The more that I become familiar with the “Ninja” concept, the more I see it as a “breath of fresh air” for the real estate industry. Whenever I have taught “Ninja Selling” throughout the country, participants feel empowered about a way of working that feels natural and isn’t the latest way to manipulate the consumer. Most importantly, it is a way of working that the majority of practitioners can do with excitement and enthusiasm.

The Ninja knows that to increase personal productivity, you have to make your personal life and your relationships your highest priority. Ninjas use leverage on themselves to be as effective as possible in the limited time that they are willing to allocate to the business. One way to do that is to understand where your business comes from.

The 1998 NAR study of buyers and sellers shows that the following areas are where your business comes from:

• 31% came through acquaintances.

• 20% from referrals

• 19% from past clients

• 12% from agent contact

• 8% from newspapers

• 7% from signs

• 2% from magazines

• 1% from radio

Interestingly enough, 85% of marketing dollars for most companies and agents are spent on the bottom 4 and the top 4 are people that you already know.

Remember, the Ninja wants to be rich. The Ninja’s definition of rich is the ability to wake up in the morning with the time, health, knowledge, friends, financial freedom and passion to do what you want to do that day.

Ninjas know that it is critical to stay in touch with your “Sphere of Influence” at least once per month. They know that you can bury someone with a direct mail campaign, but if you’re not talking to them in person or on the phone, you are not “in the flow”, and you will lose them to another Realtor.

The Ninja’s business is almost 100% referral and they have developed a system that allows them to contact everyone they know every 30 days, and they don’t talk Real Estate. They use the F.O.R.D. process.

F. are Family questions

O. are Occupation questions

R. are Recreation questions

D. are Dream questions

Ninja’s have the following “rules” for making calls:

1. Have a set time to make calls each day or each week.
2. Do not call anyone that you don’t know.
3. Do not call anyone unless they are ecstatic that you called.
4. Do not call anyone at home in the evening.

They use a five step process when making the calls.

1. Salutation. “Hi ________, this is _______.” (You don’t have to add: your Realtor with the _____ company. These are calls to people that know you and who also know what you do for a living).

2. Look for common ground (F.O.R.D. ie: “How’s the new ski boat?”)

3. The purpose of my call is __________.

4. End the conversation on common ground (F.O.R.D. ie: “What are you guy’s doing for fun this summer?”)

5. Spend two to three minutes maximum on the call.

Knowing that most agents' business is referrals, I asked Larry Kendall, Chairman of the Board of The Group, when does the agent ask for a referral. His answer was that they come out of steps 2 and 4. If you leave steps 2 and 4 out, you have happy customers who appreciated your staying in contact, but you don’t get referrals.

Ninjas want all the referrals and customers for life.

I hope that our paths cross sometime in the future. You know what path I’ll be on - The Ninja Path.