When I was new in the business back in the early 1980s the manager of the company I was working for decided to pair me up with an agent who had 40 years of experience in the business. His name was Dave Smith and I must say that in working along with Dave I received an education on how to become successful in real estate sales that was unlike any other education I had ever received.

In my early years in the business I was very focused on having market knowledge. I figured that if I really knew what properties were on the market and what their fair market value was that this would be the key ingredient to my becoming hugely-successful in our industry. But what I learned through working with Dave proved that I was definitely not on the right track...

In talking with Dave around the office I could tell that he didn't have as much current market knowledge as I had about what properties were currently available what the prices were for the properties that had recently sold. And yet I would consistently observe Dave close one deal after another in a seemingly effortless manner. But I couldn't quite understand how the heck he was doing it!

It wasn't until years later that I fully recognized Dave's special talent. Dave was a master at getting his clients to take action. He was amazing at getting people excited about real estate opportunities and this excitement led to his clients buying, selling, and leasing many, many properties through him.

I will never forget the day when he and I were canvassing together knocking on the doors of many different warehousing and manufacturing companies. Dave always took great pride in fine-tuning his rapport skills with new prospects and in a matter of about 45 minutes we had accumulated free makeup for his wife from a cosmetic manufacturer, free oriental noodles from an Asian food manufacturer, free bananas from a produce company, and a free trophy from a trophy manufacturing company, too. Dave was truly a master at quickly endearing himself to his clients and prospects and he told me that day with a smile on his face that I should "never walk away empty-handed" when canvassing. He truly loved meeting people face-to-face and building great business relationships with them.

One time there were three beautiful brand new buildings that were about to be built in our territory and they were being marketed directly through the developer himself. Dave had already pre-sold one of the buildings and another agent in the territory had pre-sold another one. Now there was just one building remaining.

Dave recognized that the one remaining building was going to be absolutely perfect for one of his clients. He drove the client to the site where the new building would be built and the client definitely liked the location. However, the client was having great difficulty visualizing what the building would look like and whether or not it would be effectively designed for his business. So Dave got the client back in his car and drove him straight over to the developer's office.

When they arrived at the office Ramon, the developer, was booked solid with appointments for the next several hours. But Dave was also aware that Ramon was very close to making a deal to sell the one remaining building to another buyer. So Dave insisted that his client wait with him in Ramon's reception area until Ramon could find the time to meet with them.

One hour went by. Two hours went by. And at sometime between two and three hours of waiting Dave's client insisted that Dave take him back to his office. But Dave, keeping his eyes focused on the ball and trusting his intuition, would not oblige his client's request. So it was after four hours of waiting that Dave and his client were finally able to meet with Ramon.

Ramon showed them the plans for the building and discussed all the wonderful customized features that he could provide specifically for the man's business. And at the end of the presentation Ramon told both of them that the property would be sold to the first person who gave him a non-refundable $50,000.00 check, and that he was expecting a check in this amount to be delivered to him from another buyer in just a few hours. Dave's client swallowed hard, thought for a few moments, recognized how long he had been looking for the right building to expand his business into, and then pulled-out his checkbook and immediately wrote Ramon a non-refundable check for $50,000.00.

Now while Dave's bold and gutsy action in this story may or may not be exactly how you would have responded in this same situation my point in telling this story to you is this:

Having great knowledge of the market in your territory is something I highly recommend for you. But having great market knowledge is not nearly as important as having the sales skills and intuitive know-how to constantly get your clients to take action NOW.

Knowledge is great, but it's getting your people to take action that's going to make you the money.

Published: March 25, 2003

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Jim Gillespie, Ph.D., is America's Premier Real Estate Coach℠. He has over 20 years of experience in real estate sales and is a past president of three different real estate companies. His FREE real estate E-newsletter with tips and creative ideas to help agents make more money is now read by over 35,000 agents nationwide. You can subscribe to his FREE E-newsletter by visiting RealEstateSalesCoach.com or contact him at Jim@RealEstateSalesCoach.com.