Incentives: Part One - Real Estate

Incentives are little carrots dangled in front of another person in hopes of getting a quicker decision. They are "the bonus" on top of the normal transaction.

In the Real Estate world today, the term incentive has become the norm, which really means it no longer has much value. An incentive is supposed to be unexpected. It is supposed to carry enough "juice" to create a buzz thus encouraging a purchase to take place.

These days, just about every single home buyer asks the question, "What is your incentive?" Most times, prospective home buyers ask this question in the first 5 minutes of the conversation. That is before they know if you even offer a home that fits their needs or before they know the price.

Seems like a totally ridiculous time to ask the incentive question, but virtually everyone does it. The worst part about this is that this single question throws sales people off their game more then anything else.

That should never happen.

If you have been in Real Estate for only one day or even one hour, you should be well aware that the incentive question is coming early and often.

How to deflect the "incentive" Question in a normal situation:

• "Before we discuss incentives, help me understand what is important to you in a new home."


• "I would be happy to go over my incentives, we will get there soon. First, lets discuss how I can help you find the home you desire, does that sound okay."

How to deflect the "incentive" Question when the prospect is less friendly:

• "It sounds like incentives are very important to you and I can appreciate that, but what good is it to speak about incentives if I don't offer the right home for you? Don't you agree it would be better to come back to the incentive conversation after we discover that I offer a home that will work for you?"


• Would you be willing to make the purchase today on a home sight unseen and design unknown if I can offer what sounds like a good deal?"--the answer will most always be no to this. After you get the "no"go into discovery mode and find you what is important.

Curt Fletcher aka The Likeability Guy, is a Real Estate Professional, Business Development Strategist, Published Author of the book, "How To Sell More Homes and Increase Your Income," Sales Trainer, and Professional Speaker that focuses on improving your Likeability to increase your Opportunities for Success!

Diamond R Homes

Diamond R Homes is a TRUE Custom Home Builder. Many people think "Custom" Builder just means an upper scale production home. It doesn't.

TRUE Custom means YOU CHOOSE.

TRUE Custom means WE Cater to YOU.

TRUE Custom means 100% Unique.

At Diamond R Homes, we have assembled a small team of Fantastic People that share ONE COMMON Trait. WE ALL Strive to provide a unique and fantastic service oriented Experience.

Truthfully, we could provide many exciting services because our attitudes are ALL in alignment with helping others.

We selected Home Building because we have a combined 50 Years of unsurpassed success in the art of Creating Genuine Customer Happiness.

In that 50 years, we have amassed an abundance of usable knowledge in home design, personal connections, and systems that when combined to help you, create a TRUE Custom Experience.

Our goal is not to build many homes as fast as we can. Our Goal is to Help YOU build your Dream Home where you want it, how you want it. In undertaking that single act of genuine desire to help you, our market share has increased, but the mission remains the same.

At Diamond R Homes we subscribe whole heartedly with one of Zig Ziglar's most impressive revelations, "If you help enough other people get what they want, you will get what you want."

Diamond R Homes is a TRUE Custom Home Builder that operates in the Dallas / Fort Worth Marketplace. We WILL build on your lot, we WILL help you find and purchase a lot, we WILL design a home WITH you, and WILL provide Customer Service to Ridiculous Levels.

We don't believe in building homes in a static environment. The world is a changing and dynamic place and so are the needs of our Customers. The ONLY way to provide the level of service that we do is to adapt our skills to your desires.

"Amazing Service is our Brand. Superior Home Building is our Medium."

How to Set an Appointment!

One of the quickest ways to increase your sales and income is learning to set an appointment correctly.

Are you one of the sales professionals that delivers a good presentation, and at the conclusion asks the prospect when they will be back in? Maybe you get a reply of “later in the week,” and you respond with “okay, I’ll see you then.”

Does that seem like a good method?

You probably do not get very many returning prospects with that approach. Recent studies show that 70% of prospects do not return for a second visit without a firm appointment. However, those prospects with a set appointment return and purchase 50% of the time.

Wow! You spend all that time with a prospect and 70% of the time, you will never see them again. Are you interested in learning the correct technique?

Rule # 1: Know when your prospects are coming back.

You do not want to have them show up randomly on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon. This is your prime fishing time for new future buyers. Spending this time with an unannounced prospect return eats into your future sales.

How to do this:

Have a reason for a return visit. You do not have to show off all your knowledge on the first visit. If you cannot close a buyer on the first visit, be smart with the information that you provide. Hold back a few key details that they have questions about.

If there are no questions at the conclusion of their visit and they don’t buy, you are not doing a good enough job at discovering their buying objections.

The two best ways to ensure a return appointment are Urgency and Benefits. Provide Value and people will return.

Reasons for an appointment:

• Unable to show a particular home


• Unable to show a certain homesite


• Unable to get certain pricing on luxury features


• Come back for financing details


• Price Increase


• Incentives Expiring

I will repeat this line. If you are unable to close the sale, hold back some of the above information for a follow-up.

When you call them, say something to the effect of, “In order to give you the time and attention that you deserve….”

Remember, you need to create urgency and benefits, beginning your statement like I have written above; you make the prospect feel important by the value you will provide them at the appointment.

How To Set The Appointment

Use the Alternate Choice Close.

Say something like this, “Since I know you love the home and that beautiful homesite, I would hate for you to be upset with me if I didn’t inform you that our prices are increasing on Monday. With that in mind, when is a better time for you to come back and review this great opportunity? Is Tuesday at 6:00 PM good, or would Wednesday at 11:00 AM be better?”

Don’t talk again, until they respond.

Try this for one month and watch your sales grow!

Curt Fletcher is a Real Estate Expert, New Home Sales Professional, Published Author of the book, "How To Sell More Homes and Increase Your Income," Sales Trainer, and Professional Speaker that focuses on improving your Likeability to increase your Opportunities for Success!

Notice to ALL Salespeople...Drop the gimmicks and start Helping!

I have to say, the sales arena has become a very diluted pool of people looking for the easy money over actually trying to help anyone.

"What's it gonna take to put you in one of these?"...I mean, seriously? What kind of ridiculous sales line is that?

If you take the time to actually ask quality questions and ENGAGE your prospect, you will never have to ask this question again...they will tell you...they WANT to tell you...if only you will let them!

People are WAAAAAY to smart these days and knowledgeable about your "sales tactics." Drop the spiel and start helping.

As a Successful Sales Professional that does a large percentage of business based on Strong Referrals, I can tell you it is easier, less costly, and much more friendly to do business that way.

I hear the following comments every week:

• "I was afraid to walk in the door at first, but you set us totally at ease"
• "This was a totally different experience than we though it was going to be"
• "I can't tell you how much you have helped us with such an important decision"
• "You are SO MUCH different than everyone else we have spoken with."
• "Why didn't the guy at the other company tell us about this?"

If these type of comments are not a regular occurrence for you, perhaps a change in approach is long overdue?

For help with your sales process and delivery send me an email to curt@thelikeabilityguy.com


Curt Fletcher is a Real Estate Expert, New Home Sales Professional, Published Author of the book, "How To Sell More Homes and Increase Your Income," Sales Trainer, and Professional Speaker that focuses on improving your Likeability to increase your Opportunities for Success!

The TRUTH about the Housing Market!

It seems day after day, I read story after story that promotes the downfall of the housing market. I see where homes are losing value and mortgages are more difficult to obtain.

There is only one problem with stories like these. They are NOT an actual representation of the housing market!!

For some reason it has become acceptable and almost expected to tell false blanket stories that project a very negative and false picture of the housing economy.

Is it true that housing has lost value in parts of California?....YES!
Is it true that home values have decreased over parts of the East and West Coast?....YES!
Is it true that the Economic conditions for job growth in Detroit are difficult?....YES!

As a Real Estate Expert in Texas I can tell you that these issues that are being faced in other parts of the country have little to no effect in the Texas market.

These are the FACTS!

• 262,000 NEW Jobs created from April of 07' to April of 08'!
• 11,000 NEW People move to the Dallas / Fort Worth Metroplex EVERY Month!
• Homes are NOT Losing Value on a wide scale.

So then why is it acceptable to issue Negative Blanket Statements for the Housing Industry to the Public?

In any other aspect of life, accepting blanket statements and stereotypes is considered the lowest form of journalism, is unethical, and is for the most part ignorant.

If Housing is down in Miami, does that mean it is also down in Dallas?.....NO! That makes NO sense!

If crime is high in Washington DC, does that mean crime is also high in Trophy Club, TX?....NO! That makes NO Sense!

The Media Needs to stop trying to Localize a National Issue. It is both inaccurate and Dangerous. The negative news flow is hindering the housing market across the nation by fear mongering and scaring the public.

THE TRUTH ABOUT what the media is doing is this:
In Texas and other very solid markets around the country, people are waiting to purchase homes because they HEAR the market is bad. They are waiting to purchase because the NEWS tells them prices will keep falling.

Only one problem....IT'S WRONG!

The TRUTH in TEXAS

• Prices WILL begin to rise very soon. With higher gas prices come higher building costs--just like anything else you purchase.
• Interest Rates will be going back UP to their normal range. 5% and 6% Mortgage Rates are NOT the norm.
• The LONGER you are told to wait...the HIGHER the cost to you.

The TRUTH about Interest Rates

• 20-Year Average is 7.3%
• 30-Year Average is 8.8%
• Pre 9/11 Average back to 1990 is 7.67%
• POST 9/11 Average is 6.23%
• *9/11 Shocked the world. Rates were lowered to stimulate buying to spur the economy and lower consumer fear.

The time has come to end the False Stories and the Negative Information Exchange. It is doing nothing except promote a poor economy, costing Americans more of their future money (the cost of waiting), and perpetuate a growing feeling of insecurity.