At the Kentucky Derby the race is won by a “nose”. That is how close the number one and two horses are. However, the winning horse takes home 10 times more than the second horse. Does that mean the winning horse is 10 times better than the second horse. The answer is “No!” Agents that make $250000 per year verses agents that earn $25000 per year, don’t work 10 times harder.

In rentals, the Champion Agent is not better than the other agents by ten times but has found his or her edge in the small differences in the small areas that matter. In a Winner take all world, these differences make the difference. In rentals you don’t get any money to take a call, show an apartment or handle objections. In rentals the only time you get to make money is when the client signs the lease. It’s a winner take all world. Everything or nothing. I have been doing rentals for 12 years and not once has a client called me and said, “Gary we rented the apartment from another broker but here is $500 for you because we thought your objection handling skills were great!”

It has been proven over and over again that the TOP agents are only 3% better than the second best agent.

It is only when you do, “CERTAIN THINGS IN A CERTAIN WAY” that you succeed over your competitors. Winners are people who decided to go from the the BACK of the line to the FRONT of the line.

Every profession has some 5-7 Critical Success Factors. In Rentals they are:

1. Prospecting
2. Getting Appointments & Establishing Rapport
3. Questioning
4. Presenting
5. Handling Objections
6. Asking For The Sale
7. Personal Management Skills

Out of these 7, which are you weakest in? Here is an example of how I feel my skills are on the seven critical success factors:

1. Prospecting: 8
2. Getting Appointments & Establishing Rapport: 8
3. Questioning: 3
4. Presenting: 7
5. Handling Objections: 4
6. Asking For The Sale: 10
7. Personal Management Skills: 5

As you can see, I need a lot of work in Questioning and Handling Objections. You can throw in Personal Management Skills as well. Just like your heart rate, body temperature, muscle tone and blood pressure are essential for living. The above 7 points are critical for success in rentals.

Here is the key to success. Don’t try and improve each and every weakness at the same time. Also don’t plan to improve everything by 100%. Matter of fact, pick 2 or 3 and plan on improving them 10% each. The steps to take would be:

1. Make a decision.
2. Set a goal.
3. Define your critical success factors.
4. Learn and practice continually.

In rentals for me they translate into:

1. Make a decision to become 10% better.
2. Set a goal to do 30 deals per month.
3. Define my critical success factors as being Questioning, Handling Objections and Personal Management Skills.
4. Learn and practice continually means attending an International Sales Training Program in Scottsdale, AZ for 3 days in August to master Questioning and Objection Handling and attending a one day seminar in June for Personal Management Skills in New York. Take 4 new techniques from each seminar and begin immediate implementation.

The above blog post is essentially a blue print for success in rentals. Use it. Because if it’s to be, it’s up to me should be your philosophy.