The GUTS™ Sales System

Why Do Creative Real Estate Investors Fail?Sales Skills are the Missing Link for Success in Creative Real EstateBy: Claude W. Diamond J.D.Why Do Creative Real Estate Investors Fail? What is the missing link for success in the best business in the world? There are more book and tape packages, gurus, boot camps, seminars, conventions, speakers, internet news groups than ever before and yet something is REALLY WRONG.I remember when I discovered Lease Purchasing, I was on pure adrenaline. I finally had a strategy for making money in real estate without all the traditional hassles like banks, repairs, large down payments and tenant management (yuck). Things were going great compared to the way they used to be (I was making money without the usual investor problems), but I was still not getting to the higher income levels that I set as a goal for myself. I was making tons of cold phone calls everyday and contacting all kinds of owners and landlords with the great idea of Renting to Own that I learned from my investor genius Mentor, Max.Some folks would hang up, some would ask me questions for hours and literally get a free consultation, some lied to me in order to get my contract for free, others were out and out rude. It was a tiring process of phone calls, going to properties where the owner said one thing on the phone and then another when I arrived. I was hearing stuff like I have to think about it, or I’ll get back to you, send me a brochure, leave me your contract or the famous I have to speak with my spouse.I was working VERY HARD and yes, things were better than they had ever been in my investor career, but I wanted more! I wanted to work smarter, have more fun and Control in the selling process, skip all the prospect rejection and make a much higher income. I knew that I needed to learn how to be a better communicator, yes a better salesperson. Up until that time the only sales training I had was from K-Mart! (I learned how to turn on the blue light gizmo that you often see wheeled around the store and give the corny speech they teach you!) Later in Corporate America I was given some brochures and an order book and told to just go see existing clients and some prospects. In other words, I had no training whatsoever. If I was going to succeed I needed something more.I began a process very similar to the mistaken education process I went through in my creative real estate journey. I bought all the popular sales books, tapes and attended several weekend seminars. The information was usually more motivational than hands on practical. My Creative Real Estate Business improved slightly from all the motivational stuff, but I needed something more. I needed an organized system of sales that was unlike the tired old systems that everyone else was using. The little light bulb went on over my head with an idea that would finally catapult my Lease Purchase /Creative Real Estate Business to a six and eventual seven figure income. I would find a Mentor in Sales who would teach me the same way Max taught me Real Estate Investing. I began my search. I asked everyone I knew who was successful in sales the following question, who is the best salesman you ever met? I kept asking until I heard the same name repeated over and over.So I sought him out and sure enough everyone was right, he was the best salesman I ever met! He was a self made millionaire who reinvented sales because he found that he was encountering the exact same problems that all sales people had to endure. Time wasters, lack of respect, no control over the sales process, frustrating cold calls, indecisive prospects, free consultations and what he considered to be the greatest sin of all, Not going to the BANK often enough.He decided that most of the sales techniques being taught were the same old tired stuff that all the prospects knew almost as well as the salesman. It was time for something new. A new way of selling that would qualify the prospect in the first couple of minutes, right up front. It would allow the salesman to make a contract and close the prospect before any sales presentation would be made, it would allow the sales professional to have tons of fun and feel totally empowered and in control. Best of all it would give you the skills to make as much money as you wanted!I was really excited because now I had the missing pieces of knowledge that I needed to reach my income goals in Creative Real Estate with Lease Purchasing. Let me share with you some revolutionary ideas that will change your life, empower you and raise your confidence level to heights you never knew could be possible, put you in control in the sales process and make you enough money to choke a horse.A. Sales is about you going to the (fill in your name here) BANK. (Sorry if I just offended the touchy feelies).B. Sales is the most important skill you can have to make your business grow and to be prosperous; Sales is a Million Dollar Skill (Hmmm, this would make a great title for a sales tape set). If you are in sales, it is about you making a difference and solving peoples’ problems with your products and services. It is not about being a free consulting service. You need a way to constantly learn, keep focused and reinforce your techniques.C. The Three Minute Qualifying Rule. You must be able to qualify your prospect on the phone in three minutes or less. You must learn the art of asking questions and reversing questions from your prospect in order to find out whether you have a live one or a time waster. Do they have a problem you can solve? Can they afford to fix it? Are they the decision maker? These are the questions that absolutely must be asked and answered otherwise you are giving a free consultation and just wasting a great deal of time. Why spend time with the 80% who will never buy when you can qualify and work with the HOT 20% that will?D. You must create a contract and close up front. No sense in not getting to the point, set the ground rules in the beginning or you will have to argue them later and possibly lose the sale you worked so hard for. Learn how to get the prospect to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ and none of that I have to think about it stuff or I will get back to you later.E.Stop asking for the order ! Everyone want to buy but few want to be sold. Let the prospect come to their own natural conclusion and give you the sale.F. Never make cold calls! I don’t know about you, but I hate cold calling folks out the blue and being treated like a long lost cousin who is asking for money. Now there is a system where you make only warm calls (the prospect has given you permission to call).G. Make the Prospect Uncomfortable. If your prospect is feeling uncomfortable then you’re doing something RIGHT! That’s right, the pressure should always be on the Prospect not on you. If you’re feeling uncomfortable then you’re doing something wrong. You should be in control and having funwhile making money.H. Never carry a a brochure, business card, pen, attache, nada, nothing. Believe it or not, this one idea will help you to close more deals and you won’t have a sore arm or back from lugging too much unnecessary stuff!I. Get a GUTS sales system now whether you have a product or service to sell or just want to become a better communicator. Trying to sell something without a simple system is like going to a Chucky Cheese pizza palace on a rainy Saturday WITHOUT ASPIRIN. If you aren’t having fun and making buckos then you are doing something wrong. There are no bad prospects only bad salespeople. If some of these ideas that I have described have your interest and you are ready to learn something new and a heck of a lot more, then call me. I answer my own phone.
George Pragovich
931-378-7850
gkp@charter.net