Brian
Silvestry is a high-performing real
estate professional at United Realty Associates in Bayside, Queens, NY.
Brian started out selling door to door at the age of 18. Now he sells homes.
Brian was my agent when we sold our home in Queens.
I asked Brian what he attributed his success to. “Every year I look for different ways to improve the business. For example, the typical way I used to get business was expired listings. All of sudden, though, instead of being the only one calling these people, others were calling the same people. My coach suggested that I get involved with farming in a geographical, concentrating on perhaps 500 homes. That’s what I did. That continuing presence is paying off.”
“One day I got a call from a prospect in my farm who wanted to sell and buy a home. There was no selling. I just needed to fill out the papers. Their house sold for 98% of the asking price within one month and they bought one from me as well. One of the neighbors was also interested in selling but was a little discouraged because they had previously tried to sell with another broker who was unsuccessful. By keeping them informed of the progress I was having with the first home we developed a relationship. They put their house in the market with me and within 2 weeks we had a contract for 101% of their asking price. A full 7000 more than they were asking with the previous agency! The first client told their brother about how excited they were to make their move and he wanted to investigate his options. When I met with the brother it was more of a consultation than a sales pitch. I worked out numbers for them and we explored their options. He put his house in the market. His house sold and he bought one from me as well. Next I got a phone call from the next-door neighbor of the house that I sold over the asking price. The caller’s mom wanted to sell her house and needed an agent that spoke Spanish, which I do. That client is also getting ready to refer me two more houses to sell as well. It’s presence – not hours and hours of cold calling – that make the difference. As a result of all of the marketing I’ve done before, I never had a year when so many people call me.”
Consistent Learning
Brian is continually learning. “One important lesson I learned is don’t push life or people, be more consultative and focus on the other person and their objectives, especially with new clients. When you push too hard, you push them away. I’ll visit them and drop off a list of homes that have sold, give them my card, tell them if they have any questions, please call me. My goal is to establish the relationship.” And by visiting people in person, Brian does begin to establish that relationship. How many real estate agents stop by your home to introduce themselves? Have any? Most send mail, which is good, but you don’t stand out from the crowd that way. You’re part of it.
Among the many books that Brian has read on his way to success is “The 10 Immutable Laws of Power Selling – The Key to Winning Sales, Wowing Customers and Driving Your Profits Through the Roof,” by Jim DeSena. Brian especially likes the Siemens example: “the way they coordinated everything – they got out of their own mindset – thinking creatively - putting themselves in the customer’s shoes. They made it easy to communicate with regular meetings. Also Jim talks about looking at multiple ways of solving a problem and that there are infinite numbers of ways to go about it and to not get bogged down in the first couple of options only.”
Brian said that Brian Tracy’s cassette program, “The Psychology of Selling,” was what started everything for him as far as reading, listening to tape programs and going to seminars. He followed the advice that Brian gave, which launched him toward success. “Brian had said to do two things and within six months you will double your income. First read thirty minutes a day in your field. Second, each day, write your most pressing problem or challenge in the form of a question and brainstorm 20 answers to that question. This really helped me! After implementing these two ideas I wound up reading several books in my field and literally had thousands of ideas on how to improve my business.” Brian found “The E-Myth,” by Michael E. Gerber, to be helpful in designing systems. “One of our strengths is that we always deliver the same excellent service each time to our clients by using systems. It has also cut down tremendously on time spent training team members.”
One measure of success is that Brian has taken three month’s vacation in the past year and business has still grown by 40-50% and there has been no drop off in service thanks in large part to his team, which includes assistant Edward Kim. Next year he plans on adding another week’s vacation.
P.S. How did I come to select Brian when we decided to sell our home? He had come by perhaps two years before, introduced himself, stayed in touch with a postcard and then when we was ready to sell, I called him. No other agent had come by in person without being invited and those that did send information didn’t stay in touch. Brian did.
Jim DeSena is the author of “The 10 Immutable Laws of Power Selling – The Key to Winning Sales, Wowing Customers and Driving Your Profits Through the Roof,” McGraw-Hill, 2003, a Forbes Book Club Selection. DestinationCRM.com recommends it as “Required Reading - a page turner filled with case studies, examples, methods, stories and more.” ©2005 Performance Achievement Systems, Inc. 1-800-4321-WIN
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