Creating a Winning Pre Appointment Routine

How effective is your pre-appointment routine?

I like to call this phase of the listing process “showtime.”

Do you have a specific process you follow each time you get ready to head out to a listing presentation? If you don’t, this means you are either winging it each time or haven’t yet been introduced to this strategy as an effective way to prepare for your listing appointments...of course, you could also be choosing not to follow any sort of process or routine which I wouldn’t recommend. Remember the very important and meaningful 5Ps? Prior, planning, prevents, poor, performance.

Speaking of performance, a great example is Olympic athletes. How much goes into their preparation? How many years of preparation? How many hours each and everyday?  In most cases this goes on for 4-8 years!  All that to make the team and when it comes to actual performing time, that can vary from a few minutes to a few hours...and 4-8 years to get to this moment.  Also, what about the difference between winning the gold or silver? That can come down to literally hundredths of a second.  Still, even if you win the gold with this microscopic amount of time, you’re still the gold medal winner and the best in the world!  Now, I am not suggesting you need to take 4-8 years to get ready for your appointment; I am saying that as this relates to your business, getting the listing is equivalent to the gold medal. In real estate, the agent that gets the listing is the gold medal winner, there is no silver medal in real estate...second place is just the person who didn’t get the listing.  This is why we are going to go over some ideas to help you get ready, because like I said, it’s showtime!  This is just one example; we can look at so many other industries where how you prepare is critical to getting the outcome you desire. It’s been my experience since we’re in an industry where we have a broad training base, and we’re independent contractors, there may or may not be resources you’ve been introduced to aid in your success compared to a corporate environment where there are strict guidelines and standards that must be followed. We all know the saying, people don’t plan to fail, they fail to plan.

Creating a pre-appointment routine: Here are six ideas when approaching how you may go about your pre-appointment routine.

1. Prepare your mind to win - Focused, Protect your mindset; don’t handle problems while driving over to the appointment. Again, what is that commission when you list this home you’re going out to?  Avg commission $_____Let’s use $7500 as an example, this is a $250K sale at 3% commission.  Most of us can relate to this number.

Approach it like an athlete preparing for the big game, A doctor heading into surgery, a pilot getting ready the flight? You get the idea; all these people have a process they’re preparing for.

Do some affirmations - bringing you mind to a peak state of performance. I’ve heard many comments that doing affirmations doesn’t work, really? We have to realize that we’re doing them anyway, so they may as well be positive. Research says we all have between 40,000 and 70,000 thoughts each day; most we’re not even conscious of.  If we’re not purposely sending a positive message to ourselves, the odds are you’re planting negative seeds...worse you don’t even know it’s taking place.

I would even suggest doing a minute of visualization - see the appt play out in your favor.  Just before you get out of your car, pull around the corner in a safe place and close your eyes. See yourself walking up the driveway, meeting the seller, sitting down at the table; everyone is getting along as you make your presentation, see them agreeing to the right price and signing your listing agreement.  I was watching the golf a few weeks ago; I noticed one of the PGA Tour golfers Jason Day