Brokers brush up on their skills at REBNY seminar.

Over 200 residential brokers and sales managers brushed up on their presentation skills recently at a free seminar sponsored by the Real Estate Board of New York's Education Committee. Terri Sjodin, CSP, a well-known professional speaker and author presented tips on creating presentations that would help brokers develop their communication skills, and in turn help them close the deal with clients.

REBNY Education Committee Co-chair Elizabeth Henry said, "Terri emphasized that residential salespeople need to focus on presentation skills because 80 percent of what they do is verbal communication. Though they are not making formal, board-room style presentations, brokers are presenting themselves to potential clients all the time."

The one-and-one-half-hour presentation was broken into two parts, the first focusing on building listening communication skills and the second focusing on delivery. Typically 20 percent of salespeople produce 80 percent of the revenue for most companies, explained Ms. Sjodin.

The three factors that separate top producers from the rest are psychological differences (i.e. having confidence in yourself and your sales pitch), listening communication skills, and persuasive presentation skills.

Ms. Sjodin encouraged salespeople to create presentations that are more persuasive than they are informative. Too many salespeople try to inform potential clients about features and benefits rather than creating persuasive, logical arguments. In fact, she explained, presenters should come up with a "Top-10 List" of arguments that answer three questions for the potential client: Why you?; Why your company?; and Why now?

In the course of the presentation, Ms. Sjodin revealed her nine biggest sales presentation mistakes as written about in her book, New Sales Speak: The Nine Biggest Sales Presentation Mistakes and How to Avoid Them.

Ms. Sjodin stressed that a presentation is not complete unless there is a call-to-action. Many brokers, for example, conclude their presentation by summarizing the features and benefits of a particular home or apartment but do not make the all-important close, which encourages the listener to do something about what they've just learned. The close provides a sense of urgency that influences a potential client's decision-making process; it could turn a potential buyer into a definitive one.

"The Real Estate Board is pleased that many of our members took advantage of this free seminar," said Eileen Spinola, REBNY Senior Vice President for Education. "We know that participants will walk away with new knowledge that will help them do business better, which is always a goal with our member programs."