How Sohail Salahuddin turns commission objections around with questions

Sohail Salahuddin00:04

So it’s all questions, because once you start telling them, half the time they just tune you out, right? But you have to ask logical questions that are not a yes or no answer, questions that are gonna get them to think, which are typically the how, what, where, why, when, and who, right? So-

00:21Those are the questions you have to learn how to ask. And then you have to learn how to listen super intently, because great salespeople are great listeners. And then use what they tell you because you’re listening, and formulate another sentence with it, and you continue the conversation, and then you can lead them through great conversations to get them to the point where you get them where you want them, but they think it was their idea, ’cause that’s selling.

Loida Velasquez01:04

Everyone, welcome back to a brand new episode of Vulcan7 Coaches and Mentors, where we bring you some of the best in the industry so that they can share with you their tips and strategies so that you can implement in your business immediately. Now, with that being said, you know we love to talk about prospecting, objection handling.

01:23We know that there has been so much going on in the real estate world because of buyers, agents, commissions, lawsuits. So with that being said, I’m just gonna go ahead and bring on today’s guest, and we’re gonna dive deeper into these topics. So with that being said, I wanna bring on Sohail Salahuddin.

01:40Welcome.

Sohail Salahuddin01:40

Thank you, thank you, Loida. Thanks for having me on. Excited to give back to anybody who’s watching this and be a contribution. Let’s go.

Loida Velasquez01:48

Awesome. Yes. Well, we’re glad that you’re here, but for anyone that maybe is not too familiar with you, go ahead and kind of share with everyone a little bit about your background.

Sohail Salahuddin01:58

Yeah. So I’ve been in the real estate industry for almost 20 years. I started off on the mortgage side back in 2005, and from there I went into condo conversions and developments. And then I had my own real estate company with a partner from 2007 until 2011, 2012.

02:23And I really didn’t get started into brokering deals for clients until about 2012. And that’s when I had to learn the skills so I can acquire new business, and had to learn how to prospect, handle objections, and all that good stuff.

Loida Velasquez02:42

Awesome. So what does your company, team, your business look like now?

Sohail Salahuddin02:49

Yeah. So I have a small team, not a big team. There’s 10 of us total. We have five agents plus myself, so there’s a total of six agents and four staff.

03:02Sorry, I was just gonna say, I just don’t believe in having a really big team where each agent’s not productive at a high level.

03:13So my idea is to grow the team small and have each agent be highly productive before I bring in another agent.

Loida Velasquez03:22

Exactly. No, I absolutely love that, and I’m glad that you’re bringing that up, and I think that that would be a perfect point to get started on, because there’s a lot of agents out there.

03:32I feel like anybody now has a real estate license, but not everyone is productive. They don’t know what they’re doing. So for you, whenever you have a team member or someone that you bring on, what does that process look like to help them and train them to be a producing and productive agent?

Sohail Salahuddin03:51

Yeah.

03:51So when we bring somebody on, we have a 30, 60, 90 onboarding. It starts off relatively simple, easy tasks like reading two books, doing a book report on the book so we know that they read it and they understood the focal point of the book. And then from there it goes on to, like, making sure they complete who their COI is, learning the scripts.

04:15And then once they get past the 30 days, then it gets to a little bit more technical skills and hands-on. Then it’s like actual prospecting, making calls. They have to set four appointments on the second 30 days, which is the 30 to 60-day mark. And our goal is by 90 days to have them up and running as self-sufficient as possible.

04:36So Loida, for my team, everything’s done for them except the acquisition of clients. So really that’s all we have our team members focus on is the skills to acquire clients, the executionable steps to make those calls, door knock, whatever it takes to find new clients, and then the skill of communication, because we don’t have anything to sell, like nothing tangible, right?

05:01We sell homes, but we don’t sell a home until we have the house, and so we have to find the clients first before we have a house to sell. And so if the highest and best use of our time is the acquisition of clients, then the highest skill that we can have is to be a prolific communicator, to communicate value to those people.

Loida Velasquez05:21

Absolutely. And I know that you mentioned four appointments, right? That is the goal for them to accomplish within that timeframe that you mentioned. Is there a specific… Is it buyers, sellers? Does it matter where the four come from?

Sohail Salahuddin05:37

That’s a really good question. It matters who the agent is. So like, you know, we have buyer’s agents and then we have listing agents.

05:44So if it’s a buyer’s agent, then we want them to focus on the four buyers, listing agent, then four listings.

Loida Velasquez05:50

Okay. So when it comes to listings, what lead sources do you have them go after, or perhaps you yourself that recommend agents to focus on?

Sohail Salahuddin06:01

So the sources I use are cancelled, expireds, for sale by owners, just listed, just solds, my past clients, and my database.

06:12And then we have leads that come through pay-per-click. Those don’t necessarily bring a lot of sellers, more buyers, but those are the main lead generation sources that we have. And then open houses. So we do use open houses to get listings too. And we have a process and a script on how we handle as soon as somebody walks in.

06:36We welcome them, and one of the key questions we say, “By the way, which home are you selling in the neighborhood?” So we ask these little trigger questions to find out if they have something to sell, where it’s located. And in the open house, not only do we have the property brochures, but we also have our presentation books out.

06:54So if somebody’s thinking about selling, they could just take it. It has all the details, and of course, then we follow up with them and try and get the listing appointment set.

Loida Velasquez07:04

Okay. That’s awesome. So we have expireds, for sale by owners, cancelled, obviously, and that’s great that you brought up the process that you have for open houses, because sometimes some agents completely miss people that are coming through, or they don’t have a process for that.

07:18They just think, you know, “I might get their phone number, ask them if they’re working with somebody or not, and then we’ll just go from there.”

Sohail Salahuddin07:26

Yeah, I think people don’t understand that most people who are– 87, 80% of people who are buying, they might have something to sell. So even the buyer leads that come through on our website or anywhere from the internet, we always go after them as if they still have a house to sell, and we wanna acquire the ability to list that for them and get it sold.

Loida Velasquez07:48

Yeah, absolutely. And with that comes the communication, which you touched on, on how important that is, communication and your skills. Especially now.

Sohail Salahuddin07:57

Yeah. Well, communication is the only skill that we have.

Loida Velasquez08:01

Yeah.

Sohail Salahuddin08:01

Right? Because it’s the words that come out of our mouth, our body language, our tonality, the rate of speech, the pauses between words.

08:08But that’s the only thing that we have to communicate value. I mean, granted, you have brochures and things like that, but you can’t be a mute and communicate those things. So you have to be able to have good direct conversations with people. You have to be the person of authority

08:25as a professional, and you have to be able to handle the objections, and you have to be witty about it. Because if you don’t come off witty in the fact that you know what you’re talking about, they’re probably just gonna turn a blind eye to you and look for someone who’s more capable of handling the sale for them.

Loida Velasquez08:42

Yeah. It’s funny that you mention that because that’s exactly how I feel sometimes when agents say, “Well, you know, what makes me different?” And it goes down to your skills. Sometimes when you’re meeting with a client, if they don’t feel like they trust you or that you’re capable of delivering a job, they’re gonna think that every real estate agent is the same, so why should I pay 6%, 7% when I can just pay a flat fee?

09:06But it goes down to what you just mentioned, coming across with authority and having a presence and also delivering your value.

Sohail Salahuddin09:14

Yeah. Yeah, and you’re always gonna get the commission shoppers, you’re gonna get people who wanna sell it themselves. You’re gonna get everything from A to Z. But the fact is, because we know that we’re gonna get those things, we just have to be prepared, right?

09:31So when the commission objection comes up, you just have to know how to handle it. If someone says they can sell it themselves or if someone says that they can go with a company that chops their commissions, and we all know who those are. But when a seller says, “Well, why would I pay you 6% when I have an agent that’s gonna charge me 4?”

09:53You have to know how to respond to that.

Loida Velasquez09:56

Exactly. Always having multiple, I like to say have multiple objection handlers for that one objection, that way you know exactly what direction to come in from so that they can see, “Okay, well, you’re right. Maybe I do need a full service agent.”

Sohail Salahuddin10:11

Thousand percent, and most people do, they just don’t know it until they find that agent.

10:15Because they don’t know good from bad until they’ve had bad, and they’ve had good.

Loida Velasquez10:19

Exactly. Yes. And you know, one thing that I was hearing recently was an agent sharing with me that, so she’s working with a seller, and then the lawsuit happened, everything going on in the media, social media, TV news, and she said, “You know, when we initially met, she was fine with paying the 6%.

10:39Now all of this came out. Now she says, ‘I don’t wanna pay a buyer’s agent.'” So let’s say there’s someone watching this that is going through that scenario. How would you coach them through conversations to have or just how to deal with clients that are now thinking this?

Sohail Salahuddin10:56

Yeah. So if it was a seller that said to me, “You know, I hear that we don’t have to pay buyer’s agents anymore, and I don’t wanna pay a buyer’s agent commission,” my response would say, “Well, look, you know, you’re in control.

11:07It’s your home. You could do whatever you want. Here’s a question for you. Do you really want to sell this home?” Well, yeah, I wanna sell it. Great. And you understand that we live in an incentive-based world, so people work on behalf of receiving a reward for their work, and that’s just the way things go.

11:25So would you rather have 100 agents working for you because they know they’re gonna be compensated, or would you rather have one that may be able to get a buyer that’s gonna pay their own commission? Which one do you think is gonna provide you with the most benefit and results? Because after all, Mrs.

11:42Seller, you do want results, don’t you? Yes. Great. So if there are three homes on your block and you’re not paying a commission, the other two are, which two do you think are gonna sell first? So it’s all questions, because once you start telling them, half the time they just tune you out, right? But you have to ask logical questions that are not a yes or no answer, questions that are gonna get them to think, which are typically the how, what, where, why, when, and who, right?

12:10So-

Loida Velasquez12:10

Mm-hmm.

Sohail Salahuddin12:11

Those are the questions you have to learn how to ask. And then you have to learn how to listen super intently, because great salespeople are great listeners, and then use what they tell you because you’re listening, and formulate another sentence with it, and you continue the conversation, and then you can lead them through great conversations to get them to the point where you get them where you want them, but they think it was their idea, because that’s selling.

Loida Velasquez12:40

Absolutely.

12:40And adding onto this scenario, let’s say the seller’s like, “You know what? You find me a buyer, I’ll pay you 3%, but you just find me a buyer. I’m just not gonna pay a buyer’s agent.”

Sohail Salahuddin12:54

“You know, Mrs. Seller, that’s exactly why you hired me. You hired me to find you a buyer. That’s what I’m gonna do.

12:59Let’s say that a buyer comes along that’s willing to pay full price, but they have an agent, and they don’t wanna pay their agent’s commission because there’s another home for sale on the block, and they can just go to that home. When that situation arises, how do you want me to handle it?”

Loida Velasquez13:13

So if you’re watching this, please rewind the last couple of minutes because I think everything that you just mentioned is perfect, and we’re gonna encounter those scenarios where sellers are just gonna think, “I just don’t wanna pay a buyer’s agent anymore.

13:28Scratch what we signed earlier a couple months. I see the news. They’re saying, ‘You guys don’t need to be paid 6%.'” So these are just some ways of you having a conversation. And it goes back to the skill of communication and how you deliver it, because if you don’t deliver it successfully, they’re gonna be like, “Well, no, just go find me a buyer.”

13:48And at that point, you know who’s in control.

Sohail Salahuddin13:51

Yeah. Yeah. And you know, you have to communicate value. So the stronger that we can communicate the value in what we offer, and on how we’re going to get them the results that they want, which also includes paying a buyer’s agent compensation. But the stronger we can communicate value to the sellers that we work with, the stronger their perception that we are the authority is, and I can’t stress that enough.

14:19Because see, what happens is a lot of agents, they don’t wanna ask their clients tough questions. They don’t wanna have a little bit of conflict in the conversation to dig deep so you can find out the seller’s motivation, so you can find out what they’re willing to do and what they’re not willing to do.

14:37And so at the end of the day, you have agents that are just trying to appease their clients rather than trying to get the results that their clients truly want, and that’s the dilemma that most agents have.

Loida Velasquez14:48

Yeah. Having the tough conversations, even during transactions when it comes to negotiations, if I’m representing the seller and the buyer gives me a long list for repairs or dropping the price, and that’s what separates an average agent from a top agent, just their ability to be able to deliver a message to their client so that they can demonstrate the value.

15:14Now for you specifically and your team, is there anything that has changed with what you’re teaching them now versus maybe like two years ago?

Sohail Salahuddin15:23

Yeah, definitely. Because the market’s changed, and there’s so many things that have transpired, right? Right before COVID, I think it was the robo-dialing, so we had to overcome how to get in touch with people if they weren’t answering their phone.

15:40The interest rates shot up, so we had to get people to still understand the market is strong based on low inventory. And then you have those buyers that, you know, they don’t wanna pay a high interest rate, but they still wanna move. It’s similar to someone that wants to live but they don’t wanna stop smoking even though they’re facing a deathly illness, right?

16:02That’s the situation where you have to ask a lot of questions and get into their psyche so they can understand and have clarity. ‘Cause sometimes people just don’t have clarity. They have a mental block. They set a limitation within their head, “Maybe I won’t pay above this price,” or, “Maybe I won’t go below this price.”

16:22And you have to know how to get in their head and get them to see with clarity what’s gonna be best for them as far as their ability to make good judgment and decisions so they can have a property sold or so they can buy a property. And that’s selling, and a lot of people just don’t understand that.

16:40But strong salespeople ask great questions. They’re great listeners, but they ask such good questions that the people that they’re talking to have the ability to start thinking logically about the situation rather than emotionally. Because most people, whether they’re selling or whether they’re buying, they’re thinking emotionally, and especially if they’re upset because they got a lowball offer, and they don’t wanna take it, but they don’t have any other offers on the table, and they don’t even wanna counter to see where it can get to.

17:12Well, they’re thinking highly emotionally, and so their logical thinking is clouded by the high emotions. So great salespeople know how to get in there and get them to start thinking with clear and clear expectations.

Loida Velasquez17:25

That kinda reminds me also of sometimes buyers when they have found the perfect home and they say, “You know, I wanna just…

17:33I’m not in a rush, so I don’t wanna put in an offer. Like, I wanna wait. Maybe something else comes up.”

17:39Would you say that’s something similar to what you were talking about?

Sohail Salahuddin17:42

Yeah. So let’s say, and we could use this in both ways, it’s a buyer that wants to buy a home, but they think they’re gonna wait, something better is gonna come up, or a seller that wants to sell, an offer comes in, and they don’t wanna take it because they think something better is gonna come along.

17:57So in that situation, I would say, “Mr. and Mrs. Seller or Mr. and Mrs. Buyer, you have, whether it’s an offer or a home that you can buy or an offer that you can take.” And I’ll say, “If nothing else comes along, are you willing to hold this property for another six months and hope that something comes along?

18:15If it’s a buyer, are you willing to wait the market out for the next six to 12 months and hope that something else comes along?” And then you dig a little deeper, like, how would your family feel? But here’s what I would do, because the more talking you do, typically you tend to wear out the ability for yourself to get what you want.

18:36So I would probably say something like, if it’s a buyer, I would say, “No problem. Listen, I’m on your timeline, so if you’re okay waiting a year and two years, whatever it may be, no problem. I’m gonna extend the buyer’s agency agreement for another year, and I’m gonna send it over to you and just sign it off and get it back.”

18:54You know, if it takes one year, two years, three years, as long as your family’s fine waiting for that home that they really want, the home that you’re about to pass up, the home that your kids were so excited about, the home that your wife really wanted, but because you wanna wait, they can’t have that. As long as you’re waiting, that’s fine.

19:10Same thing with the seller. “Mr. Seller, if you’re fine waiting for another six months to a year for another offer to come along, that’s fine. I’m gonna send you over an extension for the listing agreement for another year so that way we’re prepared to sit on the year for another year and hope something better comes along.”

Loida Velasquez19:28

I love it. I’m over here smiling because sometimes, and I’m sure you tell this to your clients, it hits them like, “Oh, man, you’re right. I don’t wanna… My family’s so excited. Maybe we should just go for it.” They’ll go talk to their spouse. So yeah, I think those are definitely great ways to handle when people say things like that.

Sohail Salahuddin19:49

Yeah. And then you can also use stories. Stories are big. See, the thing is you never want to become adverse with them, and I know agents that do that because they don’t know how to maintain their own emotions. You don’t wanna become adverse with them, ’cause then what happens is, number one, if they feel like you’re working against them, guess what?

20:09You become the enemy. And then eventually that’s gonna lead to them just finding somebody else, right? So you don’t need to appease them, but you need to agree with them, and then discreetly, in a super persuasive and influential way, get them to see that that’s not in their best interest without you telling them.

20:27So for example, let’s say I had a client that wants to sell, but they don’t wanna drop the price, right? And we know price is the single issue. So I’ll say, “You know, I understand that you don’t wanna drop the price, and I’m on your side. Whatever you decide to do, I mean, listen, I’m 1000% in support of you.

20:48But, you know, I’m gonna tell you a story. I have a friend who’s a doctor. He’s an incredible doctor, and he tells me that the clients that he has the hardest time helping to resolve their issues are people who need to lose weight and smokers. And see, just by you saying that you don’t wanna drop the price but you wanna sell just reminds me of that, because my friend told me that when someone comes in and they’re smoking and they’re deathly ill, and in order to live they have to stop smoking, he tells me it’s so difficult for him because they say, ‘I wanna live.’

21:21And he says, ‘Well, Mr. Patient, you need to stop smoking.’ ‘Well, I don’t wanna stop smoking.’ ‘Well, do you wanna live?’ ‘Yeah, I wanna live.’ ‘Well, then you have to stop smoking.’ ‘Well, I don’t wanna stop smoking.’ Well, you can’t have them both. So you could live or you can die and continue to smoke. And then I’ll turn to them and I’ll say, ‘Just help me understand, why are you being that patient?'”

Loida Velasquez21:44

Nice. And I think that makes them like, “Oh, wow.” And it’s completely unrelated to real estate.

Sohail Salahuddin21:49

See, and then I’m not saying anything negative to them. I’m just-

21:53I’m just giving them an analogy and saying, like, I’m giving them something that’s clear for them to understand. And then I’ll say, “So why are you doing that?”

22:01I didn’t say you’re wrong for doing that. I didn’t say it’s never gonna sell because I just said so. Like, “Well, do you see the situation? Why are you doing it?”

Loida Velasquez22:11

Yeah. It’s like, “Please help me understand so that I can get a better idea of why.” And I love it because it’s not like you’re fighting with them or telling them, “No, you’re wrong.

22:22We need to drop the price,” which is something sometimes a lot of agents do, but it puts us in a position where now we’re having them explain themselves to us as to why they want that price.

Sohail Salahuddin22:33

Bingo. And they did it without us having to tell them what to do. They came up with it because you’re giving them a little bit of information so that they can take that information and come to their own conclusion, if that makes sense.

Loida Velasquez22:49

Yeah. It’s almost like as they’re telling you, they realize like, “Oh yeah, you know, I sound kind of dumb saying this,” or, “He’s right. We should probably adjust the price at this point.”

Sohail Salahuddin23:04

1,000%.

Loida Velasquez23:04

So share with everyone that’s listening maybe any programs, any coaching, how they can get ahold of you, so that they can learn more.

Sohail Salahuddin23:13

Yeah, absolutely. So my cell phone’s 312-437-7799. I am in the Chicagoland market, and my email is my first name, sohail@sohailrealestate.com. Email’s probably best, or a text. Happy to help anybody that watches this. I always try to come from a place of contribution. I know that selling is not easy, and for myself, I had to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars, maybe even a million or more, on different coaches to find out what’s working and what’s not working.

23:46And Loida, I’ve had a number of coaches. I’ve had different coaching programs, different personal coaches, and I’ve been in different environments, and I continue to be coached. Even though you feel like there’s not much more you can get, it just means that you haven’t got enough of the current coach, because every coach has their limitation.

24:07They kind of have their specialty. And everybody needs a coach. Everybody needs a coach. Whether you think you do or you think you don’t, you need a coach.

Loida Velasquez24:19

Awesome. And we’re gonna make sure to put all of your links in the description box below. So your, your… Are you on Instagram as well that people can find you?

Sohail Salahuddin24:28

Yeah. It’s Sohail Real Estate.

Loida Velasquez24:31

Okay. There it is. Awesome. Well, Sohail, thank you so much for everything that you have shared today. For those of you that are watching, make sure to rewind because there were a lot of spots where you could probably write down what he said, and it’ll definitely help you in your business.

24:45So with that being said, thank you so much, Sohail, once again, and we’ll see you all in the next one.

Sohail Salahuddin24:51

Bye. Thank you so much, Loida. Appreciate it.