By Enrique Saldana

Some helpful hints to help you succeed in real estate sales in Playa del Carmen. Part 2 of a 10 part series.

Mistake #2: No Urgency; No Missionary Zeal
Some real estate sales people are not passionate about what they sell. They have not identified a unique selling proposition they can be excited about. A Unique Selling Proposition is the way you express your advantage in the marketplace. Every real estate product or service offered in the marketplace must have some advantage over other real estate products or solutions in order to survive. Unfortunately, many real estate sales professionals I meet are not able to express what their advantage is. Worse, many I talk to do not think they have any advantage! They complain to me saying, “My competitors offer the same thing, and they do it for less money.” This is a recipe for disaster! You must determine what is unique about you, your company, or your real estate products/services and you must be able to passionately express that uniqueness as an advantage over your competition. There are many different categories in which you, your company, or your real estate products/services can excel.

You don’t have to be everything to everybody. In fact, if you try to be everything to everybody, and then nobody remembers you. Simply try to be the best in one real estate category. It is true that some people always buy the lowest price, but it is also true that some people always buy the best quality, regardless of price. Others buy the easiest way, regardless of price (If you doubt this, look at how many of us buy expensive items at a convenience store).

Once you have determined your unique identity in the real estate market place, you must develop a passion for, or an urgency about, your ability to deliver your advantage to your real estate clients. To do this you must be able to focus on the benefits you give people. You must also be able to feel the pain of what life is like without your real estate product or service. People will buy your energy and enthusiasm for your real estate product or service, regardless of how polished you are as a realtor.

There are three types of training that must be conducted for real estate sales people. Unfortunately, only one of the three is usually conducted in most real estate companies and often it is not usually conducted well. The three types of training that must be conducted are:

• Product and Industry-Specific Training: Real Estate Sales Professionals must obviously know about
what they are selling and the industry in which they are selling. For example; the market here in Playa del Carmen is different from the United States or Canada, or even Tulum for that matter!
• Sales Training: This consists of the communication and influence skills necessary to persuade clients.
Rapport building skills, questioning and probing skills, presentation skills, speaking skills, objection
handling, and negotiating skills are all part of this category.
• Personal Productivity Training: This consists of the personal development and motivational skills
necessary for success. Goal setting, time management, planning, and attitude-building skills are all part of
this category.

In most real estate organizations, the education and training provided, if they are provided at all, usually consists of Product and Industry-Specific training. Unfortunately, most of the product and industry specific knowledge that is dispensed is boring and lacks passion. You see, product or industry-specific training is really about ensuring each real estate sales person knows “the facts”. Once the facts and features have been memorized, there is usually no emphasis on the benefits to the clients. Therefore, real estate sales people never get passionate about what the facts and features will do for a client.

Real estate sales training is what teaches us to focus on, and express, benefits. At least 80% of your real estate training time should be spent on teaching and reinforcing Sales and Personal Productivity Skills, with an emphasis on what your real estate products and services do for your clients. This is where the passion comes from.

Stay tuned for our next edition of tips on real estate sales; our next series will address:

Mistake #3: They Already Know How to Be Positive
In our high-tech, fast-paced world, we often overlook some of the simple, yet profound ideas and skills that affect our success in real estate sales. This seems to be the case with one of the most fundamental skills that any real estate sales person can possess: The skill of managing your own mental and emotional state, or, in other words, the ability to create a great attitude.

It seems that this used to be one of the most fundamental skills that real estate sales people were taught. How to have a “positive mental attitude” was one of the frequent sermons preached in most real estate sales meetings. Unfortunately, I don’t find the same fervor amongst most real estate sales forces today. Most realtors tell me that they already know all about it and they would rather focus their attention on the latest technical innovation that may increase their real estate sales. This is a huge mistake!

Over 20 years in real estate sales with some of the major real estate franchises in the US and successfully owning our own real estate company, has helped us assimilate the skills we present here. This article and information courtesy of Mexico Mortgage Solutions e-mail Enrique (Henry) Saldana at This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it for further information.

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