. I've been in business 16 years. I came from a music industry background. I was a professional musician for close to 30 years. I worked with tons of different stars, [Captain Otoneil 00:02:34], [Lindber 00:02:35], Humperdinck, Bill Cosby, Ann Margaret. I mean, all these people your parents probably know about, Jason, but you don't. But traveled all the world, had a great career. And then my wife, Fran, she's been a real estate agent for 26 years and she tried to talk me into about 10 and finally talked me into it. And then I talked to her to leaving New Home sales and leaving her cushy job, raising three kids on only a salary-based income. And it worked out pretty well.

Bill Jenkins:

So, did that. And then I was also a full-time coach for Mike Ferry for three years and also a full-time coach for Tom Ferry for about a year and a half. And between those two stands of coaching for Mike and Tom, I've completed close to about 10,000 coaching calls. So I've had a lot of conversations with agents and I understand the challenges that agents have. So hopefully, we'll be able to deliver some value for everybody out there.

Jason Simard:

Love it, Bill. Well, I got to meet you and friend last year at the Real Geeks conference. And I can't say enough great things, great people. And I'm just excited to be a student today and take a bunch of notes myself. So this is going to be really, really good. Bill, why don't we start off with this. Tell us where you've been generating your business. So if you were to break down kind of where your business' income is coming from right now, that would be really important for us to talk about.

Bill Jenkins:

Sure. And it's really shifted and changed, obviously. I'm sure it has for everyone. COVID has definitely been a factor. Literally when COVID hit strong turn March, our business literally shut down. I mean, it was like a light switch. So we had to adjust. And I know Jason and I have talked about this. We had to do a lot of things virtually and also put a lot of fears that rest with a lot of clients and everything, because there was a lot of uncertainty. They didn't know what they're going to do, but as far as lead sources from a few years ago where we were getting a lot of lead sources from expireds and FSBOs. A lot of our business is we just basically went back into our database and started reconnecting with our database. So I have to say about 80% of our business right now has been from a combination of our database and outside referrals from other agents.

Jason Simard:

When you say database, Bill, some people who are listening, they're like probably wondering what do you mean by database? What would you define? Because I've heard it's a little different for everybody. So what would you define as your database?

Bill Jenkins:

Great question. Yeah, that's kind of a broad answer, but specifically as far as database, there's two factors I look at. I look at sellers, which I'm primarily focused on, and also buyers. So it's split up between seller database and a buyer database. Primarily the bulk of my buyer database is from my Real Geeks site, which I've had since 2011. And I've got approximately just under 10,000 leads in that, of course, from having a site that long.

Bill Jenkins:

And then with my other database is from leads that I've generated from prospecting calls and also from seller valuation pages. So I've generated about 5 to 6,000 leads from those two sites. And then I use some tools where I stay in touch with them periodically. I still use a virtual assistant and I've used a virtual assistant since 2013. I lean on them pretty heavily as far as the VA, as far as keeping in touch with them, as far as the phone. And once they reach them via phone, then they're handed off to me. And at that point, then I take over and deepen the relationship and rapport building.

Kevin McCarthy:

Bill, how do you pick who to call in your database? So you've got this big database in your Real Geeks CRM you've had since 2011. How do you decide who you're going to call?

Bill Jenkins:

That's a great question. And what we do is that ... People that are familiar with Real Geeks on the backend, you can really, you can marginalize and categorize your leads by activity and also frequency of activity by favorites. And there's a lot of custom things that you can ... So what we do is we've created specific custom categories within the back office of the database. And the ones that are most active and other ones that are really active and reaching out and asking specific questions, those are the ones that we target first.

Bill Jenkins:

I mean, we like to target from what are the ones that are looking to do something 30 days from now. And the next are the ones are looking to doing 30 to 90 days from now. The next who is looking to do six months to a year from now. And all of them are given priority based on how soon they're actually going to be doing something.

Kevin McCarthy:

And how do you know how soon they're going to be doing something?

Bill Jenkins:

Because they let us know.

Kevin McCarthy:

They tell you.

Bill Jenkins:

Yeah. They tell us, which is a great thing about getting the notifications with the database. I'll get text notifications, my assistant, Maynard David, he gets notifications. So when you see somebody popping up and they're active on the site, boom, he gives them a call. And I've coached them or to make it as conversational as possible and also to make it seem like it's serendipitous, not like they're stalking them, but we noticed that you're on the site.

Bill Jenkins:

Now when you give them a call and say, "Hey, listen, my boss Bill wanted me to give you a call and just stay in touch and see how you're doing it. And if you had any questions or if you needed to be helped in any way with your search." And they say, "Well, no, not really. That's weird. We were just on the site." He says, "Oh, you're kidding. Wow. Well, I'm glad I caught you when I did." So we just make it conversational that way, but utilize the tools that when you're notified, when they are active, then to reach out to them, that's a great time to reach out to them.

Jason Simard:

Love it. Let's go back to some of the lead sources you talked about. You shifted from expireds and FSBOs because I guess there's been a lot less of those last few years.

Bill Jenkins:

Yes.

Jason Simard:

But I remember a FSBO script that you gave last year at the Real Geeks conference. And I think we need to kind of like brush that one back up, but basically, the objection was it was a FSBO and you were trying to earn their business while you were there. And I don't know if you remember talking about this on the panel last year on Real Geeks, but you talked about kind of you prioritized that with for sale by owners, most buyers are A, investors that are looking for a steal on-

Bill Jenkins:

I remember what that was. I called-

Jason Simard:

Can you go through that again?

Bill Jenkins:

Sure.

Jason Simard:

That was amazing.

Bill Jenkins:

Yeah, that was ... I called that the FISBO problem script because look, the reason there's ... You can probably boil it down to a couple of reasons why for sale by owner, it's going to sell them their own. Either they had a bad experience with an agent or they truly believe that they can do it on their own and think there's nothing to this. Obviously, we know that that's not the case. We know that 85 to 90% of them end up listing with an agent. If you let them brush you off with, "I can do this myself. I've done this before."

Bill Jenkins:

Most important thing is showing that you're the expert and showing them in a way where you're not insulting them that they're in over their head. By the way, this script is most done when it's in person. Say I'm in front of Mr. and Mrs. FISBO. The approach I take is this, Mr. And Mrs. FISBO, listen, I don't doubt that you could probably sell your home on your own, anybody can as long as they have the right circumstances and the right people in place. But what we found is that over the years, and we've been doing this for 26 years, is that there's really four different kinds of buyers that are out there in the market.

Bill Jenkins:

And the first type of buyer we've come across is a buyer that's highly motivated and they're highly qualified and they're looking to purchase something now. The second type of buyer that we've come across is one that's highly motivated and highly qualified, but they may have some good conditions in place. In other words, they might be waiting for a job transfer or they might be waiting for kids to get out of school before they relocate and move. The third type is what we call the investor or the speculator. And I'm sure you've come across some of those. Have you had any investors, given your calls recently?

Jason Simard:

Oh, yeah. Yeah. We've had a couple people just trying and they're just kind of tire kicking.

Bill Jenkins:

Right. Right. Have you had any offers from any of these investors or speculators?

Jason Simard:

No, we haven't.

Bill Jenkins:

No? Typically, yeah, because ... All right. That's interesting because usually most of them, the buyer of home, they are typically when you offer anything from 50 to 60% off of what market value would be. So if you do ever do get an offer, don't get shocked if that's going to be the price that they're going to ask you. Now, the fourth type is what we call the looky-loo or what you call the tire kicker. And they're really not interested in your home. They just like going into houses and doing something to kill an afternoon.

Bill Jenkins:

So when you think about those four types of buyers, the first buyer that's highly motivated and highly qualified may not be familiar with the area. Do you think they're driving around the car trying to find houses like yours? Or do they have an agent that's probably showing them homes?

Jason Simard:

Well, I would assume they probably have a combination of both. Maybe they have an agent that's showing them houses and maybe they're driving around too.

Bill Jenkins:

Yeah, fair enough. They could be driving around too, primarily to look for areas to see if they even like the area. But as far as for specific homes, typically, would you think that they would just be driving around, hoping that they find a for sale by owner sign? Or to be directed, to make the best use of their time?

Jason Simard:

I would say they're probably being directed.

Bill Jenkins:

That makes sense. Doesn't it?

Jason Simard:

Yeah. Yeah.

Bill Jenkins:

And a second type, that maybe have some conditions in place or maybe they're a first time home buyer and they need a little bit more handholding and they're a little bit nervous. Do you think they're probably driving around in a rental car and looking or do they have an agent helping them as well?

Jason Simard:

I would say they probably have an agent or somebody that they trust. Yeah.

Bill Jenkins:

Yeah, of course. And then the third type, like we already talked about, was the investor or speculator. Now, let me ask you this. There's two different types of buyers or sellers that are out there. There's some sellers that they, listen, I don't want to deal with a bunch of people traipsing through my home. I just want to get it sold. I don't care if I gave up 40, 50% of my equity. And then there's another group of sellers that they want to get the most money for their home possible. Of those two, which one are you, Mr. Seller?

Jason Simard:

Oh, we definitely want to get the most amount. We're not giving away our house.

Bill Jenkins:

Exactly. In other words, with an investor or speculator like that, that probably wouldn't even be a consideration, would it?

Jason Simard:

No.

Bill Jenkins:

Okay. And as far as the last one, looky-loo, quite frankly, who cares? Do we want them around?

Jason Simard:

No.

Bill Jenkins:

Of course not. So when you think about what you're doing, you're actually attracting the speculator, an investor that you really don't want. You don't want to use that as an option. And the looky-loos you don't want around a house. So can you see the two most viable of the factors buyers that are looking for your home probably don't even know your home is out there.

Jason Simard:

Good point. Yeah. I didn't even think of it that way. I just figured it's pretty easy. I mean, the agents don't do a lot. I mean, throw a sign up, put it on MLS. I got somebody to put it on the MLS for me and I got some professional photos and here we are.

Bill Jenkins:

You're absolutely right. In fact, unfortunately probably 85 to 90% of the agents do exactly that. They put a sign in the yard, they go back to the office, pour a cup of coffee and pray that something happens.

Jason Simard:

Right.

Bill Jenkins:

On the other hand, when you hire a powerful agent like myself, we're going to be doing a lot of other things that most agents don't do. And would you agree in this market, that you'd rather have somebody that's actually working for you rather than somebody that's just going to list your home and wait and potentially be missing an action and not even being able to get ahold of?

Jason Simard:

Yeah. I mean, yeah. I mean, I'd want a strong agent if we were going to list with one, for sure.

Bill Jenkins:

Terrific. When would you like to get started? Because I'd like to get your home on the market and get it sold as quickly as possible to get you moved. Doesn't that make sense?

Jason Simard:

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Bill Jenkins:

Okay.

Jason Simard:

I mean, it's hard to dispute because I know the value of a strong agent versus doing it for FSBO. Now, I love where you're going with that though, because you're basically identifying the four groups of buyers and you're helping them understand that really they're marketing to the bottom two, which are the ones they don't want anyways. Because the first two are likely working with a professional. And those are the buyers that are going to pay the market value, that they're more likely to be going after. So they're leaving a lot of money on the table and they don't even realize it.

Jason Simard:

I love how you help them work through that and see it with that script. I think that's brilliant. So if you guys didn't take notes, please go back and watch that because that'll help you guys a lot. If you're looking for some low lying fruit out there, there are still FSBOs popping up. There's still a lot of people that think they can do it themselves. And it's a great opportunity for you to go in and build rapport and trust. Bill, is there anything specific that you do to get yourself in the door with FSBOs initially?

Bill Jenkins:

Well, the first step is closing, closing for the appointment. And it's creating enough of interest or intrigue on the seller's part that it's going to be worth their while. So it's knowing how to close to get your foot in the door. I don't handle objections over the phone. I save the objection handling for when you're in person. Because you're eliminating a huge part of communication and rapport by not being able to use body language. It's not that it's impossible, but it's really tough to just do it with rate of speech and tonality and inflection and mirroring the matching above one's inflections. It's far easier to do when it's in person. And it also gives me the opportunity.

Bill Jenkins:

So it's asking specific questions. Listen, if I could spend just 15 or 20 minutes to show you what I do differently than other agents, would that be worth at least that amount of time?

Jason Simard:

Right.

Bill Jenkins:

And I still get some pushback. I said, "Listen, I know your time is valuable. And I respect that and trust that. And what I'll do is if I can't show you what my value is within 15 or 20 minutes, I personally give you permission to book me out. Fair enough?"

Jason Simard:

Okay. Yeah. I like that.

Kevin McCarthy:

Well, actually that leads into one of our questions that some of our viewers submitted as wanting to hear how you might answer their question. It actually came up a couple of times. So Drew said, "If you talk to somebody and they say 'I'm already working with another realtor.' " Or another related question that came up is, "What are you going to do differently than another realtor?" So I think it would be interesting to hear how you might respond to those questions.

Bill Jenkins:

Okay. And which one do you want me to address first, what would you do differently?

Kevin McCarthy:

Yeah.

Bill Jenkins:

Well, the first thing you need to do, anytime you're responding to an objection, an objection is simply an unanswered question in a mind of a buyer or seller. And I love objections because objections are telling me they're still interested. At the end of my pitch, if there's a stone silence, then I've failed. I haven't created any intrigued or any pushback, unless they're still in silence and they're signing the contract. Then I did my job masterfully. When they say, "Well, what are you going to do differently than other agents?"

Kevin McCarthy:

Yeah. Pretend it's a seller you're trying to get a listing or something.

Bill Jenkins:

Sure, exactly. Then I said, "you know what? That's a great question. In fact, it's probably one of my favorite questions I get asked all the time. And you're absolutely right. And let me ask you this, have you ever been in a situation where you've sold homes before and possibly had a bad experience with an agent?"

Jason Simard:

Yep.

Bill Jenkins:

Okay. And that's why you're asking that question. And that's a great question, what do you do differently? Listen, I would be gun shy too if I had a bad experience with an agent. And trust me, I have bad experiences with agents all the time when I'm in transactions. And it is what it is. It's the way that our industry is set up. So to answer your question, what I do differently than other agents is simply this, and what we alluded to earlier, is that most agents do this. You sign on the dotted line. While the ink is still wet, you're shaking hands. They're excited. They drive off and they go in the office and they pour a cup of coffee, put it in the MLS, and then you never hear from them again. What do you think the number one complaint sellers have with most real estate agents?

Jason Simard:

Lack of communication.

Bill Jenkins:

Absolutely. My agent left and I never heard back from him again. So one of the things that we offer for you, Mr. Seller, is we have actually a communication guarantee where we put our money where our mouth is. Once we establish what type form of communication you want, and typically I'll ask them, "Do you want phone, a text, email, or carrier pigeon?" And that usually gets that response. I get a little chuckle because it breaks the ice. You're adding some humor. All right.

Bill Jenkins:

So they'll say, "Well, listen ..." And then the next question I'll ask is, how frequently would you like the communication? They'll say, "Well, not, if you just ... Last agent never got ahold of us once they listed to the homes. If you just reach us once a week, that's ..." "Terrific." So what I'll do is I'll take control of that. I said, "So typically we like to follow up with our clients around Fridays, because we get a lot of activity during the week. Would Friday work for you and would afternoons or mornings work best for you?" "Well, afternoons." "Terrific. So let's say 1 o'clock, 2 o'clock?"

Bill Jenkins:

Do you see what I'm doing here? I'm doing an alternative close where I'm asking open-ended questions and alternative close questions, but I'm leading them to where I want them to go. So once you've established that I'm going to communicate with them, I'll give them a phone call every Tuesday at 2 o'clock. Then what I tell them is this, "And I promise you this, Mr. Seller, if we don't communicate with you and we missed one week where we don't talk to you, I'm going to pay you $200. And if we miss the next week, I'm going to pay $200. If we miss a third week in the course of the listing, I'll fire us. You won't have to. And the reason I'm telling you this is because I'm confident this is not going to happen. This is our communication guarantee. Did your other agent approach you with something like this before?"

Jason Simard:

No.

Bill Jenkins:

Apparently not. You never heard from him, right?

Jason Simard:

Right.

Bill Jenkins:

So that's just one of the things that we do, that's going to separate us and make us different than other agents. One of the other things too, is this, is we don't just put a sign in the yard and go back to the office, pour a cup of coffee and wait for something to happen. We actually work with our marketing and what we do is we start from your house and we work outward from your neighborhood. So what we do is we get a phone list of all of your neighbors and we actually call them. And I know for a fact, because I used to coach agents, that 99% of them won't do this. Do you know why that is?

Jason Simard:

Because they're afraid of rejection or?

Bill Jenkins:

Well, it's a dirty four-letter word. It's called work.

Jason Simard:

Okay. Yeah.

Bill Jenkins:

They simply won't do it. But what we do is then, when we start calling the neighbors, we'll give them a call up and say, "Hey, Mr. Seller, we actually just listed your neighbor's home over on Elm Street. And we don't know if you've got a family member, a friend or relative or a co-worker who may be interested in living in our neighborhood. What's the time I could say ..." We can't think of anybody offhand. What we say is, "Well, listen, if anybody like that does come to mind, would you please let us know so we can help your neighbor out because I'm sure you'd love to pick your neighbor."

Jason Simard:

Yep, definitely.

Bill Jenkins:

So let me ask you this, Mr. Seller, did your other agent mention that they are going to do any of that?

Jason Simard:

No.

Bill Jenkins:

All right. So let me ask you another question. Where do you think, when buyers are starting to search for their homes, where do you think the first thing they do when they start searching, where do you think they look?

Jason Simard:

I think they probably start on the internet.

Bill Jenkins:

They start on the internet. So wouldn't it make sense to have a massive internet presence? In other words, so massive that no stone is unturned so that your home is going to be overexposed?

Jason Simard:

Yeah, that sounds good to us. That's why we hire you. You're the expert.

Bill Jenkins:

Well, exactly, exactly. We are the expert and this is what we discovered because we've done this thousands of times that we know what it takes to actually market and sell homes. So what I've said with you so far, is there anything that I may have left out that another agent has sold you?

Jason Simard:

No, it sounds like you have a pretty comprehensive plan and you seem very confident Bill. And if you don't do what you say, well, we'll just fire you.

Bill Jenkins:

Pretty simple premise, isn't it? And that's, by the way, just what you asked for. I didn't everything that we're going to do, but for the sake of time, I wanted to truncate it for you.

Jason Simard:

Yeah, no, I appreciate it. It sounds like, you know what Bill, I'm willing to give you guys the business and if you do what you say you're going to do, then you're going to have a client for life here.

Bill Jenkins:

Perfect. I'm in the role play right here, and when they ask you, what are you going to do differently than other agents, you better have an answer.

Jason Simard:

Yeah, you should, you should. And I like what you're doing there, is you're basically articulating your value and talking about the things that you're doing differently. I think too many times agents forget to talk about what they do for their clients. For example, one of the things that we always coach in our process with listings is have communication with your seller every single week, have written communication and a phone call. Even if you didn't have any showings for that week, you better be calling them and telling them exactly what you did that week proactively, give them some market update, make sure that they're getting information, but don't shy away from communication. It's the number one problem.

Jason Simard:

Because what happens, Bill, and I think you'll probably agree with this, is they start building a story, the clients do, of what's not happening. And then they start talking to their friends and family, venting. And then next thing they're like, "You know what, Bill, this isn't working out." And they want to fire you. But if you're keeping them in the loop about what's going on all the time and you're communicating and you have a plan for everything, then they know what you're doing and they can feel much better about it. And then really, it's not us versus their client. It's us and the client against the market. And then it's just about interpreting the information that we're getting on a weekly basis.

Bill Jenkins:

Exactly. And if you already know that that's the number one complaint, why would you not address it consistently? And it's a simple thing to do.

Kevin McCarthy:

The Real Geek in me here feels required to bring up the fact that in the Real Geeks CRM we have a pretty cool feature called the buyer list. And the way that works is if you're trying to get a seller, you can bring up this list and then you do a search on there and say, "Show me everyone who's in my database, who's done a search in ..." And then you can put a particular neighborhood. It'll bring up a list of everyone in your CRM, show when they were on the site, show when they were last active. But it hides all their contact info so you're not giving that out. And you can just show them a PDF of that or something and say, "Hey, check it out. I had 20 people on my website today looking in your neighborhood. Does your other realtor have that?"

Bill Jenkins:

That's a great idea.

Jason Simard:

That's great. You should a little video on that, Kevin, on Real Geeks on how to do that and post it in the mastermind because you're probably going to get 100 people that are going to ask you about that now.

Kevin McCarthy:

Yeah. Yeah. I signed myself up for that, but you're right, Jason. I'll do that.

Jason Simard:

That's a great value because Bill could say then, "Look, right now, so besides exposing your home everywhere and making sure all the most motivated buyers and realtors out there are excited about your property, I also have a list of people that I'm going to be proactively reaching out to and there's a list of 250 right now or 50 clients right now that I've identified that are looking for a home just like yours in this area, in this price category that we're going to be actively reaching out to." That's making things happen. I call that being an active agent versus a passive agent.

Jason Simard:

90% of agents are passive. They just put a sign in the yard and kind of hope that the market just takes care of itself. And then the active agents like myself or Bill that are making things happen, that have systems, that are doing additional marketing strategies. And we're doing old school things like connecting with people on a regular basis. Still works 20/20.

Bill Jenkins:

It's so simple.

Jason Simard:

It is simple. We've got some more objections for you, Bill, that we want to throw your way. So we've kind of talked about seller ones. Here's a good one. A lot of people right now, this is a really good one, are saying, "You know what, Bill, we want to wait until spring to put our house on the market." I love this one. So I'm curious, because I'm going to take some notes on how you respond to it and then I'm happy to share my thoughts on it too. So, "Bill, we just think we're going to wait until spring. We think the property is going to show a little bit better and I think probably it is a better time for us."

Bill Jenkins:

Okay. I completely understand. And listen, I hear that a lot from folks. And let me ask you this, is it partially also because during the holidays you don't want to be bothered with people traipsing through your home?

Jason Simard:

Yeah. Yeah. I think that's just an inconvenience too.

Bill Jenkins:

Listen, I completely understand. And you're not the first person, by the way, that has told me their concern. And, can I share something with you though that I've found that might be advantageous for you?

Jason Simard:

Sure.

Bill Jenkins:

And this is what we found. What we found is that during the holidays, you're right, activity does slow down, but there's two things that change. One of the things is that, what we've noticed, is we don't see as much looky-loos, because they're actually busy shopping for their family and everything. But what we do find is that buyers that are out there during the holidays, they're serious buyers. Because when you think about it, if somebody is actively looking for homes during the holidays, they're not doing it on a lark.

Bill Jenkins:

Number two is that what we've noticed is that there's a lot less listings because there's a lot of folks like you are thinking, "Well, I'm just going to wait until the spring to put my home on the market." So let me ask you this. Would it be more advantageous for you to put your home on the market when you have less competition, in other words, less sellers competing with you and you've got more motivated buyers, selective buyers that are actually looking on the market.

Jason Simard:

That's a good point. We didn't think of it that way. It makes sense.

Bill Jenkins:

Another thing that might be a disadvantage for you is if you, along with everybody else, thinking in the same terms, if everybody else is waiting until the spring and you're kind of dog piling your listing on with all the other listings, are you going to have more competition or less competition?

Jason Simard:

Well, more competition.

Bill Jenkins:

Right. And wouldn't it make sense to have less competition with more of a motivated buyer versus just being just another home that's out there in the pack?

Jason Simard:

Yeah, no, for sure.

Bill Jenkins:

And I promise you this, look at your home when we position it correctly, because what we're going to do is we're going to consult you on exactly what you need to do. And I promise you, when you follow our advice and we position it correctly, not only with staging, the hot links and also positioning it as far as price for the market to get activity, we'll get your home under contract, and this is a very, very active market right now for sellers, we'll get your home under contract within a week or two, then you don't have to show it anymore during the holidays.

Jason Simard:

Right.

Bill Jenkins:

Would that be a little less stressful for you and your family so you can enjoy the holidays and also get your home sold?

Jason Simard:

Yeah, right. Yeah. I think that would be.

Bill Jenkins:

Perfect. When would you like to get started? I vote now.

Jason Simard:

Yeah. Yeah, sounds good. I like it.

Bill Jenkins:

All right. So how would you do it?

Jason Simard:

Yeah. So you play the role of the client and you can just-

Bill Jenkins:

Well, listen, Jason, everything you said sounds great and everything, but we, I don't know, we just want to wait until the spring.

Jason Simard:

Yeah, you know what, thank you for saying that, Bill. I really appreciate it. A lot of clients that I'm talking to right now are kind of saying the same thing. So can I ask you, Bill, what is it about spring that you think would be better for you?

Bill Jenkins:

Well, I don't know. Obviously, Thanksgiving is coming up and then Christmas is coming up and I don't know if I want a bunch of people traipsing through my house. I think there's more buyers in the spring.

Jason Simard:

Okay. Good point. So some of your concerns, just so I'm making sure I understand, was the fact that the holidays are coming up, you want to have less people trickling through the doors, you don't want that inconvenience. You feel as you need more buyers looking in the spring time. So you feel like that may allow you to sell it for more money. Is that what I'm hearing?

Bill Jenkins:

Yeah, that's what we think. I don't know if we're right or not, but that seems logical.

Jason Simard:

Yeah, for sure. Do you mind if I give you just a different perspective?

Bill Jenkins:

Sure.

Jason Simard:

Just so you can kind of at least know your options. And either way, just so you know, I'm excited to help you, whether it's now or spring or whenever you're ready. I just want to make sure you're getting the right information first. Right now we have record low inventories, Bill. We're in what we call a sellers market at the moment. So because there's very little inventory, we may have less buyers currently, but the buyers that we have in the marketplace right now are the most motivated buyers we've ever seen. These buyers are looking to buy right now.

Jason Simard:

And we also know that there is some volatility on the horizon. We still have a pandemic that's not under control. And there's other factors that, with the economy and everything else, that I can't predict for the springtime. One thing I can tell you, though, right now is an amazing time to sell if you want to net more money in your pocket. So if there was nothing that was preventing you from selling now and it was just more of the inconvenience, because we can overcome that quite easily by creating a showing schedule, making sure that we have the home on the market during times that you're not going to have family and friends over. And we really restricted that, but we could actually net more money in your pocket right now, potentially, Bill, by selling it.

Jason Simard:

Because in springtime you're going to see a flood of inventory to the market. So you're going to want to be a buyer in the springtime because you'll have more options to choose from. But what happens for sellers when buyers have a lot of options is they become a lot pickier and it becomes a lot harder for us to get the leverage that we need to sell for that highest price. So my advice to you, Bill, is if there's nothing stopping you and it's just more of an inconvenience, we can work around that, I think we should consider making a move and listing it now while I can look you in the eye and say, "Look, with certainty I'm confident that the market will bring results right now." What do you think about that?

Bill Jenkins:

How can I say no to that? I love how you did that. I love how you ... Because you made it like right now is the best time to sell. And in the spring is the best time to buy. And you're not lying. It is reality because there is a seasonality to that logic and that statement. That's great.

Jason Simard:

And the reason I asked, like you, I like to acknowledge where they're coming from. Hey, it's a valid concern. I totally get it. Can I ask you, what is it about springtime that makes more sense for you? I need to know that. I don't want to try and guide them to that. I want them to tell me their reasons so that I can actually acknowledge the true objection. And really, in this case it's because they think they're going to net more money selling it in the springtime, they're concerned about some inconveniences. But I think that's a secondary thing because at the end of the day, Bill, if it was about money, if you knew that selling now, you could net more money in your pocket than waiting to springtime, would that potentially alter your plans?

Bill Jenkins:

Every time.

Jason Simard:

And well, yeah, like for us, it really is about more money. Now, if they're like, look, we have some ... My wife's in the hospital right now, we're dealing with a lot of stuff. Then I'm going to pull back in that case and I'm just going to nurture the relationship and be helpful. But I have to understand why. Is it an objection or is it a condition?

Bill Jenkins:

Exactly.

Jason Simard:

Most things are an objection, but some things are a condition. So you don't want to push without really understanding first. So it's just about exactly like you, an advisory approach where you kind of help work them through it. And it works exceptionally well. And wintertime, believe it or not as a great time to sell a property because of the fact that there's not a lot of competition. And the buyers that are out there, they're not wasting your time right now. Especially if you're in a Canadian climate where some of us are ... We'll have rain, but other parts of the country we'll have snow. Nobody's out looking at houses for fun during the winter time. Buyers that are looking have reasons to and they're motivated. And as a seller, we can take advantage of that.

Bill Jenkins:

Yeah. And just to piggyback on what you said, just to be clear. Because I think sometimes if you try to plow over a condition, then you're going to lose rapport with the person, because then it's going to appear like your needs outweigh what their needs are. An objection is simply an unanswered question in the mind of a buyer or a seller. A condition is something you can do nothing about.

Jason Simard:

Yep. I heard from Greg Nelson once he said, "An objection is just ... It means yes is possible."

Bill Jenkins:

Yes.

Jason Simard:

An objection just means yes is possible. If yes is possible, it's an objection. And I'm like-

Bill Jenkins:

That's right. Yeah. An objection is simply ... I think I like what you're saying so far, but give me a more of a compelling reason to why I should say yes.

Jason Simard:

Yes.

Kevin McCarthy:

I noticed both of you guys start out the same way. So let me preface on that. I'm not an expert in this in any way. So as an amateur analyzing the way you guys respond to these is you both start out with really validating their concern. So you don't jump straight in with why they're wrong. You go, "Oh, I can totally understand how you feel that way." And just sort of say, "I hear other people say that too." And then the person's kind of going, "Oh, okay, well they're listening to me." You don't just start as straight, "Well, you're wrong because it's the best time to sell." Which I think could be natural for a lot of people with the driver personality, the one that gets straight to their point.

Bill Jenkins:

Yeah. You're absolutely right and it is very astute on your part. There's four steps and Jason knows this. I mean, for handling objections. The first thing is you approve, you agree with them. Because when you're agreeing with somebody, can they argue with you? No.

Kevin McCarthy:

No. Because you're on their side all of a sudden.

Bill Jenkins:

Yeah.

Kevin McCarthy:

It's like they're going to slam a door that they think is locked and it just opens right open.

Jason Simard:

You call it agree. I call it acknowledge. It's the same thing. Really, at the end of the day, it's acknowledging what they're saying.

Bill Jenkins:

Right. Approving. Yeah.

Jason Simard:

Approving what they're saying, acknowledging. Yeah, it's the same thing. Yeah, I agree.

Bill Jenkins:

Yeah. And like you were saying before, which you masterfully did, is isolating what the objection is.

Jason Simard:

Yep. I call that exploring. I need to understand, so I'll ask a good question to understand it. What would you do? You did it slightly different, but you did the same thing. You kind of asked the question. In your process, what does that ... Because for me, it's acknowledge, explore. Those are the first two steps. I will not make a recommendation until I've explored it and understood the objection or the client's need first. That's like a really big thing with us.

Bill Jenkins:

Exactly. When you want to find out ... Well, first of all, if you're trying to handle the objection, you don't know what is behind the objection, then you're throwing darts blindfolded. So you have to isolate and understand, what's the question behind a question? What's the pushback response and what they're saying? Finding them so isolated. Then the next step is, step three, really is handling the objection in the form of a question and just handling it in the form of a logical question.

Bill Jenkins:

Then the fourth step is either closing by using the tie down or another opening question that leads to a logical result. And that's really the four steps when you're responding to objections. Objections shouldn't be this big, scary thing. I mean, I've said this many, many times. The buyers and sellers out there, they've got their scripts down, but the good news for us is that they don't have a secret mastermind where they get together and come up with different things to say every month.

Jason Simard:

That's true. It's true.

Bill Jenkins:

It's the same stuff over and over again. So if you isolate once you're hearing over and over and over again and just use those four steps for handling the objections and just come up with some logical questions to ask, don't ever be fearful of it again. And what happens when you start doing that is that like the way Jason handles it, the way I handle it, your confidence is going to increase. And interesting thing will happen. And Jason, I'm sure you'll agree on this, is that the more you're competent, you're handling any objection that comes your way, the less objections you get.

Bill Jenkins:

Because we're the ones that actually, that create the objections. It's not the buyers and sellers. We're the ones that actually created a mess. That's the part that a lot of agents don't get. I'm not getting all these objections while you're creating them, but your tonality, you're creating them with what you're saying. You're creating them by not asking questions. You're creating them by being the statement shrink. So be more inquisitive, be more compassionate and just be a human being. Just pretend like you're approaching somebody the way you would want to be approached in a sales situation.

Jason Simard:

Yeah. I think there's certain misconceptions with the types of sales that we do in real estate and other types of sales, because there's always that always be closing, those old school movies that you're taught. But the problem with real estate, it's a huge transaction. It's not something that I can afford to make a mistake on. So if you're going to try and put pressure or try and sell, you're actually going to do the opposite effect. You're going to get a lot more pushback.

Jason Simard:

So the biggest thing with real estate is stop trying to sell and be so outcome-driven and really just seek to understand your client and what they're saying and where they're coming from so that you can help them work through the obstacles that they have in their mind. Because that's usually what it is, isn't it? It's the same stuff that we hear. You could put it on repeat, but they're just obstacles that they have in their mind. And a good advisor just helps remove those obstacles. And that's exactly what you and I both did.

Jason Simard:

We both have a four-step process. The wording on it might be slightly different, but it's the same thing. We both have a lot of comments. There's not a single conversation that we're not going to be comfortable having. And in fact, I'll always bring it, I call the elephant in the room. If there's a concern, I'm going to put it out on the table and then make sure that we work through it. Because when it comes to real estate, you can't sweep anything under the rug.

Bill Jenkins:

No.

Jason Simard:

If you're thinking about it, they've been thinking about it for twice as long. Just deal with it. You can't sweep it under ... It's like a fight with your spouse. If my wife and I get in a disagreement, I'm going to have to deal with it, whether it's today, two days from now, I can't just sweep it under the rug and hope that we're never going to have to deal with it because we will. Selling real estate is the same way. So I think too many agents are too quick to try and rush out of there, get the paperwork and then leave. And it's just like, all those objections are going to be there and they're going to be festering with your clients.

Jason Simard:

Put them out on the table, be confident to kind of move through those obstacles with them. So that at the end you can check in for satisfaction and say, "Hey Bill, how are we doing? How are you feeling? Do you feel better now?" Because if they're not excited about the process, they might sign, but I can promise you they're going to have remorse later and then it's just going to fall apart in your face. So any thoughts on that?

Bill Jenkins:

Well, the thoughts I have are just basically don't overpromise and underdeliver. Underpromise and overdeliver. And what I mean by that is that if you're ... I gave you just a little hint of some of the things that I say that I'm going to do. And it's not lip service. Those are the things that I actually do. So if you're promising those things, deliver on those promises. And I guarantee you this. You and I know that the majority of the agents out there, and be honest, if you get a listing, just put it in the MLS and you wait for somebody else to do the heavy lifting and wait for something to happen.

Bill Jenkins:

And it's very easy to do in this market. And the danger of that is in a sellers market it doesn't mean you're a genius. It means the market's doing the heavy lifting for you. And at some point, when that market shifts and it will, because I've been through several of these, when it turns more into a buyer's market, then you're going to have to dust off some dialogues or learn some new dialogues that you haven't learned before. So rather than having to do that, be reactive, be proactive.

Jason Simard:

Love it. let's go through some more objections here, because there's quite a few people that, that took the time to send us some objections. And I want to hear your thoughts on some of these. We talked about waiting until spring. How do you deal with this? So internet lead, this is a common one. A lot of our clients, would you agree, or your clients, Kevin, are using Google AdWords, Facebook leads, Bing AdWords. So let's just say somebody is registered on the Real Geeks website and they just say, "Oh, you know what? I'm just looking when you contact them." How would you handle that?

Bill Jenkins:

Yeah, we get that a lot.

Jason Simard:

A lot.

Bill Jenkins:

Or, "I'm just browsing." Yep. I got a ton of that. I mean, the first thing I say, obviously, is, "Listen, I understand. And listen, I'm glad you chose to browse or look here and I appreciate that. And I just want to make this as painless for you as possible because the last thing you want is somebody trying to sell you something. That's why you're just browsing." And I get that too. It's like when I go into a department store and a salesman walks up to me and asks me, "Can I help you?" What's the first thing I say, "I'm just lucky." And then I end up walking out of the store with three shirts, two pairs of pants, but with somebody else that wasn't a salesman.

Bill Jenkins:

So rather than me not being that salesman that asks the wrong questions, what I want to ask you is if I could ask you just a couple of quick questions and make this very easy on you, would that be helpful and does that make sense?

Jason Simard:

Sure.

Bill Jenkins:

And at that point, then I asked them some questions. But now I've gotten permission to do that, to get past the I'm just browsing and just looking.

Kevin McCarthy:

And a little story you tell, every single person on the planet can relate to about the department store.

Bill Jenkins:

We all do it.

Kevin McCarthy:

That gets them on your side a little bit, though. Oh yeah, me.

Bill Jenkins:

People like people like themselves or people like people that can relate to things that they do. And this comment, it doesn't mean though I'm being brushed off. And that's the part about it. So, well, I'm just browsing. And oh my God, why can't I get a lead? That's not real lead. Well, we are a real lead. You're just not asking the right question.

Jason Simard:

You have to understand how that works. So again, I walk into a store. If Bill approaches me, I could have Kevin and Bill both working in the same department store. Bill approaches me and he says, "Oh, can I help you with anything?" I'm like, "No, no, I'm just looking." Kevin approaches me and he says, "Hey, thanks so much for coming in. What brought you into the store today?" Well, I feel like I need to respond now. So with Bill, I can brush you off quite easy because your first question is terrible.

Bill Jenkins:

Yeah. Right.

Jason Simard:

It is, in this role-play, I'm just like, "Look, I'm just looking." Even though I know that I'm there for a reason, I would never walk into a store without a purpose, being a guy. I mean, I just don't. I'm sure there's lots of people that do, but I wouldn't. But Kevin, your question was a lot more engaging, "Hey, welcome to the store. I'm curious, what brought you in today?"

Kevin McCarthy:

Yeah. Because I can't think of an easy way out of that. I can't just say, ah ... I got to come up with something.

Jason Simard:

I've invited you to open up a little bit. And you may hesitate, but you're like, "Well, I was just kind of coming into browsing at some jeans." But you're going to come up with something that's not a canned yes or no type response. And I think that's really important to know. So it's the same thing with internet leads. That first question is really important. And regardless of what they hit you with, you need to be prepared to continue to move the dialogue forward.

Jason Simard:

I would just say, "Hey, thanks so much for ch for checking out the website. I really appreciate it. I love getting people early in the process because this is a great time to make sure at least you're getting the information that is relevant to you. So can I ask you what sort of prompted you to kind of browse around for properties today?" And then just let them answer.

Jason Simard:

Too many times we're trying to get them to say yes or no and we're not comfortable with open-ended questions. And you should be. They're like the most powerful questions you can ask in any consultation, any ... If you want to build a rapport with somebody, ask them a good opening question and then genuinely listened to what they say. So that would be how I would approach that. Really simple. And have some tonality, have some enthusiasm in your voice. Bill, wouldn't you agree that's hugely important-

Bill Jenkins:

Absolutely.

Jason Simard:

... when you're talking to phone. They can't see you. So they can only feel the energy that you come through with.

Bill Jenkins:

Being thankful that they're on their side. Hey, thanks so much for choosing my side. I really appreciate your browsing on my site.

Jason Simard:

Yeah. Well, what is it that prompted you to kind of start looking and exploring today? What is it that you, if you were to do something, what would you be doing? Get them to talk about something else, but don't get discouraged because they said, "Oh, I'm just looking." Oh, my God. They said, "I'm just looking." Oh my God. It's like, it's okay. It happens to all of us. The difference is some of us have prefaces to overcome it.

Bill Jenkins:

Yeah. Or identify it as just another bad lead or a play.

Jason Simard:

Exactly. Because trust me, those same bad leads, Bill and I have made a fortune on them and are still making fortune on them. So they're not bad leads. I think you have to be able to point the finger at yourself and take accountability. Maybe you need a little extra coaching and mentoring. And that's why we put these out for, is to bring value.

Bill Jenkins:

Exactly. Listen, not to be disparaging to anybody, but if you know what to say, you can make money with the wrong number.

Jason Simard:

That's true. That's true. We've converted Mickey Mouse. We've converted FU a few times. So absolutely. It's about having a process.

Bill Jenkins:

That's right.

Jason Simard:

Let's see. What are some of the other objections, Kevin, that came through?

Kevin McCarthy:

We've had more coming into our form still as we're doing this show and people in the chat. And a big one. There's Paul here in the chat says, "Hey, I haven't heard the big objection yet, which is commission." And somebody's putting in the form, "First question I received talking on the phone to a possible seller is, what is your commission? So they're going to start right out with that." I mean, if it was me, I would have no idea where to go, but that's why I'm not an agent.

Jason Simard:

That's why you build great tech and we appreciate you for that.

Kevin McCarthy:

Thank you. Thank you.

Bill Jenkins:

Yes. Thank you. That's why you keep us organized.

Jason Simard:

Bill, what's your commission?

Bill Jenkins:

Well, that's a great question. And first of all, let's back up a little bit. Is this objection response when you're on the phone or when you're in person?

Jason Simard:

Let's say it's on the phone. Let's just go with the phone.

Bill Jenkins:

Let's say it's on a phone. All right. What's my question? You know, that's a great question. And it's one of the first things we would address or gate, but typically what I'll do is I'm going to break down for you exactly what we do and why we get paid what we get paid. Does that make sense?

Jason Simard:

Okay. Yep.

Bill Jenkins:

I'm going to defer it and I'm going to wait until I meet with the person. Now, if they keep, "Well, listen, it's important. I want to know. It's important." I'd say, "Well, listen, our commission is this. Our commission is 3%."

Jason Simard:

Okay.

Bill Jenkins:

And then I'd just shut up a wait for, "Okay, is there anything more than that or?"

Jason Simard:

So it's just 3%?

Bill Jenkins:

Yes. My commission is 3%.

Jason Simard:

Okay.

Bill Jenkins:

Now, what I suggest-

Jason Simard:

I wouldn't even know, like where do we go with that?

Bill Jenkins:

Well, I don't know. Typically if they say, "Well, that's too high." Then at that point, then I would have to go deep on the phone, but let's for the sake of arguing, let's pretend that we're addressing this first. But typically what I would do is I try to defer it before the appointment. Now, we're in front of the seller, already gave my pitch and everything, showed what our value is. And they said, "Well, what's your commission?" And this is what I tell them. I said, "Well, my commission is 3%. What I would suggest you doing in this market, you could actually, probably, we'd probably get away with you doing 2.5 or I would suggest doing 3% on your side from the buyer's side. But as far as what I charge, my fee is 3%."

Bill Jenkins:

Well, Joe Blowdunder said he could do it for like 1%. I said, "Well, I could appreciate that. And can I share a concern I have with you for somebody that's offering to try to sell your home for 1%?"

Jason Simard:

Yeah, please.

Bill Jenkins:

Well, if this person is negotiating against their own money, in other words, the money that they use to feed, house and clothe their family and are willing to give up their own money like that. When it comes time to negotiate the best possible price for your home, what type of negotiator do you think you need for you? And is that the kind of negotiator you want on your side? Or do you want a strong negotiator like myself?

Bill Jenkins:

Or let me put it another way. About 3%, that I'm charging, 1% of that actually goes to our admin and everything that's going to stay in touch with you and also help me do all the marketing we have to place. The other 1% is going to be actual fees that we spent on the 1%, on the 1% towards marketing, because as I explained to you, we put them in 250 websites, we're hitting it with a TV. We're also hitting it with postcards. You're also paying for admin that's making the phone calls to make sure that we're staying in touch with you, but there's a cost to that. Then a 1% that's left, that's what I actually use to house, feed and clothe my family. And of that, the government gets about 25% of that, so I only get about 0.75 of the 3%.

Bill Jenkins:

So if an agent is saying that they're going to list your home for 1% and they've got a family, what do you think is going to be when it comes time to market your property properly?

Jason Simard:

Well, they said they do professional photos and do a lot of the same stuff. So I don't know.

Bill Jenkins:

They do a lot of the same. How do you think they're able to do the same stuff if they're only charging you 1% when we know the actual cost of this is actually going to far more?

Jason Simard:

Yeah, that's a good point. I'm not really sure. And can I ask you Bill, like outside this role-play, how often do you actually have commission become an objection when you follow your process? Be honest.

Bill Jenkins:

Never. It never comes back.

Jason Simard:

I find the same thing, Out of 100 listing appointments that I would go on. And I mean this, honestly, I'd be shocked if I had more than one or two people out of those 100 that commission would be an issue. Everything we're doing from the minute we have the very first conversation when we're meeting with them, we're building up our value and we're spending more time connecting and creating a plan to outperform the market. And everything that we talk about, the value and everything else, I mean, it's just not something that comes up regularly for me.

Jason Simard:

For anybody listening, if you're getting a lot of objections because of rate, remember this, in the absence of value, price becomes the biggest determining factor. So you're probably not building your value enough in their eyes. So what I would suggest you do is get a coach like Bill or myself or somebody to kind of help you dissect your process and rebuild it. Because we can probably move you in a direction where you're going to be able to handle that and actually take that off the table. I don't know.

Jason Simard:

Because it's really not an objection that we face a lot. And if it comes up, I say, "You know what?" This is what I would say. I'd say, "Bill, thanks for bringing that up. I actually love the fact that you're already testing my negotiation skills and I think that's a really important part of this interview process, is how I respond to this question. So thank you for bringing it up. Just like I'm standing up for myself right now, I'm going to do the exact same thing when it comes to negotiating the equity of your home. You have to understand there's hundreds of agents right now that will take this listing at a discount, but those same agents will give up tens and thousands of dollars when it comes to your equity position on your home.

Jason Simard:

And I hope that the reason I'm here today and I've articulated to you that I'm going to help you outperform the market and that more money in your pocket, because I'm strong at my negotiation skills. And I really, again, I really appreciate the fact that you're testing me on that. So thank you." That's how I would handle it. It's true. I mean, would you hire ... If you were hiring a lawyer, would your very first question be their price or would your question be their value if your life depended on it and this was like-

Bill Jenkins:

Or a doctor.

Jason Simard:

Yeah.

Bill Jenkins:

You're looking for the cheapest doctor and you've got a serious procedure.

Jason Simard:

Price would not be my first question.

Bill Jenkins:

The reason that that comes up twice is exactly what you said, is because number one, you didn't impart value. And number two, their relative gave them questions to ask and they think they're supposed to ask that.

Jason Simard:

Yeah. Yeah, exactly. And they don't, honestly, they're just asking. They're just seeing what they can get away with. Truthfully, nine out of 10 times they're testing your negotiation skills.

Bill Jenkins:

That's right.

Jason Simard:

And if you fail right then and there, you just cost yourself money and you didn't need to because they were probably going to hire you anyways. But I was just, I have a good laugh about it and I just say, "Hey, thanks for ...I really appreciate you bringing that up. I love you're already testing my negotiation skills."

Jason Simard:

And then handle it, explain my value again and then say, "Look, there's hundreds of people that you could hire right now that would do it for less. But that doesn't mean you're going to net more money in your pocket. Because those same people are going to fail on this negotiation piece. So when I'm having conversations with agents on the other sides that are trained professionals, guess what? I'm going to be standing up for your equity. I'm going to be making sure we're getting you more money in your pocket. So that's why you want to hire me. I have a plan for every step of this process. And I want to make sure that again, together, we outperform the market."

Bill Jenkins:

Which by the way, it kind of ties into when you're talking about net, ties into when you're taking a lesson and you start discussing price. Instead of getting locked into what's the price going to be, focus on the net.

Jason Simard:

Yeah. I like that, the net sheet.

Bill Jenkins:

Always. I have it on an app on my phone. So I'll go through it. I find out how much they owe. I plan it out. We go to the market. What a price of marketing if going to be. Where I, in my confidence, where I feel that it would sell. And then I just turn it around. I show them that. I said, "Listen, Mr. Seller, if you can have this check in your pocket, U-Haul's packed. Kids are in the car. You guys are ready to go and you got the check in your back pocket to this amount, would you be okay with that?" "Yeah." Okay. Right. We don't have to talk about price anymore.

Jason Simard:

Bill, what app do you use for that?

Bill Jenkins:

It's actually through ... Here.

Jason Simard:

Everyone's going to want to know.

Bill Jenkins:

Yeah. It's actually through my title company that I use.

Jason Simard:

Okay.

Bill Jenkins:

Bear with me one second. Here I'll find it.

Jason Simard:

That's fine. We can send it out after if you don't have it.

Kevin McCarthy:

We can send it in the chat after, Bill, if you want.

Jason Simard:

Yeah. We'll put it in after.

Bill Jenkins:

All right.

Jason Simard:

There's another objection. This one, some people get tripped up on pretty easily. And maybe one that we trip up on a little bit, but let's throw it out there anyways. We're talking to a lead and they say, "You know what? I already have a realtor." That's a common one you're going to get to. You're going to see that open houses. You're going to see that on the phones. And I think some people really struggle with that one. So Bill, how would you handle that one?

Bill Jenkins:

Well, I mean, the first thing I'd say, I'd say, "I completely understand you. And listen, the last thing I want to do is step on anybody's toes, when you're working with somebody, but there's a reason why you and I are talking right now. And let me ask you this question. If you're shopping for a car or something that's really, really important, do you just go to the first car line, you show up that and you just buy a car there or do you shop around, see if you can get the best possible price?"

Jason Simard:

Yeah, well, yeah, I normally shop around, to be honest.

Bill Jenkins:

Right. And listen, and this agent could be very well be a great agent. My only concern is this is that I don't know how well you know this agent. I mean, is this a close friend of yours or somebody that you've found on the internet?

Jason Simard:

A friend at work had recommended them.

Bill Jenkins:

A friend at work recommended. Okay. And do you know anything about the agent as far as what their track record is, as far as what they've sold? Any kind of history on this agent?

Jason Simard:

Just that they had dealt with my friend, my co-worker, and he said that this person did a really good job.

Bill Jenkins:

Okay. Terrific. So it sounds like he may very well be a good agent, but would it makes sense to at least, to make sure you have made the right decision, at least spend at least 15, 20 minutes so I can share with you what I do? And I promise you this, at the end of it, after I give you enough information to help you make an informed decision, if you decide to stay with your other agent, we'll shake hands and part ways. But would you at least want to know if there might be a better way? Does that make sense?

Jason Simard:

Yeah. Yeah. No, that makes sense.

Bill Jenkins:

All right, terrific. So what would be a good time for us to get together? I've got some time later this afternoon or would tomorrow be better?

Jason Simard:

Perfect. No, that's good, Bill. I like how you handled that. I'll take a run at it too. So hit me with that objection to see how I would do it.

Bill Jenkins:

Well, I've already got an agent. I'm pretty happy with them right now.

Jason Simard:

You know what, Bill, thank you for mentioning that. I'm glad that you're happy with the agent. Do you mind if I ask, what is it about the agent, like what they're doing for you right now to proactively find properties during a challenging market for buyers?

Bill Jenkins:

Well, we're kind of early in the process. I mean, we haven't really seen anything yet, but I mean, he was highly recommended from a guy at work.

Jason Simard:

Okay. So this person came highly recommended. Great. Is there anything that they're doing, though, to go above and beyond right now that leads you to believe that they've given you a great service other than the fact that you've had a nice pleasant conversation so far with them?

Bill Jenkins:

No, not as of yet. I mean, he's been sending me some properties, but nothing as of yet.

Jason Simard:

Nothing as of yet. Okay, perfect. Well, one of the things that I always recommend, Bill, and I actually recommend this to our own clients is interview two to three agents before you make a hiring decision. Because the truth is we're not all the same. Everybody has a different skill level. Some agents are much more proactive and more hands-on. Some are very passive and hands off. Unfortunately, with the market conditions we have right now, you really can't afford to have a hands-off passive agent because you're going to keep missing out on opportunities. So can I ask Bill, are you guys dead set on the person you're working with or are you open to interviewing maybe one or two other options before you come in?

Bill Jenkins:

Well, I don't want to make this guy feel bad. I mean, I kind of flipped the guy.

Jason Simard:

Sure. Yeah, I can appreciate loyalty and I can appreciate making them feel bad. At the end of the day though, we're not talking small money here. We're talking big dollars with real estate and I think you really need to make sure that you're getting results. And you could get very frustrated if you get on with the wrong agent in this market right now.

Jason Simard:

So again, if you're happy with the agent and you can honestly look me in the eye and say that, great. Please use our website. It's an amazing resource. It's well supported. Use the tools that are here. But if you're open to a different way and if you're open to hearing about what we do to really be proactive and put things ahead of our clients before they even hit the market, then I'd love to interview for that position if you're open.

Bill Jenkins:

I'm open to that.

Jason Simard:

Yeah. And that might be where I'd go. It's a tough one. Look, if you're in a small market, you gotta be careful. Because you don't want to step on your colleague's toes. It's a tricky one. At the end of the day, there is opportunity there if you just kind of explore it a little bit more and you kind of work through it. And at the very least, what our goal is always is to leave them with a positive experience so that they stay connected to the website. And if that agent drops the ball, we're there to pick it up. And we've actually picked up many balls that have been dropped. So that's sort of like our angle with that particular objection.

Bill Jenkins:

I agree. And the other thing too, is that listen, you don't want to speak disparately about another agent. I mean, it's not going to make you look ... If anything, it's going to repel the person that you're trying to attract. So that's the last thing you want to do, is try to downplay or disparate another agent, regardless of what their experience is. Just take the approach of like Jason, like you were saying, is just, wouldn't it make sense to hire ... At least interview a few agents, just like you would if you're looking for a car or even a house or any important decision that you're about to make.

Jason Simard:

Yep. I love that. I love that analogy. Bill, you're so good at this stuff. I love ... I took-

Bill Jenkins:

I'm enjoying this with you. I'm learning.

Jason Simard:

I'm taking notes and this is the beauty of a mastermind group. When you get together with successful people, you don't have to have all the knowledge. You can gain knowledge by just being in a room with people that are smarter than you. And I look to be in those rooms a lot. And then I can bring that back to our students. I can bring it back to our agents and just, it helps us level up. Kevin, is there any final objections that have come up that we should throw out there and work through and any comments and feedback?

Kevin McCarthy:

Oh, we got to the majority of them, but maybe we'll do this again sometime, Fran hopped in, your lovely wife, Fran Jenkins, hopped into the chat to provide the name of the app, which is Agent One. So you can thank Fran for that.

Bill Jenkins:

Thank you, Fran.

Jason Simard:

I love that. Hi, Fran.

Kevin McCarthy:

No, exactly what Jason was saying. It's so cool to hear two masters at work, masterminding. And it's really been a genuine pleasure to be on with both of you today.

Bill Jenkins:

Oh, same here.

Jason Simard:

Well, I want to give you some love. So if agents have referrals, what areas do you guys service?

Bill Jenkins:

Yes. We serve all of Las Vegas, Henderson, North Las Vegas and Boulder City. So far our track record, when we get referrals from agents, has been 100%.

Kevin McCarthy:

We did have someone in chat saying, "Hey, I'm in Vegas. Bill, do you do coaching? I love your style." So do you do coaching, Bill?

Bill Jenkins:

Have him private message me.

Kevin McCarthy:

All right. Yeah. Private message, Bill. And then Jason does coaching as well up on Nanaimo. So hit him up if you like what you're hearing. And then also, if you like what you're hearing and you're not already subscribed, go to keepingitreal.com and you can put in your email address and we'll email you every time we come out with a new one of these. We've been doing about once a month.

Bill Jenkins:

Can I have one last thing?

Kevin McCarthy:

You can also like our Facebook page.

Bill Jenkins:

I think there was probably some of the objections that we probably didn't get to, but what I'd be happy to do and I'm sure Jason would probably as well, is I'd be happy to give some responses to the ones that we didn't get a chance to answer.

Kevin McCarthy:

Oh, great. Okay. Well, thank you for that, Bill.

Bill Jenkins:

Because I don't want people to feel left out when they contributed and had their objections.

Kevin McCarthy:

Yeah. When we send out the recording of this, we can include that in the email.

Bill Jenkins:

Perfect. All right. Great.

Jason Simard:

Yeah. I'm happy, if anybody has any questions real estate related, they need support, reach out to us. We've got a cool mastermind group that we have ourselves if you want to just level up and rubbed shoulders with people that are doing different levels of business, we love doing that. If you got referrals for the Las Vegas, Henderson area, Boulder area, Bill's your man. Vancouver Island, we service Vancouver Island here in beautiful British Columbia, Canada. So if you're looking for an incredible place right now, this is it. So we're happy to service your clients. And if there's anything we can do for you guys ever, please don't hesitate to reach out.

Jason Simard:

Kevin, thank you for the amazing technology company that you've created. It's allowed us to literally build the business of our dreams. So thank you for everything that Real Geeks does, man. I'm seriously so honored to just be your client.

Kevin McCarthy:

Oh, thanks.

Bill Jenkins:

Likewise.

Kevin McCarthy:

That means so much.

Bill Jenkins:

Thank you, Kevin. Thank you. I mean, it's life changing.

Kevin McCarthy:

Thank you.

Jason Simard:

Yeah. Amazing. Thank you, Kevin. You're a genius. You can do things that we would never be able to fathom. So thank you.

Bill Jenkins:

Thanks, Jason. That was awesome, my friend.

Jason Simard:

Yeah. I appreciate your, Bill. And I look forward to doing some more masterminding with you in the near future.

Bill Jenkins:

Likewise.

Jason Simard:

Thanks guys.

Kevin McCarthy:

All right.