Bill Crespo on converting 30% of FSBO visits and the four personality styles

Bill Crespo00:00

If you say, “You know what? I just wanna list for sale by owner. I wanna be a top producer. I wanna do luxury, but I’ve never done that before.” If we could understand how do you transform to get to that point? Well, you gotta start at zero, right? So you gotta start with believing in yourself. The second thing is that your skills have to be at a high level.

00:17There’s a big thing about having influence, but someone has to feel that you are the right person, so you have to have influence and authority in your voice, how you deliver what you’re offering, but also give them enough information that leads them to them feeling like they’re gonna go with you.

Loida Velasquez00:38

Hi, everyone. Welcome back to a brand-new episode of Vulcan 7 Coaches and Mentors, where we bring you some of the best in the industry to share with you their tips and strategies so that you can implement in your business immediately. Now, obviously, we know that there have been a lot of changes in the market with the way that you do real estate business and transactions.

00:58So on today’s episode, we have a very special guest. He is no stranger to this show. I’m gonna go ahead and bring him on. Bill Crespo. Welcome, Bill.

Bill Crespo01:08

Hey. How are you doing?

Loida Velasquez01:10

Doing great. Right before we started and pressed record, we were chatting a little bit about skills, the market. So before we get into that, for anyone that’s watching that maybe is not too familiar with you, just go ahead and give us a little bit about your background.

Bill Crespo01:26

Wow. I’ve been coaching for over 20 years, had over 25,000 coaching sessions. Was originally a Mike Ferry coach, was with MAPS coaching, and did my own thing, Path to Pro, for the longest time. I had two daughters in gymnastics that really gave me an insight on transformation, and they were major athletes, and got really involved with the how do you change your mindset, how do you change your skills, how do you get things done quickly so that you get the performance levels that you need to get into as quickly as possible?

01:58So that’s where I’m at. So I’ve been in sales for over 40 years, franchise sales, had my own company in real estate, top producer, that whole nine yards. So I haven’t washed floors yet in real estate offices. I haven’t done windows. That’s probably the only thing I haven’t done.

Loida Velasquez02:12

No. But obviously, you have a lot of experience.

02:15You have seen changes in all of the years you’ve been in this business. So as of recently, what are you seeing? Because you mentioned also to me earlier you’re back in the business doing transactions. So kind of, like, what is your take now versus maybe, like, one or two or 10 years ago?

Bill Crespo02:33

Yeah. You know, I’ve been through several recessions. Been in the business since 1985, so I’m old. And I’ve seen a lot of stuff. And what’s happening right now, I think more than ever, is this change of skill. We talk about high ticket sales and low ticket sales.

02:54This is a high ticket sales process, but I think a lot of people were panicking. They should for one reason, is their skills have to go to a whole… On a scale of one to 10, let’s say if you were a five and a six, you gotta be at a 10 or 11 or a 12 now to be able to separate yourself so someone could actually say, “Oh, that’s why I’m picking this person.”

03:16And I know we always talk about the agent being the product. And being that I’m out in the field a bit more because I knew this was my market. This is a type of market that I’ve been wanting for the longest time. And not that we always want a down market, but because the skill levels need to be so high, and I trained it for so long, that I feel now there’s specific things that someone has to learn to be able to be effective to either get a buyer agreement signed and/or flip a for sale by owner or an expired or anybody to sign for them so that you can outpace the competition.

Loida Velasquez03:53

Yeah. You know, I’m glad that we’re talking about this because this is something that a lot of agents might be struggling with at the moment. We saw the changes coming, the contracts, forms, things like that, the conversations, the communication, and it goes back to the skills. So for someone that’s watching this, like, where would they need to start if they want to get their skills to be at a level to be like yourself?

Bill Crespo04:18

You know, it’s so interesting. I’m in Virginia Beach where there’s a lot of Navy SEALs, right? The odd number Navy SEALs are on the West Coast, the even number SEAL teams are on the East Coast. And I did a little study with them to understand how do they take these guys and transform them into this incredible athlete?

04:37And I’ve said this for years, and I was able to be friends with them, I’ve actually trained with them. Number one is that we’ve got to understand that what’s up here is what’s guiding us, right? The mind, what we think about or how we think about ourselves. We’re gonna have some bad times, we’re gonna have some good times.

04:55But do you believe enough in yourself? And then if you believe in yourself, are your skills at the highest level? I met a guy years ago who was afraid of heights, claustrophobic, little short guy. And I asked the guy, he’s an engineer, and I said, “What were you doing before this?” He says, “I was a Navy SEAL.”

05:15And that’s what really… How do they transform that person’s mind? Like if you say, “You know what? I just wanna list for sale by owner. I wanna be a top producer. I wanna do luxury, but I’ve never done that before.” If we could understand how do you transform to get to that point? Well, you gotta start at zero, right?

05:35So you gotta start with believing in yourself. The second thing is that your skills have to be at a high level. So what I teach is understanding the four personality styles, right? Knowing yours first, because you typically don’t get along with two of those styles, or let’s just say it’s difficult to have communication with those two styles.

05:56Hopefully, you’re not married or have a boyfriend, girlfriend of that other style, because that could be a major problem. But that’s another interview that we can go to later. But what happens is, is that we never adjust, and we’re not picking up the verbal cues or body language cues to be able to adjust.

06:14Now, this is high-level selling, okay? Years ago when I sold franchises, my manager, this is like I was in my mid-20s, would ask us to monitor the behavior of the doctors, ’cause at that time I was selling dental franchises, and write down the body language when he mentioned something about this investment they were gonna make. And that’s where I started learning this, and then when I started really coaching and understanding behavior science, I go, “Oh, this is gonna be very valuable.”

06:44And right now you need to know the four styles. You need to know what yours is and what personality gives you the most difficulty in presenting, ’cause you have to close all four styles. There’s one style that you cannot push and you cannot close hard. One style. Everybody else is lying to you when they say, “I need to think it over.”

07:08One needs to think it over. And so if you know that, you’re not going to push. Years ago I met a top producer who did a lot of his business door-knocking. He wasn’t one of my clients, he was another coach’s client. And he said, “I know when to pull back and I know when to close.” So he’s always regulating.

07:29I see so many agents always doing the same thing and the same style. Once you know how to regulate your presentation and still close effectively is how you’re going to be able to do that much quicker in this type of market. ‘Cause now you gotta get a buyer to sign an agreement, and there’s gonna be some personality that you’re gonna get along with, not get along with.

07:52But since you have bills and you need more money, you’re gonna have to close everybody. And then you have your FSBOs and expireds that say, “I don’t need you.” They need you, and they need you more now than ever. So there’s always a controversy with my style versus some of the other coaches that want you to close hard.

08:10I think the consumer is much more educated. They know exactly a little bit more about selling than sometimes some of the agents do, and they can smell a sale. So you’ve got to know how to deliver so that you can separate yourself from how they do business and they go, “Oh, my gosh, I think this lady, this guy is incredible.

08:29I feel that they understand me.” That’s a long answer for a short question.

Loida Velasquez08:36

No, no, that’s awesome. And now that you’re talking to homeowners, setting appointments, going on these listing appointments, are you noticing anything differently from the way that these homeowners are reacting to you, or the questions that they’re bringing up just based on the changes that have happened recently?

Bill Crespo08:53

You’re hearing this a lot and, you know, I use Vulcan7, so I can say right now that it’s been the best investment. My conversion rate on for sale by owners is about 30% when I go to the house, which is not bad. I mean, out of 10 of them I go to, I get three. So what I’m hearing though is them saying, “You know, I know now I don’t have to offer a commission to the other side.”

09:19So you do have to, number one, gain their respect and have them feel comfortable talking to you so that you can advise them. And I know there’s a big thing about having influence, but someone has to feel that you are the right person. So you have to have influence and authority in your voice, how you deliver what you’re offering, but also give them enough information that leads them to them feeling like they’re gonna go with you.

09:52In other words, we tend to wanna close them and force them. There’s a coach I had many, many years ago, at the time it was a mentor, they didn’t call them coaches, and he said, “Use the paintbrush theory.” I go, “What is the paintbrush theory?” Well, the paintbrush theory is allowing the person that you’re speaking to or trying to close, let them paint the picture of what they would like to see.

10:17And you become the picture. So in other words, I would go, instead of telling, telling, telling, guiding, guiding, “Hey, Bob, can you just tell me what would be the ideal situation for you and your family?” It’s almost like giving them the paintbrush and having them paint, but you still take their hand and try to draw this picture that you’re assuming.

10:37That’s probably the easiest way of explaining what most real estate people do and most salespeople. They wanna create the picture themselves. It’s so easy when you just let them tell you. “Well, we would like to net this amount of money, and we would like to be closed in 30 days.” “Great. Is there anything else?”

10:55“No, that’s about it.” And so now you’ve got some intel. But patience, empathy, making sure that you’re delivering influence and authority, that takes a whole lot of practice. I’ve been doing this for a very, very long time, which I could walk into any situation and feel comfortable. I need to coach the people that I coach to be able to walk into any situation and feel like they have authority and they have influence, and they can help guide these people to a conclusion, which is working with them, but without forcing them. And you know some of the same people I know in coaching and training that hard closing, hard closing.

11:38Are you familiar with who I am and what I do and how great I am? And they usually go, “No, I don’t.” And click, you know? So how do you let them come to you? And the same coach, trainer, mentor years ago says, “The more you go back, the more they come to you. The more you go that way, the more they run from you.”

11:56And in this market, to answer your question, you need to know how to lay back so they come to you. The consumer’s very educated. They say they don’t need you. They still have a lot of questions about what’s happening with the market. So if you’re able to guide them through, you’re gonna win a whole lot more than ever right now.

12:16But it’s all about you being the product and delivering a high-end product.

Loida Velasquez12:21

Absolutely. And I think along with that is being a great listener because I see a lot of agents, they don’t listen. They don’t hear what the person’s saying, and then they just talk so much that you talk yourself out of a listing.

Bill Crespo12:34

You’re absolutely right. And listen, a lot has to do with knowing how to relax yourself ’cause your adrenaline’s going, right? All the endorphins are shooting. You’re going, “I’m gonna get this listing.” And so back to my SEAL team friends that I know that are retired, how do you calm down when you have bullets flying past your head, and how do you really focus on the mission?

13:01And I wanted to study that from them. And it’s just being well-trained in a lot of scenarios and knowing the target. What is the mission? What is the target? And if you know the mission and the target and you’re well-skilled at your craft, you’re gonna be able to be relaxed, and you’re not gonna have, what is it?

13:23The diarrhea of the mouth.

13:26Right? ‘Cause you’re so, you just wanna… You know, you get commission breath. People run from you. So you just have to relax and sometimes take it away, which is an art in itself, where you’re able to say, “You know, maybe this is not the right time for us to talk.”

13:44But understanding where the market is right now, it’s almost critical you understand that this is the best time. And so they’re wondering, “Well, why did he say this?”

13:52And you tend to walk away. So that takes some skill, and you know that, Loida. That’s like, you gotta really feel good in your own skin.

Loida Velasquez13:59

Yeah, absolutely. Another question that I wanted to ask you, because we’re seeing this in a lot of different markets where obviously now some homes are not flying off the shelf. They’re priced at what market value is, but not a lot of activity’s happening. Or maybe now price reductions have to happen.

14:17Right. How are you, with the agents that you coach, training them, or even the conversations to have with these sellers to let them know, this is the reality now. This is not 2020, 2021 type of thing.

Bill Crespo14:32

Yeah, and that’s a very good question. You know, couple of things that I’ve noticed.

14:37When there’s a life-changing event going on with this particular client, divorce, medical reasons, financial reasons, they bought another house. There’s built-in pressure. You don’t have to apply so much pressure. So couple things that I think is controversial for most coaches. Number one is you’re gonna have to take a property sometimes at a little bit overpriced because there’s already a life-changing event involved in their life that’s gonna bring pressure into their situation without you having to bring it in, number one.

15:08Number two is I think that we’re gonna have to take every situation and negotiate on our commissions for their scenario. I think that the day of, “I don’t get my whatever, I am not taking it,” is over. Every situation is going to be different. They need a certain amount of money. There’s certain things we can do.

15:31We don’t know what the other side’s gonna be bringing in. Now, I focus a lot on listings, so I’m prepared on the listing side with my listings. But price reduction strategies, you gotta have one. It’s always difficult. And then you have the neighbor across the street who’s listed who just dropped 30 or 40 grand and shocked the heck out of the neighbor across the street, which is my listing, your listing, whatever it may be.

15:57So, you know, their house is always nicer than theirs. I understand that. But it’s a condition of the marketplace. So if we’re able to prep them in the beginning, you know, the market is constantly fluid. Things are changing. Look at the rates. Look at what’s going on with the volume on markets.

16:17So we’ve gotta look at your situation, you know? But what I love is when there’s a built-in life-changing event, ’cause that’s forcing the pressure without me bringing it on. But I have to remind them of that life-changing event and why we have to make a decision now. So back to what you’re saying. I mean, you could come up and say, “We need a price reduction.”

16:38It’s the delivery of those words to that client in a way that they will accept it in their personality style. That’s back to what I just said. You’re not gonna deliver the same way with everybody, and most agents deliver the same way with everybody. You know? And that’s hard to do ’cause, I’m walking into a meeting right now and I know she’s this way.

17:02So I gotta be able to talk to her this way. You know? So all that happens, and I do think price reductions are starting to happen, and the last thing I’ll say on that is the fact that with rates coming down will mean more competition on the market, which means more fluctuation on pricing. So we’ve gotta look at this thing.

17:21It’s definitely coming down in pricing, and it’s always a tough conversation. I mean, listen, man, I’ve been doing this for a long time, and I don’t get up, can’t wait to talk to someone and tell them they’re gonna have to drop their price by 30 or 40 grand. It’s nerve-wracking a little bit from our standpoint, but now we have to plan and visualize how am I gonna say this to them, what will really hit a nerve

17:45without disrespecting their situation.

Loida Velasquez17:48

Yeah. And you know, it makes me think of, the way that I like to think about it if I am going that route where I have to have that conversation is if I don’t make it a big deal, it’s not gonna be a big deal. But if I make it a big deal, then they’re gonna freak out.

Bill Crespo18:01

Oh, yeah. Yeah. And sometimes, you know, “Lorena, I’m gonna have to tell you something. I…” You know, and they’re freaking out. It’s so funny how we would do that. But they don’t realize that they’re gonna be losing

18:18more. And I coached in 2008, 2007. The market looked like it was coming down in 2005, 2006, right?

18:27We talked about the perfect storm, 2008. Properties were dropping 20, 30% in a week, okay? And so once they see confidence in your eyes… If you’re gonna go, “Hey, Bob, I think we’re gonna have to drop the price a little bit because…” You know, they’re gonna look at you like, well, that’s not confidence. It’s kinda like what you just said.

18:50You have to have that confidence, and you’ve gotta know what you know.

18:55And if they feel that you’re just trying to get a listing reduced without any facts, it’s gonna be tough. It’s gonna be real tough. So yeah, I totally agree. That’s another skill set that we’re gonna have to get really good at.

19:09And look at the buyer side of it, too. You’ve gotta now get a buyer to agree to work with you.

19:19“No, thank you so much, Bill. I’m gonna talk to this other agent. She said she’s gonna, I don’t know what.” You know? So now you’re selling your value proposition and making sure that when you have that meeting… It used to be a conversion of 80 or 90% when you’re working with a buyer who didn’t have to pay you any money, right?

19:39Now, you still wanna have that high conversion rate, but I guarantee the conversion now on buyers signing with an agent is gonna be a lot less.

Loida Velasquez19:50

Yeah. No. And I think, I feel like all of this that you’re saying, it all ties together with the skills, with the questions that you ask, with the listening.

19:59Because one thing that comes to mind is if you listen correctly and if you are having these conversations, you’ll also be able to figure out if you can help that homeowner or not, so that when you do get to a point of, we need to adjust the price, everything just comes together nicely.

20:17And another thing, just to kind of go back to my example, it’s also happened many times where I have had conversations and because I did say it confidently, they just said, “Okay. Well, we’ll do what you said ’cause you’re the professional.” And we’re over here overthinking things like, “Oh my gosh, I was stressing out for nothing.”

Bill Crespo20:33

Yeah. Yeah. Then they go, “Okay.”

Loida Velasquez20:36

Yeah.

Bill Crespo20:36

You know? And, yeah, you’re absolutely right. I noticed that. But Loida, that starts from day one when you first met them. It’s very difficult to pick that up later, right? So now you’re buddy buddies, huggy kissy, we’re gonna list, I love you, you love me, and then we’re all buddies, and then when it comes down now to get that price reduction, it’s gonna be much harder.

20:59You need to establish your authority in the beginning of the relationship. Because I always tell my clients, “You’re the doctor and they’re the patient.” If it’s reversed, it’s gonna be much more difficult to get that price down or to get them to do what you know they should be doing, and that’s established on that first phone call really.

21:19How you sound on the first phone call, ’cause if you’re just, “Hi, how are you? We’re all friends,” and then you’re gonna tell them to do something. Think about if your doctor did that. “Hi, Loida.” “Come on over. I wanna check your throat.” And then he goes, “Well, you shouldn’t be drinking that.”

21:35And you go, “What’s happening here?” So we kinda not think about it that way, but if you think about how your doctor treats you and why you respect them, that’s what’s needed right now.

Loida Velasquez21:44

Exactly. Yeah, no, all of this is awesome. Everything that you’re saying, Bill, obviously you have so much experience. You deal with this day to day.

21:51But tell us more about an event that you have coming up, because I think it’s crucial for our listeners to know.

21:54So-

Bill Crespo21:55

Yeah, I’m excited about it. Yeah, it’s coming up in Orlando. Been working on this for some time. I traveled the United States for years for another company doing the power prospecting workshop, and it was live calling, it was all kinds of things.

22:10But I’ve changed it up a little bit for the market today, and what we’re gonna be focusing on is how to effectively prospect now, how to effectively close, and how to present at a high level. So we’re gonna cover all those three things in two days. The prospecting, the words to use, the words not to use.

22:30How to use the preview approach to FSBOs, where you’re gonna get a 10, 20, 30% return. And which if you know, hey, if I just go visit 10 for-sale-by-owners and I get two, if you want four, how many do you have to go to? You’re gonna see the for-sale-by-owners picking up, expireds are gonna be picking up because the prices are gonna be funny now.

22:51So October 1st and 2nd in Orlando, it’s gonna be at the LPT Realty headquarters. You can go to this website here that’s under my face here and under my name, and you can sign up there. But it’s free. Free. So, and then they go, “Well, Bill’s trying to sell me something.” You know what I’m trying to sell?

23:10I’m selling you on you. And if you think, please, and this is me, I’ve been coaching for a long time, that you’re going to enter in this new market that we’re in with the same skills, you will not be able to get and reap the benefits of what’s happening right now, and someone else will actually start to move into your territory, and you don’t want that to happen.

23:33So October 1st and 2nd, those are two full days, 9:00 to 4:00. It’s free. You can travel down. It’s a great place to travel. Easy hotel prices. And we’ll be in the headquarters there and studying presentation, conversion on calls, and how to prospect effectively over the phone and in person because, you know, I think door knocking, I had a client that’s just killing it on door knocking, too.

Loida Velasquez23:58

Awesome. So again, path2pro.net if you guys are in the Orlando area or wanna fly in. Highly recommend for you to go and check out Bill. If you think that this session was good, I can only imagine everything that you’re gonna drop, Bill, in those two days.

Bill Crespo24:11

This was only on one cup of coffee.

Loida Velasquez24:14

Oh my goodness.

24:16And, you know, before we wrap up, obviously right now you are still selling real estate. What does that look like for you in terms of maybe, like, your daily routine or the tools that you use? Can you share a little bit more?

Bill Crespo24:28

Yeah. I was on a call today just to tell them that, for as long as I’ve been in real estate, I’ve always had a schedule, and the schedule has to be tight.

24:39And you’ve got to really, really stay focused on that schedule. I know everybody’s talked about it, but you have to call the same time every day. You may not be successful, so you can call later. But making calls, having appointments with people that are not gonna take two hours. You know, basically I stand all day long.

24:58That’s the way I was taught when I’m making a call. So having that schedule: I start typically at 9:00, working out in the morning, coming in 9:00 to 12:00 making the calls. And this schedule has always been the same way, and I was taught this. 12:00 to 3:00 admin time, 3:00 to 6:00, 3:00 to 7:00 on appointments.

25:18Like after I get done with you, I’m going to a FSBO that I’ve been working, trying to get for the last three months, and you just have to stay focused, guys. I mean, this is a business of a lot of people with ADD. And they know it. And so what they wanna do is get you distracted. You’ve got bills to pay.

25:39You’ve got things that you want, goals and dreams, investments you wanna buy. The more that you stay focused on a task at the time that you’re doing it, I guarantee you you’re gonna be successful. And I have to do it. I mean, I try not to mix my hours up. I try to put people into my schedule.

25:57I try to avoid them trying to get me into their schedule, which is important.

Loida Velasquez26:01

Yeah. No, that’s awesome. Well, Bill, thank you so much for coming on here. I feel like we can keep on going on and on, and we might have to do multiple videos, talk about for sale by owners, expireds, and so much more.

26:13So again, for those of you that are watching, go to path2pro.net. Sign up for Bill’s event. It’s gonna be amazing if you are serious about being a listing agent and kicking butt with listings. So, Bill, one last thing. What will you tell agents they need to do right now?

Bill Crespo26:29

Well, right now, besides going to my event and maybe checking out my website, is to use Vulcan 7.

26:38I mean, look, we’re at a Vulcan 7 event here, but this is the best return on your money, okay? You’ve got numbers. You can go to the door if you’re afraid of the DNC, which I totally understand. You can easily go to the door. Your competition is afraid of contacting people, and here’s what’s interesting.

26:56When you put more zeros at the end of the sale price, less people wanna go there, and those are opportunities for you. I just closed on one last month, $1.3 million, and she had other people show up, but not a lot. And so it’s there. Does it happen every day? No. But as long as you stay consistent, number one, make those calls, knock on those doors every day.

27:23You should be in one person’s house that you’ve never met every day. That will help you get to where you wanna go quicker.

Loida Velasquez27:31

Awesome. All right, Bill. Well, thank you so much once again for doing this, and for all of you, we’ll see you on the next one.

Bill Crespo27:36

Thanks, Loida. Bye.