Love him or hate him, there is a lesson we can all learn from Donald Trump’s campaign, more particularly, his campaign speeches. And if we learn this lesson we will win more exclusive assignments. For the record this blog is not pro-Trump or anti-Trump. It is not political in any way. My goal is simply to highlight a principal you can use to make more money and let Donald Trump prove my point.
I will give you the lesson right out of the gate then I will prove it. The lesson is “you can’t wing it to win it”.
[Tweet “You can’t wing it to win it.”]
Regardless of your political ideals I am sure that you will agree that Donald Trump rode a rollercoaster all the way to the Whitehouse. He was down in the polls, then he was up in the polls, then he was down again, and up again. Early on, his campaign managers learned that if he got off script he had a pretty good chance of saying something stupid. And if he stayed on script his poll numbers increased, and if he said something stupid his poll numbers decreased. They even introduced the teleprompter to try to keep him on script, but like most Commercial Real Estate professionals, he didn’t like to follow a script and thus continued his roller coaster ride.
In the last few weeks he stayed on script and even used a teleprompter. It was during those last few weeks that his poll number slowly and steadily improved from a significant deficit compared to his competition (who almost never went off script by the way) to a slight edge when it counted. Even though it sounded like he was reading his speech (he was) his poll numbers rose. This is why most politicians always read their speech instead of winging it. Yes, it sounds canned. Yes, it sounds like they are reading it. And yes, it works. One more point; the more they practice the more natural it sounds and the better it works.
So why do CRE brokers insist on winging it?
Most want to sound natural and “conversational” and come across to the prospect as genuine. I will even admit that it works sometimes. It even worked with Donald Trump sometimes. The problem is that eventually they WILL say something stupid. And on those rare occasions that they don’t say something stupid, they tend to ramble.
Most brokers I have worked with feel strongly that they put on a pretty good listing presentation. One of the first things I do when we begin working on their presentation is record them presenting to me. Prior to making any suggestions or comments I ask them to go back and watch the recorded presentation so we can discuss it during our next meeting. If they have a team I ask them to review it as a team. In every case I can remember, except one, they have come back flabbergasted and dismayed. Many are embarrassed after watching and listening to themselves pitch. I have even heard “no wonder why I am not winning when competing for new business”.
Next, we enhance the presentation format and we practice it until it sounds natural, conversational and genuine. In every case my clients start to win more exclusive assignments, especially when competing against other brokers. So, take a lesson from President Elect Donald Trump. That lesson is “You can’t wing it to win it”. Record your pitch, tweak your pitch, and then practice it until it is perfect. Until you can watch it back and honestly say, “I want to hire that broker” you are not done. BELIEVE ME.
5 Responses
Right on point as always Rod!
Thank you Lynn; however this was Doug’s post. And right on as usual he was
Really good blog post Doug
What about his mission message? It seems that his willingness to talk about the very issue that was troubling the audience connected with a lot of folks. https://www.leadercast.com/programs/andy-stanley-on-visioneering is a great talk on the value that Trump wrung out by having so compelling a vision. Essentially being so clear about his intentions that folks were willing to overlook other parts they didn’t agree with.
Bryant, I agree that the message needs to be “Client Focused”. But that is another blog. Thanks for your comment.