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The real estate agent sales meetingDave Hershmansales tips, synergy marketing, motivation, Toastmasters Does this scenario sound familiar? You have successfully badgered the broker in a real estate office for seven consecutive months and he/she finally acquiesced and is going to let you address the sales meetingdespite the fact that the real estate company is affiliated with a mortgage company and the corporate office would not be too happy that the brokers are letting "outsiders" in to speak. The big day arrives. Your standard script is set (you've been giving the same talk for three years). Here it goes: Hi. Thank you for letting me be here. Many of you already know me, but for those who don't, I am a great (blank). I work for a great (blank). We have great (blank). This is what I think that (blank) will do in the future. I have given out (blank). I brought (blank). Help yourself! This is a contest to see who can fill in the blanks correctly. I am betting that 98 percent of the loan officers reading this column can fill in the blanks correctly because they have regurgitated these lines before. If you e-mail the correct answers to [email protected], we will send you a free newsletter that you can share with your real estate agents and other targets. No wonder the broker had to be talked into letting you into the sales meeting. When they said that they had a loan officer last month, they are really expecting that you will say the same thing. It's unfortunate, because giving a sales meeting is a perfect synergy marketing opportunity. I am very familiar with this topic because I was an "in-house" loan officer for a real estate-owned mortgage company. I have also supervised hundreds of loan officers in the same position. One rule of maximum synergy marketing is that all targets and tools do not have the same level of effectiveness. You do not have time to use all marketing toolstherefore, you must choose your weapons carefully. There is no tool more effective than conducting a sales meeting comprised of your top targets. How long would it take to sell 20 real estate agents one-on-one? Three weeks of voice mail tag, one or two lunches, more tag in between and perhaps one loan after three to six months of effort. On the other hand, speak to a sales meeting of real estate agents and do a great job, and five to 10 of them will be calling you tomorrow because they know how much value you can bring to their lives. Is there any tool more effective than that? Of course, to do this, you must observe another synergy marketing ruleif you are not delivering value to your targets, why bother? Do you think that real estate agents are interested in your mortgage products or how good you think you are? How many loan officers get up in front of a sales meeting and say, "Please give me a loan, I am a mediocre originator?" You can easily dispense with proving your worth more effectively by arranging a third-party testimonial right at the sales meeting. You must then attack the value angle. Real estate agents do not sell mortgage products for a livingthey sell homes. Ask yourself, how are you going to help them sell more homes with less stress through your talk? Give your talk a title and develop attractive handouts. The title should be one that will grab their attention: Boring:Using option ARMs Better:Selling more homes with option ARMs Best:How to sell more homes to those who are short on income and cash Deliver the talk with energy. If you do not have a passion for your topic, how are you going to inspire anyone to take action? If you need practice with your public speaking skills, obtain outside help. Organizations such as Toastmasters can help you develop your public speaking skills. Actually, the topic of learning how to speak in public and using this tool as an effective sales strategy is an excellent topic for a real estate agent sales meeting. Talking about ways they can increase their business instead of hawking your products is the goal here. Do not be satisfied with merely delivering a great show. How are you going to get leads from the meeting? Just standing in front and saying, "Does anyone have a loan for me?" is not an effective way to ask for business. Ask if anyone is working with a client right now who does not have enough money, so that you can demonstrate how this program works. If you highlight the goal of gaining a lead from the meeting, you are much more likely to design a talk that will focus on this objective. Don't forget other basic synergy rules. If you are marketing by yourself, you are wasting synergy. Perhaps you can bring an assistant to help introduce you and distribute your handouts. Perhaps this same assistant might be someone who can give a third-party testimonial. Make sure that your synergy marketing partner has relationships within the office that you can take advantage of, and that your partner will benefit by being at the meeting as well. Perhaps your synergy marketing partner will be a financial planner or title/escrow company. You are going to be giving the sales meeting anywaywhy not achieve a second or third objective? Maximum synergy marketing is a long way from getting up in front of real estate agents and regurgitating doughnuts and interest rates. Oops, did I give away a few of the answers? Dave Hershman is a top speaker and leading author in the mortgage industry with six booksincluding two best sellers for the Mortgage Bankers Association of America. His mortgage school is the only comprehensive advanced curriculum in the industry. For a schedule of classes, free marketing samples, speaking information and articles by Dave, visit www.originationpro.com or call (800) 581-5678.