By Kelly Quigley, REALTOR® Magazine
Killing the Sale: The 10 Fatal Mistakes Salespeople Make and How to Avoid Them By Todd M. Duncan (Thomas Nelson Inc., 2004)
Buy this book from Amazon.com
There’s no shortage of tips about what you should do to close the big sale. But this new book takes a different tack, focusing on what not to do. Killing the Sale deals with the 10 fatal mistakes that can destroy not only a deal, but an entire sales career. These aren’t simple, isolated mistakes like forgetting to mail a document on time or calling a customer by the wrong name. Rather, these are serious errors in judgment, practice, or performance. Each chapter is devoted to one killer mistake, such as posing (trying to sell before training to sell), begging (seeking your customers’ business before earning your customers’ trust), or gambling (making unplanned calls on unknown customers). And if you can weed out problems like these, you’ll succeed whether you’re selling used cars or luxury homes, the author says.
Tips from the Book:
- Evolve with the marketplace. Markets change all the time and so must you. Study your product as if you were the consumer, survey your clients regularly to find out how their needs change, and evaluate yourself to make sure your life doesn’t become stagnant in pursuit of selling success.
- Listen to your prospects. To communicate trust to your prospects, don’t ever go into a selling situation assuming you know what they need. Let them tell you what is relevant, and make listening your first priority. Then share proposed solutions based on what they’ve told you, not what you think they want.
- Don’t let business take over your life. You don’t have to be a workaholic to be successful. Do away with the notion that business and pleasure are two separate things; selling and living must complement each other. Success in sales has everything to do with keeping personal priorities.
By Barbara Ballinger, REALTOR® Magazine
How a Second Home Can Be Your Best Investment By Tom Kelly and John Tuccillo (The McGraw-Hill Cos., 2004)
The authors of this book advocate investing in second-home real estate because it represents a more stable purchase than other investments, such as corporate stock, and because you can leverage it, enjoy tax advantages, rent it out, or even live in it. However, making a decision about where to buy can be tough since you will likely have more options than when you purchased your primary home, which usually must be near a job or schools.
To make the choice, the authors recommend considering several factors, including the community itself, whether there are enough renters nearby, and the condition of the house—unless you’re going to do a lot of work or find someone else to do it. The authors also advise visiting the area at different times of the year, and making sure it offers all the amenities you consider important. When it comes to the investment factor, they say it’s wisest to buy near water since so many renters consider that a key feature.
Buying near a population center also is a good move, both for a healthy pool of renters and to find a caretaker if you’re not always going to be there or don’t want the headaches of being a landlord. Finally, carefully consider the cost of buying, furnishing, and caring for your investment.
After all, paradise can be tough on the wallet.
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