The first time I heard about the "Yes" set was back in the early 1980s, and I believe that I first heard about it from Tom Hopkins. If you're not familiar with what the "Yes" set is, it's a way of structuring your presentations to your clients and prospects so that you maximize the probability of them saying, "Yes" to you when it counts. And the easiest way to do this is to design and ask them a series of questions that you know they'll answer, "Yes" to before you ask them the money question.

When a prospect has just said, "Yes" to a number of questions, there's a momentum moving them forward, making it easier for them to say, "Yes" to the next question also. So the idea here is you want the other person to say, "Yes" to a series of several questions you ask them, and then you follow this series of questions with a question that asks them to take action with you.

Here's how this might work in a listing presentation with the agent asking the questions and the prospect giving the responses:

Agent: "So we're sitting here talking about listing your property because you've decided you're now ready to sell it. Is this correct?"

Prospect: "Yes."

Agent: "And I would imagine in knowing that you want to sell your property, obtaining the highest price possible for it is something that definitely interests you. Can we say that this is an accurate statement?"

Prospect: "Yes."

Agent: "You've educated yourself on the value of your property and you've reviewed the comps that I've given you. Can we now say that you have a good idea of what you feel your property is worth?"

Prospect: "Yes."

Agent: "Great. We've just reviewed my 18-point marketing program, the exact same program I'll utilize to obtain the highest price possible for your property. Would you agree that your agent having an effective marketing program for your property is something that's definitely a good idea?"

Prospect: "Yes."

Agent: "And you invited me to meet with you today because you wanted to discuss your interest in listing your property with me and putting it on the market. Yes?"

Prospect: "Yes."

Agent: "Well, based upon everything we've just discussed, can we agree that you're now ready to move forward and have me represent you in selling your property?"

Prospect: (Ideally) "Yes."

In discussing how effective this kind of approach can be with your prospects, it's also important beforehand that you've already done a great job of creating rapport with the individual prospect. This approach is not a miracle cure-all for situations where the owner has already decided not to list with you.

This approach can, though, be very effective in situations where you're definitely a candidate among other agents for the owner to list their property with. In situations like these, the owner may not be able to easily differentiate who the best agent is to list their property with. Keeping this in mind, structuring your language to build the momentum of the owner saying, "Yes" to you can be exactly what will finally have them say, "Yes" and then sign your listing agreement.

There are other situations where the "Yes" set can also be effectively utilized in real estate sales and leasing. These include negotiating to obtain an exclusive right to represent a buyer or tenant, and negotiating with a client to effectively move them in the direction of closing a transaction.

As an agent interested in maximizing your success in your real estate business, pay attention to specific situations where utilizing the "Yes" set can be very helpful to you.

When you recognize one of these situations:

1. Write down a series of "Yes" set questions that you feel will assist you in moving your prospects towards taking action with you.

2. Rehearse asking these questions sequentially, including the call to action question, so that you can deliver them easily and automatically whenever it is appropriate for you to do so.

When you plan in advance, and know exactly what to say to handle any situation that arises in your real estate career, you'll feel more relaxed, you'll exude more confidence, and you'll close a higher percentage of your opportunities with your clients and prospects.

Published: September 7, 2005

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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.