"Fear of loss is a greater motivator than opportunity to gain."

Floyd taught us to show Sellers the Expired List print-out in the Set Up to the POCA (Preview Of Coming Attractions dialogue) as a way of introducing the ingredient of "fear of loss." The philosophy behind this ingredient of delivery is that more people will do whatever it takes to stay off the expired list than to get on the sold list. And in a normal or slow market, that's truer than ever.

Here's a transcript of suggested dialogue or track for a normal or slow market:

"Are you familiar with the Expired List? I took the liberty of bringing a printout for you. It's not a list of dead people (pause for effect), it's a list of Sellers like yourselves who put their house on the market only to find it didn't sell. I show you this because the folks on this list have two things in common."

"One, when their house didn't sell they had to change their plans. And two, in my opinion, they picked the wrong agent. To prevent this from happening to you, I have a five-step process I follow whenever I meet with a new client for the first time, and I find it takes all the guesswork out of deciding whether or not we should join forces. So, with your permission, I would like to show you how I work and, if it's okay with you, follow this process one step at a time together tonight. Fair enough?"

In this hot market, however, most people are well aware that the risks of a home not selling are minimal. Marketing services designed to find a buyer are not the point of the smart agent's value proposition.

It's all about finding the right buyer; the best qualified buyer who will offer the most favorable terms and protect the Seller's equity and plans. To introduce the ingredient of 'fear of loss' in this market we use the BOM list.

BOM stands for Back On the Market. Do your research and come up with the data for a convincing visual and compelling dialogue.

"Are you familiar with the BOM List? I took the liberty of bringing a printout for you. It's a list of Sellers like yourselves who put their house on the market and thought they had it sold. In fact, they told all their friends and family, started packing, hired a moving company, and some even started negotiating in good faith on their next home, only to find their sale fell through and they had to put it back on the market."

"I show you this because the folks on this list have two things in common. One, they had to change their plans. And two, in my opinion, they picked the wrong agent to protect their equity from contract to closing. To prevent this from happening to you, I have a five-step process I follow whenever I meet with a new client for the first time, and I find it takes all the guesswork out of deciding whether or not we should join forces. So, with your permission, I would like to show you how I work and, if it's okay with you, follow this process one step at a time together tonight. Fair enough?"

What do you think? Will you use this dialogue?

The Floyd Wickman Team blog by Mike Pallin